001Instructions for accessing subtitles in a language other than English are included on our board meetings web page as well as in the description below. All right. Good evening and welcome to the Ross Valley School District Board of Trustees regular meeting. Today is July 16th, 2025 and I am calling our meeting to order at 5:32 p.m. We have four trustees present in person at the Ross Valley School District office at 100 Shaw Drive in Sano. Myself, Rachel Litwac, Chris Landles Cobb, Daniel Cassidy, and Shelley Hamilton. We also have cabinet members present, superintendent graph and CBO Chris Person. Um, our meeting is being livereamed via YouTube. Thank you, Penie, for coming back on. And the link is on our website and the agenda. There will be a 60-second delay between the meeting and the YouTube live stream.
002An audio recording of the meeting will be made available to the public on our district website within 72 hours following the meeting. And with that, I'm going to switch over to our agenda. And our first item here is to call our meeting to order whichever you've done and then procedural items. So we have the pledge of allegiance. You would like to stand up and I alian to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right. Now we get to adopt the agenda and time allocations unless anybody had any changes or alterations to either of those. I'll entertain a motion on that. No changes on my side. I'll make a motion to adopt the agenda and
003time allocations. Second motion second. Chris I. Shel. I. All right. Moving on. We have communication um public comment regarding items not on the open session agenda. So, if we have anybody in the audience who would like to comment on something that is not on our agenda, this would be the time. All right. Seeing nobody interested in public comments, um our next item is correspondence communication to the board. Um those are messages that we've received throughout the period since our last board meeting. Um all of us have an opportunity to get those and read through them. Uh hopefully we all had a chance to do so. Our next um item is announcements by labor unions CSEA RBTA. Seeing them not present, I will move on to our next item which is presentation and/or action items. Um
004this item is trustee candidate interviews, discussion and recommended action to provisionally appoint a candidate to serve the remainder of the term of one vacated seat from July 2025 through November of 2026. Great. Do you want me to introduce this part or do you want to go? Go ahead and introduce it and I can or do you want me to read this part? You can. Okay. So, um, this evening the board is going to interview and select an appointee to fill the bank position due to Ryan O'Neal's resignation. We are fortunate to have five community members apply to serve on the board of education. They will be interviewed this evening and I thank each of them for the time, the effort and thought that you've taken in applying interviewing for this position. The process this evening
005is as follows. Each candidate's application with redacted personal information has been attached to the board agenda item for review. Candidates will be interviewed in alphabetical order by last name. None of the questions have been shared with the candidates prior to the interview. We will ask each candidate the same eight questions, allowing three minutes to answer each of them. During the interviews, we kindly ask other candidates to wait outside of the boardroom in order to protect the integrity of the process. However, this is an open public to the meeting open meeting to the public, excuse me. After the final interview, we will open up the meeting for public comment. We are allowing for three minutes of comments from each member of the public. After public comment, we will hear from our current trustees for their comments
006on the candidates. Toward the end of the discussion, someone will make a motion to appoint a candidate to complete the vacant term and board members will vote. Our intent is to select the newest trustee by the end of this meeting and to swear the new trustee in at the end of this meeting. As a reminder, Mr. Ryan O'Neal was elected to serve a second four-year term in 2022. Therefore, the appointee will serve for the remainder of the term. The seat is then up for election in November of 2026. All right. And so with that, um, if you are here and present and would like to step outside, would help with that process we just outlined. Um, and Peter Burick, if you would like to jump up into this table and take a seat with us.
007Would [Music] you go to the time for three minutes for each question? Yes. Distracting. Do you want me to do it? No. Okay. Thank you. Hi, Peter. Thank you for joining us this evening. Thank you for grabbing me in an open public forum because we all want to interview. Let me know when you're ready. I'm ready. Okay. So, three minutes a question. Um I'm going to start off. Um given the financial pressures facing RSD, how would you approach difficult budget decisions in a way that balances fiscal responsibility with student and staff needs? So I think the first thing we would need to look at when it comes to the school financials is to separate what we want to spend from what we need to spend. Once you start looking at what you need to spend,
008you start looking at how you can reduce that need through either efficiency gains or you know other short-term investments that give long-term returns. uh that helps kind of free up more finances to to go into uh some of the the needs the district wants. You know, uh staffing staffing is an issue right now. So, if we can free up resources in terms of our utility energy spend, that may free up, you know, uh a budget to hire kindergarten aids uh or library aids or or whatever we need to do. But generally I would be looking at resource conservation as a way to generate not generate but uh keep our income stable when it comes to making you know discretionary cuts that is a more indepth conversation and I think needs nuance and detail. It can't
009just say you would cut this or cut that. there's there's usually more detail to the story, but for me it's it's often looking at what the impacts are both immediate and long term. Thank you. Second question, Peter. Being a member of a board often involves differing perspectives. Can you share an example of a time you faced disagreement within a team or within a leadership setting and how did you handle it and what did you learn from the experience? So often in in my time at Heath Ceramics I I had a uh partner uh who's the production manager and him and I kind of differed on approach for for most uh pretty much most or any decision that had to be made. What I learned through various leadership trainings is use a method called lace. Uh
010it's very simple acronym. You listen, you ask questions, you clarify what was said and then you explain your view. And using this method, you can often get to some sort of consensus. Uh I I kind of feel people most often just want to be listened to and heard when there's disagreements. So having a system in place that allows for people to be heard often helps you start leaning towards resolution. Um what does meaningful community engagement look like to you and how would you ensure that traditionally underrepresented voices are part of the board's decision-making process? So community representation for me in engineering we we often use a tool called lean. One of the first things that they teach us is if you want people to own their process own you know for us it would be
011our community or schools you need engagement. You need to get people involved at every level. uh you know getting people there for community service days, cleaning up, uh doing you know yard work, gardening, these these little things can start to create engagement with the representatives of the community. Once you start getting you know people feeling like they're a part then you can start having larger conversations. You can get them more engaged and and at least in my experience how the schools are are being run or what needs to be done. you know, what people are feeling about certain programs or uh what work should be looked at. And generally, it's all it all starts with just getting people involved in some way, getting their hands dirty, and just being a part of it, being a
012part of the solution. It's actually a big one for me. I'd really want to see more engagement particularly at these meetings where they're often empty. If there are ways to get people involved in listening, uh, communicating. I think that goes a long way to getting more ownership in our school districts. Not that there isn't, but more is often better. Cool. Effective governance relies on strong collaboration with fellow board members, superintendent, and the broader community. So, how do you foster a culture of trust, respect, and collaboration in group settings? My leadership style is often referred to as servant leadership. It's never about me. It's about providing the support for the people who are doing the work and that inherently leads to collaboration. you know, particularly for this board, you know, it's empowering Chris with with his
013business acumen, you know, getting him the tools he needs or the roadblocks removed. Tyler's leadership style, you know, getting the the community engagement, giving forums where you can speak and, you know, work your charm, work your magic. Teresa literally does everything. I don't know how to help you, but I think you're kind of the lynch pin here. Servant leadership is about empowering these folks who are doing the work. It's not, you know, I'm at the top of the pyramid. I'm the calling the shots. None of that is healthy or appropriate. It's it's about lifting up, you know, everyone. What do you think are the three most important skills our students need to master before they move to high school? That's a good one. I think in this day and age, probably the most important thing
014to learn is computer literacy. Technology is a rapidly changing and incredibly dangerous landscape. Uh it was when, you know, AOL came out with those nice little CDs on every single magazine. It's the era I grew up in. Uh to now, you know, there's so much disinformation, there's so much technology out there. you know, literally every app is snooping on you. I think the biggest thing for kids to learn is how to navigate that safely and appropriately. Uh, critical thinking is another one. I just traveled halfway around the world and, you know, saw a number of people, cruise people particularly, are not engaging in critical thinking skills as much as you would like. Uh, so, you know, getting people that are out there and able to look at the world and see and react to what's
015in front of them, not just what they're told. Uh, for a third one, I would have to spend more time thinking about it. But at least those two are are the big ones. You know, with with those you can accomplish almost anything you want. In your view, what is the proper role of a school board member when it comes to guiding the direction of the district? Again, that falls into servant leadership. We have the experts here in this district, the people who know best, making sure that they have the tools that they need to enact, you know, the policies and in in place that will help bolster the district. That's probably the biggest one. Uh I would say the other half of it is a lot of community engagement. You need to be involved with
016the members of we all have kids in school here. You need to be involved in your school. But I would say you need to step outside of that and be involved with the parents of the other schools in whatever way, shape or form you can. We are in a service job. This is about you. They they call you trustees for a reason. People are entrusting you to do what's best for them, for their schools. You need to engage them in conversation. It falls back to civic responsibility. Get people engaged. Get people involved, hear their viewpoint, and ensure that their their voice is being heard enough that policies support that and the people who are able to do it can comply with it. or if there's, you know, some good reason why a particular policy or
017pulling something out of my hat, book bands, people want a certain book band, you know, why that's actually not healthy. Talking to the board, getting the guidance from them, and then bringing the that back to the community is is how you get the direction of what's happening, I think, appropriate. It's communication channels, opening that up both ways. What personal values or leadership principles guide your decision-m especially in times of uncertainty or controversy and how would those show up in your work as a board member and why should we select you to serve RBSD? Bit of a three-part there. So the personal I find this is a little bit of the why question which is always the hardest. Uh for me, life has always been about doing good for other people. And if you look at
018my work history, you know, 10 years in manufacturing aside, it was always to help people. Working with the developmentally disabled was about giving people support, giving people who needed help a chance. uh even you know now I've I've started working in pharmaceuticals manufacturing drug treatments for children with rare diseases people who otherwise have no chance it has always been about doing what's good for the most amount of people the thing that I learned from 10 mar 10 years of marriage with my wife I love her uh she comes from a very different culture than my own and as has explained to me culturally It it's generational training, generational thinking. It's not just about helping people now, but lifting up the next generation so that they can succeed and instilling in them the value that you
019lift up the next generation. It's the long game. Over time, it helps bring everyone up so you in a much wider sense. Uh and that's kind of the guiding principle. this is an opportunity to enact that to bring people up to bring our community, you know, higher and I I can't say no to that. I have to, you know, give it a go. So, last question. Why do you believe you're the most qualified person for this position? I wouldn't say most qualified. have read through the other applications and you have a number of brilliant candidates. Uh last name excluded. She is brilliant though. Uh there are a number of people who are are quite capable. What I think I bring outside of that is knowledge of science, knowledge of engineering. Uh we have a number
020of schools that have failing infrastructure and I maybe not failing but deteriorating. I have the skill set to manage and deal with that. I I know what I'm looking for when it comes to building improvements and we have a lot of that in our future. So I think am I the most qualified? Am I better than another candidate? That's not particularly for me to say and I don't generally engage in hierarchy in that that manner. But I think I have skills that are valuable both for the board and our school district, but most importantly, you know, for the kids who attend. Trick question. I like it. Those are all of our questions. Thank you. Do I stay in or just um up to you? [Laughter] You hear a lot of questions if you stay in.
021I'll grab Rachel for you. Thank you. Yeah. So the dates we can't technically say are you ready? Yeah. Okay. Hi Rachel. Hi. Thank you for joining us this evening. Um I'm going to start first question. Um given the financial pressures facing RBSD, how would you approach difficult budget decisions in a way that balances fiscal responsibility with student and staff needs? First of all, I want to say thank you for allowing me to interview you this evening. I thank you for your service on the board. I know it's been um an immensely emotionally challenging year to listen to all the board meetings for the past year. others as it pertains I'll get to this question one second but it's been a lot and I really appreciate the service that you've provided um with respect to the
022question of how we would address financial decisions giving a consideration of community needs um I I think and I forget the the balance of the rest of the question but I think the first thing that comes to mind for me is that it's not a zero sum game and that it two things can be true at At the same time, um, it can be true that in your heart of hearts, you want to provide as much resourcing as possible for teachers, but at the same time, you have a fiduciary obligation to use um be a a steward of public resources, be a wise steward of public resources. I mean, the reality of where we sit at this time flip-flopping back and forth between funding of LCFF and basic aid. I think that it's there's just
023a tremendous amount of complexity and the factors that drive those different funding models. I think it's important to kind of educate the public and be educated myself really deeply root through the materials that are presented to me so that I can articulate good questions and I can expose the reason and the rationale for the way I vote in a particular way. So, um, and to me that's showing that trans that's showing that I'm a trick being transparent and, um, and accountable. Ultimately, I'm accountable as a board of trustee or accountable to the public for the delivery of highquality education. And it's really hard when you have policies and procedures and structures in which you are bound. Um, so I think I would approach decisions by being informed, compassionate, um, realizing that I can hold multiple
024truths at the same time. Thank you. So being a member of a board often involves differing perspectives. Can you share an example of a time you faced disagreement with a team or within a leadership setting and how did you handle it and what did you learn from the experience? That's a really good question. I think that there have definitely been times working um in my career where I've had a difference of opinion with a supervising attorney for example about the kind of guidance that we should be given to a client. Um so that um and typically for further background you typically work sort of as a team. There's t tends to be several attorneys that are working on a matter. There's a there's a more senior partner and then there can be several more junior
025people. So you're kind of coming together as a team to make your guide to provide direction. So um an example that come that springs to mind um is is just the challenges that I faced when um the challenges with respect to a particular decision would be I'm trying to think of a really good example for you for that one. Um, I think it really is just inherently when I see the information in my reading of the law and the facts as they're applying to the situation and other people's have um a different perspective and I'm trying to consider my interpretation as well as maybe the political ramifications of a decision that and how that it can interplay into an ultimate decision a client's making. And when you're working as a team, you essentially have to
026feel comfortable to um express your opinion, but also be an active listener and question with respect. Um so I think that's how I've approached situations like that. And I think that I've learned from them that it's you can change when new information comes to light. I think that's okay to do and and it's okay also I think if if someone provides you with information that um wherein you realize I was going down the wrong path I think it's okay for you to acknowledge that to the whole team so you show up and down the organization it's okay or I made a mistake this was the wrong interpretation so I think that's the thing that I like to show to folks is that um I'm a human I make mistakes and Um, but it's good to
027um, yeah, it's sort of that one. That's a good question. All right. What does meaningful community engagement look like to you? And how would you ensure that traditionally underrepresented voices are part of the board's decision-making process? So, that's another good question. And I think that meaningful community engagement means several it it means trying to come and meet people where they are at a variety of levels using a variety of resources and avenues. So on the one I'll just kind of go through a list of how I see that that's coming to my mind. One, you want obviously an open um agendaized public board meeting. You might want to consider having board meetings that aren't in the middle of the week in the evening. occasionally have one at a different time because not everyone can come
028to a meeting in the middle of the in the evening, the middle of the week. Um, it also means that you're doing outreach to communities by a several mechanisms, right? You as a representative of the community, you're out engaging actively with a variety of constituents in the community. It means that you're soliciting like part as being a part of a board you're like that's part of your responsibility is to actively solicit that engagement. So you need to make yourself available. You make yourself available by attending community events, attending school events so that you um are synonymous with uh a source of for folks to come one-on-one and communicate. And that may be more comfortable than coming to a board meeting and doing public comment. Excuse me. Um another thing is you solicit surveys. This district
029has done some had some really awesome examples in the past year of how they've solicited community input and then the board of trustees decisions have been informed and um uh informed by those decisions. Number one, you you impanled this was another good point, impalement of of special advisory committees. You impanled a budget advisory committee, right? They came together, they gave you about5 or $700,000 in cuts. you communicated that to the public and then ultimately I think you also sought surveys from folks on which would be the most um bear palatable of all of them. You all cuts are not palatable and then you made a decision and I think your decision it sounded like was pretty much squarely in line with some of the recommendations or mass majority of the recommendations of your your parent
030advisory um committee your your budget committee. You've also sought feedback from the community on how you should spend the funds that were um that you retained from the sale of the children's center. What were the priorities for the different communities? You did surveys and people participated and I believe the decisions that were made, some of the maintenance projects that are ongoing this summer are a direct result of that feedback. To me, that's how you engage. You engage in underrepresented communities. You have a segment of a beautiful celebration. You have a segment of the district's population that are multilingual language learners and then they there's a point in time which become they become English proficient and there's a beautiful community celebration of that um and that's well attended. You have translation available. You have special technology
031nights where folks that um may be underrepresentative may be underrepresented. that the 10 sounds weird on that. Um have an opportunity to get access. Sorry, keep going. Um so effective governance relies on strong collaboration with fellow board members, the superintendent, and the broader community. So how do you foster a culture of trust, respect, and collaboration in group settings? I think I think it's important to be informed. um and to be transparent and to be accountable. I I think that you foster trust in a community by having a deep understanding of the information within which that you're assimilating that you can that you can take in a significant amount of information and assimilate it to the community in a in a way that is un a lay person can understand very easily. I think that helps
