001we're going to call this meeting to order at 401 uh we're going to start with pledge of allegiance and i guess i guess um yeah 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 all right good afternoon everyone um the agenda for today's meeting was approved by mike christensen seconded by david witkin with 5-0 conference with labor negotiators i gave staff direction all right i need a motion a second to approve the minutes for the march 9th 2021 meeting please student advisory vote all those in favor say aye hearing 5-0 uh first report to the board measure q uh citizens oversight bond committee presentation by dan
002elder chairperson and future board member he'll be coming up in a second so hi good evening board members and staff and everyone else um my name is dan elder and the first thing i wanted to do is actually thank the voters of redondo beach for approving measure q back in 2012. that has been key to a lot of the initiatives we've had i'd also like nope sorry do i keep the center take this off you're all right okay i'd also like to thank obviously the board of education and staff for making this investment and for choosing to spend these bond dollars wisely i know it's been very very well spent because we've been looking at it continuously over the years i also want to thank you know it's it's gone for some really important purposes
003as we've seen during distance learning a lot of the infrastructure that was necessary for that was really paid for and the foundation was laid by these measure q bond dollars so that's been very important i think every parent recognizes that and that was an excellent use of these funds i want to thank the current bond committee members as well as the previous bond committee members took a lot of people to get us this far so thank you to everyone there and for the 2019-2020 fiscal year we had four meetings as the bond oversight committee we did a lot of different engagement measures trying to engage the community because one of the things we thought was really important was to make sure that the community knew what these bond dollars were being spent on it's important
004in gender that trust with the community it's important to have that transparency and that's been an ongoing theme to make sure people know these bond dollars are being spent wisely and that they're being spent on the things we need now and in the future we also took a look at some of the projects that have been used for the bond dollars for example ac cooling some of the other things including sorry some of the different funds that have been used for just some of the facility upgrades looking at the high school looking at some of the different things that we spent some of these monies on and we discussed how learning loss mitigation funds were being used in addition to some of the cares acts funds to offset the what would traditionally be measured q
005expenses so that we can conserve those funds so we we really went through did our due diligence it's kind of hard during a pandemic to do some of these things next year i don't think you'll see as many facilities being toured in the fiscal year because we can't right now but that'll be next year's presentation not mine and so in this opinion of this committee that the proceeds from the sale of the bonds issued on march 7th 2013 and all subsequent issuances issuances related to measure q were only used for the purposes specified by measure queue again thank you the mod money was used what the way it was intended and you've chosen to invest it wisely i wanted to give a special thank you to dr alpern for all her help keeping us on
006track and answering our questions and really educating us in the financial aspects of this also wanted to give a special thanks to janet rodella as well as rebecca bostrom for all the work they did over the years of you know getting us this far as well so in summary really appreciate the the investment the community has made the way the board and the staff have invested these dollars and i think it's been a tremendous investment in our schools and our children most importantly that's everything i have well thank you for for serving on the committee and for uh sharing it this year and uh congratulations to to you you'll be sitting up and and on the other side here uh very soon yeah or you haven't chosen for you yes but uh congratulations and again
007thank you for thank you and to the committee for everything excellent thank you all right 7.2 one of the most popular discussion points the last few months secondary return to campus dr wilds and dr wesley good afternoon everybody we are incredibly excited to talk and share an update on the return of our secondary students our students in grades 6 through 12 as they have started returning back to campus and i want to point out we have some students from paris middle school there on the left-hand side getting ready to enter campus and then we have students on the right-hand side who are from adams middle school which is kind of a quick peek inside their classroom we'd love to get in further but visitors always have to stay at the door so it gives us
008a little um insight as to what some of our classrooms look like so just to kind of review the timeline we've got starting this week this thursday and friday we are very excited to bring back our ninth grade students to campus for campus orientation and a big shout out to the asb students and brooke mata for putting on these getting these orientations together for our ninth graders remember these are a unique group of students they have never stepped foot on the ruhs campus so we're very excited for them march 25th and 26th are also going to be asynchronous days of instruction and that allows our ninth graders to be able to attend these orientations and not worry about missing class and for our teachers to be able to um do some final setups of their
009classroom and be ready for the return of our students march 29th that's a monday our seventh grade students return cohort b returns to campus under the current schedule and our 12th graders return our cohort b students return under the hybrid model and our patricia dreisler students are going to be engaging in orientation on the next day march 30th we welcome back our second group of seventh graders and our second group of 12th graders and that's also the day march 30th where patricia dreisler students are going to start be attending um for a longer extended period of time we're going to talk about that in a later slide march 31st we welcome back now our eighth grade cohort b um i'm sorry excuse me and the april 1st 8th grade cohort a and during those important
010dates they're march 31st and april 1st it's important to note that our uhs those students are going to be remaining at home and distance learning so that they can concentrate on their benchmark exams we then follow that up april 22 starting on friday april 2nd through april 9th we have our spring break and then after spring break we have all students in grades 6 through 12 who will be returning to campus under the hybrid model so we want to dig a little bit deeper because we are bringing students back in waves and so let's kind of look a little bit more at our middle school again on monday here comes co sixth grade students are going to continue as they are they're starting they they're on their second week now they'll do their third week
011of in person next week sixth grade no change seventh grade we fold in eighth graders remain at home on monday and tuesday then starting on wednesday we have our eighth graders return so we have all students in grades six through eight cohort b students on wednesday the 31st all students cohort a on thursday april 1st and again no school on friday when we follow spring break that modified middle school schedule where kids were only coming for first or second period and tutorial will change and now students will be on be able to see all of their teachers they will be able to attend they will mondays will remember will be always be stacked distance learning starting on tuesday students in cohort a will see teachers in periods 2 periods 4 and period 6 the following
012day cohort b and so on our high school um just to dig a little bit deeper remember that our nine or 12th graders will be returning in person they do not have a modified so they will be starting with periods one three five two 246 so our 12th graders will see every single one of their period teachers starting next week 9th through 10th 9th through 11th grade will remain in distance learning we've got our quarter 3 finals and benchmarks and then when we return here we come monday is our stacked asynchronous our stacked asynchronous day important to note that's an asynchronous day because we want to really dig down a little bit deeper and provide um some more in-depth professional development for our teachers on what we're going to call this simon what we have
013been calling the simultaneous teaching it also allows our teachers to work together as departments to really kind of hone their instructional planning so what is simultaneous teaching so i'm i wish i had could take credit for this phrase the roomies and the zoomies but i want to give credit where credit is due so this term was something that we adopted from some pretty prominent researchers douglas fisher and nancy frye and they kind of coined this term roomies and zoomies and interestingly enough a lot of times we always think when we think about you know our high school this is one of the most unique opportunities for our high school teachers to be able to learn we're looking at primary grade students right here our elementary teachers should really be commended for the amount of work
014they've done to really learn how to balance these roomies and zoomies so what is simultaneous teaching well simultaneous teaching we define it as the combination of teaching some learners and at dis in distance and some face-to-face simultaneous for teaching does require a different conversation teachers are having different um planning together around planning developing and implementing of rigorous and engaging experiences that will move the learning forward so for example a teacher would welcome half her class say room six comes in in person where they engage in socially distanced face-to-face learning now at the same time the other half of her learners are logged in via zoom or webex or google meets and it's projected on the interactive whiteboard and you can see two examples here sometimes in some same simultaneous learning the roomies can see the
015zoomies but the zoomies can't see the roomies in other cases the teacher can see the roomies and the zoomies together all at the same time and in other cases the teachers can take you can see kind of the document camera the elmo she can take that elmo turn it and now all of our zoomies at home can see the roomies the point is that the teacher is able to engage both groups at the same time and it allows them to foster community despite the fact that not everyone is in the same classroom together so i'm going to turn it over to dr wesley who's going to dig a little bit more into patricia daisler and ruhs thank you dr wilds good afternoon everyone we want to take a few moments just to talk a little
016bit about the secondary program particularly at the high school level because those students are returning with orientation this week and then next week to some extent and we just want to make sure everybody understands the schedule and the model with patricia dreisler as dr wilds said is they're going to be doing they're going to be assigned to a teacher supervised cohort so they're a little bit different they are going to be in a cohort and they are going to be assigned arb but they're going to return to campus for four days a week tuesday through friday as opposed to every other day like our uhs is and the reason is that because of the number of students enrolled in that program we do have the ability to bring them all back but still assign them
017to a stable cohort sort of similar to the elementary model and while they're in the in their stable cohort they'll be assigned to a teacher they can still remain home if they decide to do that or they're encouraged to come in and they can also participate in tutorials or they can participate in small group instruction with other teachers through the zooms while they're in their stable cohort mondays remains the stacked schedule just like at the high school and then the students return to that stable cohort with that teacher four days a week now for our comprehensive high school redondo union high school as dr wilds says our students are back this week for ninth grade um getting tours engaging in activities to allow them to better familiarize themselves with the campus meet other freshmen something
018that we normally do before school starts so it is a little bit unique that we're doing it in march next week we have our seniors back those students will see either periods one three or five or periods two four six but every senior has the opportunity to come on campus at least one one day next week and then after the spring break we jump right into the in-person hybrid model again mondays remain that stack day and then we have cohorts a and b and prior to a minor change that we made um a while back we are going to be going back to the 246 246 and then the 135 135 and that is because it allows students to come tuesday and thursday or wednesday and friday and we've made an attempt to keep those
019students with the same cohort as their as their siblings so we have to go to that model in order to keep the cohorts aligned with our middle and elementary school there's some county guidance that just came out this past saturday which authorizes indoor sports and so we're working on what that means for our athletics program so information should be coming out soon from the high school regarding that our theater arts programs have been meeting after school along with other programs again physically distance and they're actually currently working on the filming of the adams fan family spring play so i know they won't disappoint we'll be hearing more from them on their their spring musical and band still um the guidance is at this time anyway that um other than percussions they cannot play instruments on
