001all right good evening and welcome to the regular meeting of the board of education for May 8 2023 we are about to adjourn to close session um but I have a few instructions first and then we'll take any public comment related to closed session items so members of the public May attend in person or via live stream at Martinez meetings on YouTube or via the zoom webinar which can be found on the agenda on the website guidelines for public comment for board meetings or as follows in-person speakers will be provided the opportunity to speak prior to zoom speakers in-person speakers will complete a speaker card and place it in the basket provided all Zoom participants must register a name upon entry to the meeting and be present and engaged by having their camera on three
002minutes will be allotted for each speaker speakers will be called upon in the order in which they raise their hand additional minutes cannot be added by using a second speaker's minute time limits will be enforced so please plan your comments accordingly so at this time do we have any public comments regarding closed session items okay seeing then we will adjourn and we will return for our regular meeting at 6 30 pm communication 4 May 8th 2023 we are just returning back from closed session and we do have two items to report out first on motion of member bruger seconded by member Marcella O'Brien the board voted in closed session to reject a legal claim and it was a five yeses and zero no's and zero abstentions and second on motion of member horak Martin seconded
003by member Marcella O'Brien the board voted in closed session to expel student number 2022-23-05 from the Martinez USD by the following vote five yeses zero knows zero abstentions Okay so um with that we are on item seven and I see a former board member in the room who I know knows the Pledge of Allegiance so I'll have him start for us serves you right for showing your face in here and to the Republic for which it stands one nation other gods indivisible with liberty and justice for all one day all right thank you we're on item eight approval of the agenda do we have any changes to the agenda this evening there are none right do we have any public comments on the agenda okay being done we'll bring it back for forward action I
004moved to approve the agenda well second student vote uh all in favor aye opposed abstentions motion carries number nine is highlights and recognitions and um I'll go ahead and let superintendent Rossi present so tonight we have two members of the Alhambra high school music program Tara Patterson and Matthew Schick and they are here to talk about the music program perform about the music program just talk about the music program okay so come on up to the podium and um thank you I got over being said um so I uh I'm Jared Patterson I am a senior at Alhambra I've been a part of alhambra's music program for four years but altogether seven um and I'm a part of the concert band marching band and also jazz band uh hi I'm Matthew Schick I am a
005freshman uh I've been in the musd music program for four years I play an orchestra um so a little bit of highlights from this year uh in marching band we did a battle of the bands which was put on by Concord five they uh had over 400 musicians performing and by the end we performed uh one song altogether as what like five schools um and then on our uh band reviews Color Guard placed third at Santa Cruz um and then we also were a part of the eighth grade night where the eighth graders came up to the high school and we're looking at clubs and involvement and so the marching band played at that [Music] um and then so we have already had four concerts this year we've had the Pops concert in the fall
006then we had the Winter concert right before the break and then when we came back we had the area Festival which was the high school and then the two Middle School ensembles for each different Ensemble and then uh we had tacos and tunes fairly recently it's like a month ago and now our upcoming concert is on the 19th of May it's the spring concert it's our final concert and we also had a pit Orchestra for Cinderella and that was 11 student musicians um and then the plan for next year uh for marching band there's going to be three band reviews um six football games are happening I don't think they're playing at all of them um uh Pops concert Winter concert tacos into Spring Concert area Festival um and then we have me f run
007that we do and of course band camp will be the week before school starts so come to our concert next week on which day on the team May 19th 7 P.M or 6. 7 P.M um at the PAB Alhambra High School all right thank you very very much great job all right thank you and we have our comments from our student representative Kiyomi go ahead the school reports for the May 8th 2023 regular board meeting are as follows Los juntas our third through fifth graders wrapped up State Testing over the last two weeks great job pool pups kindergarten released their butterflies as part of their science project thank you to Mrs whitlatch for another great show with our first graders we had a successful Special Olympics on Friday April 28th thank you to all of
008our students staff families and community members who came out to support our athletes please come to the Los Angeles Carnival this Friday 5 30 to 7 30 at Las nuntes virtual PTA meeting is on Tuesday May 9th at 6 pm first grade field trip is on Friday May 19th John Muir John Muir PTA auction was successful John Muir class projects and baskets were on display and purchased by our parents staff experiences were purchased and students are beginning to enjoy the life of being a custodian office manager nurse principal and engage in lunch dates with the teachers Mrs Paris third through fifth grade students engaged in a stem day and participated in balloon rocket engineering the third graders picked up trash around the campus to demonstrate how a good citizen cares for their own School each
009first grade classroom received live caterpillars and are observing the fascinating butterfly life cycle up close and personal in their very own classrooms students have been eagerly eagerly watching their caterpillars grow in size each day and have been busy writing about the changes they observe in their butterfly observation journals students have noticed their caterpillars are getting ready to form the chrysalis they are very excited to see butterflies emerge and they are looking forward to releasing their butterfly friends second grade has an upcoming field trip to Heather Farms Park May 19th is our elac sponsored International Day fair at 6 PM in the NPR John Muir Scholastic Book Fair is May 8th through 11th check the schedule in our May Timberwolf talk newsletter John sweat fourth grader 4th grade students have had a blast learning about animal
010structures last week they had the opportunity to dissect a squid students learned firsthand and up close about the physical features and functions of the marine animals by the end of the school year we will also explore the structures of the brain this is the second year that students have been working with Carol Carolina science and we are very pleased with this adopt adopted curriculum rtk kindergarten team is Exploring Life Science Sciences with Hands-On learning experiences we are studying the life cycles of certain animals and plants in addition to observing classroom caterpillars growing into butterflies t tk3k silkworms turning into silk moths and students planting their own seeds and observing their themes observing them growing into grass bean plants and sunflowers second grade has an upcoming field trip to the Leicester theater to see Robin Hood
011also second grade has has fun themed days coming up including camping day glow party day and Shark Week fourth graders have their annual gold dust or bust musical performance on Friday morning Morello Park we had our annual Eagles for excellence auction this past Saturday it was great and fun and well attended a huge thank you to a huge thank you to our planning committee and all of the volunteers who made this event a success our fourth and fifth grade classes are working on their page to Stage performances which will happen May 22nd and 23rd this is a fun annual event for our upper grade students our third fourth and fifth grade students finish casting all of students put in their best effort and we are very proud of them first grade put on their first
012annual step steam day which was very engaging and exciting for our first graders awesome job team upcoming field trips for first grade to Bay Area Children's Theater third grade to Lawrence Hall of Science and fifth grade to Chabot PTA meeting is on May 9th 7 PM in the library Martinez Junior High shout out to all of our bullpups who finished aspect testing last week we were so impressed impressed with the focus and perseverance demonstrated by our students way to rise bullpups congratulations to our mjhs concert band and Orchestra students who attended the Forum music festivals at alone Ohlone College where they perform it where they performed and were both awarded silver recognition our students Emily and Garrett and Corey Griffin were recognized as outstanding musicians for their duet and Orchestra the mjhs clarinets were recognized
013as the outstanding section in concert band which included Marshall Fryman Kingston Sabino Jaden Angel maroon maroon Molina and Edwin Courier track track and field is underway our bullpups competed last week and are looking forward to the upcoming meets on Tuesday and Thursday May 9th School site council is at 3 pm Tuesday May 9th spring orchestra concert is at 7 pm Wednesday May 10th spring band concert will be held at 7 pm Thursday May 11th elac will be held at 8 45 am in Friday May 12th 8th grade visit to Alhambra Alhambra high school we are recognizing staff for their countless hours in immeasurable support of all students this week for staff appreciation week we can't we can't thank them enough for all they do thank you to families and local businesses like slow hand barbecue
014JP's Bistro lucky V Nails and Carries Cakery for their donations to support our efforts this week a huge shout out also goes to the AHS PTSA for their special breakfast scheduled for like for later this week props to senior Riley Cole for winning the gold at the 56th annual skills competition this win secures his chance to compete in Nationals in July he is also the recipient of the 2023 Contra Costa County of Education student of Excellence award and will be honored during a reception in Pleasant Hill on May 9th congratulations to our scholar athletes moving on to play at a four-year University softball at Boston University Austin duez basketball at UC Merced Jennifer Lynn's lacrosse at UMass Dartmouth McKenzie Stenson softball at San Francisco State University AHS Woodshop students are turning to Habitat for Humanity
015on Wednesday to work on a 42 unit build site in Walnut Creek last year they worked on their found on the foundation of the structures so it will be an experience for students to see where the part the project is at this point students seniors are preparing for their trip to Disney students and seniors must be sure to read the information sent in the family newsletter yesterday we are preparing for the eighth grade visits this Friday we are looking forward to a successful transition to high school for a rising fashion by Center ambience thank you to our Martinez adult education for hosting the career Expo Vicente students enjoyed learning about career opportunities available to them congratulations to bmhs student Louis Guerrero and Nathaniel Proctor for receiving honorable mention scholarships scholarships form the Osio Mendoza scholarship
016fund site council meeting is on May 17th at 2 15 pm graduation practice is Tuesday May 30th at 10 A.M at AHS field graduation is May 30th at 7 pm Martinez adult education Wednesday May 3rd we had 400 people attend the Contra Costa County adult education career Expo we have received very positive feedback from those who attended and learned about all the career train all the Career Training available across the county through adult education Community College in the county County Office of Education the high school seniors from Alhambra and Vicente also attended in the afternoon to learn about career programs available to them once they graduate May 17th DVC reps at the school to help students register for college thank you all right thank you and we're going to keep you in the spotlight um
017item 11 is recognition of our outgoing student representative so tonight we say goodbye to our student rep board rep Kiyomi Glasper it's her last night tonight because the last meeting in May is final exam and um week studying is more important and we want her to be able to remain enrolled at the uni at Boston University in the fall so we're going to give her a little break here so being a student rep is not an easy role aside from the hours spent in class on the field and studying time must be spent to prepare for each board meeting prior to the twice monthly meetings at first Kiyomi was quiet soaking in the process and format for each meeting and as the year progressed she came became more vocal expressing her thoughts and Regard in
018regards to some of the more crucial decisions the board has to make I want to thank Kiyomi for her time input and dedication to the district and for helping to make the district better for all congratulations on a job well done and we wish you only the best on your next adventure in Boston so can you come out all right so with that we have um we don't have to just be sad letting you go we have a new incoming student representative to be introduced this evening as well so if you'd like to come up Marisol so tonight um we are introducing Marisol Contreras she is our board student board representative for next year she'll begin her term in August and I have a little something to read about her to introduce her so Marisol
019control Contreras is a student at Alhambra high school and during her senior year in the fall and she serves as their social Affairs manager and was voted as the newest member of the Martinez Unified School District board representative she works part-time as a marketing assistant she serves in leadership and yearbook and with work experience in event coordination and social media content creation she has a proven track record of contributing to impactful campaigns Marisol skills include brand ambassadorship bilingualism English and Spanish and a passion for Community involvement Marisol is also an active volunteer for the Multicultural Institute in the East Bay she looks forward to serving the community this year this next year on the Martinez Unified School District School Board welcome okay all right thank you so much and we look forward to working with
020you next year and getting to know you so uh with that we've had a few recognitions and so um we do have lots of students and community members here to speak on future agenda items which is wonderful however if you came just to be part of one of these recognitions um don't feel free don't feel free to leave don't feel obligated to stay we do have a lot of um really important things on the agenda so feel free to stay as long as you want but know that you're not offending us if you stand up and walk at any point um you know after your agenda item comes up or if you're just here for recognition we understand that people like to get on with their evening and maybe have a basketball game or something
021to watch something like that uh so just so you know you're free to go we're not holding you here uh 13 is in play organization reports do we have any employee organization reports tonight I don't see I don't know where Stephanie is no oh okay all right uh comments from the PTA do we have any PTA Representatives here this evening okay being none 15 is correspondence any correspondence there's no correspondence all right that's probably as fast as we're going to move for a while so don't get too excited 16 is Staff reports 16.1 is superintendent's report so I'll hand it back to you okay so I just want to start by saying if if those standing in the back would like a chair we do have some on the side and I can have someone
022assist you in getting the chairs out if you'd like to sit down because it might be a while for thank you Stephanie okay so tonight I'd like to welcome um Dr Dan skadero I did it I did it right um today's his first day and it's a very long day and I'm very happy to pass on all the duties of personnel director to him that I've been carrying for the past few weeks and I'm so looking forward to a very long and successful run for him here at the Martinez Unified School District um I did um put on my governance calendar that I would be reporting about our P2 Ada our Ada is our average daily attendance for those that don't know that we enroll three they take a snapshot of the district in October
023and at that day we had 3772 students enrolled but we don't necessarily get funding for 3772 students we get funding based upon the average daily attendance of those 3 000 plus students so at our P1 report we had an average daily attendance of 3516 which is about 93.2 percent of the students were attending and we did um some we put together some strategies we did increase for P2 to a 93.5 which is actually um better than a normal year because usually in a normal year we decrease from P1 to P2 about one percent and we went up just a little bit we can do a lot better I think it's a struggle that faces every school district since the pandemic we used to have approximately 96 to 97 percent Ada before 2020 we hope to
024um move forward and and gain some ground again we increased from the tk3 group we increased from the four to sixth grade seventh and eighth grade there was no change but we did increase in our intent decrease in our attendance at the high school so um all in all uh we did well considering so I want to um just give an update on the John sweat incident from April 26th last Wednesday the district excuse me the District Attorney's Office released an update on the filing of charges against the man who was arrested um in his car on John's at John sweat on April 26th he has an arraignment date of May 31st and um I wanted to let parents and the public know that in terms of school safety each site has a safety plan
025that's reviewed with staff each year the Martinez Police Department reviews the plans and they can suggest revisions or make revisions with us each January and then they have to sign off on them before the board approves them by February 1st February 1st or March 1st February 1st I think um so next year the law changed and the plans will also require a sign off from the fire department as well the district uses standards response protocol as a basis for guidance on our safety drills and protocols as a result of the incident the musd will be taking a closer look at all of our protocols and drills and making any appropriate changes and additions as soon as possible I have heard the feedback from the community and will take it all into consideration in our planning
026I've already scheduled District safety committee meetings which were not in place this year for the first meeting will be on I believe August 23rd and we will be soliciting from parents and students and staff members for this very important committee and it will be held it will be run by um a few of us here on the board because everybody's too new we want to make sure we have experience for those um who've been here a while on the board Andy Cannon and Joe gangler submitted a cops Grant this week in the hopes of receiving funding for fencing at the Junior High in Alhambra High School to kind of close the gaps that are open and maybe look at the push bar release up at the junior high instead of the chains that have to
027be undone in the day for egress so I'll keep the board updated as developments occur and the superintendent's website went out yesterday and Nikki will have an updated version posted on the website I'm sure she did it today already with a correction in the time for an elementary promotion ceremony ceremony and a date for Nationals in Auto so make sure you take a look at that there's some nice celebrations and some information on the end of the year that's what I have thank you Helen for that update and I just wanted to remind the community too that when John sweat Elementary is completed there will be fencing around the school as well and I know I got a number of phone calls about that and safety really is a priority of us for the board
028and I think um you know there's there's gonna be some improvements like I said with the fencing and it's great that we're looking at the grant for the junior high and the high school as well so thank you home all right we'll go ahead and let me know okay we'll go ahead and move on to 16.2 which is um an update on the expanded learning opportunities program presented by Renee Lopez so good evening I am going to be giving a review and update um regarding the expanded learning opportunities program another acronym some people say elop or elop um and it refers to expanded learning opportunity program um so what is elop it's expanded day for students in TK through sixth grade we offer up to a nine hour day which can be in a combination
029it's before school after school but it's combined with the school day we also offer 30 days of non-school days so we call that intercession so that can be in summer it can be during spring break Christmas break as long as we have at least 30 days of non-school day with within the program um the learning program also includes elements of education so there's homework support there's social emotional learning there's also enrichment Elements which are art or science technology physical fitness and sports it could be different languages lots of different enrichment activities uh the program is offered to all of our unduplicated TK through six students to access so during the school um days or the inter session time and just remembering that our unduplicated students are our English Learners students who qualify for free and
030reduced lunch or Foster youth so just talking about offering access to all of our students when we talk about offering access we're required to communicate to families in a culturally and a linguistic appropriate matter so including in a specific language if we have 15 or more of our students that speak the different language provide access means that students are enrolled and registered in the program and enrolled means that a student can attend one day or as many days as they want but as they're enrolled if they at least attend one day um our after-school program details we have partnership with a program um we have contracted with right at school it is offered at our four Elementary sites and Martinez Junior High and as like I said before it's TK through sixth grade we currently
