Robla School District Board Meeting -May 2, 2025

001Okay, let the record show that uh present our trustees and trustee Cardona. Trusty Barn is on his way and unfortunately uh trustee Hamilton starts and uh trustee Divine will not be able to join us this evening. Uh item 2B, we're going to go ahead and uh adopt the agenda. Well, I guess yeah, it's a workshop, so we don't even necessarily need to adopt the agenda. Uh we're going to now go on to public comment. And uh I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to go ahead and open up public comment. Um uh first of all, I want to apologize for not being able to be here at uh at the previous meeting uh where this item was this where this issue was discussed. Unfortunately, I had a work-related uh job that basically had me

002out of town. I want to say that I was just I was in awe and of the amount of of community input and how people who were passionate came before this body and uh expressed their opinions, expressed their concerns and asked their questions uh with a great deal of of of respect uh and as well as passion for uh for their positions. Um I wish I could say that that was true of everyone who spoke. Uh for those who did not, I would just ask you in the future just consider the fact that uh this is, you know, the folks that sit up here, the folks that make these decisions that that that do this uh that are members of this body. Uh you know, we do this because we care about this community and

003we care about the kids. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that we get everything right. We don't. I'm not going to tell you that we always have the correct process. The truth is that some that sometimes we don't. Uh what we would ask is that uh much like we do with one another, even when we have disagreements uh on values, even when we have disagreements on position, we always communicate to one another and discuss topics with the understanding and the belief that those engaging in that conversation are doing so because they they too like like myself and like you care about this community. And with that, we give them the respect. When I say that we respect, I mean we we ask them questions in in a in a in a polite

004in a polite manner even when we're passionate and even sometimes angry or frustrated. Uh and we give them an opportunity to answer those questions uh with the expectation that we may not necessarily hear what it is that we want to hear but with the expectation that we are going to hear the truth. So with that, as we go forward today, uh the purpose of this meeting is to kind of talk a little bit about this process to help make sure that we are all on one page when it comes to how this process works when it comes to understanding what the early literacy pro or the uh I'm sorry, the extended learning program is understand a little bit about it historically, what has changed. Uh we're going to talk a little bit about the RF

005process as we go forward. We're going to talk a little bit about what is in that RFP, how that came to be, uh who sat on the committee that scored the various different things and then then try to think about what what are some of the options that we can have going forward. Uh one other thing I wanted to make very very clear. I know that some people were concerned because this item got pulled from the last agenda and I want to tell you that this goes back to the very first thing that I started talking in this meeting and that was that there were so many people here who were passionate about this and passionate about supporting the organization, some of the organizations that had already been here and provided for us. Uh the

006removal of that item from the agenda was the fact was because you were heard. The members who were here heard you and wanted to make sure that we considered everything that we could possibly consider before taking action on this item. It wasn't an attempt to not address your concerns. It was literally as an it was literally because we heard your concerns and we scheduled this meeting here once again so that we can hear your concerns. Um anyway, that's all I wanted to say in particular on that. What I also wanted to note was we are not going to be discussing specific providers as a part of this. We're once again we're going to be talking about the process with that. I also know that there are probably people here who want to advocate on behalf

007of a particular provider. Uh if that is the case right now during this opportunity during this part of public comment, we'll do the opportunity for you to address for for you to address the board. I I want to also recognize that uh as we go through each item, some people are going to have uh some people are going to have questions. Uh at that point I would ask that you uh that you that you ask questions. We're going to be doing a public comment card. Um we'll give you the opportunity sometimes if we're moving a little fast may want to raise your hand and ask a question. If we don't get the public comment card first, I would ask that you fill out the public comment card so that we at least can get on

008record who asked who asked the question. Uh, and then with that, I would ask that you give the person give give staff, give the board an opportunity to actually answer the question. Um, what I will also be doing, if you're asking questions or making comments that are not necessarily relevant to that particular item, uh, if it's an item that's coming up later, I I might ask you to please, you know, hold that comment or hold that question. if it's regarding an item, if it's regarding boarding a specific uh specific provider, uh the only way in which I would probably say that would be appropriate is if it speaks to that particular item that we're talking about the question that's being discussed right there. Is that is that fair enough? Okay. Thank you once again. I

009very much appreciate you. I know there's probably a million other things that you would rather be doing on a Friday evening. Uh but the fact that you are here demonstrates how much you care about this item and you care about how we care about our students. So with that um I will start asking is there anybody who would like to address the board on an item that is not on the agenda or or or or advocate specifically regarding uh a specific provider. Yes ma'am. Sorry. As you were talking, so just to be clear, you started off with reference to the last meeting. Yes, ma'am. In terms of respect and everything on on the side of the people who were in the audience. Yes, ma'am. Did you say or I'm sorry since I just walked in

010late, did you make comment as to anything in terms of the board being 45 minutes late with starting the meeting, not addressing all of the community members here as to why the board was late and then taking a five minute recess and then laughing and smiling as the board walked out. in terms of respect and human decency. Was any of that addressed on the side of the board? And removing the item and removing item and removing the item because just to be clear because I mean I know I'm walking in late but I'm walking in late and it seems like the community is being chastised for for the rightfully so emotions that the community had without any accountability on the board side as to the board being extremely late, not stating as to why, smiling

011and laughing in the faces. And I'm I don't know why, but that doesn't seem very respectful. And then when we were asked we were asking questions in terms of what's going on, why are we starting late? Why is this so funny? It was no comment, five minute recess, figure it out after starting 45 minute minutes late when there were many children, many families that were here. So I'm just want to be clear. If we're telling us to take accountability, I feel the board should take some as well. And and I think that I think that's fair. Uh, one, let me apologize for the boards for that board meeting starting late sometimes when they're in the we're in the middle of discussions and deliberations. It we lose track of time and and and I wish I

012could give you a better answer. I wish I could tell you that that that I give you a better I I wish I could tell you better. I wasn't here so I wasn't privy to necessarily what the discussions were in close session but I do know that we often have very important items that need to be discussed and sometimes sometimes we run over and uh I all I can do is apologize uh I like you respecting people's time is very very important to me and I apologize that uh that we did not respect your time uh in regards to in regards to why they came out late keep in mind the things that discussed in close session often times of a legal matter, legal nature or personnel matter. And we can't share with you what

013we were discussing uh in close session. We can only really discuss actions, meaning votes that are taken in close session. So once again, it's it's not that we don't want to tell you what we were talking about. It's that we're not allowed we really are not allowed to to discuss what goes on in close session what goes on or the discussions in close session. But but you are correct. Respect being respectful of your time. Um, you know, I can tell you that I I did watch the meeting. Uh, I do know that uh emotions were running very very high. Uh, I do know that uh, you know, I I hope I'll just say this and I I hope that I would have if had I been here that day that I would have responded uh

014and and had the level of decorum that would have been that would have been appropriate. But I I will admit to you I would have been a little frustrated and smiling would have probably been a coping mechanism for me uh if I felt like I were being disrespected quite quite frankly just like as uh for many of you. You had your responses because you felt like you were disrespected. So uh I would just uh I would ask forgiveness uh and uh and I would just say that you know once again I'm not I'm not here to make excuses. Uh hopefully I can provide some explanations uh to the degree that we can. But just once again know that that the the fact that that the item was held and I and this was one of

015the things that I did discuss the fact that the item was held is well it it's in response to your input because and I'll just be real. If we had passed the item well then for those of you who are here on behalf of folks who are already providers they would not have been approved providers. If we had voted it down, they would not have been had the opportunity to have been approved providers. We would have had to start all over again. By pulling the item, it gave us the opportunity to have this meeting to discuss things and see what it is that we can do move that we can do going forward. So once again, it wasn't out of disrespect. Uh it wasn't done because we weren't listening. It was done in fact because

016the board members who were here were in fact listening to you and they heard you. Are there any other comments that are not that are not addressing an item that is on the agenda? Yes, ma'am. I'm here to express my disappointment in the committee membership and how that affects the overall process for selection. I hope that there's still time to incorporate print feedback equitably and that these considerations will be taken into account in the future. First, I'm disappointed that the school board did not choose this opportunity to align with their core goal of increasing parent, family, and community involvement. This was a perfect time to solicit parent volunteers to assist in the creation of the RFP, to provide feedback for what works currently and what could be improved upon with our current inviters, and to

017provide and to further the board's DEI goals as well. Creating a presentation like the one we're going to see today and sending it out via parent square would have not only been transparent, but it would have been forthcoming of the school district and the school board. It would have notified parents and families of this major change, this lifechanging adoption that we may have to go through and it it's also it would have been springboarded conversations in a different manner and would have increased involvement but unfortunately that didn't happen. I ask that moving forward this information is distributed via equitable communication and parent feedback is solicited and taken into consideration before decisions are made. I'm also disappointed that the board seemed ready to recklessly make life-changing decisions without any review beyond the presentations that were submitted.

018Some there was no sort of interview process of the current staff and leaders of these organizations that seemed to have been part of your decision-making. No observation of the current of of the pre of the presentations that were submitted. That should have been a part of the consideration process. This is not the same as selecting a landscaping contractor. These are living children who will have to interact daily with the outcome of your decisions and parents as well. And third, I'm disappointed that inclusion was not part of the RFP. It doesn't appear that the RFP process included any consideration for how these organizations planned planned to accommodate 504 plans, IEPs, and other important aspects of an inclusive environment. However, discipline was addressed. You did ask them how they would discipline our children. And I don't say

019that lightly. My child is one who has needed discipline in these programs. And I also want to go back to the beginning of my comment and address the school board's goals. On your website, it says that your goal are academic achievement, school climate, parent involvement, and diversity and equity inclusion. And you have your agenda items tagged for how they meet those. Parent involvement has not been tagged since 2022. DEI has not been tagged since 2022 either. However, academic achievement has been up has been tagged this year several times and it has 49 tags and school climate has a long gap between 2022 and 2025, but it was updated this year as well and has 29 tags. Current involvement has 15 and DEI has 10. Last meeting there was a lot of talk about it's on

020our website, it's on our website, but your website's not updated. and that's disappointing. It's also not updated when it comes to who your ADA uh point of contact is. It says that the previous school superintendent is your ADA contact. And we know that's not the same person who's here now. And so that's just overall disappointing that these could have been easily marked fields. This would have been a great way to include parents. And I really hope that moving forward you either solicit feedback from all the parents in It's not that hard. It's free.99 to do a Google form and get those results back to you. So, that's what we we'd like to start with today. Thank you for your book. Hi. Uh, my child goes to Taylor and um so I just want to know

021when you guys created this rubric, how did you make sure that it was equitable. I also want to know in your selection process for the committee who selected. I also want to know do any of you or any of the selectors in the committee have a personal interest with any of these six that scored highly in any way. Um I also want to know I'm sorry [Music] um also when you guys did this rubric did you guys on your form say that you guys would be be providing the check-in software and then rating these people for having check-in software. Does Robola have check-in checkout software for the children? Um, yeah. Oh, also the biggest question on your committee, was there anybody African-American? Thank Thank you for your comments. I I think in both cases at

022least some of the questions that you had are actually going to be part of uh today's presentation. Uh if if there are question answers that are not, please do us a favor and bring them back up to us so that we remember during that time to go ahead and address those. Is there anyone else who would like to address an item that is not on the agenda? Okay, with that we are going to go ahead and move forward to the work session. Oh, perfect. Okay. So, I guess my question is just this. So, we're here to see what your presentation is. And if I'm looking at the agenda correctly, there's no uh public address or comments after the presentation in in in in each section as as she finishes, we'll open it because we're going

023to have questions and comments and we'll open it up for the public to have to ask That was easy for me to say. We'll open it up for the public to be able to ask questions or give comments. I I would ask in the interest of time uh let's try I I don't want I don't want to cut people off. So I if we in the interest of time if we could try and keep it brief that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. There are public comments submitted to the website. Will they be shared right now as well for for this board workshop. Yes, it will. And just to clarify, this is a workshop. So, um there is more flexibility in conversation. So, I'm going to try to answer as much as I can. Um

024check off and then Okay. So, just to reiterate, um this is a workshop just to review the process. Again, I'm not we're not here to discuss a specific um proposal, but just to review the process and understand. I thought it was important that I really emphasize um what I tried to emphasize last last week as well as what I sent in my message on Monday, right? because there is a lot of information that's out there and I want to be clear we will be offering after school programming next year right so any concern of not having um an um a program where your child is participating that is incorrect we will be offering afterchool program next year it is free to all our students and families right and let me go back we will be

025offering after school program at every site. Similar to this year, our program will include a variety of enrichment activities. Summer will also be available this summer as well as next summer. Um we will also be providing um programs during inter session, right? Um normally our inter session is around the spring break because it's about a two week window. Um we will look to see about um interest and opportunities during our October break. Winter break is um it really it's a little funky because of um our school schedule, right? And um designated holidays. So we are looking to see if we can expand it in October if there's an interest, but we will be offering it also during spring break. Um, and one thing that we are definitely looking at is offering before school options at

026every site. Um, and I will say this doesn't answer all your questions. Um, but in terms of getting feedback, right? Um, what we did um, send a survey out are what types of activities that you are interested or you would like in our after school program. So um, I did not ask, you are correct. We did not get a survey of um evaluating our providers. That wasn't planned until the end. But I did send a survey out that was attached to the spring um message of getting your input regarding what activities um you would like um offered in our after school program. And as this is a workshop, I would love um I would love to get some feedback how to distribute that out. Many times our messages are sent out via email and parent

027square, right? Um so if that is not um the best method, we know that um many families are on it. So would love some more feedback on how to um get more um responses from surveys. Yes. posting something with a QR code when you know right now I mean at school drop off every time there's a QR code when I'm signing my child out I see that if there's something at the office um QR codes in parent square though are not effective because you can't QR code if you're reading it on your phone um I think a lot of people respond to text messages as well if you could text to a link if that's an option I know we get text messages at our school for um early dismissal. That is very important. And