020campus so our band teachers are working to come up with alternative in-person instructional activities and lessons but still allowing the students to have that that the ability to play those instruments at home rotc after school they are meeting after school with individualized equipment and so again students are on campus they have been coming back and we're going to continue to support these programs and bring back more programs on the campus we want to look again at the schedule just so that everybody is clear what the secondary hybrid looks like you can see that monday is a stack day 35 minutes each period that's synchronous at home then the tuesday through friday bill schedule you can still see the cohorts 246 246 135 135 with a dismissal at 12 35 with a grab-and-go lunch and going
021home students there's still guidance on there being at least six feet if lunch were provided and so at this time given the amount of students and our and the difficulty and and maintaining that six feet while eating lunch we are having our students grab and go and then go home for asynchronous or independent work or small group instruction depending on what their individual need is or what the teacher asks them to do i wanted to point out that there is no zero period or seventh period on fridays and that just has to do with the alignment of instructional minutes and then that's that was the case with distance learning as well there's no change there um and then seventh period does have the ability to remain on campus for lunch so there'll be a a
022designated space and reminder of students need to stay physically distanced and then they can attend their seventh period after lunch on campus and that is our schedule we do want to remind students that because we are going to be having them return it's that they are going to be engaging in a daily screening just like our elementary students every morning and there's information going out from the schools explaining where those ingress those entry and exit points are the entries are very important so students know where they can come they have to line up this is nothing new to elementary but it is need our secondary so to come early enough and be patient and there's information about what that looks like in terms of that window of arrival again six feet the passing periods is
023when we really need students to be cognizant of their distance from other students and the breaks so there'll be you know staff out there reminding them to stay physically distanced masks have to be worn at all times both in the classroom outside of the classroom and that there will be assigned gates where they can ingress egress basically enter and exit so those are some friendly reminders that we'll continue to give our students as they return and with that we are open for any questions noticed in your discussion of you know who was back and what they could do we have guidance from the states about cheer coming back i don't remember if we've gotten anything um cheer has been approved officially um so they're back um yes this week we will have by friday we
024will have the written details about uh it's there's like it's like a 14-page document but yes they have been operated from the state and they announced more than one parent could now come and watch yes but um i think that's part of the what's confusing to the public to parents for sure it ends for students is that the state county health departments are not the same and so this we while we listen to what the state has to say we take direction from the county so um our county has been more conservative and so we always end up waiting however whatever that gap is between uh where the county is and where the state is and hopefully those that timeline is getting shorter and shorter i have a couple questions um i didn't see choir
025listed on that list of extracurriculars i know that that might have some specific guidance that we've heard yeah they're in this at this time then the same bucket is banned um so there are some restrictions on their ability to you know sing in person but they the there are other ways in which they can engage in learning um in the classroom and again there's a cohort of students at home so the teachers are working to be creative and in that respect and at what point will the students learn which entrance and egress they are assigned to does that come with their cohorts assignments yes that is our understanding so the the the middle schools and the high school are working on that information and they plan to communicate by this thursday the cohort assignments and
026the reopening instructions any other questions thank you thank you both next up um eagle scout and gold award recognition uh mike if you want to maybe you want us to do it from there do you want to do it from up there what's easiest actually i'm going to come up here okay thank you to ricardo and to the staff and cabinet for allowing us to go forward this is something that we've done as a board on a regular basis typically as we get near graduation time but this is not a typical year so we've swept up what we were able to find of those who are involved in scouting now scouting of course is one of those volunteer activities that is is so rich within our communities and does a lot to promote the citizenship
027and the service of the young men and young women that we have and so we'd like to recognize those who have achieved the pinnacle of their scouting careers whether it's in the boy scouts at the eagle level or the girl scouts at the gold award so the first we'd like to recognize is bradley bennett who's an eagle scout from troop 788 which is a troop that i've had the honor to do some work with he earned his eagle in may of 2020 and he is an 11th grade student at redondo high school the next max caster from troops 595 who earned his eagle scout in october of 2020. he's now a freshman at iowa state university doing aerospace engineering good job max and then um my own daughter jalen christensen jalen earned her gold award
028in may of one of the great you know seen graduating seniors of the class of 2020 at troop 3135 she's now a freshman at utah valley university got a great chance to see her spring break here last week so we love you jay and congratulations garrett james cooley who is an eagle scout in april of 2020 from troop 860 who is a freshman at illinois wesleyan university doing a great job with biology and lacrosse congratulations garrett troy diaz eagle scout earned his eagle in 2020 january 2020 from troop 713 is a sophomore at the beach csu long beach congratulations troy christopher laidlaw eagle scout april of troop 860 is a freshman at university colorado in aerospace engineering and matthew martinez who eagled out on july of 2020 from troop 586 is a freshman at my
029alma mater arizona state university go go sun devils and greg platka who is an eagle scout again troops another 788 eagle scout august of 2020 as a freshman at uc davis connor wadhams eagled out in november of 2020 from troop number 860 and is at cal state maritime just a note that's one of the premier maritime schools in the country very tough to get in congratulations connor for your eagle and for your posting at cal maritime mackenzie joshua yap who is an eagle scout at troop 267 is a freshman at uc riverside and he eagled out in february of 2020. so thank you very much congratulations to all of you scouts scouting continues as a great program they've also had to be very adaptive through the times of covid but they've been able to keep
030their programs alive and we would hope that the that the next board will recognize those who are able to do it and you will also get an opportunity to board to perhaps recognize some of the very first female eagle scouts who are eagling out as we speak that's awesome okay we are now at a very special time on the agenda we're going to do some recognition for some of our outgoing board members here we have some very special guests here tonight to speak to you first up we have sarah robinson from rbta the rbta bargaining chair sarah good afternoon everyone um on behalf of the redondo beach teachers association our executive board and all of our members we want to thank our outgoing board members brad sirkin brad waller and mike christensen for their years
031of service their dedication to public education and their support of our members i have some tokens of appreciation here just a certificate here that says in recognition of your service and outstanding leadership during extraordinary times the redondo beach teachers association extends its appreciation at the conclusion of your tenure on the redondo beach unified school district board of education and so this one is for brad and specifically we wanted to thank brad for your support of teachers during this time especially being really really a key factor in helping teachers get the technology access that they needed in order to make distance learning um possible and the success that it was thank you very much for that thank you who do i have next uh and this one is for brad waller brad we definitely wanted to
032highlight the commitment that you've made to support the socal rock program and to really encourage so many avenues for our students to explore whatever career opportunities that worked best for them and we really wanted to thank you for supporting those students and also those members of ours who are involved in cte so thank you and this one is for mike and we just wanted to thank you for the compassion that you've always shown for our members whether it's in good times or in difficult times you always wanted the best for our members and were never hesitant to express that and so we wanted to express our thanks for that to all of you we wish you health and continued success and thank you again for your support thank you okay we'll make sure they get
033to all him next up from csca we have julia heinrich csca chapter president and there are some members irene morales and allison crompton here so um all right so good afternoon everyone um i'm jj i am with csca and this is allison she is our treasurer of csca and we just want to show some appreciation to you that are going unfortunately i wish you could all stay and we appreciate everything you've done for our union our students and your hard work and dedication to everything so we like to present these these awards to you guys brad and brad and michael and there's also a little extra in the box in case you guys need to go to starbucks and just get that morning jolt going but we really appreciate everything you've done for us and
034we will truly miss you guys thank you thank you thank you very much all right i just want to read the inscription here um it says for each one cse honoring brow baller brad sirkin mike christensen with great appreciation for many years of dedication and commitment to our students our community and csea chapter rb57 thank you for going above and beyond 2021. thank you vote thank you very much and next up we have aft sharon medina aft president and patricia moreno aft secretary here to say a few words look at your table good evening feels like forever since i've been here nice seeing you good evening dr keller and distinguished district personnel and board members on behalf of the american federation of teachers better known as aft i come to you this evening mr christensen
035mr sirkin and mr waller to say thank you thank you for all your service on the school board that has brought so many students such an amazing experience of school and an exemplary education this last year has been one for the history books to say the least this could have been a very different send-off for all of you if it weren't for march twentieth twenty twenty on these days those of us at rbusd were sent home thinking we were going to be home for two weeks not realizing how our lives would forever be changed personally and professionally we were all given you were all given the daunting task to figure out how children were going to learn through this pandemic how teachers were going to teach how our amazing support staff would have to learn
036how to support in this new learning a little over a year that infamous date of march 13 2020 our students voices and their laughters echo the hallways and playgrounds again our schools are continuing to open up and bring back students onto our campuses safely again because of your tireless work and support for education as a child development center teacher and the president of aft it is my distinct honor and privilege to say thank you again thank you for your dedication to our students our cdc teachers our staff and our cdc program as so many centers around our community have had to close their doors this past year the three of you along with the continuing board members have strived and continued to strive to keep our cdc doors open the three of you are leaving
037giant shoes to fill and you've raised the bar to an enormous heights my hope is that the three new board members fill in your seats understand the type of impact and legacy that you will all be leaving behind as a gift to you i have brought you one-of-a-kind paintings the tiny little hands that you see on these portraits are those of my very own students in my classroom they're just a representation of the thousands of students that you have impacted for over the years the very students that you have so diligently and intensely work so hard to return into in-person learning safely in health and healthy when you hang these somewhere in either your homes or your offices take a moment to look at their precious little hands and always remember that their hands that
038these are the hands that these hands on this canvas are those of future men and women that have helped that you have helped shaped and educate may the next chapter of your lives bring you blessings and much joy again on behalf of aft i thank you just on a quick quick note mr christensen i don't know if you remember we were on a field trip for eighth grade avid it was one of those playing strains and automobile kind of moment it should have been a two hour trip but it was more like five or six you sat with your six foot plus self next to me with almost your knees at your chin you never complained you were so gracious and you seem to have more fun than the kids did on that very long
039trip i take that and i remember that every time you were on the board you're so gracious and patient and kind all of you have been and i thank you so very much and i wish you all the best thank you thank you [Applause] wow next up i'm calling kimberly kiwi from redondo beach council pta our current president good afternoon everyone i am so honored to be here to present you with this wonderful video that the redondo beach pta council put together for you with lots of love and we are so excited for your new endeavors and we're so sad that you're leaving us but thank you for everything that you do good afternoon the redondo beach council pta olympic volunteers committee welcomes you to the closing ceremonies of the school board olympics but not