031have 186 students enrolled we started off with the idea of the capacity of being 10 tkk students at each elementary site and then 31st through sixth grade students per site the ratio for class size is one adult to 10 students for tkk and one adult to 20 students for first through fifth the hours of operation have been since the dismissal of schools so if it's a minimum day it goes till six o'clock if kindergarten gets out at 1 30 it's from that end of the school day to six o'clock and then same with first through sixth getting out at 2 35 or 2 30 Wednesdays also it just goes from the end of the school day to six o'clock P.M it's an optional enrollment so it's not mandatory for any student and we have been
032offering it for free for unduplicated students we also offered it during spring break and we are offering it during our summer program so this will be hosted at John Mayer elementary the dates are the same exact dates as our summer school program so June 13th to July 13th there's no program on June 19th July 3rd and July 4th the hours are 8 o'clock a.m to 5 o'clock P.M if they are attending our summer school session they can attend their summer school and then they can go after if they're not attending the summer school session then they can go from 8 o'clock AM to five o'clock P.M and again it's TK through 6th grade students are eligible to participate and this summer program is at no cost for students um and space is limited based on
033our capacity and the capacity to hire teachers the right at school program hires for that and they just have to keep within the limits of that capacity of 10 to 1 10 students to one adult for tkk and then 20 students to one adult per first through sixth um parent Outreach has already begun for summer program with all the students that are currently enrolled in the program they've been advertising it and we currently have 85 students enrolled for our summer program looking into the future for our next school year we will be again partnering with right at school it will include after school so no before school program we will have our 30 intercession dates and so we I have my our dates listed there and it will also include a summer program that's aligned
034to the TK through um it's it'll be aligned to our extended school year summer program for next summer uh again the hours for the school program next year will be from dismissal until six o'clock P.M here are in our session dates an hour so it's not every school day that we have off um so we've picked winter break those dates spring break the following dates and then again our summer program will be 20 days that are aligned with our extended school year we are also looking to expand capacity so more than just offering it for free for unduplicated students we are also hoping and working on plans of expanding it for free for other students as well beyond the Upp students um and program we're gonna I'm gonna be sending out an interest survey and
035having a parent Outreach that will begin um this week or next week to see what the interest level is for our non-unduplicated students um overall I've heard um positive feedback regarding the right at school program um a lot of parents are excited about it I have a few comments um one comment from a parent said my children have been thriving thanks to right at school they are English Learners and have quickly picked up on speaking and listening which is crucial because at school they tend to focus on writing my kids enjoy every day of ride at school bringing home wonderful arts and crafts and are happily tired from all the physical activities Mr Ellis introduces them to this program is amazing when it comes to socializing learning playing and growing another comment is they get
036upset when we pick them up because they want to stay there longer they love the program and all the activities they do another common is my kids love the after school program the staff is so nice and friendly my kids love them all I'm 100 taking them back every year possible um and that's all I have for right now do you guys have any questions Renee uh can you speak to the cost or fees uh for the program or I I know you said it's free to unduplicated our parents paying for uh the service so right now when we started the program it was since we had kind of that cap or capacity on 10 tkk students per site and then the 30 um first through sixth we did have um we were offering those
037thoughts were for unduplicated and then we did have a paid program so parents did pay this year we are working with the company um going forward for sure starting in the summer um it's free for all based on capacity and then going into 23.24 um it'll be free as much as possible for unduplicated students so yes parents did pay this year um but we are working with the company on um how we can Rectify that but for sure moving forward we're going to try to expand it to free as to as many as possible and that includes lunch and snacks right correct yes I was gonna say that actually I forgot so the program does offer a snack but for the long day so um for spring break and then for summer program um our
038cafeteria we do pay for their we offer them the lunch yep thank you and during the summer they'll have like a um kind of like a breakfast time not breakfast right the beginning of the day but um we call it Second Chance breakfast so they'll have it during like that recessed time during summer school and then lunch and then the after school right at school program offers a snack in the afternoon that's great very exciting thank you all right thank you um 16.3 sorry last night spot for a second so this is Martinez Unified School District website and school loop update presented by Joe gingler good evening trustees um so I just wanted to give you an update on what's going on with our websites about two weeks ago we received notice from the current
039provider of our websites that they would be shutting down um quite abruptly at June 30th so we have a very short timeline of essentially where our websites will not be accessible anymore um so we immediately went into searching for new vendors and we evaluated uh three vendors now typically because of the how the program works and you know how the website is very important to our community about communicating everything about the district and such we would do a pretty detailed process of you know engaging stakeholders Community teachers students staff and seeing to make sure we have the we picked the right platform based on Gathering evidence of what they feel is an important feature or requirement but due to the pace of when we have to replace these sites we were unable to follow that
040process as we would normally would like to do um part of this process is also going to involve us literally copying and pasting all of our content from current website to a new website because typically these platforms are not really you know interoperable so um so we took a a review of three companies uh based on just various popular K-12 education focused website vendors we reviewed price and features um and then we also pulled neighboring school districts that are also using some platforms just to see what their feedback was because again we had to do this process pretty quickly um so we ended up selecting in a parent Square which is a vendor that's going to provide our websites but also provide a new communications platform for us so parents usually hear from us via
041Blackboard or parent link is what we would call it um some of our schools most of our school sites use that to convey text messages or emails or various communication to staff and we found that the best step forward Not only was to do our websites but consolidate everything into one platform because we saw that we'd have a lot of synergy between features and ease of use so um we've actually just had our kickoff call yesterday with the vendor so we can get moving right now our immediate Target is to get the websites online by July 1st so we can make sure that we're providing effective communication also meeting all of our regulatory needs you know providing notices for meetings um various you know public hearings anything that we need to do that needs to
042go on a website um so yeah I just wanted to give you an update on that uh my team will be uh copying a lot of uh doing a lot of copying and pasting uh probably we're gonna need a new keyboard after control V and Ctrl C are used up um but I wanted to entertain any questions that you have um right now you know we're gonna definitely work on uh communicating uh with most of our school leadership notes or principles we notified them that that was going to be happening this week we'll be working on a document that provides uh more context to our staff and teachers so they understand what's going on because it's you know we're kind of real-time movement right now so we're trying to make sure what we know we
043can do in the platform and then conveying that messaging um to the community and then uh we'll probably be focusing on a lot of training for staff to make sure they can use it effectively as well so if you had any questions for me I'd be happy to answer them or any other thoughts that you needed as we move forward through this process so are all the URLs for our sites going to change um yes and no so um Alhambra High School had their own web domain was Alhambra high.org I think Keisha for High Dot org so that'll actually just uh we control that so we'll just point that to a new place uh our other schools they used you know schoolname dot School Loop something something so um we've actually already taken the steps
044to make web addresses that we can control now so that we can prevent this in the future we've provided that information to principals and then just so they know because this is also a time of year where they're going to be printing out a lot of things for walk-throughs and registrations and we want to make sure we get that information out quickly so they don't have to reprint or you know waste any of their time and resources and then we will be communicating that to parents and staff probably this week when we provide some kind of bullet points and communication items to have them start updating their bookmarks to these addresses so that when we do shift over they're they're just going to the same place it'll just be a new website on the internet
045so um but yeah so we are looking at making sure we're taking care of that as well so that's it's about as seamless as we can make it um I'm not going to say it's going to be smooth just because of the timelines and you know the nature of website moving but we will do everything we can to make it as smooth as possible mm-hmm do you know this is based on an annual subscription is it how is it uh um yeah it's it's a annual uh subscription to those uh websites and it was the same kind of thing we were doing for school loop um School Loops was widely used by the K-12 Community for a very long time um it's actually inconveniencing probably I would say in the thousands of schools uh a
046few of them uh districts in this County are also impacted so what's the cost comparison um so from if we're looking at a website uh so if we look at the websites only it's about the same price um the additional items for the communication aspect is going to actually cost us more uh but we feel it's a better platform for communication um basically from Parent Link there's an app there's a website at uh parents will actually be able to interact um they kind of have a feed of all their students it kind of takes a social media sort of sense of having a feed of activities that are going on the school it does live translation so you can actually communicate with parents if they speak Spanish you're writing in English it's translating in Spanish
047for the parent parent writes in Spanish it translates to English for the parent or the teacher or staff member um there's a lot of really neat features to it mostly for me is is consolidating to you you have one place to go to get communication and I think that's very important you don't want to have to oh so I go here for this platform and here for websites it's it's going to be all Under One Roof so we've had some of our administrators that work here at musd have used parent Square in the past in other districts and found very positive interactions with the parents because of its ease of approach for them and how information is exchanged in both directions very easily and straightforward so it does cost us a little bit more in
048that area annually but we will not renew Blackboard next year because this will be covered and then additionally we use s'more for newsletters this system actually does all the newsletters uh as well so there's a potential we may not renew s'more as well another really neat feature about this platform is it's very tightly integrated with our student information system so a lot of that data we're already capturing is going right into this system and making it easier for people to get contact information and and communicate effectively so will that include all the the extracurricular the clubs or the Athletics yeah um we can make uh an inordinate amount of groups that we want um particularly for clubs it also has that communication uh platform there's some other stuff that we can bring online uh like
049an alumni Community where alumni of Alhambra High School can register and share things and you know in this kind of space and we'll kind of do that in bits and pieces right now because of the timeline we're uh very keenly focused on making sure the website goes live and then we've got everything set up for uh you know emergency notifications that you know deal with life safety and you know very important things um in that Arena and then we will kind of double uh kind of come back again and then focus on you know community events uh making sure you know we're advertising musicals and all sorts of things that are happening here in the district um but yeah it's it's got a Litany of features I never saw something in my previous District something
050that's so tightly integrated with our student information system it goes well beyond what I've ever seen so anyone have any other questions or comments for me well I just had a comment so first thank you for I know this was totally out of our control and not anticipated at all so thank you for your Swift action on this and then also to our staff and teachers who run their own web pages we know this is really unfortunate and I know having run one of those before that it'll be a lot of work and so I will preemptively thank you for the hours that you will spend updating your website that you didn't anticipate doing and um getting that info out to your to your families and your students and um and we appreciate that and
051sorry that this is happening but it sounds like this ultimately once all of the hiccups pass could be a really positive thing and yeah on that because I pre sometimes I hear things and it reminds me of certain things um we did receive a a backup of everything that's in school loop all the files all the data so we're able to export that and I haven't actually looked into the detail yet but you know if anything is missing from a teacher's website or you know in a very important document they use as part of their curriculum is included if we can find a way to get it out of that back but we will um you know uh and then yeah we're it's it's we're going to do everything we can to make it as
052smooth as possible like you said it was just totally out of our control um in fact the other reason why I picked Parent Link was also because everyone's picking a different vendor and I think that they're gonna get completely uh overwhelmed by the amount of people that need a website and uh not only did we I think we got the best platform I think we're also going to be the one that's going to get the right attention we need to make sure it's smooth and that was a very important thing to me because like you could just tell like the amount of school districts that were going to go out of this platform they're all flocking last minute to get one um so I think we're going to get the right place for this one
053so and we're going to communicate regularly to make sure we're everyone's surprised at what's going on great thank you for that update thank you so 16.4 is our measure Q citizens oversight committee report update presented by Andy Cannon uh thank you board we met on April 19th to go over our measure Q citizens oversight committee agenda and for everyone to know measure Q is our parcel tax our parcel tax is extending all the way in through next June um so we've got another year left on that the citizens oversight committee their responsibility is to look at the expenditures that are based on the parcel tax and identify whether they were spent appropriately so in this case the citizens oversight committee was able to review that we spend a large majority of our nearly eight hundred
054thousand dollars that we receive annually on Staffing and so that Staffing goes towards our music teachers goes towards art it goes through our librarian and it goes through some other some other items like instrument repair and stipends for our teachers unfortunately for this meeting it was an information only meeting we were unable to establish Quorum we we are still looking for people to join the citizens oversight committee and be a part of that group that really has an important function which is to make sure that the citizens of Martinez is funding and how they do through that parcel taxes spent correctly because it was an information only meeting we did take notes and we looked at the data but we are not able to take any action at the same time the the expenditures are
055essentially the same and that is all on Staffing proportionate to what the parcel tax was originally set up for which again is Music Arts Library and counseling I see several people in this room who would be excellent members of that committee and I'm not going to put any of you on the spot here but I might be calling you and this committee only meets twice a year for under an hour so if you wanted to get your name out there as someone who's supporting the district this would be the committee to do it in um and that uh on our website as we switch this website and onto a new website we do have information if folks want to join and uh online application for it anybody who's interested in joining would go through an
056evaluation procedure by the board and the board would vote on whether to accept them as members of that committee and yeah we'd appreciate it if more of you want to come out great we look forward to seeing you in lots of capacities in our district uh we're gonna move on to item 17 which is public comments I know a lot of people are here for public comments this particular item is something is for non-agendized items but there is a lot of information that applies to any comment that you're gonna make so I'm going to read a lot of information hopefully it'll be helpful for when it when you are coming and making a comment I don't know we might also have some Zoom comments so I'm going to go ahead and read what we read
057at the beginning of the meeting but that happened before closed session so just so everyone in the room is aware of how this will go so in-person speakers will be provided the opportunity to speak prior to zoom speakers in-person speakers will complete a speaker card which lots of you have already done they're in the back of the room and uh basket and place it in the basket provided that's next to our super our assistant superintendent ayet at the end of the table there's a basket there and then we'll put them in the appropriate order as they come in uh all Zoom participants must register a name upon entry to the meeting and be present and engaged by having their camera on three minutes will be allotted for each speaker speakers will be called upon in
058the order in which they raise their hand so that's for Zoom additional minutes cannot be added by using a second speaker's minutes time limits will be enforced especially given this evening we have a lot of people we want to hear from everyone so it's a three-minute time limit so please plan your comments accordingly and then I've got other stuff I got to read so bear with me undergovernment code 549-54.3 members of the public have the right to address the board on any matter within the board's jurisdiction however the board may not take action on any non-agenda item individual speakers will be allowed three minutes to address the board 20 minutes have been allocated for this portion of the agenda additional time is allowed at the end of the meeting if there was not enough time
059to speak during public comments please see Zoom public comment protocols listed above to comply with the brown act the board May listen to comments from the speakers but can neither discuss nor take action on the issues presented members of the board are very limited in their response to statements or questions by persons commenting on items not on the agenda board members are staff may one ask clarifying questions two make a brief announcement three make a brief report on his or her own activities four refer a matter to staff or other resources for information five requests that staff report back on a matter at subsequent meeting or six direct staff to place the matter on a future agenda so with that like I said we have a lot tonight if I mispronounced your name my sincerest
060apologies um so for item 17 we have oh okay so first we have uh Bill frolic not used to public speaking I was waiting for a couple other people to go ahead and um I don't have I no longer have a child at the in the school district but I live a few doors literally just a few doors down from Royal Park School and there was a public meeting which for many of us was the very first time we've heard about uh the Construction Amarillo some of us uh I heard a couple months ago from someone who I know who has grandchildren that part that school the fields get used by several hundred 100 Kids a day if it's baseball season and there's lots of people there I it was partly a question because at
061the public meeting there was a lot of well we'll have to get back to you on that will the fields and the playgrounded structures be available after hours during non-school hours that wasn't clear I'm going to put something out I was not at the meeting um our CBO Andy Cannon was at the meeting what I'm going to do is I have a list of the questions that were brought up and said I um I thought I'd make a list and post it on our website but I'm happy to have you call and talk to either Andy or I in person because we've discussed the issues so and and my primary concern I totally understand the security needs of the school during school I was completely understand that I think at least I got the impression
