001all right good evening and welcome to the regular meeting of the board of education for March 27 2023. uh we do have some instructions this evening members of the public May attend via in-person or may attend in person or via live stream at Martinez meetings on YouTube or via the zoom webinar those links are linked to the agenda and guidelines for public comment for board meetings are as follow as follows in-person speakers will be provided the opportunity to speak prior to zoom speakers all 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
002in which they raise their hand additional minutes cannot be added by using a second speaker's minutes time limits will be enforced so please ban your comments accordingly um at this time we will take any public comments for any of our agendized closed session items do we have any closed session public comments all right so at this time we will adjourn to closed session and we'll return at 6 30 pm all right good evening and welcome to the regular board meeting of March 27 2023. we are returning from closed session and we do have some closed session items to um to report out so first we have in closed session on a motion by Annie horak Martin and seconded by Courtney masella O'Brien the board voted five to zero to a point and Kim as program
003specialist beginning July 1st in closed session on a motion by Yasmine yamas and seconded by Carlos Melendez the board voted five to zero to appoint Betty Lynn as director two of special education beginning July 1st 2023 and we do have we'll do a little presentation in just a few minutes welcoming our two new staff members and finally on motion of member Carlos Melendez seconded by member Courtney masello Bryan the board voted in closed session to expel student number 2022-2-3-04 from the Martinez USD by the following vote five yeses zero no zero abstention all right so we're moving on to the Pledge of Allegiance and because I made eye contact with you earlier and I know you know it I'm going to have Mr Ryan Hussey lead us so if everyone will stand up to the
004flag of the United States of America and to be the Republican one nation under God indivisible with liberty and that's just for all thank you for that thanks number eight is approval of the agenda is there any discussion on the agenda or questions any public comment on the agenda all right we'll bring it back for a vote oh sorry any changes to the agenda this evening no changes okay we'll bring it back for action a move to approve the agenda seconded all on paper hi hi opposed extensions motion carries all right and now we'll um send it over to Dr Carolyn Kota for our introduction of our Now new hires all right it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you and Kim our new program specialist and joins the Martinez Unified School District with
005more than 28 years of experience in the education profession she has a background in both General Ed and special education as well as in school administration and comes with experience in professional learning communities multi-tiered systems of support and a deep curricular knowledge and earned her bachelor's degree at the University of Alaska Southwest and her master of arts from Chapman University she spent six years as the principal at Lafayette Elementary School she's known for cultivating strong relationships with those those with whom she works her core values are those of integrity inclusivity and collaboration as an equity leader and worked at the district level to ensure that board policy reflected parity in education for all students as a principal and special educator and is very proud of the relationships that she builds with parents and IEP teams
006she recognizes that navigating the IEP process can be overwhelming for families and her goal is to ensure that all families feel supported and comfortable she works from a lens of students strengths and appreciates the unique talents of each student and is the proud mother of two boys who are in college she is honored to have become a foster parent to two wonderful boys this past summer in her free time she enjoys spending time traveling scrapbooking and being near the water and a beach and was drawn to Martinez because it is a district that embodies many of her core values she is looking forward to supporting the students teachers and Specialists who serve the needs of our students in special education as a program specialist in Martinez please welcome and Kim thank you so much I
007just want to say how grateful I am for the opportunity to join the district it's um just so exciting and I cannot wait to embrace this new role and just also be working in a district with students who are way taller than me I've traditionally been in K-12 or K-8 districts most mostly they're taller than me but um by the time they get to 9th 10th 11th and 12th grade they're a lot bigger so thank you for the opportunity and I'm just really thrilled to be with joining the district questions all right next up we have Betty Lynn who will be our director of special education Betty earned a doctorate in educational leadership from Mills College she earned her bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and master's degrees from Mills College she has a multiple subjects
008credential and early childhood special education credential and an administrative credential she's a certified Child Life specialist she has been an educator for 26 years and a public school administrator for seven years she has worked as an infant development specialist an elementary school teacher an education specialist and administrator and an adjunct professor she is a chinese-american immigrant who is bilingual and bicultural her extended family is Multicultural they enjoy family and community events that allow them to connect with each other and share their cultures she shared she takes her responsibility seriously as a professional working with vulnerable children and their families dealing with intense emotions shuffling through mountains of paperwork and maneuvering through bureaucracy she learned that although Children and Families varied greatly there was one fundamental need that everyone shared they wished to belong in a
009community she believes the school district has a responsibility to create an inclusive community for all the children and families it serves as a new member of the Martinez Unified School District she looks forward to continuing the work of creating a school community that functions as an equalizer for students of all abilities and disabilities race gender Age religion sexual orientation ethnicity national origin language and socioeconomic status she aims to do her share in upholding the district's core values of safety Equity Integrity education and communication she wants to contribute to the ongoing development of a school Community where all students are integrated into classroom learning and are seen as valuable contributing members of the society please welcome Betty Lynn thank you Dr Koda for your kind introduction I want to say thank you to our president vice
010president trustees Sylvan International Rossi and the Martinez Community thank you for welcoming me to the Martinez Unified School District I couldn't be here today without support my family my husband I forgot to ask him if I could introduce him and certainly my colleagues and my mentors along the way I am here to let you know that it is my goal to pay it forward I will listen I will spend time getting to know you and I'll use the knowledge and resources as well as the connections that I have to create Partnerships for you with you and to strengthen the educational services provided by the school district as your director I will ensure that all students with disabilities receive a quality education have access to Equitable educational experiences and become prepared for future as a contributing
011member of this community thank you for this opportunity to serve you foreign thank you and welcome we're excited for your work to begin um and we will keep it with Dr Kota for I think this is really the main event of the evening um so we're on number 10 highlights and recognitions so 10.1 is classified employees of the year all right I I ask that you bear with me because I'm going to do a lot of reading this evening but our classified staff members are the people who keep our schools running they're the people who take care of everything other than teaching so that our teachers can teach literally nothing can happen with other classified staff on campus and so tonight is really special because we're honoring those people and their principals took the time