032you explain what the situation is. I think that you're transparent about the considerations and your decision process. I think the the transparency there was a lot of transparency. The superintendent said, "Hey, if we don't get the parcel test pack test passed, this is going to these are going to be the cuts." The parcel test didn't get the parcel tax didn't get passed. Those were the cuts. There was a continuity throughout the throughout the course of the year and the communications with the community. And I think that's how you build trust. So that's a model that board members would be doing um in their capacity being transparent about this these are our responsibilities. These are these are the parameters within we're working for funding. These are um these are the districts you know policies and goals
033on curriculum and education and this is what we're doing to advance these goals. This is how we're measuring these goals. I think you just are straightforward and honest and transparent. Thank you. What do you think are the three most important skills for our students? Sorry. What do you think are the three most important skills our students need to master before they move to high school? Um I think the I really believe in the education of the whole child. So I think social emotional learning underpins all of this and that that is necessary for academic achievement and success. So, um, learning emotional regulation tools and kind of having a toolbox of kit, a a toolbox that you can apply as your challenge in the various academic settings, whether that's literacy, whether that's numeracy. Um, so I
034think that's foundational because that will carry kids through the rest of their life, let alone high school, right? It's very hard the individual kind of resistance that bubbles up when things get challenging. If you have a set of tools to help you tamper that down or alleviate some of that anxiety and continue push through, continue with your um real learning, I think that's very valuable. I also think it's fundamentally important to be a solid reader and writer and also you have to you have to be solid at math too. I mean they're all reading, writing and math. It's also important. Um I'm particularly a reader. So reading and education has like been the most important thing in my life. So reading holds particularly high value for me, but honestly to succeed in high school, the
035kids are going to have to be proficient readers, writers, and they're going to have to do the um mathematical calculations. So in your view, what is the proper role of a school board member when it comes to guiding the direction of the district? a school board member. So the the board as itself is a governing body of the school district, right? The the board's responsibilities, hiring a superintendent, making sure staff implement the policies. At the board level, you're working on policy, development of policy, vision, ensuring that there's accountability for fulfillment of that, you know, adopting the budget. So for those things, those are like what the group is doing as a whole. So, as an individual, you need to be educated. You need to read through the documents that are coming through. Ask the questions
036from district staff. They're experts at what they do. Um, so ask those questions. Actively engage in discussion and dialogue with board members in the public setting where you're allowed to. Um, I think that those are that that's the the role of the individual is to help. I mean ultimately the goal is always like great outcomes for the kids but how you get there is by being informed um part actively participating actively soliciting community input actively soliciting input from underrepresented groups or disenfranchised groups within the community. Um so that's sort of the individual doesn't act alone though it is as part of a group that you come to decision making. Um, but your responsibility is to show up, be prepared, um, and, um, you know, meet the obligations that you agree to as a, as a
037member of the board. All right. What personal values or leadership principles guide your decision- making, especially in times of uncertainty or controversy? How would those show up in your work as a board member and why should we select you to serve RBSD? I think the first thing that comes to mind is like empathy and compassion that is so needed at this point in our in the historical context. We find ourselves in such a challenging position and there's so much uncertainty at the federal level. Um I think that I'm an empathetic individual, compassionate active listener. So I think there that actively listening to folks actually goes really far. Um so those are the the and the the value underlying that is just um the importance of being a good human who is of service. As I've
038gotten older, being of service has become more and more important in my life. um you know I've had the the career up and it's I'm just getting older moving into a different phase of life so serving and um why do I think I would be a good addition? I think that my professional experience is so relevant. Um, I've spent my career advising boards and um, district staff and I think that that's really useful because I think I would jump in off the bat and be able to be efficient and effective and um, actively participate in discussions and um, and I'm just a curious individual. So, I love learning. I love digging into things, getting through the details. Um so curiosity is another you know value um that is underlying that I think I I've kind
039of forgotten the end of the question but um I think that that I've covered it essentially and this one kind of touches on it as well. So why do you believe you're the most qualified person for this? Oh okay. So why do I honestly because I have a really deep understanding of how schools are funded, the impact the the financial impact of flipping and flopping between two different funding mechanisms, and that um the the imperative nature of passing a parcel tax um before the parcel tax expires in 2028. I understand that the district's in a a position where we want to keep the district uh going concern that um and I I just think that I've spent years working on these things. I've spent years training people on the Brown Act conflict of interest. I've
040spent years digging through contracts um for educational institutions in particular. I imagine that a bond is on a geo bond is on the horizon for the district. The we've got a lot of aging facilities. I have extensive experience in every aspect of of uh a geobond program and uh from the legal legal perspective and I think that that's just really invaluable because I think I'm an asset in communicating um complex information articulately and clearly succinctly and u I could help you know be a resource both to other board members and the community to kind of explain I've spent my career explaining conflicts um concepts in a straightforward and simple manner in this particular area of K through2 public education. Thank you so much. So you're either welcome to go back outside or you can sit
041down. Okay. [Applause] Is this supposed to be turned on? Is it? Doesn't seem like it's on. Is it for amplified in the room or is it for recording? It's for recording. Is there a light supposed to go? It's It's It's for recording. It's not for amplifying in the room. That's why it doesn't seem like it's on. Yeah. Thank you for joining us, PJ. Given the financial pressures facing RBSD, how would you approach difficult budget decisions in a way that balances fiscal responsibility with student and staff needs? Um, you know, this is something that I know um I've spoken a lot about um broadly and with the board and I think I would approach the decision making always keeping um in my the back of my head the context that for the foreseeable future there's always
042going to be a fiscal crisis with the district. um California would have to make some pretty substantial changes to provide schools with the level of funding for the district to be comfortable um with how it's financed and how it operates its budget. And I think it's the dis the board is always going to have to be in the position of balancing student needs um with the financial health of the district. And the way we can make sure that we're we are making the best short-term and long-term decisions is really to understand the es and flows of the how the district's finances have been. You know, part of that is due to our flip-fpping between LCFF being uh LCFF funded, basic aid, and uh community funded. Um but also seeing the trends with when our budget
043tightens in uh advance of enrollment declines when we start to see uh the district's finances uh reflect enrollment increases um and where investments in the district um pay off and don't pay off. uh in terms of when we add a music program or things like that, can we see how much of an effect on enrollment it has when we have a certain amount of attrition in our staff each year? Um how many years typically are we paying agency fees to fill um those positions? uh and what kind of impact that will have three years out. Um because that's not necessarily directly reflected in our budget. Um but when we're doing our projections uh going into the future, we want to make sure that uh we are not just focused on the projections for the budget,
044but where we want to be. We're we're we're making changes and tweaks. the board has made cuts and we we also want to keep in mind what we hope will happen uh as a result of the of the budget decisions uh the district's uh making a member of a board often involves differing perspectives. Can you share an example of a time you faced disagreement with a team member or within a leadership setting and how did you handle it and what did you learn from the experience? Um, in the recent past, in the past couple years, it's happened a fair amount, um, in the context of my, uh, serving on the Town of Fairfax planning commission. Um, joining at the tail end of our housing element process. Um, and I think nine out of 10 times
045we've had a split vote on the planning commission. I've been in the minority of the split uh and I'm currently the chair of the planning commission and we we've had a number of split votes and in my experience what needs to happen is everybody needs to weigh in on the board and the public in the in the along the process that our public meetings are are designed to facilitate. And so as the chair and the commission as making sure that everybody on all the other commissioners are addressing each of the points that they want to make and um when we have public comment not necessarily uh um ignoring the spirit of the rule of public comment. you know, if somebody has a sentence that's ending at the three cup mark, making sure that they get
046to finish their thought because, you know, the planning commission, even though a lot of the same controversial topics that the town of Fairfax has, we have a lot less um acrimony in our meetings. And I think that's largely because people come people who do come and make comments come away feeling like I got to make the point I wanted to make. Um, and sometimes that's all we're able to do. Um, you know, you want to be able to to influence everybody in their decisions. Um, but it's not always the case. And my personal perspective is that none of this is personal. when the public is making comments that I absolutely disagree with, I'm listening to make sure I understand what they're not only what they're saying, but trying to figure out why they're saying that,
047why they're espousing their position. Um, and see how that fits in with my thinking. And um similarly on you know with fellow board members or commissioners um it isn't you know we have split votes and just keep going on to the next agenda item because at the end of the day we need these meetings to happen so that the town the school district can run its business um dayto-day in the ordinary course. Perfect. What does meaningful con what does meaningful community engagement look like to you? And how would you ensure that traditionally underrepresented voices are part of the board's decision-m process? Um, meaningful community engagement means to to me means everyone in the community that wants to have a say or express their perspective on the board's business has the opportunity to do so. Um,
048it's a we live in a world with a lot of different constraints on our time and our ability to actually uh hear from everybody we want to hear from. Um and so I think the district should be flexible in how um it reaches out to the community because for example um coming to these meetings it's difficult if you're a young parent, you have young kids to come to a 5:30 6:30 meeting. um you don't know what the child care situation is going to be like and that's going to be a lot of the people that the district is most directly serving. Um but you know there's there's never going to be a time or forum for these meetings that's going to work for everybody. So, it's making sure that the board and the district is
049available to the full the whole community um to let them know that they are always welcome to share their opinions with somebody. Somebody does not agree with me on a lot of things and feels uncomfortable um expressing their perspective or winging on a matter to me, it would be important to me that they know that somebody else is available for them to reach out to. And I think one thing that we often uh not ignore but don't don't put at the forefront for meaningful um meaningfully uh engage is the meaningful part in that the public also needs to really understand what they're engaging on for their input to be meaningful. they don't understand the implications of of what the board is considering, what the district is considering. They may be able to raise their hand
050and say what they want to say. Um, but at the end of the day, they might not feel like they had meaningful input because they didn't understand what the the real implications were. One one example recently came came up um which I know that the the board and district actually um took action once they realized this had happened was when we had the survey for how to spend the deer park property sale money and one of the survey items was upgrading like play structures or or things like that for a TK and kindergarten and many of the people in the public I know from personal experience talking to them did not understand that that was critical because our play structures generally were rated for kids five and up and TK having four-year-olds um would not
051be able TK kids who until they turn five would not be able to play in these play structures and as preschools um are still actively competing for enrollment with the district for our TK slots. um whether or not the kid has a play structure is important and a parents who are voting on how the district should spend its money won't feel like they had meaningful input if they didn't understand that's why that option was there. Uh effective governance relies on strong collaboration with fellow board members, superintendent and the broader community. So how do you foster a culture of trust, respect and collaboration in group settings? Um personally I always try to only address the ideas or the topic that people are speaking about. Um and uh when I am you know sharing my perspective, I
052always try to provide um I guess often to overp provide the basis for why I am saying or sharing what I'm saying when we're collaborating because I don't want um people to feel like they have to rely on on my word or it it shouldn't be a matter of when someone is challenging an idea in a collaborative setting. There should never be a question of this person doesn't trust me what I'm saying. This person thinks I'm making this up or what have you. If you say I am saying this because this article explained it this way, you had the opportunity to look at that and say actually this was the bump feed. you shared you shared something that people have pointed out isn't um accurate. Um and I think keeping discussions focused on the substantive
053issues and not um how they're presented or um you know any other number of personal factors. someone's tone um is is the way to get the best result because we want a collaborative and cooperative decision-m process. Not just because it's easier for everybody's lives as nobody's um yelling at each other. Um but it's how you get a better outcome. um the the more comfortable everybody feels to challenge and scrutinize each other's uh suggestions, the the more rigorous the process uh will will end up being. Um and that's how you get the best outcome. What do you think are the three most important skills our students need to master before they move to high school? uh reading reading comprehension that's always uh top of mind. um and um critical thinking and I think research skills which
054often people don't really focus on um so much before high school but given the current uh path that technology is advancing I think it is becoming more and more critical that students have the ability to challenge what the computer is saying um and fact check it. Uh you know, nobody's I doubt our students are very often going to the library to double check what's in an encyclopedia, but I I think it's important to have students come out of the district and go into high school able to say, "I typed this into Google for my homework. Does this look like the right answer? Yes or no? And to have a to have a reasonable smell test so that they know um if they're uncertain where to go, what to do to help them become more comfortable
055and more confident in the information they're getting. I don't think we're ever going to get to a place in the near future where our students aren't asking any number of like uh large language models for information for schoolwork. Um but what would be terrible is if the information is of low quality and our students are not prepared to adapt and challenge that and figure out how they can still learn um despite uh being given poor guidance by a computer. And then just one quick last point, I think it's not really a steal, but I think it's important that all of our kids come out of the district really liking learning and loving learning. And even, you know, I think we'd love if everybody liked to be in school all the time as they go into
056high school. Um, and some people will like that more or less. But I think it's important to make sure our students like learning whatever the context. If they prefer to read at home, they have an interest that is not a school subject. You still want them to want to to know more and want to expand their minds. In your view, what is the proper role of a school board member when it comes to guiding the direction of the district? I think is to provide the policy guidance and to provide the public with a feeling like the school district really is run by the community and not run by not the case necessarily ever, but somebody who's out of town who doesn't have the community or the district's best interest at heart. That's part of why
057we have a public board of people who are not professional school administrators is because the public wants to feel and should feel like the district is something that serves the whole community not just the students but primar priority the students and it's being guided by the community itself. So, I think um this part of the board's role to make the public feel like it is representing them. Even if the board doesn't agree with any of the public comments that are coming in on a given subject, um you still want that public to feel like what they said uh was actually considered and appreciated even if a different decision came. And I think it's also important for the board to provide the district staff and administration and teachers the comfort of knowing that the board is
058going to be responsible in how it's answering their questions or um providing their input. You know, I I'm a firm believer in uh responsibility should be uh for for somebody's career, for their work, their labor should be compensated. So, you don't just make somebody responsible for, you know, a more critical decision-m process, and you don't compensate them for that. And I think it's the district administrator should feel like they're not uh abandoning the district by leaving the final say up to the board. You know, you don't we want the district admin and staff to say these pe the board is taking into consideration what I'm saying. are doing their best um to consider our recommendations and their decision making is thoughtful and and on the flip side their staff is busy. we're like any California
059school district going to be ultimately understaffed and you don't want the uh the superintendent or the chief business officer to feel like if I didn't have enough time to go through this as thoroughly as I should have, the board isn't going to catch this or the board is not going to I can't have a conversation with the board member and say, "Hey, I think we should push this to a meeting down the there won't be um such an adverse consequence and I think we'll have a much better recommendation, a much better staff report by the time this comes to you next. Uh you want a district uh a board that staff can trust will also um treat them well when when there are issues like that that come up. What personal values or leadership principles
060guide your decision-making, especially in times of uncertainty or controversy, and how would those show up in your work as a board member? And why should we select you to serve to RDSD? Um, my personal values that I think guide my process are compassion and empathy for other people and hope. Um I generally come off rather pessimistic but I think um that's you know just my shell to cover that I am hopeful that things can improve and that's why I put all the time I do put into um you know the various projects um around the community that I've become involved in. And I think it's important um for any board member to always have hope that the district can improve and be doing more and better by its students and by its staff. um and
061that it really cares about how it's cares about its impact on the students, the teachers, the community at large. Um you know, it's you're going to have a different outlook if you're someone who's like, listen, we are funding's always going to get less. Things are never going to improve. this is how we're going to ek out another eight years before we go into bankruptcy as opposed to uh six years. Um I don't think that's a way to run any enterprise. I think you always should have um hope and you should always be uh making your decisions in this context with the goal that that um you're going to have a better outcome. that you're going you're always pushing for the best outcome you can have in a given circumstance. It's part of why I care
062about uh education so much because you know each generation has has an opportunity to improve on the previous ones and I think it's no uh controversial statement that there's still plenty of uh inequality and in injustice and I think um we can always be doing one of the things we should always be doing is making sure future generations are set up as best as they can be to continue the work of improving their lives and the lives of the people around them. And then finally, why do you believe you're the most qualified person for the position? Um, I believe I am sufficiently qualified. uh um based on my engagement in this community um my experience with this board and yeah the amount of time I've I've always or not always but I've put in to
063understanding and digesting all the materials that are prepared for the board uh prepared for the public and um what's said at the meetings and going back and listening to the meetings um you know taking the time to listen to all the parts of the meeting you were not able to sit for um you know I'm also have experience being on a countywide um commission and being on uh town of Fairfax commission with the responsibilities and practical uh realities of being a uh board member for a uh municipal uh body in in California. um including the Brown Act, which I'm particularly uh paranoid about uh tripping up because I always want to understand and I care about the policy decisions, why all of these rules and uh procedures we have to follow are in place like