062that the people who were there at the meeting presenting Andy and I think it was the school principal we're kind of surprised at that there was a baseball game that day and there could have been you know 100 people there at that time we were kind of surprised by the extent of years but that's fairly calm the the um the fields the city leases the fields or rents the field to the organizations like little league and others we have every intention of continuing to rent the fields to whatever organizations want to we currently do that at every site or most sites I would say some of them don't exactly have the best Fields right now but we're working on it um so that that will continue to happen as to whether or not it's open
063as a park um the it was opened as a park because there was a land use agreement with the City of Martinez which is null and void as of June 1st so we're in the process of of finishing that up um it will probably be treated like the rest of our campuses which is how they're they're fenced off for vandalism we do get a lot of vandalism I was matter of fact I was just at John sweat taking a tour of the new building and kids went in there with spray spray cans of paint and painted on the newly painted walls in there um because it's accessible and we have to make sure that we protect the cities and the people's investment as well it'd just be nice if it could remains thank you all
064right next we have Terry frolic um let me just pass out some some of the issues that came up let me just start by saying um we totally support the security go fencing absolutely keep out the bad guys um but you were talking about the fencing but you don't lock the parking lot there used to be a gate at the very beginning and that's been taken out so I think you need to lock up your new parking lot and the very beginning parking lot because that's where all the kids are coming in and there's a neighbor who um can tell you she calls the cops a bunch of us call the cops because there's so much traffic coming through there um the other thing I wanted to say is my son went through all the
065schools we're very thankful and we have voted for every city school Park and trail tax so let me just say that we are just heartbroken at what's going to be happening to our community part um we have volunteered and donated and fundraised for all the schools music and Parks so the problems that came up during this meeting was the parking lot vandalism party garbage um just some really unsavory people back there so I did put in if you look at one of those pages um a solution to that problem and the fact that another parent brought up that the Woodbridge kids have to go from the front of the school crossing against traffic against the parking lot to get to Woodbridge and the answer was well there's some bumps in the road and I was
066like well I don't want that bump on the road to be my grandkids crossing over from the school against traffic to Woodbridge so I propose putting Woodbridge and the other thing was the TK kids too so in your security bubble there is um you have put the TK and the Woodbridge and the same guitar kids out of your security level so I propose putting Woodbridge TK um and shining stars in the back then having a parking lot and then having a gate for that parking lot and then the fields and what I did is I took the proposed um picture and moved everything so with the schematic Circle rest with what you guys presented um there's enough to still have two littler fields and um the structures in the back and the parking in between
067so that takes um the problem of the Woodbridge kids darn the Woodbridge kids having to go against profit so I didn't get to say everything I want to say the other thing is the shining stars um gentleman is fabulous okay and that's all right thank you thank you we will we do have a lot of public comments this evening so but we appreciate that and um and if you wanna if you want to go on the website and send us an email we can try to address some of your concerns and feel free to give me a call as well okay Helen Rossi all right thank you uh looks like we have one additional in-person comment this is uh Katie sutsu hi um my name is Katie zutu um I second everything that Terry and
068Bill both have said I live in that Community um Morello Park Elementary is where my son goes to school he walks there every day we were just at the field before I came here tonight walking our dog there were um t-ball games in both Fields um and so I think um Terry had some really great points um but I think the main point is that football or the the baseball field leaving that open so after school after hours when kids are gone we can publicly use it that's what we have been doing and and finding out that that's going to be closed and shut it's been really shocking to a lot of people although everyone didn't come here tonight everyone everyone in our neighborhood is quite upset um that's one of the perks um that
069also my kiddo who's back here he doesn't want to talk but so disappointing to know that that's going to be closed off um to public thank you okay thank you yeah it looks like we do have an additional public comment Craig lazaretti good evening couple items I wanted to address with you tonight um terms of student safety I wanted to uh bring up the gun incident at John Muir I'm sorry John sweat Elementary with the arrest of someone who bought a gun to campus and the rest in the parking lot and um obviously I'm sure it's a very concerning matter for the District of parents and families but one thing I really want to emphasize is that all employees of the district and all workers employees and work at school sites even if they work
070for other entities are aware of the red flag law and how the red flag law Works in terms of being able to confiscate a firearm from someone who may pose a threat either to them or to themselves um obviously if there were domestic violence factors involved with this case and if someone believes that they're in danger and they work at the school site as we saw There's an opportunity for the person to bring a firearm if they possess a firearm of the school side and we unfortunately nothing bad happened but you never know where these things are going to lead to right I mean we know the society we live in with gun violence we see it every day we saw it in Texas over the weekend so we have great laws here in California
071we have to make sure our citizens are aware of the laws and how they work so they can make use of those laws another thing that while we're talking about this issue is safe storage for firearms California has a safe storage Firearms law several cities have their own laws such as Walnut Creek and I hope Martinez at some point will Implement its own law but um it's imperative that families who possess Firearms who have the right to uh have firearms safely secure their firearms and store their firearms and that laws are passed to make sure that happens um probably don't have to tell a lot of you that gun violence is the number one cause of childhood deaths in America today um it succeeds even traffic accidents this could happen anywhere any place accidental firearm
072discharge um you know unfortunately we're dealing with a mental health crisis with our use right now and the issues around suicide and suicidal ideation so I just want to ask the district to do everything in its power to make uh its families its employees the community as a whole aware of the laws we have in place and make sure that they're exercised to protect our students and our families and our employees thank you all right thank you uh Joe do we have any Zoom public comments all right move to item 18 which is our consent calendar approval of the consent calendar means that all items listed here under are adopted by a single motion unless a board a member of the board or the superintendent requests that any such item be removed from the consent
073calendar and voted upon separately are there any changes to the consent calendar there are none okay let me board discussion I just wanted to say I think there was maybe a couple of new retirements on there so congratulations to those that are retiring right any public comments on the consent calendar okay seeing then we'll bring that back for action move to approve the consent calendar seconded oh student vote aye all in favor I opposed abstentions motion carries 19 our discussion and information items 19.1 is the Declaration of Need for fully qualified Educators for the 2023-2024 school year presented by superintendent Rossi okay each year we're required to complete a blanket Declaration of Need for fully qualified Educators based upon this year's needs for next year because we don't know next year's because we're not done
074hiring just in case we don't find someone with the right credential for something we have an Avenue to look at alternative credentialing um for them so I'm submitting this tonight in for next year based upon what we needed this year that happens like I said each and every year and it's it's um it's something that's done each year so any board questions or discussion okay any public comment on 19.1 right seeing then we will see this back on our May 22nd agenda 19.2 is Martinez Unified School District board policy 9240 and this is also presented by superintendent Rossi okay so at the request of a board member um I was asked to put on the agenda for board discussion and review board by law 9240 would have which has to do with board training and
075you can go ahead and flip the page so right now um there was an optional update in 2016. at um to address the importance of board training and recommended topics of training for new and first-term board members and how a district might go about selecting these activities the bylaw also um addresses that when the board does attend a training and they go in a group that they cannot discuss any matters that are up on on an agenda any District matters um while attending this conference but okay our current board policy was updated in 2017 as you can see here and it's very simple saying that training it's uh recognizes that members need training to stay on top and develop develop their leadership skills um all members May attend conferences for board development and board business
076shall not be discussed so it meets the letter of the law after a meeting the board member shall after a conference a board member shall report to the board orally or in writing as soon as possible on the in-service activities they attended that's what we currently have what was suggested okay can you flip I'm trying to find my copy here so I don't have to have you for my favoritism so um what said other suggestions that were in the 2017 update or 2016 revision that were not included in the adoption were um a mandatory orientation with roles that covered roles policies procedures and so on for each new board member and and returning board member um it listed out educational opportunities and the topics that should be covered it because the SBA is a vendor
077and csba does make the recommendations they listed their own professional development in the board policy that whoever updated the policy did not choose to to list it talked about budgeting for these every year making sure there's a line item in our budget so that we can guarantee that there is a board money for board training each year and then talked about scheduling throughout the year so to to just touch on that scheduling a bit I do have I made a governance calendar at the beginning of um at some some point last fall I wouldn't say the beginning but at some point and in that each month it talks about um different things that I would provide for instance the governance training we had with with Greg danis of dwk and then it talked about Finance
078101 which I had Andy um put out and it talked about um special education training that we did in terms of putting things out and should the board ever want to have we talked about this in governance training should the board ever want to have more training in this we can schedule study sessions so that we're all on the same page we can host those during closed session or make closed session a little bit longer and so as I as I feed information about what we do to our fairly new board if there are things that you want to learn more about we're happy to to provide that and add it to our our governance calendar okay next page so I was suggested to me during our board policy review that I take a look
079at the policy that's put out by the Pittsburgh Unified School District in the Lafayette Elementary School District so I I pulled both of them and I looked at Pittsburgh and compared it to the must and Pittsburgh um hauls out two conferences per year with board approval and uh for any more than two and out any type of out of state would have to come to the board so every board member would be able to go to two conferences per year and if you wanted more or you wanted one of them to be out of state you'd have to bring it to the board and get board approval they also allow for two professional development sessions not to exceed three thousand dollars for each board member with board approval for more than the two and if
080it's out of state I looked at Lafayette it's identical to the csba sample and it included the areas that were left out on the musd by the superintendent and board at that time um it but it does instead of staying a mandatory orientation it's recommends or says it's optional to have an orientation and then it it makes mandatory a training on diversity Equity inclusion and below every two years next slide so what I did was take a look at what we've spent so far this year for board training and expenditures our board voted to attend the csba conference this year every other year it's down south it's up it's in San Francisco and then it's down in San Diego and then it's in San Francisco so um it is expensive and we have a new
081board and we wanted everybody to be able to go down and attend as much as possible some people well everybody attended the pre-conference because if you were a new board member it was beneficial to go to the pre-conference for new board members and then if you weren't a new board member you needed to get president training and the two returning board members here went to uh Courtney and and he went to um the new president training on the day before so it was an additional day in there and then we had Greg danis come for two governance trainings where we met for three and a half hours one day and four hours for the other day where we went through our roles our purpose um our norms and why everyone is Seated on the board
082where they are got to know each other tried to get on the same page in terms of our policies and procedures and for a total of about twenty five thousand six hundred dollars so what I did was because it's the math side of me that comes out sometimes I've gotta compare everything and take a look at data I looked at what we spent in the district and I originally came up with a lower number then I remember we pay for services to come so we might have West Ed come and work with a school or we pay the county for in for Teacher induction and for administrative lead professional development and for the entire District we spent we spent uh 118 761 dollars for all staff and when I look at that and I compare
083that to the board training I I worry about being too heavy on one side and not heavy enough but I also worry that people aren't getting what they need and and so it's a discussion for the board to have and I wonder if um can you flip to the next page I wonder if a solution might be to um or a suggestion might be to keep the wording as it is but require board approval for any more than csba and government's training this way if there was something special that somebody needed to go to because they felt they needed that to be the most effective they could bring it to the board and discuss it and the board can decide as to what to do that's one suggestion ultimately the decision belongs to these five
084and I just uh brought it up for discussion so 761 dollars that is including the board no it's not including the board the board basically it was 144 with the board so the board of all the money spent the board spent 18 of the pot of money on the five okay right well we can start with the board so if anyone has a an item that they want to bring up for discussion or how we want to proceed with this go ahead so I was actually looking at um the csva website today and um they have a lot of I think very cost effective courses available like they charge thirty dollars for different sessions that have already been taught that I think would be very good for us to tap into um they have a
085governance training which is also low cost when I saw the numbers that superintendent Rossi posted about the damage training um I honestly felt like the trainings weren't worth the eleven thousand dollars I would prefer that those that money be spent like on csba resources that are more cost effective and probably go more in depth for issues that we need to cover um that was just research that I was doing on the csba website so I think that money would be better spent going through csba than paying our attorney I don't know they're like 500 an hour to come and train us so I just think that we should consider the option of tapping more into csba resources um for trainings and workshops Etc so I I a couple things on that I mean I agree
086that those workshops were really costly I think part of that decision was because we are even I mean we've been on the board for the longest and it's not very long so that there was we felt like a necessity to do that I don't know that that would be something there hasn't been discussion that that would be an ongoing yearly expense and I definitely agree with you that that would be something we really need to consider because that is a big chunk of money um when I look at those numbers though I look at um and the overall amount that's been being spent on our entire staff I feel like that's really heavy and I would um I would like to see that not be so high so one thing we know like in the
087San Francisco the years that csbas in San Francisco that number should go down because we don't have the cost of flights and then the hotel those were really big expenses so that will go down but for me I think that there are a lot of things that we can do internally and I agree there's probably a lot of opportunities with csba that they can come and do some of those trainings we can schedule them just as you know open study sessions um that aren't necessarily uh costly but I think to me I I would hope that that number is an outlier kind of a number because it's really high and I don't for me my goal is not for it to be that much money spent on board training on an annual basis if we
088had more if we were getting like lots more money and we just had it great but I think given what we're spending on the rest of the staff and professional development and our overarching goals in the district of student achievement and knowing that there's a lot of professional development that is going to be coming down the pike to that end I think we have for me I think we have a real responsibility to put those dollars to the people who are in the classroom and and the training on for our teachers um so I agree I don't know that we need to do any more big expensive workshops we could be a little more creative about it but I'm also not looking to replace those dollars with something else yeah I mean we're not we're
089not deciding anything tonight but I I don't I mean I think our maybe we can make our policy a little bit more detailed but um I don't necessarily think we need to spend more money I think like you said this year was an outlier because Annie and I have been on the board for like two and a half years and were the people that have been here the longest so clearly training was needed um but you know it it should not always be that way so next year the I I would think would be a lot less spent on in that area I calculated I just estimated for next year in San Francisco to be more around 7 000 for um instead of it was 14 something to go to csba it should be between
090seven and eight thousand by the time you you pay the registration the mileage the parking we wouldn't pay for hotel if you wanted to stay in hotel you can do that on your own or you can transport back and forth and then that would include even a luncheon for one luncheon choice for each of you for the speakers so I would just say that um the masters of governance from the csba seminar that looks like something that the board would find beneficial to attend um there's I think successions total I mean some are even you know Santa Cruz but you can also Drive in a day um that's like 300 or 400 so I think there are some local [Music] um seminars that we can attend we just have to be you know look for
091those and find out when they are um and some are even you know Friday Saturday or you know so they're not taking away from our day jobs I think so I think that's something that would be beneficial [Music] just that what's on the spreadsheet is obviously representative of the the year um but there's a snapshot time I suspect the 118 000 is probably a little more regular uh training spent on on on staff um and if we kind of try and normalize this based on you know the the expense of going to San Diego versus San Francisco and taking the uh the dwk expenditure we're probably closer to you know sub 10 of the staff budget for training and um I think that's what source kind of sounds high for five people the role is
092probably reasonable where obviously supposed to be charging or reading charging the policy and direction of the district uh so probably worthwhile investment but leave it open to uh discussion should opportunities present themselves you know with board approval do you want me did you have any thoughts on this one um I mean I like the idea of how updating the policy having an opportunity that if there were an you know something that came up that a board member was interested in going that would be an additional expense that bring it to the board and then we vote on it that way we don't have to be committing ourselves to a particular amount each year or particular conferences I think there's even potential to be you know if a member can't attend csba and doesn't use that
093money maybe there's something another opportunity that they would want to bring to the board and say I'm not able to attend but I do want to use that money for further training or you know professional development so I like the idea of updating the policy I think that it could be a little bit more detailed I would like to request that it be updated also and for me as a single mom it's hard for me to travel long distances to conferences so if I were able to tap into like online courses like csba offers and seminars it would be more feasible for me to do that um and you know obviously I attended the conference because I had just been elected but I think you know it had another situation of you know arrived I
