001okay is it on now okay so I this is just a message for um viewers on Zoom for the board meeting tonight if you wish to share a comment please use the raised hand feature now we need to get a count of the number of public comments that we have for the meeting tonight so everyone that's on zoom and you plan to make a comment please use the raise hand feature let's give it a couple minutes really quick and then we'll check in with Matt just to see how many hands we have set our race so do you can you see how many um hands we have raised Matt currently there's no hands raised okay we have 44 attendees but no hands raised okay yeah you guys are good okay at 606 p.m we will
002reconvene the September 12 2023 La Mesa Spring Valley board meeting um please be advised that this meeting is being recorded we will start our meeting with students from Bancroft Elementary to lead the Pledge of Allegiance come on up you guys [Music] hello hi um and we have a card for you and Miss McRae is going to come introduce her oh great thank you thank you foreign okay moving on we need approval of minutes of previous meeting I move to approve the um the minutes of our previous meeting all second any questions regarding those minutes all in favor say aye aye aye opposed those have been approved and next we are doing the approval of tonight's agenda I move to approve the board agenda for tonight's meeting I'll second any questions regarding this agenda all right
003all in favor say aye aye opposed fruit um moving into Communications do we have other staff Communications no other staff Communications at this time uh next is our Spotlight on La Mesa Spring Valley Schools tonight is Bancroft all right you just jumped right into it Matt so I'll just enter it really quick we have a video to share about Bancroft Elementary tonight with all of you um our principal at Bancroft uh Gilbert's not able to be here tonight but um we're going to go ahead and and play the video for you all [Music] at Bancroft we seek to build our students love for learning students take joy in working together to accomplish great things we have a simple and clear model that helps guide us safe we are respectful we are responsible we are kind
004every parent and every teacher wants a child who is safe respectful responsible and kind these are the qualities that every school wants and more importantly every society needs through respect and responsibility we're not just preparing for the next grade we're preparing for life our students jump at opportunities to lead whether it's through our safe School ambassadors our safety patrol or a student council we view parents as partners in this journey through this relationship we try to put each other in the best position to provide a high quality education for our children I adore this school it's about Discovery it's about friendship it is that's the special magic that holds us together Bancroft Elementary is a community where we learn grow and shine together Welcome to Bancroft Elementary where Bright Futures begin thank you let me
005give a shout out to the Bancroft staff and parents and families that we have here tonight thank you so much we're so happy to celebrate Bancroft in this way you guys are awesome all right next for communications item C report of action taken in closed session so in closed session the board unanimously approved voted to approve a settlement for office of administrative hearing case number 202-3040889 thank you and item 4D is public comment do we have any hands um on Zoom we currently do not have any hands raised in Zoom okay so we have uh 17 comment cards um would you I want to be able to hear from all of these comment cards I think that we would all feel that way um would you feel comfortable with the two minute time limit instead
006of three would that be reasonable okay so we will do our comment card our two minute comment session so that everybody has an opportunity to speak um and my first speaker is Nicole shenow hello guys I just want to say thank you for having me today um as a third generation San Diego native and a product of public schools in San Diego um I just want to say that the biggest thing that we should be considering is our students well-being and their safety um I am the product of a the Santana school shooting I barely survived that and I want to say that the biggest thing that we should be considering is what is best for children while they go to school the best thing that they can do and the best thing that will
007give to them to the next level is feeling safe feeling comfortable want you to learn wanting to go that is the biggest thing we do not need to consider things that are who is doing this who is doing that we need to protect our kids number one number one and like I said I am a product of a school shooting in this County in this school system and I am telling you as right now as a survivor you have to protect kids otherwise they don't want to go to school how are you going to get your money if they don't want to go to school they won't and you won't that's the difference right there you need to protect your children it doesn't matter about what restrooms they use they don't care about whatever they
008are wearing what school colors it is Flag Day they don't care about any of that they want to be protected that is the bottom line protect your kids Protect by POC people protect lgbta bottom line I believe Matt is doing he has a two minute timer yeah hi thank you for allowing me to speak here today um I'll try to keep this short I originally written it as a three-minute speech so hi I'm here as a concerned parent of a student in the La Mesa Spring Valley School District I'm not concerned about curriculum school programs or the threat of indoctrination what I am concerned about are the unwarranted attacks on our school's curriculum the programs they offer and school and faculty and staff it's no secret to anyone what is happening right now across this
