001Let's start there. Um, at this time we will reconvene our May 6, 2025 Laame Mesa Spring Valley School Board meeting um at It's actually 5:59. We're just going to run a minute early. Um, we will start uh announcements. Please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and that will take us to the Pledge of Allegiance with students from Lamea Arts Academy. Come on up. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Right hand on your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge algiance 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. You may. Great job. Okay, next item. We have the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. I move to approve the minutes of the meeting.
002I'll second. Any questions, discussion regarding those minutes? All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Okay. And the next is the approval of tonight's board agenda. I'll move to approve tonight's board agenda. Second. Any questions, discussion regarding tonight's agenda? All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Okay, those have been approved. Which brings us into communications 4A. That's a spotlight on um are we starting with let me start? Yep. Okay. Yeah. So, tonight's a special night because we have uh several uh spotlights and we're going to be celebrating our employees of the year. Um first we're spotlighting Lame Mesa Arts Academy. So, I'm going to ask Principal Kelly Robosco to please come forward while we play the video for you all about Elmac and then um Mr. Rosco will have a few words to share.
003At La Mesa Arts Academy, the spotlight often shines on stage, but the real story begins behind the scenes. In theater tech, we build the world that actors live in. We paint the walls, set the mood, we make sure every sound is heard and every light lands just right. We don't step out in front, but without us, there is no show. That's how it is all across Elmac. In music rooms, dance studios, and science labs, people are working quietly, carefully, building something bigger than themselves. Teachers, staff, and students, each one playing a part. each one helping to build a world where we can all thrive. It happens in math, in history, in culinary arts. It happens when no one's watching. It's not always loud, not always seen, but it's everywhere. At we learn how to step
004onto the world stage, and we learn how to build it. This is a place built on care, on creativity, on people who believe in each other. The spotlight moves, the sets change, but the heart that's behind it all will always be right here at La Mesa Arts Academy. [Applause] Good evening. Is this on? It's on. Okay. Good evening. I'm Kelly, the proud principal of Elmac, and I want to thank you for this opportunity tonight to come before you and to share about Elmac. First, I'd like to thank our families and staff that are in the audience. Thanks for being here. And I want to thank um our students. They were nominated by their classmates from our community action team elective class to present tonight the pledge of allegiance. We had Leti Nelson, seventh grade, and
005we have Sydney Appalachis, 8th grade, and then we had Maya Cook Reyes who was signing the pledge of allegiance. Um, I want to also thank their families for getting them here tonight. I know it's a lot on a busy week night. So, thank you so much for uh getting them here and for your support. Uh I want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Cook for the incredible video because they're truly magical uh and make this all come together. And I'm really grateful that they were able to capture this year's video um on the behind the scenes of Elmac because uh some of you may uh come to our events, but you just don't get to see behind the scenes. I know board member Cen came to our spelling bee and we were really grateful to have
006you there. So, thank you. I know it's been a while, but um it's just magical place. So, uh this year we started um a stage craft elective. Um we didn't quite call it that. We will call it that next year, but it's morphed into that. And so, when I'm um signing off on permission slips for uh the saws and the drills and the uh the knives and culinary, I'm like, am I supposed to be doing this? Uh so, it's just magical, but it all comes together and the kids um are really safe with the stuff. So anyways, um I want to thank the cooks. So thank you for that wonderful video. And um at Elmac, every adult on campus plays an active role in supporting our students and building positive relationships. It from our office
007team, our custodial crew, our cafeteria, um our classroom para educators, um and of course our teachers. Uh it's a collective effort and it's often recognized by visitors who visit Elmac and um frequently comment on what a welcoming place it is. So, that's always nice to hear. Our PE coaches um organize a lot of activities for staff to interact outside of the academics and the theater and the elective classes. So, we play uh staff versus eighth grade volleyball, basketball, and softball. Softball we'll do uh in a couple weeks here. So, that's always fun and engaging and allows the kids to interact with staff on a different level. And then it's a whole school assembly for everybody to watch. Um we are especially proud of the ownership this year that students are taking for their own data
008and learning um both academically and citizenship. So after trimester 2 we had students uh seeking all the admin and their teachers or really any staff that would listen to them. Um and we got to talk about my grades, Mrs. Robosco and and not my well my grades my GPA is a 3.5 but my citizenship is still working on that. And I'm like what are we going to do about that? And they're just owning uh their growth. they're able to uh rattle off their GPA, tell us what's missing today. I was talking to a student in my office and we were just talking about the future and heading to high school. Had made a poor choice today and uh I said, "Hold on a minute." And they just knew I was getting on Jupiter. And they're
009like, "I'll tell you my grades, Mrs. Robasco. You're going to see an F." And and and I said, "Okay, okay, fair." And sure enough, they were right. Uh so we came up with a plan to, you know, make that better. So that's just been a really exciting thing for them to own their learning and be proud to tell us and even be able to seek out how could I do better and our academic data tells a powerful story. I know I is not everybody's favorite but from diagnostic one to two um we've really seen some great growth. So our median growth in math is at uh 70% and in reading uh the median growth was 150. And that means that right now this time of year half of our students are already surpassed their growth.
010um expected end of the year outcome. So that's pretty awesome and I think the growth directly reflects our schoolwide and district-wide emphasis on reading comprehension um especially in the area offormational text. And then beyond academics, we've also seen improvement in student attendance and um that is in large part due to our incredible wellness team. We have two counselors, a social worker and our health tech working tirelessly to um build connections and relationshipships with families and to reach out to really dig deeper into why why are we not coming to school and to um help with anything that we can to get the student obviously to school. And today in recognition of mental health awareness month, I just gave my green bow because she was feeling this uh Miss Jacobs, Dr. Margaret Jacobson was feeling left
011out with the green. They visited Elmac today. We did not mean to leave you out, but um in recognition of that, the incredible team that we have at Elmac, and I know that's, you know, a big subject right now with the grant and what have you, but the incredible team organized a campuswide mental health fair today. Students participate in a variety of engaging activities designed to promote um emotional well-being, reduce stigma, and encourage open conversations about mental health health. events like this um support the whole child which is our top priority at Elmac and they had exercising taking place on the stage and various um booths if you will that the kids could go to and get information and then every week our staff implements the lessons but also we have a group of students
012who serve on our PBIS and no place for hate team and they've now developed lessons and the classes will do that and then um groups of students will go in and teach those lessons to the classrooms which has been really powerful. So in short, Elmac continues to be a place where high expectations, strong relationships, and student voice come together to create meaningful success. Thank you for allowing me to share and we welcome you anytime to Elmac. You don't need an appointment. It's always a magical day. And they're going to take a picture. Well, we need to do a picture really quick with uh Principal Robasco and your students. Okay, we have more going on now. So, next Are we doing certificated employee of the year? Okay. Y All right. Well, I'm very very excited and
013honored to get to share with you about the incredible employees in La Mesa Spring Valley Schools. It is well known that we have the best employees in the entire universe. And so I'm really excited today to first introduce someone who is very wonderful and dear to my heart. Um that is our certificated employee of the year, Jeff Javier. We're going to start with honoring Jeff. To do so, we're going to invite Principal Ben Claus up. We're going to share with you a video about Mr. Javier. Um, and then Mr. Claus will share some words about Mr. Javier. And then Mr. Javier, he loves this coming up in front of everybody. He will come up and maybe say a word or two and we'll be able to share with him this real honor too. He's saying
014too. Um, so we'll let the video speak for itself and then we'll get to hear from his principal. Thanks, Ben. [Music] Watching Mr. Javier at work in his classroom and out on the ball field, it's clear why he's so admired. He's quiet about his impact, but it shows in the way he listens, the way he notices, and the way he makes every student feel like they truly belong. He meets kids where they are and somehow helps each one believe they matter. That kind of teaching leaves a mark. What makes Mr. Javier special for me is he shares so many funny stories and makes things unique. It makes the whole class laugh and it makes the whole class want to learn cuz he doesn't say it in this complicated way. He says it in an easy
015way to understand. And when he says it in an easy way to understand, it just helps me. And that's why this year I've been able to do so much and accomplish so much. I think it just came with all my years. In the beginning, I just used to yell and say, "You better listen to me or else." And then learning that if I get to know them, you get to learn the language, the music, if it makes them more relatable to me and familiar. When he's teaching, I feel like I can do anything. Mr. Dr. Javier has pretty simple but profound goals for his students futures. I hope that I'm going to run into them at Starbucks if it's still around or Target. And you know, I'm going to be so excited to see them.
