PCS Board of Education Meeting: June 10, 2025

001Right, we are… we have reconvened. Um, a little after 6. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag… United States of America. To the Republic, which it stands. One nation, under God, indivisible. Liberty and justice for all. There was action taken during the closed session. Pursuant to Government Code 54957, The board voted to approve the employment report on a vote of 5-0. Uh, we will be readjourning, uh. To closed session after the meeting. Ms. Krin for competing, that's what I'm here. So, if I was saying, I don't actually want to hear. She wasn't even here. That's gotta be against Brown Act. Nope. Excuse me? We are going to continue with our meeting. That's illegal, and shame on all of you. Shame you. I think I need to, like, take a

002while, but… Brown app, people are familiar with this. You can't just show up or something not part of the meeting. What I don't even understand what they're saying. Let's just take a 5-minute break. 5-minute break. We'll reconvene in 5 minutes. 10th? All right, our next… wait a minute, it's just right. Yeah. Our first, uh, presentation will be on the Charter Amendment presentation. Dave, do we have a click? Thank you. Looker? Yes, you want it? Yes, Jake, I can share. Oh, I got it right here. Sorry, just a moment. It's there, Dave. Okay, hi! I'm Carly Costello, I'm the interim principal at McKinley and PAC. I'm Katie Gill, and I teach English and History at PAC. Uh, and we are here to present a proposal on a… an amendment to the PACS Charter. No? There we

003go, thank you. Thanks, Dave. Okay, um, so why we are here. Um. So, previously, PACS had what was called, like, a study hall period. Uh, for students, um, I've been at… with PACS for 3 years. The first 2 years I was there, students all had access to this period. Um, but recently this last year, we were following our Charter to Fidelity, which meant all students had, uh, both Spanish and music as an elective course, and then it eliminated the study hall period, what we're now going to refer to as a student success course. Um, and so what we noticed was that there were some challenges that students had with the elimination of this course. So we'll talk a little bit about the challenges that we saw, and why we would like to recommend adding that

004back in. Um, what that will mean, though, is the elimination of a course, and so we did a little bit of, um. Work on surveying the community, and so we're recommending to remove Spanish. As part of that. All right, so to collect our data, we did our due diligence in trying to find our numbers and what our community would want from students and parents Um, we took data from, um. Our 7th grade families, our 8th grade families, um, we sent a survey home, and We collected data from our 7th grade students and our 8th grade students, so we could see what their consensus was moving forward with this possible new schedule change. All right, so these are the results from our students. So, uh, the red that you see in the pie chart there is

005students who preferred to have a study hall and music as the two, um, elective offerings. And then the orange piece there is students who preferred to keep Spanish. So we would eliminate music Uh, with a study hall, and then the blue represents students who wanted to just keep this schedule as it currently is, so… You can see their overwhelming, though, support for a student success period. Um, and some of the things that students mentioned was, uh, the ability to better manage their homework. Reduced after-school stress, improved academic focus, and time for additional teacher support. So each student would be with one of our four core PACS teachers during this Student Success period. I think it's important to, um, just… mentioned that our program is an accelerated program, so The kids are taking, um… pretty much

006freshman-level courses when they are Um, at PACS, uh, especially in 8th grade, and so 7th grade, they're taking 8th grade courses, so it takes more, um, time for them to… Um, steady, it takes, um, a lot of mental space for them to… Um, understand the materials, so when we are looking at adding in this course. Um, it's something that we have thought a lot about, and we have tried in the past and seen success with it. Um, and it's really to help best support them when they enter our program. Okay, so we, um, also… I asked our parents to give us some feedback here. So, the red Um, is for us to have Spanish, or us for… It has to have music in study hall. Um, the orange is Spanish in Study Hall. And then

007the blue is to keep banned in Spanish, um, and have no study hall, which is what we did this year Um, and… Their, um, feedback was… Um, the students need help with their executive functioning skills They need homework support, um, and the more that they can get support at school. Um, the less stressful it is in their evenings, and they can continue on with their extracurricular activities Okay, so our Student Success course would provide Um, a structured support period, students would, um, engage in some goal setting. They would develop, um, better academic habits. Manage their responsibilities. It's also would be a good time for if you were absent and you need to make up a test, then you're not being pulled out of another class to do that. Um, there's a lot of group work,

008a lot of projects, and this would allow all students to collaborate during the school day, because sometimes it can be hard to find time outside of the day. To make plans with their classmates. Um, and then a big, um, piece of why we are hoping to move forward with this is to receive targeted academic support. Um, something that We want to make sure students aren't being pulled out of core academic classes for, or electives that they enjoy. Um, so they can receive speech and language services, um, ELD, specialized academic instruction. So, um, we reached out to Claire Crisco, and, um, asked her if there was already a course that was created in our systems. Um, that reflects kind of what we're wanting to do already. And she gave us this… 9230. Um, something that is

009used at the other junior highs, um, for us to use as our description, so when we look at, like, the Aries and the scheduling, there's already something there that's very similar. Um, to what we want, so that we… aren't recreating the wheel, and this is something that other… the other junior highs have access to. Okay, um, so again, the opportunities for assignment completion. Goal setting, um, a lot of students who are in 7th and 8th grade need help with their executive functioning skills, and this would be a really good time for teachers to have Time to do that with students, like, helping them with organizing their binders, organizing their time, looking at Google Classroom Helping them, um, strategize for what they should be working on each day. Um, so this would be an opportunity for

010that. Um, okay, so we kind of mentioned this already, but… Um, our outcome that we would like to see, uh, with our implementing this class would be To reduce the stress of middle school, um, to reduce, really, the stress of taking these accelerated courses. Um, making sure our students feel supported, um. Especially getting support from their teachers is different than going home and trying to have your parent help you. Um, and helping them, uh, be better prepared for high school. When, um, they are learning all of these skills and these rigorous academics. All right, so our implementation strategy would be to introduce this to all students at the beginning of the year, as well as to families. Excuse me. Um, we do a WOW week at the beginning of the school year, where students are…

011Um, they do a lot of team building, but they're also oriented to the program. Um, and so this would be a good time to talk about What the student success period looks like, what it's for for students, so that they can use it to maximize, um, their time. And then we would also gather feedback from students and parents to see how, especially, it would be really beneficial for our next year, our 8th grade students who would have had experience with both without a student success period and with. Um, and then we can make potential adjustments. The PACS charter is up for… I think it's renewal or review this next school year, so it will be something that we'll be looked at again anyway. Okay, so, um, going off a little bit of what Carly said

012on the last slide, um, asking students for feedback. Um, we've had probably 20 different schedules over the last 10 years. Um, and… When a student enters 7th grade, if Study Hall was an… if it was optional. They're not gonna take it, because they want all the fun electives. As soon as they enter 8th grade, they're like. To heck with the electives, I am taking study hall, because I know what this program is about. Um, and so this last year, when we… made sure that we followed our charter to a T, um, we took Study Hall away from kids who had had it in the past, and they were like. Terrified. They were like, what are we gonna do with our time? Um, now that we don't have this study hall? And so… Um, we've seen

013it all, and we've… tried a lot of different things, and I feel like moving forward with this success course is going to be… Um, the best, and I also want to, like, um… say that it's not going to just be a city hall where the kids are sitting there working quietly, but yet a course where we want to help build their skills. Um, and help them… have some goal settings and, um, you know, checking their Google Classroom and making sure they learn how to check ARIES and do all of those skills that they will need when they go to high school, and they don't have someone just hovering over them, helping them Every other day. Um, so… here we are. We would like you to review this for us. Um, we will create the schedule

014for the fall, um, that's Laura Clemons, she's our master scheduler. Um, we will communicate the changes with parents, should you guys approve this. Um, implement it come the first week of school. Um, look for feedback from our families, um, if it does… if it's something that's not working, again, our charter is up for review again next year. So we can look to see what's going to work best. And then, obviously, go from there and, um, just plan accordingly with whatever the feedback is. So… That's what we have for you. Excellent. Thank you. And questions. I do. Um, is it possible… for the 8th graders to be able to make a choice between Spanish and student success, where the 7th graders just do student success. Is that a possibility, or would that just be too chaotic?

015We've given the option… so this far, we've always made kids take Spanish, um, and The option has been music. Um, and I'm sure Jason could probably speak on this, as far as, like, staffing goes. Um, when the 7th graders will willingly take music, and the 8th graders without a doubt, there'll be maybe… I think maybe last year, our band teacher had about 10 kits. Um, and it's really hard for the band teacher to do much with 10 kids, because the 8th graders are like. I am going to take the study hall class. Um, and so… I think when, um… I say that we've really tried all of that. I also… Um, am a little weary with our data that there would be kids that would take The Spanish, um, over study hall. Um, and then

016I'm sure that messes with staffing. Yeah. Yeah, and I was just gonna add, we have 64 students in 7th grade, 64 students in 8th grade. So, it's wonderful to have such a small school and small community, but it makes it challenging when You want to have optional activities, and you're not sure how many students will choose that as an option. Thank you. Yeah. Uh, first, thank you for all the work and the feedback from the community, uh, that you received, and you went out and were very, quite proactive in finding a solution. Uh, I have a very similar question, just reviewing the different options and the layout of the programs. Um, but, uh, would it… Is there a possib… uh… possibility of having music slash Spanish be, like, the elective choice, and so again, like,

017the study, uh, period is there, but… there is an option, because it does seem there's a small slice that wants to take Spanish, and I think that's a fantastic skill to take into high school, and Really excel at, um, uh, but, uh, just curious on that front. Yeah, that I would have to defer to some people over here for staffing purposes, because that's… right now, we… share a Spanish teacher with Casa Grande. Um, and so it, you know, it… I'm imagining what… what the… thought would be is that we would need to have enough students in order for that to be a viable option. Um, and I know that the goal is for students to take two years of Spanish. So that they can enter into high school to take Spanish 2. So you'd want

018to make sure that it's consistent. Right? Throughout, and that you're not, you know, like, if 8th graders just took it for one year, it's not really… although it would help them with their Spanish. It's not really something that they can take forward into high school. So, if you don't take it in 7th and 8th grade. Then it… you start in Spanish 1, once you get into high school, which a lot of our students are highly motivated to go into honors classes, AP classes. And, you know, maximize their time in high school, so… Part of our, um, scheduling is our core classes are in the morning. And our elective classes are in the afternoon. Um, and so… Uh, when we look at how we do our scheduling. It's not… It's not the AB, and it's not