064the Brown Act can just be something one says offhand, but I do believe that open meetings are a good Okay. And we should be focused on the spirit of why we have these um open meeting laws. And we should be focused on why the board is public people who are not school administrators. Um and you can have any any qualifications so long as you're 18 and live in the district, I think. um uh to be a board member because it isn't in my opinion a matter of um educational or whatever uh other qualification. It's a matter of um passion and desire to work uh on behalf of the community to make the district succeed succeed as best as it can. Thank you for joining. Thank you. Hi. Just think I'm ready. Good. Hi, Adam. Thank
065you for joining us. Hi. Given the financial pressures facing RBSD, how would you approach difficult budget decisions in a way that balances fiscal responsibility with student and staff needs? Uh, how we've been doing it. Um, hi everybody online. My name is Anna Marsh. Um, so I'm quite familiar with this topic from serving on the budget advisory committee. Um I became very interested in this uh over the last 18 months and uh proud to say that I think the way that the budget advisory committee has been that we handled it with the help of teachers and staff and parents and community members that were on the committee in addition to um Tyler Graph that we collectively discussed it talked about what would it mean to cut A, what would it mean to cut B and and
066really getting the whole picture from people that it matters. So, well, if you cut music, like let's ask the music teacher what that means. Let's ask the principal what that means. If you cut support aids, like sure, that sounds fine. That's only a part-time position. But then when talking to the principles, we were able to see the gravity of that. So, um I think that the continuing that community discussion and really figuring out how it will affect, you know, if it's a fifth grade program, how's that going to affect the sixth graders? If it's a, you know, a position at one school, how does that affect that, you know, the same position at another school? Anyway, so working collectively and discussing it and really seeing the um what the result would be and then ultimately
067making those hard decisions that have to be done uh for future fiscal um wellness of the district. Thank you. Being a member of a board often involves differing perspectives. Can you share an example of a time you faced disagreement with a team or within a leadership setting and how did you handle it and what did you learn from the experience okay so I uh I'm an occupational therapist I work in healthcare and have worked at many settings I worked in hospitals for many years and this is precoid I had a co-orker who was consistently coming to work sick like all of the time like just never wanted to miss understandably because of using PTO when they didn't want to they wanted to save it but and especially in a place like a hospital but really
068anywhere you should not be coming to work sick and that's a larger problem of course um societal problem but so what I did is I discussed it with this co-orker I was not their supervisor uh But I wanted to sort of understand like because when you're sick, you don't really generally want to be at work. So what's going on? So I was able to talk to this person about it because it really bothered me. I was pregnant. Um and I felt protective over a lot of my co-workers too and just putting also our patients at risk and it was so I was able to discuss it with the person and kind of hear their perspective that well I don't have any PTO you know there was other larger problems. Um, so just and then being
069able to that didn't need to escalate to supervisor. It was just I think that person really to listen and to understand where they were coming from and ultimately like understood where I was coming from. What does meaningful community engagement look like to you? And how would you ensure that traditionally underrepresented voices are part of the board's decision-making process? Yeah, that's um so I've often when you come to board board meetings there's not a lot of people here and and people work in the evenings, people have young children and so that's something that I've thought about is being approachable and that's something I think is so so valuable for the trustees and I would say that I probably was not initially comfortable um until I started coming to a lot of meetings and getting to know
070all of you. And so something that I thought that would be good is to have more on-site school kind of fireside and I know that like superintendent does that but not much with the board and so I think getting more uh just exposure and I I mean I certainly see a lot of you all over the community but sometimes it's not really announced um or given the opportunity for a lot of people to to be able to meet the trustees and have a very um just to make it approachable and so that everybody does feel comfortable that they can bring something up that they may think is like a stupid question or you know something that they're just fearful of but is just important is what anybody else has to say. So, I think that's
071something that I, you know, could, you know, potentially could be something that may maybe would work, maybe wouldn't. You guys would probably know better, but just an idea I had. Effective governance relies on strong collaboration with fellow board members, the superintendent, and the broader community. So, how do you foster a culture of trust, respect, and collaboration in group settings? Communication. I uh I think the source of most problems are poor communication. And so from the beginning having a level of just to normalize communication that what you have to say is just important what I have to say listening responding having a conversation and that I think in my life experience in my professional experience has served me very well. I really pride myself on that. What a lot of people consider to be confrontation. It's
072really just communication. And so being able to find that common ground before it becomes this conflict. Um and before that, you know, there's no the trust isn't, you know, isn't there. So really, that's I think a excellent way to build that trust. Was there part of that question I missed? No. What do you think are the three most important skills our students need to master before they move to high school? Oh, um gosh, self- advocacy I would say is huge. Uh, and I mean and for other people, but really I think at that age before high school for yourself. Um, being able to stand up for yourself, being able to ask for what you need to recognize what you're when you're not getting that. Um, I think that's a skill that is so valuable in
073life that it's not that not that much of it happens. Um, of course, social skills is really important that goes along with that. Um, being able to, you know, approach people when needed. Um, especially positions of authority. uh the academic piece of course of course that is so important and that is different for everybody and so that's why programs um you know understanding the diverse needs of our of our student population because it is a diverse student population. So being able to offer opportunities for different learning styles. Um which I think we do quite well of at in our district. Um so being able to meet the needs for the individual learner. Uh so they can succeed in their academics. Uh okay. So that was two. Another one. Um moving on to high school. uh
074self-regulation um is something that that I think a lot of people struggle with. Um, and that's something and not, you know, it's just being able to be okay with what you need to succeed to not try to conform yourself. In your view, what is the proper role of a school board member when it comes to guiding the direction of the district? The role of the school board member. Okay. Uh thought a lot about this one generally. Um so the board collectively um right that's that's where the like that's where the strength is. That's really where it's so it's not an individual, right? It's not one trustee or another. And so, um, being able to recognize that in the discussions. So listening make you know disagreeing respectfully having that discussion and then when that decision is
075made to support it to to support it in the community to support it amongst each other um certainly not to discuss the alternative when the decision has been made um in in depth. Um would you say the question again? I feel I miss part of it. Would you in your view? Yeah. What is the proper role of school board member when it comes to guiding the direction of the district? Okay. Thank you. Um so the individual really by um listening hearing the community um seeking seeking out information if you don't feel that it's if there hasn't been enough response to make a to move forward with a decision or to have a discussion amongst the board. So to get the all of the information to have the discussion uh and to really make sure that
076it's coming from the entire that you're taking into account our entire diverse school population. So the children of course priority and then and parents and families. Um, so I think that that's the primary role is to really facilitate that conversation and then taking it to you know the board and then what it is then the superintendent discussing further what personal values or leadership principles guide your decision-m especially in times of uncert uncertainty or controversy, how would this show up in your work as a board member and why should we select you to serve RBSD? Okay. Uh I hold myself to um feel like I am nothing about my ethics and I will say that is where I start with everything. Um and I do that with work all of the time. there is constantly um
077some ethical dilemma that is happening and so that's something that I always always consider and everything else kind of needs to reflect that. Um so my like critical thinking skills to be able to work through that I would say I have um I have you know for myself have become an expert on um my clinical reasoning from my work certainly has contributed to that um and also you know like communication and that's a huge part of it too um but I really I generally prefer to listen than to speak and so I'm certainly somebody who I want all the all of the information I want all of the details I want to hear what everybody has to say and then I want to talk about it. Um especially if I don't feel strongly about something
078like it, you know, depending what it is. Um I I really value interpersonal communication. So like that I think that's really what attracts me to this position is that all of the it's selfless what all of you do and and that just says a lot about the people that you are and that you know we're giving that I want to do this is to make our school district better um to continue what's already happening to make to make it better and I've just already gotten so much satisfaction out of the roles I have played um that I think that I would I would I would do well in this position. Um so similar vein why do you believe you're the most qualified person for this position? Uh, truth be told, I did not read all
079of the other applicants. Uh, that gets in my head, so I did not. Um, so I actually don't know if I am the most qualified person. Um, normally I do all my homework, but in this case that wouldn't have done anything for me, so I didn't need to do that. Um, I probably will now after it's over, but um I people trust me. I have the first thing all of my family and friends says about me is that I am the person people come to and I value that. I take it seriously and I um it's important to me having those relationships and um it's probably the most important thing to me. So I don't know uh yeah I don't know that I'm the most qualified but I think I do a good job. Thank
080you. You're welcome to spat or you can stand with our last question. Thank you. Hi Anna, thank you for joining us today. Given the financial pressures facing RBSD, how would you approach difficult budget decisions in a way that balances fiscal responsibility with student and staff needs? Well, as a member of budget advisory committee, I both last year and this year, I actually learned quite a bit of details about our budget and um I think all the decisions should be well a balance between what benefits the students and needs of all students and teachers as as a consequence And obviously understanding of the bigger picture, long-term picture, none of those decisions are easy as we know. But it's it has to be a balance, right? We can't just go, oh, we have one way all the
081way or another way all the way. It needs to be that we don't forget our goals, our strategic what's what's at core here and what's important for us to serve all the kids. But obviously, we can't also just ignore the facts of life and balance books and all the um that comes with that. Being a member of a board often involves differing perspectives. Can you share an example of a time you faced disagreement with a team or within a leadership setting and how did you handle it and what did you learn from the experience? Um at my one of my corporate jobs, I was part of a project team and then at some point leadership way above me decided to switch uh lead on a project and I was put in this very weird position
082where I as a very junior scientist. All of a sudden I had to lead this team with that was kind of switched basically it was a much senior person that was a project lead and then they swapped who's the project lead to me and then I I still had to find a way to work with that team lead that team that every single other person was senior than me including that senior person that was a project lead and for whom that responsibility was taken away. It was a a very humbling experience but it also kind of taught me obviously there was a lot of stuff behind the scene why why the change happened and I'm not getting into very details of that but the learning there is that what matters at the end is the
083it's the team's project and it's the outcome what's important is that the team finds unified way to work towards whatever project the goals are. And on as it relates of my understanding of the school board, it's crucial that the team is cohesive and united in their understanding and agreement on the strategic goals. It I'm not to say it needs to be uniform. No, but united in in their goals, right? So, we could have different we were members, I mean could have obviously different opinions and they don't necessarily have to in fact it probably would be weird if everyone was just repeating each other. Um so as what matters is that the team as a whole is united in their work towards achieving the goals and finding the way to work as a team is crucial
084to that and I think one part of that is that let's say there's a vote I say I voted no and then but majority voted as as a team it's important that I support the board's majority decision right so that I or anywhere like anywhere anyone who's in that position because a divisive team can't achieve good results and can't be effective and so and here I think it's crucial to have the cohesion and agreement on what our overachieving goals are and then I would include I think superintendent here as well that kind of makes all system work that sense what does meaningful community engagement look like to you and how would you ensure that traditionally underrepresented voices are part of the board's decision-making process meaningful community engagement, listening would be very important, listening to all
085the voices and not just the most loud ones. um comm I feel like based on my work on measuring campaign and all the the parcel tax teams, I feel like meaningful engagement with our community would also involve not just the school community but the broader uh community. Um, and some ways I think we could do better there is to have more outreach or town halls, ask Tyler sessions, be available, communicate and listen. Um when it comes to the board business obviously proper notification and notice of things that are happening like you know we got heat for sending public notice of that public hearing day off or day after. I mean that was ridiculous. Like obviously that's not how we should communicate with our community. And I um I strongly believe that we need more outreach
086and more listening to everyone and having avenues for that be be more available would be important. Um yeah, you can't you can't be You need to be you need to listen to everyone really. Effective governance relies on strong collaboration with fellow board members, the superintendent and the broader community. So how do you foster a culture of trust, respect and collaboration in group settings? Start with listening. Good listening. sounds like I'm repeating myself, but I think effective communication always starts with listening and truly trying to understand the voices on board and listen to really not to just respond but to truly understand what other opinions might be. and and then deep discussions I think are crucial for truly collaborative efforts. Um so that there is a deep understanding of of the issues concerns and that will
087allow to come to our more meaningful decisions. I think um it's not you know the way I see the board right it's it doesn't matter as much with it's not individual it's not like a five individual voices right it has to we have to have a a shared vision and shared strategic understanding of where we're going to as support. And so that truly requires a very deep collaboration on even thinking about the big picture. That makes sense. What do you think are the three most important skills our students need to master before they move to high school? being good human beings, which means learning how the world works, you know, um being creative, being good at communication. um being you know it's in current world just acing the t tests is not going to not
088going to get you where you need to be. Sure, we obviously need to make sure that our kids know how to read and write and math and all that stuff, but a whole human being, a whole personality developing, social emotion skills, I think would be the a third of my list of the skills. It's it's as much a social emotion skills as it is just, you know, literacy and and all this good stuff. [Applause] In your view, what is the proper role of a school board member when it comes to guiding the direction of the district? The proper role of the school board member in my view would be to well govern and governance here is I see it is setting a strategic direction um and goals and vision but not that that is a
089separate separate from actual administration which is Tyler's job and his team and then the other role is to guide provide guidance should whenever it it's needed. Obviously there is also that part where about the budgets books that are solid and it's truly is collaboration with the staff and I think the the cohesive team with the superintendent is absolutely essential here. Um, so it's really the board is I don't know 10,000 feet when Tyler and his team is marveling the ground. But we have to have those shared understanding of the goals and and where are we going. Um and so then we support that achievement of that goal and provide accountability and make sure that things actually happen according to them those strategic goals. What personal values or leadership principles guide your decision- making especially in
090times of uncertainty or controversy? How would those show up in your work as a board member? And why should we select you to serve RBSD? That's a long question. I am a very I'm very good at system thinking and I combine that with honest straightforward approach to things. Um, I am good at decision making, asking the right questions, looking at kind of a seeing the big picture of things. And I think after being on all the committees, I was on budget advisory committee, part of X committee, superintendent council, manner, site council, you name it. I have a pretty solid understanding of a lot of issues our district is facing. Not saying I know everything I know but I I've been involved in a lot of um committees kind of to and so I have understanding
091of how things pretty decent understanding of how some of the things work but I also think that while doing all of that work I already have a pretty solidly established relationship with superintendent and manner leadership where I know that I get things done and I I mean on my desk I have a handwritten thank you note from Tyler. I have handwritten thank you note from um manners leadership teachers. I I I'm truly I even for the kids. I don't have any agenda of this is this would do nothing to my CV. I don't I have fusion chemistry and it's really is I'm only doing this because I care about the kids. I care about our community. I am really into this to make our good districts even better. And yeah, I think it's I I
092kind of demonstrated a lot of that through the work I've been doing over the last I don't know 18 months here and not whatnot. But also I think because I already worked on all this committee with a lot of you, we already know that it would be a good cohesive I could be a good part of this cohesive team. I I feel like I would it would be productive collaboration if if I would join this team. That's I guess how I I feel like it would be good use of my precious time. And then finally in similar vein, why do you believe you're the most qualified person for this position? Why do I most qualified person? Um I not going into this blindly. I certainly in some sense I kind of been interviewing for this
093for a year or so in the sense of learning how things work and various what are the various issues I was known to bring issues up for superintendent council that come from my very deep understanding of what's happening at manner campus I work tirelessly for um site council I would have a chairperson for that. Um, and so I think I have a really solid understanding of both budgets and structure and who does what. And I also demonstrated I actually get things done and I it's I walk walk I probably can convinced more houses for measure E campaign than anybody. and we'll have to cence even more next time. Um I and I truly stepped up when there was more help needed there. I stepped up and even though I could barely walk because I just
094got really sick. I was back in it the second I could walk. I was going back and knocking in the houses. I really I truly care and so I do work and I'm luckily I have a husband that supports me in doing all my work and takes care of the kids and sometimes even has to like arrange in his own meeting so that I can come to 5:00 p.m. fashion advisory committee meeting. I'm I'm really in for the kids for our community for our teachers. This is really like, you know, I'm not it's it's not like I'm gonna be like running for county supervisor or anything. No. Thank you. You may go sit. Thank you so much. Yeah. Please stay. Can we just take a break? Oh, everyone back in. All right. Thank you everybody
095who um has spoken today. I really appreciated it. Um I just want to say before we get to the public comment section, I came across a quote last week and it kind of has just stuck in my head and I realized why today. Um the quote is we live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say it's not my child, it's not my community, not my world, not my problem. Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes. That's Mr. Fred Rogers and I love Mr. Rogers's kid. But I can't believe we've had five excellent candidates pop up today. Thank you all so much. It's truly who you're doing. And with that, um, so we have public comment now. Um, if you