016And in a polite way, they're going to say, "I'm sorry, Mr. Javier. It's great to see you, but I got to get to work." That's going to be the ultimate compliment. I'm late for my game. I'm late for the office, my meeting, and I'm really great to see you, but I got to go. Even after all he's done, Mr. Javier was genuinely surprised to be chosen. In his usual humble way, he joked that the decision might have come down to luck. There was even a moment when they announced it that I said, "Ah, maybe they just took a bunch of names and they picked one randomly. That's why I won." But it wasn't luck that earned him this recognition. It was the clear lasting impact he's had on the students who are lucky enough to
017call him their teacher. Congratulations for Mr. Javier for being teacher of the year. Congratulations to Mr. Javier for being teacher of the year in our school and in the district. Congratulations, Mr. Javier. Welld deserved. It is surreal and I'm insanely thankful and appreciative. And we are appreciative of you, Mr. Javier. Congratulations for being named this year's Laame Mesa Spring Valley Schools Educator of the Year. Congratulations, Mr. Javier. [Music] All right. Well, I wrote some things down because I want to make sure I got it right. So, uh, good me good evening board, members of the board, teachers, students, parents, community members. Uh, my name is Ben Claus. I'm the proud principal of Orlando Elementary School. Uh, special shout out to all of our Rolando teachers who were able to show up tonight. Mr. Mr. Javier's
018family. Uh, it's my absolute honor to recognize the Mesa Spring Valley School District's 2024 25 educator of the year, Mr. Javier. Mr. Javier exemplifies the kind of dedication and innovation our profession so deeply needs to thrive in the 21st century. In his fifth grade classroom, learning is not something that's simply delivered. It's something that's lived. He curates lessons with intention and purpose, creating rigorous, authentic learning experiences where students aren't just participants, they are the drivers of their own growth. Mr. Javier has a remarkable ability to foster a love of reading. His student-driven book clubs are not only a celebration of literature, but also a vehicle for students to grow as thinkers, speakers, and collaborators. In his room, reading becomes a social, thoughtful, and joyful experience. Mr. Javier holds collaboration at the heart of his classroom
019culture. His students are constantly engaged with one another, sharing ideas, solving problems, and learning side by side. And all of this is made possible because Mr. Javier just doesn't have a mastery of instruction. It's the way he builds genuine long- lasting relationships with each and every student. You see, he sees them, he hears them, and he believes in in who they can become. That belief translates into a classroom culture where students are challenged, supported, and ultimately empowered to be independent thinkers and agents of their own learning. You see, Mr. Javier just doesn't teach standards. He teaches children. And in doing so, he reminds all of us what's possible when innovation meets heart and rigor meets and rigor is rooted in relationships. Congratulations, Mr. Javier. We are so proud of you. As the educator of the
020year, we would like to now welcome you up to receive your award. Thank you. Um, thank you everyone. Um, I didn't expect to cry. That was like, what's going on here? Is Is Joe here? Does he see this? Because I'm going to hear about this tomorrow. Um, but no, just I think I was just overcome like, wait a minute, that's about me. Like, is that really about me? Like, I I could not believe it. Um, I I am only here because of everyone who's taught me. Um, Mrs. Manel in kindergarten at Perry Elementary. Um the first thing I walked in um first rule I first thing I learned in school was treat others the way you want to be treated. Um and that stuck with me and I said when I decided to be a
021teacher I was going to make sure that the um all of my students understood that too. Um I wish I could see more of it when I'm out. But um I'm doing my part in the classroom. At least these kids are going to know. um they're going to be in the set in the right direction. Um I just I I wish every teacher could feel what I'm feeling right now because I'm not the only one who deserves um special attention or anything like that. like I wish my partners, everyone I've ever worked with because I think we we work day in and day out and feel like sometimes um we don't get the recognition that we deserve or even like when you have a nice when you have a great day in the classroom and
022you're like, man, I wish someone could see that. um why didn't the visitors come in 5 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later you know and even right now I'm thinking man I must have got lucky this year when people came in because everything alone I'm still secondg guessing it but I am extremely honored and yeah like I said I wish everyone can feel like it feels right now because it feels pretty crazy I think crazy is the best word to describe it. So, I'm just know that I'm really thankful and I know I don't look very happy right now, but um everyone who knows me, this is my I just won the lottery face. It's also the Padres's just lost face. There's not much difference. So, even though it doesn't look like I'm insanely happy,
023I am. So, I just thank you. And h however this happened, I don't even know. Um, just thank you. That's all I can say over and over. Jeff, I I just wanted to say one thing really quick because I your humility is incredible and um you know the question about or or your feeling that you know it was luck or your name was drawn from a hat or what have you. I I'm telling you completely in all honesty. Um uh when we were in your room this year, you know, we visit schools on a weekly basis. We try and get to two schools a week, walk classrooms. We were at Rolando um earlier this year. here. I think it was on our first visit and visited um Jeff's room and honestly it was the most
024memorable experience of the year that we've had visiting classrooms and um which is why it was so amazing to to see that that you won this award because your it wasn't because of anything you were doing um at all. It it was 100% from what your students gave to us as we talked to them about um I think that they were working on the the um the book club piece and um just like a group of uh like just thinking about uh I think four or five boys at at one table and just how into it they were and how engaged they were in their learning and how much they loved that class. Um yeah, and um Deian and I were at uh uh Rolando uh last week and we had that same feeling just
025the joy of learning that that those kids have. It really stuck with us. It really did. So um you know that's because of you and um we're we're grateful to you for that. takes us to classified employee of the year. Well, I am so excited to introduce our amazing classified employee of the year. Our amazing classified employee of the year this year is Jean Bilbury. We can give a round of applause. She's amazing. Jean is one of our behavior intervention techs and I'm going to invite up to share all about her magic by our behavior intervention team known as Clara Diana. Diana CL Clara. We're not sure which is which. I'm kidding. We're both here. But they're both here. Um and nobody adores you more than your amazing team who's about to share about you.
026Um we'll let the video speak for itself and then we'll get to hear from you both. [Music] There are people you count on. People who show up not for recognition, not for praise, but because they care. Behavior intervention specialist Gan Bilbrey is one of those people. Every day, Gene puts the needs of students and staff before her own. She steps into every situation with quiet strength and calm resolve. No task is too big, no challenge too hard. Even when it's outside her comfort zone, she treats it like a chance to grow. Gan listens, she learns, she adapts, and she does it all with a humble heart and a deep sense of responsibility. Her colleagues describe her as the one who never cuts corners. The one who jumps in when things get tough. The one who
027stays late and checks in on students, on staff, on everyone around her. She supports students others struggle to reach. Not by forcing change, but by earning trust. Having Jean here on a daily basis and a consistent basis makes such a huge impact on our students and adds additional support that many of them really truly need. When you see them succeed in a way that nobody said they could, their eyes light up and that just melts your heart and knowing that they're going to carry that peace with them. Jean's work isn't always visible, but its impact is felt deeply and widely. She inspires those around her to do better, care more, and keep going, even when it's hard. She's a vital part of every campus she touches. Across the district, Gan is known by many names,
028whether it's Miss Jean, Mr. Bean, or the lady with the purple hair. But to Diana and I, she is part of the reason why we continue to be able to do this work. She is the superhero as we know her in our behavior intervention group. Her passion and want to support all students allows us to continue to feel motivated and have the ability to continue to support in the trickiest situations districtwide. To the students, to the staff, to the families she supported, Jean is family. And today we recognize what so many already know. Gan Bilbury exemplifies the heart of this district and she is La Mesa Spring Valley School's classified employee of the [Music] year. Wow, I love the video. Okay. Okay. Hello and thank you all for allowing us time to share and brag
029about Jean. It's our privilege to take a moment to recognize someone whose work has deeply impacted all she has supported. Gene is someone who spends her days working behind the scenes, but whose presence is felt across the district. For many who hear about the work that Gene does, it may seem intense, perhaps even overwhelming. supporting students with the highest behavioral needs, traveling to multiple campuses each day, and jumping into situations others may shy away from. But for Gan, this work is not only purposeful, it's her passion. Gan is our superhero behind the scenes. She's the one quietly empowering teams, helping staff build capacity, and ensuring our campuses are safer, happier places for all students. She works with students across every grade level and every school site, impacting general education and special education programs alike. Her
030day might begin supporting a kindergartener in distress and end at a middle school coaching a team on new strategies. No two hours are the same, but her commitment never waver. This year alone, she has had so many moments, but Gene never quits. Thankfully, when teams feel they are out of ideas or overwhelmed, Gene jumps in with calm, hope, and a plan. She makes the impossible feel possible. While Jean's formal training as a special education teacher and experience as a paraprofessional have all contributed to her success, her true true talent is simply being Jean. She has a gift. She makes both students and staff feel seen, heard, and supported. People listen to her not because of her knowledge, but because of her kindness. And while being in front of a room like this, uh maybe out
031of her comfort zone, just like so many other challenges she faces each day, Jean shows up anyways. Diana and I are incredibly grateful that La Mesa Spring Valley School District opened the behavior intervention technician job opportunity to expand our team and that Gan and Tim and Alberto uh were willing to join our team. We often say we truly could not do this work without them. Gan, I know our whole team feels that it is truly an honor to work alongside you, to learn from you, and to witness the difference you make every single day. Congratulations, Miss Bean. Thank you for everything. [Music] Thank you. Okay. Is it my turn for my two words? Hey, first of all, thank you board for having us and recognizing us tonight. Um I do I am completely honored for
032the individual recognition but as many of you know nothing we do nothing I do is an individual effort. I do have wonderful team members. I couldn't do anything without. Um also my family that's all here. I it starts at home. Everybody that works in this field knows the support has to start at home. Um and I appreciate the the spotlight on what we do um as we move into the month of mental health. Yes, my title says behavior. Our team title says behavior. What we do is a lot is supporting emotional and mental well-being in the school. And even us as a team isn't where the support ends. I have some pairs, some school staff that is hiding out there in the audience. And when we walk onto a campus, we are welcomed with open
033arms and supported. And we couldn't do what we do without what everybody else in this district does. So, um, as we continue into this month of awareness, you know, I hope that we all recognize that we are all serving the whole person and that's what we do, the whole child. And I feel grateful that I've been given this opportunity to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Can we do a quick photo op with our employees of the year? all the way up. Thank you. Your [Music] parents. Thank you. NBC will be at your school tomorrow morning at 8:30. Just letting you know. Sure. Yeah. We'll take a quick little break just so if you have are here from Lame Mesa Arts Academy or Rand or with any of our our employees of the year if
034you would like to go do something else tonight to celebrate you should you should go. You don't have to. You're welcome to stay but it's a great break if you would like to do something else. Thanks again. Thank you first. Jeff, the Padres's are winning right now. Just FYI, it's 3-2. They're winning. Get rid of staff communications and information. All right. So, um we have a few other staff communications. The first one um is a letter from a mother uh of a kindergarten student at Murdoch Elementary um just recognizing her amazing teacher, Taylor Bower. And um I'll go ahead and read these and then we'll go to the last one. That's uh so Brianna can report out. Um it's let's see. Oh, actually well let me read this one first. I'm sorry you guys. Uh
035we have a required update authoriz authorizing the emergency action taken for um electrical power outage at Steam Academy. We just have to do these um status reports. So that's being provided here as well. Um, the other thing that we want to do is ask the board to decide which promotion ceremonies you'd like to go to. Um, but let's do that last. I want to ask um, Trustee Brianna Cen if you could just report out on the advocacy trip that you took to Washington DC with CSBA. Yeah. Excuse me. Yeah. Sorry, I'm a little bit uh have a little tickle in my throat, so sorry if I'm a little sound a little congested. Um, I for those of you that may not know, I spent um the beginning half of last week in Washington DC on
036a federal uh advocacy trip um with CSBA and AXA. I always screw up what AXA Yeah, AXA means, but it's the Association of California School Administrators. Yeah, school administrators. There we go. That um and then CSBA is the California School Boards Association. So, um, school districts all across California sent, um, some, uh, either school board trustees or andor, um, their superintendent or other cabinet members, um, out to DC to advocate for public education, which we know is on the chopping block with, um, federal budgets. And so I, um, alongside roughly 300 other folks from all across the state were in DC. And um it was it was a really great it was a really great trip. So Monday, it was Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday were where we heard from folks in DC.