019the new 1 through 7, or whatever it's called. Um, we do, like, our own little thing. Um, the afternoon, the kids have a Monday uh, Thursday schedule, or a Tuesday-Friday schedule. Wednesdays, we go out. Get out early so they don't have any afternoon classes. Um, and so, when we look at how much time the kids are getting in their elective blocks, it's about 55 minutes, so… Right now, the kids are taking banned for 55 minutes twice a week, or Spanish for 55 minutes Twice a week. Um, and so… they're… they have to take it for 2 years, 7th and 8th grade, to cover the entire Spanish one, or a majority of the Spanish 1 curriculum in order to go into Spanish 2 in high school, when they start as a freshman. Um, so if they

020wanted to take a Spanish track. They need to start their 7th grade year. And continue it all the way through. Otherwise. They would be jumping in the… to the middle of a… already started course, if that makes sense. So, it does make it a little bit more challenging. Um, because we only have one Spanish teacher. And, um… it doesn't allow for there to be kids moving in and out of it at will. Do you have a question? Okay, um, I have a couple questions about the schedule. Do you guys do the block scheduling like they do at Petaluma Junior and Kenilworth? Okay, so it's every day, so is it English, math, science, history, PE? Spanish twice a week, band twice a week? Is that the current? So, it is English. History, science, and math every

021day. Um, in the mornings, so from 8.30 to 1230. Um, and then we have electives, so they take an elective twice a week. Um, they take Spanish twice a week, they take band twice a week, and they take PE twice a week. So right now, they take 8 classes. Um, so removing one… would bring them down to 7 classes. Technically, 8 if you count it, the student success courses. A class. What are the elective offerings? Um, let's see. This year, uh, I taught food science. Uh, Laura Clemons teaches art. Uh, Matt Kamano teaches digital design, and Elise Roach teaches leadership. Okay. Um… So, I do have some concerns, just because I know, like. A lot of people equate PACS with the accelerated math, you know, the Math 7A and then Math 1, and then also

022with the Spanish 1A, 1B. Um, and that's just been what the school has been from the beginning. So it does concern me to make this change. In the summer for next school year. Um… Yeah, that's… I think that's my… my biggest con… Stern. How many students are in band, or are all of them doing music in band? They are all playing music. This year, uh, half of the students took marimba, and the other half took band. Nice, okay, great. Along those same lines, I am concerned about dropping the Spanish… And maybe not the music? Um, only because… As, you know, it is an accelerated program, and so… being able to enter high school. With Spanish, too, it's really important for these kids, I think. At least they think it is. So, um, I'm just kind

023of… I know that the… when the options were given. The… the option of music in City Hall got the highest. Is that why you chose that, or…? It is… The music, even though there was only 10 kids in the music in 8th grade. No, no, no. That was last year, yeah. When it was an option. So it was coupled… Oh, yeah. Oh, you don't have it this year. This year, everybody had to take music, and everybody had to take Spanish. There was no option. Um, and so students were either in band or marimba, depending on their schedule. Um, so we, we used the data that we got, the input that we got from the community, uh, to make that choice. As well as, um, just thinking back on the program itself. And it has been

024difficult to, um. Keep that, to keep somebody in that position. The two… the last two years, there… the… it was vacant the position of the Spanish position was vacant. Um, this year, it was not. Um… But it was part of the thought process behind… music seems to be a little bit easier to staff. At least. Oh. Yeah. Just to add to that, I know that, um. At least the last 4 years since I've been in Human Resources, and I think… Katie was there 4 years ago as well, I think even before that. It's been difficult. That program's had a lot of staffing challenges, even getting people in. To make it work. So it's struggled, although it's a good idea, it's really been struggle… we've struggled to make it happen in… I can operations. So then

025it was filled in. I was gonna say, um, look, thinking back to kids who enter Spanish 1, to Spanish 2, Um, a lot of our students will still enter Spanish 1, Um, going into high school. Um, just because they don't quite have the confidence to get into Spanish 2 or start into Spanish 2. Um, from… from our current program, um, and part of that is the staffing has been really challenging. Um, I mean, I could go back 10 years ago, I could tell you the whole timeline of how the Spanish program has worked. Um, but it has been, um… really hard for our kids to go into Spanish, too. With the way our scheduling is, um. With how they only take it twice a week for 55 minutes over the course of 2 years, like.

026There's a… there's a lot that's going into why they are still entering Spanish 1. And a lot of the kids, like, this year, they're like, I'm gonna take French, or I'm taking sign language at the junior college, and all of this other stuff. Um, so… it… I think it is a draw in our, um, charter. Um, but… for… I don't know, at least the last probably 4 or 5 years. It isn't quite the draw of what brings people to PACS, um. They're there more for the small school. The accelerated math? Um, the idea that they will go into Honors English when they go into high school. Um, and… the project-based learning, um. Over the Spanish piece. Um, and then it… looking at our pie chart as well, so if we were to move… remove music

027instead of Spanish, it would still be an amendment to our charter, just because That is 2, that's also written in there. Um, and some of the feedback about music. For the kids is that… it's that creative outlet. That they get to have during, um, their week. Uh, that… It's also a little bit less academic pressure of a course as well. Remba is, like, awesome. And Gloria may have some more information about Spanish, if you want to share anything. Sure, come on. So I have been, um… supporting, um, PACS a bit with this, and just a couple other pieces of information that I would add is. I've been working with a high school Spanish teachers around the Spanish language adoption, and so they have shared with me the challenges of the PAC students, unfortunately, not being

028prepared for Spanish 2 when they get there, because the number of minutes that is offered under Current model is half what is offered at the other middle schools. So they get in there, and they're not ready, and they're putting them in Spanish 1, is their default, is what they've shared with me Um, the other challenge, I would say, is that there is such a diverse range of students coming into PACS. They've got students coming in from Loma Vista. Having been in dual language immersion. Fluent in Spanish, they have students who've been taking, like, private Spanish lessons, and then they have students who have no Spanish experience. And we've dealt with a lot of parent concerns. About the, um, then this kid's needs are not being met, because we've got From a Spanish one to a

029Spanish 3 all in one class. And so, I am a huge supporter of foreign language, um… So, I think it's hard to give this up. But I think, you know, at the very least, we need a little time to figure out how to do it well. Um, because it seems that the current model isn't working in a variety of ways. So, I just wanted to add in those other pieces of information. Yeah, going off what she said, because there is only one teacher. And the way we have to schedule our kids, because there's only 4 of us. Um, if you don't count the afternoon music and, um. And Spanish? Our kids' schedules aren't very flexible, um. There's only so many schedules that we can make. Uh, for four different classes of kids. So… Um, wild…

030We love that the kids can go take Spanish, and The teachers can have their own time. We… it just… it really isn't. Working at the moment. Um, and teachers have no problem giving up that little bit of prep? You know, this is the first year we've had it. Uh, twice a week for 45 minutes. Um, but, uh, we have… seen academically, um. The… the grades and the work completion and the quality of work that the kids Um, we're having trouble completing this year without the study hall. It is going to be more purposeful in our eyes to bring back that student success course. Um, than it is for us to have 45 minutes to run the conference. So then, going along with the human resources piece, who teaches the student success? The four core packages.

031The four… I'll show you guys, that's added on to your load. They… they were doing it the years prior, so… Okay, okay. Thank you. All right, anybody else? Okay, thank you so much. Thank you. I was just gonna say, I'm normally loathe to want to cancel Spanish as someone who took it in middle school, but it does… sound realistically like the… the best of options, um… And yeah, if it's not even preparing them for Spanish 2, that's not accelerating them, that's not helping. It's a small school model where we really want all of this for our kids, but Staffing? There's only a hundred and… what is it, 64 plus 6 for IT? 128. 128. 128 kids and 4 of us, so there's only so many things that we can do. Um, and… Wow, it sounded

032great 10 years ago. It just really hasn't worked. So then how do we address the personnel issue, if that's really all it is? I guess, Jason? Because… That's what it's been this whole time, that's what people think when they're sending their kids to PACS. If I'm sending my kids to PACS, and I know that they have Spanish, they're gonna take it for the two years. And I'm expecting them to go to Spanish, too. I guess I'm just having a hard time with this because of that. And so then how do we increase, maybe, the minutes for Spanish, especially if the students at Kenilworth and Petaluma Jr. You know, some of them do have the option to take Spanish 1A and 1B 7th and 8th grade, and then go to Spanish 2. They're prepared. And then

033we see pack's always, like, the top of whatever list, so I… I'm sure that we could get those students prepared, so then… Is there a way that we can look at making that happen instead of just removing it totally? Yeah, so right now, the kids are taking 8 courses. I think at Petaluma Jr, they take 6. So, um, in order to get more minutes somewhere, we… have to just cut some… some sort of classes. Um, and so… uh… with the kids taking 8 classes. At the junior high, they willingly take Spanish as their elective. Um, so if we offered it as an elective. Uh, we could put it into our elective schedule. Um, but we'd have to have kids that willingly wanted to take it, and again. Staffing-wise, um… I mean, the four… the four

034core teachers teach the four passes. The four elective classes. And then we monitor PE, we teach we would then be teaching the study skills class. Um, so if we brought in a Spanish teacher to be part of the elective rotation. We'd have to have enough kids that wanted to take it. Um, in order for it to be feasible to staff. If we wanted to get them more minutes. Or we have to take it out, take music out? Um, and bring down the course load. I think when Matthew created this 10 years ago, his idea was. We have these gait kits coming through McKinley. I'm sure you guys have heard this story. We have these gait kits coming through McKinley. We want to create this small middle school for these kids to continue through. Um, and

035have that… gate accelerated experience. Which is, like, give them all of the opportunity, all of the classes, let them take it all. Um, which we used to do. I mean, the kids used to take. Nine forces for the first, like, three years, and it was really challenging. Um, from a teacher standpoint, but we did it. Um, COVID is actually what kind of shifted our schedule a little bit. To taking 8 classes. Um, and… Uh, just those last year was when we… remove the study skills course. Um, so again, it would come down to staffing and kids wanting to actually take that Spanish course to give them more minutes. As part of their elective track. It seems to me pretty clear from looking at those surveys, those were… Very helpful, by the way. That music and

