Regular Meeting - Martinez Unified School Board - 04/24/2023

001all right good evening and welcome to the regular meeting of the board of education for April 24 2023 we um members of the public May attend in person or via live stream at Martinez meetings on YouTube or via webinar you can find those on our website guidelines for public comment for board meetings or as follows uh members of the publication members 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 minutes 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

002a second speaker's minute time limits will be enforced to please plan your comments accordingly we are going to adjourn to closed session in a moment are there any public comments before that time all right so we will adjourn to a closed session and we will return for our regular meeting at 6 30 pm all right good evening and welcome to the regular meeting of the board of education for April 24th 2023. we apologize for the delay session um so thank you for bearing with us and there are some instructions on the agenda if you are attending via Zoom in terms of guidelines for public comments and if you are joining us in person we do have comment cards in the back if you'd like to speak on any particular agenda item please fill those out

003and there's a basket next to Andy right there that you can put those comment cards in so we do have we're on agenda item six we have one item to report out from closed session in closed session on a motion by Annie horak Martin and seconded by Courtney masella O'Brien the board voted 5-0 to appoint Dr Dan scoutero as director one Personnel Services beginning July 1st 2023 and we are going to get to his introduction really shortly here so we're excited for that we're on item seven Pledge of Allegiance if everyone could join me and demand how do you begin I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all item eight is approval

004of the agenda do we have any changes to the agenda this evening we have one change to the agenda we're going to pull item 19.4 the mou with the city until the May 8th meeting the city has requested to have a walk through with our facilities Department over the next week just to double check the items before they sign on the dotted line okay the items that are required to be repaired and so on and so forth so all right thank you any questions or discussion on the agenda any public comments right so we'll bring this back for action with the noted change move to approve the agenda with the change second all in favor oh sorry student vote bye all in favor aye aye opposed abstentions motion carries number nine is our introduction of

005our now not potential but new hire and this will be presented by Helen Rossi Dr Daniel scudero um tonight we welcome him to the musd he comes to us from the Mount Diablo Unified School District where he works as the Director of Human Resources since the July of 2020. his focus in Mount D was predominantly on negotiations and helping employees survive the stressors of the kovic pandemic he also worked to coordinate efforts in recruiting selection compensation evaluation discipline and dismissal prior to Mount Diablo Daniel was the principal of American Canyon Middle School in Napa for 13 years I actually had the opportunity to visit that school not knowing him or that he was the principal but I was the principal at the junior high and it was uh it was an awesome school so an

006awesome experience for the team that we took but anyway I'm back to you Daniel um during his tenure at American Canyon Daniel provided the instructional leadership needed to transform the school into a technology-infused project-based learning school which included developing strategies to support El and sped students as well Daniel a published researcher on trust building strategies earned his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry with a minor in biology from UC Davis his masters of education with a focus on educational management from the University of La Verne and his Doctorate of education and organizational leadership from Brandman University please join me this evening in welcoming Dr scudero to the Martinez Unified School District thank you I'd just like to say thank you very much for appointing me as director of Personnel Services I'd like to introduce my wife

007Kate my oldest Emma scadero and I just want to say I'm very excited to be working in musd and I look forward to serving you in the future thank you thank you and welcome and we will learn to pronounce your last name correctly nobody corrected me before this item 10 is highlights and recognition we have two groups here with three groups here with us this evening so the first is winter Athletics and did you wanna all right okay so tonight we have a fair winter athletic Representatives we're going to start with Mac Max yesel for boys sucker hello board um my name is maxusool and I'm a junior Alhambra boys varsity soccer team and this year we went eight eight and one and we placed third in our league improving from a very terrible winless

008season last year I wasn't on the team so I can't count that against me but uh this is the first time in nine years of us not having a losing record so I'd say we made great improvements we also made NCS for the first time in a long time but we were unfortunately knocked out in the first round but on the bright side we had six players make the Dal all league team our goalkeeper Elias Allman and I made honorable mention Anthony Bauer and Anthony Vera made the second team and Dale plastic and Santiago Hernandez made the all first scene and to sum it all up our hard work and dedication paid off allowing us to Excel and become a team um allowing us to become a very much better team than last year and

009no we um become a better team than last year and made great strides and we will hopefully make it further in NCS and be a better team next year also buy us new uniforms and let me design them please all right thanks Max okay so next we have um are both of you coming at the same time Elizabeth Bennett and Kayla Keller from competition cheer hello my name is Kayla Keller um I'm a senior at Alhambra high school and starting my freshman year I tried out and made it on the Hamburg High School sideline cheer team and then was chosen to join the competition team and finishing off the stunt since then I've been continuing through these three seasons since the start from July to may all four years this year I've been chosen by

010my peers and not only or to be team captain for sideline but also stunt I'm beyond grateful for these opportunities that my team has given me sideline cheer being football or cheering for football and basketball games and helping out around the school at events where leaders may be needed this starts in July and goes until November then there's competition cheer which starts in August and goes until February in this we compete a very various competitions all around California and at the end we go to Nationals where we represent Alhambra along with 11 other states being lastly or last year we got first at Nationals in our division where we competed against 32 other teams this year we got fifth out of 36 to end the year we had a stunt season stunt is a competitive

011game where we are in the dval league and play at least two games a week for two months last year in stunt we made it to NCS and sadly got knocked out the first round and then she retired for second in our league um now I know there's stereotypes about cheerleading cheerleading isn't highly looked upon but I believe that Alhambra cheer is way more than just wearing a skirt and looking cute to cheer on the boys Alhambra cheer has influenced who I am and has taught me many life lessons including learning how to be a better leader a better teammate how to get along with others that I wouldn't normally get along with and how to push myself beyond my limits freshman year was my first year cheering and I fell in love with it

012cheers cheers challenge me in many ways but has also taught me how to overcome them I learned that I am incapable of more than I think I am Alhambra cheers taught me everything I need to know for cheer which has influenced my decision to try out for cheer in college I'm very fortunate to have had this opportunity for the past four years and I will never forget the memories I've made hi I'm Elizabeth High School athletics has impacted my every aspect of my life including my perception of myself participating in the sport for this past two years of high school has provided me with opportunities to meet new people and improve leadership skills I have learned the value of team bonding in team building dedication responsibility and determination as I look back on all the

013hard work sweat and tears left on the tier map I also recognize those who gave up their time to help me and how that has led me to help others cheer has changed my life in ways than nothing else could have coming from a former individual sport of 10 years gymnastics I truly coming to this new sport of cheerleading I truly never knew the real aspects of being a leader on coming to support I always relied on myself and necessarily only cared if I did my part in their team this past six months that has completely changed as a cheerleader the world the word leadership has takes on a whole new meaning on the mats in the classroom and in the community leadership is a crucial element of my role being a captain of my

014stunt team means being a coach and Mentor for younger athletes it is necessary for us to have good leadership skills and demonstrate respectful behaviors towards peers and adults as captains it's our job to facilitate the success of others by working hard remaining positive providing a safe and inclusive space in encouraging our teammates you wish for new mats my ankle my ankle's a little hurting we've had the same mats for since my sister was Cheerleading which she graduated 2013. and in our coach too and they're already used and they're like 30 years be nice to meet her my ankles every time thank you all right do we have uh winter Athletics from mjhs no we had um the students from The Sound of Music scheduled to come but there was a medical issue that involved the

015producer and we have can't we canceled it okay so all right just them coming tonight the whole show is still on I'm sure that's going to be in kiyomi's report yeah so um excellent well thank you um for the students who have come this evening we know that you have probably homework and other things to get along get on with your evening so you are more than welcome to stay for the remainder of our meeting and you're also free too do the things that you need to get done so we appreciate your attendance all right moving on to agenda item 11 comments from our student representative yummy go ahead excuse my voice it's been a long past week but softball but here we go the school reports for the April 24 2023 regular board meeting

016are as follows lawsuit is second grade had a field trip to Berkeley to see Giraffes Can't Dance and had a blast thank you to the PTA for supporting the bus transportation our TK students had a field trip in Martinez they took the county connection and went to the police station and the train stop State cash testing is happening all week for third through fifth graders aspect testing starts this week our students grades 3 through 5th will be working hard all week please remember to be on time Los juntis is hosting a Special Olympics event this Friday thank you to Emma Holcomb Jessica Lindgren and Sarah Atkinson for coordinating such a fun event Los juntis book fair is next week please help support by signing up to volunteer Carnival is on May 12th sign up with

017PTA to help to help volunteer John Muir celebrated disability awareness all month long through lesson activities book readings and discussions our students are enjoying but are enjoying the opportunity to engage in mindfulness Wednesdays with our school counselor Wendy Mora this week each first grade classroom received black caterpillars and are observing the fascinating butterfly life cycle up close in their very own classrooms students have been eagerly watching their caterpillars grow in size each day and have been busy by have been busy writing about the changes they observe in their butterfly observation journals students have noticed their caterpillars are getting ready to form their Chrysalis they're very excited to see butterflies emerge and they are looking forward to releasing their butterfly friends Timberwolf reading book swap is Wednesday April 26th aspect testing starts Monday April 24th for

018third through fifth graders John Muir A Night to Remember auction is Saturday August 29th John swept State cast testing is happening all week for third through fifth graders third grade classes are raising chicks for the next three weeks and should be able to see them hatch live in class second graders are learning about fairy tales and wrapping up the unit with the field trip to see a fairy tale performance at the Leisure theater second grade as a musical performance called hats this Friday fifth graders are taking a field trip to the Chabot Science Center Morello Park we start our aspect testing in third and fourth grade last week and it is going really well fifth grade starts this week thank you to our parent Community for all the support and ensuring students are at school

019on time and ready we had two wonderful PTA sponsored events our special someone dance and our stem fair each of these events was well attended and very well done by our PTA committees thank you to all of our PTA parents who plan these wonderful events and thank you to all of our families who attended and made these events such a hit many of our grade levels have had field trips recently fifth grade to the MB Sanitary District fourth grade visited Sonoma second grade visited California Academy of Science kindergarten visited The Smith Family Farms first grade had an in-class field trip for Mad Science thank you to our PTA for funding the cost of the buses to support these additional learning experiences thank you to all the parents who drive on field trips to help save

020on the bus on the cost of buses coffee with the principal is April 28th at 8 30 A.M first grade is hosting first annual stem day April 28th color Wars will be held April 28th fourth grade fourth and fifth grade started their page to Stage work to put on a play dates will be coming out soon eagle reading minutes are due May 1st through the 5th PTA Eagles for excellence auction is May 6th Martinez Junior High congratulations to our bullpups who showed up prepared were focused and persevered through our first week of aspect testing in English congratulations to our boys volleyball team who ended a great season by competing in the league tournament where they finished in second place Alex Coronel a PBIS manager from Santa Clara County walked through our campus to see how

