001All right. Whoops. This is a new mallet. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call the meeting to order at 5:15 p.m. This is the March 24th Board of Education meeting. Is there a motion and a second to approve the order of the agenda? So moved. Second. Student advisory vote? All those in favor? Aye. Any nays or abstentions? All right. Agenda order is approved. We have closed session tonight. Members of the audience may address the board on any listed closed session items. Persons wishing to address the board regarding an item scheduled for closed session are asked to submit a request to address the board prior to the start of closed session. Comments from visitors shall not exceed 3 minutes unless the time limit is waived by majority of the board. The board shall limit the total
002time for public input on each item to 20 minutes. With board consent, the president may increase or decrease the time allowed for public presentation depending on the topic and the number of persons wishing to be heard. Tonight for closed session, we have item 3.3, public employee discipline, dismissal, release, and 3.4, public employee appointment, employment, title deputy superintendent. I do not believe we have any advanced written requests. Would any member of the audience like to speak on either of these closed session items? Then is there a motion and a second to reconvene to closed session? Second. All those in favor? Aye. All right, we'll be back in about 15 minutes. >> Mhm. >> Good evening, everyone. Thank you for being here tonight. We will start tonight with the Pledge of Allegiance by Marvin Brown, RUHS Principal.
003Thank you, President Elder. Everyone, please stand. Jingles and all. Right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may be seated. Thank you. I think that is the the most jingle jam we've ever had in here. That is amazing. In closed session tonight, the board received information and gave direction to staff on item 3.3, public employee dismissal release, and on item 3.4, the board received information. Is there a motion and a second to approve the minutes of the March 10th, 2026 regular Board of Education meeting? So moved. Student advisory vote? All those in favor? I. Any noes or abstentions? Motion passes. We will
004move on to reports to the board, starting with 7.1, Redondo Union High School cheer team recognition, varsity game day, varsity traditional competitive, and JV game day by Marvin Brown, Principal. >> [applause] >> Hello, Board President Elder, board members, Dr. Wesley and Cabinet. Thank you so much for allowing us to be here. Look at this group. I mean, this is exciting. I'm so honored to recognize our cheer team for their accomplishments in Orlando, Florida, at the USA National Competition, and in Anaheim at the USA National Competition. So, I'm going to get out of the way because I'm going to recognize, and this is my privilege to recognize the one and only Coach Lisa and Coach Izzy. >> [applause] >> They're responsible for our success. Um our cheer program has had a lot of success the last
005several years, and I credit our coaches 100%. Um the last thing I know they want right now is some recognition, but they're going to get it. So, uh this is for Coach H. Come on up, Lisa. >> [applause] >> You're the best. I love you. You're the best. Yeah. You're the best. Coach Izzy, come on up. >> [applause] >> You're the best. Yep, thank you. Coach Rory, come on up. >> [cheering] >> That's a crowd favorite. >> [applause] >> Congrats. And I'll turn it over to uh Coach H to talk about our team. Teams. >> [applause] >> Well, good evening, everyone, and Dr. Wesley, I cannot thank you enough. Going back 3 years ago, and just the love and support that you have for these female athletes just goes a long way. And everyone before
006us, I you just make everything here easier. Everyone right up here, and um I know that we're going to have one more in our family next year, and that we're really looking forward to that. Yes. So, we uh we did a thing, and um we did it together, and as you can tell, our wonderful sparkling, amazing parents, families, friends, and fans, um we do it, and we do it right. And it was such an honor to work alongside our staff, and um with our admin team, and especially Mr. Brown, allowing us and pushing us and telling us, "Hey, whatever you want to do, let's make it happen." And he did, and I cannot thank you enough for that. Um yes, please. >> [applause] >> So, um along with jobs, volunteering in the community, AP classes,
007honors classes, um all the extra things that they do, they also are on our sideline cheer team, and we take great great pride in that. Our Friday night lights and our Thursday afternoons are like no other in the South Bay and beyond, and the way that they represent our school, our community, our district, is just top-notch. When I tell you that they are nationally known, that they are nationally known, which is a a very difficult thing to do in just 3 years, they are. Um other states, other programs in the states reach out to us, and they say, "Hey, where did you get this? How do you do this?" So, if it comes in at 2:00 a.m., and I happen to ding ding, I respond right back, and that's how community starts, and they are
008just the best of the best that we've worked with in a long, long time. All three teams went to Florida, and we took our traditional team, uh varsity and our varsity game day, and for the first time, um we took our JV game day along with traditional, and I don't know what kind of magic happens with Disneyland and Mickey Mouse, but it couldn't have been a better ending here when not one, not two, but three all brought home a silver medal back here. >> [applause] >> And they compete against so many teams, so many teams even make it to regional is very stringent this year. So many teams to make it, and then to be able to be allowed to take this trip, and then for the families to come together, and man, did we
009fundraise. And uh to make this happen for them, and the hours they put in, when they see this uniform right here, like it is just I I can't begin to tell you. They are stopped everywhere. Everywhere. Then we decided, "Hey, let's let's give CIF state. Let's see if we could be the best of the best in California." And uh and the routine that they put on, it was just phenomenal, and they created history that day because it's the first time ever in the history of cheer at Redondo that they have a state title, and they'll have a banner hanging up in the gym, and a beautiful, beautiful um trophy, but just amazing. >> [applause] >> And then we weren't done. And we said, "Well, you know, we saw Mickey Mouse in Florida, let's see him
010in Anaheim." And so we make that trek, and the three of us, we we're running back and forth along with the parents, along with the athletes, along with numerous props, and cuz we do it big. And um we went there, and our JV game day team went on the floor four times, four times. They should have brought a broom, and we should have had it red and white, because they swept, and they brought back four USA national titles, and I'm so proud of our JV game day, and uh what they did was just phenomenal. And then we come over to our varsity, and they brought back three USA titles. You can hear the clanking and see the medals. They brought so much back to our city, but more importantly, they are stopped everywhere when we're
011at competition, and we are stopped. How do you have the nicest athletes? How do you have the nicest parents? I go, "Cuz we love our athletes, and we love our parents." And what they do, and what we do together, you could take all the wins and the medals away, it's just something magical that we are excited and blessed that you allow us to do this, and that we can provide this for our school district, for our athletes. So, the sky's the limit next year. Better be ready. And uh and it's going to be great. So, without further ado, I'd like to celebrate our athletes, and we're going to start out with JV game day, and I will give uh the certificates to our two coaches so that they can hand those out, and again, please
012stand in the arc right over there. Um first up, we have Alexis. >> [applause] >> And then we have Gabby L. >> [applause] >> And we have Giana, who's not here today, and all but we do want to celebrate Giana. >> [applause] >> We have Gabby V. Hayden G. >> [applause] >> Hayden L. Juliette. >> [applause] >> Caitlin. Lilly. >> [applause] >> Maddie S. Ruby G. >> [applause] >> Ryan. Sadie. Sarah. [applause] Samantha Maddie G >> [cheering and applause] >> and Valentina. And I cannot thank enough our Redondo Beach Unified School District Board of Education for these beautiful certificates and to allow them to be recognized. And we just love y'all and thank you so much and congratulations. >> [applause] >> Thank you lay Oh, hold on Okay. Oh, of course. I would love it.
013Mr. Brown, would you like to get in there in the picture? Roy, can you take a photo of that right in the middle? >> [applause and cheering] >> I love it. Hey, we can do it. We'll do it, right? Oh, I love this so much. Parents, be sure to get that so that we can post. Oh, no, no, no. Okay, ready? And big smiles. One, two, three, cheers. Yay, cheerleaders. >> [applause] >> I love it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, junior varsity. You guys can be seated. Thank you, ladies. It's one of my favorite sounds, all these metals clanking. All right, next up we have our varsity game day, varsity traditional. I would like to first call up those um athletes who are in our varsity game day. And if we can
014start out here with Cameron. >> [applause] >> Next up is Clara. Lauren >> [applause] >> Leah Michaela >> [applause] >> Sophia and Stella. >> [applause] >> And our next group is also on our varsity game day team, but they're also on our varsity traditional team. Again, also bringing home that silver medal. Um we have Abby >> [applause] >> and Adriana >> [applause] >> Avelina Carley Emma >> [applause] >> June Lilly >> [applause] >> Lola Lorelai >> [applause] >> Maddie H Maya >> [applause] >> Olivia Paige >> [applause] >> Roya and Scarlet. >> [applause] >> And if we could have a photo opportunity And congratulations to our varsity game day, varsity traditional. Thank you so much. >> [applause] [cheering] >> Okay, and before with closing, ladies, right after we close right here we'll be exiting because
015they have a meeting to continue. Dr. Wesley, thank you from the bottom of our hearts and everyone and you're our biggest fan and we couldn't do any of this without you. So, thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Well, thank you. It's a team effort on behalf of our board. You have a lot of fans up here. Very emotional. >> board. Can [music] I just say we're so lucky? So lucky. This is the best board. I've been you know, at a few, just a few other school districts and I've never seen the school board that comes on campus, that the kids are excited, the parents, the staff is excited. Like you are hands-on, minds-on, like the best that I've ever had the privilege to work alongside. So, thank you very, VERY MUCH. >> [applause] >>
016AND COME WITH US TO Florida next year. Thank you, everyone, and have a good evening. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Yes. Students, you do not need to stay. Congratulations. We've now lost a substantial amount of the audience. All right. Excellent. Here come our Going through in batches. Now, that was amazing. It sounded like Santa Claus was coming to town. That was wonderful. Although Dr. Dr. Wesley with all those metals, are we doing additional scoliosis screening for them or we want to make sure they're they're safe. That's a lot of hardware to be carrying around. Great problem to have. Excellent. Uh well, that was our cheer teams. Coming up next, item 7.2, Redondo Union High School presentation by Marvin Brown, principal. Thank you, uh Board President Elder. Uh again, hello. Thank you guys for letting
017us be up here. Uh I'm representing our high school tonight. Um we are going to talk about our post-secondary preparedness and all that we're doing at RUHS. Uh we have Assistant Principal Christina Sonata. Uh we have our some of our members of our counseling department. And we have some wonderful students that are going to tell you uh what's happening at RUHS regarding post-secondary preparedness. So, I'm going to turn it over to them. Thank you, Dr. Brand. So, this time I, instead of bringing teachers, I brought two counselors and a bunch of kiddos. So, hopefully I have some pretty faces for you guys to look at. So, but I do want to talk about um some of our uh pathways and that we have for our students at the high school. So, every Seahawk has a
018clear pathway after graduation. We have five different honors classes. We have about a 1,182 students enrolled in different honors classes. We have over 30, increasing, 30 um AP classes and we have over 2,906 students. That is more than our actual population of students. So, that does mean that a lot of our students are taking multiple AP classes. We have one dual enrollment on campus with the hopes of one more next year. And we have about 443 students this past year took dual enrollment classes at El Camino. Uh we also have 17 different CTE classes and we have about 800, almost 900 students enrolled in those. And we have 32 students enrolled in scrub classes right now. So, we do have a lot of different ways that our students can get their pathway after graduation. And
019now I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Bishop. Thank you. All right. >> Bishop. I'm one of the college counselors in the Nest or the College and Career Center at Redondo Union. Um and so today I get the pleasure of sharing some of our college acceptances. Um this is focused on acceptances from the class of 2025 because we are currently in March Madness right now. Um we have heard back from majority of schools, but I think the seniors in the room could tell you, right? They're maybe waiting on a few more. We We the Ivy's being released this week. USC, UC Berkeley. Um so we are eagerly waiting for those decisions. But you can see last year we were represented pretty well at the UC's and Cal States with 15 students going to UCLA,
02017 at Berkeley. Um we have large representation at San Diego State. And then outside of the UC Cal State system, our students um do choose to go out of state as well, particularly staying on the West Coast. So we have 30 freshmen at University of Utah right now. Um so that's awesome. And then after that, our next um greatest representation is going to be at Oregon, Colorado. And we have nine students at Indiana University doing the Kelly School of Business. So, really prestigious, great program. Um in addition to that, we do have a good amount of students who also choose to study across the globe. Um so you can see 11 students are studying in a different country. And then for uh class of 2026, I have some data up here. So, ED stands for
021early decision. That is a binding application. So at the bottom, you can see that we did have a 41% acceptance rate overall for the students who submitted an early decision application. Um one of those was Columbia. So you can see that on the right over there. Um so 15 out of 37 students who applied were admitted. So that's great. Yeah. And then early action is that non-binding application. And we have seen a huge push. 254 students submitted at one at least one early action application. So that's by November 1st. So they are ready to go. They are prepared. Um You can see some of our acceptances that we've received already. We have one student Actually, we have two admitted into Columbia, two admitted into MIT, Vassar. We have our Three. Okay. Okay. [laughter] Um great.