040before we award and celebrate these incredible team players brad sirkin brad waller and mike christensen and their achievements congratulations for participating in not one but two school board olympics four years back to back that's eight years if you're keeping track at home you have brought us the only the thrill of victory unwavering volunteer service to your fans our students fellow school board athletes the rbusd and this great community and city it was not always a sprint to the finish line it was a marathon but you stayed the course and kept steady and always had the best finishing time sometimes the hurdles seem too hard for a distance but as you got close you left over and cleared with winning inches let's not forget the high jump a bar our committee sets high for all school
041board athletes but you dug deep and went above and beyond and over the top for all of your fans and teammates your training blood sweat and tears and your heart of pure gold had us all cheering you on from the family section in the front row we have all been in awe of your dedication skill humor talent and grace these past eight years but before the torch has passed it is our honor and privilege to thank the three of you from the bottom of our hearts and present you with a well-deserved hard-earned school board olympic gold medal we love you we'll miss you and thank you so much for all your hard work [Applause] so [Music] uh thank you guys so much and i have your gold medals right here on the choreography yes and
042it did have you can imagine the amount of coordination we had to do to get the zoom to work zoom olympics it's the zoom olympics okay thank you very much and now from rbef we have horn archer rbf president wow spent christmas in march hi member of the school board dr keller in the cabinet um such an honor to be invited here to say a few words about brad brad and and mike i still remember the election where that was the slate and it was like oh that's easy brad brad and mike and i can't believe the time has flown by i know it can't always be easy choosing public service i'm sure that there are more moments of criticism than compliments but we have been so fortunate to have the three of you serve
043on this board it speaks volumes about who you are that you're not going to sit back that you choose to look at problems and find solutions and even if they're not perfect you're always searching to do better each time so this community the parents our students we're so lucky again that that you decided to run for office and then continue the hard work so wherever the next journey takes you i know that you'll continue to think about our students and our community and uh the parting gift that uh rbf has presented to you is the much desired gray rbf hoodie so so when you wear it think of us fondly as as we will think of you and thank you so much for your service thank you next up we have tom backley ceo of
044beach city's health district here to say a few words good evening board tom backley beach city's health district brad brad michael just want to say thank you um just have a certificate we don't have any fancy swag maybe you can redeem this for you know some beach city swag if you like but uh we just wanted to come and say thank you for all your efforts for the health and well-being of our kids and the community and great partner with the school district and we're just very fortunate to be on this journey with you we're doing vaccines as we speak so we have teachers getting their their second vaccines literate literally as we speak this is signed by one of your former board members jane deal so on behalf of the board i want to
045thank you for all of your efforts and look forward to our partnership in the future thank you very much thank you tom thank you we now have the rbusd leadership team and our uhs anthony brady and jens brant here to say a few you words there's a side door over here we're not doing any dancing just to be clear well tough acts to follow indeed so hello and thank you president sirkin school board members dr keller and cabinet for having us this afternoon so on behalf of rbosd leadership team we thank you brad mike and brad for your service here in redono beach unified school district we have a small token of appreciation that i think you've seen uh here so far and if you could hold that up it is an aerial photo of
046redondo union high school the finest high school in south bay of course each signed by our leadership team members so this is what's important is that we hope that each time you view this picture drive by whatever it might be you're going to recall the tremendous impact and positive influence you all have had on us so thank you very much for your leadership thank you thank you congratulations on your promotion official officially in public and as mr brandt fondly said you better keep it that way you know actually i didn't want to breed that's a perfect segue brad i didn't want bree to be left out today so i brought him some shoes oh wow good luck i had to add a little levity to the afternoon but right you got it brad but um
047mike brad and brad um i was watching the videos downstairs and uh some of the graduation shots were done cute came up and um just brought back a lot of fond memories of three of you know whether you've had children graduate from the finest high school in the south bay or continue to have children there um or david soon enough and raymer sorry i didn't stick around you got this guy but uh and raymer obviously her daughter's still there but um just wonderful memories and and all the support um the care the empathy for our students our staff our teachers and just the amazing story of our uhs you know over the last 10 plus years it's just been a joy to be a part of and we're indebted to the three of you and
048to the entire board as i was walking out of the uh the front office this afternoon i ran into amy guerrero one of our teachers coincidentally she was handing out academic jackets to her students and one of the many programs you've supported over the years and i let her know where i was headed and mentioned the jackets that we are presenting to you today and she said you know the three of them have been so good to us and that just encapsulated everything that i wanted to share today that um our community our students our families our teachers our staff just really appreciate the three of you and we'll genuinely miss you dearly so thank you so much and enjoy the jackets and be sure to wear them with pride when you come to visit
049campus we look forward to seeing you for many many years to come thank you so much thank you all right brady hold on those shoes [Laughter] thank you we have a few more people special guests that have come to speak anita averick former eight-year board member would like to have a few words wow we managed to get her out of the house that's that's that's this is quite an event i want you to know all right so i will well you can't hear me um i have brought you a few things because well first let me say thank you you guys made my term awesome and i couldn't have done it without you so i know that you still think there are things to do and so it's a little bittersweet this time but trust
050me you're still going to be around and people are still going to be calling you for advice but so we aren't going anywhere you have a lot of free time now so oh really uh you know because what else are you going to do you spent 18 000 hours doing this and um so we have a i have a little something that my daughter made it very nice so your memory former rbus school board and then i have a book of mindfulness games for you because with your free time you're going to have to have something to do right so you guys have had a an easy six years and a very very difficult too and i am so proud of what you have done with this district so thank you thank you and we
051have our newly elected board member dan elder who is also here to say a few words to you this is quite the table we're going to need a picture well hello again sorry but back again not winded this time from running up the stairs as a parent of two students from redondo i just wanted to say thank you for the incredible amount of time and energy that you've put into this school district and are ultimately our kids and helping ensure they thrive you can really see the the efforts have paid off when you look at how far schools have come not just these eight years but even beyond but the amount of time and dedication we really appreciate it i think parents everywhere see that that's why people come to our cities because of our
052great schools and it's in no small part to everything you've done to make them better so really just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart i know my kids love it here i know a lot of kids and families love it here thank you you've made our schools incredible i also want to say as an incoming board member i really appreciate the tireless dedication you've put into this you've left some incredibly large shoes to fill and there's a lot of learning going on that's going to be happening for a while so i apologize in advance for all the phone calls and emails i'll be uh reaching out with but your wisdom that you've gained about how this school works and how you can best make it function for our kids is
053invaluable so i can't wait to see what you do next but again thank you for everything you've done so far and everything you will continue to do because it really does make an incredible difference in the lives of our kids so thank you thank you and thank you for for stepping up and taking this on for the next four years plus so you don't get the microphone back quite that fast sorry david and i want to just make sure we have we publicly acknowledge you um david do you want to go first it's been truly an honor seriously to serve with the three of you for six years um you you have hit him all three of you epitomized public service and you're not doing it for yourselves you're doing it for the community and
054for kids and i think that came across as evidenced by everything that people have said today um my just your your integrity is what will stick with me and always i'll remember a few things first is you know whether it was an open or closed session you always had a special heart in your heart for the kids that weren't doing so good and that was always an extra consideration of yours and you have such compassion for kids that are struggling and also your the care you demonstrate for the teachers as sarah said i'll also remember what okay all right um i will also remember uh i will never learn so much about sequa as i've learned from you and how to manage around that and the nuances of of bidding for projects i'm sure that
055you had many a conversation with with janet and annette over the years for that but really it's been great to become your friend and to serve with you um brad waller you have more school spirit than like 99 of the the kids that that go to the high school i mean and that comes across in the way you interact with the student board members in how active you are in the community i'm sure you'll be doing the blood drive every year even when you're off the board that's what will stick with me and clearly you you love redondo beach you love arbeusd and and that comes across and it's been a true pleasure brad sirkin you do it all i mean from answering emails to meeting with people about fields and scrutinizing the budget i'm
056just so uh so impressed by your energy and attention to detail no one will will do it like you and um i will miss the three of you and but don't be strangers and we uh rhema and i will will try to take the baton from you so congratulations thank you absolutely um all of these gifts that you've gotten are joined by almer something from al murasuchi's office the school district but just to echo what david said what you guys have done is modeled how to be a board member how to be a public servant and how to keep the children in mind always and be a team player is my conscious memory of coming to school board meetings is with the eight with you guys involved in the school and being on the school
057board for the past eight years um you inspired me to want to be to join you up here and to be of service to this amazing district and thank you from the bottom of my heart and thank you from everybody else's hearts as well because we know you've always had your purest intentions and have brought that every time to this board meeting so i will let you have the mic back thank you thank you both and thank you to everybody well i know we'll all be making comments but i think we'll save it to the end unless you'd like to do it now so uh unfortunately charles has to follow that so so please uh join us at the podium if you have uh can do so uh is okay thank you thank you charles
058brad's all set up so we're good all right that's right so dr keller i'm hoping mr brady is coming up the steps at this time because we're going to invite him back to the podium so in the meantime while he's on his way up um yeah exactly um a few things first of all i do i do want to share i mean this clearly we're starting to turn the corner with this kovid fight and so um what i would like to share with you is i did have a preliminary meeting with our secondary folks on friday l.a county department of public health has not given us any concrete guidance regarding promotional ceremonies or graduation ceremonies however i've been able to extrapolate some information through the state and other counties and there i think it's fair
059to say that somewhere between 20 percent occupancy and 67 percent occupancy of a facility uh likely will be able to be utilized for a graduation or a promotional ceremony outside we are going to at least start planning for from here to there i'm not going to put out anything in writing yet because part of this is reading the tea leaves but i think there are enough tea leaves in the state now and there's alignment from the county with the state that i think depending on the tier we're in is going to decide what graduation and promotion ceremonies will look like the great news the bottom line is is we're going to we're going to have one and and we're going to have them it's just to what extent we're going to have them and how