021well students and staff understand and use our PBIS system rise she was impressed with what she saw after school the PBIS team met with her to complete the tiered Fidelity in inventory for tier one based on the results we are eligible for silver level State recognition we will be submitting our application for recognition to the state by May 12th quarter four progress reports posted on Thursday April 27th come see our talented bullpups in the MJ chat spring musical The Sound of Music the show opens Thursday night at 7 pm with additional shows on Friday at 7 pm and Saturday at 12 p.m and 7 pm virtual parent education night with cccoe on the impact of digital and social media on children more info and zoom link on the mjhs website sbac math testing is the

022week of May 1st Alhambra High School the drama club's presentation of Cinderella wrapped after four outstanding shows shout out to the cast and crew for phenomenal performances the spring art show opened last week and is a beautiful exhibit exhibition of the art Artistry and craftsmanship created by students from Fine Art digital art and woodworking when their work is non-display in the gallery be sure to check check out their pieces in the office and around campus a small number of students are finishing up their s-pac assessments which will bring us right into AP testing which is from May 1st through May 11th please support the AHS PTSA by dining at Taco Daddy's this Wednesday April 26th from 11 A.M to 9pm tacodaddies will donate 25 of sales to the AHS PTSA the last blood drive of

023the year is also this Wednesday see Mrs Griffin for more details I promise this Saturday students must submit their signed permission slip to either Miss Patrick or Mrs Griffin please check out the newsletter from Miss emmendorfer sent out yesterday for more details save the day Athletics Awards night will be held May 17th more information is in yesterday's newsletter by Sante embryones Steakhouse testing started last week with Ela and math this week we are proud of all of our course students reporting for putting forth their best efforts vmhs will be taking a field trip to Martinez adult education on Wednesday May 3rd for the Contra Costa County adult education Career Training Expo 12 by Sentai students participated in Cope Family Services Game of Life board game simulation thank you to cope for providing this facilitated game

024cast testing is April 24th through May 2nd May 3rd field trip to Career Training Expo Martinez adult education two students completed their high school diploma last week there are they and other graduates will be honored at a graduation ceremony on June 27th April 26th over 50 students will be participating in a tour at DBC they will tour several career training programs and be treated to lunch by their culinary program May 3rd Martinez adult education is hosting the Contra Costa County adult education Career Training Expo 10 a.m to 2 p.m thank you all right thank you and you have to tell us did you guys end up beating College Park after your competition came in it was a really good game but we came up short unfortunately next time did you have anything else you wanted

025to add Cami all right thank you how are you going to prom this weekend have fun enjoy all those fun senior activities it's getting to be the really exciting time of year uh number 12 is employee organization reports Mary always sits like right where I can't see her but I think she's here right out of my you do it on purpose did you have and I don't see anyone else but are there any um employee organization reports this evening all right 13 is comments from the PTA do we have any PTA Representatives with us this evening all right 14 is correspondence do we have any correspondence we do not all right moving right along staff reports 15 15.1 is superintendent Rossi's report hey from um the HR perspective retirements and resignations are still coming in

026this late date so if you know of anyone looking for a job this is a great place to work and please refer them we have plenty of classified and teaching positions open so as I speak tonight Janelle um I at our assistant superintendent Megan de la Mater from Morello Park Carrie Cusack from the junior high and Amy Espinoza our new ed services director are all attending the Carnegie Learning Summit it started yesterday with a full day of classes on Sunday which I'm sure was exciting for them um it ends tomorrow but they are learning about the science of improvement more specifically Equity focused continuous Improvement in educational settings I've been receiving texts from them they are loving the conference they have tons of positive feedback on the things that they're learning and I'm looking forward

027to see what they're going to bring back to share with our AC at our next meeting I did attend the John sweat auction at the country club in Pleasant Hill a couple of weekends ago it was a disco theme there were a lot of gold shirts and big shoes and big hair I think everyone had a good time it was a lot of fun and I don't know how much money they made but there was a lot of money being spent on cakes and desserts so I'm sure it was a pretty penny um I did see the Alhambra performance of Cinderella the students did an amazing job I want to congratulate them all because I know that one it's it's a lot of work to put on in performance like that but to get up

028in front of people night after night and carry a full load of academics it puts a lot on them and they did a truly amazing job I also wanted to give a shout out to Jerry Weiner and Sarah Stafford year after year they spend countless hours for a very small stipend making sure that students have these performance opportunities and although I did thank them last week in an email after I saw the show I wanted to do so publicly because I think that they deserve it and it is year after year after year I do look forward to seeing uh to attending The Sound of Music this week so two performances in a month that's that's more than I get in a year most times so glad to have performances back all right thank you

02915.2 is our summer school offerings update and this is presented by um one of our vice principals at Martinez Junior High Ian Keogh hi uh good evening my name is Ian Keo I'm the principal for summer school and um a person wanted to thank Janelle ayat Renault Lopez and Jamie Nunes for helping me put together summer school for the 2023 school year um that's a picture of me um I'll be running SDC 6-12 El enrichment and High School Credit Recovery and Jamie Nunes she's the tosa and she's going to be at John Muir Elementary School she's going to be overseeing the STC preschool K-5 and K-5 academic support uh the credit recovery is going to be grades 9 through 12. it starts June 13th it runs through July 13th we have no school on June

03019th for um Juneteenth and then we don't have school on July 3rd and 4th the times are going to be broken into two sessions the first session starts 8 30 to 10 30. there'll be a 15 minute break and then the second session will start every day from 10 45 to 12 45 attendance is in person mandatory every day Credit Recovery will be held at Martinez uh junior high school and so far we have six teachers and uh Credit Recovery will be offered to math history Ela science and there'll also be sped Plus uh we also have extended school year esy again will be June 13th to July 13th no school June 19th July 3rd and 4th K through 5 will run from 8 15 to 12 15. Pals will be 8 30 to 12

031and the IPP will be 8 30 to 11 30 and then the 6th to 12th grade will be from 8 15 to 12 15. this will be a John Muir Elementary and Martinez Junior High School we have seven teachers and the IEP it's based on the it IEP team decision based on patterns of progression and Recruitment and our critical stages of development our El enrichment program will be at Martinez Junior High School it will run from 9 to 12 o'clock it will be the same dates we have one teacher and the summer school instruction will focus on key Concepts in order for your child to develop their English language skills this course will focus on foundational literacy skills while addressing the collaborative interpretive and productive language development of newcomer El in preparation for a successful

032School uh we also offer academic support this will be held at John Muir Elementary School it will be June 13th and July 13th uh same days of no school it'll be from 8 15 to 11 45 every day we have five teachers and this will be um Based on data taken from Fast Bridge intervention and teacher input it will go kindergarten through fifth grade and the curriculum will be Sunday uh learning A through Z Summer themes and zern thank you for your time we still have some classified positions open so if you're interested please send me an email thank you all right thank you do we have any board questions you know I'm counting there's about 19 teachers that we're going to need for the summer yes this is all voluntary yeah and any issues

033or challenges getting those uh those volunteers um we've asked the wide net and we've gotten some teachers from outside our district but we're really excited with the people we hired and we have a good team put together and we're building a really solid training program and um you can grab a great summer so there's gonna be quite a few teachers in not wouldn't be the regular site um there would be yeah there'll be some teachers that are off site yeah thank you all right are there any oh do you have one I do have a question is there any um I I see that the the credit recovery classes uh for the high school are really the core subjects the a through G subjects is there any or has there been any consideration to making

034PE one of those summer course since it is a a through G subject that's a good question um as of right now that's not been in consideration but it's something that I think we can definitely take consideration next year I just want to say too that PE is not an a to G requirement um it's a it's a graduation requirement for two years um but they also have um Junior and Senior year to also make up those credits so that's why we haven't offered it in the past because they have time to make it up within their school year in all our courses for credit recovery or Edge annuity um so that's what we we look at all right are there any public comments thank you and are there any public comments on this item

035all right seeing then um we'll let you sit down thank you for the report item 16 is public comments under government 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 to speak during public comments please see Zoom public comment protocols listed above those are the top of the agenda if you plan to make a comment via Zoom to comply with the brown act the board May listen to comments from the speakers but can neither discuss nor

036take 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 or 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 requested staff report back on a matter at a subsequent meeting or six direct staff to place the matter on a future agenda and I didn't say all of that for nothing we actually do have some public comments this evening so we'll start with Alyssa Lopez hello my name is Alyssa I'm 14 years old and I'm here because I was injured by the HPV vaccine um before the vaccine I had always

037loved Sports and to work out and I was always very active without any health issues once I was vaccinated I began to have seizures fainting spells and loss of vision hearing my whole body would lock up to the point where I couldn't move and I spent that whole year in in and out of the hospital and in bed um it's important for parents to know that the HPV vaccine is not mandatory for their kids to go to school and that's why the the wording on the first from the vaccine list should be clarified and make sure that they know that they have a choice to um decide whether it's in their best interest to vaccinate their children thank you Alyssa I know it can be hard to speak in front of us so we really

038appreciate your your input we have another public comment Bernadette roselli probably should have gone first that might have made things flow a little better but um good evening my name is Bernadette roselli I am a mother of five and um my middle son has gone through the Martinez School District he actually graduated last year and is now in the extended special day for adults um I am here to I don't know how many of you were familiar with the fact that the HPV was put um they were going to mandate it for school grade children and college students um it has recently been dropped and um but the policy that they have left um needs to be reviewed and updated and I feel that way for our school in terms of wording the wording that

039needs to be used um the author of the bill has amended the bill and they've removed all the mandates so they said but um they won't change the language so what that means is the current bill states that it is a state policy and that is and it is expected for students to get the HPV vaccine um that is very misleading and it makes it sound like it is a mandate for those who are don't speak English or on English as their second language um this could be very confusing to them they may think that that is something that they have to do for their child to go to school um as I said it's heavy language it's misleading and there needs to be clarification on the language and no other vaccine pads to the

040has this type of wording um there needs to be a change to the policy to make it clear what is expected it is not State policy and it is not expected the appropriate wording would be recommended or encouraged if the wording is not changed this could lead to possible liability as well for the school district if parents are thinking they have to get this vaccine they get it their child is has some sort of adverse reaction or is injured and they find out that was not necessary it you know they then that might have be something that might have to be dealt with um if they choose to pursue that um and then I'm also I'm aware of the declining enrollment and so some of this misleading language can cause parents to possibly withdraw their

041children from school if that is something that is not in there something that they want to do for their child so to prevent this from happening I think it just needs to make be made clear to parents and what they need to do with their students I know usually a letter goes out or some sort of email to newer families or children going into sixth grade and what the requirements are for vaccination and so that would be the place where it would be appropriate to change that language in regards to the HPV vaccine um I did make some notes on what I just talked about if anybody's interested in seeing that um but that was my main point for that thank you all right thank you thank you clarify if you can okay so we