022Um USC, we're still waiting for our regular decision admits to be released this week. Um UCLA, we got that back last week and we got 21 students admitted to UCLA and 20 on the waitlist. So we will Yeah, we're so proud of that. Um in addition, we have one student admitted to UNC Chapel Hill, which is really difficult to get into out of state especially. And it was in comp sci. Um Villanova, Notre Dame, Tufts. So, this class is amazing and we're we're super proud of them and excited to see where they go. How do I Okay. Did it for me. Um and then here we have just some overall numbers. So, I think most of the people in this room will know our four-year um 64% of students attend a four-year college, 33 attend
023a two-year. And then I believe everyone has a handout in front of them. So these are just some of our um numbers, some data of what we've been doing in the nest. So you can see um some of the data does reflect last year because we are still working, right? We still have um individual counseling meetings we are scheduling. We are still processing dual enrollment forms. But last year we had 80 students who received at least one scholarship of a minimum of $500 with a total amount of 165,000 being awarded to these students. I think last year there was about five who walked out of that ceremony with I think over $12,000 each. So, some of these students can really, you know, uh benefit and make out some good money from there. Um but in
024addition, we're really excited to highlight a couple of new things that we've done in the nest this year. So one of them was we implemented FAFSA FAFSA Fridays. Um we didn't think of the idea until a little bit late, but um we were able to do host five FAFSA Fridays where we helped students um fill out their portion of the FAFSA application. And then they go home, they give their parents homework, right? Um so we are excited to do that. We did seven evening parent presentations. Um we have two more uh to finish out this year. We'll do NCAA presentation next week. And then in addition to that, we are in the process of um doing dual enrollment workshops with our our current juniors. Um last year we processed over 215 dual enrollment applications. Um
025so we're hoping to see that number increase especially as we're hoping to have some um RUHS specific dual enrollment courses this summer. So, thank you. Hi, I'm Denise Holmes. I'm one of the 10th grade counselors at the high school. And on behalf of the counseling team, we just want to share a little bit about our philosophy and and what we do to get them to those all those great stats that we just saw. Um so we know that not all students have similar goals uh after high school. And in fact, um many of them have super like unilateral, one-way plans that they they want to be on and and they get really anxious when they get diverted from that. Um others on the other scope of things, um let's say their goals just need a
026little clarity no matter how many times we meet with them. And um obviously many of our students who are planning to either do a two-year or a four-year college, we want to make sure that we encompass plans that can meet all of their goals because half of them just really need to know what the options are and what opportunities are out there. In addition to um these really successful students who are going directly to the four-years. So, we meet with once a year for sure doing classroom lessons. And we've themed our lessons to incorporate post-secondary options for all students. So, um in ninth grade it's like, "Hey, welcome to high school, right? Um You're here from middle school and we're going to get you ready for this plan." And then in 10th grade, we meet
027with students and families. Well, we meet with all the students to go over a four-year plan, seeing what it is that they even think that looks like. And then meet with their parents. And this year Ms. Johnston and I um in two months met with over 300 parents, families, and students um to navigate their four-year plans. And that was really great. We got a lot out of that. Um in 11th grade, we go over college and career exploration. Every grade level uses Naviance to to do different surveys for post-secondary. So we really kind of want them, even if they have a plan, to be open to different options and strengths they might not even be aware that they have. Um In addition to college and career, soft skills are so incredibly important. So in 12th
028grade, regardless where they're going, we want them to realize how important their soft skills are, um work ethic, showing up on time, um attendance, and coping through this journey with the different obstacles that come along, which is also why we get so much time spent in social emotional counseling um because again, this path has different routes to get to where they want to go. Um we're kind of like a combination of ways or like a travel agent. So we kind of let the students give us where they think they want to go, what they want to see. And then we try to give them the most efficient and effective way to get there knowing that there are different road closures or obstacles along the way. So, enough with the adults. The best part of this
029presentation are when you hear it directly from our students. Thank you. And then I'm just going to show this up real quick. We have students talking about each one of these different areas about dual enrollment, career day, our academic counselor lessons, and our CTE pathways. So, without further further to do, I will invite up our first student. And it is Braden Coley. Come on up, Braden. >> [applause] >> Good evening. Um I was uh chosen to speak because I have a lot of experience with dual enrollment. I've taken five dual enrollment classes so far. Um And you can see them up there. Art History, Physics 1A, Math 190, Physics 1C, and Math 220. Um of course, Math 190 and Math 220, as some of you might know, are now combined into one class on RUHS
030as Calculus 23. That's been a great great process so far. I really love that. Um and I do kind of want to not ignore, but sort of ignore Art History 101. Frankly, I did that for the credit. Um I I have a more of a passion for the other four there. Uh but I do want to say Art History was the first dual enrollment course that I took um at El Camino. And so I was really unfamiliar with the process when I was starting to sign up for it. But the counseling team really really helped me through it. Um they take you through every step of the process, make sure every single form is signed and turned in. And they made me a lot more prepared to um continue doing dual enrollment for future classes,
031which I did. Um For Physics 1A, that was my second class. And I did that mostly on my own, but again with with some help from the counseling services. Um and so they were very helpful with that process. Um and I I have really enjoyed dual enrollment. Um it makes me feel like I have more options. Of course, what RUHS has itself um that that we we have great options. Um but it is nice being able to expand into um what El Camino has itself. Um Also, I She's not here right now. Um but I do want to shout out Ms. Mechtner. Um she helped me so much with Physics 1C. Uh that is the um class after Physics 1A, of course. And it took me maybe like four or five weeks to actually sign
032up for that class because it's not exactly a class that you see high school students uh dual enroll in. And so we had to go through so many hoops um to to actually get my prerequisites cleared and get all the forms signed. And I had to go to El Camino and talk to um the the student services center. Um and and she was helping me through that whole process. Um and the the counseling team is very very supportive with that. Um, and so yeah, it has been great to to let me um do more things that for one I think are going to help me in college. I'm planning on doing engineering, and so these classes are something that really uh it's the type of environment that I'm going to need to get used to.
033Um, and it it has been a very it's it's been an easy process. Thank you. >> [applause] >> And just so you know, Braden actually went for all of his physics and his math classes to El Camino to take them. So, and then now we're going to have up Chloe DeVille. Come on up. >> [applause] >> Hi everyone. My name's Chloe DeVille. I'm a junior at Redondo Union High School. I'm really grateful to be here today and help Miss Sunada out by sharing a student perspective on Career Day. I was invited to speak here because I am heavily involved with and hold a certification in a career that I'm interested in. Uh, one of the biggest improvements this year was the ability for students to pre-select three sessions that they were interested in. Last year
034we stayed in the same classroom and the guest speakers rotated in and out. This year was different. Being able to choose our top three sessions ahead of time made the experience much more engaging. For example, I recently became a positive uh psychology coach outside of school. So, I already know that I'm interested in psychology and business. I was able to attend a psychology session and an entrepreneurship session that I had specifically signed up for, and it was incredibly valuable to hear directly from people in that field. It helped me better understand what that career path can look like in real life. I also want to recognize all the guest speakers who took time out of their day and come share their experiences. Having access to so many professionals who are willing to invest in students
035like us is something we don't take for granted. Overall, Career Day created a really meaningful connection between what we're learning in school and what our futures could look like. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Okay. And next we'll have another senior, Dean Davis. >> [applause] >> Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Dean Davis. Oh. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Dean Davis, and I took the business pathway and the culinary pathway. In my freshman year, I took the business pathway with Mr. Suhu, and I didn't have any expectations for what was going to come, right? I had no clue. I was a freshman. And I was still completely surprised by that business pathway. Every I feel like every single month they had something that was coming up, a field trip or whole
036project that we had to work on together, and it was really like a great experience. We put a lot of research into it, more than I ever expected that I would into how businesses are created. And I'm really grateful I got the opportunity freshman year. And then for the marketing, that's the second class for business pathway, it was also good. It was really helpful for the presentations, and that's what our main focus was, was appealing to that main audience. I could tell from the beginning of the year to the end of the year that there was great improvement. The everybody got better with their presentations and their public speaking and their confidence, and it really showed because of that business pathway. And then there's the culinary pathway, and I love this pathway so so so
037much. Absolutely, and I think it's completely due to the credit of Miss Martin. She's an amazing teacher and great, hardworking, and if not the greatest teacher in the world. No exaggeration, no hyperbole. All right. You can tell that there's a lot of care and she puts a lot of work into her craft, and when I took her class junior year for Culinary 1, it was really helpful getting us into that motion, getting used to always be working, always be cleaning, always be cooking, always be mixing something in the kitchen. And after getting into that rhythm, and she really drilled it into us, she made sure that we got into it, and taking the Culinary 2, it was just even better for Culinary 2 at that point. Getting to Culinary 2, we're doing even more stuff
038with harder labs. We like fabricated a chicken from scratch and made the bread and everything, all the sauce, and like over like 3 days, like 2 weeks, basically. And it was not going to be possible without Miss Martin. It would have been possible, but not to the same degree without her. All right. Uh, the CTE pathways are an absolute must-do. If you you should complete it all the way, just taking one class is not enough, and I'm very grateful to Redondo Union High School for giving me the opportunity. All right. >> [applause] >> All right, and we have another student, Chen Batte. >> [applause] >> Uh, hey everyone. I'm Chen Batte Mutswangwa. I'm a freshman at Redondo, and I'm here to talk about our AP Computer Science Principles uh elective more specifically, and uh I