036study skills By and large, are what the community wants. I mean, that's… I think, Joanne, it… Joanna, you, uh, asked that question about the staffing. I think one of the things that we really run up against with the staffing is trying to make the staffing for Spanish work with the rest of the model, like. That's what we're… that's what the biggest challenge was, is there are these… to make the program work in… where Spanish could fit and still… keep the core in place. It's hard to find… like, we… it's very difficult to use a high school person to do that, like, we had to do some very strange workarounds, like. The way the schedule is designed, it's a very individual person that's like, yeah, I want to teach that schedule Spanish. That's, I think, what

037the staffing issue has been, is finding that person that's skilled and qualified and wants to do these very specific times that don't… Fit very well with our… because you think we use a secondary person and bring them in, that's what we've been trying to do. That's been one of the big challenges with the staffing around it. So is a model changing from accelerated to small school, is what it sounds like. Because if it was accelerated before, so students… are going to be in math, too, when they're freshmen, and Spanish 2 when they're freshmen, but now we're saying that we want it… it's really focused on the small school. So, is it not gonna be more as focused on the accelerated part? I think the, um, curriculum is very accelerated and all about the subjects, from

038science to history. Um, English and math. Um, I think the Spanish piece at this point is an elective, not… the acceleration piece. Um, whether it is because we can't give that block the 2 hours it needs. Every other day, um, like, it would be at a junior high. Or, if it's because… staffing has been really challenging to keep it build, um, or a combination of all of it. Are… and I think as history has proven that kids are still going into Spanish 1, In high school, um. I don't… besides making it the same amount of time as a board class. Um, which, when we think about the acceleration piece of all the other four classes that are helping the kids get into Honors Bio as a freshman, Math 2, Honors English, all of those types

039of courses. Um, which they are doing very well. Um… We would have to give up those four class minutes. To ensure that this banish track was getting them ready for Spanish 2. And I don't know that this… the way our program is structured. Could allow for that. So, we've, uh, mentioned, uh. How many students go into Spanish 1 and Spanish 2? Could we actually get the hard numbers? I would like to see… It would be… We can. Um, only about half of our kids go to our schools. For Petaluma and CASA, the other ones go outside the district. Um, and… when we have… we have a lot of Loma Vista kids. Um, and a lot of, um… native speakers as well. So, the… I would say the data would be a little bit off. Um,

040because… like, this year we had how many kids take the… computer-based program. It varied. So we try to program to differentiate the Spanish this year, similar, uh, they were using a Spanish Academy at Kenilworth as well. Um, and so there were… it depended on which period, but there were about 5 to 8 5 to 8, or 5 to 10 students in each period who were either native speakers, um, or were from, uh, dual immersion program. So, it… we… we could look into that, we could try to get as much of that data, um, but many of our students attend, um, outside of PCS in high school. But it was the data, is it going to be a robust amount of numbers? Because A lot of our kids, about half of our kids don't stay with

041the district. When they go into high school. And we have a mix of Loma Vista. And native speakers. Yeah, I understand. I would like to see the numbers. So, um… So, the next steps is there will be a public hearing at the next board meeting, and um… and then this will become an action item, if the board wants, and so we can perhaps gather additional data that the board may request. Um, prior to the 24th. And I understand that, and that's what I'm asking for. Are you… just to make sure I'm clear, you're wanting to know how many students that took Spanish at PACS And then went into our high schools, went in at Spanish 2 versus Spanish 1? Yes. Okay, got it. Thank you. Thank you. Just a… agenda question? So we have a

042first reading on the, um, charter amendment, so we'll continue with that, and then… have the public hearing at the next one? Okay? Thank you so much. Great work, really. Thank you so much. That's a lot. Okay, next we have the cell phone committee update. Okay, so I am presenting tonight on, um. Providing the board an update on some of the work that we did this year with the cell phone committee. And an update to our mobile communication device board policy that we're bringing as a first reading. Tonight. Okay, so, um, last summer, uh, the legislature, there was a lot of activity with Governor Gavin Newsom and the legislature around, um. Mandating districts to update our board policy around the, um… the restricting or prohibiting the use of mobile communication devices no later than July 1,

0432026. And so, um, last summer, we, uh, in working with our superintendent, Matthew Harris, he asked that a committee be convened. Um, to address this topic. Um, and so a call-out went to a number… to all staff, educators, as well as, uh, community member. Parents and caregivers, um, inviting them to be a part of this committee Um, and so we had a pretty robust group, started out at about 32, we ended around 15 people. Um, but, uh, we stuck with it. So, part of the work in that committee was looking at what our current practices are around the use of mobile devices in our schools. Um, currently, elementary and junior high schools have a no-cell phone policy, um. Enacted in the school day, so it's a phone-free environment. At high school, cell phones are permitted

044during breaks and lunch. With many of our high school teachers and policies in place of having sort of that little cell phone, um. Pocket where the students leave their cell phones during the school period. We, as part of our work, we, uh, just sent out a survey. Members of the committee helped create this survey, and we had over 4,000 responses to this survey, which was quite, uh, substantial And so today, I'm just sharing some high-level, um. Data in regards to our high school, junior high, and elementary, uh, responses. The first one here is our high school educators and staff perspectives. And so I pulled the question that asked them if they preferred a phone-free environment for the classroom only versus phone-free all day. And so this is how it panned out at the high school,

045kind of a little sort of even, uh, with phone-free all day, slightly taking, um. The lead? These were parents and caregivers, a little bit of a difference with, um, 67% Um, phone-free, classroom-only versus 33% phone-free all day. Our high school… this isn't surprising that our high school students would prefer phone-free classroom only. Um, overwhelming majority. Uh, then when we go into the junior high, our educator and staff, um, were, uh. Overwhelmingly on the phone free all day, which is their current practice. And 17% phone-free classroom only. And our parents were a little split on this particular question. But a good response rate, 559, pretty significant. Uh, our student perspectives, again, no, not, not very surprising. Um… Where? And then elementary educators and staff, um… overwhelming majority phone-free, uh, all day versus classroom-only at 18%. And

046our elementary parents and caregivers, again, also the same, phone-free all day majority. And there was a number… the qualitative data and the narrative responses around this survey were… immense. And so while you saw a little bit of the snapshot in terms of if families students and parents and educators prefer phone-free all day versus classroom-only. It was really in the qualitative responses that we began to pull out what are some of those salient pieces. Surrounding the concerns around either option. And student safety, parent contact, and students with special needs certainly, um, was present in the qualitative data. Uh, that parents really, um, want to have that connection to their student during the school day to communicate unexpected events. Or if there's any kind of crises or emergency at the school, and then, of course, students who

047have maybe a particular need have an IEP or a medical condition that requires connection to to a cell phone. Um, from the educator's perspective, um, four themes really stood out. Um, this idea of a constant distraction, and there being sort of this battle of. You know, constant battle with phones versus, um, sort of focusing on the instruction at hand, and so the educators cited that as being a constant battle. Enforcement issues, another thing, where there may be some inconsistent practices where The teacher next door may not consistently enforce it, but I'm consistently enforcing it, and so there's a little bit of a… A push and pool around that, some academic integrity risk, um, of students using phones to look up answers. Um, and then, of course, students acknowledging that there is some utility to these

048phones, um, that they feel that they're useful for schoolwork, um, accessing assignments, or some sort of learning app. Um, for school purposes. Some of the concerns that came up, um, that were significant across the board were mental health concerns, so this idea of increased anxiety. Depression or stress linked to excessive phone use, social isolation, that we kind of… go back to our phone, rather engaging in, um, face-to-face conversations, kind of being the fallback, um, and that student… that teachers are noticing this sort of lack of Basic face-to-face interaction abilities. So, um, this idea, there were comments around, you know, kids being glued to their screens during breaks instead of socializing, and teachers and parents collectively linking, um, phone use to increase anxiety, depression, and stress. For students, um, their viewpoint was they really see their

049breaks as their personal time. It could be their personal phone time. Noting that maybe phones help them de-stress. Um, and that… but over, over, um, both for staff and parents, the importance of having that social development during those breaks, um, to encourage socialization really came up Um, and staff being concerned about reducing that in-person interaction. So, overwhelmingly, as you saw in the graph, students oppose phone restrictions during breaks, and I'm really highlighting the high school aspect. Um, and… educators and parents really noting that they have concerns, um, overall. Policy enforcement and practical challenges. So, currently, there is varying uh… enforcement of policies across the sites. Um, teachers noting that monitoring phone use does take valuable instructional time. And that students tend to find a way to circumvent, um. The rules and restrictions. Um, some of

050the things that came up in terms of concerns around the use of having phones on campus is this idea of, like, recording without consent, that students perhaps can take the phone out, record without permission. Um, cyberbullying came up, as well as, like, potentially organizing inappropriate activities, right? Filming fights, sharing inappropriate content. Content, things of that nature, and of course, privacy concerns were a significant concern across all survey groups. The committee looked… really scoured the qualitative data, as well as the quantitative and the graphs and, um… And through our conversations. Um, and doing a little bit of a straw poll and really engaging in, um, the data. The committee overwhelmingly recommended phone-free environments across TK12. Um, not only the smart phones, but any kind of mobile, like, the smartwatches as well. Um, there… it was noted

051that we need ongoing education and awareness, and so one of the things, um, that is currently in Uh, motion is partnering with Healthy Petaluma. They're going to be doing a series of four parent, um, education seminars in the fall in conjunction with the rest of the Petaluma school districts. All around the impacts of technology, social media, the digital footprint, um… The other piece that came up was making sure that we have… we're managing expectations, and that we have an approach for how we enforce any particular kind of policy across All levels. And then the other, uh, recommendation that came up was utilizing practical implementation tools, so whether that's a cell phone pouch, a yonder pouch. Um, really researching and looking at other school districts in our surrounding area to see what are those best practices