096would like to speak, just please, um, come up to the podium, state your name so people listening know who's speaking. Um, you'll be given three minutes. At two and a half minutes, you'll be given a 30 second warning to wrap up your comments. We We would like to try and keep this timely, so just respect the three minutes warning. Um, and with that, if you would like to make a public comment, please feel free to jump up, take a seat. Okay. Hello, board of trustees and superintendent. My name is Alex Nikki. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you this evening. I'm here speaking on behalf of my wife, Rachel Brilliant. She's seeking the role because she's uniquely qualified and has a love and passion for supporting our community and a desire to
097serve. She's an extraordinarily hard worker and would bring a lot of tenacity to the role as well with 17 plus years of experience as an attorney and at and in the last eight years consulting with school districts and boards including topics but not limited to construction development, contracting and negotiations, district litigation, coaching and training board trustees on applicable law and even HR matters. This makes her uniquely qualified to step into the role on day one and bring practical skills and experience with her. In our home, she's a loving parent of our two children, Oliver and Abby. In our community, is that two and a half? No way. Really? Oh gosh. Okay. Uh uh elementary. Uh so they go to Brookside Elementary where both our kids uh kids attend. She's a regular classroom contributor and is
098a weekly uh volunteer for over three years focusing on math curriculum within the classroom. She also serves on the school site council. Lastly, I want to let the board know that prior to Rachel submitting her application, we had multiple discussions around her potentially taking on the role and the board burden it puts on our family. We have no illusions of the time, commitment, and emotional stress such a high-profile role can bring to individuals and their families. She's very committed to the Ross Valley School District and our community. Rachel and her family are ready to accept this burden and support both. Thank you. Hi. Hello everyone. Um I'm Katie Walker. I feel like I'm testifying to Congress here. A little nerve. Um, thank you for having me. I'm new to the Ross Valley District as of
099January and I'm here to make a comment about Anna Marsh. Um, was lucky enough to meet Anna very soon after we moved to this area and I just had to come up here today and talk about how welcoming, authentic she's been to me and it's been amazing to see the way that she connects with the community. uh we had the experience of canvasing together and I got a chance to see her speak to all different kinds of people and it's really an incredible skill to be able to authentically connect with a range of people and I feel like that would be a huge thing representing all different voices across the district. I feel like people would feel heard and safe speaking to Anna. I feel like she is very trustworthy and it's so clear that
100she's passionate about education. Um, yeah, I think that she represented herself really well today and what she can bring to the table and I'm just um super excited to have her in our community. Thank you. Any further public comments? There are more hands earlier. Hello, I'm um I have the experience of being a school law attorney and I have worked with boards of trustees. Can you state your name, please? I will. It's not required, but I will. Mia Robert. Um, I have the good fortune of having worked with school boards all over Northern California and I worked with many superintendents and trust board presidents primarily in my role and I can say unequivocally that Anna Marsh would be an incredibly strong board member. She has not only um passion, dedication, but also common sense, practical
101awareness of realities that schools face, be that um revenue challenges, demand, competing demands about priorities. she I feel would be able to really well balance um would bring care to know that while priorities are not cheered within a district necessarily um all of those priorities are important to the people who prioritize them and I think she would bring that care to her thoughtful decision-m with the board as a true team member on the board um and would be very thoughtful caring and committed to the board to operating as a cohesive team and support of the community. So, I highly recommend it. Thank you. Good evening, uh Kevin Curtis. Uh Rachel, you're so right. I feel like you could put a a round table uh every single one of these people reading their answers to your
102original questions and then tonight listening. They're amazing. They're all amazing. You'd be very lucky and and I'm sure your qualifications are all the same. Um my initial feelings on this were just as a community member giving you some minor feedback as to uh what we are hearing and seeing on the outside is that you know maybe manner does need a little bit of added representation uh for the district just based on some of the things that I see you know comparatively to the other schools. Uh so maybe that helps narrow it down for you a little bit. Uh but certainly the other representatives from those schools were amazing. Uh I came into mind certainly with one person in particular and it might have changed over the evening but I just wanted to at least throw
103out there a couple of added things. Uh when the consultant was looking at uh with you superintendent, they made a statement early on. They said that they were going to look at this from a perspective of a highly recommending uh status of a DEI hire for you and um and we got Tyler whom is wonderful and this is Tyler's show. When we talk about uh the board and the superintendent, the way that I would have answered that question would have been just as a community member that this is Tyler's show. The board would normally be incognito, but we've seen a lot of the board over the last 10 years as a community in Fairfax and Sano. And I think that kind of goes to the aspect that there may have been some larger contentious uh
104in issues going on in the districts, but it really is his show. And I think his vision and his show should be what the board should be behind in in almost all circumstances uh fiscally speaking. Uh but I think that it does matter. I think that with 400 new homes coming in that are very low and low between Fairfax and Sano, but between now and 2031, I think that we are going to see a little bit of a difference in this district and I think that uh perhaps even some added uh attention to those needs uh could be well thought. Thank you. Hi, I'm Joy Forbes. Um, as you guys make your decision tonight, I wanted to like focus on something a lot of people talked about but was bringing in the community. And it
105is going to be so important over the next couple years as we fundra yet again to like have the people that just bring the community and bring the, you know, the energy and bring people in. And so I got the pleasure of working with um Anna Marsh and Ana Twig obviously for the Measure E campaign and they both did an amazing job of just like bringing people on board, getting more people canvasing, getting more donations, just thinking through how to get more people involved and it was really powerful to watch them work and collaborate and and bring the whole community and that's what the board should be representing. So yeah, thank you. And you'd be lucky, but Caroline Brewster. I'm a Hidden Valley parent. Um, and I through the Measure E campaign, I had the
106opportunity to work very closely with many community members. Two of them. Um, we heard from tonight. And like Rachel said, I mean, everyone who sits up here, the ones who already have the job are amazing. We appreciate you. Um, I want to say specifically for me, I have a now a first grader. Oh boy. Um, but I didn't know a lot about the district's finances until last year and Anna was Anna Marsh was the one who sat me down and explained those to me. Um, and she didn't know in a way that made me want to continue to be part of the solution. Um, so I mean there's a lot that as Joy just mentioned that we have to do bringing people in. Um, I did also hear something that struck with stuck with me
107that, you know, it's the parents, it's the schools, but it's the broader community as well that we need to be engaging with. Um, so I know that you guys all know these things. Um, but thank you for making this difficult decision for us and for everyone who submitted um, and wants to serve. Thanks. Hello. Hello. My name is um Bianca Ral and I am a teacher here in the Ros Valley School District and a parent as well. I just wanted to share a few notes that I had or thoughts that I had about the candidates and you guys all did amazing and they're wonderful. Thank you guys for being here for this. Mr. Berg spoke about servant leadership and how he believes in empowering and lifting up people to do the work and even knew
108how valuable people like Chris and Teresa are in their roles. That was really cool. And in getting to know Mr. Befer in committee work and these board meetings, um I've appreciated his care and commitment to our schools and I admire his deep critical thinking skills. He asks great questions, is very knowledgeable, and focuses on solutionoriented approaches. Um, Miss Marsh has served in several important roles in our district and it has demonstrated very clearly how much she values and supports our school community through her dedication and leadership. Similarly, Miss Twig has demonstrated a passion and commitment to our school community through the work she's done in various committees um with the goal of supporting and improving our schools. Um, and then also um I wanted to speak about Miss Brilliant because she's someone that I have
109admired for a while now. Um, I met Rachel when our daughters went to daycare together and she was just immediately so welcoming and so inclusive of our family. Um, she's the kind of person who reaches out to make sure people are connected um and created opportunities that built a strong community at our little school. Um, she has significant experience as an educational law attorney and as a parent. She is such a source of knowledge and insight and she shares it and communicates in a clear and helpful way and at the same time she's always willing to ask questions, consider multiple perspectives, listen and learn. She's so dedicated to kids and the community. She's been involved as a room parent and classroom volunteer and in these types of roles. She doesn't just support the teacher, but
110she gets to know and really cares about each of the kids. Um whether it's the kids or their parents, she notices and listens to what their needs are. she seeks to provide support and assist in finding solutions. Um, so thank you so much for letting me share my thoughts. Um, and thank you again so much to all of the candidates. Um, I told my friend tonight that there is going to be a tough but great decision made because everyone involved, uh, including all of you guys here tonight, thank you guys for making this tough decision because I don't know how you're going to do it. But thank you guys. Thank you everyone for your time and for being involved in supporting our schools. Thank you. Any [Applause] other comments? All right, last chance for comments.
111All right, seeing none, we are going to move on to our discussion. And Bianca, you're right. This is really hard decision because I you know you never know what happens when you put out these these open application periods. It's like is anyone going to apply and then to to be gifted with five very very strong candidates. I mean we're in a lucky position. Um we were supposed to have a discussion here and we're supposed to like you know talk about everybody and pick somebody which of course doing this in public super awkward. exactly how I'm sure all of you want to be interviewed and then have it like hashed out in front of you by a board. So, apologies for that. We're feeling awkward about it, too. At least I Yeah. So, I think Bianca
112summarized it perfectly to be honest. Um I honestly I'm really grateful that we have so many so many willing strong candidates here to choose from and it's going to be a really hard discussion and with that I don't want to go first. So, I'm going to you know, drag it in. But I get to call the shots and I'm not calling this one first. So, please feel free to discuss if you want to share your views. I I I will I will add though that as I as I I I know each and every one of you in different capacities and my truly my love for all of you is deep really because of what I'm going to get emotional but your dedication to the community and I really hope that whatever the outcome is
113tonight that you continue to show up whether it's to enhance our buildings to bring that perspective of of how our kids need to be create full human beings. How the social emotional learning comes into play. the the credible challenge that that comes from individuals that come here keep showing up because in many ways I feel like we could walk away and you could take these seats and I would be fine personally because when I came on I was I was told be fearful we may not have the people to take over these roles up here. I was scared of the deficit of leadership and now I'm like I'm going home a different person because I know that whoever is chosen. There are four others and maybe more who are willing to step up because we're
114not always going to be here, right? So, I just want to say thank you. And this is not a wall that you've hit regardless of the outcome. It's just another step to being back out there and helping us collectively because we're all volunteers. So, I just want to make sure we keep you engaged whatever the outcome is because you all are incredibly gifted and important parts of our community. So, or we just make a nine person board. We could change our policy. I mean, but but seriously, like how many how many school board how many how many Yeah, I know. How many school boards have this like opportunity to have this many people that are interested in this role, right, in these times? Yeah. Um, and this is it's incredible. And this is like it's
115going to be a super easy decision. I can't wait for Shelly to start the conversation. No, but seriously, like, thank you. I mean, like, this is like stupid that this is going to be so hard and like there's not Yeah. I mean, like Ross Valley has won because you guys are all so involved, period. So, to Chris's point, we're unfortunately we're only picking one, but how how does everybody continue to stay involved and stay motivated? How do how do we continue to encourage that and get more people? Um, you know, I think a lot of people brought that up like getting more people involved. So, yeah, I can't wait to hear Shel's decision first if she is jumped in there long, right? Well, and I Well, I was I was just hold and I was
116these people. What a year, three years ago. When did I do this? What? Two years ago. Was that the official? It feels like 20 years ago. Came into some really easy conversations. Um, it is it's awkward, but it's awesome that you get to try this on for a year and a half before the next election. So, kind of all of you have this privilege of like trying this on and see like even just putting your names down here. It's public service which is cool, right? It's nice to start getting involved. Um, and so thank you for this. And this is Yeah, this is ridiculous, right? I mean, like everybody's Yeah. Do you want me to start? No, it's okay. I will I will share it with you in just No, no, you go. You go.
117I don't want you to feel No, I'm not going to jump in. But I do but I uh but I just I echo all of what everyone's saying and I'm not going to repeat that. And I do find myself I am I am finding myself up here as someone who doesn't have a student a child in the school right now. My kids are all up in adults and living their lives as young adults. Um um and so listening tonight and um thinking about the involvement on the kind of day-to-day level with your kids and your community members in the school, the comments about the broader community and you know feeling connected in broader and different ways as my life with this district has evolved. Um I find myself thinking trying to be as conscientious and
118aware of my bias and perspective um from kind of what do I want like what other person do I want to sit wherever we get rearranged to but to sit up here you know and thinking about all the complimenting complimenting what we have as far as experiences and perspectives and and really trying to think of that compliment as well as unity um up here. So, I'm not going right into it. I'm just kind of rolling through the different things that I'm thinking of. And again, I mean, ideally, there's just so many different qualities and strengths in each and every one of you that it would be like, okay, you pick a little bit of this and pull these different strengths together. Because that's the other thing that I'm finding difficult is that everyone is super
119qualified, amazingly dedicated and has different strengths. So I definitely saw there was a lot of different strengths which I think makes it difficult um because it's not like well these are three people that are all very similar in their experiences and their strengths and then you can see one that maybe drives us to it feels like there's a we're really wide variety of strengths. So that's what I was thinking. Now you go. Well, I mean I think I mean it's always interesting to hear each candidates's answer. You know, I'll start with the first question that was asked about the financial pressures we're facing. And I think that having a couple of individuals who have the experience of being on the budget advisory committee really helped elevate I think the experience that um you know bring
120to the table which is important because you got a lot of information. You got to see the belly of the beast. One of the things though that really stood out for me of the candidate who really I think spoke to me in this first question was uh Rachel Brilliant because Rachel understood the fidiciary aspect of this role and it's something that I really lacked when I first came on board. I came in with a different idea of what I thought the district should have done for example with the community center. And then when I got behind this table, I realized it's a fiduciary role that I have to take into consideration what the financial aspects of it. And um that really stood out for me. Um and then knowing that there's two truths that can
121be at the same time that really stuck with me as well making those difficult decisions. But then we have, you know, and let's say they understood the the pain and process of choosing those cuts as well. And so for me, those were the ones that rose to the top, but the fiduciary element really stuck with me when Rachel mentioned that. And I'll stay I'll and then we can pass around. So interesting because that was my those were the three I picked for that question as well. Yeah. um for the exact reason that there is the experience of the budget advisor committee and the deep understanding and they brought it up very succinctly particularly Anna I liked how she mentioned like what would she do differently and she basically said she would do the same thing
122because the process we ended up with is very consistent and led to transparency right um so for that for that reason she was the one who popped for that question for me but the three of them for that question were definitely the strongest answer I felt yeah I felt they addressed the question most directly and in a way that kind of aligned with how we've done things and how like our vision I guess, right? That's funny. Those are the three. And I was I was feeling also I felt like there was kind of the on the ground experience with the budget advisory committee um for those that were on the budget advisory committee. Um and then Rachel had the the high altitude kind of um policy level understanding of the role of the board. So
123that's like an understanding from being involved in a lot of different boards and from that from the work side of it and then there's the been in the been in that decision- making and understanding budgets and boards from the being on those advisory committees and involved in that. Um, and I think we also, you know, there's I think there's this balance of being connected and communicating with the community, but then also there's somewhat of a distance on this side. I know it's something that you just kind of wrestle with because it's very different being really involved in school stuff and then being on a board member where you almost have to it almost feels artificially remove yourself. from that from that closeness and sometimes that's feels really difficult like you enjoy that closeness and you
124enjoy being engaged in those kind of on the ground committees and then when you're on this side of the dis you want to be available and out there and connected but there is also a little bit of finding that relationship and that boundary as well um in that decision making a really good point. Yeah, I know we talked about that like when you like Yeah, sitting back here is very different experience and sometimes you can't volunteer or be in the community the way that you were before or the way that you might want to be, you know, just to be but it's maybe in a different way, right? You can still volunteer and you're still on campuses in different sites. It's just in a in a different way. You just have to be self-aware. Absolutely.
125Yeah. And that's the approachability that so many people talked about. Hey, while you're here, I got a question for you. Right? And so, you need to have that ability to connect with people that you may not know. Um, and they may ask you some really hard questions like on the spot. Um, so there's still that opportunity to to continue. And what it's interesting too, as a parent and a trustee in the district, it's a challenge. It didn't always happen with everybody, but I did notice that there was like, oh, you're a trustee. And so then people saw me as a trustee before they saw me as a parent or before they saw me as somebody they knew before just in the community. And so there's always kind of like an extra layer of like officialness
126which which was kind of hard to adjust to at first. It's like oh they they're thinking of me as a trustee. I'm like no no no like it is hard but it's there's always that veil there that's kind of like separating. So it's hard especially if you've got kids in the district and you want to volunteer and then people feel uncomfortable having you there but they're not going to tell you they feel uncomfortable because you're a trustee and it's like well I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. Are you uncomfortable? Are you going to tell me you're uncomfortable? And I want to sometimes I've had a situation where my kid was picked on. I wanted to march down to the school and take that kid and just tell you something. And then my wife
127had to say, "You're a trustee. Don't do that." I was like, "Oh, yeah. I can't do that." You know, so, you know, you do lose that that ability. But just going back I think um you know to I think you know some of the answers and then selfishly thinking about what what what skills would enhance us here behind the table. What are the challenges that we've been facing? um and which candidate can really stand out and help us navigate some of the things that we're looking at from a fiscal perspective, from lawsuits, from uh decisions we have to make about the budget, how understanding what it means to go in and out of the type of funding that we have. I didn't think about the legal the legal thing did stand out to me. Yeah.