012to write a few things about their selected employee of the year some were short and succinct and sweet and some wrote a book but I didn't want to cut them short so um I I do want to recognize first two staff members who are unable to be here tonight but should still be recognized for all that they bring to their school site so from John sweat Elementary School we have Samantha Casanova Mrs Casanova has been a para educator in the Learning Center since 2016. she has organized helpful professional friendly and Bill's amazing rapport with students she's knowledgeable and confident with the curriculum and materials used in the room most importantly is the love and compassion she shows for all the students she works with many of the students may come in not confident in thinking
013they can't do something after they work with Mrs Casanova though their mindset changes and confidence is instilled in them she's a true team player and a tremendous asset to the John sweat Community that's Samantha Casanova at Johnson Elementary sadly we have one additional team member who was not able to be here and I get to see her at work quite a bit because she walks the kids over to play basketball across the street from us Kristen canepa from uh Vicente Martinez High School Kristen has been with vmhs for the past six years she has a challenging job with students where they are out of class when they are out of class she is always there supervising students in the cafeteria in the Commons outside and seems to be exactly where she needs to be it
014seems in two or more places at once she is always visible and is a driving force that keeps our school connected every day she greets students and staff with a smile and a kind word which makes you feel valued Kristen is an essential part to keeping our school safe and running smoothly hooray for Kristen you are the key to her success all right and now I get to honor the people who were able to make it here and hopefully they have family here as well so for Las juntas Elementary School we have Ileana Ron all right so Ileana um while Ileana is newer to being a staff member she has been a part of the musd community since she started kindergarten Mr Ron has created positive relationships with the students she works with her work
015in connecting with the Spanish-speaking students and their families is so valuable for our school Community thank you Ileana for everything that you do that's Ileana can you come back up here so we can take your picture there you go look I said to bear with me it's going to be a long evening all right and from Martinez adult education we have Alicia Swafford I know it's hard it's hard to listen to good things being said about you isn't it okay all right Martinez adult education classified employee of the year is Alicia Swafford Alicia has been working at Mae since April 2019 and with the Martinez Unified School District since 2017. she is the first person you meet at the school whether it's in person or over the phone she sets the standard high and is
016the most welcoming person anyone could ask for this is what those who work with her have to say Elise is always ready to be of service she's quick efficient and so very kind always a genuine smile lights up her face she's our best face for the public at the front desk and she makes everyone feel welcome Alicia has been a great asset to our school Community she's responsive and keeps a positive attitude always has a smiling voice and keeps a cool head Elise is always available to help she's so organized and efficient with her work and she is really the go-to person to get things done she has taken on many responsibilities and has been a huge help to all the new employees that have been hired in the last year she never shies away
017from trying something new and she's always a canva and making amazing Flyers to promote the events that we have at the school the positive creative and friendly presence that Alicia brings to the school is never unnoticed and makes a school and the experience for students and staff the best it can be congratulations all right and for Martinez Junior High School we have Lisa holiday all right Lisa has been working at njhs as a paraeducator since 2014. Miss holiday has been has supported countless students teachers and fellow staff members in her tenure at njhs her student-centered focus is clear with the trusting relationships and positive report that she develops with each and every student she works with Miss holiday's Focus to detail and care for students led to her additional responsibility as a health attendant when
018she where she is entrusted with the care of some of the highest needs students each and every day Miss holiday comes to work with a smile and the passion to help support our bullpups thank you and congratulations Lisa one more okay next up we have Morello Park Maureen Rumba so long all right Maureen has been at Morello park for more than 20 years she has been a top-notch employee Maureen has been an asset to our site and our resource Learning Center she goes above and beyond for the students she works with always making sure they are the number one priority and is willing to help out when there is a need on any given day you can see Maureen working either one-on-one or in a small group of students in the Learning Center she also
019supports students during recess and lunch Maureen has a kind and caring demeanor and is a well-liked and well-respected member of our staff Maureen has built and maintained strong relationships with all the students in the Learning Center and the many staff members at Morello Park she always offers up a friendly smile and hello every morning and is a positive role model on our campus she's a dedicated employee and works very hard every day it has been a pleasure working with her this year and I hope she enjoys retirement to the fullest she definitely deserves it congratulations to Maureen rumbaugh our classified employee of the year for Morello Park Elementary oops thank you all right from John Muir Elementary School Denise Brown of all the years Miss Denise is so deserving of this honor she has made
020a tremendous impact on the family she works with and has been an effective collaborative worker with supervisors and colleagues since 2016. she's extremely well liked and respected by her school Community Ms Denise consistently shows her ability to adapt and problem solve when working with medically complicated students in his school environment she relates to children with a warm and supportive manner students and Staff feel comfortable and Trust Miss Denise with her kind and caring demeanor she consistently shows up for work early to meet the needs of her students with medical needs and to help ease any concerns from their families she works collaboratively with the school team with a positive calm and professional enthusiasm Miss Denise conscientiously takes on job responsibilities to expand her skills she attends conferences on her own time to keep medically updated
021in order to better serve her students Ms Denise has shown excellent performance in adjusting to work situations and being alert to opportunities to improve methods and skills she has been a great asset to the jme community we are so lucky to have her congratulations to them that that's what you grew up all right representing the district office Glenn Howell so all right from day one Glenn has proven himself to be the consummate team player with good skill attitude and reliability it is obvious that he simply wants the grounds and operations Department to function smoothly and effectively as a whole Glenn approaches his day-to-day responsibilities with not only a department-focused lens but a customer service one as well as soon as a work order crosses his desk he makes every effort to take care of it