039just wanted to start start talking about how I I've honestly always wanted to be an electrical engineer for as long as I could remember, and going into high school, I didn't really have much coding experience. I was not sure how I was going to do it going to my first AP, going into learning how to coding, and also I still great connection to my teacher, too, Mr. Waters. He uh came into Redondo uh this year, too, so we were learning right beside me, and it was just very natural atmosphere with him and him teaching us how to code and how to prepare us for our AP test, too, which is coming up. I should probably start studying soon, too. But uh Miss Sunada, she did ask me here to talk about our field trip to
040Cisco, to San Francisco, to visit the huge uh tech company Cisco earlier this year. Not fun. And basically, uh we got to go on this field trip to San Francisco earlier this year to um and Cisco was so incredible. They had workshops, they had they had a huge they did a tour of their company, and I feel like I'm nerding out here, but it's so cool. We got to go on a plane there and back, too, which is this like a big field trip for a freshman, too. And it was just so incredible. I got to see all the people working there as electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, even people who uh use technology and aren't engineers, too. And me and I can speak for the other 10 freshmen that they chose alongside me to go
041with them, we we can all speak for us looking at those people and thinking to ourselves, "Oh, wait. Like 20 years from now, that could be us." And honestly, it's just just a great Or or less, yeah. Yeah. We are pretty old now. Yeah. We got Yeah. And it is just it was such a great experience. And thank you so much to Miss Sunada and Mr. Waters for for chaperoning the trip, too. It was so cool. And also, Redondo is such a great high school for going to like a tech elective because next year I'm planning on taking Computer Science Applications AP, and um they have AP Cybersecurity, and I think I'm going to talk about the they have the the uh CSCI 7 dual enrollment course, which is the beauty of Computer Science uh
042principle uh sorry, principles, and that's a dual enrollment course that's going to be so interesting. I hope I can take it probably like junior year or senior year. And yeah, it's just going to be an incredible experience, and it's just going to launch me into college, too, uh to become electrical engineer, hopefully, or anything else I want to do because it's just a just a such a great course and CTE pathway. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> And last but not least, we have Yana Davis. >> [applause] >> Hi everyone. My name is Yana Davis, and I'm a 10th grade student at Redondo Union High School. I just want to say how grateful I am for this opportunity to be up here and express like all the amazing staff here and how like they
043helped me so much with graduating early and helping me manage all my dual enrollment classes and like getting my PPL to become a pilot when I grow up. There's like so many people in this school who help like the students succeed, and I just really appreciate all the time and effort like they help, especially Miss Holmes. She's the best person, and especially my parents over there who helped me like through everything. One of the biggest things she's helped me with is really create a path so how I can finish high school earlier by taking a bunch of dual enrollment classes at Pasadena City College to get all my credits to like graduate early. And I'm really grateful for all the time she's put in like helping me get to that. Sorry, hold on. I'm not
044only thankful for like all the academics and like guidance, I'm grateful for every single person who's just really helped me with managing everything I've ever done in this high school. So, it's been a very long 2 years so far, but hope next year is my last year, thank goodness. But I just want to say thank you again so much for letting me come up here and tell you how amazing the staff is at Redondo for helping students like accomplish their dreams and goals in every single way possible and making cuts and little like paths for them, even if it's not really like for the rules, like for me, I have to like I'm getting more college credits than I should be, but it's okay. But I just want to say thank you again to my
045parents and Miss Holmes for everything they've ever done for me at Redondo, and I'm really excited to see what next year is planned for me. Thank you. >> [applause] >> So moving forward, what we're hoping to do is continuing to expand our CTE pathways and our dual enrollment classes. As you heard, we're going to have English and we're going to have another comp sci class. We are connecting our national organizations like Dean was talking about. We are having a lot of culinary connections and so we're doing that for all of our CTE classes within their national organizations. And then we're going to continue to focus on helping students like Yana and everyone find their right pathway in order to graduate however and get to where they want to go. Thank you so much board for
046your continued support and that is our presentation. Do you have any questions for any of our my lovely students here at this time? I want to know if Dean can come cook for us. >> [laughter] >> I've tried his food. It's really good. He's He's really good at that. I really honestly want to say to all of the students, I am blown away today by the public speaking skills. Whether that came from, you know, business or whichever class, all of you were amazing in your speaking and I really appreciate that. >> [applause] >> I would also just thank our students because your passion for learning and your passion for embracing all this and trying new things is what fuels everyone around you. So thank you to your teachers and your counselors and everyone who's inspiring
047you, but you inspire us as well. So thank you for being passionate about pursuing whatever it is you want to do because you can do it. You're amazing. >> [applause] >> All right. Well, thank you guys so much. Really appreciate you coming out tonight. >> [applause] >> All right. Up next is item 7.3, Cambridge International Courses and Materials Presentation by Dr. Allison Garland, Assistant Superintendent Educational Services, and Marvin Brown, RUHS Principal. Good evening. This is such a great presentation to follow what you just heard. Good evening President Elder, members of the board, Dr. Wesley, my fellow cabinet members, and our amazing community. We're excited to present on Cambridge International Courses and Materials tonight. Before we begin, we're really fortunate to have Mr. Cherry here who's going to be presenting with us. He's from Cambridge International
048and he's presenting with myself and Mrs. Shaw and Mr. Brown. So what is Cambridge International? So Cambridge International opens the door to a world of opportunities for our students. They are the pre-K through 12 division of University of Cambridge in the UK, the world's largest provider of high quality curriculum, serves over 10,000 schools in 160 countries, and has brought high quality academics to students for 168 years. So what makes it different? So Cambridge is aligned educational system. It focuses on depth over breadth. It includes benchmark mastery assessments and has aligned resources for teachers and for students. So what's the difference between Cambridge and Advanced Placement courses? And before I begin to discuss the difference, I do want to point out that our goal is to provide an additional opportunity for our students. It's not to
049replace AP. We have a very thriving AP program and we hope [clears throat] to catch our students capture our students who want to take a different type of rigorous class and possibly draw in the students who haven't been taking AP quite yet. Cambridge and Advanced Placement differ primarily in the focus and the structure. Cambridge emphasizes in-depth conceptual and analytical thinking over 1 to 2 year courses or AS to A level while AP focuses on broad content heavy subject knowledge tested in a single year exam. Cambridge uses more open-ended application based questions while AP relies heavily on multiple choice questions. And Cambridge courses are recognized in 2,400 institutions across 95 countries. Cambridge offers a high degree of flexibility with their AS and their A level courses. They offer 50 plus courses in all four content areas
050and beyond. For example, they have history, travel and tourism, accounting, media studies, English literature, and sports and PE. The courses explicitly teach skills such as research, collaboration, reflection. It's embedded in their curriculum. And there's a diversity of the assessments including short answered responses and the assessments truly look what look for what students know, not what they don't know. Now the next piece is how do we get here? And Mr. Brown is going to take it away. Thank you, Dr. Garland. So how did we get here? So we myself, Kotaro Takasui, and Roy Lopez Jr. attended a Cambridge Schools Conference in June of 2025. We were introduced to Cambridge International there and learned about all that it could offer at RUHS. In the fall we bought we brought 10 people to Troy High School in Fullerton
051to see their Cambridge classes in action and we had an opportunity to speak with their teachers and learn about how it works at their school. We reached out to our teachers at RUHS to see who was interested in Cambridge International and we had 13 teachers share share their interest. They all went to the Cambridge 101 training in February and we we had a great turnout and learned a lot there. I'm actually going to have Kathleen Shaw talk about the middle schools and what happened with Cambridge with our middle schools. Well, pretty simple. It was being talked about in a principals meeting and Miss Smothers and I just just started listening >> [laughter] >> and turns out that there are opportunities at middle schools and so we sent some of our leaders both administration and teachers
052to a training to learn more and then examined the different offerings that they had and decided to bring in a specialist to meet with our social science teachers. So we'll talk more about the outcome from that and kind of where our heads at and then I'll hand it back to you. So what new courses are we going to propose? So as I mentioned earlier, we reached out to our teachers to determine interest in teaching Cambridge courses. The second step we did is we had a student survey that we sent out to our students to gauge interest in the courses that that our teachers were interested in. We selected courses based on strong teacher interest and strong student interest. And we also looked at where Cambridge courses would complement as Allison said and not replace existing
053AP courses because our goal is to expand opportunities for students. So the proposed courses are Cambridge AS and A level math, Cambridge AS and A level biology, Cambridge AS and A level marine science, AS and A level art and design, and then IGCSE which stands for International General Certificate of Secondary Education Chinese. So some important notes, all Cambridge courses will be weighted similar to honors and AP courses where A's count as a five towards their GPA. AS level courses are very comparable to AP courses and A level courses are often comparable to first year college coursework. And as you heard Allison mentioned, they're recognized global by universities. On this slide, the last thing I want to recognize or illustrate is how Cambridge math can fit into our existing path math pathway. So currently at RUHS,
054our students that are on an an advanced math pathway may take courses such as AP Precalc, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, and AP Statistics. And even dual enrollment Calc 2 and 3 as you heard one of our students mention. Cambridge AS and Cambridge A level math are comparable in that sequence. So they cover similar content as AP Precalc, AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, and AP Statistics. It's all over a two year period. So instead of separating those topics into different courses like AP does, Cambridge provides an integrated advanced math program that includes the topics as advanced calculus, statistics, vectors, differential equations. I know Byong knows all this. I'm talking to him right now. And complex numbers. So I'll ask Kathleen to come back up and talk about our middle schools with global perspectives.