128Um, and and you know, I I know that Rachel's experience in that legal realm, especially experience in education world, it's definitely something that I don't think I realize how helpful it was to have that kind of experience, perspective, and knowledge until until we need it. Until we need it. Yeah. So, that that was something that stood out for me in terms of Rachel's experience. Um, and then also just from the get-go understanding the role of the board, the Brown, you know, the Brown all of the policy level stuff and the Brown Act and all the all of that what goes into being a board member from the get-go. So, so now you can go Rachel. Now I can go. Interesting. Okay. So looking at the perspective of who would compliment us as a group, um
129I think we're we're really really lucky in the fact that we have a really um respectful relationship here on the board and after listening to all these conversations or these interviews, I feel like we could work with anybody these easily. Absolutely. Um I do think um I like on Twig's answer about being a good human being like as far as like what we were wanting for our kids to come out of school as because I mean yes their education is also important but like that's you know it's important and I I just thought that was really interesting. You know she did you know reading writing math but like being a good human being and having those social skills that we need. So like that answer I really like that. I think everybody has the same
130direction that they were going with us as far as like our vision for the district which makes it super hard. Um I did you know Rachel's experience with the go bonds and you know her legal expertise on that. I found that very compelling because that is hopeful and you know we've had we've had presentations about doing go bonds come up already from Chris Carson was like two and a half years ago. At that time I was like I think the only one who was like we should probably look into this closer and um so that for me I think is definitely important but then you know we have Peter Burke who's got experience with facilities and we're going to need that to go with the go bond. So it's kind of like which area are
131we going to need help in in the next 18 months like where are we going to be needing that help and when um and who's going to be able to help us with that and would they want to do this longer? So, it's um I'm not really sure here like what I mean we're looking for 18 months. We're just gonna talk around. So, I mean Kevin made a great point too like we different representation like I all like everybody's great. Yeah, this is it does make me a little uncomfortable having three trustees with parent of parents at one school. That does make me a little uncomfortable. So, that is something to consider. But how does it I mean it's because we we sit here from that perspective or because it's our experience as parents. I
132mean like what what's the discomfort? It feels like there's a concentration at one school that it might impact your views on governance from a broader perspective because that's what your single focus is and if it's from three of you that's what makes me uncomfortable with it a little bit. you know, I was I was less because I do think it is our responsibility to represent the entire district and take whatever step that we need to be able to do that so that we can check our personal experience and and where that comes from. So I So I I also had the somewhat of a similar concern but more just in terms of ease of access because there's a lot if you're there then you kind of you're talking to people or you kind of know
133what's going on at whatever school your kids going to more than you might. So, it would behoove uh those of you with kids in school still to put out the extra effort to make sure that you are getting exposure to and access and availability at the other schools, not just the default of your own school. So, I think that would be an even more important thing to do if there was a concentration. Yeah. Which is true. I mean, I had kids at, you know, certain schools and I was at the other schools as well. So, I mean, you it's easy to do and overcome, but I just think from like a a voting perspective, like we're making this decision for the community. I want them to understand that like we've considered this factor. Yeah. And
134I feel like we don't say it out loud and like get that that it looks like well, hey, we're like really really ours, but we're both side. Yeah. And I don't want that to be because it's not that's not how this this rule is, right? We're here for all of the kids and not all of our schools. So, Do we feel like we have like top three we should talk about? I mean, we've kind of been doing that, but do we want to make it more like narrow things down or are we still talking? We can narrow it down. Yeah, we can narrow it down. Do you want to narrow just down to We could We could write them down piece of paper and give them to you. I'm going to give them to Tyler.
135Tyler can do that. Sorry. I'm just passing all the books tonight. paper. Go on. While you you're doing that, I just want to just note on the record that there has been some there have been a few articles and some research done recently about uh board member elections across the state of California and the fact that there are very few contested elections. So, the fact that we have five people sitting in the room for one position, I think is one of the hallmarks of this district. Like, parent engagement is really high. Um, and people want to be working with this team at the at the board level. And I just think it's something to note while other school districts might be like knocking on doors to get one person to join the board, we're here
136having to try to make this really difficult decision. So, I think it's um tough, but also really special that we're in this position. Glad I don't have to vote. Very different. Very different when I when I when I ran. Yeah. You know, very different. I don't think I'd be sitting here if one of you were on the ballot. Or maybe I would. Did we narrow it to two or three? I put I put three. I put three. I put two. Daniel, do you want to you want a third vote? If not, you No. No. Okay. Okay. Okay. We have uh four votes for Rachel Brilliant, four votes for Anna Marsh, and three votes for Ana Twig. So, that's kind of where we've narrowed things. Okay. Okay. Yay. No decision. Can I take Can we take
137just I'd like just a moment to kind of look I appreciate when you kind of went back over it and and there was a couple of things that I was pulling out that were helping me. inside like just a quick second to just kind of jot down the strengths and we're like, okay, there was our similarity or and I want to defend Peter and PJ like different viewpoints matter so much like this sucks like it sucks in his Yeah, but it doesn't prohibit people from having you know conversations, discussions, right? No, no, that's that's the continued involvement like every like Okay. Okay. I'm just going to see what stood out to me. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Are you ready? Yeah. So, the things that stood out to me on each of these candidates um with
138with Anya Twig just jumping in there, getting to know everything about the committees that you're on, getting involved, asking the questions, um doing the homework, um and just the hard work and putting in the time and the tire the tirelessness um work stood out for me. That was one comment that you that you had made. Um and Marsh um really came across her ability to connect with people um and and to really have people connect with her, which I think is super important, especially going forward with our parcel tax and and just that authentic connection. Um, and with Rachel, um, I really, it really came across understanding of, um, the district and education and things like calling using like using the language like multil- language learners as opposed to English language learners, which is something
139that we do in this district and other districts call them English language learners. So that kind of thing stood out for me is really understanding um the nuances of our district and having paid attention and listened for those kinds of nuances and talking about um especially the question around the proper role of school board member was really able to kind of hit on the key like hiring managing superintendent policy and vision accountability. So and also this the clarity and conciseness of the communication. So there was the substance but also the way in which it was communicated because I think one of the things that's very difficult uh as a school board member is to assimilate a lot of complicated information that you get very quickly um that we get the 70 same 72 hours ahead
140of time as what the public gets. And so being able to take all that information in, assimilate it, ask the questions that you need of staff, and then speak about it in clear, concise, compelling language to each other and to the community. And so I was listening for the communication skills as well. Um, not just the content of what people said. And that came across um in Rachel for me in terms of the ability to communicate because I concisely when answering questions that you didn't have ahead of time. So I I will also add that I was really interested to hear who talked about what traditionally un underrepresented voices who they were and Rachel was the only person that mentioned the multi- language learners. um especially in our current environment and how afraid they are.
141Um from our perspective and really understanding that there are underrepresented families that that can't just make it to these meetings for many reasons, but the language barriers are are in our schools. And I that really stood out for me and it was the o I circled it because it the only person who brought it up. Um so that really stood out as well. Um, I think the Anna Marsh with self-regulation, um, and and, um, you know, the social emotional learning parts, those being a good human being, that was the equalizer with like what does it take for a a kid to really be successful? We've got I think that I think that the academics of course we they need to be strong. We test them. We track them. We need to know the data. And
142we have to as a board support our our trajectories and testing and how we want to get to, you know, back to the pre- pandemic and beyond numbers. Um but being able to wrap those around um self-regulation, advocacy, those things I think were really really important. But I think I know that what we do in our schools is we prepare the kids for high school. We start with math. They get to 7A. If they don't get the 7A and we and we have to really be aligned with that. Um and um I don't think anyone dismantled the reading, writing and arithmetic three Rs, right? Um but um I think that you know um tying those into social skills really stood out and Anna and Anna really brought that up as well. Um I I do
143want to say that you know listening listening is important. Um but um how we listen and calling us out on the fact that you know it's it's important that we've done surveys really stood out for me as well. and and seeing that taking that survey information, this is Rachel, and and and putting it back out there as to we took we heard you. This is the data we collected, and now we're making decisions with other committees to get to that point. I I think just a general understanding on how we're doing things back here um really stood out for me with with with Miss Brilliant. Yeah, I noticed there was a statement around the continuity. You know the word continuity equal continuity leads to trust and it was the continuity of you know what you
144just explained that led to that trust and being able to reflect here's what we heard from the community and how we heard it and that creates the trust. Yes. Yeah. That's what I any characteristics that popped out on any of these questions for you or the three? No, I think the the biggest thing is just the connecting with the community. For whatever reason, I feel that's I don't know if that's the right or the wrong, but having somebody that can connect with the entire community as we go through the next year and a half together. That to me is a really critical piece. Um, you know, and that came across really clearly with Anna Marsh. Um, her ability just to connect, to bring people on board, to get people up to speed. um you know
145succinctly and you know with understanding that that stood out to me. So I was like going through her and like starring or circling things that like popped up that were really that caught my attention as far as like serving as a trustee. Um, for Anna Twig, I think one of the things that she said that really resonated for me, and I think it's something that we here definitely cultivate is like she's in it for the kids. She's not doing it for any other reason. That for me, like that's something that we I think that's why our decision-m is so easy most of the time, today's exception. Um because what we're doing is like no matter what we're arguing or discussing or whatever, the goal is what is best for the kids in these schools and
146it's like okay well if this is what we're trying to do what's going to get us there and so like the decisions all kind of end up being unanimous unanimous because that's what our goal is like what is best for the kids and so for her she's in it for the kids. So for that that really stuck with me on hers in particular because I think that's that's what your goal should be. That's what Ryan's goal was when he was sitting in this seat. Um, I think like the rest of you, communication for me is really important. Um, you know, I I'm on social media as a trustee all over the place and I'm at events and I'm at the schools and so that's all part of the communications thing. So for me, um, Anna
147Marsh really nailed that one. Um, she kind of that I just had a star there in her communication. Um, she said that poor communication is the source of most conflict. And I 100% I have that underlying 100% what has I think caused a lot of the trouble we've had in the last couple years. I think we did not do a good job of communicating what was going on and the situation in a way that that the community can understand and that's on us and we're learning from that clearly. Um, I think surveys that Rachel mentioned are a huge, you know, indicator like, hey, we're we're trying to change and do things better and differently and we're learning. We're hearing what you're saying. So, I think Anna and Rachel really nailed the communication component for me.
148Um, as far as Rachel, um, in particular, when she answered the one the question about what the proper role of the schoolboard member is when it comes to guiding the district, I listened to her and I thought, "This is awesome. As a trustee, I would not have to train her as the board president at all because she's kind of rolling right into it." And I think she even mentioned like she's ready to go right from the get-go. So for me, I was thinking, well, that would be really easy because somebody who has an understanding of what the role is from a legal perspective as well as just like from a community members standpoint. I thought that was really important. Um especially when she she emphasized being educated and doing her homework and talking and asking
149questions of staff, which you know that I go to the staff all the time when I have questions. It's like why don't you discuss this more in public? Well, I ask the questions and I know the answers. What I mean it doesn't require a discussion because I know the answer. So, it's like I'm making decisions based on research and fact and, you know, education. And so, I thought that was really um those were the three pieces that were super strong to me on all those. Um, but I think if I had to pull out of one of the three, I'd probably pull like Anna and Anna Marsh and Rachel as my next top if we had to like narrow it down again just because I thought those they had answers that were very closely aligned
150with how we've kind of been leading as we went forward. Um, but honestly, I really need these people. So, it's it's this is so difficult. I don't Daniel, did you have any thoughts on anything beyond those? Uh, no. I mean, I echo what everybody's saying. Uh I think for the next year and a half, it's that community involvement, engagement in the community, being out there with groups at the events. That to me is what's going to help us over the next year and a half the most before the elections come out. We should have put a question on here. Would you wear a mascot costume at a parade? They don't have to. Our kids are old enough now where they can fit in. So that's not part of Are you willing to though? How far
151would you go for Ross Valley? But I think that's that's where my mind is go is like somebody else. You all wore one. All of us. Some of us multiple times. I'm just saying. I mean, I did have prior mascot experience. So I'm just, you know, I think you mentioned that in your interview. Uh, do we want to do top two or do we want to just do top one? Are you guys How do you feel about this? Do you Yeah, I I I I think I made my I would resonate with Anna Marartian Rachel. Yeah. is as the top two the top two. Um, and again, everybody's just got such different strengths and all just amazing qualities and as you have two attorneys and three PhDs and somebody brilliant. So, and we have to
152do it in public. So, Peter's response like somebody's brilliant on this like the AI would be sitting here going. Um, okay. I concur. I I to Rachel, you made a point earlier that there would be a heavy Brookside presence. I do that's unfortunate and to Kevin's point to have other groups represented at the elementary school level that that does weigh a little bit. So that sucks. But that's just because again it's the community, right? It's all five schools. I I guess I don't know. I kind of I just kind of lose that when I'm here. I I'm totally agree. I am I am probably at the other schools more when I'm just going around and being a public entity. Um, people say, "Why don't we see you on campus anymore?" It's like, "Because I'm on
153everybody else's campus. That's why, you know, um, I can I can tell you what's chipping on the walls at Wade Thomas. I can tell you, you know, what the window broken window looks like at Hidden Valley. I was in the parking lot every day this week at Manor and got out of my car and walked around for a half an hour um waiting for my kid, you know, to get back from fish camp because I'm looking at the school and looking at facilities and looking at things like that. And during the school year, it's the same thing. So, I get that. I think um we have the ability to have site councils and roundts that trickle up the experience of those schools that we don't even touch as board members. Yes. Correct. I think very
154correct. I think like it's a valid argument, but I think in practice it's not as heavy as it seems. But that's me. I mean, and I feel like like I don't know the teachers as well at the other schools. And that's true. If I was a parent at Wade Thomas, I wouldn't know the teachers as well as the other schools there. So, I'm not discounting that. But I think from a a teacher's perspective or the community's perspective, it'd be nice to have representation from other schools. Well, I mean, my kid just my last child just metriculated out of RBSD. I don't have kids at any school at this point. So, it meaning that they're Shelly. It means that we float around to all the schools. Float around White Hill. But it it is Brookside. It
155is something that's in my awareness of the fact that three at one school is a heavy load. Granted, it's the two positions that are up for re-election in a year and a half. So that that kind of tempers it a bit, right? But, you know, it's a temporary thing. It's not four years like we were all elected for just recently. So, it does balance that out a bit. You know, it's interesting, too. I don't think like I'm thinking of like elections and and when you kind of go out with messaging of elections I don't I don't ever see people like well like me I'm from bookside or wherever else and it'll it'll when when it's that I think we've talked about it a lot when we're doing the nominating but I don't see it as
156much when people are doing the advocacy for themselves when they're campaigning or don't hear people talking about like oh I'm going to vote for this person because they're from that school. Yeah. Um, just as a how if you if you wait all the various consideration, it is a a consideration, but I don't think it's a for me it's a huge weighted as as I don't know Tyler, what's your favorite school in the district? [Laughter] Who's your baby? No comment. It's funny though. I have had administration at one particular school say, "Hey, we don't have a trustee at our school. Like, we don't have one here." Like an in-house one. Like and I know that like Hidden Valley I'm so familiar with them after being there for like nine years that like I know all their
157teachers and staff. So it's you know I think maybe not necessarily community perception or parent perception but it could be from administration staff because it's like hey they don't have a representation maybe the things that are happening at one school will be more heavily like weighted as far as like feedback because they have three channels they could be giving information to. Mhm. So for that I mean not that I know I know that we as a board would not take that into consideration. I know for that like that's not who we are as a board but there is that perception and I know we're trying to work on communication and be transparent and it's hard for us to not address that that issue publicly and not have people questioning transparency if we're not like well
158they didn't even bother considering that. It's like we are considering that. Yeah. Um, you know, every year it's going to change, right? Um, I think I think I will only have one kid in the RBSD school system and I plan to run again, you know, for that because I have one kid left. Um, I I just I I just see I just see all five schools more than I've ever se behind here. I'm that's how my my goal is to help the district is to be a board member for the district, not for a school. Um, and I'm I feel like I'm so connected with parents from other schools anyway as a as a as a board member that I have some perspective, you know, get from the round table and site council and parent
159clubs, but that's my job. Okay, I'll go there qualities and qualifications other qualities. Um, the thing I'm I'm weighing with with Anna Marartian with Rachel is selfishly I think Rachel wouldn't have the um altitude sickness shock of like being in a role of a board member and going from day one. Um, but Anna Marsh, I think again that connection with the community and when we're thinking about all of the work getting out in the community again with parcel taxes and all that kind of stuff that I know that we're going to be back in the rollup, but that that would be coming up in June. I'm just trying to think of you mentioned like this is a 18month position to up again. um November in November. So again, it's like uh all good candidates and
160either way would be really good. I I thought this role would be a lot sexier than when I took it, but it's not. It's It's not. It's like I thought, "Oh, yeah." You know, but this is this is this is about finance. It's about I'm the one that has to watch myself with the Brown Act because I'm the I'm the board member that wants to scream f you to the people that speak in public and you can't because you have to put up a wall. You can't you have to you can't all of these rules. I And and Rachel taught me all of these things because I came on thinking, you know, How did I sell that to you? You sold it to me. Sold me a bill of goods. But I am a finance
161person. Yeah. And Chris knows I have the horrific eagle eye and I'm constantly drilling down and that's the strength I think I bring to this table as well as the learning curve that I had. And I can go across the board here and tell you each person brings that strength that's very different than what each of us brings. And I think that if I were to bring someone here to help fortify who we are as a board, I think it would be Rachel because of she would hit the ground running. She understands the um issues around special education as well. She's been dealing with all of the issues and consulting with boards. She knows what works and what doesn't work and understands the nuances of flipping in and out of the funding that we talked
162about. And then our role as fiduciaries to know that the optics of making a decision isn't exactly the way we want it to come across, but the fiduciary part of that is where we have to push. And so that's kind of driving me that I think she knows it's not a sexy role. I don't think Anna thinks it's a sexy role either. But I mean like there's that technical side that I'm craving to fulfill that I think we need up here. But we've also heard a lot from the community that, you know, Anna Marsh is able to do that and explain that really well in a in a really easy manner. Yeah. and we're not walking into, you know, a turbulent board, right? Maybe the superintendent's a little iffy, but that's a little bit. So,
163it's not this thing where we have to get up to speed and this is what we're doing, you know, day one. So, so that's I mean, again, brilliant. I mean, last name aside, like everybody's like, that's the silly part of this, right? We're so fortunate. Yeah. Um, and I never thought we'd have to make it like we'd made a hard decision. And this is It sucks to make this decision in public, too. Um, well, it's actually good, too, right? We're I mean, that's not like, you know, it's how the sausage is made. Yes. Um, so I I want to push back on that. You know, Rachel can just step in because it's any of these five can just step in, right? Because we do have really strong leadership. We've got strong board presidency. We've got
164people with tenure, right? This is not a turbulent board. Yeah. Yeah. Um not yet. Correct. Um I don't know what that means. Um yeah. So I go back to that ability to connect to community, explain things clearly, knock on doors, understanding that you know where we are today. So I leaning more towards Panama Mart and I'm not making eye contact with anybody. That's the awkward um so I'm leaning more towards that just because of that ability to connect it. Unfortunately it's it's a different school or fortunately it's a different school too. So there's whatever my own bias or whatever. Um, but somebody can who can come in for the next year and a half and you know prot I mean all that's you both great. Sure you have to sleep on it. I know it's
165not going to change anything. I don't really I can't that's you got to be so I don't know if all of you received emails from members of the community. I know I got some individually straight to me and some that went to all of us but I kept a tally and we had we had and then I added in the public comments tonight. We had two for Rachel, we had four for Anna Marsh, we had four for PJ, and we had four for um um and so for me, I'm trying to like balance like we need input from the community because we don't make these decisions in a silo, right? Um and I'm hearing what you guys are saying. But there's also like, you know, we ask these questions for a reason. How were the
166questions answered is where I would I'm going to because I think every single person who you interview tonight can easily step up here and do this job. How effectively did they answer the questions that we spent a lot of time putting together and profoundly impacted a reason for me to make a decision? That's kind of how I'm approaching it. Um, so, um, I think the community has spoken and said that we'd be lucky to have any of them, right? Um, but I think we interviewed for a reason. So, so I would like to reread both my the notes for both of these folks. Would you mind if I took a moment? And then I was thinking maybe we did that and then we did like one vote for one person and then send it to
167the other and see what it comes up as and then we can discuss further. And if it's dead locked, then they both get off. Change our vacation. [Applause] I don't That's perfect. want to write down and pass it this way. We'll not you want to stop. This was a good example of listening to both of you. You wanted to stop and read again. That was really helpful for me and your comment about paying attention to the way people answered to the questions that we asked was really helpful. So, thank you for that. Stoping stop and think moment. Should we put our vote one one name? Yeah. And then fold it over and pass it down. Oh god. Bye. Are we being recorded? Always. Yes, we are. You guys are good. Two two. Keep talking. What?