028I think also I know the school district is trying to cut down on paper, but this might be one where if we have almost no flyers coming home and then we get a flyer, it tells us that's important. Um so those are just some options that maybe you can make a slight exception to with the flyers coming home. I know our school has reduced those, but um this might warrant something. And I think it's a it feels it just feels a little sneaky if you're asking what parents want in that spring. Like we didn't know why you were asking what we want to see in after school programs. We don't know that that's being used to make this kind of decision that if you put those questions in that spring survey if it feel and

029maybe I misheard you maybe like what you said is having a different intent than you meant but it sounds like you put those questions about what do we like want to see in after school programs to determine who you're going to select in this RFP. That's what it sounded like. Okay. And that feels sneaky. That was not the intent. So, so I appreciate that because then that helps me. You know, Raone takes all this information and he sends it out. These are definitely methods that we want to improve reaching out to parents to receive their um feedback. I have a question with the message you sent out on Monday. Was that on Parent Square also? I was looking back for it. It was on there. Okay. I just want to make sure I seen the

030email, but I went back to Parent Square today and I couldn't locate it. I'm gonna look at Ramon because he's the the best. Yes. But thank you for those suggestions and okay so again the objective um in the PowerPoint um here are sections that we'll go over and then um where Mr. Doo will will pause and you can ask questions regarding what was presented in the section. So, um, the history, so for for several years, right, ASUS grants um were allowed to be awarded to school districts as well as agencies, right? The city of Sacramento, the start program is an agency. So, they've had Can you say what does the acronym as stand for? Just for so folks know after after school education and safety is ASUS and then expanding learning opportunities program is ELOP

031right but specifically um why I'm mentioning um the the ASUS grant right because the city of Sacramento the start program was has been awarded the grant to serve the rob community for years and and I'm not sure how long but I've heard at the last um board meeting at least 20 years at least 20 years right so every year right when we're um when a school district or agency is planning for um this program start is awarded that grant they're also required to do all the oversight um administrative planning and then they work with the school district in terms of okay um the grant is for this many students at these sites this is how we want to advertise um they work with um all the families who are interested and they have an enrollment

032procedure as well as they have attendance requirements, right? So for 20 years, 20 plus years, it went directly to City of Sacramento and um and truly, you know, they have the the 100% oversight. They just work in partnership of where they're going to support our students, right? And I say where they're going to support our students because truly they do have an opportunity to provide services offampus, right? It doesn't necessarily have to be on our site, but we are so fortunate that we can provide all these services at our school sites. So on February 5th, I received an email that was sent to um their director from CDE, the uh California Department of Education. And what it explained was the updated language in Proposition 28, right, which outlines funding states that the ASUS grant now

033must be awarded directly to school districts and no longer agencies, right? So now um we have another grant, right, that we have to oversee that has requirements just like I can't even think of another the lowest performing block grant for example. So that now comes directly to us and we have to oversee um we have to follow the guidelines and then we have to implement it. So um and again it explains because of the change in language for Prop 28. So on February 28th I attended a meeting with um the California Department of Ed staff as well as city of Sacramento staff discussing what this transition would look like. Right. Um and then given the amount of the grant and it's 753,000 and some change right um when we're awarding that type of money or

034that amount of money I felt it was important to have a process of how are we going to um award this grant to whoever is going to provide services right logically right and my first initial thought was hey can we just give it to start to do it for one more year but because of the amount of the grant and the inquiry I received of could other vendors um have the possibility of off of how do I say offering the ASUS program then that's where I'm going to okay pause what is the process that we have in place to be fair and transparent um and so you know we decided um I decided that it was important to have a process and that process included what's called a request for proposal Let me see. Okay,

035question. Okay, I'm doing it wrong. How do I go back? Sorry. One more. Two more. And should I be going one way or the other? Yeah, this one. Okay. Okay. Any qu Thank you. Any questions on the history? Does this mean you have to make a decision prior to the start of the 2526 school year that there is no possibility to ex extend this RFP process into next school year? Let me so I I'm just processing if are you saying say that one more time. I'm sorry. So, I'm just asking like does this decision have to be made before the next school year? Like if this is an iterative process, could we keep going like I mean I suggested reviewing these other programs, visiting these programs that are like that probably can't happen or may

036not happen right in the the next two or three months in order to have them um start by the next school year. like could you take could we take our time because it it honestly seemed very very fast that two weeks after the the proposals were in you you were going to make this decision and I'm just saying like is that because there's a requirement to make this happen before the next school year I'm going to I have to think about your question. So, can we wait until next school year um to award the grants for the 2526 school year? So, my answer to that would be no. Um if you're saying that can we not follow the process then that in results means I'm awarding it rand and I'm going to say randomly or

037to our current providers. So, so does that make sense? So, if I If we do not follow the process, then we are awarding it per se or the board would be awarding it to our current provider which does not allow any other provider to do it. So, um, but you had another question too. Um, what was your other question? Oh, oh, okay. Thank you. I'm sorry. And and truly for whatever Thank you. whatever vendor, right, or provider that we're going to work work with, they do need um prepare as well as staffing, you know, staffing and prepare and really present their um actual proposal of what they're going to provide to uh be issued a contract for consideration. Just really quick, so when you guys are speaking, we do have a live feed on YouTube.

038So, if you guys don't mind waiting till I get to you to speak so that those YouTube can also hear. So what I'm trying to understand is you're saying that the grant the money that the grant you are trying to fund to the program will allow go back to the start program. It has to go a different way. Is that what I'm comprehending? So no that's not what I said. Thank you. Thank you for asking. what I said I thought it was important for us to have a process to award grants highv value grants like 750,000 as well as um if you notice in the beginning we're also awarding um uh contracts you know contract with vendors for our ELOP grant and that grant is over is about $3 million over $3 million so in

039essence the total amount that we would be awarding is almost $400 in grant funds, right? And um so I felt this the district has never had a formal process because one, we didn't have to issue the ASUS grant to anybody because the city of start a was awarded that directly, right? And then how we were um awarding contracts for ELOP the last few years, right? Did not have a process. Didn't did not have a um how do I say did not have a process where where anyone can see if they could provide services. What we did was for those that were brought I'm going to say to our attention whether it was from um a site staff or district staff right we really said yes you know and so um with this RFP process and

040it being public out there right we have received proposals from other vendors who did not know that they could submit a proposal to us to be considered okay so you're saying that you want to add add other people who different people to help monitor our children who's been doing it for 20 years and give them different um you know or you know they've been provided on so many so many other activities like the kids have been doing now the the challenge is is once again prior to this prior to this year we weren't the ones who made the determination as to who was going to be proving ing the service. Now that we have that opportunity, it's a it's a relatively large amount of money and we would be neglectful of our fiduciary responsibility. Uh

041if we just once again if we just gave it to a friend, if we just gave it to someone that we liked, we have a responsibility to see what providers are out there, what services that they can, what services that they can provide, and the quality of those services and what the cost of those services are. We do that with just about we do that with everything else in particular when we're talking about dollar amounts of this size. So we wanted to get we needed to take it we needed to look at uh and at least create the opportunity to see what else was out there. As a part of that process all of the people who are currently providers had the same exact opportunity as everyone else to submit a proposal uh which should

042have put them in a better position because you know they've been here. they have an idea of of what it is that we we should be looking for and what it is that we need. I think there was another Okay. So, I understand what you guys are saying because the funds is coming to you guys now. I understand that. So, you guys are have the opportunity now to include more vendors and I understand where you guys what you guys are saying. But as adults, we don't like change. We try our best to adapt to it. But as adults, to be honest, we don't like change. And the kids in the programs that both the programs that you guys are thinking about maybe um removing and adding new programs, the kids are already used to these

043programs. They've bond with the the um teachers. They're doing well in school and they're adapting to everything. Now with new vendors coming in as kids, they tend to like drop out not to be more social. So I understand what you guys are saying. Okay. So um just a little bit information of what is a request for proposal, right? So an RFP it's a document. it, you know, it solicits proposals from vendors for services. I know there's other information there, but really we are looking for after school um program before school program services. Um it outlines our needs and our requirements and it invites potential vendors, right, which also includes our current vendors to um submit a proposal outlining how they're going to do that. Um when is it used, right? It's normally used when you're

044looking um to secure services and really for high value product uh projects and almost $4 million of contracts being issued right um that easily could have gone to one person right or multiple right to me I think it was important that um we had a process and that's how um many times RFPs are used I meant $4 million. So we have um in total 353 753,000 and some change for ASUS and about 3.1 million for ELOP. So in total right um almost $4 million. Correct. Yes. Yes. Yes. to service all the five schools. Yes. Okay. This is just technical. Any questions on RFP or Okay. Okay. Um here is a nice graphic timeline that Mr. Farardo uh um mentioned or put together. Simple. So, as I mentioned, February 5th, we were informed. Um March 24th

045is when we issued uh the RFP. um April 14th is when they were due. And then um the committee met on um in April. And then what you saw last week was the staff recommended to um to move forward six vendors for consideration. I'm I'm just going to wait. I'm just going to wait real quick because my next one is easier. I'm just mine's easier. I should So I'm just going to repeat. So the the RFP was posted um on our website as well as in the Sacramento B on March 24th, right? It we also did inform all our vendors, our current vendors. And when I say current vendors, I want to be transparent. Um it is not just the three vendors, right? We have a lot of um supplemental vendors, right? Um they might

046be um they might provide services through one of our programs. For example, we partner with um United Way to do literacy and they do work for students in that are enrolled in the start program, right? We have um at Glenwood, I know there is a company that um does sewing, right? And while the it is housed at Glenwood, it is open to all the students in our district. they would just be transported to Glennwood or um food literacy. Food literacy is another supplemental contract that um that provides um services to the students in the start program. So when I say all the vendors were um aware of the RFP, it's all our you know supplemental vendors or I say baby vendors. Yes. You don't find that I've never seen an RFP process go that fast.

047you don't as a board see how fast you're speeding it up. And so then you're expecting current vendors within a two week timeline to get an RFP done while they're actively still implementing the program and then have that turnaround and turned into you guys. And you're trying to automatically start that this within the 25 26 school year, which I'm assuming is probably already planned out in terms of the schools, in terms of calendars and everything anyway. And then we're still we were still being told to apply for summer programs and after school programs that now may potentially be up on the the chopping block. You don't like you don't see I'm I'm just surprised at how fast the turn I've never seen anything especially with schools that are known for moving turtlike speed. how fast

048this this was turned around and then with parents only being told literally the week of the meeting that this is what is happening on a larger scale. I know you're saying it was put out there but a majority of us are saying and I've even checked with the school that my kids no one really heard of any of this and just looking at how fast this is just strange how fast this is all happening. I recognize that um there there are some RFPs that are lengthier and some that might be two weeks, right? Um I recognize, you know, like I said, this is the first time that we've done it. It's definitely, you know, feedback that we will take into consideration when we do the next RFP, but um one one okay one other question

049too. And then with everything is is happening and and all these funds and how fast everything is, why would it what? And so one question the funds are for the the academic year only they're not able to roll over transfer year to year is my first question. So the funds that you're awarded for 20 they're only for 25 26 school year or can they roll over? So the ASUS grant and I will be honest right so like I said we this is the first time that um we've been awarded the ASUS grant but it's my understanding the ASUS grant is for the that that designated school year. Yes. Actually, you know, I don't have a problem asking uh this is a workshop, right? So, it's not a formal meeting. I don't have a problem asking

050um start if uh ASUS grants can be rolled over into the next school year. Yeah. Well, yes. No, I think Wait, can I just No, can I just clarify? So, the grant is 753,000 and some change for the 2526 school year, right? So, each year it is 753,000 and some change for a three-year grant. Okay. Yes. Yes. Please be mindful that we have audience I mean online and we want to make sure that they hear information getting your exercise today. Yes. So then my second part is then with everything that is happening, why not allow the current people who are or the current providers to continue doing what they're doing? because I also know that each school is contracting out like you said the food program, the sewing program, there's freedom school and I'm not

051sure if they're contracted under the start or if they're a separate entity but either way allow it to continue happening while this process is extending while extending out this process andor allowing those contractors to come in under the start program just to make sure that they are following everything the way that the board as well as the community are would like it to continue and then at for the next cycle allow them to be their own standalone providers. So I'm looking at Joanne. That's why I'm smiling. So I don't want you to think smiling. So So let me just provide some clarity, right? So start has their own programs, but a program like food literacy and united way that's a contract directly with the robust school district, right? And then they right now in its

052current um uh design, right? They provide these services to the students only in the start program, right? Well, no, no. Okay. Um I know I don't want to try to talk about vendors, but I will. So, let's just say we have um Robert's Family Development Center who is at Taylor exclusively of Taylor. We have the Stark program at all five sites, right? So, um the ASUS grant and I'm just going to be whole numbers, okay? The ACES grant supports 100 students. It's really 83 students, but 100 students. And then start had an additional contract for ELOP, right, to serve an additional 100 students. The contract that um we have with the Roberts Family Development Center, United Way, Food Literacy, those are all directly from the school district using ELOP funds. Okay? So that's why when

053we when I put a slash ASUS and ELOP, it's because they're used together um to provide, you know, uh a more comprehensive service. Okay, one more. I know we need to move forward, but um so I know that it says on the you guys chose six providers that you guys are considering as approved vendors. um it shows on the website who you guys are considering. However, I did not see Start as one that you guys are considering. And one of my main questions to me that is um what did you guys agree on that you guys feel that STAR is lacking for it not to be proposed as a vendor to continue? Okay. As you mentioned, we're not going to talk about specific um specific vendor proposals, but I'll go through the process of the