037Um a lot of them were folks that do, you know, advocacy work for their day jobs and, you know, or are lobbyists or are um somehow have their ear on, you know, their their finger on the pulse of what goes on in DC and and have really big roots there. Um, so we heard from them and then on Wednesday we actually got to have meetings with our local representatives. And so I um got to meet with Congress member Sarah Jacob's office which her district encompasses a lot of our school district and I also had the opportunity to meet with Congress member Daryl Iso's district and his um his office or his district encompasses um you know some of our school district. Um both of those were really great meetings, but um we also heard all
038of those all of the information that we heard kind of along um on Monday and Tuesday really led up to these meetings on Wednesday. Um the big topics that we were there to advocate for are the federal funding issues that we know are um or you know have been we've been kind of told are probably on the chopping block. So things um specifically title funding. So title funding is big in our school district. Um and so this was really advocating for making sure that title funding is is fully funded. Um you know to the degree that it is now. Special education funding. This is another big one for us. Um and this is something that we are there's always been this hope of fully funded special education which has never been the case. And so
039we were um really there advocating for please keep it exactly where it is. Do not decrease a dollar. um increase it if you we know that that's a big ask for you, but um keep it where it is. Um and then um some of the other things that we were there for were um rural schools, which doesn't affect our district as much, but a lot of um Congress member Isa's district does, you know, is rural schools. Um we were also there about -ate and broadband um access, and that's, you know, a big equity factor. Um, and it was really some of the interesting things hearing from some of the folks that have their pulse on what's going on in DC. I think one of the big things that, you know, you know, depending on how
040aware you've been or, you know, how much you've been watching the news lately. So we have you know our three branches of government and kind of one of the big things that's been happening is that Congress has been saying you know has been um dictating that you know this is where funds this is how we want money to be spent and um what this administration has been doing is not spending that money the way that Congress has been allocating it um or has been cancelling grants as we know that Congress has allocated and so that's something that is abnormal for this um for for the federal government and that's really a lot of what we're hearing from folks in DC is this is abnormal. This is not normal. Um but on the flip side of
041it also what's abnormal is that Congress isn't doing anything about it. Congress should be fighting back and saying we told you to spend the money this way. This is how you should be spending the money. Um, and so because this is the push and pull, one thing that they did say is the big question mark here is come June, July when the next round of funding is supposed to go through for funds that they're claiming are going to be continue to be funded or special education, it's really is the um executive department going to write the checks for those. So hopefully they will um and or and or hopefully Congress will be able to push back on that. Um so that that's a lot of what we were hearing. Um there's also some really interesting
042data that made sense you know or or became especially interesting um in the following days is around mental health. So mental health is actually um there's a poll that was done um on with voters in just before the November election on what are the most important things for folks regarding education. The number one most important thing for folks regarding education for voters regarding education is um student achievement. Are how are our kids doing? That that makes sense. The number two most important thing 87% of folks said that this was the most important thing for them was uh mental health. So mental health is way up there in terms of for voters what is important for um for education. And the day that evening that we got that information, we got the letter from the um
043Department of Education saying that our mental health grant was going to be canceled. Um and so that actually ended up kind of shifting the focus on what our meetings with the Congress members um how those went. Um we were able to really focus those meetings um and and pinpoint certain pieces of those meetings on what happened here. how can we how can we, you know, better support our students because these, you know, losing this mental health grant is going to be, you know, really devastating for our district. Um, Congress member Jacob's office was um starting to hear from other folks across California. At that point, we didn't know if it was a widespread um or how widespread the effect of this grant um being canceled was. We were out there. I was out there with
044um Lemon Grove um their school their superintendent and a couple of their school board members were out there and so they I was able to chat with them and know that they were also affected by this and the two of us are the only two c um school districts in San Diego County affected by this um or that had this grant. So the two of us because we're in both of those meetings were really able to team up and be like this is something that's important to your constituents. Um and with yeah, Congress member Jacob's office, she they spoke about how um we um a lot of this has been kind of the MMO of this administration is put out an order. There's if there's a lot of public backlash to the order that, you
045know, they realize, oh wait, this affects people, they'll resend the order. And so that's, you know, some of the reason that um, you know, I think that it's really important for us to get out into the public about this. So that and how this mental health grant um, funding is affecting us. And I think that our district has done a good job so far of getting out to the news on um, on what this exactly means for us. Um and then on the um the other side of things the congress member Isa's meeting as well um he his office you know seemed to be really surprised at what this grant was being used for. I was able to speak about our PEP program our p parent empowerment program and how um important the work that
046that program has been doing. I mean, we were talking about this earlier that, you know, when Chelsea was up here at our meeting a few months ago talking about that program, had us all in tears and, you know, how important that work is. And that seemed to really um take them by surprise, but then also the other trustees in the room from other school districts um by surprise at how important this work is. So, it was really we'll see what comes of that. We were also able to um because it was the day after the grant information came out um I alongside the superintendent from um Lemon Grove School District and one of their trustees tried to go to the department of education knocked on the door to see can we get in to talk
047to anyone to tell people about how this is affecting us. Um, we got into the lobby. They sat us into the lobby and we were there for about 30 minutes while they tried to see if there was someone that we could talk to and there was no one that we could talk to. Their superintendent used to actually work in the um Department of Education. She talked about she was in the department under Obama and talked about this is the not necessarily that you would have been able to go right up and see someone, but you definitely would have been able to talk to someone um walking in. And it was a very different experience, she was saying, than um it it used to be. Um and then we also um walked over to the National
048Education U National Education Association. Yeah. And um NEA and um able we were able to speak with um folks there and um they they were actually having their own advocacy week and I know that CSCA was um in town as well for an advocacy week. So there's a lot of advocacy going on to make sure that um our public education and our you know our our students are being supported um and and funded. So it was a little bit long-winded but um when am I not? So yeah, I just wanted to thought it was really important to be able to talk about um the that work and um that that we are doing we're trying to do something here. Absolutely. Thanks for being there, Brianna. Yeah, it was a really good experience. Oh, and most
049importantly, we won a free ticket for next year. So, um, yes, that was our district. One of us will be able to go for free next year. Um, let's see. We have uh middle school promotions, middle schoolmies. Uh promotions are scheduled for the morning of June 17th. Uh so we need uh would love for uh four board members to attend those. And if a fifth board member would like to attend, two people can go to one, which is totally great. Um one of each of us will be at um one of the schools as well. Perfect. Okay, we only need four. Last year I doubled up. Okay. Okay. And I'll go to Elac. Easy peasy. Great. Thanks you guys. Okay. And did we need to read any other part of this? No. Okay. Um, which
050brings us to 4C. Um, report of action in close session. And let me get there. That's okay. Everyone can wait while I press the button. Uh, all right. In close session, the board approved. We have a new uh board agenda software. So, that's the delay in my button pressing. Um the board approved initiation of litigation involving the office of administration hearings case number cases case numbers uh 202437172022530848. Um, the particulars will be disclosed upon inquiry of any person once litigation has been initiated unless doing so will jeopardize effectuating service or the agents ability to conclude settlement negotiations to its advantage. Normally, I promise you the report outs are not this long, but this time because of the nature it was. Um, the board also approved the appointment of uh two new principles. Carrie Faulk, principal
051at Kasa Deoro Elementary, and also um Marica Chanette Shen. Oh, I'm terrible. Shen Sheno next. That I should have figured that out beforehand. Um principal at Aenddale Elementary. We're so excited about uh the two of them and um just know they're going to be fantastic at those schools. Um, finally, the board approved the appointment of Eric Nunees, director of transportation. Uh, and we are excited to welcome him to that role, which moves us to item 4 D, public comment. I have one comment card. Do you have any additional? Okay. So, we have Julia Cole. So, I asked David about the green and Deian had it earlier. Um, so it's really fitting. And I think that um what has happened recently is on our minds and on our hearts. Um and so that's what I'd like
052to share with you tonight. Just my um feelings about um the cuts that are affecting our kids and our community. So good evening and thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is Julia Cole and I'm a transitional kindergarten teacher and I've taught in this district nearly three decades. Today, I come to you not just as a teacher, but as someone who cares deeply about the emotional and mental well-being of our students. Last week, when I heard that our school social workers and counselors may be cut due to the loss of federal grant funding, my heart sank. These professionals are vital. They are the steady, compassionate support system that so many of our children rely on, especially those facing trauma, grief, and instability. When a student is having a difficult day, these are the