060many we're going to potentially have but that being said i'll work with the team and speaking of which the team which has the most impressive graduation you'll ever attend college or high school the july 1st 2021 incoming principal mr anthony brady is here to say hello and welcome himself to the high school well hello again uh thank you board president sirkin board members stephen and your cabinet it was a little premature before i was sticking to the script i'm like i know i'm coming back i think so um [Laughter] so yeah took it away and i'm like i'll be back all right so but it's a true honor uh really to be appointed the next principal of redondo union high school um i do want to say first i will deeply miss the alternative ed
061programs patricia dreisler independent study renowned beach learning academy the staff the parents of course the students these programs they're gems in our community and without your leadership obviously these positions they don't exist everywhere and again these are the gems this is where i think the hard work really lies to see the success with these students so so thank you for that and i i am going to let those uh community know i'm not going far so i'm still going to be a part of their lives i hope um it's a true honor again uh to be a seahawk once again as you know i've been a seahawk in the past and um during this unprecedented time um i appreciate your confidence in me to return so uh with that i have some very large shoes
062to fill and i will continue to move redondo forward to greatness so thank you thank you mr reedy we look forward to you he's transitioning but his first official day is july 1st and just to kind of bring closure to the um just to be clear on the graduation promotional ceremony i just want to let you know we will of course follow all la county department of public health guidelines but since we don't have anything from them yet i want to at least start planning with the team for um you know the ceremonies that we know we can have now the this is big news obviously the l.a county department of public health has come out with this three feet guidance that has been aligned to the centers for disease control uh california department of
063public health uh there is some uh ambiguity about this three feet in the la county department of public health language however the good news is is it's in language at least and we're moving in that direction so let's be clear let me be clear to parents at home um uh what exactly that means in the way of cohorts in other words is it do you need to be in a stable cohort or you know it can it be in more of a secondary setting we'll get that clarification this week and we obviously want to you know look at uh exactly what l.a county department of public health is telling us in that guidance what i'd like to suggest if the board is okay with it and i know you're thinking this is your last meeting
064but i would like to suggest i would like to suggest a special board meeting in light of this new three feet guidance we're getting and we want to be thorough in understanding it and i don't think today is a day necessarily we can make a decision um based on uh the fact that you know every superintendent i've spoken to uh in the last 24 hours is trying to you know understand exactly what this three feet guidance is and where and where does this fit at the secondary level especially and so uh tuesday march 30th which is a week from today at two o'clock is a time that could work i'm hoping the board could have a special board meeting we could present to you our ideas uh assuming the three three-foot piece is alive well
065and we can implement it per l.a county department of public health guidelines and ideally the goal is obviously get kids back on campus for more days that would be that would be the goal uh however there's there's uh um some obviously some clarity that we need and confirmation we need so with your permission uh we'll have ricardo set up that meeting um and uh we'll obviously get that information out i want to of course continue to thank our teachers support staff administrators child development center folks everybody that's working hard to bring kids back we're bringing more and more kids back every week you know the team shared today the more more kids are bringing back next week before spring break and we couldn't be more excited uh i do want to remind folks that um
066uh the in the way of the at least the vaccine we're really at a point where we're we're you know sending some singletons to receive their first vaccine or some folks are going to get the johnson johnson and just do one vaccine which is fine with us just get the vaccine get in your arm if you need it some of our folks are moving into the second second shot through beach city's health district or their primary health provider or other providers so we really are seeing um the majority far majority of our staff um you know embracing the fact that this vaccine can you know help save lives and minimize the spread of covid and then just the last thing i do want to share you know i've talked to each one of our board
067members brad brad and mike um and thank them for their service and support and their leadership and their care and i think everybody's done a terrific job today of really highlighting everything you've done and the only thing i would say one thing is it's really i i know people are living in the now the last year but you came in right at the tail end of a of uh you know a great recession and you know it kind of had a a leaguery an effect on school districts um and you're leaving you know kind of we're kind of getting out of ideally this this coved pro provide process uh and so it hasn't been easy for you but i remind people you've been here eight years i mean it isn't all this last year and
068and you know although we've done a lot of good over the last year and you've done a lot of good i got to give you credit for the seven before years because those were you know incredibly important years of really creating this destination district that we have called read on the beach unified school district so with that you get a beautiful plaque from the team rbusd it says to brad waller brad sirkin and of course michael christensen a word of appreciation to you three redonda beach unified school district board of education member april 2013 march 2021. uh i don't have any glasses on but it's okay for your eight years of dedication and service to the students parents and staff of the redondo beach unified school district phyto school district in south bay we thank
069you on behalf of the entire redondo beach unified school district family march 24 2021. it's a beautiful plaque and you each get one and thank the three of you you said march 24th 23rd okay just check it 23rd it's all good it sounds like we'll be back here next week so i appreciate it that's right okay thank you dr keller so we're moving on to the hearing section um i am not aware i've double checked just a second ago there's no written requests for people downstairs but i do have a couple public comments to read so uh last i counted with five just double checking there so really quickly uh public comment number one uh with the new guidelines from the cdc that three feet distance is enough between the kids i really hope that
070rbusd will bring back the kids full-time to school to maximize their learning uh these last months of the school year it was unsigned number two um dear members of uh board members of arbusd good evening my name is grace park jose and i've been a resident of north redondo since 2007. i have a three-year-old daughter who will be attending washington elementary in a couple years i'm also an educator in the wiseburn school district i'm submitting my public comment to you in light of the recent attacks on asian americans in our community culturally speaking members of the asian community are taught to keep their heads down work hard and avoid the fray i've been a victim to blatant racism as well as microaggressions towards me as a korean american my go-to response has been to ignore
071and move forward recently one of my second graders asked me a question which startled me and left me saddened he asked me miss h why do peop why do people why did you people send coronavirus to america did you do it on purpose jost to the floor with tears in my eyes i tried my best to explain and reassured that his perspective was incorrect my elderly parents who live in a retirement building informed me that the residents do not go on daily walks or congregate outside the building anymore for fear that they will be attacked i'm heartbroken for my community and quite frankly our nation because i believe with my whole heart that there are more good people than those who choose to live in ignorance and or hate why i appreciate greatly the board
072resolution publicly denouncing anti-asian and pacific islander hate i am left wondering if this is a tangible uh enough solution will there be other follow-up measures will the issues of asian happy um uh be discussed with students who may be observed and feeling sentiments will the teachers be receiving some training and support how will the residents of redondo at large become aware of the board's stance on asian hate violence and or discrimination after the tragic murder of george floyd and countless others in the following protests i am proud to say that wiseburn unified school district did a wonderful job reaching out to students and families about the issues of discrimination and police violence in the african-american community teachers were provided training our psych team was made available and teachers had age-appropriate discussion with their classes about
073respecting each other's differences though i do not know what the district plans are for the future i do i do implore you to do more than just approve a resolution please help our students learn about different cultures love who they are accept and include those who are different from them and promote a loving and harmonious school and community culture thank you so much for your time and letting allowing me to express my hopes and concerns with gratitude grace part um closed dick uh i'm sure i butchered the name so i apologize um next one dearest team board members of the board of extreme members of the board i'm writing today as a parent of a first grade in rb usd and an asian american pediatrician who is like you dedicated to the health and well-being
074of our children the events of this week have highlighted the rising tide of hate and racism against asian americans that has been actively part of the country's history in usually less overt ways part of our collective experience as asian americans since before the kova 19 pandemic i appreciate and applaud the district's initiative in taking a public stance against anti-asian american and pacific islander sentiment and affirming your commitment the well-being and safety of children like mine and i trust that this is the first and small step uh in the district's action plan to demonstrate that uh stated commitment we are in the we in the committee would love to hear about the positive actions that the district plans to take to build a safe and inclusive environment for children of asian pacific descent and of all
075racial and ethnic backgrounds some suggestions for concrete steps including presenting of a long-term plan for the district's diversity equity inclusion initiatives ongoing anti-racism training for students and staff re-examination of the curriculum to ensure that it includes asian-american perspectives as well as those of other racial and ethnic groups resources to address racist bullying and provide culturally sensitive counseling inclusion of extracurricular programming to support aapi children such as aapi heritage month uh incorporation of teachers engagement and diversity equity inclusion priorities in their review i hope that those plans for next steps are already underway and please know that you'll have the support of and also the accountability to parents like me that put these plans in action i recognize that there are challenges and uncomfortable issues to confront and i'm grateful for rbusd's commitment to addressing these
076topics and creating a safe and welcoming space for all children thank you for your time and i look forward to your response to the community at large and silly leanne chen md number four good afternoon rvusd board of education district leadership i'm a graduate of our uhs class of 2012. currently i'm a graduate student in public health nutrition and lead in a leading community organization efforts in redonda beach to start the first official community garden for our city i would first like to invite you to lend your support to our project and our vision to increase community connectedness by establishing space for families to grow food when we can truly get to know our neighbors we can fully celebrate and and culturally cultivate respect for our diverse community i am writing to you today as
077an asian american lifelong redondo beach resident and graduate at rbusd schools thank you for your for preparing this resolution affirming support for asian american students faculty and staff and for denouncing xenophobia and racism it is very important that we recognize that so many of us right now are simultaneously grieving feeling targeted and yet also feeling forgotten and erased i also ask you to take serious efforts either through this resolution or through directives to the recently created um the command committee to bolster education in rbsd schools on asian american history screenings of the pbs doctor documentary asian americans for families would be a great place to start i attended rwsd schools from grades second to twelve and i cannot recall any substantial education uh covering asian american history beyond reading farewell to manzanar in eighth grade
078i wish we could have learned about the model uh model minority myth the chinese exclusion act murder vincent chen and the activism of grace lee boggs additionally the the south bay has a long history of asian american farming particularly in the multi-generational japanese-american communities of gardena torrance and pv families experienced forage removal and were often lost their their farmland during internment in the 1940s imagine if redundant schools taught about this very local and place based history and heard or read from those who lived during those times i understand that teachers have strict state standards to cover but i feel now more than ever students are hungry for more in-depth learning and discussion around issues of race and racial justice in the united states how else might we seek to overcome the the ever-apparent trends of