052that other school districts who have implemented phone-free environments are having success. Um, at using So, tonight, what you'll see in a first reading is, um, the recommendation to the board that we're bringing forward. Um, there… the recommendation is to formalize a phone-free environment in TK12. And by adding Board Policy 5131.8, Um, for grades 9 through 12, the recommendation is to continue for one more year. Uh, to really emphasize the use of no cell phones during instructional time, during class time, and continuing the TK8, um, practice of not utilizing smartphones or any other mobile communication devices, um, at the school site. And then effective July 1, 2026, um… the TK12 would go, uh, phone-free environment across all of the sites. And, built into this policy are all of those caveats, right? If a student, in the

053case of an emergency, um, or in response to a perceived threat of danger, when a teacher gives permission Um, for a student to utilize it, or when a licensed physician, um, determines a student must be in possession or needs it for their well-being, as well as if an IEP team determines That the student requires the mobile device. Uh, to use at school. Um, so that's the recommendation to the board. Do any questions on what I've shared tonight? Yeah. Um… I was on this committee, and what really struck me was The high school parents wanting their kids to have phones during break. But yet, they talked about… They were concerned about too much screen time. Social interaction. So it was like, even though… They want that connection. They're still concerned about all those things that we

054were talking about. Um, in the committee, and so… I don't know how to bridge that… that gap there, um, between them wanting their kids to… they want to be connected to their kids, and at the same time. They're concerned about screen time and social interaction, so I don't know if there's a happy medium somewhere That would address that. That's a great thing to bring up, Ellen, because one of the reasons why we push the 912 out a year is for that very reason, to be able to Um, really play out how this will work, right? Um, and also leverage tools that we already have in place, so… Dave Fishera was a part of our committee as well, and brought up the fact that our Chromebooks Students can email their parents at any time. So there

055are… there are methods, they're just ones that may not be Utilize on a day-to-day basis, and it requires us to really communicate what is the plan when you need to get ahold of your student, what are the mechanisms and the means to be able to do that. Um, which is why we'd like to use next year to really ready our system and be thoughtful and proactive about how we go about putting that into place, especially at the high school level. Yeah, I appreciate this, because… Like, my kid is constantly texting me during school. And so I think I appreciate the year to be like, okay, so let's… let me email you, or, like, reach out to your teacher via ParentSquare. Instead of, like, her just texting me, or me texting her about something, so… because,

056yeah, I understand, like, it's more convenient, but it's not… more beneficial to them. Exactly. So, exactly, and so… Yeah, hearing this presentation, I literally was trying to think, like, what did we do before cell phones? It's like, you called the office, you got patched through to the teacher, so, like, if it's worth that amount of effort. If it's not worth that amount of effort, maybe it can wait till pickup. And maybe it can't, I don't, you know, like, you can email, you can email the Gmail Um, I think from talking to my friends that are… Educators, like, the hardest part is enforcement, so, like, admin has to be backing teachers up when they… like, they have to be able to send a kid out of the room and know that admin's gonna handle it. Like,

057teachers need to focus on teaching. They can't be, like, fighting every single kid about the phones all the time, like… And that's also a part, very good point that you raised that, Caitlin. That's a… when we look at the implementation and those practical tools to utilize. Um, those are the pieces that we need to look at, because we don't want it to be a battle between teacher and student. We really want to allow teachers to do what they do best, which is to teach and focus on their instruction, and we know that We need… we… we have some work to do around Budget, what does that look like? Partnering with people who we know are interested in supporting us. In some of these endeavors, so… That's what we're… we'll dig into next year, too. Yeah.

058Yeah. Yeah, uh, I want to, again, thank you for the presentation, and thank you to the staff and everyone who's responded to the surveys. I think this gives a very clearer picture where some demographics, I guess, stand. Um, and I have a small… you know, concern that, you know, if… I mean, I've… two minds, unfortunately, but it's one where, you know, if this is the best thing for the kids, you know, let's move fast, and like. Let's, you know, again, you know, cell phones and backpacks the entire day, you know, something of that sort, and get in alignment with what we do. Uh, with the middle schools. Um, at the same time, uh, we are not the first to try this out, and there's lots of other examples out there, and I want to make

059sure that We're not reinventing the wheel, and we can see what other districts and schools have done, the lessons learned, the feedbacks from the teachers and staffs, and I'm sure there's even, like, studies out there now. Um, and we can see what is the best way to implement this. So, is there a, uh, another medium or, like, an in-between zone where we do have, um… we're more in alignment with the middle schools for this next year, with the high schools, where we're a little bit more strict, we're limiting Um, cell phone usage even more, uh, at the high school campus, or is this just the… Um, only kind of options. I think that we can, um… we can work with our high schools in the current systems they have around limiting during instructional time and

060really working together as a staff at both of the sites, the comprehensive high schools. Um, to really have that shared commitment to following… we have not… we don't actually have a board policy that states for 9 through 12 that communication devices are not allowed during instructional time. So this actually is an added piece to what currently… we have a practice in place at the sites, but we don't… this actually provides a little bit more In terms of direction from the board to our… to our staff at the sites. Than we currently have in place. Thank you. And what… I'm sorry, Maddie. Are you gonna…? And what… what will the role-out look like? As the year is progressing. Are we just telling the kids, hey, this is gonna be… next year, or is there gonna be…

061like, you know, discussions had with them and their teachers, with them and the admin. Like Caitlin was saying, like, can't split it all on the t-shirts if it's not enforced as well, so… Like, what will that look like over time? I don't want to be a year from now and be like, alright. Today's the day we're gonna start, you know? Yes, absolutely. It will take a lot of collaboration with our administrative teams. Um, obviously our high schools are embarking on a big change with their seven-period schedule, which was some of our desire to kind of manage expectations around implementation, and so, um. I will be working in conjunction with our administrative teams at both of the high schools. Connecting with our counseling teams, really bringing in sort of a working group of the implementation, along

062with the enforcement, right? So the enforcement piece, but also how will we roll this out to really ready, so that it's not just, oh, there's a communication in August of 2026, right? But making sure that we have communication and touchpoints, not just with our students, but with our parents as well. Um, so that'll be a part of the planning process. I'm also concerned about the uneven enforcement in classes. I mean, yeah, we don't want teachers to have to be the phone police. Um… But some teachers… are really strict about it, and some teachers are… and so How do we make sure that the enforcement piece is uniform for every teacher across the campus. I think part of that will be our administrators. Um, updating the teaching staffs around this board policy, what that looks like,

063and coming back to that collective agreement and commitment. To following board policy, and I know working with our labor partners, our labor partners are committed, I have no doubt that together we can We can work through this and sort of… make sure that we're shoring up, not using the phone during instructional time, and then how that will You know, walk us into July 1, 2026, when we need to… have the phone-free environment. And we're really utilizing phone-free, classroom-only, or phone-free all day, because we really want it to be about a positive, right? Um, and so… versus ban. So, I think this also brings up something that came up at the last meeting about the technology, because Again, if the kids are bringing their MacBooks or their iPads, they can just text from those. So… it's

064not bone-free, but they're… They're using iMessage in class. Even though it's on a phone, and so they could look like they're typing, but they're really… texting their parents, asking them something. Right, the bypassing, yeah. No, very good point, very good point, and that'll have to be part of our discussions around how we manage the Bring Your Own Device in this context, too. I just had a quick question about, um… the security of the devices, you know, like, if it's a phone-free environment. For, uh, you know, K-12. Um, I know that in my… it's… Given it was a long time ago, but they were still very, very concerned about their cell phones, and having it so that they could see them. And so I was just wondering how you manage, probably at the junior highs, too.

065How you manage that. Um, you know, kind of fear that someone's gonna steal their… their… I mean, do they just not bring them to… Schools? That's supposed to be… Did they just have to be in their way, turned off, and they're not to be visible. Even when they're out in the clock. But there would be varying reports on how well that works all of the time. Um, I would say, and this is part of, I think, Ryan, as you made the point of, um, we're not the first district to go… to embark on this journey, um, and so that would be a part of, of… we have juniors and seniors that go off campus. Have off-campus privileges, so that's another part of, um, of this, whether or not we decide to do a phone-free away

066for the day as, like, Santa Barbara Unified utilizes, it's just a way for the day no one sees it, no one touches it. Versus San Mateo High School, um, Union High School, that uses… utilizes a yonder bag where it's just locked for the day. It's a little. Lockable device that the student keeps, um, and they unlock, they lock it at the beginning of the day, and unlock it at the end of the day. Um, and so there's… those are the things that we have to work through, um, around… implementing this policy. Although I think when students go off campus, there's a safety issue involved. Um, that they… they would need their phones for that. So… And they would have access. So San Mateo Union High School does They unlock it for juniors and seniors. Who

067leave campus, and then they come back and they re-lock them. So they have… we wouldn't prohibit access to it when they're off. Getting lunch. Perfect. Thank you. Food. Okay, moving on, we have comments from the public on, uh. Is that right? Yeah. Uh, on non-agendized items… Let's see, we have… Several… Okay. Um, our first, uh… Our first comment is from Isabel Madera. Uh, for the PACS charter. Thank you. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Isabel Molara, and I'm here tonight as a proud PACS parent, a community member, and a native Spanish speaker who has been a lifelong English learner. I'm here to express my full and sincere support for the proposed PACS charter renewal. Particularly the change that will replace the current Spanish language class with a study hall period. Let me

068begin by saying that I value multilingualism deeply. Language is culture, identity, and connection. But it is also my strong belief in direct experience, that a poorly implemented foreign language program can actually do more harm than good. When students are placed in classes with weak instruction, limited engagement, and unclear outcomes, their exposure to a new language becomes not an exciting journey. But a frustrating, negative experience. Instead of igniting curiosity or appreciation, it can breed confusion, disinterest, and even resentment towards the language. This is what's at stake with an ineffective language program like the one currently in place at PAX. To be clear, with the exception of students who were previously attending a DLI program, there's not one student exiting PACS that is entering Spanish, too, at that level. Because the curriculum is not… strong enough for