053people who step in to help them regulate their emotions and rejoin their classroom community. Without them, we lose a crucial layer of support. I know this cut in funding was out of our districts and our school board's hands, and my reason for speaking tonight is not to place blame. It's to raise up the voices of the students and families who depend on these services and to advocate for the heart of what we do, supporting the whole child. Social workers aren't a luxury, they're a necessity. They're part of the reason we're able to reach students academically because they help remove the emotional and mental roadblocks that get in the way of learning. and they're also a support for teachers, helping us meet the needs of our students with care and with collaboration. I know that difficult
054decisions lie ahead. I also know that this district, one that proudly shares the words of Fred Rogers on its website and values those with a heart for children, will continue to find the ways to prioritize the well-being of every student. Thank you for your time and thank you for your continued commitment to our kids. Thanks. Do we have any public comment online? Uh let me see if someone will raise their hand. We do not have anyone with their hand raised on Oh, we do have someone who just raised their hand. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Uh Jimmy, I'm going to allow you to speak. If you could please unmute your mic and we will start your 3minut timer as soon as you begin. Hi there. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Perfect.
055Perfect. Thank you so much. Um it is a pleasure to be with you all tonight. Um I I got to say that I am very moved by the uh teacher awards that were presented tonight. Um very touching. I am definitely in a spirit. So thank you for lifting my spirits tonight. Um so I am coming from I'm speaking to you all from a uh company uh called Heiden Electric Fleets. Um, and most recently we were uh interested with uh speaking with anyone uh from your board uh if you so graciously would allow uh because we know that there's a number of grants that were available in your area um that are going away tomorrow. Um but in future reference, you know, uh we have a um unique business model that allows for school districts uh
056to help kids get to school a little bit greener. um by uh electrifying their fleet at no uh upfront cost to the school district. I'm not going to uh bore anybody with details tonight. I know everybody has a long night and you all have a lot of important items to get to and I'm just one person uh from Georgia uh taking up a little bit of your time. So, I do appreciate the board um for even allowing this much time uh to speak with you. Um again, my name is Jimmy and I'm with a company called Highland Electric Electric Fleet. Okay, no other hands. That moves us into um our public hearing to convey an interest in real property and right ofway to the San Diego Gas and Electric Company. Do we have any speakers
057for this public hearing? We do not have anyone online. Okay, which moves us into the next public hearing. Initial proposals, California School Employees Association, Chapter 419. Do we have any speakers for this public hearing? Uh, we do not at this time. Okay. So, that brings us to um item 5A, reading difficulties risk screener. Thank you. So, we um have a report tonight and I'm sorry, Julie, it is not as engaging as the employees of the year presentations tonight. don't want to set you up for failure, but it's not going to be quite that emotional. Um um Julie's going to present on education code 53008, which is exciting to hear about. Um but I just to give a little context and she'll give you more. This is a a law that was passed and um is
058going to require us to do a reading difficulty screener on our students. And though we have known it was coming, um we've had this sort of it's coming and you wait. Um which happens often. So it's coming, it's coming, hurry up and wait because you can't do anything until the state actually approves their list of approved screeners. So the the law passed and then they said and you must do this by July. And then we've been sitting around like, okay, well could you give us a list of these screeners that we can use? Um, and then it becomes quite a rush to get everything in line and implemented in time for the law that says we have to have a board adopted screener by July. And by the way, um, we've never really had to
059adopt a screener before as a board. And so we don't really have a model by which to go by because it's not a curriculum. Um, so we're modeling it after a curriculum adoption, but even a preview, you can't really preview a screener like you would a curriculum, right? So, we're modeling our process in the same way. Um, and gathering input and doing all the things that Julie will share with you about. Um, but we've really had to kind of fumble our way through and do this as well as we can. Um, given the lack of time to prepare. So, I'll turn that over to Julie, who is a director in learning support, who's going to give you more details and information about our process. So, yes, good evening. It was exciting to see Jeff get
060recognized. We started out our careers about the same time at Kempton, so that was really neat to see him be recognized. Um, so good evening, uh, board and cabinet. So, yes, last time I talked to you about the exciting things around Vapa and tonight it's the reading difficulty screener, so probably also more exciting. So, uh, this evening I'm going to give you just an overview of the ED code. There's a lot more to it online, but just pulling out the highlights. I'll talk to you about our pilot and adoption process and then our plan for implementation and then an opportunity to ask questions. So, um, some of just the big logistics to call out of the ed code. So, we are going to be required to screen every K2 student every year. So, even if
061they did it in kinder, they do it again in first grade, then they do it again in second grade. no matter how they did, they do that every year. And then we're also required to um offer the screener to our multilingual multilingual English learners who cannot access the screener in English. We are to offer it in their language as available. Well, currently the only one available is Spanish. So, um we are piloting two screeners that are available in English and Spanish currently. And then there are um stipulations in the ED code about um family and parent notification. So parents will be notified, families will be notified about the testing dates in which the screening is happening. They'll be within that they'll be notified of their um they they can opt out. So it's not an
062opt-in screener. They can opt out otherwise students are all participating. And then we are required to share results with parents. So they'll be getting uh reports and both screeners that we're piloting have parent reports that'll be part of the program that we can print out or email out and send home. Those are some come in some of the big overviews. And then there, like I said, there's a lot in the ED code and a lot of jargon and and so I just want I pulled out some of the key things that I wanted um you to know about it. And it's it's about why. So why did the state of California decide that we needed this legislation to say that all K2 students have to be screened for reading difficulties? So one of those things
063is to remember that it's just one of our tools. We have teachers have several tools to determine what students need. This is one tool that now we are required to use. And then the purpose is so that we have that early identification. We want to catch early if students are having difficulty with their reading and we want to intervene early. So that would be another reason. And then another reason would be again to help families and teachers be able to give them that best first instruction or intervention to so that they can be successful. So thinking about um that a school really like as a district we have a comprehensive assessment plan and then the schools and the teachers have a comprehensive assessment plan. So this screener will just be one part of the big
064picture that all the different formative summitive assessments that are being used. And then what's really important that I think is going to come with just reme messaging and remesaging and remesaging as we get used to this new legislation and using a new screener is what it can't be used for. So it's not supposed to be used for anything high stakes. It's not meant to be used for retention. It's not meant to be that last line about um identifying a disability or reclassifying our English learners. So, we want to make sure that we're using it for what it's meant to be and not anything beyond that or high stakes. So, you're going to notice um there's lots of language that you'll see uh in the ED code around dyslexia. It'll say a reading difficulty and then
065it might say like dyslexia. I think one of those maybe says that as a district, as an IEP team, we don't diagnose dyslexia. So, you see it all over the ed code, but that's not what we're diagnosing. We are looking for if a student is at risk of having a reading difficulty and then but we don't diagnose. So, but the word dyslexia is all all over the legislation. So with that, um, thinking about, um, I skipped a slide. I skipped a slide. Uh, no, I didn't. Okay. So then thinking about, so what if a student's identified? So both of the screeners we're piloting right now, they're in the data visualization that the teachers will receive, it will flag basis for reading difficulties. And it's just meant as a flag like little little Spidey senses, okay,
066something might be going on with this student. So again, not a diagnosis. So you'll keep seeing that that not a diagnosis of a disability. And really, we're meant to just dig deeper. So if it's flagging for a possible reading difficulty, then we need to dig a little bit deeper. What's going on? What skills do they have? What skills don't they have? What do we need to know more about? And then what do we need to try? What what instruction do we need to adjust? what do we need to monitor? So then we can adjust in for and teach and then keep monitoring and keep going. Um and then so if that pupil is identified again it's not meant to be uh it's it's not a pathway to special education. It is meant to inform classroom
067instruction. So if a student's identified, we as part of this legislation, we must then provide intervention and services to support that child in the general education program first. So we need to set goals, have progress monitoring, see what skills they need, address the instruct and address those, how are they doing, are they making progress? So we keep going and we do that in the general education classroom and that will look differently depending on individual students needs what's happening in that particular classroom and they and what programs they have or what they might be using for the small group. So it'll look a little bit different but we have to address it and we have to address it in the Jenna class. I'm sorry I'm strugg struggling over here. I don't want to be hung up