022he wants to provide prompt thorough work and so he does in addition to the multitude of work orders fielded in random jobs from all corners of the district in all my years in musd I have never seen the grass athletic fields looking so green and well tended too I wonder who wrote that Glenn and his crew have worked hard at that effort over the past two years and the hard work is paying off mightily Glenn takes pride in the work and it shows he goes above what is required with all tasks his work ethic is tremendous and he is a team player taking on any task that is asked of him even when it is not related to grounds he is a great example of an outstanding employee thank you Glenn for everything foreign I
023wonder whose this is so last but not least um representing Alhambra high school and our classified our district classified employee of the year this year Gardner Daniels no band this time so when we announced Gardner is the employee of the year the band got into it so he got a band when we made the announcement all right Gardner has consistently demonstrated an unwavering commitment to his community he always lends a helping hand to anyone who needs it no matter how big or small the task may be whether it's answering questions about school policies managing administrative tasks or simply providing a listening ear Gardener is always there for us he had to take a day off and we were afraid we were going to have to close the school because he makes sure this place runs
024like a well-oiled machine Beyond his knowledge of policies and procedures and his unparalleled dependability we appreciate his genuine care and concern for others he makes a point to ensure that everyone feels welcome and valued his warmth and kindness creates a supportive and positive environment that is filled throughout the school Gardner is an exemplary employee who truly deserves this recognition and more his outstanding work ethic care for others knowledge and dependability make him an invaluable member of the school Community he's a shining example of excellence and dedication in the workplace and we are fortunate that we get the opportunity to work with him congratulations Gardner thank you all right thank you and congratulations this is truly one of the best things that we get to do we love celebrating our our employees here so and I
025was also um lucky enough to be at a bunch of meetings the day that the band got to play for Gardner and so I got to go and it was one of maybe the best things I've done in this job so um it was so fun and so we appreciate all of the hard work of all of our employees and especially those that we've recognized this evening and having said that we know that you have busy lives and we have uh you know a really riveting meeting in front of us that we would love for you to stay but if you choose to go out and celebrate your successes in other ways we are not offended so we'll take a moment pause to let everyone who feels like they want to go do something different
026to go do that and um well we'll give you about we'll get about a minute and then we'll resume our agenda on item 11 which is comments from our student representative if there have been a lot of rained out softball games and so she has a rescheduled softball game this evening so um reading the comments tonight will be superintendent Rossi so from Las Montes a huge thank you to the Kiwanis Club for their generous donation to our library we had a big couple of weeks for our fourth graders the wonderful Mrs whitlatch put on a musical go West on the 17th and families enjoyed coming to watch their students perform on the 23rd our fourth graders were able to go to Connolly Ranch in Napa to explore the outdoors our TK are celebrated the end
027of their ABC boot camp with a fashion show upcoming events their open house will be this Wednesday 3 29. there's a minimum day on Thursday 3 30. there is no school on Friday 3 30 all the way through the 9th of April we look forward to seeing students on Monday April 10th there's a virtual PTA meeting on 4 11 at 6 pm and S back testing will start the week of April 24th for third through fifth graders John Muir Elementary our music class did a deep dive of the top 20 most influential women in our in pop as the Forgotten women composers of the 17th and 18th century the Heather Farms education department visited both fourth grade classrooms to teach about the Native American Plant use our sdc-35tk and Kinder classes started their silkworm study
028they will observe the entire life cycle of baby silkworms we had a fantastic stem fair organized and hosted by our wonderful PTA students had the opportunity to create presentation boards that depicted science experiments to Science History this year Lindsay Wildlife Museum and New Leaf collaborative joined us by providing Interactive Science activities thank you to our guest speakers that presented to our families upcoming events John Muir open house presents art music and activities Festival so instead of a traditional open house they're doing a community event outside hopefully from 5 30 to 7 PM fourth grade is taking a trip to the John Muir house on Wednesday 3 29. John sweat third grade visited Los Vaqueros watershed to learn about the intricate process water goes through to get treated and into our homes fifth graders took a
029trip to Angel Island and the museums on the island to learn about our local history fifth grade students presented their state reports and shared unique food from their state fourth graders are learning about the eye and did a dissection of a real cow's eye John sweat open house is Wednesday from 5 30 to 6 30 and first and second grade musical performances are coming after spring break it's funny to hear all these um field trips they're coming back I haven't had any in a while so Morello Park fourth grade visited Sacramento for their first field trip of the year and it was great fun we had our first grade performance this past Friday the students did amazing the theme was happy and all the songs were uplifting it was well attended by families thank you
030to our music teacher Mrs Robbins open house on Wednesday from six to seven third and fourth grade musical performances before the open house on Wednesday the third grade will perform at 5 15 and the fourth grade at 5 45. Martinez junior high thank you to the Kiwanis Club for their support and donation to our library on Tuesday morning we hosted grade level assemblies where the focus was kindness inclusion and Leadership of all students in the afternoon students were nominated to participate in a Leadership Summit where we discussed current issues within our school community and brainstormed ideas on how to address them thank you to the PTA for a successful color run into our community who helped raise twelve thousand dollars that's unheard of in Martinez Junior High PTA and I was there a long time
031that that's awesome a huge round of applause for our musician and Miss flans Miss F I should say who participated in the cmea clinic on Friday the Scholastic Book Fair started last week and will run through this week thank you to all of the families who volunteered to support our library the Martinez open house Martinez Junior High open house Community event is tomorrow Tuesday from 5 30 to 7. PTA will be selling burritos starting at 5 30. I believe that's in the multi-use room and they have moved their event inside and there's a map that was mailed home to date in the parent notifications I'll make sure the board members who are going get it minimum day on Thursday dismissal is 11 50 a.m Alhambra high school as we move into spring break we have
032spirit week this week today was monochrome Monday and tomorrow is lifeguard or Beach day this is the last week of March Madness which has been a fun way for the community to come home come together during lunch casting has started juniors are taking English Math Science and seniors are taking the science portion only typically during their English or social science class tickets for prom are on sale guest passes are for prom are due by April 14th free prom dresses are available some of them still have tags on them and can be located in Mrs Miss Patrick's office the Alhambra High School drama club presents Cinderella April 19th through the 21st tickets are on sale now save the date for the Athletics booster fundraiser scheduled for May 20th contact the boosters president for more details Vicente