094would have said you know I can't attend to San Diego um kind of thing but I think if we are able to have a certain amount of money allocated for us to use wisely for good you know for good uh training like csda offers online or at local locations I think that would lead to our benefit to use affordable trainings and have that available to us or we don't have to wait and get something on approval and invite them the registration is done or the cost to register with higher kind of thing are there any public comments on this let's do public comments and we can come back with any direction we have first staff nothing online okay well it's on us then how we want to direct um staff to bring this back so
095it sounds like there is interest in updating the policy um I don't know Helen are you able to tell us um like I'll give an example like my day job we each get nine hundred dollars a year that we can use on professional development keep in mind that we have like we have to do continuing legal education to keep our licenses but I that's my budget and then I if I see something I want to spend it on I send it to my supervisor for approval so like how would it work um how does it work in our district well teachers and credential people are the same thing we have to have workshops um what they do is they submit a request for a professional development Workshop through um ed services they fill out a
096form and they cost it out and they put where how it aligns to the lcap how it aligns to the district goal um and when it is how much it's going to cost do they need to substitute all the details cost it out and then it gets brought down to cabinet or if it's something simple it'll just probably go through and services but it's something major that's over a couple hundred bucks we talk about it in cabinet to see if we have that money where we're going to charge that and so on and so forth and that's how the procedure Works um if CSEA there are workshops for CSEA some do take advantage of them a lot of times they'll take a class and they'll fill out the paperwork both both um mea and csda
097will fill out paperwork to take a class they pay for it if they earn a certain grade in that class we can reimburse them and then it counts you know for them for salary credit those are the only ways that I know of that we do the professional development unless it comes so for instance if we're talking about uh one school that may particularly need a boost in data-driven instruction and we need to bring in West Ed to work with them that was something that we would do and make a district decision on that would be a bigger price tag so a variety of ways but I would suggest that it's come to you guys and you guys decide and um you know set some kind of limit because it could get out of control
098and if we're obligated to give a thought say it's a thousand dollars a year to each person on top of csba and on top of any workshops we have we have this is our first year actually our second year where we're not cutting Personnel budget cutting and if we have to cut if we have that in policy and we have to make cuts on staff that's not something would have to be done to change the policy again or you could keep the policy and do it it just I would just caution the board about that kind of thing that's all Carlos Tanya any thoughts on that just so we can direct Helen how we want the policy to be written for action on the next agenda I would just say it's it's a bae it's
099not you have to use that money it's you know so obviously if there's um you know staff Cuts or you know there's money crunch you probably wouldn't spend the money unless it was something that was really really critical for for learning purposes but um I think you know putting a dollar amount is not necessarily a bad thing so that if you wanted to do something online you know something that's beneficial yeah I wouldn't put obviously three thousand I think that's excessive yeah um but I think if you put something you know maybe a thousand or something and again it's not that you have to use it it's that it's there and you know obviously when the classes are and um you know I was looking at some of the governance training the masters of governance
100and um it seemed like they were kind of sporadic and so I don't even think that would happen until probably a year from now because they're kind of in the midst of doing those so it's not something that you necessarily spend I think I would feel um I to give context the reason I'm feeling so conservative about this and not personally wanting to put a number out there is because this is actually the first year in many years that we've brought back any board training this was something that was cut in a whole round of cuts when we had to cut Library I think it was librarian lmas and there were all kinds of classified cuts and so the board did this and said we're gonna sacrifice doing trainings because we realized that this these
101dollars need to go in where it's going to directly impact kids and so I know that history of it and so I'm feeling a little bit like you look at that number we went from zero for a lot of years and I think that it's the right thing that we all went to csba I think it's the right thing that we're bringing back these trainings and I also feel like where I'm coming from is let's just keep it where we can open it up for if there's something that a board member wants to do they can bring it but we can assess it Case by case rather than just fully opening it up because there was a reason for it in our district to to keep these costs pretty low for a long time and
102I think to Helen's Point there's a lot of trainings that we can do at very low or no cost for the whole board at the board's request so if they say we were really lacking information on this we can set those workshops up and either have someone from csba or have no one have you know have our well not no one but have someone from our cabinet come and and do those trainings for us as well so that's my hesitation on putting a number on it but I'm certainly open to putting it on a Case by case because I think there's a lot of really valuable opportunities out there I do want to highlight things you maintain the language or highlight the language of a report out or presentation on trainings received and you know
103what the value was I think the master of governance is really important for all of us to take and it's a lot more than 200 it's not going to be the 11 000 that we paid the attorney but it'll definitely be a more affordable amount I looked at one of the charges and I think I saw what was it the brown act IS 250 the master in governance was I think four hundred dollars for six hours um so it's going to be more than 200 and I think to superintendents Rossi's point that made the cost may be higher than we you know we anticipate I'm like we all have full-time jobs so and we don't get paid to sit here and do this so you know the time that I allocate the training and is
104going to be training that I've set aside already in mind that I'm losing time that I'm not working beating my family so it shouldn't be a fear to the district that I'm going to spend more money on this I'm going to train what I need to train on but I'm not going to go and spend the district's money crazily because I have a day job and I have a family too so I think if we allocate a certain amount of money I think for the first year at least allocate enough for us to get the Masters in governance done and then after that we Revisited and lower it to an amount that's more feasible with like the 30 per session recordings at the csba offers on different subjects I think it's important to realize that
105we're talking about Senate policy that is amends it so I kind of endorse what Courtney had said about setting a low dollar limit and with a special exception or approval um for Case by case then or Case by case situation any other thoughts on um so I think yeah I mean the Masters in governance from my understanding it's something that you do once so it wouldn't necessarily need to be an ongoing expense um I think it's also important to highlight that and I know Helen brought this up but the SBA is a vendor so any trainings we get I mean I think it's nice to think about a scope and a variety of trainings because csba is an organization that markets their services to school boards and so you know we're all going to the
106cfba conference and then getting a master's in governance probably a lot it's a lot of the same um kind of training and it is an organization that a vendor um but I would say I don't think this precludes anyone from saying I want to do the Masters in governance and bringing it but I don't know that I mean it's not a requirement it's not even a requirement that any of us go to the SBA this is a volunteer position so we can't require board members to go do that training and we certainly can't require them to do Masters in governance but I don't think that not having a dollar amount precludes someone from coming and saying I really want to do this and give you know enough leeway and say I want to have this
107money approved so that I can sign up for the next round of sessions but I don't to me I don't see that as something that needs to be an ongoing like an ongoing dollar amount in the policy I think that case by case still gives us a lot of flexibility to get board members training that they both need and desire sorry three and I it just means that maybe there will be a little bit more intention and thoughtfulness behind it um because we may all there may be different things that we're all interested in in areas that we think we need um education in okay so Helen do you feel like you have enough direction from us to create and bring back a revised policy yes okay perfect so we'll see this on May 8th
108no today is May May 22nd we're not adding another thing tonight uh okay so I normally we would take a break right now and I want to get a kind of feel for everyone so we have one item and then the item after that is what ninety percent of our audience is here for so um if we feel like we want to get through 20.1 just because people have been sitting here and really respectfully patiently waiting that would be maybe my preference but if we are all feeling like we desperately need a break um we could also do that right now or if the audience needs a break if everyone feels like they need to have a restroom break then that is perfectly reasonable too or we can decide to go through these next two
109items 19.3 and 20.1 and then take a break I'm open to either idle either idea so do you guys want to break show of hands of who wants a break it'd be like three minutes no okay so let's move on all right we will continue on then so 19.3 is Martinez Unified School District board policy 9400 uh also presented by superintendent rescue so this is another board policy that was asked by a board member to be um on the agenda and it's a board policy that we currently it's an optional board policy that we currently do not have it's a bylaw 90 it's actually a bylaw sorry uh 9 400 and um csba provided a recommendation and you can go ahead and flip the page in 1988 and revised it in 2017 but I can
110find no evidence of it being adopted anywhere districts are not required to have it there and not required to adopt it unless it becomes mandated by law and it's not once added the policy must be followed whether unless it's revised or deleted so the policy is for the board to do a self-evaluation yearly in public in Open Session so the purpose of the evaluation is to demonstrate the board's accountability to the community and ensure that our district government supports student achievement and that making certain we're in going in the direction of the district's vision and goals so the evaluation is the board um the evaluation can address any area of the board's responsibility including but not limited to board performance in the areas on the left their Vision setting curriculum all of the areas that
111we cover in a school district and may also address objectives related to board meeting operations how are their relationships how are their relationships among board members how is their relationship with me they rate themselves and then they review the process they review the um and analyze the answers here in Open Session go ahead and flip so the board although it evaluates itself as a whole individual should use the evaluation processes and opportunities to assess and set their own goals for their own personal performance um it's a let's see every year the board we get to determine the method of evaluation or the instrument to be used they would receive assistance from the superintendent in other words I would research very different a variety of methods and bring them to the board they don't necessarily have
112to use the same evaluation tool every year but it does help with consistency because you know that you're you have a Baseline and you're measuring your goals it must measure the key components of responsibility and the objectives on the page before and any visual or audio recordings of a board meeting may only be used in the evaluation as a tool if all members give consent then the board would discuss the results they could use a facilitator to assist in the process or they could um solicit input into the process from the superintendent or other cabinet members the outcome would be to define or redefine protocols using the data they would establish priorities and objectives for the next year's evaluation and develop strategies for strengthening board performance based upon identified areas of need which may include
113additional training so I checked into the csba self-evaluation tool which every csba adopted policy by any District uses this particular tool in their board language whether or not they do it I don't know because I not working in other districts but when I looked up local surrounding districts by law 9400 they all have this policy from csda so I called csba and they sent me information it would be uh 300 to use their online tools so each board member would enter answer the questions on an online tool um you could and then um you could you have a choice 300 you enter the information and they send you an analyzed report for you guys to review and maybe someone in cabinet could be the facilitator otherwise you're paying the 300 for the online tool and
114you can add for thirty seven hundred dollars at a csba person to come as a facilitator so the facilitated stuff is expensive no matter who you're using except for us we're kind of free here you've got us captive um overview provides the board and superintendent with valuable perception data and I have to repeat its perception data people are answering the questions on the online tool according to their individual perceptions so they reveal the range of perceptions among among the board members regarding the performance of the team individuals will then rank the performance of the board and team based on important characteristics on governance standards and then part one there's two parts to it part one has questions regarding the conditions of Effective Government and part two about the five major responsibilities okay so discussion on
115whether or not one the board would like to take a look at possibly adopting this self-evaluation tool and two if you did want to or the self-evaluation by law and if you did want to adopt the bylaw would you want to use the csba tool or have me go out and look for something different is the three hundred dollars um yes it's not 300 each no it's three hundred dollars I would personally rather spend the money on some kind of a training thing rather than especially I don't know I'd have to see have do you have samples of what the analysis looks like that I almost feel like no everything I had I attached to the agenda okay yeah all right I'd almost rather spend the money on some type of a training even if
116it's you know a training session for us here in some area working together or you know kind of our own self-evaluation not necessarily on the board policy and I kind of feel like the what we did with uh Greg danis was in in the same vein um of you know introspection and trying to figure out who we are as a board um so I see the value I'm about to say that we haven't been attempting to reach that goal I guess this is just a little more of a formalized process yeah I agree I I think um I think I think it would be helpful I I would be in favor of it um especially if I I don't know that we need to spend 3 700 on a facilitator but I think you know
117300 for the tool or maybe we even find something that doesn't I don't know maybe you know I don't know what the tool is but I think it's definitely worth looking into and I don't know if you know the answer to this I just thought of this but can we do this just without changing the policy can we just voluntarily choose to do this or we have okay there is um attached to your agenda there's a document called how to use your board self-evaluation results and um this would be a guide for someone to walk you through looking at the results versus spending the thirty seven hundred dollars so no no I mean not with not using a facilitator I mean I mean this does it have to be in board policy to decide to
118do this like say if we decided we wanted to try it but we don't necessarily want to put it in word policy because we don't know how effective it's going to be I don't know you don't have to put it in board policy that's what I should try it yeah okay maybe that's neither here nor there but I just feel like it's you know worth knowing that we don't necessarily have to change policy because I think in theory I think this could be really helpful and I think you know we as a board collectively we evaluate the superintendent and I think you know we're a governing body elected by by constituents by people in our in our community and I think you know in um an effort to be transparent I think this theoretically has
119value I just don't know I mean we would have to do it to like really know where the value is and I guess I'm wondering if we could just do it and like decide to do it and then if it's great we could put it in board policy and if it's not then we're like okay well we tried it maybe let's look at a different tool but it sounds like we're not precluded from doing it if we decide not to put in policy right away so I I just want to point out that when I brought it when I found these policies I actually spent three days researching the best districts in the state of California and I went through all of their bylaws and saw what they were doing differently that we weren't and
120I found that the best districts in California had that training policy and this self-evaluation so I just wanted to put that out there that I noticed that these highest performing districts have these tools going on I think it's a good idea but I don't know that we would need to adopt the board policy and maybe just do it one time and see how it works out because we would probably do it in a training session right like you know like a block of time like we did with the attorney yeah I guess it has to be an open right it has to be open but we could do it in like a study session so people could come but it wouldn't have to be you know like like this formal um Regular meeting um I'm
121also wondering on the timing we've only worked together as a board for for six months I'm wondering if we want to if we do want to move forward should we give ourselves a little bit more time before we do you know like maybe in November when we've worked together November December we've worked together for a year I'm open um I mean I think there's value in trying to set the goal over the summer and we have a little bit of a relationship already you know how we kind of operate and kind of set a Baseline and um trying to figure out ways to move forward or improve our our working relationship over the course of the year so if we could do this you know over the summer or you know before or early in
122the school year and set you know set the goals and objectives throughout the course of the year that makes sense to me I I I can see that we don't need to have a policy but I also would be fine with having a policy it's not helpful we can always change that policy so I I would be okay with it either way yeah yeah I'm I'm okay having a policy or not having a policy I just wanted to know what our options are so if we feel like we want to move forward and have um have Helen bring back next time a policy that we can vote on and we can discuss the timeline we could do it that way if we just want to decide that we want to do pick a timeline and
123decide when we're going to do this and when we'll schedule it that would also be fine it looks like we do have one can I can I ask so the districts that you got the policies that you like the policies from so I can look them up okay thanks okay we do have one public comment Craig lazaretti on a broader issue here about um self-evaluation and training I just want to point out that we're in the middle of a crisis in public education right now probably unprecedented in modern history and in the school boards on the front lines of that crisis and is playing out in many ways that are impacting our students and families in many ways and I think you guys should be availing yourselves of every resource at your disposal to develop
124and learn and grow and be able to serve the interests of students and I'm not getting the sense when I hear somebody's discussions that you guys really get it you know and to be honest I've been coming to school board meeting since 2018 on a regular basis and for the most part in dealing with previous boards totally different people but I've always felt there's too much arrogance on the part of our board members too much of a dismissive attitude toward real issues a real concern that are brought to their attention desire to problems under the rug a lot of times um a desire to spend most of the time cheerleading or patting ourselves on the back instead of rolling up our sleeves and getting to the bottom of problems and being problem solvers and from
125what I've seen of this board I don't see that much of change has changed in that regard um I don't think you guys have a strong grasp of the brown act and how it works which is fundamental it's kind of like being a baseball coach and not knowing what's in infield fly rule is um I think you guys are new and I don't mean to insult you but you know you're learning and you're growing but this is probably the hardest most challenging time to be a school board member anywhere in our country and so I think you should be taking these ideas a little more seriously to be honest with you thanks um what do we how do we want to bring this back then so this is just for discussion tonight it can come