068the entire time. Yes. So I I imagine there you know there is a comprehensive uh you know reading and education already established in our district like what is the gap? I mean I understand this is a requirement by edco. So you're filling that requirement but is this filling a gap we currently have or or to use this screener? Yeah I mean just trying to understand like what's besides the the screener there any real like substantial difference of what we're already doing. I imagine if kids are having difficulty K through second grade teachers are interventing there's study groups there's big ways to kind of address this so is this filling a gap or is this this or you know maybe there's gaps in other school districts and this is why the legislation believe this is necessary
069but I'm trying to understand like I think it's a yes and so our our teachers all have different kinds of screening and tools that they use we don't in our district right now have a a universal screener that we use K2 and and the Only reason I would say we haven't implemented one sooner is because this has been in the works about a year and a half. And so we didn't want to train on something and then be like and now you have to change to this one because the state says that's not on the list, right? And so and really when the list came out there were like four or something. There weren't very many. So having to use one that's required by the state, you kind of wait till they tell us what
070we can do, right? Um but as a whole within our our state, yeah, I think there certainly have been gaps. Um that's part of why like we've supplemented with other programs within our district. I don't think any one reading curriculum does everything well. And so um it's part of why like we had developed our ELOP intervention program post pandemic to address certain things. And I think that it's really about trying to target specific um skills that we can help and intervene with. um when there are um things that we see like if we see kids that are struggling in reading and we do um certainly post pandemic that's something we see right um the solution is often to change legislation and to mandate something and then we figure out how to implement it right and
071so this is the solution it's been mandated and we'll implement it and then our work always here is how do we implement that well on behalf of children yeah I feel like We've spoken a lot about intervention in terms of like what's right. We have. Absolutely. So, this is like now a different tool and an additional tool that we would use. Okay. Sorry, I was hung up on it. Okay. And um this screener will will dig deeper. So, like a student gets a diagnostic score from their I Ready, if it shows that they're not reading at grade level, like this screener will actually help them dig a little bit deeper deeper to those discrete skills that maybe isn't as indepth. and I ready and um and I think what happens too is a lot of
072times a teacher um you will get I already data or they have their reading level data or other data they're collecting and they need to dig dig deeper but you're digging deeper with in particular students um depending on what they need and this screener will be required for all students no matter whether you're showing a a risk in other assessments or not. All right. So, our process. So, as Deian said, we've been waiting and waiting and waiting and uh a few days before winter break, the CDE released their list of approved screeners and there were four. And so, um, at the end of winter break, um, Lydia and I were working towards the end of the end of break and so we got on calls and Zooms with the publishers of the four, um, screeners
073to try and get some information and how do we start a pilot? And we were quickly met with, oh, wait, we're not we're not planning on letting districts pilot. We're just going to give you a demo. And I think that once they talked to multiple districts, they realized, oh, they don't just want a demo. they want to really try it and really pilot it. So, publishers weren't ready for us. So, then it took a little bit more time for the publishers to get ready. It the CDE and our our own county office of education started offering webinar webinars and getting resources together. In that time, while we were kind of waiting for everybody to determine what was going to happen, whether we get demos or pilots, what was going to happen, we formed our own
074committee comprised of kindergarten teachers, first grade teachers, second grade teachers, reading intervention teachers, reading specialists, principles, and IDs teachers. I think I covered everybody. Um, and our special education coordinator. And then once we finally were able to get more information about all of the screeners, we quickly determined that we were only going to pilot two. And I'll explain why in a little bit in a future slide. And so our committee got trained on both of the screeners that we're piloting. And what they're currently doing is they're using the screeners in their classroom. So they're trying them out. They're testing them. And then on May 22nd, we're coming back together and they're going to give feedback. We're gonna have a discussion what what worked, what didn't, and have a discussion and then come to a consensus
075about which screener we should adopt or recommend for adoption to you all next month. And I'm also at that meeting asking for feedback about implementation and some of our next steps and how they foresee this being implemented realistically in the classroom. And so right now in May telling you the background about the ED code and then in June we'll give we'll make a recommendation for you all to approve and to adopt because we have to do that by July 1st according to CDE. So with that, so these are all the discrete skills that may be assessed on the screeners depending on the grade level and depending on the time of year. So that it they don't get all of these every year. Every time depends on their grade level and the time of year. So
076the two um screeners we're piloting are MClass with Dibbles by Amplify and Amira by HMH. They are very different screeners. Um they are they represent their data differently. They're administered differently. They are quite opposite. So right now our teachers are trying both to see which one will give us the best data to be able to inform instruction and intervene with our students. We picked these two because like we said there were four that were approved but one of them didn't cover K2 so we didn't want to have two different screeners and then one of them didn't offer in Spanish and then another one only didn't offer any kind of progress monitoring. So if you wanted to use more than once you couldn't continue monitoring progress. There weren't multiple assessments to monitor progress. So these two
077do that. These two also offer that let's say this is going so well and we're getting so much great new data that we've never had before and we really like it and we want to roll it up maybe and that would be a huge maybe it is available for other grade levels beyond K2. So these are the two that we're piloting. I don't know if you have digital access to the slide but those are linked um if you have beyond the printed version. So, our piloting committee right now as they're trying this, their goal is to really think about which screener is going to give us the best data to inform instruction. That is the number one goal. They're trying it with about six to eight students that represent the makeup of their classroom and
078there to use the same screen the screeners with the same students so that they can compare the data on the same student but between the two screeners. And then we have a process for which they'll be rating different areas. They're using a screening instrument evaluation chart. So they should be in the end rating, taking notes, and then this is a tool that they'll use when we come back together on May 22nd to have the discussion about the strengths and um weaknesses of both screeners. And then there's still a lot of work to be done. So we at the May 22nd meeting will decide which one we want to recommend for adoption and that rationale. And then the next question is when do we administer? So there are options and we need to consider what time
079of year we want to administer the screener and maybe it's different for kinder than one too. It it'll really depend and we'll rely on some recommendations from the county office and the publishers to see what um when would be the best time to administer for K1 and two. Another guideline and some uh information we need to decide is how we're going to use the screener with our Spanish-speaking multilingual English learners at our students at all schools because if they cannot access the assessment in English and they are a Spanish-sp speakaking student then we should be offering it in Spanish but we need to have guidelines around that. So, uh, we'll be working to make those guidelines and then we'll also need to determine the guidelines for using this at Kemp with their dual program and
080when is it appropriate to use in English, when is it appropriate use in Spanish, are we using it in both? So, we'll be meeting with Kemp to decide what's the best way to use the screener for their program. And then we need to also work with special education department on what does this look like for our students who already I have IEPs and we know that's a result of a reading difficulty that that difficultyy's already been identified. So then then what do we want to do and what do we want our recommendation to be. So we have some decisions to make before we uh roll this out in August next year. And then another piece will be communication and education for all stakeholders. Uh it's going to be very important that we are training which
081comes to the next part in our implementation. We really we're going to train our our new TOSA position that we have next year. So they will be really key in leading this implementation at their school sites. teachers, both general education and special education will be trained, principles, and then we really need to make sure we're educating families because we want to make sure they understand what it is and what it isn't when they receive that report and we don't want anybody panicking and we want to make sure that everybody understands what it is. We'll be administering at least one time next year. And then in the extended learning and early intervention TOSA role, that part of that position, their goal will be to help the classroom teacher determine those interventions and next steps that need
082to happen in the general education classroom based on screener data. And then we'll plan for the second year of implementation and what that looks like. So on the June agenda, you're going to see a recommendation for which screener um we are sending for approval to you all. What questions do you have about this exciting legislation? Right. So one is administered by the computer. So the student can once they understand the interface can basically sit on the computer and interact with the platform and sit and do it by themselves. The other one is um the teacher sits with the student one-on-one and the they're not um recording responses paper pencil. They're they're still um recording the data and responses on their laptop or any device. Yeah. And I just wanted to say I recognize the impact