042no no no no I actually am asking I was going to ask oh yes and you can feel free to pass that out whatever information you have if you or you could just give it all to me and I can make sure that the board gives it gets it um so if it's a state of what I understand as a state bill yeah okay okay so we would work with like any messaging we put out to our our families we usually work with County Health right or we work if it's in the parent notices we work with the legal they update all of the notices that are required to go to parents if it's on one of our inside forms we would take a look at that with our health services department and Janelle oversees

043that um but I have to have investigate and see how it's worth yeah so okay thank you thank you that's it for in-person public comment unless there are any additionals do we have any on Zoom all right um item 17 is our consent calendar approval of the consent calendar means that all items listed here under are adopted by a single motion unless a member of the board or the superintendent requests that any such item be removed from the consent calendar and voted upon separately are there changes to the consent calendar yes there's one addition to the consent calendar you have it in front of you is it contract from True North research um apparently during the feasibility study for the parcel text survey last Thursday this company was brought up as the company to do

044the survey rather than the company that's normally used um through Isom and um Andy can clarify but the contract is here tonight for approval so that we can get the survey up and out in order to be able to stay stick to our timeline so I'm adding it as 17.3 point B like in boy just to confirm this is the survey firm that Joy was referring to in the in the partial text yes all right are there any other board questions about anything on the consent calendar is the amount um that was part of the presentation that we already received right the amount of the contract or is this in addition this is this is an addition normally from what I understand um we get a contract from Isom which includes uh the ten thousand

045dollars towards this survey the survey price has gone up and they went out and found another the other companies are all Andy can you help here because you were at the meeting so I'd rather have you explain it yeah no problem um so what they explained um when we were talking afterwards was that they're in the contract we do with Isom every year that did not necessarily look for a partial tax renewer at the time we did it which was last fall they have embedded within their a survey cost of ten thousand dollars when they went out to get uh the vendor that we're looking at tonight the cost that they could work them down to was actually higher than twenty thousand dollars so through negotiation that survey and what they say they could do

046for us is twenty thousand dollars so it's an unknown additional cost of ten thousand that we did not anticipate so net gain it would be a cost for the board of an extra ten thousand dollars this is the same company it's through Isom that we we're going to use right okay yes right are there any public comments on this on the consent calendar okay and then we'll bring it back for action move to approve your consent calendar second sorry did we have it oh yes okay all right student vote aye all in favor aye aye abstentions motion carries p18 these are our discussion and information items so most of these we will see if not all of them important to see all of them come back at our next meeting 18.1 is our diversity equity

047and inclusion plan presented this evening by Renee Lopez and Yadira Zapata good evening um we have other members of our Equity team for Martinez unified and I'll have them introduce themselves and then we're going to take turns as well as presenting tonight hello my name is vasi Spanos and I'm an education specialist at Martinez Junior High School hi I'm Candace Monroe speed I'm also a special education teacher at njhs hello Yadira Zapata back again from maternity leave coordinator of Educational Services the following is our commitment must is committed to ensuring we honor include and lift all voices in our school community we will continue to build out resources and provide opportunities to engage staff students families and community members to have the tools to identify and interpret interrupt sometimes that requires an interpretation racism and

048social injustice so this year we created a newsletter as a team that we handed out to all of the principals to give to their staff in order to expand our Equity leadership team here at the district but also we want to see teams at the sites grow as well um PD was offered to staff in August through door and Dora dome for creating a safe school she also met with the administrators as well to look over student discipline in California we are diversifying our textbooks we are in the process of researching student training programs so that students could do this work at their schools um Alhambra has a systematic Equity review and blueprint for their Equity action plan we applied for the anti-bias grant through the state and we won pull them out uh I

049don't know if you win but granted it um and we are in the steps of finalizing our diversity equity and inclusion plan and so just to kind of build off of what Candace shared um on the anti-bias grant if you recall back in September we were had just submitted our application um so just kind of a reminder of that timeline in July the California Department of Education announced the anti-bias grant education program um the applications were due originally in August which we hustled and got it in by the original timeline and due date and then they extended it but we were already done so we just took that time and you know patted ourselves on the back um and so uh we did submit our application requesting the full amount which is 200 uh thousand

050dollars it's over the next five years so that the grant opens up this year and it extends through 2025-26 um it's a one-time lump sum so you get that money they will disperse it um they haven't really said in how big of increments but um it's a one-time sum and what we wrote in our plan was to focus on the following areas we really wanted to focus on student leadership program programs holding in students bringing that student voice providing those opportunities we also wanted to look at addressing not only racial Equity but also gender identity sexual orientation biases kind of expanding our staff and then also working towards community and student voices on on this area as well and then also our actual diversity Equity inclusion plan so what kind of funds can be used

051to um you know work uh towards our goals within that plan which you'll see tonight um in February the CDE posted their final Awards um there were 137 applicants 75 agencies were selected so Public Schools Charter Schools um and we were one of them as Candace said we won um and then in March the CDE hosted a technical assistance webinar with that department that's overseeing this um Candace Carrie Cusack and I all attended and they gave us an overview of um expectations so we're going to be doing progress reports for the state budget reviews for the state um and we're also still waiting for the grant funding to be dispersed in March they said we would be hearing in the next few weeks but we haven't quite heard yet I did reach out about two

052weeks ago um to ask if there were any updates on that but we're still waiting to hear when those funds will actually be allocated and sent to the districts and this was open to the entire State of California but there were several other Bay Area um leas that were awarded this grant it's very exciting for us um so that brings us to our plan so as our racial Equity work is expanding within Martinez Unified School District we wanted to make sure that it's essential to have transparency and accountability so we've linked the plan in there for you um to view and I'm just going to highlight some of the things um so I just want to let you know that this plan was collaboratively developed with input and feedback from our Equity team leaders and

053that consists of about 35 to 40 of musd Staff members so it's teachers it's counselors and we have a few parents on that committee we also brought it to administrative cabinet for feedback and input all administrators viewed it and gave their feedback and input and so and then we brought it back to our Equity team and this is the plan that we developed it has a few Focus areas so we looked at structures and systems we have a golden curriculum staff diversity and professional development culture and climate as a focus area and also Community engagement and on the next slide I'll highlight a few things in each of those um in structures and systems this area goal is to focus on examining and developing our systems and structures to address and improve equity and inclusion

054for the area of curriculum exam examining um our curricula to make sure that it has diverse content we can also look at within our plan designing curricula that has um multiple perspectives another one is Staff diversity so looking to expand our Outreach to increase a more diverse applicant pool also providing professional development that supports our inclusion equity and anti-racism within culture and climate building and anti-bias and anti-racist culture within our district in our community and then the last one is community engagement where we have a collaboration with our families and Community developing community events to celebrate our diversity address equity and engage in anti-racist education advocacy um I just want you to let you know too that the plan is a living document so that we'll review it as a team or as a district

055to adjust and reflect the needs of our district in a community um and which will provide a continuous Improvement so it's not just we make it and then that's that's it we can revise it and um improve it when we need it and the needs of the district so next steps is to align this diversity Equity plan along with our lcap so we have an lcap gold five that includes that also all our School site plans will have a goal that addresses diversity Equity inclusion and then along with the anti-biased education grant program so all of these um plans and programs will work together to support this plan and our next steps um as a team is to take this plan and map out what does next year look like what are our Focus area

056is going to be next year and kind of mapping out the following years as well within those plan goals and those action steps any questions um I I really like the mention of the student leadership program is there anything about that that you might be able to share we're still we're still looking into um I know Dr Watson has one that's called slam um but there's other ones that I know um Mr Hussey is looking into and then they'll bring that information back into the team and out to the sites and kind of um see which one would be best to work with and where do we want to start so it's kind of like development like do we want to in school and work with um the junior high and eighth grade it's all

057in the belt how do you obviously we have um the Denver the demographics across the district vary and so how do you how does it get adjusted or kind of you know fine-tuned for you know from site to site that's another thing we talk about as a team to um every site's different to and what they need so it's um I think another next step is building capacity within the site so having this big team but also having smaller teams at each site so they can narrow kind of down what they what they need at each site um did that answer your question yeah foreign I really appreciate this presentation I'm I'm really new to this group we um Yasmine and I are the board representatives and it's just been a really I'm really impressed

058with the work that's been done and we kind of walked in like mid all of this happening but it's such a welcoming and wonderful group and so I really appreciate the hard work um with this initiative so I'm excited to see what we continue to see from this and I think the plan on this is that we will bring the plan back for adoption is that what we decided I think so yeah um I think our next on the 8th okay yeah and then we know that it will be as the as Renee as someone said so I don't remember that it's a living breathing document so every year we will review it and um if we can highlight the committee will have a chance to highlight any changes um and any updates for us

059right so yeah built in with that like accountability and transparency every year and like you dear is has already presented on this year after year but also with on that plan we'll talk about kind of what steps we've done throughout the year or at the end of the year how often however often you want us to give you an update great and then can I say one more again um I just want to say thank you and um that Grant that's congratulations I Helen shared that with us I think a few weeks ago and that made me really happy if you need help like holding anybody's feet to the fire to get your money let us know yeah I'm trying to figure out how do we apply metrics to this to kind of track that

060is a great question that's something we talk about as well um we've talked about that at the last meeting too and so that's something we're looking at at the next meeting you're right like how are we being held accountable for all of these um ideas or action steps so that's something we are planning on working on for each goal and each action item especially like culture and climate like what other surveys can we use other than like the healthy kids survey or surveying um more of the community more students instead of like the healthcare survey just does like certain grade levels um so that's something we're looking at too and more like the lcap too like where are we like Baseline um so that's something we're going to work on with the plan like where's

061our Baseline and then where we want to be and how are we going to measure are we getting there it's a great question all right yo um are there any public comments on this item seeing them we'll move on and thank you and we'll see this plan back um I think on May 8th if not the meeting after that 18.2 is csba update administrative regulation 6154 homework makeup work and this is presented by superintendent Rossi so we started um last or two weeks ago I presented a whole bunch of um board policies and administrative regulations for review and we had our very first policy board policy meeting review team meeting and questions were brought up and and concerns by by board members that may or may not be in attendance but there was a request

062to look further into this board policy AR which I did and I I actually found that this board policy we had a board policy and administrative regulation six one what's that well I thought they were up I wasn't looking sorry yeah so we actually had a board policy and administrative regs that was adopted in in 1997 for this particular area and in 2016 we received well every year we receive quarterly updates from the csba and the csba had revised the board policy for this particular one that was made in 2000 or 1997 for to include everything that they thought was pertinent using the guidelines that they use into from the administrative regs into the board policy and we were given a sheet that said we needed to delete the administrative regs in 2016. well I