055So when we met with the trainer from Cambridge in February with all of our middle school social science team, first of all, it was a real treat. I know what to expect when I get in a room with a bunch of math teachers and social science. I was just loving the things that they talk about and their interest. It was really neat to to be a part of. Um and we initially were thinking of looking at their flagship course with which for middle school, which is their global perspectives course, which is really kind of a framework for examining current events and also historic events from multiple lenses. And our teachers loved it and said this really seems like good pedagogy. We went in with the idea that perhaps this would be the layer to add
056over our honors courses to differentiate those two. After examining it closer, our teachers said actually this is good teaching and with an upcoming curriculum adoption it doesn't seem like the right time to adapt our current curriculum or you know, knowing next year they'll be looking at curriculum options, but they really liked the course in and of itself, which can be a standalone course as an elective. And so of course there are a lot of moving parts, but both for Paris and Adams, we would like the option to add it into our schedule as soon as next year if possible and so that's why we're bringing it to you. So my last portion is on assessments. So Cambridge assessments work a little differently than AP exams. Instead of a single test for an AP exam, Cambridge
057courses are assessed through multiple components. For example, students can take and can can complete two different exam components, which include written exams, applied problems, or project-based work depending on the subject. These assessments are designed to evaluate not only what students know, but also how they apply their knowledge. Because of this structure, Cambridge assessments often include short answer questions, extended response questions, diagrams, and application-based problems. So in some cases like art and design, students also compete complete a portfolio-based assessments. You may wonder how much an AP test costs. An AP test An AP test costs $107. Where and you can see the AS level and A level test costs $124 for two tests. And so the difference in cost is based on AP tests generally are multiple choice for the most part, whereas the Cambridge courses
058have more extensive exams and assessments in what they're assessing. Cambridge Unlike AP exams which which rely heavily on multiple choice questions, Cambridge exams include more written responses, extended problem-solving diagrams, and in some cases portfolio assessments. And so now I'm going to turn it over to Ricky to talk about higher education recognition. Good evening. So as you can see here, Cambridge is compliant with the A-G completion. So as of 2019, we have about 94 courses that span every A-G group. As you can see, here's a breakdown of kind of the courses that we have and what um what letter they satisfy. Here's kind of most important thing I want to talk about is the University of California system. As you can see based off of A level exams, if you're on the quarter system, you're awarded
05912 units per exam for semester eight. If you look, we have the highest number of credit that's awarded for the UC system. Um that's for the A level. Uh however, I do want to recognize that AS level as well as the CSU system as well as the community college system, they all they don't have any uniformity when it comes to the credit policy. They all do things differently. Um so we are in the process we have a whole team of very smart individuals that's speaking with the CSU system. Actually, we just did something in March where we had students kind of how your students came up and spoke in front of the the Cal State University Chancellor office. Um but we're looking for something that has generally a uniformity and we don't really have that
060right now because we're fairly new in the state of California. But here are all the institutions that do recognize Cambridge. As you can see, they're the UC system, Cal States, privates, as well as community colleges. So if you want to take a look at that. And we're here for any questions. Um quick question on the um um the two slides back, the college credits. Only the AS would get UC credit right now in Calif- I mean the A level, not the AS. The AS level will get credit, but it's not uniform. It's individual colleges will dictate how much credit they will give. Including cuz I know you're talking about CSU, but UC's already taking the A level. >> Correct. But even they are not sure about AS yet. Well, like I said, we're since we're
061fairly new in the state, they don't have any uniform policy. So therefore, every individual university is kind of determining how much they want to offer it. Right. And based on the classes that they're taking. Cuz I I thought I remembered from the first slide or so that most of them were AS level. So we start with AS, so year one is the at an AS level and then year two is at an A level. So it takes time to get to that. >> Okay, that makes sense. So just a few questions. So I think we would probably need more classes at this point, but are we looking at the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education, that that ACE diploma, potentially in the future? Yeah, as you mentioned, we would need more classes. Yeah, I think
062we would love to get to that point, but that's probably at the three-year mark. Um that's not our immediate goal and we didn't present on the ACE diploma, but um Fullerton Troy High School in Fullerton has the ACE diploma. They had about 26 students who achieved that ACE diploma and it would be great to get to that point, but you need um as you mentioned, more courses. We need to have global perspectives, most likely an English course, a social studies course, etc. So hopefully we'll get there. Okay. So in the future that might be an option. Um and then if these classes do get approved, how would students enroll cuz I know class selections have already been made and things like that. Yeah, so a great question. So Assistant Principal Sonata just created a Google
063form that will go out if these classes get approved to our students and they'll be able to select the course the Cambridge course that they want to switch out what whatever they currently selected. So that'll go out to our students and our we'll also communicate that to our families. And then another question I I just to reaffirm for our students, would these classes be eligible for GPA boost like honors or AP classes? Yes, they will. Excellent, thank you. Another reminder, yeah. Yes, yeah. Can we go back to the slide of the ones that are proposed to start with? Having one of the students that went out international, I did still Google search. She could have taken these classes and been able to get credit at her international university, but they don't cuz they don't take
064AP tests for credit at world international universities, but it says that you would need three or more is what they recommend A level classes. So we're going to offer AS, but then A would come after. Yeah, so we're we're in the process of determining exactly what A level courses will be offered next year. We believe that A level biology, A level marine science are the two that are going to be offered next year. Um A level marine science complements with environmental apes AP environmental science. So we could offer AS in in conjunction with our AP our apes course and then offer A level after that. Um so the we can offer those courses, but we also want to make sure our students are prepared to take it. covered in the first year of the AS
065course and the A level. And if if the students take just the A level course, they have to still take the AS exams. Right. And these would be taught by Redondo teachers. >> Correct. And not in replacing apes for example. You could take marine And we don't offer marine science right now. Correct. Be a great And we're right by the beach, which is nice. >> new science for us to have. We're going to have a mammal center, too, a marine mammal center in Redondo Beach. >> But to your point, Raymer, we had we talked to one of our social studies teachers this year and she mentioned she teaches AP gov and she mentioned that one of her students is going to go to college internationally next year and that student is not going to take
066the AP exam because of that. And so she mentioned that if they if we had Cambridge now, that student would take the Cambridge exam and potentially earn credit at their international school. So that's one of the advantages with having flexibility of having being a Cambridge approved school. I think it's important to add from a staffing perspective that when Mr. Brown talks about what they're going to offer, that a lot of it's reliant on enrollment numbers. So >> from students, right? >> Right. So the recommendation tonight would be for you to approve it and then depending on the enrollment numbers, they would be able to offer it. And it's you really you mentioned you're relatively new to the state of California. So but in other states you have more high schools that have that offer these
067schools these classes? >> Yes, so we're really big in Florida and it's tied to a bright futures scholarship where students who get the ACE diploma get automatically acceptance in the state universities and then they get tuition-free college there as well. We do have Cambridge schools in Georgia, North Carolina, New York, Indiana, Nebraska. But we are fairly new to the California as you know AP is and IB or are very they've been here for a while. Um and now dual enrollment starting to come on but we just want to give students options and so this is another option for students to earn college credit and to get rigorous coursework. Also wanted to say another reason why I think this is really good for you guys to start like this is because you can crawl before you
068walk. You don't have to jump in and do a whole bunch of things. This is a great way to start the program and to kind of like generate classes as you go. That's exactly what Troy High School did in Fullerton as well as Valencia and Placentia Placentia Yorba Linda. They both started off small and kind of grew their program into what it is now. And then about how many schools high schools in California offer Cambridge? If you know. Uh as of right now like I said we're very small. So it's it's the two. You guys will be the third, the first one in LA. >> that point. That's all. You would be the first. You would be standing out. You would be pioneers. So you are the pioneer however we are in conversations with LAUSD,
069San Diego. Um we just had a conference this week and a lot of other districts do want to jump on the bandwagon. >> Yeah, they want to be like Redondo. They want to be like Redondo. >> So can I just say that I had a district say we want everything that Redondo's getting. If Redondo students get it, we want the same thing. So that's the type of power you guys will have being the first mover. In terms of institutional recognition for these classes for college credit, I know it's hard to predict you know when others colleges and universities will will acknowledge it but what's the growth been like so far? In terms of like a year ago, where were we at? Where are we today? Just from a crystal ball looking at the future. Oh,
070well a year ago there was no meeting with the CSU Chancellor's office. Um there was there is recognition with the community colleges. However, until the UCs and the CSUs kind of do their thing, they're kind of waiting. Um so there there really wasn't anything like that but I think the more districts that come on uh the more that they'll be forced to have to do it. So if all your students are applying to these universities with A level courses um they'll have to decide to do something. Okay, so we're building some critical mass right now. Yes. Thank you. Could we get to the second to last slide, please? A few more, please. All right there. Um So that's good list to start with. Um what other schools are you working on to to be added
071onto the schools here? >> All of them. We're trying to take over the world. We want every university we can. Cuz like I said we want all students to have the opportunity and we know that you know this is just a California system but we want students wherever they go. If they go internationally, whether they stay domestically to be able to get college credit at any university they go to. So I see Claremont McKenna and I see Harvey Mudd, Pomona, Pitzer's that those are lumped together. Is Occidental on that list? I don't see that on there. >> I don't see Occidental. Okay. But like I said we have a higher ed team that um is fairly new but they are working hard and very diligently to get like I said Cambridge all throughout the state.
072So it's an educational opportunity for you. We like those. Any other? Um I think it's and I just want to make sure I'm right but I know a lot of out of state schools so going outside of California do accept Cambridge. So when our kids go you know to University of Oregon to any private universities, a lot of them are um already accepting Cambridge. So I I like that aspect of it. I had a question about the testing because in the AP tests I know you know depending on your score one through five will dictate how much credit or if you get college credit. Is what's the uh grading scale or how does that work? So our grading scale differs a little. We don't do numbers, we do letters. And so we through E would
073be kind of the equivalent to a three for AP and A would be a equivalent to a five. So we go E through A. That's the grading for our exams. And then do the universities I imagine they all have different letters which they accept or don't accept? >> Exactly. Just like AP as well. So some APs don't accept threes, you need fours or fives in order to to get that college credit. Okay. Any other questions or comments? All right, thank you. Thank you for your time. >> [applause] >> Up next is item 7.4 Dave Bang Playground Proposal presentation by Dr. Nicole Wesley, Superintendent and Dr. Nett Alpern, Deputy Superintendent Administration Services. All right. Um This right here is sort of the this is the passion project as I shared um student advisory council mentioned a
074couple years ago that they would love to have new playgrounds. Thank you again to our community for passing measure S and as we teased out at the last board meeting playgrounds at all of our elementary schools is a huge project that we're working on and we have Mr. Mark Gutfield here this evening who's going to talk more about the details of what our plan is and so without further ado I'm going to turn it over to him and you're welcome to ask questions as we go. Um Annette and I will jump in if we need to offer any other details. Is the mic on? Just want to make sure the mic Yeah. There we go. Start over. Thank you Dr. Wesley. President Elder, members of the board, thanks for having me tonight. My name is
075Mark Gutfield, I'm a territory manager with Dave Bang Associates. We've been around since 1979 and we specialize in providing turnkey services beginning with concept, design, planning all the way through project management and installation. We've been successful for more than 46 years because of our commitment to building relationships with our customers and providing excellent service. Um throughout Southern California you'll see our school district projects everywhere. My personal projects include more than 50 installations with Long Beach Unified, 32 playgrounds with ABC Unified which is in the Cerritos area. I've done more than 10 for Lancaster and Los Alamitos and last year I did nine playgrounds with Anaheim Elementary School District. Also fun fact I think all or close to all of your playgrounds currently are from Dave Bang Associates probably 20 plus years ago. So that's why
076it's kind of time to move on and and get some more in there. As a company we've developed five pillars that guide our work to serve our customers. Our first one is that we're a one-stop shop for all the best brands. We only partner with top manufacturers in the playground playground industry and do all the research and work for you to create the best possible outcome for your project. Our second pillar is that we design for impact. Every design we create is done with a purpose. We work with our customers to find out what they want, what their wants and needs are and create [snorts] vibrant spaces for their playground users to enjoy. Next up is make a promise, keep a promise and that means exactly what we say. We strive to make sure every
077project is thoroughly thought out and goes off without a hitch. We do Oh my gosh, it's going crazy. We Sorry about that. I didn't touch it. We do realize that construction not everything goes right in construction and when those instances do occur we'll do every everything we can to make it right and be transparent throughout the whole process. Um the people. We don't exist without our customers. Um Each interaction is a chance to prove how we how much we care about you and your projects and we view each of our customers as partners as we approach each project. Um our our final pillar is purchasing made it easy. We have several uh co-op agreements and contracts in place to make purchasing as simple as possible. Before we get started into the playgrounds I want to