069that to happen. Research backs this up. A study published in Foreign Language Annals found that when foreign language instruction lacks consistency. Rigor in skilled teaching, it can actually diminish students' motivation to pursue that language later. Worse, it can create long-lasting negative associations that undermine confidence and interest in multilingualism altogether. On the other hand, there is growing evidence that structured study hall or academic support periods have significant academic and emotional benefits for students. According to a 2022 report from the Brookings Institution. Students with access to academic support time during the school day experience better homework completion rates. Improved understanding of materials, and lower stress levels. That's not just valuable, that's essential in today's fast-paced, high-stakes learning environments. And let's be clear again. Pax is an incredible school. It is filled with enriching academic experiences and led

070by core subject teachers. Miss Roach, Miss Gill. Ms. Costello. Ms. Clemons, and Mr. Kamano, who go above and beyond for their students. Do you know that every one of these teachers and their interim principal, Ms. Costello, know each student by name? That is not common. That is not ordinary. That is the mark of the deeply invested in the academic and personal growth of every child. And who wouldn't want that kind of environment for their own student? Replacing a low-impact Spanish program with a study hall is not about cutting corners, it's about making a deliberate, research-backed choice to prioritize what PACS does best. Rigorous academics, individualized attention, and high expectations. It is with that in mind that I urge you to approve the PACS charter renewal as proposed. Give our students the time, space, and support

071they need to thrive. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Um, so I kind of screwed up, um, so I just wanted to let you know that We do have the, um, the… the charter amendment on the agenda. So, the other two people who wanted to speak to it From the report or the presentation. Yeah, but it's under discussion. But it's also presentations, I think it's fine. But it's agendized. Comments from the public on special recognition reports, presentations. Okay, so if you choose… if you'd like, we can continue. Okay. And also, I had read our board, um. Rules around, uh. Public comment, and so, um, earlier, so I didn't read it this time, so just know that you have 3 minutes. And, uh, and that I will remind you. At, um, 30 seconds.

072Okay, sorry about that. Bella! Hello, my name is Bella Malara, and I'm a 13-year-old rising 8th grader at PACS. I'm speaking today not just for myself, but on behalf of many of my peers who have experienced the same frustrations and challenges over the past school year. Specifically, with our Spanish language instruction. This year, over 70 students responded negatively to a school-wide survey, and the overwhelming message was clear. The current delivery of Spanish instruction is not working. The teacher in charge consistently goes against the PAC's philosophy of nurturing, respectful, and student-centered learning. Instead, many of us have been accused, ridiculed, and even gaslighted when we ask simple questions. The teacher's teaching strategies are not only harsh, but often don't make any logical sense. We've been assigned complex tasks with contradictory instructions Filled with information that we

073haven't learned yet, and we try to get clarity, we're met with vague, unhelpful, and often dismissive answers. There's zero accountability, and it feels like we're being set up to fail. When the district decided to offer an advanced Spanish class, you'd think placement would be based on something meaningful, like the California Spanish Assessment, but instead, students were given a one-question Google form asking if we considered ourselves native speakers. Out of 27 students, only 5 were selected to go into the Advanced Spanish class, myself included. This process lacks fairness, depth, and any real effort to identify who was ready and who needed support. All of this has created a larger conversation among students and families. One that's been going on for years. Despite being an incredible, astounding school, Pax has struggled to provide consistent. High-quality Spanish instruction.

074And that's why I, and many others, believe that a study hall would be far more beneficial than continuing with a class that is currently doing more harm than good. This goes beyond a single teacher. Please understand that this is about what PAC stands for. Committed Excellence. We're an accelerated program. We value our education, and many of us are managing full academic schedules, extracurriculars, and personal passions. A study hall would give us time to connect with our teachers. Catch up on or deepen our understanding of classroom content, and reduce the amount of work we have to carry into the evenings and weekends. It would help with mental health, balance, and prevent burnout. It could give athletes more time to prepare for games, artists more time to rehearse, and students more time to simply breathe. We want

075to use our time wisely. We're asking to be heard. We're asking for an opportunity to grow, not just check a box. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you so much. All right, now we have, uh, Susie, German? Good evening. My name is Susie Starkey German, and I am a parent of a rising 8th grader at PACS. I'm here to support the recommendation to remove Spanish from the PAC's school schedule. Not because I don't value language instruction, but because I believe strongly And the value of high quality instruction. And right now, Spanish simply isn't delivering on that standard. There's a reason 76 of the 97 students who answered the survey voted to eliminate Spanish. That's not a rejection of language learning. It's a reflection of lost confidence. Despite years of effort. From what I understand, the program has

076struggled to find and retain a teacher, or teachers who can meaningfully engage students within the current structure. Just two 55-minute periods per week. That's a challenge, even for the most experienced educators. Students have been patient, but they are no longer willing to devote instructional time to a class that consistently falls short. These are students in an accelerated academic setting. Their time is valuable, and they're asking for it to be spent in ways that support their learning and well-being Of course, this decision comes with trade-offs. Most PAC students will now need to begin again in Spanish 1. As high school freshmen, giving up the chance to place into Spanish 2, or join an accelerated language track. Families understand this. It's not ideal. But we're telling you we'd rather this rather make that trade than continue with

077the course that hasn't met expectations. It's also worth noting that the PACS charter was created to include both Spanish and music. With the assumption that both would be taught by experienced, high-quality instructors. That's true today for music. We have a respected career music teacher leading that program. As mentioned, the structure of the electives at PACS creates challenges. Electives are married, so students who select something, like digital design. Are automatically placed into ban. Even if they didn't choose it. That's not ideal either, but it has proven more manageable than the situation with Spanish. I see I have 30 seconds. Okay. In a perfect world, we'd have the time, resources, and staffing to offer the multiple robust elective options, but given the real constraints we face. The Student Success Course offers a dependable, meaningful use of time

078focused on academic support, organization, and preparation for high school. We're not closing the door on language learning forever. We're choosing what might work right now. Based on student voice, parent feedback, and what's realistically possible in the immediate. Thank you so much. Got that bell! Okay, uh, Marquitas? Hello again. Um, so… Uh, were you gonna introduce my comment, Maddie? Just what it's about. Grant community support, non-agendized? Yes. So, as you all heard, um. There was some reaction from, obviously, the approval that happened, um, behind in the closed meeting. So I… it sounded like there was some confusion from the board, cabinet, as well as the audience, so… there was some surprise that, um, Board Member Caitlin Quinn, that you weren't present during the open comment. And I think there's some, maybe, misunderstanding of what requirements there

079are when it comes to being present for that. So, Maddie, I did hear you say that they don't know anything about the Brown Act, so It would be great if you would reach out to us and give us that education and any materials that we could look at. Um, because obviously we don't know the ins and outs, so I would appreciate that. Um, but I would like the… I would like the minutes to show that you weren't present for our comments. Um, with the understanding that you did vote. Um, so, with that, I think the other… so, the other thing I wanted to talk about, obviously. Um, since it was approved, was the ask, which Kim King spoke to earlier, which is to make sure that you all are here on our campus at Grant.

080Um, it does feel like like, like has been said that there hasn't been presence from Cabinet, from board, and we don't feel supported. We need to see you. My kids, I show them pictures, and they're like, who's that? I'm like, you don't know who visited you, but you were in a picture with them. So, again, I think it just really goes to show that We need compassion from you all. I think we're not as educated on the Brown Act, so it would help to know. Um, and to hear our feedback that we want to know, we want to do better, but when there isn't the knowledge we don't know what to go off of. So, again, if you could partner with us and try to. I guess one ask I would have said was. Maybe

081when you came out to say, hey. It looks, you know, just so people know, it's okay that she wasn't here for comments, but it's okay, and we were able to vote. If you're able to do that, I don't know exactly the rules. But I think that shows compassion, that we were just surprised by that. So any way that you can, again, not break the rules of the Brown Act or Robert's Rules, it would be appreciated, just to help us understand the process better. Um, again, with that, having you all, the superintendent, um, since Mr. Harris will be back July 1, correct? Um, come to our bus assemblies, that'd be great. Also, our events. So, I have all your emails, so we'll be inviting you to all of our PTA association meetings. And we hope that

082you all do a nice rotation schedule, and we want to see you. We really need your support, and after the events that happened at the end of last school year, there was a petition and other things. We didn't see anyone from the district on our campus. We got an email, a notice in Parent Square that said, hey, if you want to report something, this is how you do it. But we didn't have anyone come and look us in the face, look at our students. And when I think about that, it really hurts. So if we could really have an effort from you all to come see us after this… it would be much appreciated, because I'm recollecting last year, and it really hurts that we didn't see you. Thank you. Thank you. Dandra, Larson, cell

083phone. Committee. So I didn't write anything, so we'll just go. First of all, I want to thank Esmeralda for leading the team, Ellen for coming. I did get to go to all of the meetings. But I feel very strongly that cell phones are bad for children, period. If you're in high school and you have your phone. The average number of notifications you get is over 200. When cell phones were taken away from schools, suspensions went down of our over-identified… the ones we're over-suspending. I asked a school board president about that, and he said it's sort of easy to understand because you're safe. You're not getting filmed. That film's not being sent to 150 other people who are sending it to more. So, you're not really safe unless there's no cell phone And the best thing

084for kids is to block the internet. I have my watch right now, I could get something and I'd probably look. It's just habits, so having… all internet blocked while you're at school is really important, so… I'm very happy that you came up with a plan. I think it's wise to… Give the high schools a year with all the changes, but moving forward, I think it'll be the best thing for kids. Um, one other superintendent said that the first year… actually, it was a board president… the first year when they banned phones. He got some emails at first. After 3 months. It went silent because everyone saw it was so much better for their kids. So, thank you. Thank you. Krista O'Connor. End-of-year thoughts. I hope that works. Hello? My name is Krista O'Connor, District Employee

085and Petaluma Federation of Teachers High School Vice President. I thought tonight might be a good time to share my thoughts about where we stand at the end of this school year. While we can all thankfully mark many successful moments and achievements. I have to say that from August through June, we also experienced Many significant challenges that could have been much less rocky with more consistent leadership. From full-blown emergencies, a troubled and emotional school closure. Ongoing changes in leadership at several sites. Important decisions to be made about transportation policy, high school bell schedules, courses, staffing, budget, and bargaining unit decisions. It seemed that at every turn. Our site, district. And union leaders were doing their best to shore up and hold together a district with an absent superintendent. Our last board meeting was a solid example