063dug through the 2016 paperwork that was handed out Department wise and it was pulled for further review and nothing was done with it so in August of 2022 the board policy that was originally um capped and revised from 2016 was revised again well actually was revised again in 2019 and then revised again and adopted by this board in 2022. this administrative reg came to light when our gamut online services transitioned to the new gamut and this old 2016 AR draft was stuck in work in progress and so I checked into other districts some districts kept it didn't delete it you didn't have to delete it but it was recommended to delete and some districts did delete it so I I looked a little farther into what exactly do we have and what exactly does it

064say so let me see um okay so in 16 or 6154 was revised again in December 19 or 2019 um to reflect a new law which required that when a parent or guardian of a student who had been suspended for two or more days requested homework that that student would have been assigned they had to provide homework in the past prior to this new law AB 982 if a student was suspended it was up to the teacher as to whether or not they wanted to give the child the makeup work the homework and so it was worded as the teacher may give the suspended child work which means it's not mandatory but the law changed and the law said you had to so we updated the policy in 2019. so um in terms of Ed

065code where it came from in 2019 um it also said that if the homework assignment was requested and turned in by the T turned into the teacher either when the student got back or within the time frame it was originally prescribed by the teacher and was not graded on time it couldn't be counted in their final grade against them so it was a two-part law okay so now um the board of course recognizes that homework a meaningful homework assignments can be a valuable extension of our students learning so what it says in the policy that we adopted in 2022 that homework shall be assigned when necessary to support classroom lessons to enable students to complete their work that they might not have gotten done in class or to review and apply academic contact for better

066understanding it also says that they will be reasonable in length and appropriate to the grade level in course the board expects that the number frequency and degree of difficulty on the homework assignments will increase with grade levels and the maturity of students teachers assign homework only as necessary to fulfill academic goals and reinforce instruction and in order it gives no specific amount like I I've heard it my whole life if you're in first grade it's 10 minutes second grade 20 minutes third grade 30 minutes and so on and so forth this board policy when they took the administrative reg and pulled it out did not Define grade levels they left it as you can see appropriate to the grade level and the course um this and go back don't go ahead please okay the super

067and the last part of this is that in order to um well it says that the superintendent or designee shall collaborate with the school administrators and teachers to develop and regularly review guidelines for the assignment of homework and the related responsibilities of the students staff's parents and Guardians so what it does what what it infected was take out the administrative regulations that said exactly how much homework would be assigned for each grade level what parents were responsible for in terms of homework what the student was responsible for and what the teacher was and said get your group together and look at what you're actually doing and make sure that it's appropriate according to the red box the number frequency degree of difficulty according to grade level okay now you can flip okay it also says

068that late work um although on time completion is important to maintain academic progress the board recognizes that students learn at different rates students shall receive credit for work that is completed late in order to encourage their continued learning age-appropriate instruction may be given to help students allocate their time wisely meet their deadlines learn to work independently and to develop good personal study habits that is already an adopted board policy it talks about um homework support teachers shall review all completed homework to assess the students understanding of academic content and provide timely feedback to the student it does not say homework is to check to make sure it's done it should be checked to make sure that the student is understanding what's going on whether that's a spot check of every third problem in math or

069reading the essay it's not just five points if you do your homework um we should have uh in terms of homework support there should be communication of these expectations in the student's handbook on the website there should be guidelines for homework what its impact is on grading uh what kind of resources and programs for students for supporting students and listing of how parents can assist their children and how do we notify them of missing assignments well we all know that we have Aries the parent portal which is absolutely tremendous in telling us when our children have missed assignments we no longer have to wait until we get the report card or the progress report that says your student is failing due to no homework you can go on every day and see if they turned

070it in for the most part but all of these things are way to support children outlined in our board policy on how to support our children in their homework next slide makeup work students who are absent from school shall be given the opportunity to complete all assignments and tests that can be reasonably provided as determined by the teacher the assignments and tests shall be equivalent to but not necessarily identical to the assignments and test missed during the absence so if there was a a an assessment in class that day that was a project and you worked on it with your partner and you were assessed for that classwork you might not be able to give it to the student that's absent you give them a comparable assignment that measures the same skill but not necessarily

071the same end result um students shall receive full credit for work satisfactorily completed within a reasonable period of time so if a student's absent and they turn in work they have to be receive credit as long as it's turned in not at the end of the quarter when somebody sits and turns in all 50 assignments at the end and I've seen that happen like you wouldn't believe at the middle school but it's it's a you want to be reasonable about the whole thing okay next okay so in the board policy and in Ed code it does state that the superintendent or designee shall notify parents or Guardians that no students may have a grade reduced or lose academic credit for any excused absence when missed assignments and tests are satisfactorily completed within a reasonable period

072of time such notification shall include the full text of Ed code I believe these things this is in our parent notifications that you get at the beginning of the year these are one of those legal notifications that has to go out the legal team um it used to come out in a in a big long piece of paper with little tiny boxes so that you couldn't read it it was like in a 0.4 font and and uh but now it's it's done on the Aries registration you can print it or scroll through it go ahead so in terms of why this was pulled out it was pulled out to show what we currently have and then to discuss as as a board whether or not we would like to put in an administrative regulation that

073called out each grade level and the amount of homework time time wise and remember every student works at a different pace so some students if if you say all 7th and 8th graders will spend one hour a night well if you're an eighth grader that has Spanish one and you're taking algebra one and you're taking um you know History Science your homework load is going to be much more than a student who's taking a PE elective a PE class History Science and and a grade level English you know if you're on target rather than taking the honors or Advanced your time limit is different but if the board wants to pull together the committee talked about in the board policy to take a look at making more specific guidelines for time commitments for students for

074parent involvement and for student involvement such as was in the board policy that I presented the AR 6154 last week when you looked at that last week then this would be the time to discuss it so that we could have something in place we wouldn't be able to do this in the next few weeks before the end of school to have it in handbooks and so on and so forth but it will be something that we could form next year if that was the desire of the board or we leave it with uh just our board policy 6154 that was outlined here am I making sense okay I just want to make sure this is a lot there so questions so I think the concern was um in the the one that we looked at

075it said like uh 10 hours a week for homework for high school students I think like two hours a day they've said no more than 10 hours on average of homework per for a high school level student yes right right and I think um so the concern that was brought to my attention um was um you know that's if someone has Sports and after school sports and then they have you know two hours of homework by the time you eat um you know your days kind of long so I think that was why it was brought up and that's why we pulled this one out um so but in my understanding that was the one this AR 6154 that's not actually currently adopted it was never deleted so it's in there as it stands okay

076okay so we either delete it or we revise it yes I think I'm all in favor of the establishing the guidelines for or time limits for recommended time limits for homework one of the questions I have and if we add Clarity we can add Clarity to the item of timely feedback for for the student in in advancement and I don't know if we can specify that the teacher identify what that timely feedback is in their syllabus as their as their establishing the their class setting with the parents and the students so that if a student doesn't do well timely feedback is but at the end of the unit or the end of the week or something they're going to have feedback on how to improve um rather than you know in mid mid semester or

077whatever it might be so we're going to add some guidance there or some clarity on what timely feedback is and then or a reasonable period of time I'm taking notes my comment or question isn't really about homework it's about makeup work um and I noticed that on the last slide it talks about how students have to be allowed to make up work that they miss during an excused absence does that mean that the teacher doesn't have to let the makeup work if it's an unexcused absence no because if there's suspended is an unexcused absence and their law says they have to give homework for that I need to check into that what exactly they mean and usually there's a reference in the in the policy at the bottom that I can look up and find

078so let me check into that before I say the wrong thing okay thank you um yeah I mean I I don't have strong feelings on this one way or the other but I also recognize that I'm not an educator and I think that they should be given you know professional courtesy of deciding what's right for their class and their students um so I I want to be really careful about setting guidelines that they have to follow uh my only my my only caveat with that statement is that I I think that um our policy says shall be assigned when necessary and I think um I don't know if there's some understanding with that that part of that is just like for I'll just use an example like for a fifth grade student that it was

079never necessary for that student to be given homework and then they went to sixth grade and all of a sudden had like two or three hours a night that's a big change so I I have a feeling that probably isn't happening very often but um I guess I'd like to talk a little bit more about where preparation comes into that when necessary that said so I have different thoughts going through my mind um I I believe research shows that homework May necessarily not be very beneficial to students it has to be homework with purpose and homework that the children can actually understand and do at home um so I would actually want to take out the policy that you know mandates a certain amount of time um I am in favor for enrichment activities um

080assignments or projects that the child may actually like doing at home that enhances and motivates them to come to school the next day to present whatever they worked on it at home um and in addition to my opposition for having a mandated number of hours is that we know Mental Health is a huge concern in our community and adding that next level of stress with having mandated number of hours for our kids I think would be counterintuitive and not beneficial to our kids that are suffering with all of the mental health issues coming out of the pandemic um and I do agree with Courtney that there do need to be study habits developed for the kids um so what do we come up with so that we encourage kids to develop these study habits for

081when they do become or do enter the higher levels but at the same time at the same time not overburden them with assignments that they may not be able to do at home or they may not be able to learn anything from because they don't have the base to do them at home like I know my kids come home sometimes and I have no idea how to help them with their homework right and I have a master's imagine parents that don't have these degrees or don't speak the language or don't read the language um that's just an added stressor in the home um I also would like to see what the district in general is doing across the board as far as uniformity to see what who's doing what what's going on where and you

082know if we can prove that certain areas do assign some sort of homework what type of assignments those are and how are they benefiting the kids are we able to look to see what's happening I put in the weekly update two weeks ago or was it two not the last one the one before I think it was the one before um what each school was doing for homework so every school is different I did the Elementary's because the junior high is pretty there's only one so there's really nothing to compare it to um in the high school as well but the Elementary's their four schools and each one is is different and I I put that in the report so we could start looking at in our elementary principles meeting maybe coming up with a

083more uniform overview it's not necessarily saying that first grade will have 10 minutes or high school will have two hours it's not more than would give a lot of flexibility in in terms of not letting people just assign work to assign work to meet a Time requirement but stating that the homework has to have purpose and that if you're if you're looking to put an AR in maybe no more than this much for you know a sixth grade student so on and so forth or that every student should read for 20 minutes a night being you know and and practice you know math or whatever in elementary so we can look at all of those things making them more uniform totally yeah personally I play sports so it's hard to get those two hours in

084of homework and I try my best to do it at school in classes that certain classes do need time for homework and certain classes I don't have much going on so I do homework from other classes a lot of every teacher is different I know some teachers that have assigned me homework I know other teachers that don't it all kind of just varies and you can't really rely on students to go home and and knowing that there might not do that homework for the two hours or whatever but also it's a teacher's preference as well they they know what they like to do in their classrooms and what benefits them so it's really up to the teachers as well would you say your average is is about 10 hours a week or is it more