079xenophobia and racially motivated attacks in our country education in school is a fundamental place where we can better grapple with our history of violence and exclusion against native americans african americans asian americans hispanic americans and other minori minority groups i asked today that the board commits to identify ways to better include asian american history and narratives in student education i also asked that the board requests an update from the dei community committee and nasa dei committee to also include a focus in its reports and directives around asian american history literature and inclusion thank you brianna egan and the last one i am a proud alta vista wild wildcat and paris panthers mom and soon to be in our uhsc seahawk mom i love our community and our never ending learning to yearning to know better
080and to do better last thursday the board of education approved an ethnic studies model curriculum for k-12 across the state of california this approved curriculum is voluntary and i'm here writing to express my support and its necessity here in the redundant beach school district people of color still continue to experience forms of racism hatred xenophobia cultural bias microaggressions violence and endure the pain for these real life experiences in our community we are now given the opportunity to support and implement an ethnic studies curriculum this idea brings me great joy would you not agree in light of recent events that we need this type of education more now than ever this is how we take steps to move in the right direction we have a responsibility in our education system to change and pivot towards a
081more inclusive america modifying the current curriculum to include ethnic studies to include the experiences of various ethnic groups the history and their contributions is vital to our children's development and group growth with your approval our teachers can create unbiased anti-racist classroom planting cultivating and building a classroom of culture utilizing the growth mindset that can change this unequal world of today my daughter just asked me today if her school would start teaching asian american history anything about korea vietnam or japan she is hopeful and so am i diversity equity and inclusion are a priority in my home and open conversations regarding these topics with my children are the norm it only makes sense to continue the same kind of learning in classrooms with their classmates please make this recommendation made by the california board of education
082into the reality for our children here in redonda beach now is the time to include include african americans asian americans pacific islanders latino americans native americans jewish americans and arab americans in the curriculum moving forward this is how the district through real actions and not mere words continue to affirm the commitment to the well-being safety and of all americans including african-american asian americans latino americans native americans jewish americans and arab americans prevent the hate before it starts and educate thank you michelle my thank you all to those who wrote in and uh we will have a further discussion about that shortly um moving on to the consent calendar i'm sorry i forgot i've i missed one but yeah go ahead on our chairs out there honor you are you just hanging are you hanging or
083do you want to speak about something yes go come on up yeah that was good it was going to be them first but thank you how fun that i get to do this on your final board meeting as well um it's been such a while a long time since i've been able to do this in person with everybody so thank you for having us back rbf summer session registration is officially open online at rbf.org so we're excited to be able to offer that program this summer for our students as you know our virtual gala is coming up on may 22nd if you see a or when you see a bmw parked on the front lawn underneath the ruhs marquis there's a reason for it and so we're excited that'll be part of our virtual gala
084this year um our investor drive we're just 35 dollars shy of reaching our seven hundred thousand dollar goal this uh season so we hope everybody has a chance to make their final investment before the end of the school year and this is also one of our favorite time of the year at rbf because we'll be able to start evaluating the applications for the annual rbf memorial scholarship so this year we're going to be awarding two scholarships fifteen hundred dollars each to one male seahawk senior and one female seahawk senior and then we welcome a new board member to our board uh ben kim he has a daughter aubry who is a kinder at bernie elementary school and two future rbusd students so we're excited he comes from finance and he works with public and private
085tech companies so we're very excited to join him and uh at the last report to rbusd i believe there was a uh skechers grant to our school sites in the amount of 127 thousand and eighty dollars and this evening i'd like to go ahead and give dr albert that check she's right thank you so much thank you han and that's the real check that's sarah did you have something for rbta i apologize i kind of skipped that and then realized it and it was a little backwards but uh good evening again i'm sarah robinson rbta vice president um first off another thank you to beach city's health district like tom buckley reported earlier most of our members are now getting ready for their second dose of the vaccine this week and over the next two
086weeks and so we're grateful to have that sense of security for our members many of whom are already in the classroom and then the rest who are preparing to return over the next couple of weeks our members continue to do amazing things in new forms of education the simultaneous uh educate simultaneous teaching presentation which obviously didn't exist this time last year one thing i would just add to that at the secondary level that we do have a third group basically a third cohort of students who are choosing to remain at home for distance learning i'll coin them the homies since they are going to remain in their home but that does range from between 10 percent to up to a third in some of our ruhs classes of those students who will be remaining in
087distance learning for the rest of the year and still have an expectation of receiving the same quality distance learning education that they've been getting so far this year from our members so that is going to be an added challenge as we have students return to in-person instruction we have students who are at home online and trying to maintain that same level now wearing a mask in our classroom while we're teaching online so our members are once again rising to the challenge and setting up our physical environments over the next few days and working together collaboratively amongst our departments along with our instructional leads and the team from ed services to develop the strategies that we'll need to be successful with our students thank you thank you uh anything from pta out aside from yeah okay
088okay just checking all right so back to uh general consent calendar is there any items that anyone wishes to pull hearing none uh can i get a motion in a second to approve 10.1 to 10.8 student advisory vote all those in favor say aye all right thank you all right action items moving on to 12.1 adopt and approve resolution 2021 uh authorizing the associate member agreement joining the educational technology joint powers authority the gentleman is wearing a coat we are in trouble can i get a motion in second please i guess [Laughter] well it wouldn't be the last board meeting with you guys if i wasn't up here in a coat that's right before you as a joint powers authority agreement uh with the ed tech consortium up in orange county it is a buying
089consortium of basically of contracts and this is for our next agenda item that's going to be before you it's free to join it's just another purchasing vehicle that we use in like our cmas contracts and other contracts that we use across the district okay so they've got a governing board which are the founders and there's an associate member we just we're just part of the you know part of their consortium yeah nothing just the same thing that we do for our apple contract or the cmas contract we're just part of it piggyback off it and it's free that's that's always where is this through orange county department of education and irvine unified school district yeah all right well hearing that it's free all those in favor student yeah okay guys student advisory vote all those
090in favor say aye aye all right uh 12.2 move contr approved contract with titan school solutions a nutrition management system for child nutrition services motion in a second so the item before you today i'm actually here for julian on behalf of nutrition services so it's a joint project between i.t and nutrition services their current point of sale system that they utilize is not uh meeting their needs as of date and it's been going on for quite some time so they evaluated several uh point of sales systems out there and tightened point of sales not to be mistaken with our titan hst security uh vendor was the best solution uh one thing keys that really uh that pointed out there is a savings over the next three years of going to their uh their product as
091well as our current vendor that we utilize they have a point of sale system that's proprietary to them so when a cash machine breaks or something happens we have to buy it from that company in this case the point of sale systems that we'll be utilizing uh if titan is approved can be a basically a chrome station or a very very simple device like an ipad or whatnot that we can just uh put into play so there is a cost saving over three years and we're seeking for your approval actually that's what i was going to ask you what is the cost differential i had it in your update and i had it in the other sheet that i left downstairs about to bring it up in a second here we're i believe it's an
092overall cost statement 23 000 i believe over the next three years so it's good news any other questions uh student advisor vote all those in favor say aye aye 35 0. 12.3 approve rbusd student chromebook purchases under the cal save piggyback contract from cdwg motion in a second thank you and as we do every year we bring forward our chromebook purchases for our incoming third grade sixth grade and ninth graders it seems that we're doing this early and earlier now due to the pandemic as you are aware last year it did take some time to get our chromebooks that they arrived in october so we want to get in front of the line right now right now there is a supply and it seems like supplies are are staying in but with uh the newfound
093money that all school districts are getting there's going to be a buying frenzy again so we're kind of jumping up ahead so we can make sure we have our chromebooks here for july 1. so you haven't given the plan to your other gpa members yet i want to get ahead of them so we're looking good right now so there's there's there's plenty line so we'll hope to have him have him here and we're not fully funding this out of uh measure q we're also funding it out of the cares act taking some from there so we can save some money down the road for future purchases with measure q that was a good thing questions is this a slightly smaller number same number we're basing it off our numbers for next year um so we'll
094have a little bit extra we always do order a little bit more but we do see different enrollment numbers at this time anything else uh student advisor vote all those in favor say aye aye 5-0 thank you dirk brad brad mike it's been a pleasure thank you thank you board [Laughter] that'll be in our notes yeah 12.4 uh batman runner of understanding with our beats rbta motion in a second i've never seen derrick with three action items in a row so there we go 12.4 you'll see that there's back-to-back mous and there is a difference just take a second to kind of outline the difference the first one is an mou with the rpta that outlines the agreed upon changes for the return of the sixth grade students we did negotiate this agreement on march
095the 2nd particularly the change in the middle school reopening schedule which is the schedule that we're still under we talked about that earlier in the presentations with students attending periods one or two and tutorials so staff is recommending that you adopt this mou any questions yeah all those in favor say aye aye five zero uh 12.5 uh memorandum of understanding mou agreement with rbta motion in a second thank you first just wanna you know acknowledge and thank uh you know sarah robinson her leadership monica joyce and rbta for coming to the table we don't always agree but it is always respectful um and there's a partnership there trying to accomplish the same thing what's best for students so just want to acknowledge that leadership and thank them for that 12.5 is the mou with rbt
096that we negotiated on march the 16th and it specifically outlines the return of students in grades 6 through 12 to the in-person hybrid after spring break and then outlines some details with the orientations and the return of students as early as this week so it's essentially what dr wilds and i presented earlier in the evening so the recommendation is for the board to adopt this mou okay um any questions hearing none all those in favor say aye aye hearing 5-0 thank you dr wesley all right 12.6 adopt resolution r1920-21 colon 26 denouncing xenophobia and anti-asian american and pacific islander sentiment to the covet 19 pandemic and affirming the district's commitment to the well-being and safety of asian americans motion a second please okay miss flynn i know you have one thing to say before we
097get started uh and then we have two public comments yes i just wanted to give some background here this resolution actually was something that had been discussed with betty lou previously to before the horrible tragedy that happened in atlanta something that we have been discussing for a while and was brought to the dei committee was that this week last week last week this is tuesday um but after the horrible tragedy that we all witnessed so just wanted to give some his context as to where this and how this got onto our agenda sounds good uh our first public comment is debbie zoe apologizes thanks i'm speaking today it expressed my appreciation for drafting this resolution r 20 21 29 um and also to demand the board for concrete actions to demonstrate the commitment to said