086of what happens when lack of transparency and miscommunication boils over. In part, speakers were upset that the initial public reports about the superintendent's unpaid leave turned out to be inaccurate. And as the year went on, and the truth that the superintendent was in fact receiving 20% of his salary became more widely understood. I personally heard from many of my members That they felt betrayed, abandoned, and angry. Had been left to work through an incredibly difficult year. While that individual vacationed globally and extensively with family. I truly want to thank this opportunity to take this opportunity to thank both of our acting superintendents, Dr. Mondragon and Dr. Carlomano. For their wholehearted efforts to provide a thread of continuity. Even though each served only half the school year, their obvious concern for students, families. And staff members

087in their care helped to ease some of the day-to-day challenges we faced. Over the past several months. I also want to thank our cabinet. And our board members… Including, um, our newest trustee, Mr. Williams, for serving this district with the best of intentions, and for trying to keep students At the front and center. As important decisions continue to be made. I hope everyone has a restful summer. And that we can return ready to do our best once again, as we always do. Thank you. Thank you. Well, that was a great way to end it. Yes. Um, okay, so the next step, we have the adoption and approval of the agenda. I need a motion. I move to approve. A second? I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. All right, so the

088report on activities and correspondence of school board members quite a list here. Um… board members went to the Casa Grande Seniors Showcase. The Grant School Parent Forum. Valley Vista Nursery Rhymes with a TK performance. And then we had… Many 6th grade promotions. Uh, and, um… I… and then we had every, um… Secondary, uh, um… graduation that we went to, so we had the, um, PACS 8th grade promotion. Alternative education graduation, San Antonio, Carpe Diem, Sonoma Mountain. And Valley Oaks. The Kenilworth 8th grade promotion. Petaluma Junior 8th grade promotion. The transition program graduation, which was amazing. Casa Grande High School, Petaluma High School. Uh, the Avance graduations, which is preschool. And then we had Locienne Puente y Ganes Awards. And then a meeting with two Grant Elementary School parents. Uh, anything else anybody had? Congratulations to

089all the students, and um… Teachers and staff and everybody, parents, on these graduations, they were wonderful. Um, okay, and then we have, uh, comments from the public. On consent items… Breakita! You're delightful. Thank you. Um… Consent items… oh, on the minutes? Okay, on minutes, uh, POs and contracts, right? Okay. Alrighty, so, um, so yes, going to, uh, oh yes, I'll start with the POs. So, I did want to, after talking to the teachers, obviously, because We're going through our budgeting for PTA and making sure they have what they need. So I did note that I see that the TK furniture for McNear, Pengrove, Kim McKinley. Um, Cherry Valley and McDowell are listed here, so I don't know if… just wanted to make sure that maybe one of the teachers was busy with year-end. But if

090you could just make sure that, um, our TK teachers as well received an email asking if they need more furniture, because I just found it peculiar that Grant was the only school not listed here. Um, and then also, we've had some questions about using our budget to spend money for, like, special education and different furniture, so I think it'd be great to I, you know, obviously PTs have funding, but I think it'd be great if we could somehow partner better with you all to know What is available for teachers to get, that way we're not using PTA funds where it's not needed. If the district does have overflow. Um, of different, you know, facility-type things, so that would be super helpful to know, and just create that communication. Um, and then the next thing… That

091I had here, um, was in regards to something really cool that I read, and I'll try to go quickly, which is that we're giving, um, $12,500 to the Keeping Kids in Schools program to help with truancy and whatnot. So it'd be really good, I had never heard of this program. I looked on our website, saw nothing. Um, even look for the acronyms, so if we're giving them money, it'd be great to know how this is used from elementary, middle school, to high school. Um, because I just couldn't tell what our funds are going towards. So if that could be communicated with the, you know, with the families, communities, and then also the teachers. And the principals, that would be great. Um, it would just be helpful to know, because I see that there's a memorandum

092of understanding, but I don't know what that's really going towards. And then, let's see What else I got for you? Questions? Um… And then, I think I did… so I also saw the addendum to the Cinnabar Elementary, um, Charter School District that they use our buses. Um, so I did have a few questions. I wondered if other districts are able to use our buses. Is there a priority system? So if we have a more… if we have a certain event for PCS, do we say, hey, Cinnabar, sorry, you get kicked out? Or is it that they've booked it and we are the ones that kind of end up on, you know, the losing end, but again, just wanted to know, like, what the process is there, if that's defined in… because this is an addendum.

093So I don't know if the contract actually defines that really clearly. So that'd be great to hear. Um, also, I think… I've noticed in a lot of the contracts, the main contract isn't attached to the meeting minutes, or to the agenda, it's really just… About 30 seconds? Thank you. It's just the addendum. So typically, it would be helpful to see the full contract, so I don't know if that's something you can or can't attach, but that would be super helpful to see as well. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so now we have the approval of the consent agenda by Consolidated Motion. I move to approve. Second. Any discussion? Yes. I want to see if… staff can answer any of the questions that were raised. I don't expect that they can answer all of them,

094but if any of them are answerable in the moment, that would be awesome. The Memorandum of Understanding for Seneca for keeping kids in school is to, um, for a full-time case manager for Petaluma City Schools, and so that case manager. Um, through a referral process from our school students that are struggling with attendance, chronic absenteeism. Um, this case manager reaches out to the family after that referral and provides in-home support. Strategies, follow-up, um, and they case manage up to… a full case manage A full caseload is 13 students at one time. And so that's for the, um… for having Seneca be in our school system. So, follow up on that, um, so we pay for that, uh, is that standard in the county, or is this something that SCO would… pickup, or…? It's standard in

095the county, um, it's heavily underwritten, um, by, uh, so 12,500 is… Pennies for having a staff member come, and that he's in district about 3 days a week, um, and attends our monthly SARB meetings, um, so it's… it's an incredible deal for the type of work that they do. Thank you. Okay, I can speak to, um, I'll start with the TK furniture Um, we went through as a district and determined, um, how many classroom sets of furniture we currently had. And how many were needed to have full sets and all of the schools, so we didn't need all new furniture. Um, when there were a couple meetings with the principals and, um, Gloria, the director. Over, and it was decided then who would keep what they had and who would take some of, um, furniture

096from other sites, and that was just… it was decided amongst the principals, and then… The order was placed for the specific amounts, though every school is getting, um. Some of the play… the younger play, new equipment, I think there are, um. Like, refrigerator kitchens, and I can't remember what else it was, um. For… as part of the curriculum… the play for curriculum. And then for the Cinnabar, um, we have numerous agreements with, um, outlying school districts, because we have one of the more robust transportation programs, um. They all use the same systems that our internal People use the easy trips, and there are rules about that. Our board policy also does say that it's first come, first serve. To, um, for our students and our activities, and, um, what we do, because we already contract

097with First Student. Um, we can then piggyback off of that to help other school districts. So this doesn't mean that it will actually be our drivers. We will utilize our first student contract, and then contract out the charter services in the school district. Will then reimburse us for the full cost of the charter. And… Oh, for the… yeah, um, for the PTA, we are actually, um. Which may or may not be helpful, but we are working on a Google spreadsheet for all of our district furniture and things like that, because what we're finding is not everything is stored at the warehouse, so I only know what's at the warehouse, but one of our site secretaries suggested A Google… some sort of shared drive, so then we can see, and then the principal's insights… Secretaries will

098have access to that, which maybe will help. It will probably take a couple months to get it all on there. So, uh, are we… I have another… I have a follow-up on, uh, item… The question that, um, sorry. Follow up with the TK teachers, because the principal was changing, so I don't know if They will follow up. Yeah, so I… Gloria can follow up. Yep. Um, so on, uh… a contract with, uh, Gecko for the Casa Grande Culinary Classroom. Can we discuss… You know, is this a bid? So I went out to open bid, and we only had one result? Or one… Yes. Uh, so why… why do we only have one… the deodorant… do you know why? Because I am concerned with Again, I just want to make sure that we have, like, competitive

099bids for everything Um, and we are keeping costs down, and we are trying to, again. Save every… every dollar, but, uh, I just was curious. I, yep, so I can't speak for why contractors decided to not bid, but I can give my opinion, if you would like it. Yes. Um, all right. Um, it's probably the specific project. It's due to the timing and the size of the project, so summer is a really busy time. For all of the local contractors, and this is a one… one classroom, um, with its cabinets. Flooring and, um… counter spaces, a little bit of ADA access, so it's not a really big project. It did take time, this did have to go through DSA approval, and because we were looking at access and approach for ADA access, it did take

100quite a bit of time to go through. Dsa, which pushed it, um, so we had to get it out. In, um… of, like, the last month in order to get it for summer work, so that's my… assumption on why, um, we do all of our bids. We put in the local paper, we add to the Builder's Exchange, we advertise, so we advertised this one the same way that we… Do all of our bids. Did you… but… Uh, are you saying that it was open for a shorter amount of time than normal? No. Okay. Um… I just meant that it was close… ideally, this project would have gone out to bid in, like, January or February to get on to a summer schedule, because we were waiting for DSA approval. We only put it out probably

1016 weeks ago. Okay, um… And doesn't that usually… Star projects, getting that approval, isn't that a common problem? Yes, yes, and, um, so, and this is definitely… this will take down, um, the classroom, so this needs to be done either this summer Or we would have to wait till next summer. The project is… Timing is too long for Christmas break. Um, and can you explain the, uh… breakout of, um, the two different pots of money it was, uh, or the two different funds, the CTE funds versus the bond funds, and how the amounts were… Appropriated. Yep, definitely. So, we started this project, um. Tony, over a year, about a year ago, so this started… so this has been… and going through, um. Dsa and everything, so at the time, um, the CTE funding, they had

102about $250,000, um, allowable to spend on capital facilities. Our goal, our hope was that we could get the project at as close to $250,000 as possible, but, like, that was about this time last year. So, um, once this came forward, sometimes we would just get the bids, and we would say, um. Never mind, there's not budget available, but we do have some remaining of our 2014, um, secondary bond available. Um, our… Casa Bleacher project is a little… came in a little bit lower than we originally anticipated. So I wanted to add this to the agenda, since we did have existing bond funds to support, and at the same school site. So you're saying last year the goal was to keep it closer to the $250,000 level, and since then. Um, it was the tariffs that