085or less currently it's less I'd say junior year is the hardest though Junior sophomore year it was around five or so I'd probably cut it down to like five or six it just depends on the homework assignments and what classes like math last year I had algebra two some nights were up to two hours just because of the studying and I did really well in that class from studying so much but I also had anatomy and I never had to do homework in that class unless I was in the class so it all just depends but yeah I'd say like six to seven hours um so there's a couple of one of the questions oh yeah um Helen you kind of started this the whole slide off on um makeup work and and suspensions and

086I'm just kind of curious how on any given day how many kids do we have suspended that this would affect I don't know it says and it says specifically suspended for two days not one day so if you're suspended for two days the teacher has to give you the homework but if you're suspended for one day it doesn't say that that's interesting to me I always tell the junior high staff you want them to do the work you don't want them to have a missing hole give them the homework because you want to keep them on track that's that's what's best for kids and for me I think it's important too that it's consistent so if math you know for example math if you um get it then you don't necessarily need to do the

087homework because it's repetitive so you learn it and understand it um but I think two hours a night for doing math is is a lot um and then there's some teachers that say yeah we'll give you time in class to do it and I think that um you know class should be teaching in class and yeah you can give them some time but um you know some people I guess can finish it you know depending on the class but I just think that there should be some consistency for you know for English and other classes and then especially I think Elementary School um they should get a little bit of homework so when they get to the middle school they are used to it but um you know it should be more fun and project

088oriented so they want to do it and show off like you know to the class so what I'm hearing we have a couple ways forward so we could delete the current AR 6154 which is the one that has the specified time and has mostly been replaced by the board policy that laid out and Helen presented um if we wanted to replace that and put in specifics I really agree with Courtney um you know she said I think we should give professional courtesy to our teachers we have experts here in this District we are not those experts I see our role as adopting and enforcing policy not creating policy so what I would like to see for me and we can move forward however the board feels like moving forward but what I what I see

089is delete the current 6154 because we have concerns about it create a committee the committee would consist of teachers administrators whatever was outlined in the board policy and then they come up with those those suggestions that we can then adopt into would it that be adopted into a new AR or it may just be a modified BP if if we had to but okay but guidelines aren't necessarily policy we don't have to put it in policy we could have a a team from all grade levels you know from District you know the the two Elementary reps in a middle school and high school or maybe a few from each um and have them get together and make guidelines and those guidelines can be advertised on the school website and so on and so forth as

090the rule and it will be in the syllabus and so on and so forth but you don't necessarily have to make a policy so you we could bring back findings and then decide with a recommendation from the committee and decide what we want to do from there Okay so that would be so so that'd be my thought is just delete the existing we have the board policy that includes all of the required Ed code in it and then direct staff to form a committee which we know will be ongoing and they can bring back those findings we do have one public comment though so let's listen to that we can bring it back so uh Mary Rittenhouse hi um so um thank you we um representing the teachers of our district um there are some

091of us who do feel that forming a committee um would be our preference of this there is some concerning language in some of this policy some of the vagueness um like defining amount of time for makeup work and so forth It's not um it's not specific in that in the policy so there's some other things in here that are a little concerning but I do feel um that yeah um having a committee of teachers throughout the various grade levels and disciplines um working together with our principals to come to something that's going to be agreeable for all stakeholders in this I think that would probably be a really good way to go about this and I think the teachers would really appreciate it having their input onto the homework policy um that they do in

092their classroom thank you thank you so this is for discussion only tonight um so if we want so if we want to delete AR 6154 that would come back next time and then we could I don't think we need to take a vote or do we need to make a would we need to vote to form a committee or just direct you to no I would just take it from here yeah you have to just let me know whether or not to delete the AR 6150 6154 and then um I know you've already directed well did you direct me I'm not sure you need to let me know formally do that yeah to form a community which I will do and then bring the findings back but it won't be until after next year starts

093so we don't need to delete this one and it's already in place so we delete it when and when we adopt the new one well we have currently two there's the board policy which outlined all of the Ed do you want to explain we have we have a current board policy and an old AR that doesn't meet state law because the law has changed twice and it was never updated so we either have to revise that 61.54 now to make it match its board policy because remember board policy is is the tells you about it and the AR tells you exactly what to do so they say two different things right now it looks like we do have an additional public comment on this item is it this item yeah okay so Anna Marie Avila

094three yes good evening board members um I just want to chime in on this topic because I think you are subject matter experts as parents uh we become honorary teachers at home um I I hear both viewpoints but um I think what's at hand here is a policy whether to keep it or not and the current revision whether what we feel about homework I mean there's plenty of studies as trustee board member Yama stated that um shows that that is for debate homework and as someone with the children in the district from kindergarten to eighth grade it's all over the map you know some teachers give excessive homework some give none um so I think having a policy until you guys have a broader discussion about how you all feel about homework and how impactful

095it is because there's plenty of you know current studies that show under 8th grade there is no benefit other than in high school and so that is a different discussion that it sounds like it's out there um and I don't think you can look at this in a silo of just let's look at the hours because it's a really broader discussion um and I do feel you are the policy makers yes the teachers should be included it impacts them but we the parents are impacted as well so it's a whole Community stakeholder discussion of how we view education and how we view that is the most beneficial way to educate our children and this model is outdated completely outdated and it needs a total revamp and to just kind of kick it down the road

096and say let the Educators without really good public discussion and U.S policy makers and as parents I I don't think that's the right path to go either um because you're impacting children especially children of color who don't have the support and come from monolingual households uh every day that this policy isn't refined you're impacting their education because as they don't have the same support that other children who have the support systems in place so I put that out there to the universe to really think this in a bigger and broader lens to really dissect this and not just think this is an hourly thing of you know how many hours teachers should assign it's not consistent and I have endless examples not just myself and other parents of equitability from elementary to middle school and

097high school it's just it's broken and it needs to be fixed and it needs your lens to this beyond the teachers thank you okay thank you so what um so again this is for discussion this evening we can bring this back in whatever capacity we want in terms of I mean I do think that the AR 6154 it conflicts with our current board policy and a lot of that is outdated so I certainly think that needs to be um my suggestion would be deleted for now because certainly by you know we don't want to have conflicting board policies or ar and and board policy but we need to I absolutely agree with what's being said in this room that there needs to be more specificity there needs to be you know a whole discussion about

098what what our homework policy is doing what homework is doing for our kids what the expectations are something I brought up um the last time this one came up was that I feel that our four elementary schools are really inconsistent with each other which I think we have seen that that and I think that is an area that we should really address too and I think that does happen in committee um and I think that committee can be really broad I think that can be teachers administrators um you know Helen can direct us to we can include parents perhaps even secondary students I think there's a lot of ways to go go about a committee to make sure that we are getting a full spectrum of the voices that matter in this well the the

099board policy actually outlines who's to be on the review and the board policy says it's superintendent designee and um let me see the superintendent or designee shall collaborate with school administrators and teachers to develop and regularly review guidelines for the assignment of homework in the related responsibilities of students staff and parents so that's the the committee and then parent and board input would come when it's presented okay just to keep in line with board policy Ellen with regard to timing um you'll get a committee meet for or to confer and kind of come up with a policy obviously there's a little there's some steps associated with that what um am I correct in thinking that this is not going to be able to be rolled out by September or by August but I start a

100school that's correct and so I guess if we come up with a consensus and October is it implemented October or is it is it how would that what's that when the board adopts a policy it's in effect the day the board adopts the policy and then we'd have to make sure that everything was in alignment from then because I understand that aspects but more practical implementation what does that look like with with teachers having kind of having to Pivot and sort of start implementing that policy I would think that a couple of things could happen once the board policy is adopted we have to comply just like when the governor passes and approves a new law in the middle of the year we have to apply we have to comply with it we can't say

101well we're going to wait till next year to do that because we'd be in a lot of trouble but we'd also have to have some reasonableness and so say we had a deadline of of November 1st so maybe we would say we bring it to the board November 1st they look at it the board adopts it we give everyone until the second semester to get it all in place so we have to have reasonableness you can't just drop a bomb and and move it but I don't think that it's I mean there'll be some change because we see as we saw in the elementaries that all four are all over the place and within those sites it's all over the place and and we don't want everybody to be cookie cutter we want homework to

102be meaningful and um you know everybody does this autonomy in the classroom you might be doing a project and you might be given a worksheet that night on the same exact thing so we want to we want to not be too specific in what we're doing to cause major chaos but we want to be able to bring it here get input from the board input from parents in the community and then revise as necessary and then put in place but I wouldn't recommend something so prescriptive that it takes away from the actual learning and more emphasis more emphasis put on what that kid's doing for homework that versus what's happening in the classroom for learning so it's it's a delicate mix so to say but yeah reasonable is is a good word can I just

103make um when we're done with this conversation can we have a quick recess for like five minutes or something yeah so um are we comfortable with moving forward on our so it'll be for Action next time for deleting the current AR 6154 and directing staff to create a committee knowing that any changes in that committee will come back to this board for Ford and parent input board and Community input Okay so I think that's how we'll bring it back on May 8th and with that Tanya would you like to make an official motion to take a briefly yes I'd like to make a motion for a quick five-minute recess again student vote hi all in paper aye opposed abstentions all right we'll be back in five foreign we are on item 18 discussion and information

104items 18.3 is review of csba updates policy 1313 policy 5121 and policy 7212. okay my favorite subject board policies um board policy 1313 for civility these three board policies um have um also need to be updated based upon my research into a couple of things one we've always had a civility policy and it was always uh 1310 and it was it outlined exactly what to do but apparently the in civility policy number was changed we made that policy without we I think we made it with legal but we didn't make it with csba so we gave it our own number years and years ago of 1310 which basically says when when a parent or Community member does not behave on our campus they're not welcome and we need to tell them that that they need

105to behave or you're you're going to be asked to leave and if they don't leave we serve them with a civility policy that says when you come to schools you have to treat all staff students and and office staff principal with respect and have a conversation agree to disagree but you need to be respectful when you do it and I'm I can tell you stories from the junior high that would make your hair curl about civility policy and serving but for the most part we keep this tucked away and it's not used very often csba came out with a civility policy and they put it under the number 13 1313 so that was part of the changes that they made to say 30 1310 doesn't exist anywhere in our world csba says but we have

106a 1313 now so my recommendation to the board after reviewing both is to adopt the new 1313 which links to our policy on harassment in terms of community just harassment in general so it it it defines it a little bit more and I like the way that it links and it's red so I brought that forward the second one is a policy that was has been in place since 2012 and was not up it was uh 2012 was the last review date but when the 6154 on homework and board policy were redone in 2016 based upon the new law about giving work for suspensions and homework and makeup work this law was changed but nobody ever did anything with it it sat stagnant so um it's here tonight for its first review um in terms