033Martinez brioni's independent study thank you to Kiwanis Club for the generous donation to our library and for the scholarship opportunity to our seniors good luck to all who applied congratulations to Grace Watkins for winning the seroptimus scholarship to further her education next year bicente Martinez High School is hosting an open house on Tuesday March 28th from 5 30 to 6 15. we hope to see students and families there March Madness attendance awareness is in full swing at Vicente congratulations to students with perfect attendance and those who have improved their attendance this month keep up the great work Vicente Martinez high school Thursday through 331 has a minimum day at with a 12 o'clock dismissal spring break is March 31st through this April 7th cast testing will start the week of April 17th for both Vicente
034and Briones a Martinez Adult Ed students in the marketing for small business class were provided information on applying for a 2500 grant for their small business several students applied and we are waiting results on March 23rd students from the medical billing and coding program met with UCSF Health representatives to learn about career opportunities in both billing and coding on Saturday March 18th Stu two students passed the high school equivalency exam on March 29th pharmacy technician program orientation will be at five o'clock and you must be registered to attend all right thank you number 12 is employee organization reports are there any reports this evening okay 13 is comments from the PTA do we have any comments from the pth thing 14 is correspondence if you have any correspondence to report there's none all right moving
035right along staff reports so we'll head right back to you uh with the superintendent's report okay um just for a reminder not that we didn't hear it in every school report spring break begins on Friday this year and there's a half day for all schools except Alhambra high school on Thursday because Alhambra High School does not have does not participate in open house just back to school night so they don't get the half day um all open houses begin at 5 30 with the exception of Morello Park which begins at 6 PM due to the music performances beforehand I had the Good Fortune to attend the teen truth assembly at Martinez Junior High last week their assemblies are designed to stop bullying teen suicide social emotional issues in their tracks J.C Paul the company's founder
036provided three assemblies one per grade level on how students can help build a positive school called culture he then provided a Leadership Summit with approximately 30 students developing a plan for moving forward for those that are looking for employment we currently have positions for science math and kindergarten for teachers and openings for para Educators please contact our Personnel Department I did meet with um chief White from the Martinez PD last week regarding the community warning system which alerts residents and businesses within the county that are impacted by or in danger of being impacted by an emergency the message um that you do receive includes basic information about the incident and what protective actions so what what I did was I was referred first I was trying to find out more about the community warning system
037because I was not in attendance at the city council meeting although I did watch it and I was referred to a chief White because he is for our city he is the liaison for the community warning system so he explained a lot to me and there are basically three levels level one would be that there's no for the refinery there would be no site off-site impact just impact that the refinery and then there's the controversial which I I think is a controversial level too which is an alert that's put out online only for sensitive populations like students that are people that have asthma or health conditions that might be affected whereas people without them would not be by something coming out of the refinery and the last one is a love level three of shelter
038in place and so what I understood chief White to tell me is that the county determines the level of alert and they notice us only by you know phone or text if it's a level three but in April the City of Martinez will be noticing those who register on the website by text for a level two and I've asked our our principals meeting last week I asked all of our principals to sign up using their cell phone because we don't have District issued cell phones that are using their personal cell phones and they will receive a text I will receive it here for the district as well and um that that will help us for a level two and and uh the level three of course would automatically come to all of us anyway but
039the level two is is will now be coming to us sometime in April the question I had was about Los Santos which is our school that's closest but is in the county they're not part of the city you know jurisdiction so uh chief White did tell me that um they will have Las Fuentes will have the ability to opt in for the City of Martinez level two texts in the very very near future so I will make sure that um they get the message should they need the message in the meantime but uh the refinery is pretty close with the staff at Los Fuentes as it is they interact a lot they do a lot of volunteering and donations to that site because it is you know they're they're close neighbors so that is uh
040all for my report tonight all right thank you 15.2 is our March facility oh yeah go ahead with regard to that notifications it's only established via text there's no email alternative no there's only text am I right Linda that's what I got I got text text and phone yes I put the email address in there but the our conversation was I don't understand you know what I'll double check that I'll double check that so yeah and am I correct in um I know each staff member each principal has their own unique email address but my correct I'm assuming each print the principle of each site has a principle uh principal at they do not and I thought of that when we did this because every time one leaves we're going to have to because once
041you enter I found this out once you enter into that Community warning system with your address there's no entering another so um you seem to have a principle that's it's on my list but we haven't gotten there yet so it would make sense our rates 15.2 is our March facilities update presented by Andy Cannon and Joe schoenstein so I'm just going to introduce Joe and Joe's going to do the heavy lifting for us tonight uh but we we do want to present to you a facility update report that guides us through last year up to the state and we picked some high leverage top-end facility projects that we've done and with that we have Joe schoenstein tonight and he is our bonds coordinator and he does all of this work the coordination of it the
042working with different contractors our own staff and make sure that our facilities are are looking as great as they are so Joe it's all yours good evening so um facilities update so I don't know oops we're just not working you guys hear me a little better am I on hello okay um so I'm the bond projects coordinator for the district as well as maintenance in grounds oversight so uh uh with the maintenance we have in our maintenance department we have three maintenance mechanics right now we have two we were just hired one and actually we'll probably start Wednesday so with generally speaking we always have three maintenance mechanics and then for grounds we have three uh three ground screws and um we have a work order system but we'll let me back up just a
043little bit the maintenance guys there's there's annual things that happen every year that they automatically have to do with things without swap you that they have to do and they're like for instance uh changing filters in in the heating and air conditioning systems those happen three times a year each filter in each room of each facility gets changed three times a year that's a big crunchical by itself there's filters there's uh filtering screens and things for uh pumps for uh boilers for um uh water coolers so there's a lot there's a lot going on with our heating and air conditioning these guys work on that constantly um so there's there's there's maintenance that goes on that they know that they have to get done by certain times meanwhile there's a work order system that we