054RFP and then at the very end of um the slides um there were I think we have two slides of what made some uh proposal strong as well as um a slide maybe a slide or two about what um could have strengthened a proposal. Okay. Okay. So um so we we issued out an RFP and then by if there was any questions or clarifications um those um potential providers had to submit the questions um by April 2nd. Um it is on the back of the document. It's called the FAQs that is also available. Um there was a a rubric that we will go over. Um a committee was formed. So here here is where I'll discuss the committee and I'm going to share the process for the committee um in in conception and I will

055recognize upfront right that there is not a teacher or a parent on the committee right to implement the process. So this is absolutely an area that we can u improve on. But when when we are looking on at um um following and administering the rubric, reviewing these proposals and look and applying the rubric to the proposals, right? The um the reasoning or who was on the committee and why, right? And I'm going to give positions not not necessarily individuals positions. Right? So we have our director of curriculum and assessment, right? So the programs that we offer before school, after school and inter session really should complement our curriculum, right? We have the director of state and federal programs and our English learners, right? So from the lens of this is a grant and all the

056requirements that required for a grant as well as um ensuring that we keep in mind of all our students when we talk about equity it's not just English learners you know it is um I'm somehow addressed the IEP 504 I'm can figure out where I'm going to address it um and then we had a site administrator right um we had our chief of technology right um with all the requirements and all the the things that are required to support our programs and our chief of technology has a plethora of experience with R um RFPs and then we had um my um executive assistant who really manages a lot of I'm going to say nuts and bolts you know um that are requirements for all our um programming. So let me just so there was a

057question is there a check-in software system right um I will say that we will be required to use one next year right do we have one currently that we use this year with all our providers the answer is no not one um electronic do we have a system yes we do right so they all our providers take daily attendance and then I believe they submit them monthly to um to our office and then we have our staff enter them into our um student database. Um so we when we have to provide reports of opportunity and access we have that but do we have one electronic system? No. Are we in the process? Yes. because we do know that the new requirements next year for ELOP will require um an electronic system that really talks to

058our current SIS um system Q. Okay. So, I have a question about the committee. Um, so my question is, it's Elliot Lopez, Mario Pinman, Cindy Lion, Ramon Fada, uh, Sean Foley, Lena Tran, Megan Janowitz, Stephanie Cory, or Alejandra Kabardo have children that go to these after school programs and how were they selected for this committee? Like, do they actually know what goes on in these programs? So, all the individuals that you listed are site assistant principles. So, other than the directors, but the last are all site assistant principles and part of their job responsibility is to to support and over to to support the ELO programs at their site. So, I would safely assume that they've been in the programs to know what is happening um at their site. Um, was there uh an African-American

059member on the committee? The answer is no. Why was there not an African-American member on the committee? Um, look at our demographics in this area. Yeah. No, you are correct. So, so there there wasn't no she had mentioned that that is that we have to work on. I I agree. So, I apologize for that. Um there wasn't in terms of the positions that I named. Um we did not have I I could actually I could have had a principal, but I had an assistant principal on the panel um instead of a principal. So, that is definitely something to consider for next year. Okay. I think that's okay. And oh, I'm sorry. 2526 school year. No, no, no, no. For the So the RFP is only for one year, the 2526 school year. This is the

060first time. So I felt it was important that we do another RFP for the following years as opposed to it is it is too late to um Yes. Because the RFP process of the evaluation the proposals are already completed. Yes. Yes. Yes. So I I understand right um I understand right you know and and I do understand but in terms of the creation of the committee the positions and and in terms of applying the rubric to these propo proposals to oversee it is area of opportunity I recognize um let me just finish and then um then we I can answer because I see your hand. Um, so we received 26 proposals. We did receive 26 proposals. Staff recommended the top six to be considered. That was what the um board agenda item was last week.

061Okay. Good. And to be to be clear, as a part of that consideration, it wasn't it was specifically based on the the information included in the rubric and scoring how they met whatever was there in the rubric. So regardless of who was evaluating it, they're supposed to score it according to what is in the rubric. kind of like if you're doing a math test and you're scoring you're scoring the answers. Doesn't matter who's doing the scoring as long as everybody as long as the they're meeting the the the the areas that's in the score. And let me answer one more question. It was does anyone on I think you meant did you say the board or the committee for both? Okay. Have a have a personal interest in any of the six high scoring recommendations?

062I'm going to say no, but I'm going to have to get back to you because I was thinking of the committees. I can answer no, but I I would have to check with the board assuming it's no, but I will get back to you. Okay. Thank you. So, I understand that the recommendations have been made. Are you guys going to go through an interview process? And in that interview process, are you going to have a committee that better represents the students and the parents and the staffing? Because you can't go back on the first part, but moving forward, I would assume there's going to be an interview process because anybody can look good. paper that doesn't mean that they present well. So when is the interview process? I I think that that's a great question

063and I think near the uh as a part of this process we're going to be talking about next steps and that's I think that would be a great time to talk about that. Thank you. Move me along. Move me along. If if we could just for the once again for the sake of time if we can get through the section on the history and then save all questions for regarding the history and the timeline for at the end of that that section uh and then do that for the for the various sections going forward. if we could save our questions for the end of the section. Uh that way I think we can move this along a little bit faster because in some cases some of your questions may wind up being answered as a

064part of uh as a part of the superintendent's presentation. Craig, I don't think this question is going to be answered but maybe. So you said that it was your answers were based on your rubric, right? Your rubric. Who created that rubric? Uh that is actually part of the presentation. So here is the rubric and the sections of the rubrics. There are six sections in the rubrics and over a 100 points. 20 points for addressing program needs, elements of high quality programming, program evaluation, program design, professional development and program funding. Right? So those are all the six aspects. Right? So in creation of the rubric, right? Um staff did create the rubric. What we did was we looked at multiple rubrics um multiple RFP proposals and rubrics for many districts and put together um our rubric

065I mean our RFP and our rubric as simple as that. So um I know you're taking pictures. We do have hard copies available in the back. Okay. Okay. Just if Oh okay okay. But we did we did print hard copies of the rubric as well as the questions and the RFP. So so I could read it. I could read it. I could read it. So the first section, Mr. Ramon said I should read it. I usually don't read word for word, but I will. Um addressing program needs. Describe how the proposed program components will address the needs of the district students and families. The program or provider will support the district board of education approved strategic goals for the district by providing systems and structures for student support and must align with the district goals

066focusing on building relationships between families, students, staff to ensure schools are supportive, inclusive and safe environments that maximize learning. Right? And so when the committee is looking at this section, this is the overall description. And here are the element the 11 elements um that um that were taken into consideration for scoring this section. Now I know you guys are all reading. Would you like me to give you time to read it or would you like me to read all 11 or I'll give you time? Okay. Here is where I will address um the concern regarding if a proposal um address IEPs in 504. Right. So truthfully, if in a student's IEP, right, it requires them to have access to after school programming or a five or four, right? That is where the provider will work

067with the district in partnership. We recognize that many of our providers um are not certificated staff, right? Or not qu um classified staff where our classified employees might um they have requirements to be um an instructional a supporting our students with disabilities with an IEP. So, it um it it would not be like, how do I say, it would not be uncommon for a provider not to um to outline the details of supporting. they might say something. We will work with the district to ensure that the IEP or 504 is adhered to because the district has um um the qualifications. We have the certificate of staff or we have the um classified employees that have the ret the the training. So it it would not it's just being mindful of that. Yes. I I understand

068that. I think that sounds nice, but I think in practice, that's not always how it's carried out. Currently, with my child on a 504 plan, I invite the start director to come to the meeting. They weren't able to because of my lack of preparation, time, and all that. But when I have my 504 plan for my child, I take it to the director and I say, "Here you go." And they do their best to implement it. they talk to this student's teacher and maybe that's above and beyond but if that's not in the program like that's just one of those things that like it's hard to describe but it's an amazing benefit and you can't put it in a in a proposal and we work through it all year long and there's times when I

069go to the director and say you know is your teacher following it because I noticed there's a lot of x y and z happening can you just touch base with your teacher and they go oh yeah let me refresh them with that we've provided things that are in the 504 plan like says the parent provides us. Anything we provide to the classroom teacher, we provide to the current program. Like that's where we're looking to see is that type of relationship going to be continued? Can we hope for that, expect that? Like where will our children be taken care of to that degree? Um and I think that's where my question comes from and that's where I I think the program is missing. And I think they could address that. You could have asked for how

070they would h handle those kind of situations. Yeah. Hi, good evening. So, my name is Angelina Esbar and I'm the mother of Erica Hernandez. She goes to Taylor. I've had other children um go to Taylor as well. She is disabled. I have no problems with her being in the start program. They've always been attentive. They always communicate. They've always reached out. They have access to medication if needs be um based on, you know, her situation. And with other vendors coming in, I'm not too comfortable with her um not being able to transition, you know, accordingly and be able to be around the people that have been providing services for her. So, with the start program, I really recommend having them. I don't know, Miss Shen yourself, if you have children. Um, I'm a prov I'm

071a medical assistant at Kaiser and I know that, you know, everything makes a difference and even just saving one life can make a difference. I'm here today. So, I strongly agree that, you know, the start program continue being there and being in the proposal. I don't understand why they weren't even named in the proposal or considered, but it is something that should be, you know, fully considered and evaluated. I don't know if there's any amendments you guys can do to your new proposal, but it's always something that you can do. We do it in the medical field. Um, I represent part of the union. Um, we're very strong and, you know, I'm ready to take on a lot more than just, you know, taking taking the easy way out for, you know, any the school

072district. If you guys are truly um considerable about the school district running, you know, smoothly and good for the benefit of the children, you guys have an oath and the children should be your guys' first safety and they are very comfortable where they are now. I don't think that anything should be fixed if it's not broken. Thank Thank you. Um, as I noted earlier, we're not making any decisions regarding and this conversation is not about any any specific vendor. Uh, we're really focusing right now on the process. So, I want to make sure that the that the comments that we're getting or the questions that we're getting are specific to the area that we're talking about. Um, and that we're not necessarily I mean, once again, we're not ad this is not about advocating for

073one particular vendor. uh we're we just want to work together to try and understand the process and then as we go forward to talk about to talk about next steps uh what should be involved in those next steps. Oh, should I go back to Oh, yes. Hang on. Oh, well, I think I remember. So, when I was reading through the questions, like what was part of their RFP? Oh, was there ever a question about like how does the staff like um are they relatable to the students? Like one of the things I like about Robert Development Center is that I went to SAK State, but there's a lot of young men that are men of color that are part of that after school program that go go or have been to SAK State. So, one

074of the things I like for my son is that I'm always having him wear SAK State stuff. So, they know him as a SAK State kid, but there's that connection. He's already like I take him to things at Sax State. There's like that awareness of like going to college, having other men that look like him who are already in that process. Is that something that you guys looked at with the new proposals, especially with so many young boys of color that go to this school? And I don't know, I was reading it. I didn't see anything specific about that. I did have to step out for a second. Well, this is the next section which is program design and you'll see the the first line. Describe how the programs proposed programs unique features will address

075the needs of their district students and their families especially for students of color and how the program is expected to improve student learning. So, that is, you know, one of there's more information there that you guys now have all the proposals. I would ask along those lines and and is there a question involved in the RFP that addresses the issue of uh community engagement and relatability? For example, the hiring of staff or or staff that already existed uh past past uh engagements either within the community or within similar communities. Is there anything in the RFP any questions regarding those? I don't maybe program program design let's see the section of program design so program design fees we want to make sure that our families know there's no fees um for anything in the after school

076program you know this is free to all our families um the ratios it's important when a a proposal the ratios for first to sixth grade is 20 to1 and TK the staff ratio is 10 to1. So I'm trying to see it's under professional development. Okay. So Ramon says professional development if we don't address it in professional development please um um bring that up. Um ASUS has a requirement regarding early release policies. Um and we wanted to be clear that you know the the proposal was for 180 days and then um in the supplemental FAQs it asks about are we offering summer and inter session? The answer is yes. Um program promotional materials registration notices statements must be provided in English and students primary home language Spanish. Um, I know that, um, when we send messages

077out, we send it also out in Russian as well as Mong. So, we could work to see if we need to send out more material um, in those languages. Question regarding design section. There it is. Oh, I just answered my question. Yes, I found it. Just to be transparent, I have this thing with my staff and I set their questions and on the side I'll go two, three, four, five, and then I move. Okay. Um, the next section is elements of a high quality programming. And you'll see goal one, partner with before school program providers to deliver programming that is hands-on, engaging, student center, results driven, and fosters um, childhood joy. Goal two, provide enrichment and educational program elements, especially literacy to assist students academic advancement. Goal three, improve attendance of participating students during the

078school year and the afterchool program. Four, increase positive student behaviors during school hours by providing significant social emotional learning opportunities for all students um to feel safe, inclusive, and a caring environment. Excuse me. Five, support a well-trained and caring staff to develop positive relationships and build connections between students, parents, and the school community. And then um in the RFP um there is a PDF where it talks about um uh quality standards questions regarding elements of a high quality program. Okay. Um professional development. This area is ranked with 10 points. Describe how ongoing professional development will be conducted based on staff needs. Include the types of professional development often offered how often and by whom the program um okay now I'm reading and before you guys would read by yourself. Do you want me to read

079this or do you want to read it on your own? This is a workshop I could ask like this. Okay, read it. The program provider will ensure the program manager, site director, site coordinator attends regular professional development and seeks out professional development for all staff they supervise at site. They have to describe how professional development offerings will be continually assessed and evaluated. The program provider will collect reliable and valid data and outcome measures as determined by a collaborative process with the district that addresses the performance indicators for the program. Um they will describe how the program will enlist, utilize, orient and train their employees, how the organization will ensure supervision and safety, student safety when um staff is on site. And all employees who support um EOP or ASUS programs must follow all district policies,