107uh the change here is whenever a student misses an assignment or assessment due to an excused or unexcused which answers the question that came up before what happens when it's unexcused he or she shall be given full credit for subsequent satisfactory completion of the assignment or assessment and that is in this new policy and it takes out the um the um old language where two unexcused absences per grading period shall constitute excessive unexcused absences and students may receive a failing below basic or far below basic and not receive credit for those classes so it takes out that language out of the old policy altogether so like I said this has this was in place in 2000 put in place in 2012 it was never updated in 2016. it was originally adopted in this one in

1082003 and it just doesn't appear to be in our system um uh updated for the recent laws so that's here tonight and the last one is in Melrose District I know we don't have one but it's just in case the district wants to take a look at this if we ever have to so we keep it in here and it's just like with our Charter School authorizations it sits there in case we ever need it so those are the three board policies they're here for the first time and they will come back again in two weeks which means that I will meet and speak with my Committee of Tanya and Carlos about these three things before they come back again on the 8th of May okay are there any board questions on these I have

109two questions comments on civility um so I would hope that this policy is reciprocal based both for parents and students and for our staff um I don't want to accuse anybody of anything but I've heard from parents monolingual parents El parents that sometimes when they come into our offices they're not treated in the best way or they're humiliated or comments are made to them that are not beneficial sometimes so I would hope that you know this policy is across the board for everybody um in a dressing thing so that was just one of the comments that I have to share and as far as the grades um I know that I believe that Keisha just presented her thesis for her doctorate on that right would we be able to have Keisha kind of share with

110us what her thesis and her research is since it's along the grave and I would really like to see what her research brought up in regards to what she learned or her PhD doctorate is about just so we make sure that the policy is up to date with the latest research out there okay so I'll put that down for a future agenda item to discuss with our board president so having Keisha do a presentation on grading for or equity in grading Equity grading and okay okay well they did they did do a district study I think um how many there were a lot of people that were involved in the grading for Equity when Amy black was here that had the grading for Equity Group do you know a little bit more about that I

111don't know I was in CBO world I paid for the books that's all I know it was an online course and Amy black had offered it across the district for certain for any teacher that wanted to take the course and they got the book grading for equity and I know some teachers have already implemented those practices within their classrooms as well but it is part of uh the plan for the diversity Equity team to look that's one of the areas is grading for equity and looking more into that or maybe building a cohort so all right any other discussion on this 18.3 I did for some reason you're sure we didn't adopt 1313 before it's very familiar to me no it was a it was a a title or a number change remember the list

112that we had that two weeks ago with we didn't um where csba gave us the list of titles that were changed it was on that list okay that's why you've seen it before but the XR actual policy was 1310 and this is now 1313 which is uh written differently but it aligns with our harassment policy okay okay right are there any public comments on item 18.3 okay and then we will see those back in two weeks 18.4 is CTE family and consumer Sciences courses uh presented by Renee Lopez so uh tonight I'm bringing forward two new CTE courses for the board to review um these are within the consumer and family Sciences pathway which would provide students with life management Career Development skills and opportunities to explore interest so this is for all secondary students

113the program is it's focuses on preparing students to balance a personal family and work responsibilities students gain skills through instruction in the following eight content areas so Child Development and guidance consumer education family and human development fashion textiles and apparel food and nutrition housing and Furnishings individual and family health and leadership development so overall It prepares students to develop skills associated with early career employment opportunities and rigorous education programs what's great about this is that it's the both courses so it's the concentrator course which is the life management course and then the Capstone course is year two which is a senior seminar where they do research and they have a project and they can also have interim internships um in that second year and what's great about this is remember that a CTE pathway has

114to have a teacher that has a CD CTE credential and since education falls under this area the CTE credentials education child development and family services so it would be easy for one of our Educators our teachers to get the CTE credential and build this pathway where we're really interested in starting this pathway is at isente Martinez which would be a great opportunity for these students and really exciting so Kathy Frazier kind of did the background on this brought this we brought this to the curriculum advisory Council and they approved it on April 11th any questions oops I think it's great questions that I think it sounds awesome is it but this is something that like it wouldn't be available quite yet right like not next year no we're looking forward to once it's approved um

115we're hoping that we can um offer it next school year for year one and then the following year year two okay that's the Hope um but we'll see okay great yeah any other question in the fun any public comments all right we will see this back in two weeks and you're up again for 18.5 adoption of textbooks okay so with the um change in our math pathway and eliminating the algebra 1a1b um like we talked about in the um previously we're gonna have um the foundations let me foundational math support course so that math support class will help support students who are lacking skills or who may need more support when they're being placed in the algebra 1 class since we no longer have the algebra 1a1b the high school looked at various curricula for

116that math support class we wanted to make sure that it wasn't just another extra class where they were doing homework but we really wanted it to be aligned with standards and the curriculum and also help support with the skills missing skills that students might have so tonight I'm bringing forward Essentials for algebra which is um it's a it offers a unique progression and it introduces expanding problem types it's also preso it's direct instruction so all the instructions are laid out for the teacher here um to implement and um have to support the students kind of in small groups and help fill in those gaps that they might have um they also uh the curriculum provides like structure so it gives them it's like a I do we do and then you do so that students

117have that extra support and then in addition to the essentials for algebra which has been board approved before but I also wanted to bring this to light as an Alex program it's an online math assessment and adaptive learning program which aligns to the actual core Algebra 1 textbook as well as Essentials for algebra so the teacher will have it'll it's adaptive it'll give an assessment and the teacher can pick certain skills that the student is missing with Essentials algebra or the algebra one Pearson curriculum so that will provide the teacher or two different Avenues and work in small groups so they can really Zone in on those small groups and specific skills so this is the curriculum I'm bringing forward tonight for review and then I'll bring it back for information any questions I have

118a question that I just thought of it as you were kind of describing the online aspect and and maybe Joe you might have some insight on this but obviously a lot of these um books or curriculum have you know a supplemental uh you know stuff web-based um exercises or programs and I think most of them require a login and the password are they streamlined for the students so like so they can get multiple of these just through McGraw-Hill and they have access to whatever the book we assign and so they're not having multiple logins and passwords or how does that work um they do yes so it's through it it depends how we set it up but we have like the clever account where they don't have to have a different login they can just

119go through their waffle or like you said like McGraw-Hill it's either in the waffle or clever and then they use our district Google their District Google account so it's like a single sign-on I know we talked about this at the curriculum advisory Council but I remember you'll need to clarify that there was like criteria by which we evaluated the different curriculum and this one it scored particularly high with am I right about this like instruction for English Learners and special ed students like there were do you remember this yeah um and it is specifically for students who struggle struggle so um it really lends itself to special education students also it has vocabulary for English language students but the one we it was rated kind of low in that area just because it also when

120we talk about differentiation we talk about the higher level students too but this was this curricula is mostly for the struggling student so it wasn't rated as high because it takes in all those groups but it does specifically address our struggling students which the Support classes designed for does that answer does that what yeah thank you any other comments on this one are we able to view the textbooks before we do have samples um Mr Stewart has them I can make sure that they're available for you to view yes are there any public comments on 18.5 seeing none we will move to item 19. these are action items and 19.1 is approval of resolution 2023-20 recognition of lgbtq pride month presented by superintendent Rossi so tonight this this item is brought back for Action we

121discussed last there was quite a discussion last week on um this item we had approved a resolution last year for the first time to fly the Gay Pride flag for the month of June here at the district office this resolution would bring allow us that option again for this school year to fly the flag for the month of June okay um and I'll just start off with a little bit of and I I have a feeling Courtney has some too um I had received a lot of comments from the community and um uh board member yamas brought up why is this done on an annual basis so I did go ahead and reach out to several board members in the area so the Contra Costa College Board Community College Board and then also Mount Diablo

122Unified both of them do an annual resolution and they said really we do it because it's meant to be the resolution is meant to be recognition and celebration and that's why it's done on an annual basis um so far as I could tell there's no real way to make it permanent we could make it well I'll say that with some caveats we can make it ongoing to where we didn't have to vote on it every year but there's nothing that would make it something that could not be reversed in the future so I say that because I've had a lot of public community members reach out and ask how can this be made permanent and this the answer really is unless it was a a state or federal law there's not really a way to

123make it permanent because at any time the board could choose to address that policy and change it so there is a way to make it ongoing like if we just made it an ongoing resolution but there's not a way to like there were a lot of people like can we make it permanent and so far as I can tell the short answer is no um so I wanted to get a little a little bit of clarity on that and I also wanted to um just share what I heard from other boards which is it is really meant to be recognition and you know a moment to share with the community what what we are doing so it's not meant to be a negative that it's on the agenda year over year but rather a recognition

124that's what I had to contribute in terms of the logistics that I found out I'll just build on that for a minute um because I received a lot of the same comments um emails too but I also talk to others in the community um there so so I found out what some other jurisdictions do sounds like you did as well um interestingly enough the City of Martinez doesn't even have a resolution they just apparently three or four years ago the mayor issued a proclamation that they were going to raise the pride flag in June and so that's what they do um this city of Concord did pass a resolution in 2021 that says from here on from here forward in June we're gonna raise the pride flag which I think the the folks that came

125to us and said why do you have to do this every year had something like that in mind where you're correct it wouldn't be permanent because then we could always rescind that at a later date but I think that's like Concord doesn't vote on it every year they just do it until I guess they decide not to do it um so I would definitely be in favor of having that conversation if others think that we should I think it's a worthwhile conversation if it's better to do it a different way than what we're currently doing but I think today we're voting on what's before us so I would support what's before us and then would support considering talking about doing it a different way going forward I've created a put together a few thoughts so

126I'll read it um that I've thought long and hard about this resolution about its meanings and the implications of flying the flag in our community I've spoken with and listened to family and friends parents teachers and students adults and youth all about this matter and some who identify and some who do not a few things strike me about this matter that I would like to share the first were the results from the recent bake sale hosted by the GSA held on Alhambra campus I was made aware of this bake sale by a non-gsa student a couple weeks ago their General assessment of the event from what they witnessed was one of apparents support and positivity I recently learned that the financial goal for the bake sale was approximately 150 to 300 which the GSA exceeded

127by double all with support from a wide variety of students this is an excellent example of inclusion and acceptance demonstrated by our students from my own experience at graduation last year when the name of a pride Community student was announced the student group erupted in shares of support and excitement this is another excellent demonstration of inclusion acceptance and support from the community the student community I feel the need to point these instances out because most of the emails I received regarding the flag are about how we need to show support for this community and I think within this conversation it is important to point out that our student body has displayed their sport for their classmates that are part of the lgbtq community and that they are actively supporting and encouraging those classmates I'm not

128denying that there's still work to be done and we can always do better but the positive actions of our student and Community to date needs to be acknowledged and highlighted the recent production of Cinderella was a shared activity with participation from many GSA members I was able to enjoy that production this past Thursday thank you Mrs Stafford Mr weiner students and parents for a wonderful wonderful performance in that production I saw many students that I coached in Little League LED in Cub Scouts was a referee for in soccer are friends with my own children and one that I sponsored in my Parish if I do not support this resolution do I risk them thinking that I don't accept them though I supported educated and guided them in so many other ways during their life with