044have in place that um a teacher a principal a office manager can do a work order and send it in with the problem at the school and it could be a plugged up toilet it could be a it could be a burnt out light bulb and it could be heating's not working so each principal and each office manager has my personal contact so if there's an emergency at the school that relates to maintenance I'll get a call right away usually it's mechanical electrical or Plumbing something that's very urgent needs to be taken care of right away I'm going to get that call and then I can call my guys directly and dispatch them over there stop what you're doing you know or finish up what you're doing and get over there you know we we
045have um there's lots of things that happen like that like for instance the power goes out this year we've had it a few extra times drop everything go get the generator from from the maintenance yard and bring it down here and get it connected to the server because we can't survive in the district without that server running so it's very important that we get that work done work orders um uh we have a good system in place we believe and and uh Laura Alvarez in our office she's she's the facility facilities uh help or the backup and she's really the backbone she does a lot of she does purchase orders for the vendors she does uh she takes the work orders as they come in and just and dispatches them out to the right guys
046and um and I'm there all the time as their support I'm to back them up and to help them and if they have a problem they can't get resolved we'll find a way to get it solved so that's that's basically what we do in in grounds it's a little bit different they you know they know that there's weed whacking going on in certain times of the year there's um the mowing that has to go on there's prep for ball games at the fields on the turf field so there's a lot of um they do gutter cleaning in advance of storms they get up on the roofs and they actually clean the building roofs where we where it's safe for them to get up there so um and then when there's you know when all else
047fails in the district if there's a gray area and somebody needs something done we get the call so we'll take a trailer and go move some furniture or move a classroom there's there's it's it's uh what the the task that the grounds department and the maintenance department have or um widespread so so that's basically what we do in facilities projects um we also oversee projects and uh uh repairs and uh updates uh in the last 15 months we've done these projects and uh we'll start off with Alhambra high school so the baseball netting along along Alhambra is about 300 feet of baseball netting that was torn in weathered and Fallen apart so we replaced that the team room and lock well the team room up on the upper field and the lower field were both
048rotten so we had them demolished and removed the one on the upper field what we did is we we Consolidated all the old shipping containers that were up there if you're familiar with the upper field the shipping containers were scattered around the field kind of unsightly and some of them were not being used they were rotten so we clean them out organized them worked with staff up there and we put them all back where we tore down the old team room up there behind the grandstands and organize them and so beyond that while I'm talking about the upper field we also went around the drainage so these containers were actually blocking the surface drainage swales around the entire field and we we cleaned all those out and we had equipment come in there and actually
049re-establish the swales and the drains so you know the surface drainage is adequate again it's back back working the way it should and so um on the lower field at the at Knowles field we put a new team room in a picture of it there and new lockers on the inside so that's enough uh upgrade and then we took the synthetic uh pitching mound out and put in a real um soil uh Turf uh rather a clay Mound so so that uh you know the kids and the staff they love that now um so we also did uh let's see what else did we do there backpack I think if you went back one Andy uh there was a storm drain there was a big storm drain backup that happened a year ago in November
050October actually and it flooded the PAB we found that there was a storm drain that had been disconnected and was never reconnected way back during the construction phases of that building um we think it was PG needed to cut through that line we don't know for sure but anyway it took some effort and we did do that repair um that's that's it for that but sure um high school so tennis courts and in the track there's tears there's cracks um so we did some immediate repairs to those last year the electrical cabling in buildings d h and f these these we kept having power outages and the main cabling that goes in the conduits underground to the schools um they they did a mega test which actually tells you what if there's enough continuity and
051there wasn't it so we actually replaced a lot of cable at a large expense there um we put new bleachers a couple of new small bleachers that we could fit at the pool um another issue was uh the pool we've upgraded the CO2 system for the pool and so we've got new we've got additional uh CO2 capability for keeping the pH balance in the pool in the Commons we have removed a ham two areas of um lockers and created space for eating and brought tables in there and actually set up and ran the electrical and brought in um uh two uh cooling survey serving coolers so as you know there's a lot more kids getting lunch now today so there's the need for this was that was a big big plus there there was an
052old Antiquated wheelchair lift there that we were reactivating now and so that's almost done uh we're still waiting for the back ordered wheelchair lift it's been prepped and ready so that's going to happen um I think that's pretty much it for our projects uh so oh here's some more projects there's always something you know we have with you know we in this school district there's Creeks uh adjoining just about every property and so with these heavy storms I mean we've just unprecedented amount of water soaking and now and even just this last week trees are just falling down left and right and so we had a huge tree fall in next to the track down into the creek um at the junior high school we had to bring in a crane removed that tree and
053then we came in and brought um uh did some emergency slope repair brought in tons of big huge boulders to support that slope um that was a big project that may need a little more work we're going to wait and see there could be some sheep footing it's so close where this thing broke away it's like only feet from the edge of the track so we're going to monitor that and if we have to there's going to be more money spent to have to support that slope um you know with the new campus at Los juntis um we what we did is we left you know we kept the original kindergarten building classrooms and the admin office and so we um we updated those just to clean them up and we painted them repainted the
054outsides the insides put it uh did some painting inside we coated the roofs just to Spruce them up and make them look like they belong with a new campus uh John sweat Elementary um storm drain repairs this was you know we have these old buildings with storm drains and sanitary sewer lines that the roots get into them uh we're it just seems like it's a it's a Non-Stop adventure for us you know getting unplugging these drains you know we have our crew has snakes and devices and capability of doing that but sometimes it's a bigger project where we have to bring an outside contractor excavate the pipes and we've had pipes that are just 10 inches in diameter packed full roots that just had to be removed and replaced and some of those are going
055to be remain with that campus so they have to be repaired um even after the campuses demolished some of those the surface area drains have to stay so um future projects um so we're getting pricing right now for to refinish the gym floors the gym floor at the junior high is to a at a stage where it needs to be stripped right down to the wood and there's even some areas of wood they're going to be pulled up and replaced and then rebuilt back up and that's going to happen at the gym uh annually there's always a coating uh in Kobe we skipped a year because we weren't using them but uh we um like the high school we will just screen it it's like a light sanding and put a couple of coats on