103really increased the price on this, or…? I did not ask the contractors why their costs… their price was this high. All right, thank you. Any other questions? I only wanted… Oh, go ahead, Dan. I was gonna say, I'm just excited, um, about the CASA bleeders. It's been like, how many years? Very exciting. Two sets, yes. Exciting, but yeah, the gym needs it, so… Thank you, I know it's a lot of work. Sorry. That is great. No, no, no, no, no. Mine was just a thank you to Dan Osterman, the Climate Action Committee, Kirsten Franklin, Sheldon, Jen, the board of… Us, the trustees, um, and, and, uh, staff, and cabinet, and super… attendance for supporting NDAB, Fox, and the city. For supporting the climate action. I could go on. I know I've missed people. I feel

104like Academy Awards. Um, but I just, I just want to thank everybody, you know, the parents, the students, the teachers, and the staff that all contributed. To this, it's, um… I think it's a pretty remarkable document, and, um, and I think, uh. We should be proud if we pass it. So, that's it. So, now… We vote. Um… All those in favor of the consent agenda? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? It passes. Thank you so much. Um, now we have comments from the public on action items. Um, seeing none… We will continue with Action Item 15. 0.2, 0.1, approval of the salary schedule tentative agreement. An AB1200 public disclosure between Petaluma City Schools. And the California School Employees Association, Petaluma Chapter. 212. I move to approve. I second. Okay, can you present? Yeah, so this is a

105joint, um, item between Jason and myself, so… you would like to start, sir? Sure, so, uh, we're very glad to be, um. Be able to present the agreement. Between the district and CSEA that has gone through the process, uh, so that is… part of the included first attachment. Do you want me to say more about it? I want to. We are very excited for this to be presented this evening. Yeah. And if it is approved, since the salary schedules are attached. It will make June end of month payroll. Comments? All right, all those in favor? Hi. Hi. Any opposed Yay! Approval of the salary schedule for… T-S-E-A! Yay! Okay, uh, 15.2.2, approval of the revised Classified Employees Auxiliary Salary Schedule. This, um, salary schedule, since it's not tied to the bargaining unit. Had some prices

106where people were not… or, not prices… salaries that were not increased, um, each year because this was not always brought back, so… Now, this will be an annual item that… goes after the approval. Okay, any comments, questions? Okay, I need a motion. I move to approve. I second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes. Alright, now we have comments from the public on discussion information items, and I got one Um, from a parent on the Spanish at PAX. And she couldn't make it tonight. And so… Um, I'm reading it, uh, her email. This is from Larissa Alaska. Uh, Rhubosh, who is a parent of an incoming PACS parent. Student, sorry. Uh, I am reaching out as an incoming parent at Petaluma Accelerated Charter School who's Child attended McKinley from kindergarten and just

107graduated last week. Yay! I have heard that Petaluma City Schools is considering cutting Spanish from PACs. I am writing to urge you and the rest of the board to reconsider. This subject has not been made public before this point, and we selected this program in big part due to Spanish being a regular part of the curriculum. I feel like this decision was made without consulting incoming families. And feel like a typical PCS bait and switch. That our family has experienced repeatedly since our son started at McKinley. First, we were promised Spanish as an integral part of the elementary school curriculum, which never happened. Then, right before my son entered 4th grade, the MAP program was cut with little conversation. With incoming families. Now I feel like this program is making cuts without consulting incoming families.

108I also really don't like the idea that Spanish is being removed and not replaced with anything. Why can't it be replaced with an additional elective? Or some other enriching opportunity. Thank you for considering this perspective. Okay. Maddie? Um, I did get a last-minute ask right before the meeting to read, also. A public comment? Do you want me to forward it to you, or can I read it? You can read it. Okay. Please. It was… and it was an email that went to us… Um, it's from Bailey Malone. Um… Hopefully it's under 3 minutes. Um, hello, Armor, it's long. Okay. Hello, I'm writing to comment on the proposed changes to the PACS Charter. I'm a parent of a rising 6th grader at McKinley who will enter PACS for the 2026-27 school year, as well as a

109rising second grader. The recent changes in PAC's class offerings to align with the Charter, as well as the proposed changes to the Charter Now being considered have significantly changed the school environment. The student success course should be reinstated to allow students time and support to thrive in an accelerated environment. However, the elimination of Spanish would be an enormous detriment to students and the school. Spanish was one of the reasons that I and other parents picked McKinley packs for our students in the first place. It was already disappointing to lose Spanish for grades 1 through 6. While I understand that funding sources shifted and the position is hard to staff, it also took away an incredible academic asset and reflection of our diverse community in the elementary grades. To take it away from the junior high

110grades, when other district junior high schools offer language as an elective, we'll put PAC students at a disadvantage entering high school. An accelerated school should include a pathway for students to enter an accelerated language track in high school. Without it, those students could have room for at least, sorry, for one less AP or other course their senior year. Putting them at a disadvantage in a competitive college application process. That may seem far out, but parents and students who chose who choose PACs are doing so in order to prepare them for a rigorous high school and college experience. I'm concerned that the negative experience with packed Spanish during the last few years has colored students and parents' perspective Regarding removing Spanish from the Charter in favor of student success in music Changing the rules seems premature

111and should be a last resort. I wish the district could step in and help brainstorm creative solutions in order to offer a consistent and rigorous Spanish offering as required by the current charter. If anything, we should be increasing the amount of Spanish instruction to align it with other junior highs in the district. At the least, the school should help facilitate access to Spanish instruction outside of the classroom for those who wish to keep on an accelerated track. If changes to the charter must be made, I personally do not prefer music over Spanish. Rising 6th grade parents whose students will soon enter PACs were not consulted about this decision. Our 5th and 6th graders already received music and not Spanish. At other junior highs, music is an optional elective, which is appropriate. After mandatory instruction where

112children can decide whether they want to continue to pursue that interest. Many children do not. Why not make both music and Spanish electives, and students can choose which they prefer? As I can in other junior highs. Lastly, we are about to welcome a new principal to McKinley. Who could have new ideas about these issues and should have the opportunity to help shape the school. Hopefully lead for years to come. That's it. Very good. Excellent. Okay, uh, Markita. On cell phone board policy. Just want to give everybody time to pull it up, the resolution, everybody has it up in front of them. Yeah, good. Good to go, okay. So, okay, first things first, appreciate the presentation. Um, I knew it was coming, so, uh, and this will be an interesting one to hear… people to hear

113about over the summer. Um, the first thing, I guess, I do have an ask is when we do presentations with Pie charts or numbers. If we have the N, like, what is, like, I saw that it was 160 staff and educators at the high school. I don't know how many there are in total. So it'd be great to know, out of the sample, how much are we getting? So is there 200? Is it 180? So that would be something helpful in the future for, I think, any presentation, just to know what is my sample coming from, what is the total set? Um, secondly, I think, um, on the presentation, again, appreciate the details and the depth you all went in to do that, into doing the surveys. Um, also, I guess I did see that

114for practical implementation tools, it says that we might potentially use Chromebooks. Um, again, I don't know, at least in elementary school, none of our kids have Chromebooks. They have, um, iPads, so I would say before this is implemented, which I heard a lot of you echo. Please have a plan for how you communicate with parents, guardians, caregivers, families Um, the principles, right, the community, because this is really vital. A lot of people do expect You know, when their kids are at the schools, to be able to contact them. So, understanding that it's impacting them for different reasons, mental health reasons, academic Reasons, but communication is going to be super key on this one. Just wanted to point that out. Um, again, I also wanted to point out that Um, not every student… a lot more

115people in, uh, women especially, in their 40s, hello. Um, or being diagnosed with ADHD, autism, and other things later in life, a lot of our students don't have IEPs that have… they have ADHD and other things. We need to be better also about realizing if we are going to limit their usage of certain things, some kids do need apps. Right? They do need more timers. So there are a lot of executive function issues that kids are working on that they don't have IEPs to just stand out. So we have to consider, if we're taking away these devices. How is that impacting these kids that, in the last board meeting, we said, we don't want over-identification, right? So if we're not going to do over-identification, realize you might be taking away, like, in class for me,

116I would definitely have a timer. I would definitely be like, okay, I got all my timer apps, I got my Toastmaster timers, I need my timers. So I think we need to be considerate… considerate of kids that don't have IEPs, but need accommodations and are trying their best. Um, additionally, I think going more specifically, um, just to go down to the language, it says any applicable student, uh, school rules It's not specified. So where are you going to specify what the school rules so that we're in agreement? Um, also, it says while at school site, a lot of elementary school students… Thank you. The school day is over, they get on their watch, and they tell their parents, hey, I'm coming home. If you could put hours in this to say, hey, school hours, and

117not just at the school site. That would be great. Also, there is no disciplinary action specified in the resolution, so I'm still concerned that there's gonna be a difference in how people apply this, because it's not specific. So if you could… if you could communicate with the community of how things are gonna be put into place, and the specifics, that would be much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, uh, so then we have our first reading of the, uh, Petaluma Accelerated Charter School. Amendment. Did you… want to talk about it, Tony? Yes. Um… So, um… With the proposed amendment, um. We will have an opportunity for public comment during the public hearing on the 24th Um, and if there's, um, any other requests for information, we can gather it and provide it at that time.