078talk about my intent in designing an inclusive playground space. Um the terms inclusivity and ADA are often used interchangeably but they're not the same. ADA is a term that is used to describe access to an area or piece of equipment and and what providing an inclusive playground environment means users of all abilities can play and interact together. Um and so for a playground to truly be inclusive it needs to touch on the following factors. Physical is the first one. We want to have equipment that fosters strength, balance, coordination and mobility. The second is sensory. We want to stimulate senses through textures, sound, color and natural materials. Uh next up is imaginative and cognitive. We want to provide a canvas for storytelling, role playing and problem solving. Um cooperative is important too to create opportunities for
079social interaction, community and friendship building. Um risky is a big one and we come across um people that don't want to see a lot of risk but risk is important in a playground. Um when we we offer integrated graduated challenges that promote resilience and self-discovery and that's how our kids grow and learn a lot with the risk of more risk that they can take and feel comfortable with. And the last one is restorative. We want to have spaces dedicated for refuge to recharge and to quietly observe. Um our approach recognizes that every child interacts with the world in their own unique way and true inclusivity is in a design that considers a wide range of developmental stages, abilities, preferences and desires and we achieve this by integrating multiple layers of play. And I think today
080you'll see this intent in the examples I'm going to share with you. So this is the over overhead view of what we're proposing for the new Washington Elementary Upper playground and swings connected. Um uh the majority of or actually the rest of your upper playgrounds that we're working on will have the same intent might have the same equipment cuz not every not every school has the same space available, but it's the same kind of idea. Um when we first started uh talking about this Dr. Wesley Dr. Wesley mentioned um as you guys are close to the beach that we want to have a beach and ocean theme. And so I think right away we accomplished that with the poured-in-place rubber surfacing kind of creating a sand area that leads into kind of the ocean over
081there with the equipment. I also want to just jump in and share that um we want to create an experience for our students, not just an an apparatus. Think about the playgrounds we have now, it's generally an apparatus. We want our students to really feel like they're at a park setting um and that they are experiencing um joy together in these different spaces. So we want you to see that as um Mark shows you some more renditions. Awesome, thank you. Um so keeping with that beach ocean theme, the tower on the right side of the of the screen is our log tower 3 and we thought that would mimic uh like a light tower type setting. So that worked out pretty nicely and that tower to the left a little bit smaller tower is going
082to be like our lifeguard tower. And as you can see as you the poured-in-place looks for sand to get in the ocean, we have some more elements like a swell which is like a wave. We have a big fish out there and some smaller uh balancing uh apparatus as well. On the other side of the playground is our swings and we have a little bit more climbing opportunities as well. Um Here, this is at the top of the tower. The tower is almost 24 ft high. The slide height is 10 ft high and there's low rope climbers that go all the way up through the through the tower. So as a child interacts with that tower maybe they're not comfortable going up to the to the top at the first, but as they as they
083get more comfortable with it they maybe one day they'll get up to that top. Awesome view too from the top of that tower. Um this is some of the equipment that's in the ocean area. You see the big fish and in the middle you'll see wobble boards. Those those wobble boards kind of go back and forth so it creates kind of a balancing activity. And then you see the swell to the far right. Um A lot of equipment is what we call functionally linking which means we we link them together with other small apparatuses to make it be when you functionally link individual components it creates basically one large structure is what it acts as. So um with this you can probably start with the fish, go over to the other ones, go to the
084swell, and go to the surfboard without even touching the ground. So it kind of creates kind of an obstacle course type feel for it, too. And then uh as I mentioned in um one of the important aspects of inclusive playgrounds is also a place to just hang out. And this kind of shows that and in the in this design we have a few spaces. This is underneath the lifeguard tower. We have the the space underneath the the log tower which is our lighthouse. And there's also spaces underneath the swell and underneath the fish for kids to just hang out, gather as one or or just be by themselves and just take a break, too. And now onto our Madison Kinder playground. Um The all the other 2 to 5 all the other uh TK and
085and Kinder playgrounds will be similar to this one as well. We stuck with the ocean theme here, too. And in this one we have a junior tower with a 4-ft high slide. And then in the background you'll see a log tangle and it's basically just kind of climbing climbing components so kids can kind of uh create their own little opportunities going back and forth. And what's cool about this design is um typical playgrounds if you have a regular a traditional structure at a playground, you have to go up these stairs to go across that bridge to go down that slide and that's how you play. And with this it's open-ended. So a child can student can interact the equipment at any point in anywhere. There's no start, there's no finish, and every day could be
086a different adventure for that child because they might start at a different spot the next day and the next day next day and so it just creates um a wonderful opportunity for kids to just explore. Um in the front we have a fish smaller fish than what we had in the other playground. Um there's a fish there and there's kind of a uh hangout area underneath that fish as well as you'll see in a little bit. We also have a a hill slide that we're going to create a hill in the middle of playground for that hill slide. So that uh um hill slides topography has been really important and a really hot trend in playgrounds the last few years. So we wanted to incorporate that here as well. Um also I didn't mention in
087Washington, but we also have these shade sails as well that will provide some shade in our playgrounds, too. And instead of going with a traditional four-hip shade, we wanted to have a little bit more creative look with our shade. >> [snorts] >> So another view of the hill slide and the swings in the background. A little more view there. And there's our hangout space underneath the fish. Yeah, the students um said that that there's anything they could have it be swings. And so swings are incorporated in all of the playgrounds. Here's a couple of examples of uh Earthscape um installs. Um the one on the far left is in oops. That's sensitive. The one on the far left is in Huntington Beach at Patterson Park um and that's a timber tower 2 in the background,
088but it has some similar climbing climbing um apparatus that we have in the Washington one and the junior tower is also at that at that space, too. Not pictured there, though. All right. Um We understand that all wood playground is a little out of the norm, a little unique. Um so I wanted to share some details of with you why good is a why wood is a good choice. Um it's beautiful and inviting. It allows for creativity and flexibility in the design. It's pleasing to the touch. It's durable and long-lasting. Displays hand craftsmanship and it's comprised of sustainable building material. Um in the examples I showed you there's a few different species of wood. Um we have robinia, accoya, and Alaskan yellow cedar, all of which have a lifespan of at least 25 years. Um
089compared to a typical playground with steel and plastics, those playgrounds are designed to last 15 to 20 years. So these are very durable playgrounds. Um And in this next slide you'll see what's called silvering. So on the far left, that's what it'll look like when you first get it. Over time it's what's called silvering so it'll turn like a grayish silver color and that's normal. That's when the wood gets acclimated to its new surroundings, its new climate and then that'll happen and that's nothing to worry about. It just kind of changes color and that's what happens over time. Also what happens is something called checking and you'll see cracks on both pictures there. Um don't freak out. Totally normal. Um if the if the the checks become larger and larger then we you might need
090to address it, but for the most part checking is normal, typically okay. Um and in larger structures what they do is they'll put in like a a bolt in the areas to secure make sure the wood is secure and can and the and the checking won't affect it. Um maintenance is fairly simple. Um we recommend routine checks of the playground area just to make sure everything is okay. Um we have several videos available for your staff to review and help them out with their check their uh routine checks and any minor maintenance that might need to take place. Um and those will be available any I think they're on they can be on our website. I think they're on the Earthscape's website or I can get them for you guys as well. Um I just
091want to add uh that we we've kind of had discussions about um the maintenance of the equipment would just become part of our maintenance and operation team's routine schedule. Thank you. Oh and I forgot to forgot to include too the wood species that they use is insect and rot resistant, too. So it it's very very durable. Um That's all I have for now. Once again, thank you. Um been working with Dr. Wesley and Dr. Alpin for the past few months on this and we are so excited to see our ideas come to life. So thanks again for your time and I'll be available for any questions if you have them. >> [applause] >> We've also been uh working with each of the principals because um each school is different in size and so the principals
092have been giving input in terms of what would work at their school, but the the theme, the colors are all the same. Just some features are going to be unique to each school. >> And and to add to to that piece of involving principals um and and working with Mark as Dr. Wesley said um swings are really important for kids um young kids, old kids. And um swings actually are the hardest in terms of trying to incorporate because they require so much space. Yeah. Um and so I'm sorry. Sorry. I want to speak to that. Like most school district playgrounds if you walk around your schools your most of your playgrounds aren't very large, right? And you have a separate area for schools. So just for two swings you need a space of 24 by
09332. So a little more than 800 sq ft for just two swings. So you can see those take up a lot of space. So luckily you guys have a good amount of space in your campuses so we were able to incorporate some swings in some areas, but that's why there's only two and not more than that. But it will also mean some play in some schools um the playgrounds will the space where it is now may change, you know, it may be in a different parts part of the playground. Right. Like you might have just a location where the swings are a stand-alone and separate from the rest of the design. >> I think Washington's the only one where we're able to have the swings and the playground be together. All the other ones are
094going to be separate, though. Mhm. I love that there's no black blacktop. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> and horrible like I >> I agree. >> [snorts] >> It it just seems so much more peaceful and will not absorb the heat as much and how fast can we put these playgrounds That's going to be up to the >> that's the cue for me to say that that what you're seeing is the Taj Mahal of the playground. We still need to work out pricing. >> be black on the ground even if they Yeah, no the the the fall pad is what it's called will be that design. That's going to happen that way. What we may not have are the shade. We don't have shade now, you know, so we may not be able to
095afford the shade. We just wanted to show that as a possibility. Once we figure out the pricing, we need to make sure that we are able to provide these at every school and every school's upper playground. Um some have >> Every elementary school is getting this? >> All eight elementary schools. Right now, it doesn't mean that all eight elementary schools are going to have their TK replaced, right? But um each of them will have their upper playground or like for instance Madison we're building the new kinder playground. Um, and so in Toledo I'm sorry Lincoln is going to have the new TK playground. So, um, we're working with each of the schools in terms of doing a walk-through and mapping it out. But once we figure out the pricing and whatnot then we would be
096able to come back with obviously the board would approve a finalized plan. So, we're just showing you what we would like that's the what we want to have. And we'll see what we can have. And just like um, just like Ms. Garcia talks about the implementation of the technology at all the schools, it doesn't happen at every school at one time. So, we'd obviously have like a phasing plan. So, you know, one school might get it, you know, 18 months before another school. So, just setting the expectation right now. Yes. Sound like great topics to have at a special board meeting maybe a workshop you can Yes. Let's have one in May. Excellent. No, I love what you said about risk. You don't want it to be boring. You don't want it to be unsafe,
097but you do want students to be able to explore and to feel a sense of accomplishment too when they can take that next step. So, I really like that. >> I'm glad you say that. Thank you, sir. It's a challenge cuz a lot of my customers they're saying no swings, no climbing, no this, no that. [snorts] And I'm like if I give you a boring playground it's going to be more dangerous than if I give you some some risky factors cuz the kids are going to try to create their own adventures, right? And then they're not going to interact with the equipment how it's intended to be played with. So, I appreciate that comment. That was great and most of my questions are around maintenance which you've already covered. >> Okay. Um, I guess from
098a district's perspective I know we've worked very hard on bell schedules and unifying those, but seeing that equipment I can see how excited students would be. We might need to look at staggering recess times and lunch times more so that everyone can get a turn cuz um, yeah this this this is inspired. This is something that would make me want to come to school and you know, so yeah I I love that. Thank you. >> It's been a lot It's been this process has been so much fun. So, I I'm so excited to get this thing rolling. So, Can this be a CTE pathway to be a playground designer? >> [laughter] >> That's I think the best class ever. >> [clears throat] >> Right? >> trying to trying to set us apart from others, um,
099but yeah we're very excited about this project. Again input from our students and our principals and of course staff are able to give input um, through their principal and we will um, once we continue on the designs um, before anything happens we'd be coming back to you with a um, a recommendation for um, a a proposal. So, And are you going to need beta testers for this equipment? We'll do it. Oh, that's Oh, that's what I wanted to add. >> Go to that Oh, I'm sorry. We we have been um, our our dad consultants have been have been calling um, mostly city municipalities that have these playgrounds to do reference checks. Um, so far everybody's had them for about 3 to 4 years, are happy, no problems. Um, easy to maintain. Um, the kids love
100them. So, we're we're doing our due diligence in that in that regard as well. Awesome. >> And procurement would I know Mark referred to it, but we either go through like C-Master Sourcewell through like a piggyback process for procurement. Thank you. And I mentioned it previously, but Patterson Park in Huntington Beach has really a really cool playground with Earthscape. So, if you guys have a chance to head head out that way to check it out. It's a really cool. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? All right. Well, thank you for coming out tonight. I APPRECIATE IT. >> [applause] >> ALL RIGHT. UP NEXT STUDENT BOARD member report by Keely Cohn. Thank you. The young leaders Redondo ASB and I have been working to plan the upcoming RBUSD Unity Spirit Week with a spring theme.