098well-being and safety over donors minority communities this public acknowledgement i believe is a first step but absolutely can't be the only step taken we've all seen how effective thoughts and prayers are on decreasing gun violence in this country discrimination against asians didn't start during the pandemic and it most certainly won't go away when it's over i mean we all wish it would but it probably won't um so a few next steps that i'm suggesting the board take are first broadcast this resolution to all members of the school district as a public acknowledgement families should be proactively informed so that the awareness of this is maximized within the community you know a lot of people may not even know about it if they're not asian or have asian colleagues a second action i think is to
099revisit the cultural and racial sensitivity training for tutors and staff if asian americans make it 20 of your student population it's likely that every white child has an asian american classmate in terms of like bullying or maybe insensitive comments that maybe weren't ill-intentioned children will feel the need to be supported or otherwise they won't report to their teacher and they're going to suffer in silence this happened to me as a kid in santa clarita growing up this applies really to all minorities and dealing with hateful speech and actions not even just asian americans like latinos lgbtq everyone the third action i think is to do outreach to the asian american families in your district ask them what kind of support they need i've actually spoken to parents who stress out about their children returning to
100campus first it was because they didn't want to get coveted and now they're like well i don't want my kid to deal with bullying so i think it's really important to reach out to to maybe see if for those who don't want to come back who they are and what reasons other than kovid might be fueling the their hesitancy you claim that you're committed to making redondo schools a safe welcoming environment for all actions like these will really make the commitment real intangible thank you thank you next up jerome chang good afternoon everyone my name is jerome chang i've lived in ronaldo beach for 10 years my wife has been the teacher at torrance for 20. we have two elementary school kids both at toledo so first thank you for the board for navigating us
101through this pandemic it's unprecedented and particularly thank you for the three members who are who spent eight years contributing your time and you'll be finishing out your terms soon thank you dr keller for proposing this resolution uh i've talked to a lot of my folks in my asian community and we believe it's a solid first step i do want to get into some specifics of that resolution specifically line three it says quote hate crimes discrimination and aggression against asian americans are on the rise as asians are being falsely blamed for coven 19 outbreak a week ago today a terrorist gunned down eight people at three asian owned spas six of those people were asian want to be clear this was a hate crime no matter what the police have said or not said it is
102for sure a hate crime and then the terrorist cavalry rescued him a racist white police officer exerted further white privilege twofold one he dismissed the heinous murders as having a bad day he downplayed the severity by believing the terrorists at his word that he had a sex addiction the very next day a 30-something percent white guy beat up an elderly asian man in san francisco a few hours later he attacked an elderly 76 year old asian woman who ironically fought back sending him off in a stretcher two weeks ago right here in san gabriel valley a young white guy said go back where you came from you don't belong here as a harasser with swinging an axe who carries an axe in public this weekend on the way to a rally in new york city
103about anti-asian hate a mother is punched several times in front of her daughter this is with them this was in the lower east side in an irvine last week my friend's friend's father was beaten now he's in the hospital all these were indisputable violent incidents so those are easy to understand anti-asian sentiment the resolution says aggressions against asians are quote on the rise so let's be clear about what that says it reveals that anti-aging incidents have been around before the pandemic for decades did you know that in 1989 three decades ago a white terrorist gunned down five asian kids at an elementary school up north in stockton california one of the last things he told a bystander the damn hindus and boat people own everything this resolution also cites kung flu as a way that
104people have falsely blamed asians for the golden 19 outbreak and i want to be clear quote china virus is also a racist term even though it's not specifically cited in the resolution you might ask well it's from china so why can't i say it's china virus well did you know that spanish flu originated in kansas even the lyme disease was discovered in lyme connecticut and yet no one harasses the assault or assault lying residents why because the demographics are over 98 white i surveyed a few of my asian residents about the proposed resolution and while they said it was a good first step the overwhelming feedback was quote it has no teeth to us it amounts to thoughts and prayers in fact it stops prematurely like a prologue to a book so let's turn the
105page first the language focuses on the incidents during the pandemic but anti-asian sentiment has been around for decades even in congress h.r 151 on the table right now covers more quote condemns and denounces all forms of anti-asian sentiment including those related to cloven 19 not just during covet 19. we asians are suffering a heightened sense of fear and a lack of belonging in our own community your words and your leadership must be much more proactive and more inclusive of all anti-hate sentiment a friend told me she went to rv schools her whole life and when kids slanted their eyes and said ching chong and many other things that happened at the elementary school level right here in redondo and i asked her why didn't she say anything of course we don't say anything so in
106that case if a kid doesn't know how to say it that means the environment isn't conducive for the kid to say something which means the teacher must proactively ask did something happen another redondo friend young 40ish year old male he was walking his child two-year-old around the block as usual but this time he carried a stick because he was afraid he might get assaulted from behind and this is redondo elderly seniors won't take their daily walks which are vital to their health some young women are coordinating walks with their friends so they feel safe this fear this paranoia safety and exclusion for 13 of our adults in regando and 21 of our kids second this resolution is lifted word from word from one of our neighbors torrance unified that was issued on friday why can't
107we just take a page out of their book and put it in ours well for on our city is different we have fewer asians and the board who signed it and authored it are diverse including asians on the board context matters it's like saying quote i'm married to an asian so i can't be a racist i get it no sorry marriage only opens up your eyes but not develops your intuition another intuitive comment i can ask another agent and say hey where are you from because we would both understand that i'm asking what kind of asian authenticity you are but if a non-agent asked me and said where are you from they're basically saying you're not american how could you be born here and they're basically telling me i am a perpetual foreigner both of
108these examples are less obvious incidents of harassment implicit bias and microaggressions contrary to the violent physical incidents that happen in atlanta and many other places so you may see these statements as i was just asking innocently to please know that for a minority you're one of hundreds of people who have asked the same question and to us from our point of view it's a racial pattern here's another common line i apologize public comments three minutes and you're bordering on six at this point so if you can wrap it up at this point i would i would just based on board policy we we have to cut it off at some point i would ask you given the extenuating circumstances of anti-aging hate right now things happening every day you allow me a few more minutes
109so if the board agrees okay that's policy i just have to ask so go ahead there are even more nuanced covert situations quote i believe the most qualified person should get the job you've accused diversity of giving a person of color an unfair advantage quote i am colorblind this tells me you're blind to the issues of color worse you're denying my experiences as a per person of color in other words you are suppressing my voice so none of these are really covered in the resolution it's only about the explicit violent acts during the pandemic but none of the things that happened before and that will continue to happen afterwards it's a very broad education a long road for everyone last one quote don't bring up diversity this tells me to comply with white society that
110white culture is ideal so funny enough these three more nuanced examples are ones i personally experienced just a few months ago at the start of my campaign the timing after last week in atlanta after a culmination of 150 percent more anti-aging hate this past year than the prior year does not age these statements well at the start of the campaign someone literally told me don't campaign on diversity someone else leaked and misconstrued a private conversation so that i would forever know that anything i said could be used against me another person said hey we no longer endorse you it's premature after i publicly express an actual opinion about one situation that had no relevance to any individual person so collectively this message was loud and clear to me that they would only endorse me if
111i didn't speak that i would have to run anything through them before i ever speak silence that was the weapon that i would have to run that i needed to be there my model minority to keep my head down while they show both my qualifications well now i'm speaking these three situations sound innocuous when separate but collectively they continue to form a racial pattern that when you are a minority you hear your entire lives i want to clarify that well each person who said this to me probably did not intend to make any kind of racist comment but they did and that is why there's implicit bias and microaggressions and so we have to be more aware of our words and we asians also have to speak up and correct and educate others so when
112only white people tell an asian when to speak and not to speak that is anti-asian sentiment when only white people scheme to prevent an agent from pursuing a position that is anti-asian sentiment when anyone tells a person of color they are colorblind and know that they're blind to the issues of color and finally diversity may not be a qualification but it is definitely a requirement and i think it's overdue megan mccain on the view just tweeted yesterday to apologize for past use of the phrase quote china virus quote i condemn the reprehensible violence in this role that has been targeted towards the asian american community there is no doubt that donald trump racist rhetoric fueled many of these attacks and i apologize for any past comments that aided this agenda so before anyone signs this
113or future versions of the resolution that includes current and future board i ask yourselves if you've ever displayed anti-asian sentiment think twice because i know the truth but hey maybe i'm just having a bad day thank you thank you before we vote on the or vote or uh we want to make any changes to the resolution uh we've received one additional public comment on this specific item so i'm going to read it real quick i am a father of a young daughter with a second on the way my family and i would like to make it to make redonda beach our home for a long time as an asian american family who's very mindful of the system systematic inequity in our country and even our schools have been founded on it is extremely important to
114us particularly in this time of racial reckoning we're experiencing in america to our schools really practice what they preach there's so much hatred and prejudice in america even in our own communities here i'm afraid to say and when you think about how people do become the way they do what kids learn in school is absolutely a critical part of it yes family life media outside forces influence young minds but what is taught in school is right there at the top of the list and what goes into shaping people to become who they are this is why i think not only should schools implement implement ethnic studies in history at an early age but also have the school boards and pta that are well balanced and reflective of our communities it is one thing to say
115that we need diversity and inclusion but it's another to practice it we need authentic voices of various backgrounds and seats to be able to better address the concerns and needs of students and families from particular communities we need allyship everything happened happening now has been difficult to watch and process but if we are truly interested in moving forward we have we have to make and be the change we want humanity forward ryan yang there's one other public comment but it's not relevant to this specific item so we i will i will read it before the end of the meeting um any comments or questions on the resolution as presented well just a comment and maybe to uh raymer to something you said earlier um i can appreciate mr chang's passion and the need to do
116a couple things one is to go firmly on the record about stating that this is not according anywhere in accordance with our policy and also to put something out there that we would try to affirm to our students predominantly and also employees and residents how supportive we are of them now with that said i understood that this did come to the diversity committee it was shared with the committee at the end of our last meeting as well to make sure that they understood that we were taking this we were adopting this at this board meeting and having it as a discussion okay because you know one of the thoughts is that we have this in front of us now i think it's important that we get something quickly maybe there's another run at this maybe