056top and that'll be good for a Fresh coat for this summer that's going to happen and then the complete refinish at the Junior High um exterior lighting um little by little we're going through still older campuses that are left now or the junior high the high school and John sweat so we have gone through on some of the projects some of the modernization from the bond money at the high school we did do LED lighting in in some in the library and in buildings h and f um and now we've got parking lot lighting I'd like to see we keep getting lighting lighting going out and the same thing on the exterior of the gym so we're in the process of switching those over to LED lighting um uh let's see so other other projects
057um what we have planned so now we are in the process this is the time of the year we put together next year's or what we call our summer projects and um so we've already got a a whole list of items and now we're trying to fill in all we're infilling all the dollar amounts we'll come up with the budget amount we'll see what what we know what the budget is but we we have our wish list and then once we've got everything um dollar amounts attached to each item that we want to do then Helen and Andy and I will sit down and decide what the priorities are for these items and you know we have parking lots uh that some have uh plugging and repairing that need to be done some need slurry
058and re-striped uh the building of paint uh the painting of building D at the junior high that's the next one online that really needs paint um we have uh floor replacement in in three three bathrooms at the junior high we have uh interior painting I'd like to see the interior walls painted I think a lot of people would of the building administration building in building a um of course the gym floors Maybe and then uh with sewer line so there's for the remaining buildings at John sweat uh that will stay those sewer lines are constantly backing up we have to dig them up just like I just described the sewer lines the the storm sewer line so that'll be a something added to a summer project this summer to take care of those so those
059are those are some of the projects that work on along with you know maintaining and keep it trying to keep up any questions Joe thank you I appreciate the update a few questions sure um the uh the new team room by Knowles field yeah I obviously know it's used by baseball if you use by football the team bought a lot of cleats in and out of there are there protective measures for the flooring to kind of make that last longer or is that the well we did we went with VCT you know just tile X tiles instead of carpet which made more sense um it means something we could look into going further with that doing something else on that floor it's it's it's shared with all different sports it's set up and designed for
060Equity so that you know what Frost can use in football teams everybody you know visiting teams so uh um we don't have a plan to do any more with that floor well I realized that I was at some contemporary uh facility but just trying to prolong as long as well and just by nature of that being Turf they should not be using Metals spikes and hard cleats so those should be the softer rubber cleats it should shouldn't have that much impact but I haven't gone in there to check on that so if they're using those type of cleats it might be able to do this yeah they should not be using those cleats at all yeah something we'll add to our list to check into sure the uh comment you made about the Conex is
061at the upper field so that was a is that a self-induced problem it sounded like a what's that the Conex is up at the upper field and blocking drainage well you know the yeah they they should not have been put there that was done quite a long time ago and what happens is so as you know the slopes it's a big ball up there and all the slopes you know with years and years of storms the fines will come down and plug up those swales that lead in Paul into the drainage inlets and so it was time for those things to be cleaned out I mean we took a laser and we shot elevations to make sure we had high points and low points go into the drains and move those containers out of there
062so that we can properly maintain them now you know you know and I think every five to ten years something a tractor might have to get in there and do that that's just the nature of the surface there's nothing on that slope to keep keep heavy rains in the fines and the light dirt mud coming down into the well what's what's positive we've seen too with the heavy rains especially recently is we have our softball field that and and I'm sure we'll talk about it tonight that is got lots of water and we're struggling with it but the upper field has been able to drain pretty well and that's all because of these extra efforts and going through so it's still usable You know despite the the water log in we're experiencing no I agree
063I think it's yeah we gotta figure out a drainage for the softball field for sure um the elevator that's you're refurbing What's um it's a wheelchair lift or sorry yes wheelchair wheelchair live is that how long has it been out of commission it's been out of commission for maybe eight ten years okay and so what they've been doing is and how how do we get away with that well the kids can come out and go out in front of the library and go up that elevator and come across back into the comments at that level so they if there's some somebody that needs that needs to get up those stairs they can go around and go with that elevator and come in so we're just now going to take advantage of getting that thing back
064second operation so when we decided to put a third servery area on the top it should be accessible to everyone without having to take a half a mile hike and come back because by that time their lunch would be gone or over but so that's was part of the whole plan on on no that's creating a bigger serving and seating the students get the key or is that uh advice that works there well I don't know how they're going to do it at the Junior High um it you don't need a key there's a key that well there's a key there but I'm not sure how they're going to do it at the high school but we'll see I know when you use the big elevator you get a key and you get signed out
065from the office they may have to do that because I think we left a key in there it'll just get lost so can you talk uh about I know there's been issues at the the pool lately like is it the heater went out yeah so the there was a pump and the pump uh nor is a is a vendor that we use to get parts and do the repairs and extensive repairs something we couldn't do and so uh they came out and it was back ordered they ordered that pump and I believe it should be up and running right now okay okay yeah so I just talked to the athletic director today and so the the pump was fixed yesterday but it needs enough time to cycle through to warm up the pool so they
066are not practicing tonight because the pool isn't warm enough even though it's running and then they should be back ready to use it tomorrow I'll follow up with that too and I know the the condition of the pool covers were certainly look tattered are those scheduled to be replaced is that they they warrantied those covers and replaced them for us and so I have them but I haven't put them on okay so I will but yes well I think we've ran into just issue after issue with the pool um and you know you saw in the pictures where we updated CO2 we were struggling to deal with some of our CO2 issues so um actually uh Mr gangler helped us out with the solution so we got a secondary every vendor and Mr schoenstein was
067able to put those all together so now we have a backup system we have two different systems trying to make sure that our pool can stay up and running all the time but then right after that gets put into place we have the pump issue so we we are hoping that we're going to get all of these resolved and we'll get back to more normal and regular usage of the facility but it also should be mentioned that the whole pool and all its equipment was um rebuilt a couple of years ago so it's it's a pretty new facility as far as Mechanicals I have one other question and it's not it's kind of a facilities question kind of not an expert from a our employer I read the other day in your picture of Los