080procedures, and practices and all federal and state laws. Questions on professional development? Okay. So I understand the process that you're explaining on what these vendors have to submit and submit. Um but everything these this can easily be manipulated into these pretty words to make to make to persuade you to convince and be proposed to however um for parents view I don't you think that maybe we should have for the proposed vendors a presentation just like this for individual the individual considered vendors so we can get to know see a preview of what it is that you guys are proposing with those individual vendors. Yes. Are all of these people fingerprinted that are going to be around our children? That is a requirement. Yes. To be clear, that is a legal requirement. I just have like

081a I guess question slashc comment. I see on the FAQ it says regarding administrative and indirect cost that there's a administrative costs that are capped at 15%. Does that mean salaries for these the staff like administrative costs refers to that's the most amount of money from the grant that can be used to fund these salaries? No. Um, and I'm asking that in this question because I'm wondering like it would have been nice also if there was something in there about ensuring either some kind of annual cost of living increase or pay increase for the staff that are going to be employed through these programs especially in the times that we are facing right now. If if I understand generally when they're talking administrative costs they're talking about administering the program. Most programs in education or

082quite frankly in most entities or businesses mo the biggest expense is always going to be salary. So that's not generally included in the administrative part of it. That's why I asked it relating to this professional development. if like I don't see I don't know this is the only area where I see it could fit the most is if we we were asking in the RFP process or can we ask what is the plan for how they're going to pay their staff to make sure that they are res you know I would like to know that the people who are taking care of our children are also being taken care of by our district you know are we asking them are these people going to get raises are they going to get cost of living increases

083like if if the cost of the grant is stagnant. Is it built in that these people who are spending so much time and attention with our children are also cared for in in some kind of manner? Like, you know, they're not unionized. I'm not going to make any estimates about what they're about what their wages are. But if we're going to ask about professional development and we're looking to take care of them in that sense, I would like to also make sure they're taken care of in a re very realistic money sense as well. I think that is a great um question to pose. Um so ideally the plan is whoever is going to be awarded any contract they that they do come in and provide a presentation. And so I'm writing that down because

084if they don't it is something um usually when we do presentations right it's an opportunity to provide comment that's a comment that can be asked that they can answer in their presentation. Superintendent board members had a question more as a vendor who applied for the grant. Um, one of the things that that confused me a bit was that our desire was really to work with two of the schools our second year. This year working with Taylor the second hopefully next year was Taylor and Glennwood. But it seemed like we we were required to work with all five schools. For us, the cost then becomes an issue, especially when it comes down to us recognizing the Rob community and what Rob community requires. It would to me it would require five different sites, five different sets

085of staff that meet with the site of the various communities because, you know, Glenwood's population is different than Taylor's population, male population. Um, the way we presented the proposal I we were totally at a disadvantage from the very beginning. And when I got back our our responses, I realized we were um I also will take a moment to say I really wish that I had known that the uh that parents had been asked what would they like to see because had we known that parents were looking for things different than we norally offered, I think we would have been able to provide that um would help us to know that. The other thing which would have been really beneficial was to have the chance to talk to the committee about I think some concerns that

086they may have had and some assumptions that might have been made when reading the proposal because quite honestly I took the time after getting the score and I was disappointed our score was quite honestly um but I was also embarrassed by our score thinking that we shouldn't have had that low a score from our my standpoint I paid a professional u a grant writer the the number that they gave us in their professional position, not asking them to give us anything based on here's the number, just tell us what based on the criteria, I felt like it would have put us within one of the top six. Um, so there are a couple concerns that I had as a vendor that after we after being led the direction we led, which is there was five

087campuses and that wasn't our plan nor our interest. Then secondly, to um to recognize that any six people can make a decision based on their thoughts. Uh but you might get an independent person that might give you a different uh you know rating and it was just interesting to me when I got the rating back and I'm more and more I took the time then the grant I realized what we're weak at but also realize that our strength was never asked in the five areas. Our community strength, our parent engagement strength, knowled our experience in Rob both positive and negative you know because I recognize not everybody thinks everything that Roberts does is a positive thing but I'd like to think the majority of parents by the fact that 85% of parents signed the petition

088given at the last board meeting uh saying we they want they would like to have Roberts chance to have Roberts at Taylor so to me that would have been really appreciated had we known that ahead of time some of the things that I mentioned to me are things that really the board could have done different. The district could have done this. Not the board, but the board had everything. The district could have done those things. Thank you. Um program evaluation. Um 10 points. uh describe how the organization will collaborate with the district to develop continuous improvement tools. The program will work with robust school district leadership to demonstrate progress towards um meeting the program goals outlined in the service agreement. The provider will work with the school community and school leadership to create, refine, and

089modify the site after school program plans as needed. describe how the organization will implement what they have learned from implementing the continuous improvement tools in partnership with Robbo School District. The program or provider will collect reliable and valid data and outcome measures as determined by a collaborative process with the district that addresses the performance indicators for the program. And the program will maintain and submit accurate recordings of the following documentation. program plan, late arrival, early release policy, attendance policies, student signin, sign out records, staff personnel records, monthly attendance reports. The pro provider will use district adopted tools for monitoring and evaluating the program on a monthly basis. questions on evaluation and then program funding. So here is um where we have two different contracts. Um the base grant provides the total cost of operating your

090program for 180 days at the specific school site base contract and staffing based on the number I apologize number provided for ASUS and ELOP expansion numbers. The actual number of students requiring after school services may vary depending on actual student enrollment during the 2526 school years and parental interest in the program. Both parties agreed that the submitted cost is subject to change due to this variable and this format is being utilized only for bid consideration purposes. And let me just go a little bit into details in terms of um number of staffing um and the requirement that we as a school district has to um provide opportunity and access. So and I'm just going to use whole numbers, right? And so, um, I'm going to say our robot school district is at 2,000 students because

091our unduplicated per pupil percentage and that means the percentage of our students that are either free and reduced, homeless, and English learner is over 98%. Right? We have to provide opportunity and access to all parents who need the program. Um if our percentage was lower like 50% then we would only have to provide opportunity and access to a smaller percentage. But because of our um student population we are required to provide opportunity and access to any of our families that want it. right now. Has 2,000 students have we had an interest for 2,000 students to access our programs in the last three years? No. Um, this is just my second year and I will say and I'm going to have Raone pull numbers right that we have increased numbers for access the last two years

092and that is because it is my intent to always advertise that we have these programs. Now the ASUS um program has a requirement for attendance right that is very different than the ELOP program right so that's That's why the ASUS has I'm sorry I don't know if I'm going in that's why the ASUS has requirements that they have to follow and it's a separate grant fund but the ELOP um I used an example that um our primary students are released at a certain time let's just say 1:00 and then the intermediate students are released 45 minutes later right if all that family needs is for their first grade student to stay in the after school program for 45 minutes. So the parent comes at one time to pick up both kids, right? Then that is

093meeting their needs. If a parent only needs to have um before school support, then that's what we need to provide. If they only need to um provide um after school programming Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, that is what our ELO um grants allow. Right. ASUS again they have a requirement of how many days they have to attend and how many hours right but the ELOP gives us flexibility so when we talk about how many students right um we've increased the number when we talk um when I talk about issuing contracts and how many they can support right truthfully it's not 2,000 students right but if I had to then I would have to look at the contracts and ensure that our total funding of $4 million, right, will be able to support um providing services to

0942,000 students, right? And this is where funding makes a difference or funding really really um um plays a factor, right? And then we have supporting contracts. So I know um Mr. Roberts, you mentioned, you know, maybe some um unclear of just applying for two sites. You know, that is something that I would just suggest in the future when we issue out the questions and the the RFPs, excuse me, FAQs, right? Did you have an opportunity to just apply for two sites, right? Because the answer, you know, is yes, right? We did look out for base programs for programs that were um that were that have the ability to provide at every site. But supplemental programs, you know, there are programs like who do we have now? Um, United Way, right? They are not every day,

095right? They are, I believe, a six week rotation at every five sites. So, that would have been like a supporting contract. Okay. Question. Oh, come That's Absolutely. And I I believe I had referred you to um send the questions to Mr. Farardo because we were at a time period where we were accepting clarifying questions, right? And um I don't recall saying that because to be transparent, any calls that I received, I forward it to Mr. Farardo for transparency and for fairness. So I understand that might be the robot way but um I want I think that's what Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Okay. While we're addressing contracts, I want to play devil's advocate. Obviously, we probably want to put in the contracts for a vendor that they must serve a minimum of

096or have an enrollment with a minimum of X number. What would become of that contract if the parents did not enroll their students in there where they met that number? In other words, if you tell the the vendor for this program, you need to have a minimum of 30 people in your program on a daily basis and you only get 25 kids signed up by their parents, where do you go from there? So, for example, um if a contract is for 60 students, right? Um And and I'm going to make it easy and say first through sixth grade students. The ratio that is required is 1 to 20. Right? So if they had um six the staffing that's required to serve 60 students is the same staffing that would be required to serve 41 students.

097So it's the it's the ratio um it's the ratio how they would be um we would pay the contract based on the ratio of like 1 to 20. So if they had 41 students they still have to have the staffing to support 41 students as well as 60 students. So 25 for example right would be a ratio of two staff members for because They're over 20. Does that make sense? For this contract, you will serve x number you will have a minimum of enrollment of x number of students up to most likely up to like up to 60 students up to 100 students. But but you know that that's just an example. We we haven't. So a a good a good example would be so let's say let's say it was up to 60 and

098let's say they only got 39 which meant that the staffing ratio is different. Would they still be paid for up to 60 or would we pay based on the staffing which in that case would be whatever it is up to 39. It would be up to 39. Yeah. But we would work together, you know, to make sure um yes, we will continue to work together to advertise and um if there was another, you know, as an example, if there was another provider that was maximum, you know, is that an opportunity to increase that or is that an opportunity to offer the other program that has space, you know, even if it's a temporary basis? So, Miss Chen, I want to object on your access. So when you talk about access, what part of access are

099you really considering? Because you mentioned something about the needs of having access for maybe 1 hour, 45 minutes or so forth. However, that blocks further future access to a family that needs more than 45 minutes. So if there's a certain amount of criteria that's a barrier of, you know, let's say there's 20 uh kids minimum enrollment and if they're all needing 45 minutes, but a family's needing more than those 45 minutes, it's going to block access. So, what what type of access are you really speaking about? No, that shouldn't that's an example that should not block any anybody, right? So, we should have enough spaces for the 20 students that only need 45 minutes as well as for the 20 families that need all three hours, right? And so, when um like currently this year,

100we provide 1,200 1,260 available spaces, right? In the programs that are offered at this site, we do not have 1,260 students participating. So, if um we ha I if I needed 2,000 spaces, then I would work the contracts, right, to provide 2,000 spaces. So, you should not be impacted. If you needed 3 hours and someone needed 20 m uh 40 minutes or 20 minutes or 45 minutes, we should have enough available spaces to accommodate both those situations. Yes. Okay. Um the FAQ has a lot of questions, but I just um just pulled out a couple, right? um because this this came out of the um question that were sent to Ramon in terms of vagueness in the RFP, right? And one is it one was do you need 30 days of non-school day programming? And

101the answer is yes, right? Um and I know throughout the um throughout the RFP it looks like 180 days. So, I could see where that can provide some um confusion, but the ELOP um requirements is 180 days, a total of a 9-hour program, and that includes um during the school day and extension of the school day, whether the extension is before andor after school, as well as 30 days outside of the school year. So, we have 180day school years. Um this year as an example we had nine days during the spring break right and then we have summer school. So in a July 1 to June 30 year right we would have 30 additional days outside of the 180 school days. Do you currently offer before school program? No we don't. Not at this time,

102right? But we are very interested in offering a before school option. It may not be um as high of a number that needs after school, but um in the survey that was sent, we had some families that um would benefit from before um school programming. And truly, when I look outside at Rob Elementary, I see a lot of students on the playyard um before 8:25, you know, and the person that is obser um monitoring is probably Mr. Cap or his staff. So we definitely see um the need and would like to provide that opportunity. Are our current ELOP vendors start Helen Roberts um on this RFP? Do you anticipate renewing their contract? Right. The answer was everyone was eligible to apply. Right. And so everyone we had 26 um 26 proposals. I'm just going to

103go to the next one because then it says, "Will a new vendor be replacing a current vendor working in tandem with the current vendor or replacing a district operator program?" So, just reiterating all our current vendors were um able to submit. So, you know, I recognize that right now based on the committee proposal was the top six providers, right? But um it wasn't it was intended to pro be fair and equitable to allow any proposal or any provider to submit a proposal. And then what's the last one? Um to confirm this request is both full service expanded learning um including a site coorder coordinator and enrichment provider with vendors able to submit for either or both. The answer is yes. they were able to submit if they wanted to be at five sites or if

104they wanted to be um a supplement. I say supplemental or supporting contract. Oh, I'm sorry. Questions? Any questions on the FAQs? Yes. So you said that it was open for all um vendors or programs. Was the start program notified that they were also allowed to come up with the program or andor their proposals and stuff like that? Yes, all our current providers were informed. Okay. Yes. Gotcha. And was that um what was the for that. Was that before February 5th, on February 5th? Before March 24th. So March 24th is when um March 24th was when um the RFP was issued, but I'm not sure if you were here earlier when I was informed from um when I received the email from CDE that that grant was um going to be awarded directly to Rob school