101On the screen are some pictures of the students painting posters at our last meeting to get the word out. RHS Theater Arts hosted the upcoming night of Something Rotten this past weekend. RHS students have worked hard over the past few months to put this musical on whether they are acting on stage, making costumes, building the scene, or working on the sound or lighting. There will be three more shows next weekend on Friday and Saturday. So, make sure to get your tickets at rhsdrama.com. The Redondo Union Wind Ensemble performed at a music festival held at Valley Christian High School this past Friday where the group earned a superior rating from the panel of judges. Battle of the Band applications are now open. It is available to any RHS student interested in the chance to perform in
102this year's Battle of the Bands taking place the week of April 13th through 17th during lunch. The band will perform in the quad and be judged by a panel of three teachers. Congratulations to our varsity girls swim team who won first place at their competition this past weekend against 20 Southern California teams. Good luck to all our juniors who are taking the CASP statewide assessments over the next 2 weeks. ASB elections will take place the week before spring break. And finally, on behalf of Redondo Union High School ASB members we want to congratulate Dr. Alpern on her retirement and also thank her for all she does for our students, staff, and schools in Redondo Beach. We truly appreciate you. >> [applause] >> And that's it for me. Thank you. Thank you so much. Uh, up
103next superintendent's report by Dr. Nicole Wesley. Okay. Um, so as my report's coming up I just wanted to share that my report is just to talk a little bit about the CASP since high school students are currently taking it and starting around May the rest of our schools will be taking it and just sharing the importance of it. Um, you're going to see a slide showing our AP pass rates from 2021 to 2025 and every school or district data is represented on the dashboard. But here is a view of the um, AP I guess I'll do it. Of our AP scores from 21 to 25. And I just want to ask what it is this telling us? Um, so we can see here that every year more students are taking at least one exam. You
104can see the numbers yourself. And after 4 years that amount of students who are taking exams have gone up and the pass rate has gone up. We have a 93.5% pass rate on the APN exams. So, what does that mean? We have students who are coming through RBUSD schools that are ambitious. They're voluntarily taking these advanced classes. They're impressively demonstrating mastery in in their courses, college board level courses. And um, this is a national assessment. This isn't just an RBUSD assessment. So, what is the paradox? Um, our students excel across the board. We saw it tonight in so many different ways whether AP, not AP, athletics, arts, extracurriculars. Um, they compete at high levels from academic decathlon to going to state. Congrats to them. Business or marketing um, also competing at state level. Three CIF
105state championships this year. Cheer, wrestling, boys cross country never heard of. Yet this drive and achievement doesn't always show up on our taste state test. And um, that's an issue and that's what I'm here to talk about um, because our scores do impact our district. Um, and that's really important for everybody to know. Um, so we often hear students say, "Well, this test doesn't really count for me. So, why should I try?" Um, well, guess what? Um, it counts for all of us and that's what I'd like to explain that every one of us is impacted by these scores whether you try or not. First just want to remind everyone um, students take the CASP through grades 3 through 8 and then again in 11th grade. So, that means that there's multiple opportunities for us
106to um, de- decide and figure out how we can best support our students. Starting in elementary we are looking at the scores um, and I say we, teachers, administrators. I look at them. The board is presented with them. And we try to figure out a better way to support students individually whether they need to be challenged or they need um, intervention. Um, so most important is looking at it through the individual lens of a student. Um, teachers and admin also review the data to see who needs additional support. But if you get anything out of this, the data really helps us personalize the journey for each student. Um, so we know how they're doing and how we can better serve them. Um, for the students who want to accelerate in math in middle school we
107look at the CASP data as an indicator to see if if they should accelerate. Um, we are also looking at CASP data to see if students should be recommended for honors classes in ELA and social science at the middle school level as well. Um, and so this is an important indicator for those who want to take accelerated classes starting in 7th grade. There are some colleges um, that will look at these scores cuz it is one of the only few data points and so we want to make sure that our students understand that um, in order to be competitive we need to demonstrate that we are learning. Um, and we know that that's happening again through the AP scores and other avenues, but the CASP is just as important. Um, also want to share that
108national rankings such as US World News and Report relies heavily on our state scores as well as the California Distinguished School Award that Adams just won. Great job, Adams. Niche ratings um, that are really rely on are all impacted by the CASP scores. So, if we want to be recognized nationally and at a state level, every single student needs to do their best on the CASP test. Um, so we were working with our principals to acknowledge the efforts and growth of students who do well on the CASP. Um, want to thank Mr. Brown and his team for um, creating a new policy that students who demonstrate achievement and um, mastery on the CASP will be able to wear a special cord during graduation starting with this current senior class. So, this current senior class, based
109on how you did last year, you may be able to graduate with a special cord and our juniors who are taking the test, if you do well, you will also have a distinguished cord at graduation. Um all other grade levels, your principals will be sharing the incentives to demonstrate um to recognize students who do well or show growth on the CASP because we want to acknowledge and honor students. So, again, why does it matter collectively? Um we want to show that we're proud of what our students are learning and doing. Um it's important for college post-secondary, uh where obviously enrollment, we do have families that do look at our scores. We want to keep our enrollment strong. Uh recruitment of great staff, teachers, obviously, we want people who want to work in our district. They
110look at our scores. Um we want to just prove to the South Bay that Redondo is an amazing district. So, um for those of you don't know, CASP has already started um at the high school. This is where it matters. Um I couldn't be I think beat this horse more than I am, but all of us are are together are going to be what helps um all tides rise um in Redondo. And um we wish everybody good [clears throat] luck on the CASP test. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Sorry, quick question about that. So, for juniors who score high enough, can they use those scores uh for class placement in college or universities? So, a lot of colleges will uh compare students to um their class at that school, but some will look and see
111how um schools are doing relative to other scores. So, it depends on the college. So, I I'm not going to say, you know, for sure, but it does depend on the college. But it it because it is one of the very few public data sets that's all college has to go off of when maybe comparing two applicants. Generally, yeah. Yeah, so if students share their score with the the college university, it could get them to a more advanced class or things like that. So, it can directly It could, yeah. Not always the case, but it could, yes. Thank you. >> As a college parent, uh sometimes they get waived out of classes, sometimes they get placement, and sometimes they get general college elective credit. So, it really depends on the college and it depends on
112the student's major. [clears throat] There's just a lot of factors, but ultimately, more is better. Yes. Yeah, so it it does impact you. Thank you. This brings us to our hearing section. Members of the audience may address the board on any topic regardless of whether it is listed on the agenda. However, due to the Brown Act regulations, the board cannot engage in public discussion on items not on the agenda. Topics not on the agenda which are brought to the board's attention may be investigated by the administration and report made to the board either or privately at a future meeting. Comments from visitors shall not exceed 3 minutes unless the time limit is waived by majority of the board. The board shall limit the total time for public input on each item to 20 minutes. With
113board consent, the president may increase or decrease the time allowed for public presentation depending on the topic and the number of persons wishing to be heard. We'll start with advanced written requests. We have one tonight from Destiny Miller. This thing's a little high. Barely see me. Uh good evening, members of the Redondo Beach Unified School District Board, students, and fellow parents of RBUSD students. My name is Destiny Miller. I'm a representative with Park Planet. I'm also a parent of two children here at RBUSD. I want to start by saying how excited I am to see all the momentum with Measure S and the district's commitment to investing in the school facilities. As both a parent and a professional in this space, I truly appreciate the focus on improving our environments for our students, for my
114children as well. I understand that vendors have already been selected for some portions of these projects, and I want to be respectful of that. I'm not here to disrupt what's already in motion, but rather to be considered as an additional resource and a partner where opportunities still exist. What makes Park Planet different is that we don't take a one-size-fits-all approach. We design spaces specifically for each school community. And what makes me different is how I show up in that process. I'm local. I live right across the street. I'm accessible. I stay involved from concept through completion, not just at the sale. Schools that I work with don't get handed off. They get a partner. I also help create I and identify ways to maximize our budgets, especially on campuses where my children are present, too.