068Santas prompts the question um our flags the American flags and flagpoles are those illuminated are those flags brought down every day they're brought down picture thank you thank you appreciate it sure no question Joe one more question over here so um the track you mentioned that there were repairs done to the upper Field track was this after the containers were removed or what okay yeah is there ever a plan to replace the entire track we didn't get this Bond and we had a great plan for the to to Really upgrade up there and and I can just tell you briefly um the cracks will continue to happen on the on the courts and the track will is still undulating and that's a common complaint up there and I think with the bond money what we
069would like to do is replace the turf take the turf out and put a synthetic turf field in we have right now the surface drainage we've been talking about around the outside of the field uh track we'd like to put a designer put a Subterranean drainage around there to capture water but push underneath that track we'd like to remove that track and um lime treat the track it's almost like cementing the the base grade below grade the subgrade and then rebuild the track on top of that as far as the cracks on the court We Believe water's pushing up there too and so that we are already started the process of putting a Subterranean drain across the slope side of the courts to capture that water but but also with Bond money in the future
070we would like to put a concrete cap on top of those ports it's called the closed tension slab which steel cables running either direction and that will act like a free-floating slab so you know the ground can move it's very high the other problem we have is it's very highly expansive soil so it expands and it contracts so these are measures that we would take and these are from our experience and and soils Engineers recommendations that we would take these these steps for the entire um to make that one whole big Bond project up there that would be the permanent fix well or yeah that's the permanent fix I mean you're always going to get cracks um but this will limit them in a big way that's that's our belief so and then lastly obviously
071we need the bond money um we're lights and bathrooms every part of a goal for the upper track not been it's not been talked about there if you look at the April 2020 facilities Master Plan update you can see um the athletic improvements in the back which include a second Gym which is um closer to the hillside there that will have bathrooms and and locker rooms as well that's on the softball field the front softball field by the other parking lot and lights would that be part of it too I'm sure thank you all right I think that there's no more questions thank you this is really informative thank you Joe now go home he wasn't feeling well today so all right item 16 is public comments under government codes five four nine five four
072point three 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 also see the zoom public comment protocols listed above in order to comply with the brown act the board May listen to comments from the speakers but can neither discuss nor take action on the issues presented members of the board are very limited in their response to statements or questions by persons commenting on items not on the agenda board members or staff may
073one ask clarifying questions two make a brief announcement three make a brief report on his or her own activities four refer a matter to staff or other resources for information five requests that staff report back on a matter at a subsequent meeting or six direct staff to place the matter on a future future agenda do we have any public items then in the room do we have any public comments on Zoom all right seeing then we will also not need item 20 then we'll move on to the 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 any changes
074to the consent calendar this evening there are none any um board discussion or questions I'd just like to recognize the gifts and donations mozmoto construction wcigc commercial construction Chevron the black bot giving fund the Kiwanis Club and Salesforce Emily Callahan there's quite a few generous donations to the district this this uh the past few weeks so thank you to them yes and I think we'll be seeing quite a few more in the coming um meetings because we've made sure that all of our sites are yes yes so we'll be seeing well I think we'll have an influx for a little bit so we appreciate all of our donors uh is there any public comment on the consent calendar we'll bring it back to the board for a vote move to approve the consent calendar all
075in favor all right opposed abstentions motion carries we do not have any uh discussion or information items this evening so we'll move into action 19.1 is approval of CTE teaching practicum course presented by Renee Lopez good evening so tonight I am bringing um back the Capstone course teaching practicum um it's for the CTE education pathway and I'm bringing it back for board approval this evening is there any board questions or discussion any public comments bring it back for action and uh I sit on this committee so I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve this course seconded all in favor all right opposed abstentions motion carries 19.2 is the transportation plan presented by Andy Cannon uh and we are bringing this back again tonight we had discussions on it at the previous meeting so
076tonight we're asking you to approve the transportation plan board questions public comment I'll move to approve that's good all in paper all right I opposed abstentions motion carries 19.3 is measure R and measure K audit reports this is also Andy Cannon so our district manages to Proposition 39 bonds and their measure K and their measure are just a reminder measure K was approved in 2010 with the total value of 45 million dollars from the voters and measure R was approved in November of 2016 for 120 million dollars each of these Bond measures require an independent audit and the following presentation and documents that you have before you tonight are a collective audit and report for these Bond measures for the fiscal year of 2021 through 2022 so this ended last June so this is nothing
077current it's based on last year a requirement of our bond is do we have to establish and maintain a bond citizen oversight committee their role is to determine whether our expenditures meet the the outline of the original bond that voters approved and if they find something there to report it to the board so far this year we have met twice um and we met I think just last month and so far in the audit they have found that we have met all of the provisions required for a bond citizen oversight committee in in this report this is an on modified opinion which means that when the Auditors go through this process they have established and written this report and we have not changed anything in there so this is the unmodified opinion means that we
078had no tampering no type of involvement other than providing them with the documents that they're requested and the conclusion that is reached here is used is based on the generally acceptable accounting practices that are there um so what does the Auditors do when they look at these Bond measures they look at our historical budget data they look at our cash they look at the all of our different accounts and they will select certain um certain accounts receivable documentation and they'll review that they'll also do the same thing for a selection of our expenditures sorry Joe I should be telling you which slide to go on huh all right I'm gonna do better at that next time uh and sorry for the crowd as well so I'll do a work on that when we look at
079overall and so all of the slides that you saw is really kind of leading up to this very small slide but it is extremely significant so once we establish what the role of the Auditors are they will actually go through which we talked about is is looking at certain expenditures so for measure K they looked at 123 124 000 worth of our expenditures which is about 63 percent of what we had remaining at the time and they also looked at 4.3 million of expenditures for our measure R so in that they're going to look and see did we have the proper internal controls did we regulate the money did we record things did we maintain all of our processes for that and so in their audit report they said they found no significant deficiencies so