126back on May 22nd so the board can discuss how we want that to look i i would support um making it policy or a bylaw and um and and talking about when we want to do it I saw a couple nods of the head does that sound like a good plan for bringing it back in May we're already in May 22nd okay all right great okay we will move on to 20.1 which I know lots of people have been waiting very patiently for this is the approval of resolution 2023-20 recognition of lgbtq pride month and um Helen you can kick us off okay um so at the April 24th meeting I was charged with taking the resolution back to the drawing board and revising it to um be a resolution to fly the flag the
127lgbtq plus Pride flag at the district office during the month of June without having to bring this back every single year so I can't say it's forever because another board could take it away but it will we won't have to bring it up for discussion and we won't have to make a decision so I changed the resolution to read that every June it will be flown here where the only building that's open in the month of June so we're flying it here um on a regular basis so I brought it back for the board tonight for possible action foreign Helen just said possible action I think that we very much owe it to the community this has been on the agenda three weeks three meetings in a row so I fully intend to take action
128tonight um because this has it's it's been on the agenda for a while um and I have in previous meetings and last year I made my my feelings on this perfectly clear but we have lots of new people here so I'm in full support of this resolution and flying the flag I think anything that we can do to ensure that our students feel safe and included and have a sense of belonging at our sites is something that is well worth our time yep I don't I don't need to stay more agree 100 percent no I'm the uh odd person out but I will restate my position that the district's initiatives to address and improve the culture of Tolerance such as those demonstrated by the equity audit and the Dei plan which will be voted on
129tonight are true examples of working to make a difference in the district and our community there are also initiatives that I support and I voted in favor I truly appreciate and would like to recognize the dedication of our staff specifically principal invendorfer his staffer Mr weiner who embodied these efforts and objectives at the site level I maintained that the display of the pride flag does not include or represent all members of the district and to many does not represent inclusivity and acceptance I'm fully supportive of the resolution to support the safety and well-being of our lgbtu but will not support any resolution that endorses the display of any flag that does not represent our entire Community the pride flag of which remains an integral part of this resolution I support the resolution I'm also in
130full support of the resolution as a student at Alhambra I think it's really important to support everybody in this district and students parents and staff members and I think this is a really good time for the public to speak about this and I fully support having it up all right so with that we have lots of public comments and we are if we we're going in the order um in which we received these comments so the first is Caprice Crum hello my name is Caprice Crum I am a junior at Alhambra high school as well as a representative of the gender and sexuality Alliance Club I am here today on behalf of GSA to ask for your continued support by adopting the resolution and allowing our chosen design flag to be flown year round on
131April 11 2023 the resolution to recognition that uh lgbtq pride month was submitted to the board for approval to my shock and dismay Mr Melendez has individually taken it upon himself to project his own personal agenda and beliefs onto the entire school board by abstaining from the vote and blocking the resolution the flag in debate is the progress Pride black the flag was redesigned by Daniel cassar whose sole intention was to celebrate diversity and create a more inclusive Society let me repeat myself a more inclusive Society Mr melendez's notion that the flag is anything but inclusive it's completely preposterous instead of flying a flag that we have chosen that is already designed to be inclusive Mr Melendez has asked us to design our own flag Mr Melendez we have already decided on a flag it's
132the progress pride flag I now challenge you Mr Melendez who claims to be supportive to design the flag for us if you do not like the flag we have chosen shall I remind you Mr Melendez that in your 2020 election campaign you listed your number one priority as the students so here we are if you can't hear us then you should no longer be representing us if you refuse to vote and further block the resolution and our voices then I ask you resigned today by not adopting the resolution this board will fail its students parents and staff thank you all right next we have Quinn Webb um okay hello my name is Quinn my pronouns are he him and they them I am trans masculine and queer I am the vice president of Alhambra High
133School's GSA at the last board meeting there is a gross misrepresentation of the experiences my community has had and chosen to share I feel it is my responsibility as a Club officer to write these wrongs when asked the question who has experienced discrimination based on their sexuality or gender during a meeting more than half of our GSA raise their hands when asked to give our experiences in the past many of our uh members chose to open up and talk about intense abuse they have experienced I personally had to leave the Alhambra campus because I felt extremely unsafe attempting not only walking around the halls but also within class hearing numerous slurs threats of violence in the past being barked at as if to say I am an animal and being shoulder checked I've even experienced
134discrimination from teachers most of all I have experienced misgendering and deadening I consider myself lucky that that was all I experienced this abuse not only leads to trouble in school and anxiety but also suicidal thoughts and actions lgbtq use are more than four times likely to attempt suicide than their peers with my experience and the things I have seen in my community that statistic holds up here the fact that we are debating whether or not to put a flag up for one month instead of trying to give our students a safe environment as disgusting GSA is a safe space and for many people it is the only safe space they have and this is being used to say we are plenty supportive I ask you how many children have to consider death before we decide
135to Simply put out a flag I am scared for my and my friend's safety anytime I go into an musd school and yet we cannot raise a colorful flag every year without debating it for multiple months it is incredibly frustrating and I cannot support a district that does not support me and I add the argument the progress Fred fog does not represent everyone is ridiculous when you're in an underrepresented Community representation matters the American flag with the laws all around the country killing children just like me the American flag does not represent me and if you think that this violence only happens in other states other counties other other cities but never Martinez then you are the problem look at how many kids are here to talk about their negative experiences just so we can
136put up the flag for one month and this isn't anything compared to the out and closeted queer kids at school I ask you to not only raise this flag but to actively work to make this District a safe space to learn because right now it is far from it we are here we are queer and we are not going anywhere thank you thank you Sarah Tucker um that's my kid um it's not really about a flag and we all know that but I'm going to talk about the flag anyway because talking about my trans child's experience in this distance continues to be some emotional too as a queer parent to a trans child I know what that black represents me when I see the flags flying from buildings posted on in Windows and on doors
137I know that displaying the flag's an intentional choice on the part of the person or people who are flying I know their intent is to let me know that I will be welcomed into and safe inside that space just as I am I know that their goal is not only to be welcomed welcoming to me as an out care person but to be a symbol for the many individuals who are not yet out or who cannot feel safe spaces at home work or elsewhere in case of the school district I believe that this is exactly the message we want to convey to our students that they are welcome to save here I've heard this flag described as divisive and I've yet to hear an explanation for how this even makes sense if someone finds the
138idea of being welcoming and safe to be divisive they're purposely assigning a new meaning to the flag one in which queer individuals presence in the space is problematic or that somehow if the lgbtq community is welcome here another Community is not and that is not the spiritual flag I've heard that this flag does not represent all students while this may be true the reality is that we don't know this for a fact for all we know every student in this District could identify as lgbtq we can't ever assume someone's sexual orientation or gender identity based upon their Anatomy or appearance even if we ask them that question which is actually none of our business they may not feel safe that's about truth finally I heard a suggestion that the GSA student should somehow gather together
139with other students and create some new beautiful flag together this evening you've already heard about the experience of some of the lgbtq students in this District while the idea of joining together with other students to create something new sounds very sweet it is not realistic and it reminds me of the Thanksgiving myth and we're all taught childhoods are we asking kids who've been bullied and ostracized by peers and teachers to lead the charge on inclusivity and belonging I think the suggestion is completely inappropriate and furthers the mission of the oppressor rather than supporting the Opera I'm disappointed that the members of the school board so readily Embrace this idea while I recognize that this is not on the table tonight I think the pride flag should be flona all year long at every school and
140the district office I believe we need to send the message that the queer students staff families and community members are always welcome here yo Mars Penzey hello board my name is Mars Corgi um I use vedem or vegan pronouns I am a queer and transgender student at Alhambra high school and a representative for the USA I feel as though words said by a board member at the previous meeting grossly misrepresent the experience that I've had at the school I personally have experienced copious amounts of harassment and bullying based solely on my queer identities that includes physical harassment and verbal the raising of the flag would be a small small step toward the safer space for fear youth and I feel as though as representatives of the school board you should consider that step please consider
141that step thank you Marin Shahidi I've spoken to you all before on behalf of GSA but I just wanted to make a few points on what was previously said in the meeting and said tonight um I heard that we were like plenty supported by our bake sale and what we've done in the past but just because that we were selling Goods at our Big Field does not mean that we are getting support me and numerous other GSA representatives were for rats so many times during our bake sale and had discriminatory comments made towards us and just because someone wants to give us money for a quickie does not mean um additionally there was a comment made on a lot of us overlap in Cinderella and the drama Community I'm co-president of our drama club and
142it's my responsibility along with my other co-president and Mr weiner Ms Stafford every other representative there to ensure a safe space so of course we're going to overlap because that is our state that is our clear representation um but still there's plenty of members who are into Bella that weren't a part of the Gia's today um and they're just they're separate um I also just feel that it is impossible to make a flag that represents everyone in Alhambra uh when there's about 1400 kids there um and in a few years that whole group is done and then there's a whole new group of kids how are we supposed to us come together and make a flag that's supposed to represent everyone um and there's only 30 kids about 30 for GSA so we have no
143idea how many considers will identify as though these are 32 only 36 that you know safe enough and comfortable enough industry to be out and to align themselves up um I think raising this flag can Inspire more awareness to raise more Flags I think we could raise a flag for Black History Month as well uh I don't think this flag takes away from any other identity um but there are signs all over our campus that say that you support us and that this is a safe space so show that support raise the flag even if it's for one month I agree also this flag should be year-round but it's one month that we aren't even in school um just to fill out statistics um 45 of queer youth consider suicide and schools who show their
144support reports lower suicides there's no such thing as not enough support um and this flag is not supposed to represent everyone it's supposed to represent marginalized groups me and my community are being discriminated daily and I do not feel safe at this school so if you can take one more step um I'd really appreciate it because raziness Vlog does not fun thank you Trinity Kelly hi um I'm Trinity Kelly um and I would like to take a moment to explain who I am a child of two School District employees one of whom is a kindergarten teacher I am a third generation Martinez citizen my mother went through elementary through High School in Martinez and my grandparents are still heavily involved in the community our family members and Friends include many members of the lgbtq plus
145Community including myself I am a senior at Alhambra high school I'm a member of our Backroads club and our drama club I played at Cinderella in our latest production which many of you came and supported I am also a member of the gender sexuality Alliance club and a member of the lgbtq plus Community as mentioned I was there when one board member visited and many of our members shared their positive experiences with GSA and what we've been working on in order to demonstrate why we need this space that Boardman member decided to express to this school board that they think the local lgbtq plus Community has enough support they have expressed that by flying to Pride flag we wouldn't be representing everyone and while I see their point I would like to offer this to
146the entire School Board we do represent everyone the lgbtq plus Community historically supports everyone minority or not and illustrates the intersectionality that this school district claims to strive for Alhambra has posters everywhere stating that it's a safe space that our lgbtq plus youth are welcomed and represented so why should that not be reflected at our district office if you want the dozens of other high school students the upcoming lgbtq plus youth to feel as if you are a safe space for us that you are allies that you will protect us why not visually demonstrate it I leave with this final thought who is it hurting to raise a flag and as kyomi stated in your April 24th meeting there are other flags that we can fly as well who is it hurting to show support
147thank you Jonathan Wright President Martin members of the board superintendent Rossi members of the cabinet student representative and everybody here tonight I'm Jonathan Wright and I'm here to stand in solidarity and speak in solidarity with musd students and Families just have to add about two years ago I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't come back here unless I had a really good reason I have a really good reason to be here and they're all standing here tonight and they're speaking their truth and if you're not hearing why are you here I support this resolution because it is an outstanding reason to be here so thank you all for what you do serving our students in our community and sitting here through tonight's meeting it reminded me how many things you have outside of
148your control you didn't have any control over your website disappearing what the hell you have no control over the teacher shortage it's a nationwide issue if we could do more to build career Pathways so that young people in our community want to become teachers and pay them a living wage index their pay to that those police officers uh then they'll become teachers right these are outside of this this board's control our declining enrollment is outside of our control outcome of elections are also out of control what we do have in our control our Legion or community relations letting people know when the Park's going to get closed up our training needs massive discussion thank you policy it's one of the major parts of what you do every other week also recognizing the need to care
149for the least of our siblings those marginalized and unrepresented members of our community human beings whose needs are not being met by our society we do that by addressing their specific needs if someone is hungry you feed them if someone is naked you clothe them we treat them as family because we love everyone which is the last and some would say most important command So to that end this board has a long and proud history of proving that love by taking action based on the needs of our community actions that are merely a reflection of the values of the entire musd community we provide a safe haven to unrepresented students and their families we ensure Equitable access to all facilities regardless of gender expression we ensure equal and Equitable access to athletic and academic opportunities
150we support paying living wages of creating career paths for all workers because we honor labor and we denounce racism all things that this board has done in recent history and yet here we are debating a flag please help make us proud to be martesians thank you Marco Leone hi my name is Marco Leone this is a lot of reiteration so if you haven't gotten it yet here we go um I'm here today not simply to voice my public comments on this section of your meeting today but to express the many disappointments fears and angers of my community as this is an issue more pressing and unnerving to us than some of the members of the board perhaps realize first I would like to thank my peers friends and allies for attending speaking and otherwise showing
151their support I would also like to make clear that the rallying behind our cause that you see today must not be confused as a surplus of support or a quota that has been filled in actuality we are here on the contrary we are here because once again we are disappointed we are scared we are angry and we feel very much excluded the next and more obvious topic I have to discuss is that of a board member who after attending after hearing about our bake sale that as it happens was to raise funds for a queer-owned animal rescue and Adoption Center Jelly's Place took it upon themselves to attend a meeting of ours at this specific meeting as the year comes to a close we have we had decided to celebrate and discuss our recent successes
152and furthermore what the gender sexuality Alliance meant to us how it has helped us many things were mentioned but a Common Thread among the responses was the sentiment that having a place to meet even just once a week with others more like you with acceptance friendship and protection from the climate of Hazards our district can so often Harbor towards the lgbtq plus Community was cherished and appreciated we were kind we were grateful and we were vulnerable and whether or not this board member came into our place of safety and caring with an agenda or not the celebratory nature of our otherwise lovely meeting was used to fuel a rhetoric that even if intentionally so Works to dampen and put out the light of our community a rhetoric I personally find hypocritical and contradicting in its
153essence for some who has their criticism for someone who has the criticisms and gripes with the quote unquote binary approach surrounding this resolution and its contradiction with how we accept those who live in a non-binary way it seems contradicting in its own right to automatically assume that those who have paid single dollars for cookies or watch this semester's musical or simply cheered at a graduation for students who happen to be lgbtq to be an excellent example of acceptance demonstrated by our students to me that is a binary way of thinking of things to twist these examples of superficial or indirect support for our community and the reasons why we shouldn't be spotlighted over any other community quote unquote feels like a tactless Endeavor or it is not truly the amount of support that we get
154from any one person or community that is the issue but the superficial the superficiality of that support that leaves us feeling disheartened it's easy to go to shows and it's easy to go buy cookies I understand the worry that raising one flag for one Community can be seen as spotlighting those over others but but the truth of the matter is at this specific time of year June is dedicated to uplifting and a historically ostracized group of people and changing not enforcing what is already the status quo thank you Ryan Hussey uh this is actually a little embarrassing I was here to speak on 20.6 uh and thought that would be the very end of it but um I did put 20. so with that being said yeah no it is and it's uh it's it's
155really is embarrassing because oh man I'm a teacher at the high school and a parent kids also uh I'd like to think that my actions um speak as well as my words and I have my rhetoric about what I do um and then just to think you know I'm at the school all this stuff is past little conversations here and here how busy we are trying to do things all the time in that school students experiences that we are not recognizing uh representation of someone is super important um and just having his up here would be very very proud of you all so uh thank you and I apologize for not speaking on your behalf or representing you all right thank you and I updated your comment card so you don't need to fill out
156a new one we will get you at 20.6 Rachel diekman and Rachel deichmann I'm so proud of you guys I'm so proud of these thanks um my name is Rachel Dyckman and I'm two kids that go to [Music] um attend elementary school in the district and last year I reached out to some of the members of the board um that are here still and we asked the same thing and I was told that we can always do more to ensure our marginalized students feel safe and accepted at school and raising a flag is the least we can do and I don't really have anything else to say that hasn't been said I'm so proud of everyone here so please pass the resolution and thank you so much if we don't have to do it again