115As both a representative and a parent in this district, I bring a level of accountability and care that goes beyond a typical vendor. This is because these are the spaces that my kids will also be experiencing. This makes it a lot more personal for me. The end result is spaces that are inclusive, durable, and truly used by all students, not just installed and then left behind. As both a parent in this district and a member of this community, I'm deeply invested in making sure that these funds translate into spaces that truly serve our students, not just today, but long-term. I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to be considered for any upcoming phases, future products projects, and areas where additional support may be needed, and to connect with the facilities team and explore how I can
116add value to alongside existing plans. Thank you for your time and for our your continued investment in our schools and in our students. Thank you. >> [applause] >> There's no other advanced written requests. Would anyone else like to speak at any agenda items or non-agenda items? Students, this is your chance. You're here anyway. All right, going once, going twice, sold. We'll move on to communications. This section provides an opportunity for the Board of Education to hear reports and communications from our employee associations and the community support organizations listed below. All reports are limited to 5 minutes. Members of the public may address the Board of Education concerning this section. Each speaker will be permitted to speak for 3 minutes per item. The board may limit the total time for public input on each item to
11720 minutes. We'll start with the Redondo Beach Teachers Association. Good evening, President Elder, Dr. Wesley, and the cabinet. Jennifer Bell here for the spotlight for RBTA. We have the amazing Christine Benoff, who is a fifth grade teacher at Beryl Elementary, a former Tulita parent as well. And now parents speak. Good evening, everybody. I come here today as an RBTA member, and um life throws some curveballs. October 6th, I was diagnosed with cancer. Um just before recess, I got a um text with results, and I was in shock as I messaged my old fourth grade teammates, Verena Moore and Kimberly Johnston. They came to my classroom immediately. In a blur that happened next, I remember them completely taking over. Sorry if I'm getting emotional. Um I just thanking everybody. There's so many people to thank. Um
118taking over my classroom, getting the kids to recess so I could step away. Tia Turnbull, Verena, Kimberly, and the rest of the day um and Jennifer Freelander, my principal, and the rest of the team split my class for the rest of the day so I could go home and fall apart. Um that act of care, so immediate and so giving, still brings tears to my eyes. I'm so lucky to have them in my life and all of you. The it's we truly are a family here, and that really made me see that. Um my first surgery to remove the cancer was initially successful, but when more cancer was found, my planned 3-week leave um suddenly stretched into something much longer. With more aggressive surgeries to follow, I contacted my RBTA representatives first, Jill Salinas and
119Kristen Collins at Beryl. And many teachers from Beryl donated sick days to me, directly to me, and later I contacted Sue Carlton from RBTA, who was um and she was so supportive and helpful. She told me I could reach out to other schools that worked with that I had worked with before or knew. So, I called my friend at Tulita, Wendy De Maria, and told her what was happening and that I would need help securing more sick days. She got right to work with Tracy Kelly and reached out um to other across the district. And Janelle Tanaka as well. Like everybody so many people donated to my sick time. It just I'm deeply grateful um to the teachers and everyone that um donated to my sick bank when I ran out of sick days. Your
120generosity rescued me, and I hope to pay that kindness forward someday. I can never properly thank them or everyone else who donated days for me. I don't have the words, but I promise you I will never forget. If you ever need anything, I'm here for you. And it really does put a perspective on life in general, and made me realize, too, we are a family at in RBUSD. I know so many of you and your kids, and um it really I could not wait to come back. >> [laughter] >> Um and I'm so happy to say I've been back for 1 month and I'm feeling great. >> [applause] >> And I really could not have done this without the support of my team teacher Thea Turnbull who we this was our first year together. >>
121[laughter] >> And everyone at Parr Thea took the reins supported my substitutes led student council with me when I was away made sure camp went smoothly. I was bummed camp. I love camp. >> [laughter] >> I also I'm forever grateful and then from the visits the cards from families from teachers from Dr. Wesley like I everybody reached out everybody was so amazing. My kids go to Paris and all the teachers were so supportive of them when they were going through this along with me and watching their mom struggle and I work RBSD is not just an amazing school district where I work and where my kids go to school. It's my it is family. My family. And thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone and just thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank
122you so much for sharing that. So glad to see you. Up next California School Employees Association. Or American Federation of Teachers. Redondo Beach Council Parent Teacher Association. Good evening. I am Amy Ha president of Redondo Beach Council PTA. I wanted to share about two events that we are will be hosting coming up in April. We're hosting how to connect with your teen event for parents and students ages 10 and up. There'll be two sessions of this event April 14th and April 16th. April 14th will be at Adams from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. April 16th will be at Paris from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. So we're having Beach Cities Health District Chief Program Officer Carrie Ann Lawson coming to speak to the parents and then we'll have breakout sessions for the teens. Dinner and pizza will
123be provided. The second event is internet safety panel happening at the high school on Wednesday May 6th. Mr. Kartenbock will be moderating a panel of different experts in the area and talking about how to keep our kids safe online. So that'll be Wednesday May 6th at the high school auditorium also 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. And now I like to introduce president of the Redondo Union High School PTSA Wendy Vincent. >> [applause] >> Good evening President Elder members of the board Superintendent Dr. Wesley and cabinet members. My name is Wendy Vincent as Amy said and I'm the 25-26 Redondo Union High School PTSA president. I'm honored to be here tonight to highlight one of our newer programs at the high school the RUHS PTSA diversity festival where we come together to celebrate and appreciate our individual
124differences and the similarities that unite us through an evening of food performances and activities all featuring our very own students and their families. Many of our high school students experience PTA multicultural nights at the elementary school and even at the middle school and 3 years ago our PTSA knew it was time to bring it to the high school. So this year we celebrated our third annual event on Friday February 6th kicking off at 5:30 with a special 30-minute early access for families that needed more quieter space and less crowds and then at 6:00 we opened up with a land acknowledgement led by our RUHS Cervantes Spanish Honor Society student Kevin Leedy. We had performances by RUHS Saber de Salsa. We had the RUHS Bollywood Club. We even had a fashion show featuring some of our
125students and their families and a Reflections film screening by many of you know him Michael Denson who also recently received a state award for his Reflections film that he showed that night. We also had the RUHS NAMI Club the RUHS GSA the Korean Culture Club Vietnamese Culture Club the Mahjong Club the RUHC Pack Team and so much more. And not to mention all the food graciously donated by our families and shared by our families and our students. And so tonight I brought one of our RUHS National Chinese Honor Society students here with me Alice Jiang. Did I say that right? And to share about her experience and her involvement and thank you Kathy Wing for also being here to celebrate and and participate. Good evening everyone. My name is Alice Jiang and I'm the president
126of the RHS chapter of the National Chinese Honor Society for the 2025 and 2026 school year. Each year our chapter participates in the RHS diversity celebration by sharing Chinese food and traditional cultural activities with our school community. This event has become one of the highlights of our year because it gives us the opportunity to bring culture to life in a way that's interactive welcoming and meaningful. One of the most memorable parts of the night is seeing students families and teachers from all backgrounds gather around our table. Some people come out of curiosity some come because they love the food and others come to learn something new. No matter the reason what stands out is how quickly those moments turn into conversations laughter and connection. Whether it's someone trying dumplings for the first time learning how
127to use chopsticks or participating in a traditional activity these experience create a space where people feel comfortable exploring a culture that may be new to them. At the same time it allows us as students to take pride in sharing our heritage and representing our culture. What makes the diversity celebration so special is that it goes beyond just showcasing traditions. It builds understanding. It reminds us that diversity is not just about recognizing differences but about engaging with them appreciating them and learning from one another. For the National Chinese Honor Society this event is also a chance to grow as leaders. We work together to plan organize and create an experience that is both educational and enjoyable. Through this process we strengthen our sense of community and purpose. We are very grateful to RHS PTSA and the
128event organizers for giving us the opportunity to be part of such a meaningful event. We look forward to continuing to contribute and finding new ways to share Chinese culture with our school community. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you so much. Up next Redondo Beach Educational Foundation. And finally Superintendent comment. This brings us to the general consent calendar. Would any members like to pull any items from the general consent? Yes please 10.3 10.4 10.5 and 10.6 please. Is there a motion and a second then to approve items 10.1 10.2 and 10.7 through 10.11? So moved. Second. Student advisory vote? I. All those in favor? I. Any no's or abstentions? Motion passes. We will start then with item 10.3 motion a second please to in discussion adopt resolution R25-2631 recognizing April 2026 as Arab American Heritage
129Month. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Thank you. As President Elder just read out April 2026 is to be recognized as National Arab American Heritage Month. I'd like to highlight couple of the paragraphs from the resolution we're about to approve and adopt. There are estimate estimated 3.7 million Arab Americans in the United States with the California being home to largest number of Arab Americans of any state and the largest population of Arab Americans calling Los Angeles their home. Arab Americans have been an integral part of the American fabric for over a century contributing significantly to the fields of science medicine business education government and culture. It is important to acknowledge and celebrate the history culture and tradition of our diverse communities and promote understanding and appreciation of all communities contributions to our society. Thank
130you. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Student advisory vote? All those in favor? I. Any no's or abstentions? Motion passes. Motion a second please to adopt resolution R25-2635 recognizing May 2026 as Jewish American Heritage Month. Second. Thank you. May 2026 is to be acknowledged as the National Jewish American Heritage Month. Jewish Americans have played a pivotal role in the history of the United States, contributing significantly to the fields of science, arts, literature, law, business, entertainment, government, and military services. It is essential to honor and educate around the history, struggles, and achievement of Jewish Americans. Bias and discrimination, including anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish hate, negatively impact the well-being and sense of belonging for diverse communities and our society as a whole. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Student advisory vote? I. All those in favor?