083that this is going to have on like the teachers and the district and the financial things, but as a mom who has a kid with dyslexia, I'm really excited to see this. I've kind of been waiting for it to come out cuz I'm looking forward to that early, you know, um not identification because I know it's not necessarily dead, but just to see the red flags a little bit sooner. I think that that's really going to be really great for a lot of students. So on the flip side, I am looking forward to this. And I just I want to clarify how long about would you say it takes the student because have you guys started? They've started. I haven't gotten feedback on the length of time, but I believe when we um did the
084training for the pilot um the trainers that we had said probably around 15 minutes, 10 15 minutes max per student. Okay. And then I just and I like you were saying that one of the tests offers the option to kind of do it multiple times. Was that multiple times a year then? So both all both of them that we are piloting right now have a beginning of the year, a middle of the year, and an end of the year. Okay. Um they also have um I'm going to call them progress monitoring for lack of a better word, but they have other assessments. So, if let's say a student shows um an area of need on the middle of the year, but a teacher actually wants to dig deeper and give more items to see what's
085going on, there are secondary assessments they can give to dig a little deeper and clarify what the need is. Okay, perfect. Thanks. As following up on that, so um on one of the slides you had there's a bunch of different things on what the screener assesses. Um, and so with what the results that it spits out at the end of the exam or the screener, um, does it is it just a you kind of said that it'd be a a red or a flag if there's something is it just generally there there might be an issue or is it some sort of a score or what kind of what does it what does that look like? It will give like the specific data for each strand. So there will be a a both of them
086have when the teacher on the teacher interface both of them have an obvious um on a dashboard an obvious okay these these are the students who are at risk or and they both have um I'm going to like different colors almost like I ready in a sense right so they kind of put them where they are like far from being at risk to at risk so there's that initial look that's the flag or no flag but then absolutely there's discrete data on each of the skills so you can see what they did or didn't do. And then does it do the longit does it automatically do the long longitudinal track of looking at the kid how they did last year versus this year and you're if you're seeing starting to see trends. Yes. cuz um
087I could imagine that if a kid um you know wasn't necessarily in a range where we should be concerned on one of these strands in one year but then they're starting to digress in um future years that being something that would also be an internal flag even if it's not an external flag in the that the system is flag. Yes, they both collect student history. Okay. From year to year. I have another question with the one administered one-on-one. If you were offering that in Spanish, then you would need the person administering it to Correct. Spanish. Okay. Correct. That's the one of the tricky parts about that particular one. Does the rule say it has to be a credentialed teacher or can Paris or, you know, can other people administer it? I want to say that
088it says credentialed teacher, but I'm not 100%. I'd have to look back at that. to kind of help. It is very beneficial as the teacher when you do pull the kid and you do it oneon one because what you're entering is like correct or incorrect, but what you're hearing in real time is like it wasn't correct. Um like an example we cuz we used a screener this year that we're going to we're not going to use next year, but one of the sections is nonsense words and some of my very high readers can't pass that section because they're not actual words. Um, and so like make a note of that that they're trying to like make that make sense because their brain is advanced enough and a good enough reader to know right when I
089say it out loud it should make sense. Yeah. Where there's some kids that will make each sound and not be able to blend it. And so like as the teacher then we know like okay that's what we have to work on is like you know the sounds and we're just not blending it. And then there's the disconnect to that it's not going to be a word that you know anyways. It's always super beneficial to sit with your students and hear it in real time. I I think it's the absolute balance of the amount of assessment and the time that assessment takes and making the assessment meaningful. Um and so when things are required, right, how do we do that in the most meaningful way? That's why we have so many people involved in the discussions
090and the decision and then making it meaningful so that we get like we got to do it. So, let's find the most meaningful way to do it and then make it um as meaningful a process as possible so that we can then focus on the students. And I don't I don't have a question, I just have a comment. I'm really excited to see um how this program is going to work with children with IEPs just because um I had a few kids. Well, I still have my kids, but um my daughter, she still talks about how she didn't learn how to read until she was in fourth grade and how it affected her mental health. Um and it's for her like she even she's 18 now and she talks about she still talks about it.
091She's like, "Mom, I remember sitting in my class and everybody's opening up opening up their book and they're reading and I'm just sitting there not knowing what what to do." So, I'm really really excited to see how this is going to help the kids with the IEPs. So, yeah. Yeah. And to follow up on that, um, you said that the pilot committee included the special ed coordinator, but so is this being rolled out as a pilot in any SAI environments or special ed classrooms? No, not currently. Okay. Yeah. But it will be available for use and folks all our K2 students have to use it. We can decide if for a student who's already identified through an IEP with a reading difficulty. We can decide if we want to use the screener or not. That's
092one of the discussions we need to have of whether or not we are going to do that or not. And then I think your question of will it be available? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So like if I am an an SAI teacher and then I want to use it to get more information. Yes. Absolutely. Because the tool that is a tool we would have. So again there's other layers of training that have to happen. Right. What we're starting right now is like if every um kinder first and second grade student needs to do this, we need to figure out how. Then we need to figure out okay, how are we going to roll this out in the best way next year? And we're going to do what we're required to do. But we got to kind
093of train people and walk through it. Um it's not going to be something that happens in August, right? No. Um we will administer it next year. Um and certainly we're not going to administer it the last week of school, right? But we will do it at a time that's meaningful when we've haven't had time to build that capacity so that we're ready to do that. Okay. I thought in the law it gave a timeline. There's not a timeline um for administering it. Um there is a timeline for so if you've administered it and then you have a new student move in there is a timeline for how quickly you have to administer that to a new student who's um arrived if you've already administered but we can decide when um we want to give it.
094So there's different philosophies about how soon and how much instruction you want to have happened before you give it which could feel different at different ages really. Yeah, because yeah, it'll feel different at kinder. Wait, but it's interesting in first grade to know what you've taken, right? Some grades you might want it earlier than others, right? So, and we need to be we need to think about that and what's the teacher perspective on that? When is again when is it most valuable? Yeah. And the screeners we're piloting, they do they the beginning of the year and the middle of the year and the end of the year screeners within the they they are different. They're assessing different skills because the beginning of the year first grade one is going to be assessing different skills than
095the middle of the year first grade one because now middle of the year they've had half a year's instruction. So there's going to be different expectations for what they can do. So even so it will depend on when we give it which skills they're being assessed on. Is that similar timing to like die ready assessments? You just said beginning, middle, end. Feels simpler, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So, we'll have to work that out so it doesn't feel like too much. I know there's so much emphasis on the I Ready, we have another one on top of it, but I mean, yeah, we see how this works out. I think, you know, I think also on a night when we're honoring teacher of the year and, you know, staff member of the year, also my my
096my son's first grade teacher who was honor, you know, the letter written about her. I I think that, you know, we we invest the most time and money into our our most valuable assets are the teachers. So, if this is a tool that's going to make their job easier and and help the kids faster, great. But, uh, yeah, it's really what, you know, I think in the bottom line, they're the ones who are sitting across from my kid. My kids struggled in front of in front of their tablet working with these apps, but sitting across from their teacher is where I think for him, most things are identified and, you know, his assessment is low maybe on the software, but then when when he's speaking to the teacher, it's it's higher, right? So, it's like
097I think some of that gets lost when you you're handing a 5-year-old a a device and say, "Here, take this assessment compared to that interaction they may have with their teacher." So, but if this is a tool that's going to help for, you know, kids that maybe get missed or or or or have more in-depth issue, then, you know, it's great. But, yeah, in the end, we'll see how it works. Yeah. Thanks. Any additional questions? Well, thank you. All right. Thank you. Okay. So, that brings us to item 6A. It's an action item. It's our board policy updates. I move to approve item 6A. I'll second. Any question or discussion regarding these board policy updates? Um, I had one question on one of the board policies. I'm trying to figure out which one this is.
098Um, it's about the preschool. There's language in here um that got crossed out and I was just wondering why it got crossed out. Um, let's see. 5148.3 preschool early childhood education. Um the language about preschool eligibility determinations shall be made without regard to a child's immigration status or that of the child's parents or guardians unless the child's parents or guardians are under the final order of deportation from US Department of Homeland Security. Why did that language get crossed out? Um, I think it was just removing any reference to that um, from policy at all. So that we weren't talking about immigration status or anything referencing immigration documents. Um, CSBA was taking recommending that we take all of that language out of policies. Not that the policy is actually No, not at all. No. Yeah. Okay.