157next year that will be awesome thanks so much thank you uh Dodie zodig subtag sorry about that like thigh or sigh uh good evening superintendent Rossi school board members and the community members and attendance thank you for allowing me to speak I am the interim executive director of rainbow Community Center the only lgbtqia organization in Contra Costa County centering some of the most marginalized in our community centering means uplifting those most impacted and that uplifts all this flag is an example of uplifting all and my words are not as important as those you've heard tonight but I want to assert my privilege and position to Echo and uplift all that have shared their experiences along with supporting our leadership and staff at Rainbow as in the interim Ed I work in a non-profit as a
158surgical technologist and I previously worked at Mount Diablo adult education for over 14 years personally my identities include many intersections a queer lesbian and army veteran a single parent and a kid who grew up in an under-resourced Buffalo Inner City public school where being queer met you endured violence on many levels I wish I had any positive representation of lgbtq people or some affirmation at school it might have been less traumatic growing up so I'm here tonight to share both the data on why raising the pride flag each June is an important part of genuine allyship and a way to create a safe affirming and protective place for our young people but also to add to the real human stories you've heard from your youth tonight my child is also a rainbow little unicorn and
159he's like the many kids we serve in our youth program the data is telling you've heard some of it and I'm just gonna do some fun highlights the Human Rights Campaign reports that 92 percent of lgbtq Youth say they hear negative messages about being LGBT the top sources are School internet and their peers the Trevor Project National survey on lgbtq youth mental health shows a lot of Staggering data I'm just going to share one 71 of transgender and non-binary youth reported that they have experienced discrimination based on their gender identity a lot of times that's in school at Rainbow we directly serve young people in our youth housing program ages 12 to 24 who are kicked out or facing violence because they are lgbtqia in Contra Costa County and the last year we've been asked
160to speak at three funerals of lgbtq Youth and Contra Costa County who have died by Suicide now this data is horrifying gut-wrenching and can feel insurmountable to overcome but we know that there are protective factors that counteract these statistics lgbtq youth who have access to spaces that are affirming of their identities report lower rates of attempting suicide folks who have their pronouns respected by all people that's half the rate of attempted suicide I know I have 14 seconds we know you can't control how a student's family or friends affirm their pronouns and identity at home but you can show A visual representation of support for them by raising the pride flag it takes courage to do the right thing to speak up to show up and to send a message of affirmation I'm going to
161say your support is needed to raise the pride flag and provide visibility so your students these students can see your support and information that who they are deserves to be shown and lifted thank you Dustin Gomez good evening everyone uh my name is Justin Gomez I use he him pronouns I'm a parent of an elementary school in the district it'll be two next year really excited for that one school drop-off um I made a lot of notes um but I'm an educator myself I work in public higher education here in the Bay Area and to hear the words of our youth in this space I don't have much else to say honestly um but as someone who has experience in this community around displays of affirmation for marginalized community members I was the one and
162with a hundred of my closest friends of Martinez we painted the black lives matter mural in the summer of 2020. and people said it was just pain on the street that it wouldn't do anything but I sat in the grass in front of the courthouse and I saw black community members come to that mural and dance and take pictures driving from all across the bay area because they felt affirmed by what we did in that community and you have the opportunity to do that here tonight I think it's pretty clear we have some of our affirmative votes and there's some unfortunate opinions held by trustee Melendez I I'm in your District I I did vote for you and I hope your tenure on the sport is short but I will say what I found incredibly
163problematic that just underscores your misunderstanding of the LGBT community was that the LGBT community supports a non-binary approach to life this isn't some just approach that they woke up one day and they're like this is this is what I'm gonna do I I'm gonna do this this is them being their truest most beautiful authentic selves in spite of the gender binary they are existing in a way that our society doesn't permit and people like you seemingly take issue with that and the words that you shared at the last board meeting were violent they might have seen wrapped up and you know Pomp and Circumstances a trustee but they are violent when we look what's happening in this country right now Across the Nation the statistics I don't need to reiterate them they've been said you
164are complicit in that and you're drawing in the line that you don't want to raise a flag you are complicit in that you are complicit in violence against the LGBT community and you need to be held to account the students in this room deserve better they deserve to be seen they deserve to have their existences validated and celebrated Pride the month of June started in 1970. in celebration of the Stonewall uprising Pride was a riot Pride was a moment when members Gay Liberation activists rose up and fought for their rights these students are doing it now decades later because of people like you people who don't have the ability to recognize the power in their existence the beauty in their existence so open your mind do better thank you uh I have an additional comment
165that just says item 20 Craig lazaretti did you mean to speak to this item okay well I I just really want to celebrate the students here tonight this is this is democracy you know we've heard a lot about democracy the last couple years this is democracy and I know how much I feel that I hear the pain you're sharing and I know it's tough and it shows a lot of Courage but you're our future you're a hope you will save our country you know there was always a thought in American history that was an Unwritten rule that every generation would do whatever it took with sacrifice make any whatever sacrifice was there necessary to make sure their children had a better life and had more rights and more opportunities than they had and for the
166most part that's always been true for all our problems and challenges it's always been true but now it no longer seems that way we we failed you my generation we failed you you go to school in fear of Guns of violence of hate of discrimination you should be able to go to school and be who you are and be true to who you are and it took me too long I'm a parent of a transgender child but I didn't wrestle with these things until it hit it came into my life it shouldn't take that for me to show empathy that was my failure but you know however hurt you feel know that the majority of this community is with you we have your back and during those darkest times when you feel lonely and feel
167lost just know build up build a power and the love that this community has for you and remember let's always remember that so many lgbtq students throughout the country are not this fortunate we see what's happening with Florida in these other states you know the most one of the most famous athletes in the history of Florida Dwyane Wade won three NBA championships with the Miami Heat had to move his family out of the state of Florida because of the hostility that his transgender child you know did you hear about that a few weeks ago he just announced that and let's think for a moment about the kids in Florida Florida the state where decency goes to die where empathy goes to die you know let's think about what they're going through tonight because there's not
168probably not a lot of school board meetings for her those kids have the strengths to show up the way you did and you can't blame them because of what they're dealing with but you are a future and know that you know resilience build strength adversity build strength which you had to endure and go through it will make you stronger people thank you do we have additional public comments online we have one additional public comment okay the online comment is uh from Ms Rebecca Barrett do I just start speaking go ahead Miss Barrett Perfect all right um good evening everyone thank you to the board um for hearing my public comments um I am a governing board member for our local Community College District and I'm a resident of Martinez um I just wanted to come
169and also speak on this issue I think you heard beautifully for many of your own students here tonight about the importance of publicly demonstrating support for our lgbtq students and staff and teachers and Martinez community members whether or not they're in your school or not this flag when flown is really a a beacon of of Hope that there are corners of society that can celebrate the lgbtq community um but I do think it is a it's though I was so proud of all the students who came and spoke tonight it is also so heartbreaking that students have to come and speak these are adult decisions and it should be adults we lost her connection Miss Barrett are you there yes can you hear me yes we can hear you now okay well that's just a
170sign to wrap it up thank you everybody and um I hope the I hope the board can vote in favor of supporting the pride flag all right thank you okay so with that we will bring it back to the board I have nothing further to say I don't know if anyone else does I just want to thank everybody that came and spoke truth to power tonight it takes a lot of Courage I'm really proud of all of you I'm sorry you had to come here for this um and uh yeah thank you I also want to thank the students and the parents and community members for coming to speak tonight and I hope that people that spoke tonight run for school board in the future we want to see you on the board or I
171do at least um so thank you all right well with that I think that we are um very much ready for a vote and I will happily motion to approve resolution 2023-20 recognition of lgbtq pride month and as a reminder this is um for is an ongoing resolution the pride flag will be flown every June second student vote all right all in favor aye opposed are you are you saying you're an I so we're okay so all in favor all in favor uh your eye nose opposed abstentions all right motion carries unanimously right with that I'm not your parent but maybe some of you guys need to go do some homework you know I don't know get out of here if you want to stay for the rest of our meeting you are welcome um
172we are going to I'm in a motion to take a five minute break all in favor uh aye okay from our break before we get back to anything I'm going to go ahead and make a motion to extend our meeting um 30 minutes so it has currently has an end time of 9 30 and I think it's pretty clear that we will need more than more time than that so I'll motion to extend the meeting to 10 o'clock second dude student vote aye all in favor aye opposed abstentions all right we will move on to we're on 20.2 this is Martinez Unified School District ad hoc committee regarding the Martinez Refinery company and um superintendent Rossi will present so um I was contacted recently I can't remember the day um by a representative from MRC
173to shortly after we received or shortly after the report came out about the um these uh substance observed on the Martinez Junior High campus and I was asked if the the way the email read was I'm assuming you have a lot of questions um I want to invite you to meet with us the refinery manager and key members of the leadership team to answer any questions you have and tour the facility now I toured the facility when I was a vice principal before 2005 and I'm sure there have been some changes and I'm not really interested in the tour but I am interested in asking some questions in regards to um what happened in November and the communication with our school district and after speaking with board president um um I want to say horac
174it's just I couldn't get the Martin out Martin um she suggested that I bring um take an ad hoc Committee of board members two board members with me as well as I talked to Dan today on his first day and I said you are in charge of safety we were talking about the refinery and the fact that we were going and he suggested that he wanted to come so that he could also take charge of his responsibilities of safety so it would be a committee of of Dan and myself and two board members so tonight I'm asking um to see which two board members are available and would like to represent the district with me and Dan on May 22nd from two to five no I'm sorry May 15th from two to five and then
175the board members would uh the ad hoc committee would report back here to the board on the 22nd so sorry about that it's a long night thank you and I know we probably have a we do have some public comments on this and um I also wanted to start off by saying well I have a lot of thoughts about this so you know back in November we were on break when the spent Catalyst was released and so we didn't have school students on campus at the time thankfully at that time and I think for many months after we as a district and certainly superintendent Rossi has met with everyone that she needs to meet with and has attended all the meetings that she's been invited to and has found out the information I think I
176believed and I I don't want to speak for you but I think we believed that we had been told all the pertinent information and then we found out from another public agency in their public meeting that in fact we had not been told everything that we needed to know in a timely manner and so I think that this is um really important for us as potentially a first step to go we know that the refinery is I mean they're going to tell us what they're going to tell us we certainly can ask any questions that we want but this might be a first step to where this committee can come back to the board on the 22nd and say here's what we found out and here's what we think we need to do next So
177based on those findings I think this can be a jumping off point because I certainly think that to me almost equally upsetting as the release itself is the lack of communication from the agencies that are responsible for letting us know we don't actually have any sort of regulatory power over the refinery but because we have our most vulnerable citizens in our care we have other agencies we rely on and so I think it is important for us to at least go and ask the right questions and make demands where we need to make demands knowing again we don't have regulatory power but we certainly can make our voice heard in this um so that we're not finding out pertinent information about our school sites from other agencies in their public meetings you know we we
178should be told those things on our own so um I know that there were some comments about this I've seen some public comments some comments out in the public and they know I think Courtney probably has a lot more to say about that um that maybe this is just a PR tour and I think again I see this as a first step it's an opportunity for us to go and ask the questions that we need to ask knowing that there might be more that we need to do it probably is more that we need to do but this certainly is a is a first step yeah I mean I would agree with that I think um you know it's it's hard for me it's been hard to know like what is our role with this
179issue and what exactly can we do and is the community expecting us to do um I sort of feel the same way I think that you did that up until a couple of weeks ago when we found out about the the junior high being affected we sort of or I'll just speak for myself I sort of felt like the agencies that had oversight and control were doing what needed to be done and and keeping us in the loop and then um maybe that was naive um I think and and I I can see how maybe the community thinks it's naive of us to go talk to the refinery people when you know maybe that that probably will only serve a very limited purpose but I don't have a problem with it as a first step
180um I I see our role here as making education policy and advocating for public education that of course includes student health and safety and we are of course looked at as leaders of the community um and so we have to I think one of the things after you know this committee that we're going to create which I'm happy to serve on unless you know there are other people that are dying to do it um you know we can look at what other steps or roles we could take and may you know maybe that means meeting with the Board of Supervisors and seeing you know what what kind of things can be done to prevent this from happening in the future looking at where we can improve communicating um with the other agencies and then disseminating
181that communication out to the families that need to get that information um for instance perhaps I I know the city has a really great kind of website where they've kind of collab you know put put a lot of the information in one place maybe we link to that website from our website or you know not to reinvent the wheel because it's there already but something like that um just I'm gonna go real quick but I think some other thoughts I had were like there's a independent investigation board that the city has a seat on um nobody has come to us but you know I I don't think it would be a bad idea from one of us or someone from the district to be a part of that so maybe that's something we could ask
182for there's an Innovative Independent Community investigation board um so I think that this Commit This committee could look at all of those issues and bring recommendations back to the board and um and you know look at what else can be done to keep our community safe this is a challenging topic because obviously we're in charge with the health and safety welfare of our students but obviously this is a community issue um that's bigger than the district so we really aren't able to lead the charge and it is I I remember I've had to be like 2009 2010 and there was a a release when it was shell and you know the entire city was riddled with oil droplets and and you know it was airborne and I don't remember the uh social Fallout of this
183on the schools that we're experiencing now um and I think people are upset and want something done about it but there is there's there has to be an acknowledgment of our limited scope of influence though we can participate and and be proactive in receiving the communication with the with MRC with the city with the county um that obviously we we should take part in um and you know provide the school perspective so maintain a presence and and participation but um I I don't want to make promises or or obligations to something that we can't deliver on you know with our with just being the district um so I yeah I would fully Advocate that the support the committee and being the Catalyst in addition to our efforts with the city already the Catalyst of communication
184and uh flow of our priorities or the highlighting our priorities yeah I think we should get on one of the Committees that's actually in you know involved that has um the county health and um the city just to keep information flow current and I don't know that this committee would do that but I think it's also good to have open communication with the refinery um there are a lot of good refineries I don't know that much about MRC but a lot of refineries have caps which are Community advisory panels I don't know if they have one or not um but that's something that would be you know I'd be interested in finding out if they have that and maybe having a board member on serve on that because there's a lot of dialogue and the
185other caps that are out there A lot of times you have the ear of the general manager and they will keep you in the loop um of different things so um I think it is important that we kind of keep abreast of this um and somehow get onto some type of a committee so we do um you know have the updated information as it comes thank you so I think we I appreciate MRC reaching out and extending that invitation to visit with them and tour the facility but I think that we need to proceed with caution because I've been reading a lot and I've been hearing a lot from the community that they're critical and upset at us at not having taken a stance sooner um I'm hearing a lot that comments that people think
186that were in there that when they've bought us out we're in their pockets a lot of critical harsh judgment towards us as the board for being apathetic towards what has happened and I think you know a lot of us did not know how to proceed but the City of Martinez and the community has been doing a lot of work already towards solving the issue as a community and I think it's very important that we get on that um already established County run oversight committee so I think we should reach out to Federal Glover's office and get on that committee um I would hesitate to actually tour the facilities because I don't want to give the impression that I'm In Cahoots with the refinery um because I think that sentiment is already out there um but
187I also need to state that you know my whole family's Union um a lot of my friends work in the refinery so I'm not anti-refinery but I definitely think that we need to be very transparent and if we are going to do anything we need to get on the county run oversight committee before we actually meet with them independently and apart from all of the work that's already been done by the City of Martinez and the community at large and the supervisors at large so I would propose that instead of taking them up on this offer to tour on May 15th that we say thank you for the invitation um but we want to get on the county run oversight committee instead that way everybody's on the same page and there's power in numbers so