009country there is a consorted effort right now to undermine our system of education and to pull parents Focus away from what they should be focusing on their kids I for one commend the district for the great improvements it has made and their continued efforts to create and Foster an environment of acceptance and inclusion for everyone including faculty staff students and parents are there issues that exist within our education system absolutely are there issues parents should be concerned with of course our diversity equity and inclusion part of these issues absolutely not now more than ever it is important that we focus on the mental and emotional health of our children and that effort does and should start at home but that does not mean that we should not offer our children every opportunity to seek out
010and find help or guidance as a parent it may be hard to accept that your child may find it easier to speak with the teacher or a counsel a counselor about these issues that's understandable but it's even harder as a parent to find your child dead from suicide because they felt there was no other option for them to choose it may be a hard truth to accept but it is one that is a growing number of parents across the country are facing so I'm here to say that I will continue to stand up and speak in support of inclusive learning environments and the people who seek to provide them for our children thank you um Andy trimlet thank you I'm a parent of two kids here in La Mesa I came here today to stand
011up for our La Mesa Spring Valley teachers and tell you how proud our family is of the work that they do growing up just one District over from here I can't remember a time when any of my schools taught us anything about lgbtq plus people but that didn't mean we were blissfully unaware of the differences we had from our other classmates it meant that us kids were left on our own to Define what those differences meant as a result anyone who was different faced a gauntlet of teasing harassment and bullying when they showed up to school it was awful we've come so far since then today we live in a community where kids have the freedom to be who they truly are they can go to school and feel accepted feel welcomed if a child
012has two dads or two moms or some other family Arrangement there's no need to hide they can feel proud of sharing stories about their parents but this state of affairs isn't guaranteed right now we're at a Tipping Point over 500 anti-lgbtq Coupe plus bills have been introduced into legislatures across the country and this year alone that's a record and a small group of parents are demanding that school boards silence any acknowledgment of a student's preferred gender in other communities some school boards are folding to that pressure here in La Mesa that is not what we stand for diversity isn't just tolerated here it is welcomed diversity is part of who we are as human beings it makes us strong members of the school board I ask you to please stand up for our teachers protect
013our children with your support we can make this a community where we all feel at home thank you for your time very sternie Studio sorry thank you for correcting me all right so my name is Sherry sterniolo I'm the mom of two young children that attend Murdoch I'm also a pediatric registered nurse with 23 years of experience working in the areas of pediatric emergency critical care and surgery as a nurse working with children we strive to provide something we call Family centered care the mission of family centered care is to include the child's parents in the care that we provide for their child in the world of caring for sick or injured children where situations can also become very emotionally charged I find that the less the parent knows the worse situations they will imagine
014as parents of students our desire for transparency and the educational content provided to our children and how it is represented is similar along with what is accessible to us within the approved curriculum it seems the supplemental content such as instructional materials that may or may not be adopted by the State Board of Education should also be readily available and even offered up front to parents this is crucial when topics such as race gender identity immigration status or lgbtq are introduced I personally would like the choice to discuss these topics with my children before they are presented in class each family's makeup and circumstances are unique and it makes sense that they may want to discuss certain topics or qualities and values that are important to them for someone outside the family does my family and
015how it came to be are also very unique and there are some topics that I would like to discuss deeper prior to my child hearing from others as parents we do rely on skilled professionals whether medical or educational to guide and support us as we accompany these precious humans throughout their lives there is great strength in having a village as a parent the education system tells me read to your child make sure they get good sleep feed them healthy food talk with them about their day listen to their feelings I'm only halfway done um is that it oh I mean anybody wants to donate a minute to mail okay can I do that is that okay I'm sorry I really did I timed it at home for three minutes and I was barely beating it
016okay as parents we are encouraged to be active and invested in the lives of our children we should we should should we not then have the right to be aware and included when some of the more challenging aspects arise along our child's path instead of what can feel like taking over I would ask for even more parental involvements teachers and parents should be a team like nurses on day shift and night shift we should work together in unison to Foster the best outcome no one wins when parents are sidelined prepare us for what is taught to them in class so that the learning doesn't stop when they leave it so that we can discuss the same things around the dinner table and the car ride to the soccer tournament or whatever I understand that there
017are emotionally charged beliefs I know everyone's not going to be happy and yes I know as parents we can fail at allowing our children to show us who they are but I continue to believe that if we support our children or that however that is parent parents we will support our children during these times if we are aware of them to me California is a place where the right to choose is celebrated there are choices we as parents can make about where our children go for Education all we're asking is that we'd be provided all the information so that we can make that choice um thank you for your commitment and to moving this Village forward towards a more harmonious path I truly believe if any state can do it as California thank you Carrie