099Yeah. Absolutely. Any additional questions? Okay. All in favor say I. I oppose. Okay. Okay, that brings us to 6B. Um, the adoption of district purpose and principles. Um, should we read it? Oh, that would be great. Okay. So, this is what we are proposing that we adopt tonight. The proposed district purpose statement reads, "Our purpose is to nurture and inspire every child to learn, achieve, and find their unique voice." Um, and then proposed district principles. Oops. Go down. Go down. We take collective responsibility for the success of each and every child. We are committed to continuously improving as individuals in order to meet the everchanging needs of children and their families. We cultivate and embrace a culture of belonging for all. We love and accept children for who they are as they are by celebrating
100their inherent worth. We will be relentless in our efforts to remove barriers, address disparities, and foster a true sense of hope and promise. And if it's all right, I'll just share a little bit about the process. Um because this is something that we're really excited about and uh it's been a a long time coming for us to update this information. Um you know, as I talked to people around the district and um all of us, you know, I think people know us. Actually, many of the comments tonight were just about the heart that our um school district has for students. We hear, you know, people come to us because they decide to work for us because they have heard about um sort of the culture in the district and they read about on our website
101or um on our social media um you know, things like pictures of kids and it says you are Y. Um, and you know that it speaks to people and I think that um, it's really well known for our staff and people that are within the district and a part of the district um, who we are and what our culture is all about, but we haven't had that official statement. And um our uh our um purpose statement previously was to um um oh the the exact phrasing just flew out of my head, but it was oh to inspire learning and respect and um we just felt like that wasn't representative of who we are today. Uh so on August 24th the board held a district visioning workshop and we invited a small group to come and
102participate in that included um representatives from uh both of our labor groups LMSVTA and CSEA. We had uh uh PTA represented it represented. We had an elementary school principal represented a middle school principal, an academy principal and um the trustees and and the cabinet. And so we worked with a uh consultant from the center for organization effectiveness, Jessica Yafa, and she walked us through um really an exercise. It was about three hours just um it actually turned out to be such a wonderful time together because it was just all sharing about what we all love about the district, our experiences in the district and what we um you know that sort of led us to a place of developing a draft uh purpose statement. And uh coming out of that meeting, I was charged with
103um sort of finalizing the language of the purchase the purpose statement with a with a small group and um and then developing the principles and uh that was a a neat process too. There was a lot of back and forth with the group and a lot of um u uh like trying out different um uh phrasing and just seeing if we felt like it it worked and and spoke to who we are. And um it was really neat because what we ultimately landed on I think universally everyone was like yes that's that's that's it. Um and it was the same thing with our our principles. We uh initially had a list of I think 11 and um we asked Jessica to come in and work with us again and um with with a small group
104and we um and we really she guided us to hone that down and really focus on what uh is unique about Lamea Spring Valley and the things that we commit to in order to be who we are. So in order to live our purpose. Um, and so that's what we have here today. And I'm really excited about this and excited that as we go into um, let's say um, working with an organization like ENCOST and they come in and they're, you know, one of the first questions that we're often asked is, you know, what's your district's um, vision statement? What's your district's values? and being able to say um this and have it be adopted by our board and not something that that I feel like, you know, goes way way back and and doesn't
105really speak to the heart of the district today. So, it was a neat process and I'm really grateful for everyone who participated in it. Thank you. So, we'll need a motion and a second. I'll motion to approve the district purpose. Second. Any questions, discussion? Just want to say this is beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, it was neat to be a part of it. Yeah, good job wrapping it up though. He had a lot of the pieces there, but this is what Well done. Good job. Yeah, thank you. Someone that was there for the first that first meeting like seeing all of that work turn into get consolidated into this is really cool. Yeah. I just wanted to ask, can we like plaster this everywhere? We absolutely will. Okay, good. Yeah. So excited to put it up in
106here and and share it out with um you know share it with our with our district. Okay. All in favor say I. I opposed. Okay. Send it to the presses. Right. All right. Item 7A, business services consent items. Can I make a comment on um that item? So, for item 7A under number five, consultant agreements, it's actually page seven of the PDF, um the UEES agreement. It should read amendment number two instead of amendment number one. I know it sounds minor, but for um bond projects, it's important. So, just um when we're approving it, just know that we would make the change from amendment one to amendment two, but the dollar amounts are the same. So, we'll move it with the as amended. As amended. Okay. I'll move to approve item 7A with the amendment.
107I'll sec Oh, you No, you I'll second. Any questions, discussions regarding this? I'll just make the comments of um thank you for the donations to Lessa North. Okay. All in favor say I. I. opposed. Okay. Now, this sounds very exciting. Um 7B, uh resolution designated authorized agents. I'll move to approve item 7B. I'll second. Any questions, discussion regarding this? All in favor say I. I. I. Oppose. Um there is a little click delay when we click to the next slide. Um item 7 C um an action item appointment of citizens bond oversight committee committee members. I'll move to approve um our appointments to the CBOC and um thank these two folks for stepping up. I'll second. Excellent. Any questions, discussions? All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Just a comment. We do
108have Rob Weaver here who is one of the um ones that you appointed this evening. So, thank you very much for wanting to participate. Thank you. Um we are Oh, here we go. 7D, an action item, increase Mission Federal Credit Union line of credit. And I did want to ask Tina if you could just share um because I think that the term credit might be a little confusing here and just explain the purchase card piece and what we're replacing with this. Yes. So we um have what is called PECards. It's a purchasing card that we have through Mission Federal Credit Union. Um it's provided to people within the district really as a means of there's a lot of places that no longer take POS. if you're doing something online, they require a credit card. So,
109um there's a um a number of people, not a lot, within the district that have access to this PC card. Um in addition, what we've had at our school sites is something called class wallet. Um and so that program, um there's been a little bit of some difficulty with um addressing some of the not issues, but in terms of getting things replenished. So, our principles have one at each of our school sites and because of some of that, we are looking at transitioning from class wallet over to the PE cards with Missionfed. So, while we're asking for a credit line increase, it's really no different than what we're already doing with the class wallet. We're just moving everything over into one account. And um Mission Federal Credit Union now has an online platform that allows
110us to have some of the controls in place that we've had with the class wallet if we need to. um put limits on how much somebody can spend in one transaction or what somebody can spend in a month. Um so that's what the um the vendors they purchase from. Correct. The vendors they purchase from. There's a lot of controls like if we were at a conference or something you there are very specific things. You can't go into a bar and buy alcohol. It'll be prohibited. Not that any of our people will try. Um um but so that's ultimately what it is. It's really just transitioning what we have with Class Wallet over into Michigan Federal Credit Union. And now we have one platform of purchasing cards as opposed to two that has to be managed.
111Automated controlled within the mission federal. Correct. Okay. Um and there's no it's not truly a credit card. It's it's more like a um a debit card. There's not an interest rate or anything associated with basically a debit card. We set up, we have an account already with the debit cards attached and each debit card basically has their limit credit limit overall and then what a credit limit per day that they're allowed to use it for, etc. Like a list of authorized vendors that they have to go against. No, you can really use it anywhere. There's just a list of restrictions that you can't use it in. So, like I said, like a bar, you can't buy alcohol. If somebody were to go and try and buy alcohol with it, the card the transaction would be
112declined. they wouldn't be able to do it. So, not approved, not a list of approved vendors, but restrictions on on what types of things you can spend it on. Cate categories. Categories. Yeah. Well, you can go to a bar restaurant, you can buy alcohol, you can go to a still grocery store and buy alcohol, but Yeah. No, it's fine. Yeah. Yeah. But well, what they have to do itemize receipt. It all has to be approved by it. Okay. Correct. Yep. That all has to be submitted. So whenever we have to ask for backup documentation and all of that. Correct. Yep. Okay. So we'll need a motion and a second. A motion to approve item 7E. I'll second. Any additional questions? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Um 7E is an action item 2023 24
113measure V financial and performance audit reports. I'll move to approve the audit report. I'll second. Any questions, discussion regarding these reports? All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. On this one too, Rebecca, we do have um Jay who's here, our CBOC chair. Um Jay, did you want to say anything or you're good? Okay. He's here representing. Um, I just want to make sure because as this as a CBOC member like we report the auditor comes in and reports this information to the CBOC. Um, the CBOC reviews it before it comes here for the board. So, I just want to make sure that he had an opportunity if he wanted to. So, thanks Jay for being here. Okay. Next item 7F is a resolution conveying an interest in real property and right of way. I
114think I said this last week or last month, but as someone that deals with easements in my day job, this is so entertaining that this has to go through this much rigoral. So I'll move to approve uh the resolution conveying interest in real property in right of way. I'll second. Any questions, discussions regarding this other than that two cents? Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. 7G is an action item or release retention for phase one steam academy site improvement project. I'll move to approve item 7G. Second. Any questions, discussions regarding this? This is a school I get to go to often and just seeing the like what it every time I laugh like do you see how great it looks and other people are like that's important to me. Um all right,
115all in favor say I. I opposed. Okay, bringing us to item 8A, an action item, our educational services consent items. approve item. Oh, my sorry my thing being clicked on the next one. Okay. Um any questions or discussion regarding these education services consent items? All in favor say I. I opposed. Okay. And that takes us to our human resources our um consent items. I'll move to approve. Um, and I'll also make the comment that it's really exciting to see how many probe to permanent staff members we were able to um, you know, include on this. It's there's quite a few of them. So, it's exciting. I'll second. Any other questions, discussions? All in favor say I. I. I. Oppose. Awesome. That brings us to our closing communication communications announcements, reports and communications from board and