129as much care and dedication as I did for my own children I find the binary approach surrounding this resolution ironic either I support this resolution in the district provides the pride flag or I vote against this resolution and say that we don't the lgbtq community celebrates a non-binary approach to life yet I'm forced into a binary decision for for or against when in fact my true sentiment is to support the LGBT community but not Spotlight them over any other group in our community marginalized or not it while it is intended to be a symbol of inclusivity as I've maintained it does not include or represent all the members of the district I would like to see this resolution be amended to charging our student groups to develop a district flag in an effort that could

130be led by the GSA this flag would represent all of our district students lgbtq the various ethnicities and the varied socioeconomic backgrounds and based on the artwork and talent I witnessed from our students at the recent art show at Alhambra I trust they have the creativity to develop something truly inspiring blind flag that unit unites and represents all of the students in all of the district is a resolution I can support and would Advocate that it'd be blown year round so [Music] when I was running for office I actually had a parent come and meet with me and share how there were certain groups on campus that were harassing lgbtq students so although there are those Beautiful Moments where children support others who are lgbtq there are also those moments where lgbtq students are being

131harassed and bullied um you know we have to take into consideration that both can happen at the same time and I think from all of the emails that I gather the suicide rate is what is most alarming to me for lgbtq students um and although my children are straight I am completely in support of the LGBT community and particularly because they are such a such a higher risk of taking their own lives and you know if I can vote to fly a flag and help them feel safer and more comfortable and more included and protected in our district then I'm you know I'm going to vote in favor of that um because it's important to protect people who are marginalized it's it's not a choice to be born gay I mean I'm sorry it's not

132a choice to become lgbtq most are born that way and it's not something that they can control but I can't control voting in favor of a proclamation that is ongoing and I know that previously we've actually amended things that we voted on so I would like to actually amend the the item to include an ongoing flying of the flag in June at this time so um I love the idea at Carlos of um having all the students get together and create a flag um because I think there are so many other groups out there whether it's the unhoused um you know African-American whatever there's so many different people and I think in any group you're going to have somebody discriminate against someone I don't think there's um we're not in a perfect world and although

133we'd love to be um so I think that's a fabulous idea I think um it's something that will take time to create so I think that's something that um the GSA should look at um you know getting together with other students and putting something together and in the interim I would be I would support um you know having the um the flag up in June but I think you know if we could come up with something like that that the students design because they are very talented and I think they could come up with something unique that you could have all the time at all this at all the schools you know shining and people would know um what it is and kind of um you know celebrate it and put it out there for

134people that we really do um value all students and everyone in the community regardless of of any Color Race sex anything um that's just kind of my opinion there um this is all still new to me I'm I am straight but I personally don't have any close friends from the lgbtq community but I think if it makes them happy putting a flag up that helps them support who they are then I'm all for it and I'm nowhere near against putting up a flag I understand as African-American women that we're not gonna have Flags put up for our own Community but I can't I my one voice doesn't have a say for everybody and but I know that if lgbtq is happy with a flag being put up then I'm all for it um so I

135had a couple of notes also and I had I had other actual notes and then and then our Equity committee presented and um I wrote down two things that they wrote so one of their goals is to honor include and lift all voices in our school community and the equity committee was formed because this board although a different makeup passed in anti-racism resolution and part of that resolution called for the formation of equity committee so this is something that the board has supported and I think this is you know that's a priority of the equity committee and my extension this board they also called out specifically educating about gender identity and sexual orientation biases so I certainly excuse me I certainly think that this resolution Falls within what the district is trying to do falls

136under our lcap goals I'm also not of the belief that by recognizing a group of people that you are in any way discounting another group of people I don't think it harms anyone to recognize a group that has been marginalized um I think to kiyomi's point you're absolutely right there's a lot of groups that were not flying a flag for um and I think to Carlos's point maybe there is a future potential for that I really love that idea of representing our students but I don't see that this flag takes away from anyone else as member yamas mentioned we're looking at really high suicide rates among this group we're looking at a lot of national marginalization in this group right now um you know the other thing I thought about was a little over a

137hundred years ago four of our current members couldn't have even voted let alone be on this board and I can't think of a single example in history where marginalizing a group of people has been looked upon kindly in future generations and so I think for us any way that we can be a welcoming and inclusive environment for our students is a worthy cause so as I was last year I'm very much in support of this um in terms of I think there are a few logistical things in terms of changing anything to the resolution tonight only because the examples that you gave were cities not school district and we want to make sure that we are I just want to make sure that anything we do is done the correct way so um in terms

138of voting I would recommend not changing anything tonight but we can certainly direct staff to research um whether or not we want to amend the resolution and that would be up for board discussion and vote if we went that direction I just want to make sure it's done correctly so that we don't have to change something down the road again that would be my recommendation um I do know we have a couple we have one online comment and it looks like we also have a public comment in the room so we'll take the public comment in the room first oh sorry this is Anna Marie avalorius Anna Marie Avila Paris thank you board members I I'm happy to hear um you know in general support of this um that we as a community have a

139moral requirement we must encourage all youth uh and staff that are serving staff that are serving youth have an obligation to have these types of resolutions in place it's a it's a statement of policies of our community values that we are creating a safe and supportive and affirming environment for the LGBT youth of our community this really isn't a choice and um uh trustee Mendez I understand where you're coming from but I don't think you understand how we feel as marginalized community members um whether you're from the LGBT community or not from uh Latino Community um the African-American Community we need to start with education and I think uh I would like to see an unanimous vote um and uh color this uh resolution with solidarity of all community members it does not take away

140from other members I do like your suggestion but that is a total different topic it does not play into the situation especially as trustee member Yama stated with the high suicide rate and children needing the safe learning environment this is really in critical and this is important again this is a community value this is a moral obligation that you all have as school board members to fly by the Gay Pride flag and let our students know they are welcomed they are seen and we're here to support their educational needs I would encourage you to probably postpone this and bring back the resolution that actually makes it a permanent thing of an annual I get permanent in the sense that you don't have to have these public meetings each year and not that I don't mind

141coming to see you all and advocating but there really is not much difference in governance from city council and school board and I can say that with confidence as someone who's occupied both spaces so instead of voting on something that's not really correct bring it back and bring it back directing staff to amend it where this is just an annual occurrence up until obviously the sport changes but hopefully it is a permanent that we don't have to keep discussing what our community values and our moral values should be in our school district so thank you for your time please support this uh in the revised Amendment the friendly Amendment it trustee Yama suggested and do not adopt this because I I think it just sends the wrong message if you don't commit to really what

142the spirit of this is so thank you and I think the LGBT community would appreciate that not just our students but parents as well so thank you I think you are there any other public comments in the room all right we do have an online comment so we'll have Joe go ahead and good evening board uh Alicia good day we'll be speaking uh from the community hi my name is Alicia good day and I'm commenting on the recognition of lgbtq pride month I'm commenting again this year because last year when this agenda item came up it nearly did not pass and that was just that was deeply disturbing I asked that the board unanimously support this resolution as a district it is your duty to create safe and inclusive environments for all students and staff

143please do not look away from the fact that our nation is currently experiencing an alarming Surge and discrimination and attacks against the rights of the lgbtq community and the impact of these attacks cannot be overstated by unanimously recognizing pride month and flying the pride flag our district sends a visible message that we stand in support of our lgbtq community members and are committed to promoting their mental health and well-being I asked before you vote to ask yourself what does a no Vote or a vote to abstain say to the children and families in our district thank you all right thank you so I guess we have some options here I want to have an idea anyone have a suggestion when we move forward with this one as I said I would support bringing it back

144um either I mean I I'm not sure I support not voting on anything tonight um but I could be convinced um but I definitely would support bringing it back um to discuss an ongoing resolution or I would also support amending it tonight I could go I would support any of those wouldn't we have to if if you wanted amended like we did with the football field stuff I had to bring it back amended I have to it has to go on the next agenda I'm I'm almost sure that that has to be done um that was my direction when we did the Sunday usage at the football field we I had to take it bring it back the next week in a corrected resolution but I'm not sure I'm just kind of going off of

145what I remember I just have one more comment that there's never not enough recognition for a community like that and and also in any racial Community I feel like if I had the option to put up my own flag that I wanted to represent I'd be all for it and I think they should be too and yeah there's recognition around school but there there's always more that we could be doing as a community to recognize recognize those people and also for them but maybe if this gets passed other communities and other other cultures can be represented to in the future I would like the resolution to be brought back and amended to be ongoing Tanya do you have an opinion Carlos do you have an opinion something yeah that's fine I'm okay with that um

146I do just I I do like Carlos's idea as a totally separate note um and I think it's something that um the GSA could still look at and I would like to um you know throw that out there to them or to because I think that's a very unique idea and it's inclusive and I think it's something I think it's a great idea regardless of you know this flag in June but um just you know my two cents on that one because I think it is a really great idea yeah I love the idea too and I think um you know there are a lot of uh student you know there's black student union there's the GSA there's all kinds of cultural clubs that maybe that could be a collaboration obviously we wouldn't want to

147impede on what whatever they come up with but I I'm I think it's a really I love that idea I really do I do too and there's a lot of talented um you know artists and and I just think it would be a good Community um activity and something to be really proud of and to have out there so thank you Carlos for coming up with that suggestion yes I do like that a lot okay so I'm hearing that there's interest in revising the resolution so that we could have language that says you know this June and going and every June going forward so just for clarity so I'm going to revise this to make it ongoing and then the flag that sounds like the board once created when will that be flown will that

148take the place of June or is that because if we're going to make something ongoing and then change it next year to the all-inclusive flag or are we still doing a separate flag I just I'm just asking because I'm trying to wrap my head around you can fly more than one flag at a time I already have two flags there so that's the third that's gonna be there I can have them all the way down exactly I think that well this is the number just looking for a little Clarity but I think for this one it would be just just for the month of Pride and just at district office as we've um previously we've talked about last time that our schools are not in session and so there are also the custodial um needs

149for someone actually to put the flags up in June that is not happening at our campuses so for this I think it would be ongoing flying at district office and then maybe let's get to that when we get there when there's an actual um real flag to potentially fly so is the board asking me to start that process or no I mean I'm looking for some clarity because I'm not really sure that's what I'm looking at I I think the lgbtq flag is the only one we should play in June um I think the whole creation of another Vlog is a another issue so I wouldn't want the lgbtq like taken down in June and put up by another one that's all inclusive because then on on all honesty when you talk about an all-inclusive