131I. Any nos or abstentions? Motion passes. Brings us to item 10.5, motion a second, please, to adopt resolution R 25-2636, recognizing May 2026 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. So moved. Second. Thank you. May is also recognized each year as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The state of California is home for over 700,000 Asian American and Pacific Islander students from kindergarten through grade level 12. These students reflect the great diversity of culture and heritage of the many countries of Asia and and the Pacific Islands. Despite the hardships and barriers of the past, the people of Asia and the Pacific Islands who came from to this country and their descendants have made substantial contributions to California's economic growth and development and have woven clear, distinct threads into the state's social fabric. The
132history social science framework for California public schools, kindergarten through grade 12, states that the history curriculum of community, state, region, nation, and world must reflect the experiences of men and women of different racial, religious, and ethnic groups, which is integrated at every level. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Student advisory vote? I. All those in favor? I. Any nos or abstentions? Motion passes. Uh and finally, motion a second, please, for item 10.6, adopt resolution R 25-2632, recognizing April 6th through 10th, 2026 as Adult Education Week. So moved. Second. Thank you. I'd like to highlight the April 6th through 10th of this year will be will be recognizing it Adult Education Week. Uh just a couple paragraphs here. The Redondo Beach Unified School District salutes the teachers, administrators, classified staff, and students of
133adult education programs. Adult schools provide a way for adults to complete secondary studies and obtain a high school diploma or equivalency at their own pace and prepare for and transition to post-secondary education and career training. The South Bay Adult School provides instruction to those who need English as a second language, citizenship courses, and vocational and job training skills for adult adults seeking career changes or enhancements through its career and technical education classes. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Student advisory vote? I. All those in favor? I. Any nos or abstentions? Motion passes. This brings us now to our our action items. Items included in section 12 are considered to be in addition to the general consent items in section 10. We will start with item 12.1, motion a second, please, to approve
134the transportation service plan for 2026-2027. So moved. Second. Dr. Albert. Yes, thank you. This is an annual uh requirement by April 1st of each year. The school board um is required to adopt a transportation services plan in order for as a condition of receiving apportionments for transportation services. Um all of our transportation services, well, I should say probably 98% of our transportation services are provided to um our students that have who have IEPs. Um not all of our students with IEPs receive transportation services, but if it's in their um their particular plan, then the school district does provide those services. Um we also do have um the ability for our students um who are homeless, who are identified as homeless, to receive support from the school district in providing transportation for them to get to
135and from school. So, in order for us to receive this apportionment from the state, um we have to update our plan every year and the board needs to approve it by April 1st. So, we're requesting your approval this evening. Thank you. So, this is a state requirement. >> Yes. And does the state fully fund this program? >> It does not. Roughly how much does it fund? It's a little less than half. Thank you. The the remainder comes out of the general fund, I assume. >> Yes. Any other questions or comments? Student advisory vote? I. All those in favor? I. Any nos or abstentions? Motion passes. Motion a second, please, for item 12.2, approve agreement between RBUSD and Marzano Resources to provide professional development for standards-based grading. So moved. Second. Dr. Garland. As a follow-up to
136our grading policy and our secondary PD day, um this is an agreement with Marzano Resources to bring professional development to our middle school teachers in uh standards-based grading, beginning as early as March, and then we have a date also in June. Any comments or questions? Student advisory vote? I. All those in favor? I. Any nos or abstentions? Motion passes. Motion a second, please, for 12.3, approve agreement between RBUSD and Cambridge International. So moved. Second. Dr. Garland. Thank you. So, following tonight's presentation, uh partnering with Cambridge International will provide another option for our students to take a rigorous course that is internationally recognized. So, we recommend that you approve this contract with Cambridge International. Would the money only be spent if the kids sign up for the classes or we have to spend it regardless? We
137do have to spend this year for access um for the in order for the teachers to get access to the platform. But if we don't teach the classes, Oh, I'm sorry. No, if if the if we do not teach the classes, no, we do not have to. >> Okay. Okay. So, if we don't teach any classes, we wouldn't do this. Correct. And then there's a future item for the curriculum and the materials. Yes. Any other questions or comments? Student advisory vote? I. All those in favor? I. Any nos or abstentions? Motion passes. Brings us to item 12.4, approve Cambridge International courses and materials for the 2026-2027 school year. A motion and a second, please. So moved. Second. Dr. Dr. Garland. Thank you. These are the courses that Mr. Brown and Mr. Shaw um detailed earlier
138this evening. So, these are courses that we recommend approval for the 2026-2027 school year. Thank you. And again, based on student interest, not all these classes might happen. Correct. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Student advisory vote? I. All those in favor? I. Any nos or abstentions? Motion passes. Uh motion a second, please, for item 12.5, approve the WestEd Leadership Team Development proposal for the 2026-2027 school year. So moved. Second. Dr. Wesley. >> is my um request. Um >> [clears throat] >> I think at this point I'd like to um formally provide some training to our entire leadership team, and we're talking about certificated and classified. There's 45 of us in organization such as WestEd, who's been around for a long time, you know, many years, decades, um they do research um in terms of
139the effectiveness of their training. And so, this is a recommendation to provide um formalized training for the entire leadership team um during the 2026-2027 school year. Um and we'd be kicking that off with two full days um before the school year begins. Thank you. I know we've got a lot of new leaders who are very passionate, but providing them some actual additional support and formal training seems like a good idea to me. Any other comments or questions? Student advisory vote? I. All those in favor? I. Any nos or abstentions? Motion passes. Uh motion a second, please, for item 12.6, approve and ratify Deputy Superintendent's employment agreement. So moved. Second. All right. So, I have a read out here for this. Uh this item is for the board's consideration to approve the employment contract for Dr.
140Nick Stephanie as Deputy Superintendent of Administrative Services, effective July 1st, 2026. The proposed agreement is a 3-year contract and includes an annual salary of $254,282 for the 2026-2027 school year, consistent with step six of the Deputy Superintendent salary schedule. The contract also outlines standard provisions related to terms of employment, evaluation, indemnification, and leave. The full contract is included in the agenda materials and is available for public review. So, um thank you for reading that out. Uh this again is my item. Um wanted just to point out that we did use the um existing salary schedule that is posted on our website um for this contract agreement, and the recommendation is to approve this contract for Dr. Stephanie for the 3-year term. Thank you. Any comments or questions? Student advisory vote. Aye. All those in favor?
141Aye. Any knows or abstentions? Motion passes. We have no information items tonight. We have no discussion items tonight. So, we will move on to board member reports starting with board member Archer. Thank you so much. Um just a quick report. I had an opportunity to visit um two of our elementary school sites, Tulita and Jefferson. And um just something parents might not see because they don't go to any other school site than their child's um elementary school is what teachers do to create these amazing classrooms for these kids, to create this learning environment. That's their time, their resources. Um so grateful cuz you walk in there, you're just so impressed by that. Um and it is magical to be back in elementary school. I was a parent at Tulita and Miss Bell's first grade classroom
14215 years ago. And the magic is still there. So, um I want to thank our teachers for all that. It it's the planning to create, decorate, and then I know they have to take it all down at the end of the school year and do it all again. So, thank you so much. Um there's a lot going on at our school sites. I know over the summer constructions and cleaning and projects. So, we're going to have a very busy summer getting our campuses um clean and and just refreshed. And then I had an opportunity to attend opening night of uh Something Rotten with Dr. Alpern and I know Mr. Cho was there. Uh my one word for describing the performance was joyful. It is so good. So, congratulations to uh Miss Dobbs, the entire cast,
143crew, everybody behind the scene. Um the the the music, the dancing. I just please go see it. It's so good. Excellent. Thank you. Uh board member Susan Nimes. Um I forget what I was going to say. >> [laughter] >> I just want to wish all the students um good luck going into um you know, exams and getting ready for the end of the year and how impressed I was with our presentations today um and congratulate Dr. Stephanie. Very happy, very excited. And Dr. Alpern, I'll save it for another day. Um we're going to miss you a lot. Thank you. Board clerk Flint. One more week and everybody gets a one very well-deserved spring break. This is a really rough time of year. Everybody can't is we're going to crawl out to spring break. I hope
144everybody takes it off to get refreshed and come back to finish the school year strong. I know everybody's working hard. This next week is going to be a rough one, but I know you all can do it. So, thank you to the teachers and students and parents and administrators who will make it to the spring break. Thank you. Uh vice president Cho. Thank you. Um I was able to participate I missed the uh the dunk tank portion of President Elder being dunked into it, but he was kind enough to volunteer his uh his himself uh to to the students and the community members uh during the Thrive Fest this Saturday um past Saturday at Adams. Uh many um community partners came about and presented options for our students uh for the summer. And um um
145Alcov and Beachy Health District was also there. And and our amazing Child Nutrition Services had the best fruit that I've ever tasted every time. Um and it was just beautiful day and and I was I felt so lucky to be amongst our community members with our students and families. Um and um I was also able to visit uh Tulita's uh Western Carnival. Uh it was amazing how they turned that tiny school into feels just like I'm out of Western somewhere. Great band played um all the rock music into some sort of a Western theme. It was amazing. Um President Elder and I also spent a the afternoon as a panelist for Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission uh for our South Bay Adult School. Um as I read off one of the resolutions
146that this board adopt approved and adopted today, um I'm proud I proudly share others uh with others that our school district had 13 schools. We have eight elementary schools, two middle schools, one comprehensive high school, and one continuation high school, and one adult school. Not many of you know this, um but when I came from Korea uh at the age of 17, I I had to do a lot of work to get to where I am today and started there. And I was one English class short and I couldn't fit that into high school uh classes. Um and my counselor, Mrs. Livingston, college counselor, she was so kind. This was decades ago, children students. Um I still remember and she said, "Byong, you can go to this school down the street and they have English
147class you can take that qualifies." So, after school as the class ended at 5:30, I sat through the next following 10 weeks, got that English requirement so I can apply to schools. Um so, I'm an example of how important adult school is and what our staff and all the support staff um do at that school is amazing and we share that. Um Dr. Um um Mr. Elder and I shared along with our administrators how important that school is. And um I believe we will get that uh accreditation extended the six years and we're very pleased to know that the the school will continue to thrive. And um I want to thank Mr. Winkler uh who put all of us together and he's leading the school um just used to see him. He's so happy. He's
148so happy. As those you may we may have um former Jefferson Elementary School graduates in here. He was elementary school principal for 10 years before he uh took on this responsibility. He looks like a kid at that school. So, we're we're so thankful that he's leading the school and and we're appreciative. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um I'll try not to repeat what everyone else said, but so this past week was the 2026 legislative legislative action week from CSBA. Um so, we were able to have meetings with Al Muratsuchi and Ben Allen. Uh and there was a lot of important talking points from CSBA to address. Uh the big ones we looked at or at least that I focused on were the budget priorities. So, for example, the Proposition 98 guarantee. We really need
149to protect that. Um there's a 5.6 billion withholding being proposed by the governor, which really amounts to over $900 per student. And there's no guarantee that that will be repaid in future years. Um so, this is something that was talked about by all the board members who were part of this and this is multiple districts um you know, everyone across the state reaching out because that is a calamitous situation to be in. Um also wanted to make sure that the the message is loud and clear that we want the COLA fully funded. Um student support and professional discretionary block grant is fully discretional. And it's really protecting LEA solvency as well with things like the impacts from AB 218. Um so, the budget priorities were big and you could really feel that because um you
150know, even in Manhattan Beach, um they have very similar challenges to us. They theirs are even a little bit starker in terms of the real LCFF funding, but they're looking at laying off over 58 full-time employee equivalents including their 2025 teacher of the year. Uh it's it's a lot of school districts are in really dire straits and while we're fortunate not to be there ourselves right now, declining enrollment and all the other financial pressures we face, um we're we're all in a scary boat together. So, having all the school board members reaching out, having these conversations with their statewide elected officials was really important. So, I would urge everyone to continue their advocacy. Um one of the the feedback points I got from Assemblyman Muratsuchi is if anyone has the governor's phone number, give him
151a call cuz that's where this is coming from right now. Um so, we'll continue to uh you know, perform our whatever outreach we can. Um additional CSBA sponsored legislation. There was four bills that are designed to close achievement gaps. Um one of them is actually written by Assemblyman Muratsuchi. So, I think we can count on his support for that one. There was another one, AB 2008, um some limitations on reporting requirements. AB 2490, um 60-day substitute teacher limits, um addressing some of that. So, uh a lot of statewide legislative efforts underway to really you know, try and bring more funding to schools, bring fair and full funding for our students um cuz those those cuts can be devastating. Uh just like everyone else said though, Something Rotten is absolutely phenomenal. Kudos to the everyone who
152worked so hard on that. It is amazing. If you haven't seen it, you should see it. Um also really enjoyed the Redondo Nike Track Festival. There was thousands of students competing. Um just an incredible event. Uh special thanks to Coach Leach and all the amazing volunteers and everyone who worked so hard on that. Be careful what you volunteer for though. I ended up changing toilet paper in outhouses on day two. I do not recommend that. Um the school site visits are amazing. These are the fun times of year we get to actually go in the classroom and see what's going on. Um but one thing I did want to address is the bullying issue we have at our schools um because I was at Adams this past week and for Thrive Fest and somehow found
153myself in this tank of water with students throwing balls trying to dunk me in it. Um it was it was a little bit traumatizing, but uh no, lots of fun, lots of great things happening. So, I just really appreciate so many volunteers, so many our teachers, our staff, um everyone coming together to try and give our students you know, everything we can. So, to our students, thank you for being here. I know you don't have a choice, but we still appreciate you coming anyway. Uh and with that, that brings us to our calendar calendar of events. Those are on the district website. And finally, is there a motion and a second to adjourn? So moved. Second. Student advisory vote. Aye. All those in favor? Aye. Any knows or abstentions? We are adjourned at 7:38. I
154move