116superintendent announcements. I have a couple of additional things. I just I saw Ann in the audience and that made me remember that um when I was in DC, one of the most exciting pieces of everything was being able to talk to all of the other school districts and brag about the amazing things that we're doing here. Um one of the things that was up for debate right now is, you know, school funding and and SNAP funding for our um free and reduced lunch. Um, and there were some other school districts and school board members that were concerned about the quality of school lunches that they're getting. And I was able to wholeheartedly say I am not concerned about that in our school district. I have tasted our school lunches. They are amazing. I was bragging
117about the Mary's Chicken that is in that we're offering and um so that was that was one of the things where I was able to brag about. There's so many things I was able to brag about. I'm I'm there's a lot of things that we're doing right and hearing from other school districts the concerns that they're having. I'm like that is not a concern where we are. Um and so yes, that was just I saw Anna in the audience and was like school lunches. That was amazing. So yes, also it's teacher appreciation week this week. So thank you to all of our educators out there. Um, and then it's also mental health awareness month. And so, um, yeah, that's definitely on all of our minds right now. And yeah, I wanted to say the same
118happy teachers appreciation week to a fellow teacher on the board. And then also you guys, we're just really impressed and proud of you guys. We know you guys are doing the hard work. So, thanks. Um, I just want to say, um, We're talking a lot about mental health and um it's of course May mental health awareness month and for me it's a blessing to be on this board because it has given me a platform to um kind of take the stigma out of the cultural taboo within my community. Um I have um four children and I talk about my kids all a lot but I have four children. They're all adopted. One of them, well, all of them came to us with some sort of mental health issues. But when we would put one of
119our kids, we call him, we would call him the runner because he would run away from home all the time. And then we would put him in a facility and he would always say, "Mom, I'm the only Mexican here." And it would for us it would be kind of um we didn't know how to explain to him how unfortunately our culture um it is a taboo that um we get those help for our children and I hope we could break that barrier. So taking away the funding does um I was I text Brianna and I'm like I'm so heartbroken that this funding is going is going away. Hopefully it doesn't. But um and then when uh we would put him in facilities, then he ended up in juvenile hall. And juvenile hall, it was a
120mix of children there, but he was the only one that was getting services out of 300 kids. Um the therapist there would say, "Out of all the kids in juvenile hall, you guys are the only parents that are coming in for your child and getting therapy." So, I hope with um being on the board and getting the um attention now more than ever for mental health services and hopefully we could um at least in my culture take away that that taboo and the cultural taboo about mental health and getting the help that everybody needs. So, thank you. Oh yeah. So, um I think we already already mentioned the congratulations to the employee of the year. Obviously, uh teacher appreciation week. A little brutal that it's the same week at state testing, but uh I hope
121all the teachers are hanging in there as kids are going get they're all getting through that. And uh yeah, I mean uh I think it's a I think um sorry Rebecca was talking about count the countdown to the end of the year. I'm sure all all teachers can relate, but I I wish them well as they they make the final push um these last few weeks. Thanks. Yeah, I'll just reiterate with our employees that we celebrated tonight and all employees, it is teacher appreciation week. So, we do appreciate all of the work that all the staff is doing, but this week it gets to be about the teachers. Um, and it's okay if you have a countdown to the end of the school year. Do you have announcements? Yeah. So, I I have uh three
122bullets on my list. Um, I was kind of remind myself the things that I want to touch on and um, and what's uh, actually struck me as I was writing this down is how they're connected to each other. And so I just want to share a little bit about that connection. Um, so first off, it's mental health awareness month and uh we were at Elmac earlier today just doing one of our visits and it was really neat to see the mental health fair that they had there and um it it's interesting because the day before at our uh PTA u meeting um I was just sharing about um actually one of our retired counselors um from La Mesa Arts Academy and what the difference she made in the life of my um now in seventh
123grade. And uh and it and then she was there and it was so neat to see her working um with some of the interns from SDSU and and with the kids. Um the sort of ironically and um sadly uh mental health awareness month started um just a day after we received notification from the um from the US Department of Education that they were cutting our mental health our school-based mental health grant and um the rationale was that it didn't align with the um goals of the administration. And the thing that is so frustrating about that is that this the school-based mental health grant um exists because of a bipartisan group that uh came together and and wrote uh the the grant for school districts in response to the school shooting in um Ubaldi. And um
124it was also a focus on um uh helping uh our communities coming out of COVID and school closures and um I would think that that's something that uh you know all political parties you know care deeply about. Um, one of the things that is really heartbreaking about the potential termination of of the grant 2 years early in our district is um just the services that we provide with with those grant funds are the the most basic um just critical services to to our students. And I can't imagine for a minute that anyone in the world would uh have a problem with that. Uh I uh just want to share a story really quick which was um both uh Deian and I were kind of on like the tour with the different local news groups just
125to share with them what was going on and what some of the information was coming out of Washington. Um and you know still um you know no justification for why um the grant there would be um just ended across the board. There was concern expressed um for some grants that had I guess um language around um uh their diversity goals and hiring um uh not at all um similar to our own grant and and even the ones that were read actually um I didn't understand what was problematic about them but um They weren't anything that was similar to us. But something I wanted to share just now speaking about mental health is so as Deian and I have been meeting with reporters, Deian was out front talking with um a reporter from the local news.
126As Deianne was sharing, she started to get emotional um because the reporter asked her a question about the types of services that are provided and what will that look like if this goes away. And um so Deianne started to kind of tear up as she was talking and um the reporter started tearing up as Deianne was talking and it was you know really it was kind of a warm moment and when um the camera was off and then they were you know sort of chatting the reporter said oh my you know was like reflecting on I'm I'm very emotional right now and she said I could tell like you were starting to cry right and and Diana was like you know like yes it was an obvious question and she goes, "I just want to
127tell you um when I was 12 years old, my dad died and no one there was no one to teach me that it was okay to grieve and my mom didn't connect me with anyone that could help me." And she said, "And I would just go to bed every night and I would cry myself to sleep." And it was the most it was just it was heartbreaking to hear that and so touching. the fact that she connected that that's the work that we do um was was neat and um it it's you know just adds to sort of the tragedy of something like this being being cut or seen as a sort of political fodder. Um the thing that I wanted to say about in addition about mental health awareness is really similar to what
128Manurva was sharing which is the stigma. Like I I grew up in a in a home where um uh mental health uh treatment, you know, like therapy and things like that was taboo. And um and I it's it's so sad that that's the case and that there is this taboo for people um because I I have had big helps myself through um through mental health resources and I really believe like mental health is physical health, physical health is mental health and so the idea that these things are like separated and that you know one is for people that can't get their stuff together and the other is like everyone should do that is crazy. Like everyone needs to take their mental health seriously and it it impacts everyone and it's also there's not these black
129and white lines between mental health and physical health and it's also intertwined. Um, the way that I wanted to link all of that to education edi educator appreciation week is that because of everything in the news about the cutting of these mental health grant funds, um, we've gotten letters from parents that just want to share their stories about the difference that our staff have made in the lives of their own children. And that has been so touching. And it really is it it is um it's not the work just of our social workers. It's not just the work of our counselors um or our behavior interventionists. It's the work really of all our staff. It's the work of all educators. And um and nothing highlights that more than just talking to a parent, you know,
130about a parent who has had the lives of their own kids touched and their own lives touched because of the work of educators. That work is mental health work as much as it is anything else. Um, and so again, I think all of these things are are so connected and, uh, I just want to reiterate what we've been saying in the news reports and that sort of thing that we will absolutely fight, um, tooth and nail to um, at least say what's true, which is like this. At least I would at least love a recognition of what's actually being cut versus the sort of rhetoric of what's actually being cut because it's like let's at least let people know that that that we're talking about critical like special ed services for students. We're talking about
131critical counseling services for kids that are in crisis, for families that need um meal support, for families that have um uh home insecurity. Uh these are the services that are being cut. Um we're an elementary school district. We're not a we're not a high school district. um we're not um doing any of the things or we don't even journey into the categories of things that we hear in the news in terms of how schools are being maligned right now um in the services that are being provided. And it's so hard. Number one, like not only are you learning that you're that you're being cut, but then also to say that and you're breaking the law and you're um pursuing um racialism and these other sort of phrases that um don't really have a place in
132um at least uh transitional kindergarten through 8th grade education. It's just not our reality. Um, so that that's just what I want to say. That's my that's my piece. That's what we're we're all heartbroken about. Um, the potential loss of resources, but I think that I can say for everyone here, like the thing that we really care the most about is just the truth. Like we care about the reality of the services that we provide. And never are we going to be okay with being um sort of lumped in with some political rhetoric or category or what have you. That's not that's not what we're doing. Like we're doing the most vital work um almost everyone and I'd love to say everyone that is here like is here because they believe they're called to be
133here. um that I think that's really what makes an educator an educator is it's it's a vocation. It's not just a job. Um, and that's I'll get off my my high horse now and just I can't thank our staff enough because whenever there's a crisis um, you know, or there's a sense that like something that we love could be taken away. Um it's just amazing to see how people unite to it really is like Fred Rogers talked about when something tragic happens look for the helpers. Um we just we have a school district that are full of helpers. Um not just not just our staff but also parents and community members and I'm just so grateful to everyone for that. That's it. So I unless anyone has anything else I guess we can we will
134re we will not reconvene. We are starting this meeting at 7:57