188when we all sit there together we can all agree as a community what Solutions we want to implement through the school board in collaboration with the City of Martinez and the community okay we have a couple of covet comments so let's hear those and then we can bring it back for additional board discussion uh so Rachel dykman hi Rachel Beckman again I have two kids that go to elementary school um I live a couple blocks away from the um Middle School the junior high and we had the dust on our house and in our backyard and my family was putting up the holiday decorations and I called the refinery and they thank you Linda Oliveira thank you is it on yes okay I'd like to introduce myself um as a member of the healthy Martinez
189uh uh organization that's been developed recently because of the chemical spill and all the community that is so upset about it um and like I said she pretty much uh said a lot of things that I was going to say but I just wanted to emphasize certain things and that is that [Music] um nobody had mentioned until she came up about the um that that Refinery is now in front of in front of the District Attorney's office and they're being investigated okay you need to know that and they've also filed a lawsuit against the regulatory agency uh because the regulatory agency required them to put scrubbers on their smoke stacks and they have filed a lawsuit to keep from doing that and has been proven in so many other refineries throughout the country that the
190scrubbers make a difference okay and may have made a difference on Thanksgiving when we had the chemical spill so my message is they're not the people you want to meet with they have been lying and they continue to lie and I don't think the school district should have anything to do with them in terms of Direction you need to look at the county and the regulatory agencies that have done a lot of Investigation on them and know a lot about them that's where you need to go for direction and advice [Music] um and the idea that a number of you brought up about joining the oversight committee the County's oversight committee I think that's that's what that's where you should put your energies now that now that you know how important it is to be
191a part of this whole effort that's that's where you need to get on either a school board member or uh you know superintendent I don't know but that's where you need to be on to find out exactly what's going on um and the other thing is that um I'm I'm usually a spokesperson for the Spanish-speaking community and um I've been talking to a number of parents and students and they're telling me that they hardly they either don't know about the chemical spill and all that went on um or or they just they know a little bit about it and so what I'm trying to say is they need the message much more louder and clearer from the school district because I know you've been sending notices to them but something's got to change and I'm
192hoping the health department will help the school get the word out better in another way because they have the people to do it because they did it during the pandemic and so um just want to encourage that there be more uh attention paid to the Spanish-speaking parents because they're not getting the message most most of them some of them yes most of them not thank you okay thank you Craig was ready I'll stay up right um you gotta wait a minute well um so forgive my Candor here I'm just gonna have to come out I think your guys is handling this whole situation it's been pathetic absolutely pathetic I mean here's some of your comments you act like you're nothing more than casual observers and it's basically incumbent on everyone else that come to you
193your leaders your community leaders your elected leaders leaders lead leaders engaged leadership initiative they show up I can't count how many Community meetings public meetings have been held over this matter since December there's a town hall in December of 300 people every regulatory official under the sun was at that meeting could have answered a lot of these questions you know yeah Contra Costa Health dropped the ball they should have told you about the Dust down at the junior high two days after when they they said when they found it they should have no doubt about it I told them that but you guys could have engaged too and this is what I mean when I talk about arrogance you're not showing any acknowledgment of your own failures here let's look what happened the refinery dumped
19424 tons of toxic heavy made Metal Laden dust on the community you probably have more school sites in close proximity to a Refinery than any other city in the Bay Area you know then the refinery if you were paying attention to the meetings they tell us that oh we didn't alert the community we didn't tell the community what had happened because we didn't know we had no idea we spread all this toxic dust so how long is this Refinery been operating around our schools all these years and at any time they could dump toss the dust on our playgrounds on our school equipment and and it's up to the it's up to you guys it's up to the students what are you going to do train kindergartners now how to find toxic dust on the
195playground equipment and this is where you hold people accountable you know the MRC oversight committee was talked about at length it was discussed at length of meeting after meeting after meeting the community was given it people were invited to apply to anyone from the school board applied for the school district apply to serve on that oversight committee I mean come on to show somebody acknowledgment you know and if this Refinery cares so much about the welfare of our students and our kids that they pretend that they care about when they to run for education and the money they give they wouldn't be fighting tooth and nail in court right now to prevent that air district from forcing them to put a wet gas scrubber that would drastically cut particularly the missions that our kids breathe
196a scrubber that is on the Bolero Refinery across the way in Benicia they wouldn't be fighting that if they cared about our kids and so as far as this committee within the last 10 seconds I really think trustees misella uh O'Brien and Yasmin yamitz the only ones I really trust to be on this committee um based on what I know the situation and I'm sorry you know School Board president your mother is on a board is on mf4 because is there any online we do have two public comments online the first public comment is from Ms Wendy K and Wendy you can begin speaking uh thank you for letting me be here tonight um I want to start off by uh thanking board member Masala for um offering some really noteworthy recommendations for the board
197to consider and for this committee to consider um and I I want to recognize uh board member yamas for your uh very insightful recommendations you've obviously stayed on top of this issue um and I've appreciated that um I'm very encouraged that the district is in considering an ad hoc committee but I'm not ex and I hope that um you will take um board member O'Brien's recommendations into consideration that this be a broader scope of what the ad hoc committee could do um I'm concerned that it's taken this long five months for the district to get involved in something that I have been following and notified the board and staff members about including superintendent Rossi this two days after the incident occurred and I was told I'm so sad to hear this because I'm an environmental
198scientist that these sites were washed down and taken care of and I know that heavy metals can't be washed away so that really bothered me um I would like to say that I have strong reservations about a multi-billion dollar profitable Corporation operating on County Land not on City of Martinez land approaching a school district and the board members for a tour um this is to me a really big red flag that they are targeting the lowest common denominator in the City of Martinez because they know that that they give you donations which are not really a requirement it's just something that corporations do um and so I think we need to separate that idea of the money that the district receives from the health and safety matter that's before us today and that is a
199concern that this company is considered a bad actor as far as refineries are concerned in this in this nation it's pbfs Energies um Refinery it is not shell they operate at a different level they're considered one that buys Antiquated refineries and runs them into the ground so they're not out there to be your good friendly neighbor and so my encouragement too is that you please please prioritize your meetings with County Health and with City officials they have been on this from day one they are so competent they know what they're doing they know the investigations that they're running they know exactly what they need to provide information that what kind of information they need to provide you that you can then present to our community it's very important that our community hears from you not
200through MRC to NTU but through the county health department and to all of you um it's the end of your allotted time I thank you very much for being here today and I thank you for listening to all of us all right our last commenter is Miss Rebecca Barrett thank you and thank you all again for having me speak um I'm also a member of a group that has just recently formed called healthy Martinez which formed after the spent Catalyst incident um in last year um I think I want to kind of categorize my thoughts on the the districts on this issue in two buckets so I really want to just emphasize the school districts are really trusted Messengers within the communities um parents trust their teachers they trust their school district and so the
201district has a really powerful role in keeping parents up to date on local health issues and the spent Catalyst incident was a local health issue that the district could have kept parents up to date on now with the potential ad hoc committee and the tour of the refinery I also have concerns around that and I think you you will have other members of the community voice concerns around that as well where the refinery has a legal obligation to report chemical release incidences and the refinery frankly is in trouble for failing to already do that it makes no sense for me for the school district to build a better relationship with County Public Health so County Public Health is notifying you when the refinery notifies them that there's an issue and then the school can take
202the school district can take the necessary steps to make sure children are safe during the school hours and the parents are adequately informed of potential Health emergencies that are going on in the district um so I I would just kind of echo this concern of the idea that an ad hoc committee is going to take a tour of the refinery while that's good and like there's never too much information or bad information to me the better relationship for the most unbiased information would be building that relationship and communication um toward relationships with County Public Health thank you all right thank you to our online speakers you can go ahead and bring this back for additional discussion I don't disagree with what a lot a lot of what was said I I definitely think that we
203need to work on building a relationship with County Health um and I understand the community's distrust of the refinery I also think that they are a big presence in our community they're a big employer in our community and I don't think that having faced time with them is a bad thing and getting to know the people that are in charge there um especially for our staffs that work in this office um so I'm sort of of two minds I I understand um your request to politely decline the invitation for now and work on other things um but I also do see some value and at least you know meeting the people and I plan to ask questions and I plan to um you know be helpful you know how I don't know what I'm trying
204to say healthily cynical of the answer that I get so um I'm interested to see what other members think I'll agree with you um that meeting with them is the opportunity opportunity to get gather information information is power and you can take that information take those answers whether they be factual or fictional but take that information back and and check with the resources that the county health and and be able to dissect and understand and figure out if we're being sold the bill of goods or if what their efforts are legitimate and uh Mrs K's comments on on the nature of this this operation uh is not surprising or or news um and you know it's not uncommon right to take a take a worn down piece of equipment and try and get some more
205mileage out of it um and so with that you're gonna get maintenance issues and and failure so um and so but but again I I am in agreement and I think having that information and being working with the the agencies that are in charge um and and understanding how much jurisdiction we have to control that environment but working with those the county Representatives the city Representatives um and again uh advocating for our priorities uh the health and safety of our students and our facilities um is is critical and so I think this is is there's I think no harm in creating maintaining relationships and obtaining information and I'll add like I have said like I said at the beginning um this really by creating this ad hoc committee we're giving to board members agency to
206go and determine what steps need to be taken so this does not have to be the only thing that they do they can come back to the board and say these are things that we think we need to do we need I mean it could be a whole host of things it could be getting on some of these already established committees it could be requesting a meeting with County Health who we have had good open relationship with especially throughout the entire pandemic I mean they have been an extremely great partner of ours weekly meetings now I have monthly meetings but we can do we can do more I think for me the issue is the lines of communication and so whether we like it or not MRC is a a big part of those Communications
207because if something were to happen during the school day we cannot wait for another agency to let us know that something happened we have to trust that MRC is going to let us know that the the procedures that are in place are going to work and I know that's a big ask I understand that but we don't have we have to exercise every option we have possible so if we hear this is like when we do um I remember when I was teaching we do active shooter drills which we unfortunately have to do police officers would say it doesn't matter if a hundred people call do not worry that you are calling and blocking our lines it does not matter if you see it you call and you be the person so if we hear
208that there's a release from Shell or some not shell MRC something happens we it is better for us to have good relationships with every agency because if we hear from five of them that something's wrong that's fine we just need to know from at least one so I think building a relationship with them I I'm with Carlos on this that it doesn't do harm to go and and ask our questions I think we can be cautious about that I think we can be eyes wide open and know that they are not necessarily going to give us all the answers but I think that historically they have alerted us when things have gone wrong and so that relationship it's not working the way it should work that doesn't mean it can't ever again and so I
209think that is the the more relationships we have with the agencies that can alert us when something goes wrong the better and that's the way that I see this this committee operating is come back to the board tell us the steps that need to be taken and it could be a lot of steps that need to be taken and then we vote on that I I agree with you I think we got to start somewhere with this problem and this can lead to a bunch of doors opening for us that'll help us solve this problem even more so I I think either Annie or myself are the ones that live closest to the refinery and I during covid like I would call them for strange smells I would call them for flaring and they would
210say yeah I'll investigate and then they would call back and say oh nothing's wrong and because they sent me that magnet that you put on your refrigerator and so I'm like oh look something's happening at the refinery let me call them thinking I was doing the right thing and every time I would call oh everything's fine you've investigated I don't trust them and as much as I and I live like I would say blocks away from the refinery um and as much as I you know I understand that you we want to get as much information as possible from all of the sources I know that the city has done a lot of work I know that the community has done a lot of work and I would be 100 percent okay with meeting with
211public health with the emergency response with Hazmat I don't feel comfortable meeting with MRC um just because I've called them I've reached out to them I've been a community partner or I've tried to be a community partner with them so I would like to be on the committee I would not want to go tour MRC um I can't I can tell you that if I meet with them my facial expression is going to show that I'm not happy um but I obviously it's up to the whole board to decide but I just want to state that I'm not in favor of meeting with MRC I think we should take out the meat with Public Health are you are you interested in being in serving on the committee on an ad hoc committee to at least
212find out information and take next steps for the district yes I am interested on being on the committee okay um and and Courtney you said you were also so I'm wondering if because you seem comfortable with meeting with MRC could it be an option and the board could decide this if you make up the committee to determine next steps that gives you ability to work with each other to come back to the board with information but that doesn't necessarily mean that you would have to go to that meeting would that be like I don't know I'm just trying to offer a potential solution yeah I think that's an option I also I I don't know if we should is it an option to vote like to establish the committee and then well I guess we
213could go either two ways the committee could decide if we're going to the meeting and who's going or that could be a separate vote that we take as a board yeah I don't know you don't know what the right way to do it is I mean I kind of am in favor of giving the committee some agency over it if the board is comfortable with that we could I think we could do it we create an ad hoc committee the two of you meet and decide what steps you want to take and what you want to bring back to the board okay wait if you need to if I it's I can't I can't you're I can't answer because this is not an official staff to get information are you you want to be on
214the committee are are the are other board members okay with the committee being me and Yasmine oh okay you want me to make a motion and then we can meet and decide what our committee is gonna recommend next steps and so any next steps that the committee brings forth would be agenda is you would present to the board and let us know what you plan on doing and if it's something that we need to vote on or if you're just letting us know these are the steps that we're taking and that lets the community know what your what your goals are and what you hope to bring back to the board okay so I'll go ahead I just had a question so are you planning to meet with MRC with Helen and then you're just
215gonna not go to that meeting and then talk about it later I think we're going to talk about who's going to go to the meeting if or if anybody right that's what I mean yeah okay and then the two of them can decide together what additional steps they want to see the district take if we want to go and have you know a seat on any of these already established committees and they would have the ability to go to those things as well okay so just the two one of the two of them would go to those committee meets or both of them can because it's not a okay because I think that's going to be important that one of them goes on that oversight committee and that we should start working on that at
216least because just to develop the relationships okay all right so I moved to create an ad hoc committee with members Marcella O'Brien and Delmas we also want a second that you want me to okay I'll second it uh student vote hi all in favor aye aye opposed abstentions motion carries okay uh 20.3 is approval of CTE family and consumer science courses presented by Renee Lopez okay and we need to extend the meeting and for some additional time so I will motion to we'll just go ahead and say 10 30 and hope that can we take a one minute break to get water emotionally is it possible to just power through okay uh so all motion to extend the meeting to 10 30 pm second student vote aye all in favor aye aye opposed extensions motion
217carries okay 21.3 of Renee it's all you so um tonight I'm bringing back uh the Career and Technical education courses that are in the family and consumer Sciences pathway uh the life management course which is the concentrator and then the senior seminar which is the Capstone um for these Pathways and tonight um the board is being asked to approve these courses foreign any board questions or discussion public comment we'll bring it back to the board move to approved second student vote all right all in favor aye opposed abstentions motion carries 20.4 adoption of text textbooks also presented by Renee Lopez uh I'm bringing back uh the adoption of the textbook Essentials for algebra which will be used for the foundational math support course and I'm the board is being asked to approve these instructional materials
218for the mass foundational math support course board questions or discussion so I actually went to Renee's office and I looked at the book almost Page by page and I liked it a lot it was very easy for my brain to understand so I'm hoping it's easy for the students to understand too so I like it was a good book um yeah I had a chance to review it during curriculum advisory too and it looks like it will be a helpful support book much needed for a lot of our students are there any public comments on this item all right we'll bring it back for action moving to approve seconded student vote aye all in favor aye opposed abstentions motion carries last one for Renee tonight is 20.5 diversity equity and inclusion plan at the April
21924th board meeting um the Martinez Unified School District's diversity Equity inclusion plan was presented along with a presentation about a review of our work within the district and the board is being asked to approve the musd diversity equity and inclusion plan this evening well I don't have any questions but I really enjoyed that presentation and hearing from so many students tonight I think that all of our efforts to make every one of our students feel included and safe and cared for is a big step in the right direction yeah I'd like to say thank you staff for for putting this together and all the effort that's gone into it yes it was definitely a team effort and um it was nice to have other members of the committee presenting uh that night as well and