117the diversity committee has the ability to um to help strengthen that or even to come up with another option i'm i'm feeling like it would be really pretty important to get something out there right now though notwithstanding it may not be the perfect uh resolution but it's it's had it's had the eyes of our diversity committee on it um i guess the president circ and i would be thinking that we ought to move forward with what we have and then and then make a run at improving it if we still feel the need to and i think that the resolution is an important statement and a beginning as we always have said you know we don't just put on paper that we denounce xenophobia or we have we're taking action and that is what that
118diversity and inclusion committee has been working on and will continue to work on there won't be a finish line they'll be just pieces along the way so i just think it's important given the timing that agree with you that this is something that we can put out something that we can use as a starting point and obviously a continued discussion yeah i'm happy to leave it as is if you want to make a very small edit you know it's like one thing about saying instead of things due to the code of pandemic due to you know ongoing issues and dependent or exacerbated i think the statement itself having the resolution and then allowing the dei to committee to do their job is also enough so if you don't want to edit it i'm also perfectly
119fine because like mike said get the statement out there show that you know you know yes this is this is this this is a resolution it's not action the api is going to help us create the appropriate actions confident that they will do a very good job can i and can i just add i'm gonna you know the goal was if the board approved this was for me to send out um two pieces one is that we're gonna have a special board meeting on um what is that march 30th and then also a summary and and share the attached um uh resolution if you approve it and basically i'm just going to share what uh the piece of the paragraph that's going to be in there from me says rbsd remains committed to the well-being
120and safety of our learning community including asian american and pacific island islanders students parents teachers and other school employees and visitors rbusd provides a safe and welcoming environment free from discrimination for all regardless of race ethnicity and national oregon origin excuse me so i just wanted to know i'm kind of you know broadening it a bit um and you know we agree i mean from the you know race and equity committee process this is obviously going to be part of that conversation moving forward this is front and center in our united states and uh you know it's it the conversations have already begun at that level but obviously we agree i mean this has got to be integrated in our day-to-day work at school sites and as a school district not just a one-off resolution
121i don't think anybody on our team their teachers support staff would disagree absolutely and again it was in consultation with betty lou who is at torrance as mr chang mentioned so something that she worked on for a while before we took it as a starting point is definitely just a starting point yep i yeah yeah this it's always you got to start somewhere and to me this is this is a good this is a great start we've got but like like everything it's you know there's always room for improvement there's always rooms to make changes and i think this i think you know negating this and and trying to start over taking taking the dei committees you know uh not so much encouragement but basically their input on it and to just and to to
122dismiss it at this point i think i think it's important for us to to start it start with it and we can continue the conversation with it so um hearing nothing else um student advisory vote all those in favor say aye aye aye thank you uh unofficial attendance and enrollment numbers any comments or questions on it really hard to beat almost perfect attendance so i was just gonna say i don't have anything new to report it's my same standard report which is we've got great attendance this year and we're hopeful that next year when it really counts we're going to see that high positive attendance return great as promised there's one last public comment real quick and then we will move on to socal rock hello board members with the new cdc guidelines of three
123feet apart i know more students can fit in the classrooms but please consider our large upper grade and secondary class sizes before you make a blanket statement of all students return at once i teach fifth grade and have 31 students to fit in my 25 by 26 foot room my partner teachers have 32 and 33 students with the measurements from the middle the desks middle of death to middle of death students really have only one foot between their desk is this truly safe also the guideline states that needs to be six feet from adults to kids i don't know how 31 desks and my own desks will fit in this room the guidelines for eating still require six feet apart we were told our kids could eat inside our rooms but this would not work
124with three feet apart while kids can eat outside on a nice day what about a rainy day i hope honest and open discussions will be made considering the effects on teachers before this change will be made please give us time to adjust if a major schedule a cohort change is made it is only fair in this ridiculously hard year of teaching thank you kim k wood fifth grade at lincoln all right uh so call rock mike uh thank you brad um we had a board meeting last week at that board meeting we swore in and seated uh our two new at-large members which brought uh brought us up to full strength on the socal rock board no real new issues surfaced there are a couple affiliations that are being considered which i think will roll
125over to the to the next board uh my recommendation and maybe we could get a little feedback here but my recommendation is that we don't seat a new board member from redondo uni redondo beach unified school district yet let's let the new uh our usd board come together and then they can decide who comes i would ask that they make that decision at the organizing meeting in april and then quickly move that board member in there are some real heavy lifts to be done with socal rock over the course of the next few months uh i think i would be glad to brief whoever that board member is and maybe even be so presumptuous as to volunteer brad waller to do the same uh would not would not even be a brown act by the
126way to maybe give the benefit of some of what we've learned over the past few years in socal rock and in some of the big decisions that await them so that would be my suggestion um president circan vice president flynn if if you want to do that and go forward on that basis and i can then inform um dr hillaire that that's what we'll be doing going forward i i agree i mean i i think ultimately you know the new board coming in should also have some say in what they want to do and and participate in so i think waiting till april is more than reasonable right i'll advise uh atlas that that's what we'll be going uh doing going forward and then he can expect to hear from someone from the board and
127or you know dr keller and we'll coordinate with ricardo uh to make that happen once we have that meeting great all right um any correspondence this year hearing none i will start with board member reports uh david remember just to echo another thank you to the three of you but well psych we'll see you here next week same time different time same bat channel okay mike or brad which would like to go first i'll kick off we'll go this way all right a lot of mixed feelings and my thoughts are running all over the place so uh hopefully they'll make sense as i as i lay them out um the first thing is as a as a board of education we have one employee and our employee is dr keller and as i look back
128on the time i've been here dr keller there are two things that really stand out to me from you the first is your uncanny ability to surround yourself with great people and i think the cabinet that sits in this room is testament to that um you know annette susan nicky you're you're one of a long line of cabinet members that epitomize the quality of the staff in this district and i lay the large part of that on you steven and it's it's been a real pleasure working with you you've made you've made this a real easy run for me and you've really set the tone so i thank you to not only you but to the entire cabinet for all that you do for me and for all you do for the district from your
129kids with that said we know who really keeps things running straight around here and that's ricardo wherever you are thanks for all you do for for the board for me and for for everyone here it's it's you're phenomenal um to my fellow board members um you know i'd like to think that we have uh shown our community the community we all love so much that we can disagree without being disagreeable you know david the passion david your passion for students this past few months has really been a shining light to me and i hope it continues raymer your ability to uh to organize and to be a million places at once is is amazing and i think you two will be the connectivity to the new board you'll be the bridge to uh to bring
130the things that i think we've been able to accomplish together into the next into the next round uh brad and brad you know i think we could probably as we check out here we can probably say yeah we we did what we set out to do i mean there's certainly things left undone things that you know we can hand off but it's been an amazing run you know we may look the same but we have we have such different backgrounds and such different strengths and weaknesses and i think we've been able to complement each other i think we've been able to do what we set out to do and thanks for thanks for what you've done and thanks for bringing letting me be a part of this to the incoming board members to dan and
131rachel and rolf i have a lot of faith in you i have trust that you will carry on i think this is going to be a really strong board and i would just ask that you keep in mind that you know hate has no place in this school district or in this community and that i believe that the wealth of this community as is the wealth of this district lies largely in our diversity and we need to be celebrating it we need to be taking full advantage of that diversity and being sure our students understand that i think one of the greatest values that we have in this district is the relationship with our labor partners and if we look at what goes on around us in the other districts in this area it just
132i continue to be amazed at how powerful that association is i think nikki as you said it really well we don't always agree but the respect that's there is amazing and i hope that it's able to continue because my heroes have been and always will be our teachers and our staff they're the ones that really really make a difference with the kids in our district and i will always do all i can to support them to the constituents thanks for the opportunity to do this for eight years thanks for voting me in twice and i hope that i fulfilled the trust you put in me i think we're leaving the place in pretty good shape notwithstanding a few uh issues that we have to deal with this past year and into the pta and to
133the ed foundation you know one of the real secrets of this community is this depth of volunteerism that exists here and the fact that those two organizations have been able to tap into that i think really bodes well for us as a community and as a school district and i hope that that will continue and i really thank you for that and to the students of this district you are what it's all about the fact that this district is all about the whole child really speaks volumes about how important you are to me you are to us as a district and you are the best you are absolutely the best and we're so so lucky to have you as as students and finally um to my wife lisa to my family you're really what has
134made this possible for me you set the stage for the volunteerism you know lisa's three-time elementary pta president uh as the district pta president and is constantly constantly volunteering to my son evan who actually was one that led me in here he was the student board member before i even got here and to my entire family i love you and i appreciate that all the support you've given me so thank you to all of you and it's been a great run and i'm still here and i'm gonna still be supporting this district and the kids and everyone here thanks [Applause] well like mike said it's been a long eight years and let's see if i started my notes here i i'm going to go back to where we came in um steven was really new
135in his tenure he was good to great it was your motto and i don't know what your motto needs to be now going forward because we're pretty close to great so what is next i don't know but you know that's what you worked on that's what we worked on that's where we have gone um you know i look around this room and there's only i think three people or actually only two two people that are the same in the same spots steven and derek um everybody else here i think everybody else was an employee but look where you've come from you know from you know principals up to the cabinet if i look around at some of our principals um teachers on our principals on up to executives it's just you know the development from
136internal i think is what sets us apart it's not that i look around and it's like well they've all changed but we hired this person from outside and this person from outside we've brought them up and i think that's really a big thing when you look at an organization and you can say they're promoting from within we're training and that way we really are making the people best um righty is another example of that you know he's been through you know teaching to the high school to dreissler now back to the high school so i think that's exemplary of what makes redondo redondo so i guess you know i'll take on what david said i think what i'll miss are going to all the school events but also i'll miss all the people that make
137rbusd what it is and i'll sign off the same way mike did thanking my family that made this all possible it really would have been nice if they could have been here in the audience mari actually almost was she had to fly back to school this morning so i dropped her off the airport but at least we have it on youtube so we can go back and watch so um i may come back um in a month and welcome the new board so i'll leave all that welcoming to the next meeting and let us move to a conclusion thank you all right it's uh it's bittersweet it's one of those you know it's i've thought about this day for a few at least a few months and just kind of figuring out you know where