168How's your persuasion here? Two votes for each of the possible. [Laughter] Did I break your question? That is willing to wear the costume. Now it is it is different than like a regular, oh I wanted to know more from this person about this and then you could go back out and ask them again and oh, you know that like I you know that kind of thing. So I will I will go for for me it following on what I just said was when you talked about like how people answered there's the what was written down what was said about people but then the how they answered the question. So then I went back and then thank you for taking a pause to like go back and look over these because then I was like okay
169went through each of the questions and what resonated with me. Um, and so that's where for me when I went through all of those, I I could pick out with Rachel's answers, I could pick out specific things because I've taken copious copious notes. So, you have to write a lot to take notes and I was able to pick out things that really resonated with me um on some key issues. um framing the first one as that two things can be true at the same time and being able to hold that tension that creative tension of two things often in opposition at the same time and and then you know what we often with really difficult and contentious issues you're holding both of those things but you have to like like now but you have to
170decide one thing and I know that we've had conver like you you know that when you make a decision, you're not negating the other thing. And that's a huge element up here because often then when you're back in the community, you're being represented as well when you don't really care about that other thing or in this case, you don't really care about that other person that you didn't select, which is absolutely not the case in in a lot of our decision making. So that resonated that answer and that understanding of that holding that in in tune because that's something that I think I feel a lot up here and being confident in that even when the community might not see that you actually do care about that other thing that you didn't get to make
171the decision on. Um, [Applause] so that that was a big thing. So I had the advantage of working with Anna Marsh very closely during the Measure E campaign. Very closely. I got to see how she handled adversity. had to see how quickly she didn't know what she didn't know and how quickly she admitted it and ask questions. Um, I saw how quickly she absorbed it and then how quickly she was able to turn it around and like explain it to other people in a way that got votes and that got people volunteering. Um, I'm really hoping if we don't select her that she'll do that again for another round. But I'm just I I have personal experience working with her. So for me that weighs a little bit heavier in fact that the answers are
172here and I know that the drive is there and I know that the the heart is there to want to serve our community and our kids and that there's not a bias. Um I see those same things in Rachel brilliant as well. I think she would be an excellent trustee. Um either one of these would be fabulous. Um, I just I have that personal experience there. So, I know that the work won't keep her from doing anything. I I've seen her interact with the teachers. I know that she's got a good relationship with them because of all her work on measure E. So, for me, that weighed heavier. Um, I think um I really Rachel would be so much easier to bring on board just because she has all the experience and the knowledge. So
173there's that and the fact that the questions are very she it's very clear demonstration of her understanding of this role and I so I mean honestly if I get out voted I wouldn't have a problem with it but I just that's the reason that I would I mean that's the reason like it's just because of personal experience seeing somebody doing work that very closely aligns with what we do here. So and it's not to say that Rachel can't do it as well. I think she can. Absolutely. I I think both of these and it's and it is helpful to get personal. I mean because that's part of the puzzle. That's part of all of those pieces as well. So I hear and respect that experience that you have and like I said I think everybody
174who put their hat in the ring we could work with up here and and would be great. So I appreciate you sharing that. um because I think that that that depth of experience working with her in that way maybe didn't come across in the just the short answers to these questions. Um so thank you for joining. Um I I I worked with Anna with you as well um very deeply and I totally agree with you that Anna has just this compassion and ability and passion to to just get stuff to everyone who worked on measure did. Um, and so that I think that's why it it's hard for me. But but I also I'm very aware of Rachel as a very dedicated and hardworking person from the legal field. Um, just happen to know. And
175I also happen to know that the the careful level of thought and conciseness of which Rachel thinks in my own experience and what I saw in answering those questions really hit me because there was an ability to just logically think and answer the questions that followed the path of the questions that we asked. Not once did I sit and say could she answer the whole question. But she answered the question, gave examples. And I think specifically some of the things that really stood to me was understanding. I put deep understanding how schools are funded and parcel tax passing and understands where the district is is and mentioned the Brown Act and understands GO bonds in K through2 education. And for me, um, I just I'm aware of the community outreach from both of these candidates,
176um, because I'm in the community and I know them, but I'm also aware of, um, the power of a board that has to make very difficult decisions around funding. and um you know, decisions about uh the lawsuits that come our way, decisions about um having the foresight to say, "I've seen this before. This could potentially happen." and to have that fiduciary protection for someone who says, "I've been to this rodeo and this is what's happened at other places because I've done this for a living." That is a valuable tool to have in our arsenal, especially given the amount of money that's come out of our district from the lawsuits we've had. Okay. And so for me, I'm thinking as a fiduciary who can empower us with those with those qualities that we need. Um, and
177I'm just I'm just drawn to Rachel for that reason. Um, but what as I've said to other people, whatever the board decides, I will wholeheartedly support 100%. Because you can't go wrong can't go wrong with either one of them. But again, you know, when I'm interviewing someone for a job, I'm what comes down to it is how they answered the questions. What was their thought process when they answered the question? What information were they able to give me without any preparation that allowed me to reach a conclusion about how they would think behind this table? That's what I got. Yes. Ed, I we're just gonna This is gonna be We're ahead of schedule, so it's fine. Oh, great. Great. Let's just try this on. Um Yeah. I mean, everything you say is correct, Chris. Right.
178And uh and it's okay to disagree. Yeah. Well, not even disagreeing. Yes. And that's the silly thing about end. It's a win-win. Um, it's a total it's a total win-win. Um, the answers were were pretty much the notes that I took were very similar just uh spoken in a different way. Um, you know, Anna started out number three meaningful community engagement was being approachable. Um, and Rachel pretty much said the same thing. Meet people where they are, right? Uh, uh, how do you foster culture of trust? Anna talked about communication, normalizing communication, listening, finding common ground. Rachel talked about, you know, help the community understand our decisions, right? So, be informed and transparent and accountability. That continuity builds trust, right? So, But also having fireside have we can't have fireside chats because more than three
179board members can't be somewhere because it's a violation of the Brown Act. But you could have two. You could have two. Yeah. Okay. Right. Um or even just whatever one at one end and Tyler one and Everybody wants to hear from Teresa more, right? We should get Teresa out there. I agree. Um uh and then you know I I Rachel is obviously like qual I mean right like like overqualified right like just this is what she does. Um and then Anna talked about you know she didn't she doesn't want to be on a school board but you know the RVSD school board has won her over right through her work at Measure through her work at Way Thomas right like that's why and not that Rachel doesn't want to get involved for those same reasons
180at Brookside um uh but I I think that um you know the work on measure E work in the community getting way Thomas the the the parent community really behind her. Um, yeah, that's still we're pulling straws here, but that still matters to me. Is there an opportunity to break who can break the tie? Can you be Jamie Vance or somebody? I can't. Santa had this issue and they had to like do another round and then one of the candidates stepped it down at the end. But they went out they went back out for more questions at the next meeting or something like that. They had another they had another meeting where they debated it. Wow. I think right. Mhm. Yes. And we have until the 29th of this month. So we'd have to do
181special meeting relatively quickly. We don't want to create more work for anybody. I'm thinking complimenting again complimenting skills that we all have up here. I mean, we've got accounting and financial, you know, community engagement. What I bring except for being a kerage and it'll be like back in the old days or oh my gosh, we've been through that before. whatever else is being institutional knowledge. Thank you. Institutional knowledge. That sounds so much better. Um, so I mean I having legal is something we don't have. I know past boards have had uh someone with a legal experience on it. They're all legal at one point. It seems we were. Yeah. At one point there was which I don't know that's a good idea either but it is an experience gap that I think we haven't had
182on this for I don't want to go down as I have a law I mean I know you know I wasn't diminishing but I don't want people to be like wait a second they were all pretending like Chris didn't have a law degree I don't want us to get it recorded by by feeling that way but I think that I think that Rachel's direct legal experience with school boards and education. Yes. That's what kind of Yes. Thank you for clarifying. That kind of got me. So, we're still here. I have a quote. She did her homework, but we're still here. So, what do we do? Well, it was interesting. Out of the five candidates, the top three that we picked are the three that contacted me to ask me about the role and about the
183time constraints and about the impact on my family. Those are the three who contacted me. Yeah. So, I was I was very appreciative of the fact that they did their homework. I did the same thing before I ran for trustee for the first time. Y um like what am I getting myself into? So, I respected the fact that they that Anna and Rachel both did that. Yeah. Um because I think and Anna, too. So, I think the fact that they did that shows that there's like a level of like thought and um just concern about what they what they were actually like signing up for. So, yeah, that was important. I I am really uneasy about the bookside situation though because that would be several years of like of concentration school and I know that
184I know it has nothing to do with the actual functioning. It's the perception perception versus the perception of the teachers of the perception of the the administration at those schools and the fact that you know there's going to be a lot of opportunity for parents in one school to provide feedback and so it I don't I mean it it might concentrate some of the feedback we get and if more people are like comfortable with the trustees at one school they're going to go and they're you're gonna um more feedback from one site. I mean it it it may not impact how we do it here, but it may impact the feedback that our administrative staff are getting or you know the teacher that we're getting. So I I just it's something I'm really aware of
185right now and that's the only thing really that's holding me back from like switching right now. That's the main thing is that concentration perception in the possibility that it might have something longer term depending on how things roll up. And I don't know if either of these candidates would want to run for re-election in November. They might not. in which case this is a very short-term situation. But if they do, you know, incumbents do have an advantage as our sitting here shows. So, but what you're saying is, let's just say for example that we only had two or three candidates and they all came from one school. Let's just say it's Brooks. you know the conversation the conversation becomes mood because that's been the pool of which to choose from. But then to diversify your
186decision based on that rather than the actual parameters as to how you interview and and demonstrate qualifications for role. I'm having a hard time with that. Um, you know, um, I'm just having a hard time with that. But this is the awkward part of this whole process. Yeah. What What are we going to I have no idea wrestle or something. I mean, at this point, at this point, someone could make a motion and you all could, you know, vote on it, but there's still a risk that it's a two two vote. And if it was a two two vote, I believe that we would have to come back for a second time. So I don't know that we've technically though I think a two two vote goes there's a two two vote either go I
187think it goes no isn't it? Yeah, because you don't make you can't pass it. So there's nothing that's resolved. So then basically it doesn't happen, right? But we have to pick the roll the paper up in the air and see the coin. I mean there's there I don't know that that's the best way to make a decision because it absolves you of accountability. So I won't say that. I mean we were elected to make decisions. I know. So I'm just saying it's not a Both are both are exceptional but all five are exceptional. Yeah. And we have to pick this. So what happens if we have to do a special election? I mean that's or we come back and special meeting. Yeah. Or sorry. Sorry. Yes. We got to come up with an agreement. We're
188not putting more people through more work. We can't The other thing that's challenging unlike because I'm sitting here thinking of like unlike hiring somebody on a probationary period where if you've got like a how's this going to work out like the Brookside thing or how's this going to work out? You can't be like, "Okay, you can be here for the first two meetings and let's see how it goes and then we'll trial run people." I know. I know. You mean a trial run? Like they who knew what people were electing, you know? Yeah. Somebody say something brilliantly decisive to clarify. The things that I wrote down were most important were different viewpoints matter and representing the entire community matter and different skill sets matter that you wrote down for yourself that you Yeah, those are
189the things I wanted to I wanted to I wanted to focus on like different skill sets among the four of us existing. Uhhuh. Right. uh representing entire community um and then different different viewpoints and different view points. Um and how does that then play into or reflect what you're thinking right now? I I still go back to the the Brookside bias, right? The the entire community matters, right? like um uh different skill sets. They they both have very different skill sets that they can both complement this board really well. I do go back to um just Anna's experience the past year with measure E budget advisory committee being here on those Fridays getting that work done um and having that experience. Not that Rachel doesn't have the experience because that's what she does for a
190living. Um uh and then there's also the clinical aspect of you know being an occupational therapist that's different right um we have access to lawyers we have sort of a lawyer that you said earlier Chris um but you know having that OT experience of how students and people interact there's There's a lot to occupational therapy that we don't that's just it's a really it's a good skill set to have. I see that at Dominican my role there. So that's really good perspectives. But so you're being you're being driven by mainly the school bias. Mainly school bias. Teachers say, "Hey, I see Chris and Daniel all the time." They don't see me, but okay. Well, unless, right? Or our our kids' presence, our our our spouse's presence on campus. Those they're not small personalities either. Yeah.