105districts. I did have a meeting on February 20th with CDE us and start to discuss the transition and they were aware that we would be issuing an RFP. Gotcha. And um was start also a part of that presentation? Did they get a score? Uh the start program did submit a proposal. Yes. Okay. Gotcha. Thank you. any of the supplemental providers who work with the district selected among the top six. Yes. Okay. I'm not out of the I think one. Um, his question was, and I I'd have to check, so I don't want to give it in inaccurate. Was any of the supplemental providers selected in the top six? Is it one of them? Okay. So, and the other part is of the six that were selected, I think it's that means it's one local, five

106counters or is that that's the way I saw it on the web page. Okay. So, just for clarity, I I I want to provide clarity, right? The recommendation for last week was for the board to consider the top five, excuse me, top six providers as our um preferred vendors. Right? So, just to recall, the board did not take any action. So, we pulled the item, right? And we are discussing um the process, right? And so that would be part of next step. So no, the board has not taken any action on anything yet. Correct. If we could get you to speak into the microphone so folks at home can hear. Thanks. Sorry about that. Um, out of the six vendors that were recommended to the board, one of them that that I could tell is

107a is Sacramento. The other five are not. I I call them out oftowners. That is that fair? I'd have to get back to you on that. I'd have to look. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Well, yes. I mean, by their by their web page, they all the five are out of towners. Okay. Just real quick, actually a question for you, Darl. So based out of town or what if they already provide services to other districts within within the area? Would that would you consider that out oftowners just for you? Okay. Okay. All right. one in Roseville. Yeah, I'm not I'm not I'm not certain if the question is they're ba are they based out of town or Yeah, that was my question out of Berkeley but support NTOMA school district, right? Yes. Yeah. I know there

108I know there's one provider that has a local program in Roseville, you know, in Roseville. But but I want to give you know I would like to have the opportunity not now right to research and say of the six providers do they have um programs in our locally? Yes. Okay. Super down. Did you read any of the RFPs? I did not wait. No, I did not read the proposals. Yes. Okay. So So are you going to read them? Absolutely. Superintendent is quite disturbing that you seem to be unaware of some of these things. You're the you're the head, correct? But I wanted to provide a transparent and fair process. And I am the superintendent. I'm great with that. Right. And so the committee that that was put together in their roles and expertise were the

109ones that looked at the pro the proposals and issued the um applied the rubric in the RFP. So absolutely right in our next steps you know talking about presentations and what we're going to do. Absolutely. Right. But right now um the board has not made any decision on any of the six vendors. Right. So the recommendation for example could be six and they're like no we only want one or we want whatever. So so the answer is yes. I will be looking at all of them. Did I look at pieces? Yes. But I don't want to say that I looked at all 26 RFPs in its totality. That would be an inaccurate statement. I guess what my concern is is that they understand the process. I've recently had to go through this with my employer,

110so I understand the process. I guess my concern tonight is is that you don't seem really aware of at least the top six recommend recommended ones when we're asking questions. Like I understand like you're they're taking it to the board, but you don't seem to be really aware of these things. But that was not this what this board workshop was for. I guess if we had Yeah. No, if we had a if we were going to evaluate all 26, then that's a different preparation. So, well, I'm not talking about 26. I mean, just like when they're asking like simple questions about where are they located, what community are they serving? The just the six that were recommended, you don't seem to have very much knowledge on that. That's my concern. Like I would hope that

111this evening when we had came that you would have some some knowledge on it when we if we are going to consider the top six next week then yes I will have um information but there was no int the intent was not to discuss any one proposal. So is this information public regarding the top six or is that like have you has that been shared yet and if so where? So the only six that the only top six that is public was what the committee recommended to consider at last Thursday's board meeting. So those companies are public of who were the top six. Yeah. Um and then so what I thought might be helpful was what are some of the aspects of the of the proposal that made it a strong proposal, right? And so,

112um, more complete and specific responses to each of the rubric items, right? Um, detailed examples of attendance monitoring, tracking approaches, check-in, checkout, retention, improvement plans, and strategies, detailed and accurate budgeting, high service value for the proposed costs. Examples of schedules, lessons, curriculums being used, uh, representing diverse subject and functional areas. lists sometimes there are extensive additional resources, vendors and tools materials used to help support student learning. Um fully address the management structure, the employee recruitment, professional development and retention strategies. Um address social emotional learning requirements, the curriculum and staff training, conflict management, student safety and learning environment. Example of tools and strategies for communications with parents, districts and sites, staff and leaders for information and recruitment. Provide examples of student outcome reporting and monitoring support tools approaches. Examples of comprehensive program evaluation methods, artifacts, approaches

113um and detailed and fe feasible implementation timeline. And then this is small. What aspects could have improved um a proposal? Right? A proposal needs to meet all the basic requirements to be considered, right? Some did not and were not considered. The structure the proposal in alignment with the RFP, right? Um when your committee is reading a proposal and here's um maybe one section and then it they're reading the proposal and maybe they they said, "Hey, I didn't see this." And then you go to another section, right? And you find out, okay, this really does apply for um professional development. So really structuring the proposal in alignment with um how the RFP is aligned and provide clarity and specificity in all areas um and meet all district budget and service requirements articulated in the RFP. Okay.

114Okay. So next steps, right? Because we're not making any decisions here. This is a board workshop. So, um I guess did you want questions? I'm just Yeah, first let's go ahead and Were there any questions regarding uh aspects of the proposals that made it a strong proposal or some of the the the areas that could have improved in proposals? Did anyone have any questions relating to those? And just for clarity to be notified that um So I know that we are issuing an RFP or help me understand so I better understand. Yes. Basically just to be notified sooner that there's going to be some type of change. Um there's conditions there's things that are being considered just to keep us informed. Remember we are the parents. We are we are the parents of your your

115guys's children that you guys are under oath to you know help navigate, teach, learn. They spend just as much time with you guys as they do at home. Sometimes even a little bit more. And so it's important for us to be notified of changes or potential changes, projects, anything that's going to involve our children. This we're here for children and you guys are all here for the children. So some type of communication, some type of, you know, acknowledgement just to let us know these are things that are happening February 5th, not April 24th or after. I mean, come on. There there needs to be some type of change and it starts with you guys that are on the upper level for that way you guys can bring it to our attention. You know, these are

116our projections, these are our budgets, these are, you know, certain things. We have no knowledge of things until we hear them from other other people or other um leaders or so forth. Some some things come across on parents square. Not everybody has parents. And just for clarity, we didn't know like I understand about communication. You know, that is definitely an area, you know, that that I can improve on. Um but but in reality, when the RFP is issued, I'm not I'm not aware or thinking that it's going to change a program, you know, that we were going to change, right? I'm only I was only aware of that when I received the recommendations because of following the process and um applying the rubric. So, but absolutely, you know, and thank you for other ways to

117communicate um versus just parents square. Were the 26 vendors aware that the structure of the proposal needed to align with the RFP when submitting or is this just something you guys said would have been helpful after the fact? I'd have to I'd have to look at the I'd have to look at the language of the proposal. it. These are just recommendations when the committee was reviewing it, how it could have um made a proposal stronger, right? So, if if there was um a statement that was vague, right? The committee is not there to interpret this line like this sentence. You know, we do, you know, we do professional development period. But if the the RFQ asked for specific uh professional development regarding um I think like behavior strategies if you don't um it would have

118been beneficial for that proposal to be very specific. This is the professional development that we are going to provide to support um behaviors as opposed to just we provide professional development. That's those are just, you know, I'm not going to tell a a provider how to complete an RFP, right? Or, you know, just like when we complete, you know, our resumes, I don't tell someone how to what they're going to put. These are just recommendations on how um to make a proposal stronger. So, as a parent, I just had one concern because I know that this all going rolling over for the new year of 2025 26. However, um through the summer camps, a lot of times like the parents when the kids go in the summer and it's still 25 26 summer. Does that

119apply to the new vendors coming in or would we still continue with what we have now being like the start summer camps? There's a lot of people already enrolled in that. We rely on that and this change is just too fast and impulsive in a way. So just for clarity, we are in the 2425 school year. So the summer program that is on the website with um start and Robert's family uh development center for freedom school that's for this summer once decisions are established and that's when they will start from the beginning year in the fall. In the fall that is correct. Okay. Thank you. Um so I guess what I'd like to do and if someone has a better idea I'm more than open to it is kind of breaking next steps into two

120different areas. I think one is for future RFPs. What are some of the things that we need to look at and consider? And then the second piece of that would be um what can we do within the guidelines of of the law to be able to address some of the concerns we have about this particular RFP process and uh and and and concern going forward. So, let's start with uh we've had a chance now to hear about the RFP, the process, the history, and all of that. And obviously, there are some things in here, some ideas that folks have already expressed. Uh things that we ought to consider as we do this going forward. Uh I have I have some of my own like for example uh including stakeholders in the process and on the

121committee making sure we have a parent uh making sure we have a a a teacher if we can have them on there. Um you know the idea being trying to start the process a little earlier so that we can actually take our time with the process. Um this unfortunately what happened in this particular case if we had known this at the beginning of the year at the beginning of the school year we probably could have done been a little bit more deliberate in the process. The fact that we found out on the 5th of February uh kind of exas basically really shortened the amount of time that we had to really address this. So perhaps I mean one of the other things we probably would have done was had it instead of as an action

122item at the last board meeting have it as a discussion item so that we could address we could have talked about all of this would have taken place all this conversation at the last board meeting. Um, let's see. uh part of the rubric I think for me for the future I'd like to see uh probably a little bit more and I know we it's talked about a little bit in terms of of uh of staffing but part of it being community engagement and partnership within the community because for example you know whoever the providers are there's nothing that says that you know if they're providers and someone else was working for example for start or for Robert's family development there's no saying that if they that they wouldn't be considered to work for the program

123as well. Are you going to look at people who have experience working within the community, working within the schools, uh working with with uh extended learning programs, but talking about what is that community partnership and engagement piece going to look like? Um I like the idea of of part of that being an interview process. I realize we had a shortened period of time, but actually including as a part of this not just a rubric where people get to write stuff out, but actually doing an interview process if that's something that can be considered once again in the future. Um, can I just comment on that? Um, so really so the intent on when we get to the point because we're not there yet, right, of who the providers are, right? um we are discussing issuing

124contracts. The intent is for them to have a presentation right for the families to see what the program is, what they offer. So, so that is part of next steps. Yeah. I I think what what the concern is is that at least as at least with the the committee so that we know before we consider them to be an approved vendor as opposed to waiting till after for them to be considered. Once again, I realize it was a little difficult because we had a truncated period of time, but I think in the future, what we do is have that interview as a part of the process. Okay. Um uh one of the things I'd like to see as a part of the evaluation process, obviously we should be doing as a district a survey for

125everyone who's involved and the whoever the providers are their commitment to participate in the uh in the uh uh promotion of those surveys or evaluation. [Music] Uh and uh and anyway, that was that was about it. Once again, and these are just things that I'm saying once again, this is not this doesn't address our immediate issue, but these are things that as we go and we talk about RPS in the future, these are things that maybe we can uh try to incorporate in order to make in order to improve the the uh the uh in order to improve the process. Anyone else have any suggestions? I want to expound on and on some recommendations that you had. So I don't think it's enough just to have a parent or a teacher. I would say you

126should strive to have a representative from each constituency from each site as well like a teacher from every school, a parent or two from every school or some representative that can go back to the school and talk. Maybe the parent teacher club send somebody or something like that. And I would say make it a concerted effort to find somebody, not just a one-time email. You know, if there's if there's so I feel like sometimes there, you know, parents are busy, like you said, we have a lot of things we could be doing tonight and we're here and we want to be involved in these things and sometimes we forget to reply and and select that we're interested, you know, and we would make the time if we had a reminder or something. So, if you're

127in the future, if you're going to solicit parents, like keep that in mind and and do try to get someone because I'm sure there's a difference in you sending an email out and asking parents, do you want to be involved in our principal or our children's teacher or being volunttoled, you know, because maybe our teacher, you know, our child's teacher knows, hey, this person would be so great or they're looking for an opportunity. So, I really would like a concerted effort. Um, I know teachers might be hard with their contracts and things like that. I want to respect their time and the dedication that they already give us, but you know, I I think someone from every site because every site is different. I I I will admit I don't know what goes on at

128the other sites and what their interests are. So, I would feel really bad as a parent trying to speak for another site. Um and then also I would like in future RFPs that are going to directly affect our children similar to this that they are the the vendors are asked to provide student and parent testimonials preferably either video or or voice. That way it is not um written down and easy to be faked and you can hear it in those children's own words or in their own writing perhaps if they want to maintain some kind of anonymity. I know some of the programs did collect those as and I don't know if they were turned in or not but I think that would be a really important category if you're creating another rubric. Um and

129I also think that like you said an interview process but um you know just something more iterative where there is is more discussion involved. Um so I do like your ideas but I would like us to strive for a little bit more than than what you listed. So when you were speaking about the presentation that they would give that's clearly not an interview. So what would be stopping us from having an interview? Because these comp these companies who want to provide the service, you tell them, hey, next week you guys are going to have to provide presentations. They're going to want that contract. They're going to do what needs to be done to provide those interviews. Is that something that we could do? like is that's in the next step process like they could have

130in just involving the parents. They could do something like this where they're able to put that out there but also we could do like the top six but also include our current providers to give them opportunity to present at that same time. No one's saying that they're going to go with them. we're all able to see it, but it gives them an opportunity and that would be something that's more fair and equitable, but also it'd be something if they did allow the parents to come and participate or the staffing, but an interview process just seems like it would be a must. I'm sure like they wouldn't have just hired you without interviewing you. And I would and I so I it's seems wild to me that you had said that they would be presenting after