138it is you know the the one thing i can say for certain is you know the the road doesn't end here today it's just it ends in in a title which you know for those of you on the in this desk and just in in this room know i hate the word boss i mean you know it's i i feel like we are we've built this thing this around as a team and you know although we have the the the district privilege of being called a board member or ultimately you know having been elected by the community you know this if if anyone thinks that we as a single board member or a collective board do this alone uh you know no one's paying attention this we're only as good as our as our weakest
139link um and the companies that i that i have you know i'm only as good as the staff that's behind me it's you know and it's been that way for 20 plus years of of being self-employed you know it's uh you you you've got to hire from you know you've got to hire the best and brightest and and know that you can trust in them and you know the the staff has made it easy for us and they're i should say easier this you know this past year has been uh you know one for the record books i i think you know to all of to all of our folks who i've uh had uh you know cordial conversations and email correspondence with i think if most of you knew what the staff from teachers
140to are you know to csea aft immense admin staff have gone through in this last year to really keep things running there should be nothing but awe it's you know it's it's one of those things that you know it's it is definitely it's definitely been a year um but you know i wouldn't have changed it in the sense that you know if asked to do it i do it all over again preferably without the masks and everything but the the concept of you know i'm not leaving here going thank goodness it's over um but it's not over you know it's i will i will be i will publicly say i'm always available to help and will do what what needs to be even without the title um it's not it's really it's it's always been
141about the kids it's it's you know that's what how it started and that's that's how that that's how it will continue uh you know mike mike brad and i got uh brought together 8-ish years ago uh neither one of us really knew each other at the time i mean we knew cursorly you know we were introduced but you know the one thing that brought us together and united us to run together and ultimately has been for the last eight years is you know it's always been about the kids it's not about agendas it's not about we have this pet project we have this it's always been what can we do to make this district better uh you know we came in with some ideas you know increased the reserves things you know that you know
142re reasonable things but ultimately you know you know the the previous board had significantly hard decisions to make and you know if you look back you know we had district trucks that were 20 30 40 years old that we were able to replace we've been able to put fields in and whatever and and and i'm not saying this to to our horn it's been it's more of a community effort to make this district better and you know it's it's it's been a pleasure doing it and it's a it's something that you know i look back i think back to the days i've said this to many people you know when when our district when our campuses didn't have fences around them and as a parent it pissed me off when those defenses went up as
143a board member i totally get it um you know and it's it's it really you know and it's one of those things when you see both sides of the of the of the coin you really you really understand you know the differential but you know i i leave leave it as a board member knowing that we've done the best we can and you know you know we haven't been perfect but it's it's never been for any reason other than to do to do our best for the community and the kids um yeah it's you know starting with our labor partners it's you know monica and sarah you know i it it really is having talked to enough districts surrounding us and otherwise i think the community owes our teachers a significant debt of gratitude beyond
144what you already get you know it's with all the rhetoric going on with going on in other districts and the teachers don't want to come back they don't want to do anything you know it's as was correctly said earlier tonight earlier today you know yeah we don't always disagree we don't always agree but we always come to a it's a happy meeting and you know the best part of a negotiation is everyone leaves unhappy um it's you know it's it when the times are good we we made sure we we supported it when the times are not so good you guys have stepped up and taken and and supported us and so uh it's really you know i i i as i look at other districts as i look at other boards and what they
145go through uh frankly i don't think i would be here at this point just because it's not i mean it's i'm not saying it's not worth the fight but it's it's it's got to be part of the team and so uh to you both into the cabinet you know to your cabinet thank you uh to our cabinet uh as far as it goes from annette to susan nikki uh anthony and everyone else and i and i know i'm gonna i'm forgetting and i'm not intending to but you know you guys are the best of the best it's it's been you know to watch you watch each of you guys ascend and move you know around this district um you know i've learned a tremendous amount and it's and but i'm not an educator don't claim
146to be one but you know but it's but you've you know sometimes i you know i get off on a tangent but i you know and you know you show me why i'm wrong and that's okay and you know and there are other times it's like i'll stand firm and just say nope this is what we need this is what i believe and you know and again it's all it's all part of having a collaboration but you know no matter what happens um we you know whether we disagree here in the room we leave it at the door and and we continue to move forward and so you know it's it is it really that i think that's what makes this place special uh you know to steven it's i think uh mike and brad
147said it best is it's you hire the best and you know and you and you don't accept mediocrity and if you do i mean we uh we do something about it and you know it's we've all we've all made mistakes we've all stumbled but it really it's it's reflecting on there and it's made this this last uh eight years you know worth worth being here uh to derek and his team you know it's it's uh it's an unenviable project process to to have to manage all the ins and outs of all this stuff and especially in this past past year and you know um dare i will freely say i've given derek lots of crap this year uh and you know some earned but some some probably not but he's always been gracious he's always
148taken taken it and you know and and and done it and you know but it's you know it's again it's always been about the kids and about where it is uh to ricardo you know it's he really keeps things running around here you know it's uh it's it's said many times and it's not said lightly it's you know it's beyond appreciative it makes makes us look better and you know so to that end you know i you know i've said to him privately but you know thank you um to my to the board it's you know to each of you i mean it's the one thing if you watch this board is you can always you always know where where someone's at i mean no no one here you know is hides behind anything if
149they have something to say they say it uh but we can consistently you know from i mean we're all very diverse and we're all very um you know we all have different backgrounds but we all but we all focus on our strengths to get there and you know it's and that's that's probably the single greatest thing i think we we can take from this last eight years from this group as well as you know with anita and laura when they were here is you know it's it's everybody really wants what's best for our community and you know i'm grateful to to mike and brad you know for the last many years of uh that we've been together uh you know running together and you know really being a part of what this is uh david
150you know i remember meeting david uh when i need i ran into them at uh catalina coffee and when he was meeting with with anita when he was discussing running for school board and at the time there was a discussion with someone else that anita was thinking about running with and immediately after the conversation was like nope i'm running with david and you know and in essence everyone needs to get behind it and i mean there wasn't a question when i left the meeting that that you were the right person for the job and you know and i i love the passion that you bring to to things you know you you're you're one of those that you speak up when you want to be heard and other and other times you you you when
151you agree you you're you're you're with us and you know most people think that we have you know i've i've heard over the years the accusation that we rubber stamp things but i can promise you one thing this board does not rubber stamp anything um we we receive [Music] updates every week the staff gives us updates we spend a lot of time and energy reviewing talking to staff getting information so by the time it hits this board it's already done i mean it's already done meaning we've already have our questions out out here we're ready to go uh you know our meetings of late have been two plus hours but you know our meetings used to be 30 40 minutes and again you know it's it's because we've everybody's done their due diligence and you
152know that's something uh that people need to understand is the staff goes to great lengths to make sure we have everything that we need so that we can we can make a thoughtful decision uh when we come to the table um as far as the board last but certainly not least is raymar yeah this year you you you you and i have become uh uh you know this one person called it what was it uh our brown act buddy uh but i mean you and i have talked about as much as i've talked to my family this year um but yeah and no it's i i i say that with with great respect i mean you you've you know you've always been willing to dig in if there's a problem you're always there to be
153a sounding board or ultimately if we've got something to go that needs to go you know we've been a united front as far as you know to make sure that you know if if we agree on something that we want it we want to get it done we do it and you know i i think more than anybody this [Music] this year as far as on the board is concerned and really not discounting anybody uh with all respect but i mean you you've put in more hours and time and energy you know to to really uh help bring this forward and get us get everything back to some sense of normalcy and although we're not there yet we're we're very rapidly increasing there so you know i thank you thank you for the time and
154dedication this year and uh you know i look forward to uh to watching you ascend to the seat in a few weeks and uh and leave the district uh lead the board as i know you will uh to my family you know it's this is uh you know it's bittersweet they know i enjoy doing what i do but at the same token they uh i think they will be happy to to have a trip or two where i'm not on the phone all the time uh school school board stuff i wouldn't change it and and they know it but without their support it really is it really wouldn't allow me to do what what i what i do um i'm going to read a bit of my school news to finish which i think encapsulates
155basically where it is and i think i've covered it but just it took a lot of time to write it and think that it's worth saying so uh the past year seen a global pandemic take over our community requiring us to have our students and staff adapt to a do to an online learning environment and a new way of life in my wildest imaginations this is not how i saw my last year on the board playing out with with my high school senior last year having an online graduation and my high school freshman not having stepped on campus yet things are definitely different what has definitely not changed is our amazing staff and their commitment to your children what hasn't changed is this community wanting the best for our children and what hasn't changed is
156our commitment to returning your children back to our campuses and our return to normalcy as i've turned out many people have asked that and said that i must be relieved to leaving the board and the answer is no i would welcome the opportunity to serve another four years and continue with the great great things that this district stands for changes occur in life and like this pandemic we know that things can change in an instant the one thing that hasn't and will never change is how dedicated each and every staff member at rbsd is to ensure the best education for your children i want to personally thank all of our staff at rbusd because without you we're just another district it's been an honor to work uh with you over the last last eight great
157years to my fellow board members mike and brad over the last eight years david and raymer are david for six and ramer for two and former board members anita for six and laura for two i'm proud to call each of you a friend and to thank you for your selflessness and dedication to this community we have all we all have regrets in life but working together with this amazing team will not be one of them thank you for allowing me to serve our usd and his community it's been an honor of a lifetime all right so i can get to the last two seconds of this ah yes calendar of events apparently we're coming back next week so sorry folks we get to do this all over again uh looking forward um spring break is
158next friday and the following week uh april 27th uh swearing in god willing we can all be here and welcome our new three members and uh may 11th may 25th next meeting and the 31st is memorial day um i don't think we have any future agenda items unless david ramer does so we can come up with something for you guys to talk about yeah well you didn't didn't the last board when they came in goes well we're going to hand you over the new logo as our future agenda item and then they left so we'll have to think of something for next week so do another logo yeah no we're not doing another logo look so all right let's do let's adjourn this meeting um motion and second to adjourn second all those in favor
159say aye sorry student advisor about all those in favor say aye aye we are turned you