191Nor are children, right? And so it's um so yeah that you know if I was a teacher at another school I'd be like I don't see them as much or I don't hear from them as much if they hear from Padmin or other teachers. I I don't know. It's I don't know. It's maybe not fair but that's a prejudice I have to that. And again, if we only have two candidates and they're all from the same school, that's a that's just what we have. But because we have a diverse school population in this applicant pool, that that's compelling. Um, yeah, I hear you. I I think about the daytoday things that happen getting a call from Tyler to say, "I need your advice on something. And sometimes that advice he needs may call on some
192pretty technical experience. And to be able to offer our superintendent who is facing you, we're we're facing more than just a budget wall. We're facing a country that wants to see us fail. Okay. Um, I think we need to provide our superintendent in this district with as much of an arsenal of technical experience that we can bring to the table to fight what's coming down the pipeline. million in California alone. Cuts. The kids that are going to suffer the most are those who need IEPs. The ones who are multil- language learners. What are the technical abilities we can pull out of our hats that we may not be able to know about that someone like Rachel will? Um, I'm thinking I'm thinking about I'm thinking about our future and I'm thinking about the sustainability of
193being a stronger board in the face of combating, um, a country that doesn't want us to continue to do the things that we want to do. And so, um, and that's where I come in because I I know what executive orders are coming down that you all have not read yet. Okay? I told you a while ago. I said, "They're coming for us. This is what's going to happen." And it was a lot. And it gave you that ability to be prepared, right? And so for me, if I handed my oldest a weapon and my youngest a weapon, would they survive? Sure. But I'm picking my oldest because I know he's going to go out and probably wind up shooting somebody. I just think I just think that having someone who gets it and has
194and and and understands the trenches of the legal battles to come to come and help us be prepared. That's why I feel strongly um from a community perspective and what I've worked with Anna. I love her. It's a It's a good feeling the representation for another school, but I think if if we lose out on having an individual who can help us navigate what's coming down the pipe because we're worried that the community is going to think there's too much Brookside up here that I don't think we're holding ourselves accountable as fiduciaries. I think we're actually letting the community down by not bringing in someone who can arm us with the things we need. That's that's what I think. So, I think we've heard some advocacy from Daniel, heard some advocacy from Chris. I think
195I've heard some advocacy from Rachel. Shelley, is there something is there a direction you'd like to advocate for based on what you've heard from those three? Um I mean I think our tut two our two two thing here is pretty is is where we're at. Yeah. Um, I had not been thinking about the coming quickly coming years of like what does it mean to operate potentially without a federal board of education or an education department and what does that mean and how do you navigate those pol, you know, legal policy issues and what stance should we take and how do we, you what what legal group actions might we need to join in on or not join in on and what are the implications of that? And the federal funds that are going to be
196cut are going to be in special education um and in um support services for low-income families and students because that's what the federal funding is funding. Um, so that definitely resonates for me. I hear what you guys are saying about the Brookside issue. I do think it's both I I hear that it's a I I agree that it's a I think it's a perception issue because I feel like we've all and I trust, you know, everyone here that applied to also be able to know that they are representing the entire district, not just their school. But I also know that there's that access because you're just there and the perception issue and the perception of our I mean our decision issues too. So, but and might I add you were elected without any kids in
197the district. You were reelected by the community without any kids in the district because of what you bring to the table. Not my kerogyny attitude. Yeah, I think that I think the Brookside thing is overcomeable with intention in terms of really making an effort to be present and seen on the campuses so that teachers and administrators on campuses including myself. So, I'm talking talking in the mirror of saying if we made a decision that felt weighted toward Brookside, then I would feel responsible to counterveail that maybe more than I even do now. um to make sure that that that there's access and represent, you know, access to board members. Um and so if I'm thinking about what could I do to ameliate that perception and reality in terms of availability, that feels like it's there's
198a mitigation measure that we could put in place to address that. That would be my advocacy approach on addressing that concern and I can make a pledge and a promise to whatever specifically about that but right yeah that's that's you can hold me to it. Yeah. Go out in there and be a banner and invalid choice whatever. Um so my experience also just in terms of the the um you know again the partial tax thing and again I'm not I'm not specific on timing here. I know that as a board member you know we approve a partial tax and then we have to kind of we have to only two of us can be actively actively involved in that. And my experience in the last round was, you know, you guys were really involved in
199that and we could only have a two and so I felt like I needed to take a step back. So we can't So in terms of like the parcel tax, budget committees and all that kind of stuff, but in terms of the parcel tax, only two people on the board can be on, you know, be really active in going to those meetings and stuff. I think just in terms of it. So but you're ready. I'd be happy to step back if someone else wanted to do it. I mean, that's not that's not right for me. That's not a consideration here. I mean the consideration is like these two individuals that I feel like having a parent at a different school when we are going into probably what might be you know hard negotiations and we
200can't we didn't have a parcel tax that didn't pass and we're going into negotiations for next year and just knowing that you know I'm at campuses enough that I have teachers that know me all the this is now despite me never having kids at Manor and never having kids at W Thomas like those teachers do know who I am and I I'm not saying that not know whether Tristy could step into this role and like familiarize themselves with those people but at this point like I know that those parents are or those teachers are comfortable enough coming to me and saying something to me if they have an issue with something because I've been around for those those so many years at those sites and having a parent at another school already embedded is just
201an advantage because they have one fewer school that they're going to need to reach out to as closely as you know whereas you know we already have two trustees at Brookside where they've already got a lot of input and availability and comfort. So having somebody at a different school site there's a perception but also there is some reality to it I'm sure I I definitely hear that. It just feels to me like it's a mitigatable issue. It's a it's an issue that we can put structures and systems things in place to counterveail that part where I don't think we can issues with the legal experience and what we're going to be f I mean that that hit me in terms of being able to have that resource for our staff um with the technical expertise
202and the legal expertise. I think there's been time Yeah, I think there's been times when there's been a white hill heaviness up here, you know, in the history of the board because the kids eventually all get to White Hills. You know, your trustees were on forever and ever. They're on for two terms. Your kids age up. Yep. To be at White Hill. So, you know, I'm the only one right now. I guess you will be next year. Um I don't know. But we're making a choice right now. It's not like it's just the natural metriculation. It's we are making a decision on this. That's what I'm saying. It's hot in here. Yeah. Yeah. It's compelling, Chris, with the legal representation, right? Does that does that make a difference to Tyler and Chris? It's not even
203the legal representation. It's understanding being a counsel to board school boards seeing different scenarios from a legal perspective as well as a consultant perspective about how boards what they're facing, how they're fixing those things, how they're losing in those battles. um those are the things that can be helpful. Um making decisions and saying and having someone at the table saying, you know, I know of a board that did this and it didn't turn out so well and to be like, "Oh, that's good to know." Those things is what I'm thinking of. And that's just from my tenure on up here voting and watching what comes through. You're saying our legal counsel doesn't have that ability. They're not they're not here all the time. And I'm not saying that that would be the role of the
204of of Rachel's trustee to be a lawyer, but I'm saying that her experience um just like I understand how treasury bonds work and and and if we had a whole discussion about tea bills, I'd be like, "Well, here's what's going to happen." You know what I mean? So, it's kind of like feeling that comfort. um of having that additional knowledge and that altitude of perspective not just legal but also from legislative the legislative kind of thing of like here's what's happening legislatively in the state of California and how it's impacting so it's an altitude it's an altitude of perspective um I think in addition indigenal but it's an altitude of perspective of for the for legislative impacts of like here are these bills that are going through that are going to have this impact on
205schoolboard policy XYZ and how that might have to change or um do so I think it's an altitude an altitude and breadth of perspectives that it would bring that I think would be helpful for us but also um and especially with this is unprecedented what we're facing board of education is going away okay it's going away funding is going to be ripped out from underneath like you have never seen. How are we going to navigate that from a technical perspective? Really having a think tank to understand how to navigate all that. Um, we just need I just think we we need that we have it here who supplied. Um, which is both are gifts to us, but I I'm just particularly frightened about the fiscal and technical and legal issues we're going to be facing.
206Um, that's all. I guess my concern is more not just public perception but the fact that we need to be able to listen to everybody. Yeah. And so for me like when we are trying to change how we are approaching how we do things in the district as a group as a cohort as you know administration making an effort to make sure we're hearing everybody and making a decision. And it looks like we're focusing on one even if it's not and even if you know Rachel I'm I'm sure she would not she would serve as the trustee just as well as all of us but it's when we are trying to change this direction and this culture of not you know maybe listening the way we should have in the past several years and we
207are shifting that. This decision seems regressive to me when we're trying to move forward in how we are approaching it like with the committees and with pulling town halls in and other things like that. So this to me sounds like a little I mean I understand the legal side. I also don't know that that's just the experience of of just um working with boards. Yeah. Oh, I almost feel like it's a we need to have communication mechanisms with our community, with all of our schools, with people not in our schools that are do not rely on personal stance. So when you what what I was thinking in my mind when you were saying what you were just saying was to me that speaks to and I'm going to say a failure I'm this is like
208constructive criticism in a way of like I think we need to have enough robust infrastructure through surveys through practice through procedures through ways that we operate as a as a district that do what we need to do to communicate with everybody and don't don't rely heavily on just personal relationships and happen stance because you happen to be at the school every morning. I mean that is the reality that is and you kind of have to actually be thoughtful about that to counterveail it and to make sure that you've got other ways of connecting in place that are ensuring that you're hearing everyone and I think we can get better at that and and I think that we haven't I think we've been making lots of improvements um and I don't mean impersonal ways of connecting
209I mean surveys definitely are not as personal as fireside chats and being present and out in community and building relation building building personal relationships. Um, if that's making if that makes sense because I think relying on who a trustee social network is for community connection and advice is to me speaks to a to a weakness in our overall approach for communication because it shouldn't be um we shouldn't it it is a thing. So I don't want to be like well you know I'm not I'm going to ignore that that is that is a way that we connect is through our own personal social networks but I also believe that it's a district's responsibility to mitigate relying heavily on personal social networks to be the way that you comm get feedback and communication. Um, but then
210you get optin bias when you have like people doing surveys and things like that. Like they have to want to have feedback. They have to want to give it. Same thing with doing fireside chats. I've been doing coffee chats and I usually get one person in the community. Thank you, Frank Gomez. Who comes and shows up every single time I've done it. But most of the time I'm sitting there alone for an hour and nothing happens and I put it out there. So it's not just an individual social network. It's like we are selecting a representative on this board for our community. And so for me it's like they will be out and about hopefully. Um and it's not just a personal network. There's a lot of people I know because I'm a trustee and
211not because they were at my kids school. Most of them actually like and Marsh they weren't at my kids school was because of things that I was serving on things that I was doing in the community. But I also have other connections that lead me to other places where I'm able to spread out who I do know and who I can get to know. And because of those things, I've been able to help on things like measure E with pulling in a bunch of other people. And those are the connections. If we have everything focused at one site, like, hey, I can reach out to a bunch of people to ask for volunteers for something from five different school sites. Whereas a trustee that's at same school as three other trustees has, you know, those
212same connections. So, it's like it just kind of for me it's not a ne necessarily a personal network, but it's just the ability to expand a network or to expand our group network as far as reaching out other people. But, okay. So, how do you fill in the gap of manner? That's why you was my other choice. because I do I do think that's important too and I've been at that school more than I've been at others in the last seven months. I think it's an embarrassment of riches obviously just reminding herself our our candidates are tonight and I think one thing two things I hear the board talking about one is cultural change and one is technical change and I think both of those things are things we need um to do moving forward
213and I think both of these candidates you know give you the opportunity to focus on cultural change or technical change And I think it's up to you to decide over the next 18 months what's the most important thing for the board. And I have no opinion on that. You should do I I don't think I realize how the how deeply or this conversation around being at a school or not at a school. I think I don't think I walked into this discussion having pre-thought about that um ahead of time. So, it's interesting. I'm just it's just a it's it's a I'm just it's just just a learning reflection, but I don't think I understood either the depth of opinion on that or how much we each did or did not think about that. So, I'm
214just reflecting and externalizing my thinking about that of like, oh, that would be helpful because I started, my oldest daughter started at Hidden Valley, there's an affinity and knowledge and a peer group that I know at Hidden Valley. Now that we're at Brookside, there's that there. And anytime I go to way Thomas or Manor, it always feels like, hi, I'm just here to help. So, it's just a different and and maybe that's a personal thing, right? Like I need to change my perspective of walking in, but it's just a different connection that I have. But that's where but that's where I'm feeling like when I when you're saying this, what I'm feeling is like I'm feeling, oh, okay, this is this is something for us again to think about shifting the approach so that you
215don't feel like that. And I and I'm thinking about public service and serving the entire and and what does that mean to kind of because part of the issue is operating solely on our personal relying solely on our personal networks versus pushing ourselves to go outside of that. So that you because it's easy to default back into those personal networks and not it's it's I'm on the parent guardian equity task force and I met more parents that became friends of ours at Wade Thomas and Manor in Hidden Valley than the Brookside crew. Um, I have my kids are friends with kids that go to Manor. Um, my son's best friend was at Manor who's now at White Hill with him and I know a lot of parents I knew a lot of parents in the
216manner group. You know, we've met Anna by being on Measure E together. That that connectivity of the schools is I think what can matter. Um, you know, when we're up here, I forget where where our kids go to school. I don't think about I agree with that. And so I'm just trying to figure out the balance of and I guess this goes back to Do we do we do we give if you're saying there's a community outcry problem with this? Is that what you're saying that people have said to you or teachers have said to you? I don't like the concentration of trustees. No, I'm just saying that when we are making decisions that we need to be taking in [Music] information from other community members and there were some that said, you know, I
217guess it's just more that I've heard feedback that there aren't trustees that have kids at certain schools and they don't feel like they have representation on the board. And when they said that to me, I was like, I'm going to make an effort to go to the school more. And I have, but it's things like that where at least they've deemed me often enough they felt comfortable saying that to me, right? And I don't want that sentiment to be out in the public or in our schools with the teachers and nobody feels comfortable enough saying it. But if we're making a decision where we have an option of somebody like broadening where we have representation on our board in our schools, I would like to take that opportunity because it does show that we are
218trying to make sure we're getting information and representation for different schools. Okay. But let's take that back to the work we do here. We we are all in the district and the decisions that we make up here I think aren't necessarily school focused. And so I mean it's it's almost like I'm trying to wondering I'm wondering the impact of having that decision drive us when it's not necessarily part of the equation of the decisions we make back here. You know I understand what you're saying. I agree. It doesn't the schools that our kids are or are not at does not impact their decision-making here as a group. And I totally agree with that. Who either one of these I don't think it would affect them either. What I'm saying is that the way it's perceived
219and the ability for people to connect with trustees at different locations is something that I think is valuable. But also when we are trying to shift how we are interacting and connecting and communicating with our community that we do need to look at is there a concentration and we do need to look at those factors and I'm I'm trying to listen to you and then formulate thoughts at the same time. So I really want to pay attention so it's hard for me to like kind of like get this into like words that are cohesive but one of One of the things that I think is really is hard up here often is perception. Like you know that we make I we all up here and I and I 100% agree. We all up here know
220that we're making decision on behalf of the entire district. We all agree on that. I don't think that's an issue. I think anybody else who's applied who sat up here has articulated that and would also do that. So what I'm hearing is a perception issue. um there's somewhat of a reality just because you happen to be there and you bump into people. So there's that water cooler effect part of it. But putting putting that aside and just dealing with the perception issue, I think there are a lot of times we make we have to make decisions up here knowing that it's going to be perceived X Y and Z way from the community regardless of what the reality is. And and I think that's part of what you like, okay, that's perception, but it's not
221the reality. And you have to make a decision based on what the reality is and deal with the fact that yes, there's going to be that perception. It's not great, but sometimes I'm trying not to be harsh on perception, but it's kind of like sometimes it's like you're going to get harsh on because of people's perceptions and you just kind of have to hold the fact that people are not going to like you because of perception and you and you're just going to know that. But the reality is can I do something fun here? I just I just asked I just asked AI. Oh god. Should school boards make a decision based on public perception? And it says no. School boards should not make decisions based solely on public perception. While public input is valuable,
222school boards should also consider data, expert advice, and what is best for student learning and well-being when making decisions. I love it when we can be in because we talked about the technological things that kids are going to be using AI in their education. So, I just used it just now as an example. I was just going to say I love being in a board meeting where we got Fred Rogers in the beginning bookended with AI in the tough decision. Yes. Just wanted to just wanted to just utilize what drove me to do that was the technological also said that students that are using AI have dropped in like um their scores. So there is that as well. Just saying. No, my thought was my thought was it's not that the perception is what I'm
223basing my my thoughts on. It's that my my concern and the reason I'm hesitating so much over this is because I'm afraid that the perception is going to erode the trust that we've been working so hard to build over the last year with Tyler on board and changing things up. And I'm concerned that the trust and the transparency despite this being ultra transparent, I'm just concerned because nobody looks at board minutes and nobody listens to the reportings unless they're really heavily involved and those people are pretty much here. Um But my thought is that like we are trying to show that we're actively listening and we're working with the community and with their feedback and that if we are making some decision here that that perception will erode the trust we built and it doesn't