080we were doing things correctly and they found no material weaknesses so when they reviewed the different expenditures they found that they all matched and followed the correct guidelines so in as a result of all of that and based on their unmodified opinion they believe that we have met all the conditions of having both those bonds and have met our financial responsibilities so this audit report is a clean bill of health for the district for measures R and measures k great thank you is there any questions on that I have a question uh do the Auditors meet with the the oversight committee or do they interview them at all is there any like section base with them um I don't know if they did it for this one they normally do they meet with um the
081president or the is the president right yeah the president of the COC um they do they usually do it by phone but in addition to that we do publish our meeting uh agenda our notes and um who belongs on there so that's all contained on our website too so the public or the board anybody can go on and see um what those notes are what's our vacancy on the on the Committees we are fully staffed for measures K and measures are what are we being asked to do you are being asked to approve the audit report for measures R and K I move to approve the audit report let's see if we have any public comments oh sorry I'm excited have a comment any online all right okay go ahead and move to approve the
082audit reports seconded all in favor aye aye opposed abstentions motion carries thank you for that number 19.4 is approval of new job descriptions for driver Food Services lead technology Specialists technology Specialists network engineer cook manager cafeteria assistant cafeteria lead Elementary and cafeteria lead secondary presented by Dr Kota okay um occasionally job descriptions must be updated um to conform with new techniques uh different needs terminology changing and they are used by employees by the and by the district to Define what the expected roles of each employee are and these were updated in collaboration between personnel and CSEA so they were presented to the board two weeks ago bringing them back with a recommendation for adoption by the board so I I apologize I brought some late questions to to Helen they as they are reviewing the
083agenda and um they didn't pop into my head when it was presented during the appointment at the time but I would ask that a lot of the positions are I think eighth grade equivalent educational requirements but the requirements to perform the job are some principles in accounting and bookkeeping and would don't seem commensurate with that educational level and so I would ask for the next revision or go around that'd be noted to increase the educational requirements for the positions at least at least the high school diploma or GED we can absolutely take that into consideration I would like to point out that it um what we put on job descriptions is a very bare minimum that we we expect an applicant to have and but a person still has to take an exam to qualify
084for the position and that is what we use to determine whether a person meets the qualifications so to increase the the minimum requirement would put an additional barrier in the way of people even qualifying for INS What In some cases is an entry-level job so it's something to to consider very you know very carefully if you want us to increase that given the employee shortage that we have an example would be a person who maybe didn't finish high school or maybe didn't even attend high school in the United States but comes to us with an education from another country may have all the skills that we need for them to perform that position even though they don't they didn't go the traditional route that they might have in inside the United States so just something
085to consider when when you consider that any other questions on this one all right all the comments okay and we'll go ahead and bring it back for action I make a motion to approve the new job descriptions for driver Food Services lead technology Specialists technology specialist network engineer cook manager cafeteria assistant cafeteria lead Elementary and cafeteria lead secondary well second all in favor aye aye opposed abstentions motion carries all right and our last action item this evening is Administrative salary schedule revision for 2023 2024 also presented by Dr coda okay so as a result of the organ reorganization of the district office and administrative positions the board is being asked to approve the proposed 2020 2024 administrative salary schedule specific changes are the addition of the John sweat Elementary vice principal the deletion of the
086CTE coordinator position the replacement of the wellness coordinator with a student services coordinator and an increase in the number of days worked for the coordinator positions the total cost of the change is approximately twenty thousand dollars it was brought to the board for information two weeks ago and now we we're asking that the board approved this new salary schedule board questions or comments any public comments all right bring it back for action move to approve the new administrative salary schedule division for 2023-24 second all in paper all right I opposed abstentions motion carries we do not need item 20 this evening so we'll go ahead and finish off with comments from uh the superintendent board members and any future agenda items and I'll go ahead and start with superintendent Rossi this evening I just want
087to remind the board um if you haven't signed up for um a parking spot in attendance at the open house this week please jump on the chart and go ahead and fill that in and they will save a parking spot for you because it will be difficult to try to find one um and that's it all right well I'm looking forward to attending hopefully too um both the junior high and John Muir this week and I'd like to wish everyone last last meeting I said that March tends to be feeling like a really long month for our employees and we're still actually in March but we are almost at the end and we have spring break to look forward to so I wish everyone a happy and healthy um break and hopefully everyone comes back
088energized to get through our end of the year activities I don't have anything tonight um I think even with the putting our name down and having a parking stall reserved people still move to Cohn said we might be out of luck but gotta get there early um but I would uh just to have they're all gone but uh just reiterate you know congratulations to our staff but you're right this is kind of the one of the most enjoyable aspects of of the job and glad to we could um recognize all the hard hard work and efforts I would particularly like to you know he's gone but I'd like to recognize Gardner he really is a great asset to the school and has um has been very responsive the multiple times I've been to the to
089the site and so uh could well deserved congratulations to him that I too wanted to congratulate all the classified employees of the year and I also wanted to acknowledge Gardner too he's he's really a great guy um but everyone is well deserving of that and then also I wanted to recognize um Virginia Hill's Safeway they made a 500 gift card donation to uh the track and field at Alhambra high school and we asked them very last minute and they turned it around in a week so I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew um that was really generous of them and they're not the close one to the school but um it was very supportive and um just again thank you very much Safeway um so Friday March 31st is Santa Chavez's birthday and
090it was proclaimed a commemorative national holiday in 2014. thank you to all the teachers and administrators that have included lessons and recognition at their schools regarding Cesar Chavez Polaris Huerta and Farm Workers why is this relevant my father arrived at age 12 through the Bracero program and he started harvesting strawberries in Oxnard in Ventura County I am the daughter of a farm worker there are children that attend this District with family members who were or are Farm Workers in order to achieve our goal of arriving at diversity equity and inclusion it is important to recognize and celebrate these important holidays thank you all right thank you with that we will adjourn and we will be back after spring break it is 7 54 pm