131they were chosen. That just seems scary to me. I think one of the things to clarify as she noted simply being an approved vendor does not mean that you've been hired as a contractor. In other words, the idea of the presentation is going to happen before a decision is made on whether or not we're going to approve a contract for them. I think that's the the just as a clarification. So just using a different points of words and I'm using interviewing versus so when you're saying that they're approved like there's someone that would be interviewing or you guys will be interviewing at that time. So no I just want to provide clarity. So you use the word interview and I think of interview panel interview. What we had mentioned was presentation. So right now I

132don't have anyone to present right. Um so if if the board approves the six then the six would be um contract to present right and then and you're saying could we have an interview during that time that that's something I have to yes so but I didn't want you to think that we were answering that question with yours so I wanted to be clear that yes the presentation you know the idea was a presentation before any contracts were awarded and the question is can we include an interview before contracts are awarded. So that's or when they do the presentation, like they do their presentation, then afterwards then there's an interviewing where they're asking questions, they're vetting them, making sure that they didn't just put a nice proposal together, but that they actually they have proof

133of what they're doing. They're not just salespeople coming in and, you know, bringing swag to convince you guys when they're not truly qualified. Correct. That happens. I know. through all we had to pick vendors and no we we would like if it was the top you know the six that are recommended we would do that process I I'd have to think I know we were doing um the process of like reference checks you know things like that but I'd have to think about if we could accommodate the interview you know versus just asking questions during their presentation I can only say someone who's gone through this recently it's quite easy to do and they will put an interview together they'll put the presentation and be interviewed right away very quickly. So then my other question

134would be I guess for now and or moving forward. So you talked about having uh teachers or a teacher or teachers. You've talked about parents, but then there's also the the who the program is for and this it's the students. Has any So I have a a series of questions. One with the current programs, has any type of survey been done district-wide or schoolwide in terms of how the students feel in terms of the program or what they're being provided for now? And then also with all the chatter and and and and that I hear going around the district in terms of academics and in particular at least at my kids school Robla there's a a lot of conversation about how low reading scores are and and reading scores and reading scores. So then my

135also my concern is because after school also picks up a lot of the what's left off in the school. what academics or what have what's been said or proposed or whatever to help combat particular the particular communities um issues with in terms of academics in terms of ESL or ELD whatever it's called in district this district in terms of the after school programs and then also a basic Google search of the top six providers does not look good like elvo um alphab just a just putting their name in Google I don't see a lot of positive things in terms of from reviews left by parents and then also by current staff. Now I know that I mean it could be for whatever reason but that that just that's an automatic concern for me and then

136moving forward what in terms of the students is going to be taken into consideration since this program is for for them like I know at other schools or other sites students voice is very heavy in terms of who is coming in and serving them. So then just in this whole process what voice to not alone not only the parents and the teachers but what voice do does the students have as well and then also like I said addressing a lot of the academic concerns I don't know about the other schools but I do know particular at ROA reading is something that is constantly a concern so I'm not sure if I'm supposed to answer that I wrote that down as recommendations um for future um RFPs so um but you you answer moving forward because

137you said because those are the top six vendors. So then moving forward, what voice does the parents, teachers, andor kids that the program is being for there? There should still be some voice moving forward and what you're doing now as opposed to well the board is just going to do what they're doing and then we'll let you know what we've chosen without any additional input from the people that is that it's being that are being served for. And then also in terms of what I'm curious as to what the vendors have proposed in terms of the academics because I know Rob as a whole there there's a lot of struggles with academics but then I can only speak for Robla and what I've heard. So, I want to know what these vendors are bringing in

138that's supposed to be different to help improve the academics that our current providers aren't already trying to uh or are aren't already implementing and what that relationship between those outside vendors and the the school will be in helping to address those issues that may be different from what is the how is that going to be different than what the current providers are already doing working handinhand with the schools currently And then also sorry and then because with that studies show that there is a direct correlation between um continuity and and academic improvement. So now to pull the rug from them and in hiring new people. How have we thought about the long-term effect of what of of a district that is already struggling in certain areas academically? What that's going to look like on the

139on the long terms in terms of after school is supposed to be supposedly bringing helping to pick up some of that slack. No, very very good points there. And for that reason too as to clarify what the chosen vendor once there is one would be would they have a contract of three years or would it be every yearly RFP? Would it be a yearly RFP with that? Thank you. um for this current RFP, it's only for one year because um I already know and to be transparent, we will have an RFP for the following years. And um I appreciate all the feedback because this is great and part of um what we will discuss in the committee and I absolutely understand expanding the committee is for the next round. Do we want to do another

140one year or do we want to do two years? I definitely did not want to do more than one year because this is a new process for the district. So I recog There are definitely areas of opportunities, you know, to improve the process and um, you know, make it better to meet our needs. Yes. Okay. So when we're talking about if we're moving forward and thinking about the the the process when you were mentioning like the student engagement has it did it not um mention like having the older students like from each campus be a part of this like a committee like they should be a part of the interviewing process if you guys were to do it and my question is why did that not cross like if to me that would make sense

141because it's going to be they're the stakeholders here if that was that was involved and because you can have them in a small area where they can participate and you know and it's a great learning experience. I I think in ter yeah yeah I think student in I have to think about student engagement or student participation because our our highest grade level is sixth grade right and I would have to look at how many sixth grade students are actually participating. So I definitely will solicit student feedback um in terms of what are some of the things that they want in a program. Absolutely. Um, so that is an that is definitely something to consider for moving forward and I might be able to you might be able to incorporate it before we make contracts. So,

142okay, I have one other question and you may have said this before and I a long day. Yeah. Did you guys not think about did you did student engagement like did you ask students what they wanted prior to this or just now sounds crazy just now thinking about students? No that no. So um did I send a survey out to parents? I mean just to students I did not send a survey out a general uh survey out to students that I sent out to parents and staff. No. Um, you asked me earlier, have I do we have an evaluation process um for our providers that get feedback? Currently, we do not. We do not. We don't have one that exists that evaluates any of our programs. Is that on my list? Absolutely. Right. But prior

143to me coming here, we do not have a process that evaluates any of our after school providers. Um did we conduct um I call them empathy interviews you know for um for um a partnership. So, Robbo School District is in a um prof professional learning network with the um CASA and CCE. I know these are all letters. CASA is the California Association of African-American Superintendent and Administrators. And CCE is a California um California Collaborative of Educational Excellence. So, we are in this PLN with eight other uh districts that focuses on African-American student achievement. Part of that was looking at the program um a freedom school has at Taylor um where Miss Crisp and Miss Lion are all part of our team. And so during that process, did we do um empathy interviews uh to gather

144some information regarding the freedom program? The answer is yes. Right. Um when we had some questions regarding the the Helen Institute, did we do empathy interviews for the students in the Helen program? The answer is yes. Have we um done have we conducted any interviews with any of the students in our start program? The answer is no. Did I plan on doing a um evaluation at the end of this school year? The answer is yes. Right. So, um so that almost answers your questions, but we do not have a we do not have a current evaluation process in place that has evaluated any of our current providers. you know that we have um all the providers do a presentation to the board, right? But in terms of a uh formal evaluation process, we do not

145have that. So I guess the obvious question is you can kind of see the problems andor pitfalls in some of that. Not only does that limit um having that information not only helps the district and of but it helps also in terms of future funing because having connection between the kids who are attending the after school program and their their their scores and not just an empathy empa uh interview but also hardcore hardcore data that shows any academic achievement or development throughout the course. I mean that I I I can't see how that would hurt the district. But then also um not just sixth graders, but there are ways you can do interview uh you can do surveys with I mean I've done it before with smaller kids without um swaying them one way or

146another, but just getting concrete information to see. So no, I apologize. Let me clarify. I apologize. I meant what I was responding to was having a student on the committee to review an RFP. That is where I would have to process because I don't know if I would want a third grade student or fourth grade student on the committee. But yes, do I want to get feedback from all grade levels? Yes. But when when I wrote down um recommendations I didn't mean in terms of the RFP. I meant in terms of the current the current programs that are provided feedback. Yes. I I plan I the intent was to get um the evaluation was for all students in the program, you know, and you know, I know kindergarten might be hard, but when we did

147um the interviews, we interviewed as low as kindergarten students because we read the questions to them. So, yes, but just so I might have mixed it, you know, when I wrote down parents, teachers, students on the committee, it would have my response was it would be challenging to have a student on the RFP committee. Real quick, in terms of evaluation and and is probably more of an Elliot question. Do we have the ability to track students who are participating uh in the in in programs like start or Roberts Family Development Center and take a look at academic uh look at take a look at their test scores and whatnot and that doesn't even require I mean that just requires a pulling together of the data. Okay. Just started. Yeah. Well, yeah. And by the way,

148just so you know, in terms of uh Oh, I had a thought in my head and it just dribbled right out. Anyway, any other any other questions regarding going forward? Have I just have a comment in regards to getting the youth voice into this process? It would be cumbersome to have them involved in the RFP process, but could they not be involved in the interview process of the the vendors? Mr. Roberts, thank you. Superintendent, can you share the comments that I guess we had gotten regarding Freedom School? Can you share that with our organization? I think you said it was a testimonial. I can't remember. Empathy interviews and we Yeah, we emailed them last year. We get Okay. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Yes, they'll bring you the microphone. I know you guys said you guys

149selected top six and then they're going to do presentations, but what happens if they do the presentations and the presentations are weak? Are you guys going to open up spots for the other, you know, people to get a chance to also try? Because they can put something on paper and make it look great, but if their presentation is weak, you And plus going forward like can you guys do that at the same time and let them come and give their proposal and presentation. So you can see the whole process and all the proof to see you know to kind of show the families you know their proof of how they can provide and support our children and select the top you know. So I want to be clear right I know um right now we

150haven't taken any next step. Right? So um the recommendation was for the committee was to consider the top six. If that is what um we move forward with and they're at the presentation interview um interview stage, right, and it is not favorable, then that's the decision of the board to guide me in next steps of what they want to do. So, so I'm not at I'm at a point right now where um this is workshop information and what would be next step. Does that make sense? Yeah. So, like I said, the recommendation for the committee was to um to consider the top six. So, I I guess I could clarify, you know, provide some just real quick. So now we're getting into okay what are we how are we going to deal with and address

151you know the current situation and the current proposals uh that are before us including the uh uh including the uh uh yes ma'am really quick I'm just going to read the social media ones as well as the assembly so okay some of the comments are obviously mentioned throughout the footage so it might not pertain to this moment uh but from desire Uh, amen to that. Please don't try and fix something that's not broken. Please keep start program. Ryan said, "Thank you." He also said, "Keep start." Uh, Jorge said on the comment regarding superintendent involvement in reviewing and screening the RPS. I think it's her decision not to get involved and allowed the committee to review what was most uh prudent. This allowed for full review of members of the committee to score and evaluate fairly

152especially as they the committee are seasoned educators members of the robot family. I would expect as the superintendent mentioned that she would assume her oversight after the appointment committee presented the recommendation. In transparency, it would have been concerned that there have been a sense of micromanaging apart from a little n little late notification to the community. It seems the committee followed appropriate protocol. However, as many I would expect the board to take in account their community, especially parents and guardians and their needs, Robera's relationship and partners and well-being of students from Danielle um surgeon Robo Robo District has always been driven into its core valley relationship building and the family families of its community. The start program is a pillar of this community and has been a solid relationship in the district for 20 years.

153Replacing replacing the start program would devastate the Boba community. The are there are former Robla students who now work for STAR. Rob parents who work for STAR, RobAla teachers who are contacted uh contracted with START to support the alignment between the program and the district's mission and vision. Robot district has certificated staff who once worked for START and assistant principles who worked for START. Start and robot district have always been interwined. Why replace a pivotal program that has been foundational foundation of expanded learning in this community? Why not collaborate instead? Start contracts with some of the very programs identify identified through the RP to be possible providers for the 2526 school year. Start remains a core expanding learning while the providers bring additional enrichment services as start remains uh a bonus. Why eliminate one when

154it's has successfully been working for all? SAR has also successfully worked with other ELP providers creating school right here in its very district. So I so as I say again collaborate rather than eliminate. The ultimate goal is to bring more qualified services to the students of Roa. Uh you've already have high qual quality existing through your program lead by highly experienced coordinators. Perhaps it wasn't fully captured through the RP on a piece of paper but is observed daily at the direct point of the service of the robo campuses. I ask you to truly reconsider the idea of parting ways with such a valuable partner and instead of think thinking of the opportunity of sustaining start as your ASUS ELP foundation while collaborating with other ELP programs to bring the most services to the robo community.