224matter how trans transparent we are. If we don't have trust and we don't keep the trust that we've built that I'm afraid that we're losing an opportunity in that area. And I think that we're going to get more things done when we have trust from our community. And I feel like it's been a lot of work to build that up this year. And I would really like to hang on to it. But I do you actually think our community would not look at not just Rachel and Anna, but everyone who applied tonight to say whoever you chose, you're winning. And by saying thank you to that and recognizing that these are some pretty incredible people and to have a discussion about why we chose one person, not based on the bias of where their kids
225go to school, but based on the quality of of of of expertise that we're looking to have them bring to the table should stand out. I would hope our community would be a little more understanding that that that's going to make their board stronger or okay you know what I'm done talking the first tension I heard from you all is this tension between technical expertise and culture building right both of things really valuable for any board to have on the team this new one that I'm hearing is like skill at the dis like this conversation of being able to have bring your expertise here but then there's also the politicking of your roles as well that's out in the community and I think there's you need to have both of those for this role as
226well and I think both candidates on both of those tensions have kind of different strengths that they would bring to each of those tensions. So part of your decision is do you need more technical support? Do we as a district need more technical support or more culture building support? Can we put a matrix up on a whiteboard, right? Do do we need more, you know, expertise at the DAS to make these decisions? You could argue the answer is yes to that. Do we need more expertise in shaking hands and getting to know people? You can make the argument that yes, we need more of that as well. So, but I'm not hearing I'm not hearing the shaking hands and and I mean I'm hearing it in the context of a school community that no one
227else is shaking hands and making those relationships with because they're not there. So, I'm not I I'm not I I haven't heard the two of you making the advocation case in general on that quadrant. I'm hearing it in relationship to this specific school that doesn't have a trustee to shake the hands and make meet the community in that particular school and that all of the handshaking and community and relationship building gets concentrated or at least the perception is that all of the handshaking and comm and relationship building is concentrated. So I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm hearing our conversation having very much centered around I'm orchestrating here very much centered around the particulars of the relationship building or the culture building respect with respect to having people who are embedded in particular school communities. be that
228true be that on the ground impact or perception impact. So if there's other things besides that there are I feel like um Anna serving with measure E and on the budget advisory and at the round table like I feel like those are places where she's met people at all the other schools. I feel like she's made connections. She knows Anna Twig. She knows PJFer like she knows the people. She's been at board meetings. Um, I feel like I didn't know who Rachel was until I saw her name on the thing. I didn't know who she was. I didn't know what school her kids went to. I hadn't seen her out and about. I hadn't seen her participating in any of these district-wide committees. And I've seen Anna at several of them. And for me, it's
229not just the school site issue. It's she's got connections. She was willing to serve on things beyond her school already. And for me, that is weighing more than just the school site thing. So, that combined with the school site thing, it leans me that way. So that's where it's it's not just the perception. It's not just the school site. It's the fact that Anna does have all those connections that she has made those connections that you know we can pull on those when we need them. So for me that I feel like we can hire attorneys. I hate saying that but we also have somebody in our community who we maybe can pull in for another committee who would be able to help us in her with her legal skills. they there are I mean
230it's not to say that either one of them is going to go away if we don't select them and I'm sure that we'll both be willing to tell if they value service and for me that's that's where it's coming from like I did not I did not know Rachel at all and I had a lovely conversation with her when she was asking me questions about the service as a trustee um and I would you know be eager to work with her if that's how we voted but I'm just saying like that's why I don't I mean for me a trustee is someone who will be doing the work and doing the district level work and has already done it and shown up tons of it. So that was all which I guess you is something
231that we've all kind of brought to the table. We we all were on committees and were really very visible in the schools. Yeah. and the community knew us as an active parent who was um involved parent equity guardian task force starting that um you know I know you were not on that um but for that one you know and I see what you're saying there um and I and of course I I I I know I know Rachel um you know in the community Um uh and I and I know I know them as a know her husband got up and said something. I know them as active participants in the community that bring kids to their homes and educate them and do all kinds of things for kids in other schools as well. So
232a lot of parents know them from other places and I'm part of that as well. And so I've seen it and it's impressive. Um, but I see what you're saying about, you know, having that community and being involved in the different committees. Different committees. Yeah. And for me that weighs very heavily when people ask me like, "What did you do before you became a trustee?" I'm like, "Well, I was on all these committees and I started these different ways." It's like, and you did get to meet people through that and people got to know you through that. And so there's like a value to that. It's hard to to weigh that versus a legal expertise. I mean, I understand what you're saying about that. It is very appealing to have somebody up here with that,
233but also we're going to need to get community buy in on a lot of things that are coming up. I got the agenda. Okay. Where are we going next? Do you have anything to add there with that? I mean, Rachel said it better than I could add. Um, but it's it's that connection with other people, other groups, being involved for what maybe over a year now, right? Seeing what we're doing, that commitment, that desire. And Rachel knows all of that through her nature of work, right? So, I'm not discounting that, but it's also right the work we've seen through Measure E, the bridge building, the outreach, um, you know, Hidden Valley parent spoke out today, um, on behalf of Anna. So, um I I guess I lean more towards Rachel and this idea of this
234this consensus building that we're on this really positive, you know, track right now and we need to maintain that, right? We need to grow that and how how can we get more people involved? How can we get more people participating? Um I appreciate shifting the conversation from the like concentration to Burkside thing. This is helpful. Um, do over here. So, and the reality is awesomeness all the way around. Totally. That's why this is so challenging and it's really and it's, you know, it's interest. It's interesting. And I'm going to do like the learning moment self-reflection thing here. But it is really interesting in these decisions of feeling attached to a particular like oh yeah that's really important and then you hear something else you're like oh that's really important too and like trying to trying
235to emotionally and intellectually you know I think Tyler once you ask like do you want to advocate for something and it's like this idea of in Buddhism um passionate non-attachment of like being able to be passionate about advocating and yet not so attached Ed that you're just advocating for advocating sake and and I that idea of active listening and hearing so that you know so that's that's not about anybody in particular. I'm just thinking about that. So should we take another vote and see if we're still hung? Sure. Yes. This lawyer I think we should be 10 minutes of excruciating silence for So I we have a 3-1 vote here. This obviously isn't the official vote, but right now we have three votes for Anna Marsh and one vote for reach brilliant. Do we have
236further discussion? Does somebody want to make a motion? a motion for uh to make a motion to appoint the applicant that has the most support and bring that to a vote. And we can continue to have a conversation and we can also do that. Let's do it. I would like to make a motion to Appoint the applicant Anna Marsh. Have a second. I will second. All right. And we have a motion in a second. Dana I Shelly I Rachel I congratulations. Can I just say thank you Rachel? Thank you for coming. Thank you PJ. Thank you to Anya. Thank you Peter. This was so hard. This was really hard. But this is how we disagree. Thank you. And I just want to invite all five of you to continue to stay engaged. I've had multiple
237conversations with at least four out of the five of you. And you know, Rachel, I'm excited to get to know you better over the the course of this year. Um, you all played a monumental role in supporting me in my first year here and you've led by example in the district and it's parents like you that help us improve outcomes for kids. So, whether it's facilities or budget or food service or special ed or measury, all the things that you're interested in, like please continue to show up um and set that example for your your colleagues at your schools because it matters a ton to me and it matters a ton to our our board and our teachers and most importantly our students and Peter, Anna, PJ, that was not an easy thing to choose
238the top. It was like it was hard, but thank you for being there and continuing to be a part of our district and working hard to to make us a better district. Hope you guys don't fade away with coming back stronger. Rachel, same call. So, we have to swear her. Yes. So moving on to our agenda. Um our next item is board of trustees term of office oath of office swearing in ceremony. Anna Marsha your water bottle. Thanks. Thanks Rachel. You need to come up. Oh, yes. You get to come up. Okay. Sit here. Yeah. You can stand up. Actually um and raise your right hand and repeat after me. Wait. Let her take a deep breath. Yeah. Let her take just let her take anything before. Um, I really appreciated that like just really
239thoughtful like passionate. I mean, so the perspectives I'm just thrilled to to be able to work with you. Yeah. And my heart rate is extremely high. All right, raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I, Anna Marsh, I, Anna Marsh, do solemnly swear. do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic. and against Wait, and the Constitution the State of California State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic. against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. that I bear true faith in the allegiance of the Constitution of the United
240States and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California. that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties I will I will I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. I'm about to enter. Congratulations. Welcome aboard. Thank you. And then have a seat. You can have a seat here. Thank you. There you go. You already had it made. I have all of them made out of little transparent traces on top of these things. Thank you. All right. So do that again. Yeah. Welcome back here. Okay. So you're being recorded. Okay. Um so our next item is agenda
241item E, consent actions. Um unless somebody has something on here they would like to pull out or discuss. I'm open to entertaining a motion on consent. I will u make a motion to approve all consent actions under E. I second that. Motion second. and Chris. Hi, Daniel. Hi, Shelley. Hi, and I. All right. Great. And the next item is board business committee updates, reports from and announcements by trustees. Anyone have anything to report? It's summer time in camps. It's great. It's very quiet lately. It's quite lovely. I don't think I I don't think I can report. I missed a yes board meeting, but they had their numbers. They did. Yeah. They're doing quite well and they're planning for their yes annual event which was follow Palooa, but I think they're trying talking about changing the
242name of that and doing some different things with that. But yeah, kind of limited info on that at the moment. Have any other updates? Is it just summer and super? I don't I don't have any other updates. Yeah. No, just uh nothing. Dane, any committee or other updates? So, stepping into the role, you are now stepping into the positions that Ryan was holding as far as the um committee seems on. Okay. So, we can get that list to maybe we'll redo it at the first meeting in August. I think it if we wanted to shift around that that's what we've done in the past is that we kind of take this opportunity to it's our mostly that's we normally do it once a year in December but if we have a new trustee and we
243want to shuffle them it's an opportunity to do it or I think we only revisit it in December if we have a new trustee if it's an election year and then otherwise we've been doing it in August. Oh, thank you. Thank you. But we do it once a year. We can reshuffle once a year, but if not, it's okay. So, if you want to look at the list of those, maybe we can get those to you. Send me all the stuff. Okay. We got some reading to do. It's the same being can do trusty like we can probably do a meeting or something if you want to get you up to speed. And I'll send two ones where you'll meet with Chris and I and you'll meet with Lori, our uh director of special ed,
244and then you'll meet with uh Julie and I. So, we'll do two ones. So, you can ask questions and we can overwhelm you and you can go mulle it over and right come back with questions. All right. Um, the next item is approval of regular meeting minutes for June 25th, 2025. Just going to say one thing here. Usually, if somebody is not present with the meeting, this is not official, like legally whatever, if somebody is present, trustees tend to not vote. They tend to abstain if they haven't been present for that meeting. But the way this works is if you've gone through and you've read these board meeting minutes and you don't see anything wrong with it, you can legally actually vote on it. I leave it up to the individual trustee to decide how
245they want to vote on board minutes if they weren't at that meeting. So I'm saying that in the front, right? Does anybody um have any edits or changes? Exactly. Any changes to our regular board meeting? I already looked at them. Me too. I have no changes. Anyone else? Okay, great. I'll entertain a motion on them. I'll make a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes from June 25th, 2025. Thank you. Is that a second? I'll second it. Thank you. Chris Hi, Daniel. Hi, Jelly. I Daniel, I will stay. Okay. And uh we have G Superintendent Cabinet Report. I'll make this pretty quick. It's been really quiet over the last few weeks. been meeting with a couple community members here and there, prepping for the return of school, uh talking to a couple people about like
246cell phone policies and uh parent ed around screen time. Um you know, just kind of big bigger term uh big picture thinking, which has been nice to have the space to kind of like really wrestle with things as opposed to the pace of the school year. So that's been uh really lovely. And I think a highlight for me was actually going through some of the facilities with Chris um and Dez earlier this week and seeing all the work that's happening at campuses. So um the roof on one of the Hidden Valley uh buildings is completely off and they'll be putting that up here in the next few days. Chris, nothing. All right. So meeting review, uh future board topics and board direction. Do we have any comments on that? um future board topics department of
247education kind of is on my mind a bit. Yeah, that's just that's just just consider it dismantled. You know, they're just going to be cleaning up the carnage. Um maybe something I think we have sent a breakdown of the cost effect of the funding that's going to be cut from federal. We're not getting too hit. It's about $50,000 compared to Nevada and San Rafll. But I think I think being able to give the public that perspective because I think people are going to really be wondering how it's going to affect us and we can talk about how we can backfill that deficit. Yeah. Well, that's something MCE could do for the entire county. I was just going to say I was going to ask you because I I don't know what meeting I was in
248with MCE where it was school board. It was with Oh, it was the Marine County. No, it was with legal women voters and had a meeting and learned that there was a emergency response group that had been formed uh with respect to immigration stuff and that the MCE was also updating superintendent regularly and so some of the feedback was like that would be that's great and it would be really good to have that trickle out from them. So I know that MCE is doing stuff. But anything you can do to help relay whatever kind of communications and organizing MCO is doing among superintendent to then get back to us. I think it would be helpful for us and also helpful for the community to know what the legislative impacts are. Um yeah, that' be helpful.
249Maybe another video. Great. Um, and then the only other thing that's happening I think from from as far as the other topics is the state of California legislation that has gone through I think where they're just get finishing up or recently wrapped up to know kind of what's passed and what didn't. I'm trying to think of JAC committee. Uh there'll probably be another update on that coming up and I will imagine that it would have a lot of that stuff as well. And then my only other thought for um board topics and board direction or board topics or conversations out of this last one, I would be really curious to know more from teachers and administrators at each site. how they're how they feel about our presence on our availability, how they feel connect like
250what is their perception on the conversation that we just had that would be I think a helpful piece of information to know like do they feel more represented because there's a trustee who's from their community and how can do they have thoughts and ideas of how we can mitigate that because I still feel Like if we're relying heavily on personal social networks because that's a community that you're in, then we have work to do as a district to to mitigate that so that people actually feel represented by whomever because they feel like there are channels and ways and and that might just be more, hey, I think all the trustees should be I don't know what I don't want new things they might come up with, but Well, no, no. I think Yeah, we need
251to get at the question of what is it that makes a school feel like they can reach out to a trustee like the school teams and the people there because I know that when I've been on site that I'm hearing feedback like you were at all of these school events where how do you make it to all these events? So like that I'm getting that feedback a lot where they're like I think they're just group one there. Um so it would be helpful to have that information. Yeah, I think that that's a great idea. Also, I'm curious if there are boards that they have policies where there needs to be percentage of representation from. Some some boards like Senra Feld went to a district and we're too small for this. So, I'm absolutely not advocating
252it at all. I don't even know if it's a good idea, but where that's come up, they have like quadrant, you know, you have your own district, but you're only elected from the particular, but that's getting way. Oh wow. Too small for that. Trust me. I asked today Dan and I were talking. Why did we just have a million trustees? Too small. We could Why can't we Who said it? We said we set that policy, don't we? I can look into that. I'm not advocating and I'm I'm curious for the answer. Yeah. I mean, can it be written like qualified? So, there could be seven or nine like I don't think because it's a voting. There are seven member boards out there. Um I don't know whether the metric is tied to the number of
253ADA I think San Francisco. I think it's exponential cat hurting though. Yeah. Are we for every one problem? Smaller smaller number smaller number board helps us efficiently go you want odd but somebody had a cold out of luck. Um all right uh sorry we able to move on from future board topics interaction. Okay. Uh meeting debrief. Oh my god that was so awkward. So awkward. I mean, you're telling me like all the way around and I hope that you not no one was offended by just I just had to be like this is where I stand. This is what I think and it was a win-win. Welcome aboard. But it's like, you know, we we have to I felt like I had to put myself out there and be exactly what I thought and everyone
254did it and we and we all like this is the decision and we are set, right? Yeah. Yeah. And that's the reason I want to be on this board is because of that. We all like each other. Yes. That was long and painful. My, you know, kind of feel like I'm going to throw up. But we all it was all in the interest of of our school. Yeah. We all and we all like each other, you know. We actually um she came over for dinner last week. We do all like each other and it is and it is it is a very Yeah. being passionate and advocating and then thank you being yelled at by the public and not getting paid. Can't wait. Yeah, emails. Sometimes emails. Yeah, the emails are bad, but we'll be
255fine. That was much harder than I was expecting. Yeah, I didn't think about a tie vote happening at all. That was not on my radar. You know, I did. As soon as I saw the list and I read everybody sing, I was like, this is going to be so hard. I was expecting a tie. And that's what makes this community so good, right? Right now, we've got so many people that want to be involved and want to contribute and want to participate, which is we're very lucky to have that. And I think there's two times when people show up in mass, when stuff's hitting the fan and things are not good and when things are going well and people want to be part of something positive. Exactly. And I think right now it's that it's
256the latter that we have five people that want to be part of something that's special that's moving in the right direction that's exciting that and there's problems to sol and there's problems to solve. There's like real legitimate problems to solve. Um so Daniel and I were talking before the meeting and I think this whole process although challenging and difficult is an indication of the health of our district. It breaks my heart that all five of the candidates could not have been just let's all do this. We need as many wonderful, incredible, qualified people. And just narrowing it down was was hard and I and I had to just go with the questions. But we still need that continued. Yeah. like the fact that that there's always people here that are questioning and asking and here
257just like that's what we need. We need to continue to develop that and um encourage that and I hope we didn't and I'm hoping for the future vacant seats. I mean that's just like me too. I kept thinking like we could totally just all step off right now and all step back on vacant seats are coming. Did you see Tyler's face when you just said that? Sorry. Just like I like I like wait a minute here. The quality of all five people could be sitting up here. Oh yeah, totally. Absolutely. And that would be a highly functioning Absolutely. highly educational diverse board that I think would all get along. Yes. And work work for the better. So anyway, this was this was not what I expected when we first started this process, but this is
258very exciting. So excited to have you on board, you know. I'm thrilled. So excited. So this is great. Once it sinks in, it will. All right. Um with that, if we have no further meeting debrief, no. Right. Okay. I'm gonna um adjourn our meeting at 9:45.