220um we're all looking forward to the future work um and with this plan guiding it okay yeah I'm I'm on the committee and I I really like the work that I see that comes out of these meetings um it's very what's the word um hopeful a lot of good stuff is coming out a lot of good energy and I can see it just growing exponentially to make the district even better than it already is so I'm excited to see this get approved tonight are there any public comments on item 20.5 all right bring it back for Action I'll go ahead and move to approve the diversity equity and inclusion plan second student vote aye all in favor I I opposed abstentions motion carries 20.6 is csda update administrative regulation 6154 homework and makeup work presented
221by superintendent Rossi so last meeting when we discussed the board policy and the administrative regulation for 6154. um if you remember back in 2016 csba um recommended that we delete the AR which had the times for how much you spend on each homework and because they Incorporated the general ideas into the board policy the board policy um was except was approved and accepted um so tonight the AR is back for deletion and uh um I know that next year we will put together a committee to to take a look the board at the board's request um consisting of the superintendent administrators and teachers as outlined in the board policy 6154 to come together and look at if we want to put in a new administrative regulation on General homework policies for elementary middle and high
222so tonight uh AR 6154 is being requested to be deleted any board comment or discussion questions hey we do have one public comment oh it's next one okay [Laughter] this is perfect no problem all right no problem all right we'll bring this back for board action then I'll move to approve I guess leaving 6154 in the formation of the committee for a new and improved version second student vote hi all in favor aye opposed abstentions motion carries 20.7 adoption of csba policies we have three policy 1313 policy 5121 and policy 7212 presented by superintendent Rossi okay get ready Ryan this is the one okay all right so um these three policies are back for um adoption of revisions I um wanted to put some clarity on 5121 and I created a one-pager that would help
223with that because it's a little bit confusing in terms of why this policy um is coming up and basically in 2016 when csba told us to delete AR 6154 and they updated the BP with that it was because um they took a look at research which I provided our policy committee with a copy of the brief research to support best practices regarding grading separating non-academic factors to academic grades and required um so basically what it does is it required a teacher to accept homework assignments and allow the student to retake a test or make up classwork for a day of absence the bone of contention between um the new 6154 that was adopted in August by this board or part of this board in August states that students absent from school shall be given the
224opportunity to complete assignments and tests that can be reasonably reasonably provided that is already in place AR 5121 or policy 5121 that is here tonight says that a teacher um has can choose or says that if a student is has unexcused absences they don't have to so they're in direct conflict with each other so you have one board policy saying that for any absence the student is going to get the work and then this other policy of a different number because they're intertwined on a lot of things homework makeup work and a student grading they're all intertwined says that that you don't have to if they're absent the law says if the student is absent used to say at any time but the law changed in 2019 to say if a student was suspended two
225or more days and they asked for the work you have to give it to them and you have to give them the credit so a decision has to be made on the board policy it's it's important that 5121 align with 6154 so when there's an issue at a site I don't have two conflicting policies so we either revise them both to allow what has been in the past for teachers to decide whether or not they want to give students who are absent without excuse work or the opportunity what it is is the homework from the night before the test or assignment or classwork from the day right now for years it's been the teacher decides this policy one of them says for any absence you give it to them when they want it the other
226one says you don't have to so either we revise them both to say you don't have to or we either revise them both to say that any absence has the any kid who comes regardless of why they were absent who comes and wants to make up the work has the opportunity so that's the Dilemma we're facing we have two different policies that are clashing and the one that we would be voting on tonight says the one that we're voting on tonight 51-21 is the one um that says any absence okay okay I have a question okay I'll try to answer it okay yes I know that some teachers the students get credit for the work but then they also get like participation points so I I see the look on your face like I mean
227even if we pass this policy and the students have to be given the opportunity to make up work they could still potentially like lose points for not being in class right no that if it says whenever students the board policy 5121 the new one that csba recommends says whenever a student misses an assignment or an assessment due to either excuse or unexcused he or she shall be given full credit for subsequent satisfactory completion of the assignment or the assessment it doesn't say partial unless they only do partial Parts but I think Rich the patient points aren't on the assignment right are you talking about PE well not specifically but that's one well I'm that's where I know participation points come in that's that right is one of the classes I mean it's not the only
228class but with PE there's a form you can sign that the parent has to sign you have to send it in within a week that says you did some kind of activity to make up for it and you get participation points I've never heard of this well I know this because maybe not in high school but I know in the middle school they had it because my son went missed and I said what you know you're getting good grades but we can't have a bad grade in PE because it's PE come on so um he said well there's a policy and I said well great let's do that and I made him run and he actually went with my husband and they jogged and he had to do like an hour and then I signed
229off and he had to turn it in within a week and he got participation points so I would have you would have to look at the teacher's policy for participation points because every if some teachers have it let's say in math or English or PE or whatever it's got to be outlined in their syllabus for participation points to me this is talking about excused absences and unexcused absences and there's there's a misconception that every unexcused absence means the kid was cutting class and our kids for the most part are under 18 and they can't call themselves in when they're home sick they rely on someone else to do it and if that someone else doesn't do it it turns into an unexcused absence so we're essentially punishing a kid for someone else's Behavior that's beyond
230their control so how do you make a rule that that doesn't punish that kid but lets the kid who cut the class well if the kid cut the class more than likely if a kid's cutting a lot of classes they're not going to come and say hey Mr Hussey can I have my assignments I just cut your class um it's it's the kid that really wants to do well is going to come and get the assignments and I'm really not talking about the kid at the end of the semester who hasn't turned in one assignment who says can I have all my missing assignments because that field trip form I have to fill it out so I can be on the field trip we're talking about reasonableness and I know that there's a question about
231what's reasonable and what's not well there's a lot of laws and there's a lot of policy that says what a reasonable person will think would think well a reasonable person wouldn't say come in the last day of the semester and get all the work and try to get it done the night before a reasonable person would say you've been out three days it's obvious you had a cold nobody called you in I'm going to help you out so it's a it's a it's a fine line you don't want to take away all autonomy but you don't want to punish a kid and that you know there are people that are going to follow the rules right down to the T and so the the charge of the board is how do we word that and
232how do we make that meet everybody's needs if possible no I I agree with you and I I really feel like you know be the academic achievement is separate from attendance because sometimes it is out of their control um and we and we want them to do well we want them to learn and so if they're willing to make up the work I feel like we should let them I'm wondering if they're reasonable part of it we just established a a committee uh can that committee address that that part of it or is it going to be up to each individual teacher to say what their reasonable makeup work policy is I can bring this back to my policy committee is that what you mean well we didn't we we just established a committee about
233homework we did is that something that they could look at we can but they're not forming until next year so between now and that committee coming up with something I've got two policies clashing yeah yeah I know I'm in favor of changing I'm I'm I'm worried that you know Murphy's law says that one person's gonna come up and I'm going to have a situation with the two policies and where do I go from there and the teacher's syllabuses all are following the old policy but we have adopted in last August we adopted a policy that said any absence so we're already in a little bit of a quandary here so um I just want to know thoughts here I think the reasonable needs to be there because um and again I think if it's a
234dispute between the teacher and the student and they can't resolve it then it goes to a vice principal or a principal but I think um you know you can you can argue reasonable um you were sick for a week and you came back and you forgot to ask in one class for a couple days or you had or you know the two whatever uh short days or not the block days and so you missed that class and you forgot to ask and you know a week later you say can I do this homework and you do it over the weekend I think that's reasonable and I think anyone would agree with that and if it goes to someone else I think you need to have that reasonable in there otherwise you're gonna say well you
235didn't ask for it the next day and you're penalizing the student who wants to do it so I think that reasonable you need to have that word in there that's critical in my opinion we have a public comment s we do thank you I'm glad that you guys know me because it is pretty humiliating so I appreciate that although people not everyone knows me I don't know uh so I'm Ryan Hussey I teach at the uh the high school uh Alhambra uh my wife actually teaches the junior all right John John Muir thank you I have a kid at Junior High and then another kid at the high school so I'm just representing myself here um I just appreciate your work right just being here this late the do staff the um of the board
236it's you know you guys all jobs and are doing anything here at 10 o'clock uh dealing with issues from Refinery to um hot social issues uh you guys are really doing quality work so thank you for being here um hey so you guys do get to make a lot of decisions you put things through it it is appreciated so I I do like that administrative regulation 6154 where we had some issues and you're going to bring a committee together and get people's voice on it that's a quality example so on this board 5121 um I definitely I admire what we're doing trying to bring word policy together um being able to make up work for kids that are suspended if we were talking about you know who is suspended um it's disproportionately based on race
237socioeconomics um gender we see people so having them losing out on educational opportunities is not good and it is the natural connection like hey if the kid can't um you know his parents not calling in sick and you can't make that work up or they can't make that work up it does make it difficult um so that is a good policy if we're just looking at it but you know the devil is always in the details and the best policies have those unintended consequences so that was me speaking now I'm speaking on behalf of um you know many teachers at our school so we're just representing them and there's a lot of concerns so if we are letting kids you know make a work that are suspended we should do it for those kids making
238an excuse assignments uh or an excused absences but a little worried about those unintended consequences so the potential for students uh calling in you know being sick on days of tests we have a test we'll put it out there and we already do see this and you know kids are smart they gain the system so hey I'm sick the day of the test people was on that test um which you know for the most part the information is out there they should know but um they will work that system around and try to make it up later after they've seen several versions of the tests um I know you know trying to get kids in school uh for tardies trying to get kids in school for attendance is important there's some teachers that give little
239quizzes at the very beginning of the test to make sure hey this is a little small you know Five Point quiz you got to take it when you first come in if you're already miss out on that opportunity if we're allowing them to make a worked for being absence hey I'm tardy I won't be able to make it up now maybe I'll just be absent the whole time so now we're losing that educational period And if we're not giving them consequences saving this assignments you don't get through the word um is that going to lead to more students getting absent or more people you're going to be gone uh what are those you know effects so generically since there are people that are going to have to carry out these policies it would be good
240to get feedback from those people like what's the little nuanced cells that's going to work so um and I know we do have this this time you know crunch but um if we can sort of you know go with the same policy as AR 6154 getting Community get keep those voices get a committee to get people's voices on would be useful uh I'd suggest that we do that same one on 5121 also so um thank you oh man and good job the students speaking that does reflect very well on their community so that was thank you all right so I I'm wondering on this this um 5121 can can this um sort of the language in that once it gets adopted also be brought up at the committee that we've already established I know it
241won't be for right away but something when that homework committee does meet can it be also discussed I think specifically that word reasonable we can sort of hear from teachers to see if they're if we want to make that more specific I agree with Tanya it's important for some guidelines to be in there so that people aren't saying oh you didn't ask for it the next day then you're done but maybe there it could be spelled out a little bit more um so what I would suggest is that we go ahead and move on the 13 13 and the 7212 because there aren't issues around that I'm assuming um the civility policy stays and the melloroos we don't have to worry about it just in case and we hold this one off for um at
242the very least till the next board meeting so that I can add the word somehow put the wording in there for reasonableness to make it less tight so that we can get a committee to the committee that to do this and then if I make it less tight we have to know that first of all the two-day suspension people are gonna get it no matter what because that is law and everybody else is going to have a reasonableness to it and will hold off and and cross the bridge till we come from come you know until we come to it but it's you know until we can fix you know I I just I don't think it's going to serve us well to sit here and hash it out because it's not going it's not
243gonna fly like it is because it doesn't say reasonable but I think we should have something reasonable in there right yeah yeah so I got to bring it back anyway so why don't we give me two weeks to think about it and think about a way that we can try to okay make it work get us through the year and start the committee I mean you know it does say reasonable it says reasonable in it it says reasonable it's highlighted on the new one that you wrote new on 51 20. where is it highlighted I don't see reasonable on it either oh gosh it was on one of the other ones it was on the 61.50 assuming it was there okay bad me sorry okay yeah yeah it's not so let me reword it so
244if we could get the other two gone I can take this back to the drawing board and try to figure something out maybe give a couple of people a call see if I can I like it the word reasonable okay I mean we can add that in there and um and then get us through to the dining yes okay I think if that's just the only sticking point I mean I'd be okay with well yeah let's do it that way let's try it okay so I will then are there any other board comments or are there comments about the other two 1313 or 72 12. nope okay then I will move to approve board policy 1313 and board policy 72 12. second student vote uh all in favor aye opposed abstentions motion carries and we
245will see 5121 slightly reworded on our next meeting yes okay all right 21 is additional comments from the public which we do not need 22 is comments from the superintendent board members and future agenda items you know maybe you have anything tonight I just want to say thank you to everyone on the board I realize it is really hard to make decisions here and I've learned so much throughout my um throughout my time here and I admire all of you for standing up here and having to show up every other week to face those public comments to face these decisions that you have to make and you guys show up every day and give it your best so never stop giving your best and um just thank you again yeah I mean so I wanted
246to share that May 8th through the 12th is student Mental Health Awareness Week the California Department of Education our super State superintendent of education education Tony Thurman put out an information an informational letter about all the services of the State of California Department of Education has available to our teachers students staff Etc and I also wanted to state that they are on Facebook and Instagram and they're always sharing really cool stuff so follow them and share it to your circle so people are aware of the latest things coming out of our State Department of Education thanks Tanya I just wanted to wish kaomi good luck in her College Endeavor and it's been a pleasure having you on the board with us um and did you have fun at your uh the prom I did I
247enjoyed it a lot and the food is great the place was amazing oh awesome great well we will miss you and um I think that's it no other comments a couple things um one it is actually national teacher appreciation week so I wanted to you took mine [Laughter] um so I wanted to recognize our teachers and say thank you for for all your efforts um I did want to uh give a Kudos or props to Mrs boy for the mghs production Sound of Music I saw that and that was really good there's uh it was a lot of fun to see tell me we wish you the best thank you for serving on the board it's been a pleasure and I also wanted to uh recognize um Mr Griffin and and the students that put
248prom on I know there's a lot of positive feedback it was really nice having the kids maintained on buses and the location and brought back and it was a lot of peace of mind for a lot of parents so um thank you to everyone that made that uh a success yeah I wanted to recognize um teacher appreciation week two and um I uh I attended last weekend the Jammy uh PTSA auction uh the theme was also prom it was really fun um and they did a really good job putting it on and the what what I thought was really cool is um the live auction the the top items that went for a lot of money and raised a lot of money were like um the custodian for a day uh the PE teacher for
249a day the the office manager for a day I think the principal for a day like those were the top like money raisers so I thought that was really fun to see um how beloved some of those staff members are by the family so thank you to all of them I also attended that auction and my husband was one that bought one of those items I was not looking and our kid is office manager for a day so um so there you go and and he paid a pretty penny for it too I will say that I was not looking but it was it was really well attended it was really fun it was great to see so many staff out there supporting and um and families um and then I also had the opportunity
250this Saturday and along with a bunch of other staff to attend cornhole for a cause and so this is an alumni of Alhambra ocl Mendoza who um is living with ASL and he has started a scholarship fund and it was so fun I my husband and I were eliminated after two terrible rounds but that is okay because a lot of money was raised and there were four scholarship recipients at Alhambra and so that was just a really wonderful event and then finally um thank you Kiyomi and it has been such a joy to have you here and for me in particular I just love that you were my student and then now you get to sit with me in this capacity and I'm so excited for all that is to come um for you in
251Boston so best of luck okay and I too would like to recognize staff appreciation week because CSEA also gets an appreciation week and we have historically combined the two and there will be something I'm not telling anybody because it's a secret coming out to all staff by Friday we'll be discussing that at cabinet tomorrow but last year I made the best goody breakfast trays and delivered them to every site we made them Jared Riddell and I made him in that training room and it was awesome um Kiyomi I wish you nothing but the best I want to know if you like your present yeah open it up go ahead and open it up quick the one in the bag and then cabinet it's we're going to start cabinet at 9 30 in case you want
252to rest a little bit tomorrow I'll be in here I'll hold the I'll hold the fort you guys can come in a little later no [Laughter] but thank you for being here I really appreciate both of you here all right I guess I should adjourn so with that we will see everyone on May 22nd