155Thank you. Daniel Serge is a dedicated stakeholder and provider of robust for eight amazing years. And finally, Maria said, "Hello, I'm a parent two students at Glenwood Elementary and president of the Glenwood Parent Teacher Club. I appreciate that the board decided to suspend the vote and offer the committee the space to provide feedback. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the review and grading process for selection of the LP provider. I feel it was a huge miss and disservice to our children and leaves parents and teachers out of the process and only include one administrator. Parents and teachers know our students and best the students in the best and intimately understand their needs. I am frustrated that people most knowledgeable about our kids were weren't included in such an important decision. I also want to express my

156overwhelming support and appreciation for the start program while it is provides our children while while it provides for our children. The start and staff start staff have been fantastic to work with and some of other people right parents teachers who know our kids best. They provide so much more than just after school care for families. They provide academic support, extracurricular activities, friendship. They are in constant communication with parents, teachers, and our true partners. I don't believe start program was given sufficient consideration, especially given parent teachers were left out of the process. I asked the district to reconsider the methodology of this decision. That's the rest. Yeah, that's it. Okay. as as we go forward now. First of all, in terms of considering what we can do, what are some of the things that we need

157to make sure that we consider whether it be in terms of timing that we need to consider fiscally and what we need to consider legally in terms of going going forward dealing with this year's uh uh proposals process? I know that that's a big question. Okay. What are some of what are the things that we need to consider as board members as we're making a decision that we need to consider going forward? So, in other words, what are the what are the things like legally that we have to keep an eye on that we have to consider in whatever we decide whatever direction we decide to go fiscally. Um, and then in terms of timelines programmatically. Okay. Um, so process-wise, let me just say one more time, the recommendation um to the board was to

158consider the top providers, right? Um, you can we if that is the agenda item and you take action on that. If you approve the six, then we are moving forward in the next stage of the process with the six. If you deny that, then we start all over with the RFP, right? RFP process. Um, real quick, can we amend the motion or can we change that? That's the next and the next thing you can do is amend the motion and you know uh it takes a a vote, you know, a recommendation and then a majority vote to amend um the recommendation and and that could be whatever you recommend it to be, right? Um what we need to be mindful of are the the guidelines and laws for procurement, you know, of services and and

159I'm using And I will I will get back to you on that. But just um the requirement and the laws when we procure services um fiscally you know there are guidelines of um in terms of um like lowest responsible bidder for example right um and then you know was is the proposals for the lowest responsible bidder you know responsive and responsible. So I know these are things I definitely can bring more information with that. Um timelinewise I want to be mindful whoever the provider provider or providers are right if there are current providers or new providers that they do have to prepare um if they're new to us that in terms of um staffing and preparation and um um sharing the information out to the community. You know my intent is at open house right

160that um all the providers are available so families um can get information regarding that so so we are next board meeting is May 8th right um I understand that maybe the back to I keep saying the open house might not be um feasible if we don't know who the providers are because that's all in May right so um that's just being mindful that um whatever the process that we do that any any provider would have to um keep in mind for staffing just so one of the things I wanted to just be real clear of so for example if we amended it we couldn't we because of what you what you talked about in terms of uh like for example the lowest the contracting law or bidding law um we can't just say okay well

161we're going to take these six and then add start and Robert's Family Development Center. Whatever accommodations we make available have to be made available to everyone who submitted an RFP. Correct. Or do we know that you do what you have to do is um you have to make you have to make the decision of what you're going to man. You're correct. Right. If you say the top six because that was recommended, but you you um include start and um starts in Robert's Family Development Center, you know, I would have to look at the the legal ambigu ambiguity, right? Um for those that, you know, might have did not have the opportunity to um be considered if they were, you know, ranked higher than those two providers. Exactly. So that puts the district legal. There is

162legal. No, let me clarify. The board did not the board did not, you know, the Yes. So, the committee um reviewed all 26 proposals and based on um applying the rubric, right, they felt that the top six were the strongest proposals for a comprehensive program that meets um the the criteria. Thank you for of of the rubric. Yeah, they did not ask for six. I did not ask for six. I didn't ask for five. I didn't ask for 10. Yes. So, I mean, you could I'm sorry. The the the challenge is is what we wanted to do and what was important to have in this is an is an open and fair and objective process. uh as I think was stated earlier, no one expected in this open and objective process because we we've seen,

163you know, everybody had everybody was everybody had the same timeline. Everyone had the same information. Everyone knew the requirements and what we were looking for in the RFP. No one expected for all three of our current Well, I'm talking about in terms of in terms of those who submitted proposals, in terms of vendors, I'm sorry, in terms of vendors. I don't think anyone here expected all three of the vendors that uh that Roba had to not make to to to be ranked so low. Nobody expected it. And I can tell you that it was a concern to the board that that was in fact the case. The challenge we're faced with now is there there was an objective process put forward. There is clearly based on that process certain vendors that were highly ranked above

164the others. So the question is where do we go from here? How do we then if there are vendors we have to then allow if we want to allow for uh vendors to have an opportunity to still be included? It has to be done in an objective manner. Meaning we can't now say we're going to do something that's going to favor these vendors that we that we that we used to work with. Uh we have to create an objective process in particular one that is fair to those vendors who ranked higher than than the vendors that we're that that you know that we're uh uh that we would like to see have an opportunity if that makes sense. Yes. I'm saying as as as a as board membershed in that right so when you say

165you need to board members, not because when you say we as Yes. As a as a board, we have certain legal requirements we have to meet because if we are unfair to anyone who submitted a proposal that puts the district could put the district at legal jeopardy, it could. Yes, it most likely would because we said we were creating a fair process and if we then put our fingers on the scale then it's no longer a fair process. The city kind of gave you guys an opportunity to kind of reshape what fair and we are. So when you selected this committee ju just an FYI the city didn't give us anything. The city basic the the it was the proposition 28 that changed the language that then put it into that then put the decision

166in our hands. you now have the opportunity to change the we so the proposition put it in your hands to create what we to reimagine what collective and what fair looks like. So as a parent I feel like you have the opportunity to include us and either the committee or the now that you guys have the opportunity to be the week and that's why I'm here today because I feel like who selected the committee, who's on the committee, why aren't we involving, you know, I I hear exactly what you're saying and and I get it. Um, and okay, so you know, we received this information. It was I'm sorry, we received this information. It was definitely truncated. Um, and I don't want to do too much of a summary. Um, we put together a process.

167the district put together a process that the district staff Uhuh. that um we thought was that we thought was fair and would work. And again, as as Trusty Doo said, if our um current vendors were in that top six, we wouldn't we wouldn't be here. But why would you? Well, that's Yeah, I I like I said, I get what you're saying. That's that's part of what we do. Um And I get that you want to be more. Yes. Um and this why being on a board. I've been on the board. This is my 14th year. Um that's over 200 meetings. We're regular people. We try to make the best decisions. We try to do the best job. And so far we've done a pretty good job. This right here clearly we have to improve in

168the process. Okay. And again if we if um our top vendors have been um included in the top six our current vendors I mean and been included in the top six we wouldn't be here clearly this means that we have work to do on process and I like what trusty doo said earlier that if we had all year maybe we would have put together a better process that doesn't matter what matters is you all here now and that clearly indicates that we have a lot of work to do on creating process Okay. So, I hear exactly what you're saying and my goal is is to make a better process next time. Uh we still have a lot of work to do right now, but yeah, we will make a better process. And just let's just

169I mean, let's just be clear. We could have the perfect process. It doesn't mean that the outcome would change. It doesn't mean that that that that people who are not included now would be included. improving the I'm just going to be honest with you. If you believe that improving the process means that the vendors that you specifically want that you specifically want that you specifically want that you specifically want are going to be guaranteed to be part to to be selected. That's not what a process is. That that Yeah. Who were selecting? Were there any parents? Like who is this committee? And that was actually one of the things that we just discussed. We were talking about as we go forward in future proposals, right? Well, for right now though, we've got to make a

170we've got to make a decision as to how we're going to address the situation right now. We we the board we the board have to make a decision. No. Well, that's the reason why we're talking. We're this is I mean we could just make the decision, but we're here talking to you to see what are the possibilities. That was the first thing. What are the constraints or things that we have to deal with in that process? We're here having this conversation so that we can can can come up with a solution. Yes. Well, once again, no one has been selected. There are simply there's simply a list of proposed approved vendors. Yes. Are those after this conversation, can those be changed or Well, that's what we're discussing. That's what we're in the process of discussing

171right now. I that I don't know that's why we're talking. I don't know that we can take away from them. The question is can we add to the list of approved and what what are our constraints within that? So, really quick, you guys are talking about being fair to the vendors that applied for this RFP process, but what about being fair to the people that have already been here? When I want to get rid of an employee, I have a list of things that have been wrong. And I feel that never was any of the programs here told, "Hey, this is what's going wrong. If you don't change it, more than likely, we're going to have to move on. So, what about being fair to them and following a process for those people, too? It

172It's not fair that somebody's going to be removed without any any writeups, without any warnings, without anything other than, oh, there's now based on RFP, they scored higher than you, and now we're going to move on. I think when you want to get rid of somebody, parents have to be involved in that process. Students have to be involved. And none of that is in place. None of that. I said it. None of that is in place. So, it's not fair. And just to be transparent, we were the intent is not to get rid of, right? That that's a narrative out there that makes it challenging. The intent was not to get rid of any program, right? The intent was have to have a fair and transparent process because we did not have one. So I

173I understand that the results um did not include our current vendors. I recognize that. But the intent was not to, you know, have a process that eliminates or include. It was to have a process that's fair and transparent. So but it's not being fair when the current programs haven't been evaluated. When the parents have no say in whether or like whether or not they want change, if no one is asked to say how they feel about something or that's just not a fair process because there's already a lot of information that's lacking before you guys want to make this change. I'm I'm wondering if maybe a next step could be a re-review by the committee if the if some of our feedback could be provided to the committee for a re-review and perhaps a rescoring

174because in I've been trying to think about this and I'm only now able to articulate it but it looks like the recommendations for what makes a good proposal may be covered in implicit in bias implicit or explicit um towards just something looking more professional, right? And I just wondering if if if there is any implicit bias and if people could consider that maybe I don't know the committee, you know, and I don't know what they were considering when they reviewed it, but just did they have any implicit bias towards a proposal that included something maybe because some people some of these companies have more experience submitting proposals. They know how to hit those targets more and that's why they scored higher. they are someone I'm not again I don't know the other uh the um

175other vendors and what they're saying but it feels like or I wonder if it could be similar to someone you know who knows how to trick an application system and they're using targeted words to get their application which is not qualified you know on into the hands of a recruiter. I'm not saying that's what happened. And I'm saying sometimes, you know, people know how to play games better than others. And I'm just wondering if we could have a re-evaluation for any implicit bias or if there's another person or yeah, just maybe one other person could, you know, an equity advisor could re-review and come up with perhaps another set or an independent audit of the proposals to make sure that they are Yeah. something that they're all in line or whatever. That's just an a

176possible suggestion. My I guess my question is because you're bouncing back between the committee and the board. So moving forward so because at some point like we like it it's moving forward regardless. So moving forward the committee or the board is now reviewing the top six vendors. So right now as of today there is no one to review because the recommendation from the committee was to consider the six. Let's just just pretend it's it's that easy. I mean it's so the committee kicked it up back to the board. Now the the committee kicked those six to the board. Now the board is looking at those six vendors. The board has to consider if they want to the board will take action on if they're going to consider the six providers. If they say yes, right?

177If they say yes, then we would move those six providers to the next step which sorry. So then moving So then moving forward, I would maybe ask that the that the you take a step back and have people the other stakeholders that have been mentioned several times today. See if there's potential to have them placed on the committee to then review th those six those six or what I don't I don't want to say six when you say you received way more, but I understand with time and and all the paperwork involved in that. It's just my concern is you're talking about moving forward. And so if if everyone if it's been voiced several times that there should have been additional stakeholders in this committee and there their head has that then maybe there needs

178to be a step back to add some of those stakeholders to this committee to look at information before it's then kicked back up to the board would be my my my suggestion perhaps. Just a thought and it may work forward. What would the outcome be if the board reviews this and at the meeting the vote is to is is a no vote unanimous no vote on accepting the proposal of the vendors. Where would we go to from there? In other words, you've you sat there and said, "No, we as a board do not approve this recommendation that's been presented to us, then where would we go from there? So, just for clarity, the recommendation was for the top six. So, if the board took action that they didn't want to move forward with the top

179six, is that what your question is? And the vote is a unanimous no. As a board, we do not approve of this top six of what's been recommended to us. What would be the next step for that? What's the next step? RFP starts all over. What position would that put us in for next for services next year? We is not a a given. I I don't I can't say because Well, I recognize I just want to just be, you know, take the question if they vote, you know, if they vote no, right? We would start the RFP uh process all over again. I don't know what responses we would have, right? We might get 26, we might get five, we might get 150, right? And we would have to follow the same process. Well, we

180would have to follow the process in terms of timeline. What where would that put us? It would it would be it would be it would really put us in a very hard we're already in May, right? The RFP would not even go out until end of May. Um earliest, right? Um and then time for submitting the RFPs and we're already in June, July. and any vendor you know whether I can't speak to the current you know but actually I would say current because if some of our current vendors are are expanding their program they would have to hire you know new vendors would also have to hire we would have to go if we have new vendors we have to go to the process of making sure they complete all the paperwork for a vendor

181that would be a challenge for equity to the vendors there seems like there's according to this paperwork there's two uh types of vendors a contractor and then a supporting contractor. So like Freedom School is a good example of a supporting contractor, Elivo, another good example. Would it be equitable or advisable to look at those 26 candidates and split them into whether they're a base contractor or a supporting contractor to get more of a a more robust program for the Robo Youth? So I want to be transparent like I know you mentioned um Alivo right and they are they have been a supplemental um program for you right um I wouldn't make the assumption that they did not submit um a proposal that is complete and not just supplemental. I just want to be transparent in

182that. Yeah. Yes. Okay. All six. Oh, all 26. Yeah. When the 26 when the when the the committee Thank you, Lily. When the committee looks at the 26, are they able to be separated into programs that are are requesting base contractors versus uh supporting contractors? And if they are, is that how we can get some more I say we as a community get more uh more of a robust offering of programs for the youth and processing. Um I would have to look at that. Um I know that just an example as a top six they were all comprehensive that provides you know a whole full service program. you know there were a few before school, after school, inter session, summer school, um academics and enrichment. So you know we would have to look Yeah. Yeah.