118Um, but it also allows any, um… additional community members to, um, to also provide any comments they would like to make at that time. Before the board decides to take action. I also think it's really important to point out that elementary And the junior highs. Don't allow already. Don't allow cell phones during the school day. We're talking about China. Oh, sorry. Can we make sure that there is communication to incoming families, like families coming into 7th and 8th? Just when letting the whole PACS community know that this is coming up for a final reading, like, including them. If they weren't included, if they're not included, just making sure. Yeah, I was going to say the exact same thing, so Caitlin, thank you. And also, when was that date again for the public hearing? In June

11924th, we will publish it 10 days… Prior to… or 11 days prior to… Um, June 24th. The front of our book, it's like the beginning of our board meeting. Got it, got it, got it, got it. We'll be there. So that would be great. Communication out to everybody that that's… the time to come. Yes. Or to submit. Information. That's a great… that's a great suggestion. Yes. Um, I also would like the actual data on the students who are enrolling in Spanish 2. Because we have heard that they're not. Um, and just, like, anecdotally. I don't know if that's true or not. Um, and again, I know that we do lose a lot of students at other schools, unfortunately. But I would just like to know if we, um… And then also, comparatively, Petaluma Jr. And

120Kenilworth, the students who are taking the Spanish one for 7th and 8th grade, are they also not enrolling in Spanish, too, or are they choosing a different language? Like ASL or French. Can't they be French and Spanish if it… Jesus, or is it just… It's just Spanish. And then it also sounds like… Is it really an issue with Spanish, or is it a personnel issue? I wasn't able to differentiate what the real concern is, because if people are saying they had a bad experience with the Spanish teacher. And they're having a bad experience with Spanish? That the teacher, or is it really the Spanish? And so I don't want to throw out the Spanish if it's a personnel thing. It may be a combination of things, I think it also seems structurally as well, so

121I think if there's… interest in exploring how to provide, um, quality Spanish instruction for PACS. It may also require looking at Do they need to extend their… Their instructional minutes and add more time, or you know, create a new, essentially a new bell schedule to, um, to, uh, to address that particular need. Uh, that way they could provide opportunities for potentially a full-time staff person, depending on how that might that look, but… but then that would be, you know. That may lead into negotiations and other, um… PFT things that Jason might be able to weigh in on. Again, to your question, Joanna, I can say that, um. That it did sound in some of the comments that we heard, that it was geared towards specific individuals, but that We've had, um… we've had, I think

122it's been 3 teachers in the last 3 years, if I think back. Um, and… and it… there were… problems with the delivery in each of those, so I'm not saying that there wasn't… that they weren't relating personnel issues, but I also can say that we've had trouble with the delivery of it in The last 3 people that have held that post. So, is it fair to say that it's, like, a personnel issue, or is it any of the… we have, like, the most amazing Spanish teacher delivering the Spanish, would we have the same concerns? So is it Spanish, or is it the person delivering? Because if we have, like, find a teacher that's a right… the right fit for PACS, to deliver it, then I don't want us just to do away with it. Yeah,

123I think we… I think to answer… it's a good question, I think to answer your question, we'd have to, like, dig a little deeper and come back to you on that. I think it is the amount… probably also the amount of time I'm hearing that the way it's fitting in with Like, are we trying to do too much in, like, we wanted… there's so many good things to do, like. So, I think we're wrestling with that. Uh, so that's another thing to consider, and I'm… I'm guessing we should probably look… dig in, because I also heard issues around And I've heard this before in talking with Gloria, that we have people that are coming from DLI programs, and people that are doing, like, and… Their needs are very different, so are we able… so… That's

124a question as well. So I thought about that, too, since we are getting more native speakers and more… Um, families from Loma Vista, then maybe we need to look at Spanish differently, but that also, to me, just speaks for more of a reason to keep it, because if a student is doing Spanish TK through 6th grade at Loma Vista. Then they go to PACS, and there's nothing. I also don't know if that's a great option, too, or if we're trying to change our program to fit the needs of Loma Vista parents. Um, and if a student is a native speaker, then again, let's continue teaching them and helping develop. They're speaking, reading, and writing skills in their native language. I don't know if that's a reason for us to discontinue it. So could I ask

125just… I mean, we already earlier got the request from Ryan and you about, like, what's the actual numbers of students What are some other information that we could bring? I could bring the staffing history for the last, at least the last few years As one piece, what are some other bits of information that would be helpful for you as a board member? I don't know if it can be answered, if it's, like. Because there's no way to know if there was, like, a different teacher with a different delivery, if we would have the same concerns. I don't know how we could… get that data. I… One, I think, fairly easy question would be, what are the instructional minutes for Spanish at Each middle school? Much more than they are at PACS. But we… we can

126get you that, like, what are the minutes at those… at the junior highs compared to what the minutes are at PACS, so that's what I'm hearing, like, a straight comparison of minutes, we can do that. I also… I did office hours, um. At McKinley, and… Everybody who came in that day complained about. Spanish. So… About the teacher, or about… Yeah, about the teacher. So, to Joanna's question. Um… I heard them. Obviously, we've heard them as well, that young lady who spoke so eloquently. So, I don't… I don't know… I guess I'm agreeing with Joanna. I don't know if it's the… teacher, the not enough minutes to really make it valuable. Or… Or what, but there was a lot of complaints during office hours. And I don't want to throw the teacher under the bus either,

127because if the teacher is expected to deliver this high-quality program in 55 minutes twice a week, but then at Kenilworth or Petaluma Jr. It's 75 minutes, 2 or 3 times a week, then that's also not fair to them either. They might be having some type of frustration, so… I also just want to say that, too. I think that's, you know, I don't want to be too direct about individuals, and that's why I was saying, like, some of the concerns… we've heard some similar concerns about About the program with different teachers, which leads me to believe there is a piece of that maybe the design is making it very challenging, regardless of the teacher. Um, because we were hearing some similar concerns about the delivery. And I'm also one… we can also get, like, the composition

128of the students in the class, like, who are coming in as native speakers, who are coming in from a DLI program who are coming in with nothing, so we can bring that information to you. We can also explore potential, um. Alternative options, programmatically, at least in my department, to see what other alternatives that could still meet the needs of students who may want to pursue the Spanish and Accelerate, as well as Um, you know, um, potentially keep the success class that they're requesting as well, so maybe we can find them A balance. Also, just kind of coming full circle. Um, it's… Spanish is obviously what we're talking about, but one of their main points, it was about the student success period. Spanish in music was secondary to the importance, however they're looking at it, but

129to the importance of having the student success period. And so I just don't want that to get lost in translation when we're so focused on Spanish, and Having come from a small charter school with sizes that maybe even a little smaller than theirs. Trying to host a Spanish course and get kids to high school in… Spanish 2, it was virtually impossible, just because the school was so small. It doesn't have the same capacity that Kenilworth and Petaluma Junior High have. And those are some of the questions that they're addressing, but it's a complicated… Um, it's a complicated system when it's such a small school to offer these options that we're all trying to offer, and nobody wants to take anything off the table. And what I hear them saying is, please give us the student

130success period, and I'm not sure how that manifests, but I think it's a priority, and just… just putting that out there. Yeah, I think it's been clear, staff, parents, students all want student success. I'm in full support. In my perfect world, I would love it to, like, it, you know, with all the funding and all the perfect staff. Have the choice between music and Spanish, just like they have the choice between the other four electives, so I don't know if that's realistic. Like, I would have been miserable if y'all made me do music instead of Spanish, like, that would have just been bad for everybody. Um… But I was at a comprehensive… I went to Kenilworth, so I did have those. Those options. So, I have… I… I am getting a little… confused about You

131talk about electives, and then… but that the student success and Spanish and music are not electives? They would be available. They would… all students would take music, and Spanish as an That's how the charts. So, could we theoretically replace one of the electives with Spanish? Because you have four electives, right? It would become a… The issue with the staffing has been one staff be teaching an elective, but it's not to say it's not something that we couldn't look at. So, I… and Maddie, to your question, I mean, it does… there is a piece that comes back to, like, the finances of staffing. So the electives are taught by the existing four teachers at PACS, So to do… and none of them Can teach Spanish. So, that would be the challenge of that. Um, you know,

132we… and we're bringing in secondary teachers. Like, this year we brought in a secondary teacher that… that both secondary teachers were teaching at high schools, and We were able to get them one period. To come over, come over to… to PAX. So then the electives, more instructional minutes than the, um… the regular classes. There are also two… Twice a week, 55, okay. All right, thank you. Any other questions? Okay, so we'll have a public hearing on this on June 24th. This would be great, and this will be communicated out, maybe, to those lower grades. Um, okay, and then we have the mobile communications devices first reading, Board Policy 5131.8. So what you have here is, uh, the CSBA model policy. Um, for mobile communication devices with the addition of the timeline for PCS up at

133the top. Do we have any questions? Okay, thank you. This will be coming up… Probably second read. Okay, June 24th. All right. Okay, we are at Future Business. Any future business? Yes, Ryan. Um, we've mentioned it a couple times this evening in passing, but I would like a update on how the implementation and outreach and scheduling are, uh, getting the bell schedule for the high schools is going, um, and what the timeline, uh, is for that, so just… An update and where we are, and where we need to go to ensure full communication with Uh, parents, uh, and teachers. Maddie, could I just add to that, too? Um, so I've spoken to Jason and Tony, and I think that having, perhaps, and I can work with I'm board president. Just an item that maybe every

134meeting or every other meeting is just a brief update on the status of the The new implementation. So that everyone just has just kind of a heads up about what's going on in the communication and kind of next steps. So, yeah. That would be great. There's also, um… Petaluma Junior High voted to have a new Bell schedule, yes. Yeah, so Petal… And we don't have any, um, Kenilworth both have, um. Modified schedules this coming year that include, um, silent sustained reading, more at Kenilworth, but an advisory period, and then there's advisory periods built into the schedule at Uh, at Petaluma Junior High. Okay. And they've moved to a fixed schedule, so their schedule that's not increasing periods to 7, so they're scheduling They're still scheduling 6 periods, but they're, uh, matching in concept, the second…

135the high school schedule. It's a… it's a Monday, um, sea day, and then Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday, Friday, um, so… One of the things that will be beneficial is there, theoretically, we also could be sharing staff between Between the schools in that model. Can I ask just clarification, um, from Ryan? You had asked. A report on, like, outreach, scheduling, what were some of the other things that you wanted reported on about the bell schedule? I mean, well, where are we in the process of, you know, getting that, you know, locked in? Have we assigned rooms? Have we, you know. Uh, done outreach to, uh, you know, parents yet? Have we, you know, fill in the blank. I mean, I'm curious, because this is a big jump. And I want to make sure that, uh, not only

136are we successful, uh, throughout the year, but, you know, we are, uh, having less you know, uh, bumps in the first couple weeks of implementation. Okay. Yeah, kind of things. Anything else? All right, we are adjourning to closed session, because we weren't able to finish. And we'll be back with a report from that. When we're done, okay?