150flag as beautiful as that sounds that diminishes who who you know your your lumpiness all together into one group when in reality we should all be celebrated individually um maybe t-shirts can be made that are all inclusive of everybody but I don't think we should all be diluted and lumped into one group like here you go we're celebrating all you together like we need to be the conversations need to be individual and impactful for each group so I'm not as much as I love the idea I I don't want to replace the lgbtq flag with an all-inclusive one I don't want to replace Hispanic Heritage Month with an all-inclusive month right I don't want to do that I hear what you're saying that there's still the purpose of the recognition months which is you know

151we don't want to dilute those totally understand I think we're talking about two separate issues so what I'm hearing is let's do one at a time so for this resolution we would like it to be brought back on May 8th which still gives us plenty of time we started early this year so we're not running up against it a crazy deadline we will still have the month um to modify it so that it states every June so the resolution Remains the Same but in the resolution it it states that every June the flag will be flown at district office is that what we're asking for in terms of the resolution okay for any other flag that would be designed I think that would need to be a future agenda item and maybe that's something that

152Helen and I and whoever it happens to be in our agenda meeting that week can decide how that might be presented to the board or if it's something that staff would go out and seek or if it's something we really wanted to just be an organic student-led um so I think for these purposes let's table that for a future agenda item and come back on made with a modified resolution for Action that sound reasonable okay all right we will move forward in in that and so this will come back for Action we really will take a vote on nape anything else on this one before we move on okay 19.2 is adoption of recommended changes to board policy titles presented by superintendo Rossi last week I brought before you some board policy titles in 1313

153is not on there 1313 is on the policy change which didn't come to the board so I'm not sure Courtney where you saw the 1313 but um this particular bunch of policies had a title change but no number change um and they were brought last week they were looked at by the policy Review Committee and they're back again tonight for action title changes any public comment on 19.2 right we'll bring this one back for action I moved to approve the adoption of the recommended changes to board policy titles make a motion second student vote uh all in favor aye opposed abstentions motion carries 19.3 is adoption of csba updates March 2018 December 2019 May 2020 October 2020 June 2021 and March 2023 presented by superintendent Rocky these policies were brought brought to the April 20

154I don't even know what the date is April 10th meeting and we're reviewed by the board policy committee as to be fine as presented and they're here tonight for adoption foreign is in June 2021 but it's also in our discussion item 13. no it was it was pulled it shouldn't be on there it was full for us uh by itself so that's where it was okay so so if we should vote with the remote with the removal of 13 13 under June 2021 it was on there twice sorry about that no it's okay it's okay I was it just took me a second to figure it out so Courtney you were right you were right somewhere before somewhere it was right there under the other all right any um question any other questions on item

15519.3 public comment all right we'll bring this back for action I I will make a motion to adopt the CSV csda updates for March 2018 December 2019 May 2020 October 2020 June 2021 and March 2023. with the removal of reminding which one is of course I'll second student vote hi all in favor aye aye opposed abstentions motion carries and that brings us to item 20 additional comments from the public which we do not need the C thing 21 is comments from the superintendent board members and future agenda items start with you Kiyomi do you have anything else right all right so the board is being asked by our superintendent to meet with her during specific appointments to ask any questions regarding School agenda issues while I can understand ones and to know questions ahead of

156time I am in respectful opposition to this because it is imperative that as elected officials we maintain transparency accountability and allow for open governmental access to important information regarding decisions being made on behalf of our students families and constituents having off the Record backroom discussions is not conducive of transparency or open government upon taking office a former president of the United States of America released the following memorandum memorandum for the heads of the executive departments and agencies subject transparency and open government my Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented unprecedented level of openness in government we will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency public participation and collaboration openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and Effectiveness in government should be transparent transparency promotes accountability and provides information

157for Citizens about what their governments or School Board is doing information maintained by the federal government is a National Asset so information maintained by the school district is also an asset my Administration will take appropriate action consistent with law and policy to disclose information rapidly informs that the public can readily find and use executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to to the public executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public government should be particip participatory public engagement enhances the government's Effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions knowledge is widely dispersed in society and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge executive departments and agencies should offer Americans

158increased opportunities to participate in policy making and to provide their government with the benefits of their collaborative expertise and information executive departments and agencies should solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation government should be collaborative collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their government executive department agencies should use Innovative tools methods and systems executive departments agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve their level of cooperation and to identify new opportunities for cooperation set forth by this memorandum issued by a former president of our nation now archived as a part of our Federal Register transparency in open governance is of utmost importance in our role as Martinez Unified School District and elected school board members as elected officials it is imperative that we provide transparency and

159accountability to those who elected us as such I will be asking all of my questions so that they go on the record and my statements are part of the public record if we do not have the answers that's fine we can State I don't have an answer but I ask that answers be documented via email so that responses are documented or answers be provided to myself and the public at the following board meeting I urge the rest of the schoolwork to seriously consider whether they choose to govern the school district with transparency accountability public participation and accessible government for all that's the first one next yep um I think you're confused on the intent of the I'm not done you'll have your turn let me finish line I'm gonna you can respond to me at

160a later time you stop so I I'd like to I'm not done yet I have something else when you get to your turn then you can respond to me okay please so the next thing okay let me I would like to stop and remind us that we did talk about a civility board policy guidelines so let's make sure that we're speaking especially in setting the example for the entire district and speaking to each other with civility go ahead and continue I do I understand that trustee Melendez thought you were finished I understand that you're not so you can have the rest of your time thank you so the next issue at hand um there was an article published by edsource called children who breathe polluted air can fall behind in schools that he finds small

161children exposed to air pollution can harm their cognitive development according to a study published by The Washington Post increased exposure to Airborne toxins during infancy suggests that reading and math abilities can be reduced and can cause children to find fall behind in school while there are certainly other issues that affect School Readiness the study found that exposure to air pollutants accounted for a third of the impact compared with other factors in the study researchers show that the ways cognitive gaps are formed as early as six months may be entrenched by age two long before children start school said leading researcher Jeffrey watkey associate director of the University of Chicago studies show that children exposed to high neurotoxins neurotoxic air pollutants are linked to inequalities in early childhood development specifically reading and mathematical abilities so allow

162me to preface what I'm about to say with the statement that I am not in favor of shutting down the Martinez refinery in addition I am supportive of unions my entire immediate family are union members current and retired however based on my role as an elected board member I feel it's imperative that we protect our children and the children that we are elected to represent um be sure to the short article I just read shows how important it is we address the issues our community is having with MRC I would like to place on the agenda that the Martinez Unified School District returned the twenty thousand dollar donation that MRC just provided us and in addition that our school district pause our relationship with the refinery and the Fun Run until until the Martinez Refinery

163company installs the necessary wet scrubbers that would reduce the amount of hazardous materials that they may inadvertent inadvertently release into our community I request that the board follow me in this proposal so that we ensure that the safety of our children in our community possibly writing a letter to MRC asking them to install the wet scrubbers and return the donation and suspend any future participation until it's done I think it's really important that we protect our children from any future potential toxic toxic releases that can be solved by just installing wet scrubbers that's it I'm done so to your first point I I believe you misunderstood the invitation from the superintendent as it is an opportunity for us to trustees to get prepared for the meeting ask questions that we can follow up and ask

164in in in a session or or not you probably even have it as a public meeting have people in your office or on the phone call with you but it's an opportunity for us as trustees to be prepared ask specific questions ask questions that might not be identified in the topics and give staff an opportunity to respond or address those in the meeting during during the regular session so the the fact that you imply that there's something secretive going on back door conversations is offensive to me in the fact that the early conversations to come prepared and speak intelligibly is critical as a board member and not show up and and put staff on on on end on when without questions they're not prepared to answer I think it makes for a much more um

165positive productive board meeting and so I I I'm offended at your assessment of the the opportunity to discuss and review the agenda item and I'd like to add that I think in in fact these can create more transparency for the public because in the questioning that happens more information comes out of Staff reports the staff is prepared to provide additional information in the public meeting there's nothing that's happening that doesn't ultimately end up being discussed in public this change to make time for the board members was done by superintendent Rossi in after Communications with superintendents in the area following common practice and with conversations with our attorney who is an expert in the brown act and transparency in government and these were recommendations that he made there's absolutely nothing that is happening that is in

166violation of either the brown act or even above that in just providing transparency to the community this is as Carlos just mentioned to prepare board members and part of our role is to be as prepared as we we can be for these issues as they come forth um as in terms of the Fun Run I do want to point out a clarification we do not put on the Fun Run that is Martinez Education Foundation that would not be a school district issue the Martinez Education Foundation supports our schools they're entirely different um organization that that collaborates with MRC in that event I was just going to say Cinderella was a great play at Alhambra high school and um have a wonderful evening I was going to say that too I went Friday night to Cinderella

167um and it was awesome I loved it um I'm gonna I'm gonna try to go to The Sound of Music although I gotta look at my calendar because I'm sure you all feel the same way that the next couple of weeks are insane um but I mean I have to say regarding the transparency issue that I think that there are enough problems with government transparency that are not existing here that when we started making inferences that they are it's going to create problems that don't need to exist so I think we have to be really careful when we make statements like that and make sure we know what we're talking about before we do that because it really puts us all at a disadvantage not just the elected people but everybody else in the room

168also okay Carlos did you have any other I know I just wanted to again just a shout out to uh to Ms Stafford Mr weiner parents and students for Cinderella it was a great production I'm also looking forward to the junior high production I do want to uh tell the kids to be safe at prom this weekend and make good choices and um also uh plug for the AHS boosters they're having their fundraiser on May 20th and you can find more information on Keisha's newsletter to sign up for that awesome I also it sounds like we all made it to Cinderella which was wonderful I am also attending the John Muir auction uh on Saturday and our theme is prom so I too will be you know just reliving my Glory Days as you're like

169really doing it um but I know that will be a really fun and well-attended event so I'm looking forward to that and um I know there's so many events that are coming up and just wonderful things for our graduating seniors and our promoting Fifth and 8th graders so um families hang in there and enjoy this time it goes really fast and before you know it we're going to be handing out diplomas so um so good luck with all of those events and with testing I know testing is happening this week also so um with that I'll turn it over to superintendent Rossi can I get it back please thank you yeah so I just to clarify there is nothing bad going on so I apologize if that was the way it came out but just

170for me it's important to be as transparent as I can be and so I just want to make sure that what this whatever discussions or questions are asked always go on public record um because I want to make sure that whatever I ask whether privately is put on the public record eventually um I think it's important for people to know how a decision is arrived so if questions are asked in the background but they're not asked during the open meeting there's the element that's missing that the questions were asked you know privately but they're not brought up during the board meeting during open record I think it's important that if questions are discussed and people are prepared ahead of a meeting these same discussions need to be brought up in the open Forum Corporal transparency

171so I wasn't implying that toxic bad stuff is going on I was just trying to make the point that it's important that whatever discussions go on before the meeting those same discussions happen during the meeting for full transparency okay thank you for the clarification um with that I think it is time to adjourn and we will be back here on May