183Just a thought question. Um, if the board rejects the recommendation, is it possible to extend the current our current contracts that I would have to um I would have to get advice on that just because we've gone through a legal process and um our current part our current vendors were part of that process and so I would I would want to get some advice on that. for the board. How can we persuade you as parents, all of us here, just to vote, you know, an objection? No, just until further review. Um, we all know you guys must be either parents, grandparents. We all know you're definitely a child of somebody. So, we we want to just be able to persuade you to look into this, make some amendments, um stipulations, something for us. Um our

184children are our future as as a whole. So, just something for all of us that came out tonight um given our time, giving, you know, our respect to each and every one of you guys. Um, I know a little bit about Miss Chen because my son graduated from Pix High. Um, so I know a little bit about her. Don't know much about you guys, but would love to know that you guys would say no. Any other questions or comments? Yes, ma'am. history. Ramon, you're shaking. Yes. Yes. I think it was under the high quality program as well as the professional development aspect. I see that. So yeah, so a lot of the vendors work for title title one schools. What about this district? We currently currently work through start. So we do have a few

185that that partner previously with us. But that was like on you get points on that if you already had relationship with students in this district. on a grading scale. Is that a point for you if you already have history in this district? So, are you asking do they get an extra five points if they worked with the Rob school district in that is not on the rubric? No. On a rubric that they've had a history working those specific no you know um And that was a question and and and and truly if if I'm just going to say focusing on the top six, right? If I was focusing on the top six, the information if that's the direction that I was going to get would be um which providers have worked with our rob school

186district. I know off the top of my head two of those six have worked in the rob school district, right? and they could have been um parallel partners through start program. So um I do know that one of the other ones that has not worked in the rob school district has worked with title one communities and has worked with um uh districts in the northern or Sacramento area. So I would bring that information but um and and truly you know I I understand right absolutely you know I'm you know me so I'm from Pittsburgh I'm from a title one community I know um I know what makes up the population that's one of the reasons why that I applied for this district right so I hear you um but again right the intent was to

187be a fair and transparent process and um could we in the future consider you know providing an extra point or So um probably you know we can but in reality of the 26 right um there were several of them that would have benefited from that extra point that were that have submitted. So one of my concerns here we're all still different and so there's an organization that is after school program but still has ties to the community that a parent can go to afterwards or has connections and relationships outside of just the school district organizations within North Sacramento that should definitely be considered as like um I just want to you know I I absolutely recognize um that moving forward, you know, having parents and teachers, you know, I I recognize that um and and

188student voice, you know, um but I do want to, you know, acknowledge that the committee, the the the individuals on the committee are experts in education, right? And so, you know, um when we have a conversation, you know, um could we rescore or re relook at into considering you it is a it is a process. Could we improve the process moving forward? Absolutely. Right. But I really want to maintain that it's a fair and transparent process. And if there was, you know, a consideration, and I'll be transparent, I'm not sure if we can rescore, right? Um because I I I would have to get guidance. And when I say guidance, it's legal guidance, right? And it is important to get legal guidance because in the end, we do have we are talking about um um

189huge contracts, right? And so we want to ensure that we are fiscally responsible and um legally responsible following of the process. And so yes, moving forward absolutely can we improve the the process. But I am very mindful of um making um alterations right now to the scoring because you know our current vendors are not on there. that is I'm very mindful of that because the process was fair and transparent to all and so um if we were to say like an example the six or the top two and then add you know um our two current two of our current vendors right um what what position would that put us in because you know there there was a rubric and now we are considering others. So I hear all all of you. You know, I

190just want to really um thank the committee because they do have expert expertise in education and they've worked in our district. Many have worked in our districts um for a long time, right? And so they do know who our students are and who our and what our community needs are. So I want to just, you know, thank the committee because it was it was a difficult time, a real quick process, but um they are you know, they are um district administrators that have been in our district. You know, it's a little triggering when you say what shows up on the paper are what our needs are. They could be very um hypothetical and this is something that that I've been thinking about because I do know that we do have vendors who are interested in

191taking a look at how they scored and seeing if they might be able to improve their their proposals to fit the um if we were to approve the six vendors as approved vendors. One that doesn't limit others from eventually also being included as as approved vendors. If we were to say and make open to make available to after that process to all those who submitted proposals the opportunity to review their proposals and make amendments to it to see if they might be able to improve their score. Is that something that one falls within because it's once again it's something that has to be made available to all everybody who submitted. one is that something that falls within the legal realm of what we can do that I would have to get guidance. Um and I'll

192be I'd have to get guidance and and just for transparency if if you were going to allow anyone if we were going to allow any vendor to rewrite their proposal that would be allowing everybody to rewrite their proposal. Yes. Well, I get that. I I get that. Yeah. No, that that's my point is is I wanted to make clear to everybody is that we can't just offer that to the two vendors who were all or three vendors who are already who we already working with. It's something that would then have to be opened up to everybody who didn't make who didn't make the list as an approved vendor. And I don't know exact I don't know how many of them would take advantage of it. Um, I imagine more than just the two vendors that

193are here tonight, but I'm just once again I'm just wondering is that is that even a possibility? I would have to get guidance. I just want to say something real um real quick. Um, and I'm I'm addressing the young lady over here. Excuse me if I just call you young lady and and the lady back here. Um, young lady back here. I'll be here. Um, you know, we're here listening right now. Um, and and and I love the input. Um, but part of this we also have to do, you know, um, relationship building. Um, so I want to make sure that we're ensuring um, the community that we are representative of the community. So I, you know, I heard what you're saying and if if if you ask a question and I and I hesitate

194or I don't answer it, it's not because I don't want because um like I said, I've been doing this. This is my 14th year. I haven't figured out all the rules yet. And so sometimes I want to make sure I'm not going to say something that will get us in trouble. Um and you know um so sometimes I hesitate. So got to figure out what I can say and what I can't say. So I can't indicate I would not be a good member board member if I indicated which which way I was going to vote without all the information with all the recommendations. I'll just say that our board is very diverse and and represents our district quite well. Um, and I think we've done a really good job at making the decisions that we

195that we have made. Um, so I know that all the opinions that I've heard, they've been shared when we're when we're in close session and we're we're late to meetings things like that. We're having discussions. So, we're very I think the board is representative of the community and and I I I'm I'm saying that because I know that you're concerned that voice isn't represented in some of these decisions. Trust me, it is. And and when we get to a decision, whatever that decision is, I I guarantee it will be represented. And the district um I love this district. The people are very dedicated. Did we get everything right? No. Um, is there room for improvement? Absolutely. And none of us are satisfied with where our students are performing and we are are working on that.

196But the people in this district, whether they're on the committee, whether they're a custodian, whether they're a bus driver, everyone is committed to our children and to making sure that they succeed. Just wanted to put that out there because we are listening. We're here make sure that you feel heard. But I did I did want to do a little bit of relationship. Mr. Roberts, hold on just a second. He's coming to you with a microphone. Thank you. Appreciate that. Reason for six, not three or not 10 or was it just an arbitrary number or bas I can't this first time I've seen the scores. So everything above 70 was that six. So was that the cut off point for a reason or just happened to be was the committee select? The committee felt that the

197top six proposals were the most comprehensive and highest ranking of all 26. So they recommended six. Yes. There's no guarantee because obviously one if if it were approved that they would be they would be chosen as quote unquote approved vendors, but that does not guarantee that they would that does not mean that they would get a contract. They would come, they would do their presentations. Uh obviously the board would would they would take a look at exactly what it is that they're offering, exactly what their history is, and then then we would make a decision from there. So we could Can you repeat that? I'm sorry. I think I read somewhere that it was 750,000. Is that split between multiple vendors or one vendor? Okay. The 753,000 reflects the ASUS grant, right? And um the

198intent was to have one provider for the ASUS grant just because the ASUS has um different requirements much more stringent requirements in terms of attendance and reporting than the flexibility we have with the ELOP, right? But this this um RFP was for ASUS and ELOP. So the answer is yes, there could be multiple providers. Could there be multiple providers at different school sites based on those school sites needs or is it going to be like the provider you select is going to service all of the schools? So for the ASUS grant, let's just take that right. The ASUS grant is for a certain amount of students at all five sites. That's what the ASUS grant allows. So that program would will be at all five sites, right? what it looks like after that that hasn't

199been you know the puzzle hasn't been decided I will be transparent right I am very um I'm very purposeful of having more than one vendor at a site right um our families have to have a choice and we've had an experience where um one um one provider was was not an option and I need to make sure I have options so um would I obtain 26 different providers between the five sites, you know, probably not. You know, can I say um that that can't be a possibility? I think the sites, the site administration um would not want that. But, you know, I think what we would do once we decide who the providers are, really design a program that provides, you know, the best program options for all our students and have choice. So, one

200program um is not something that a parent would is interested in that there is another program that's there for them to meet their needs. Was there a survey or anything to the parents to say what type of services do you like at your school? I did send a general survey. Yes, I did. And I did receive feedback how I could do better in reaching out to the parents and getting their um feedback. So, and I seen somewhere where it said there was going to be a program for before school. Is those sites that have attendance issues or is that going to be for all sites? The intent is to provide um a before school option at every site. So the feedback that I received is parents would um appreciate before school um opportunity and as

201I mentioned earlier when I look at Rob right here and I know that there are students there at 8:00 and that school doesn't start until 8:25 8:27 right um so that shows me that there's a need it would be for all sites it may not be the number of spaces like in the afternoon because I might not need 200 spaces in the morning I might need 20 you know but I would like to have um I would like to have that opportunity at all five sites. And there are, you know, um providers that submitted proposals um that would in their proposal included all five sites for before school. That makes sense. All right. Any uh are there any closing questions or comments? Well, I'll just say this. Number one, I just want to thank you.

202I know that this is a sacrifice for each and every one of you. Um, obviously, we're not taking action tonight, so I can't sit here and tell you what the final outcome is going to be. I can tell you that uh that we've definitely heard uh the support that the community has for the Roberts Family Development Center and for Start. uh you know I I I won't propose to speak for the board but I can say this that is definitely going to go into consideration of any possible solution or any decision that this board makes I can tell you that is that is going to weigh heavy on this board. So, just I I just hope that in the end if if the decision is the way you want it to go or the way

203you don't want it to go, um I want you number one to know that you were heard uh and that that the things that you brought forth are are being considered. I will guarantee you that they will all be considered and involved in the pro in any process going forward. um we're going to look to do to see what we can do to try and address make sure the communities are needs are met with this particular proposal to the best degree that we can. But once again, I just want you to know um nobody up here claims to be an expert. And when I say an expert, no one up no one up here claims to be perfect. I am in my 21st year on the board. And you know, I'll tell you this, the

204very fact that we haven't had to have too many of these types of, for lack of a better term, come to Jesus meetings ought to be a sign that, you know, we haven't gotten it wrong too many times. Um, you know, I always I always say that the number one times in which people show up to board meetings are when you're honoring their their child or or you've messed up. Um, I can say this that uh we are definitely going to make sure that we do our best to try and address this uh in this decision and in any and in decisions going forward, I want to encourage you. Don't let this be the only board meeting that you come to. Don't let this be the last time or even the last time this year

205that you come before the board and let us know what you think. Uh you know, everyone here has been in this community for a while. My my grand my grandkids go to my granddaughter goes is in this district. My kids went to this district. Um, my wife works in this district. My daughter-in-law. Um, you know, we are the role of family. And here's the thing. Sometimes family has to keep it, it needs to keep it real with each other. Family is not always going to agree, but family is family. And that means that we need to be there for each other. And sometimes being there for us is telling us uh what's going on and telling us the truth. and know that you know the the number the the emails email address that's on the

206website uh those are are those emails come directly to us the the phone numbers that we have listed on the website those come directly to us and I know I'm probably put it out there but I I want to hear what you have to say because there if there's one thing I know I don't know everything in fact the more I learn the more I realize how little I actually know But having your input uh it doesn't necessarily make our decisions easier, but it makes our decisions better. And when we don't hear from you, and we have to make decisions without hearing from you, uh we know that we know that we're making decisions with not all the information. So once again, I appreciate you. I know everyone here on the board appreciate you. Uh

207and uh we're going to do the best that we can to try and uh address your concerns as we go forward. With that, I just want I'm sorry. I just I just want to thank everyone for coming out. It's not easy to come out. It's not easy to voice your concerns and I really appreciate it. I I do wish it was under better circumstances because I really want to hear from people and it's nice to hear when you know they're not mad at us. Um but I really do appreciate it. I've been this, like I said, this is my 14th year on the board. I was sitting in these chairs. actually was right over there in a different building, but I was sitting in this very spot. I became a board member because I realized

208I was literally the only parent that came to the board meetings. He was. Wow. Some some people. Yeah. And so I really do appreciate you coming out. Like like Trusty D said, please don't let this be your last interaction with the board. And we do want parent interaction. We we we try really hard to get our parents involved. We don't always succeed and if you have ideas of how we can improve that, we want to hear it. Okay. So, yes, um keep interacting with us. Yes, we welcome constructive criticism. And with that, any more comments online? Again, like I mentioned previously, a lot of these comments are were made throughout the whole evening um from so No said, "Why was there not a chance given for the current programs to adhere to the expectations rubric

209rubric for the following year?" Um, Miles said, "You need to include parents always. I think the committee would was created recklessly. Why would you not include parents or teachers? The current providers are basically like family. Our children know that these providers are comfortable and safe with the current providers. These providers do more than just watch our children. They are involved in the community as well." Noi said it seems that the rubric is being considered more than the experience for families students and community in the future. Please consider us directly consider who are directly involved in the impact of programs. uh firsthand rather than a rubric based. Uh Miss Miles said um how did the committee rank and score there are a few questions. Um you know she agrees with Noelli as and finally was there

210was there no African-American member on the committee. I understand that you follow rubric cover the individuals um give a score for the info provided on the RFP. was inclus uh inclusion considered and then anonymously says it's unacceptable that this board is trying to gain our empathy by paving their own um patting their own backs on how hard they dedicated they are all good feedback. [Laughter] No, I do not believe there was. Interesting though. No one asked if there were any Latinos on the comm on the committee or API. I mean it. Anyway, interesting question. With that, once again, thank you so very much. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and uh we'll look forward to seeing you at the next board meeting. This meeting is adjourned.