018Andre right um I live in La Mesa my family I have been here for about 20 years I don't like public speaking sorry um my youngest is just now in high school so they went through uh La Mesa Spring Valley we loved it I found it very supportive now my daughter um actually found out or figured out that she was gained fifth grade um and I can't tell you how much it means to her to see a poster with a rainbow and a safe space uh I just not too long ago about a year ago maybe found a San Diego Youth Services and they are just wonderful so gay people exist whether you know my husband and I didn't plan a gay kid but we have a gay kid and our child really I mean
019sometimes in classes people have conversations and you can't stop conversations from happening in classes people talk about stuff I was surprised to find out um what some of my younger daughters when they were younger what they found out in classes yeah those conversations need to happen obviously as a parent I would like to know you're not going to know every single little thing that happens to your child um if I've never found a teacher who who refused to share with me or to talk to me about anything so I'm very surprised that the conversation has turned about so I'm guessing that maybe there was a conversation about gay kids I'm sorry that I don't know what happened to your specific in your specific case but a hundred percent my kid needs uh help and support
020from somebody who it I'm a straight lady I have no idea all her needs and I was seeking help and was so relieved to see the numbers and the support at school because where else I I tell you I looked online and I found it at school and I am going to tell you I was so grateful to have that support and and just thank you so keep it up Asia past I hi my name is Casia I am a Murdoch student I'm a sixth grader I've been here since second grade and I always loved this school because it was so inclusive and really diverse I learned a lot about pride and like how many people like supported that one of my best friends is Jose them and I never like thought of them differently
021ever since I figured out they were they're the same person like I don't I don't care in fifth grade I was in a skittles club that I joined um that taught me about lgbtq um did my two minutes up you're good keep going you're good Anya Watkins good evening my name is Tanya Watkins my pronouns are she her I am the parent of a student at Murdoch Elementary School there in sixth grade they were in fifth grade last year with the wonderful teachers at mardok um I know the people here tonight love their children and are doing what they think is best and that's why I'm here too uh please know that not everyone shares the values that some of the very loud parents who have formed a group share I am here tonight to
022let you know that my family supports the teachers staff and principal at Murdoch the teachers make it clear that all types of people are important and celebrated at school thus ensuring inclusivity compassion and understanding among the school community my child has directly benefited from learning about people who are different from them it is important that the school board supports the staff and their efforts please stay committed to creating safe spaces for all children at Murdoch and at all schools in the district I am asking you the school board and the superintendent to stand strong to support the teachers and staff at Murdoch to stand up to Veiled hatred to protect all children to keep our schools safe places all children need to be affirmed and loved thank you for your time and for listening Samantha
023Webster I come tonight on a different note I come as a concerned parent and teacher over some of the new dress code policies that were put in place over the summer I picked up my son from school and saw him walking towards me in his Crocs in relax mode and he slid down the hill and his Croc slid off and I asked him why they were not in sport mode and his response was well teachers can't say anything to me now I was appalled and shocked and hurt that my 12 year old had such an attitude and such a disregard for what the adults on campus could or couldn't say to him quickly had a Stern parent kid teacher kid conversation with him and he said while he understands that he doesn't understand what the
024big deal is so I started small I said how many times a day does the back of your shoe get stepped on and your shoe gets pulled off and he goes well it's kind of a game on campus so it happens every day then I had to get a little bit more deep with him and share that individuals coming on campus to hurt students have become more and more common and if this were to happen I need to know that my child can run and can run fast so if we realize that their toes need to be covered and that is important I need to know that why are we not concerned about the back part of their foot in the back part of their shoe and then this got me thinking about how upset
025I am with the hats Hood's policy in my opinion there's not a place for hats and hoods to be on campus other than PE or for religious purposes in a classroom I can look out and I can see that yes we've got it or no we're not when I can see everybody's face but students are using the hats and hoods to hide and so I'm missing that vibe in my classroom but a bigger concern for me is the hats and hoods aren't showing their mood how sad they are how angry they are how hurt they are and that's not being addressed so I ask that we address these policies as quick as possible for the climate and culture of our campus hi Mike Michelle Ramos we'll also try to shrink this to two minutes hey
026good evening um I work full time in the field of Health Care Systems Administration I'm a mother of two boys a 15 year old and a five-year-old I've grown up in Spring Valley La Mesa area my siblings my older son his cousins and myself all attended schools in this District so naturally this year I enrolled my five-year-old into kindergarten at the same school district I did some preliminary research on school ratings and it seemed academically Murdoch Elementary was a high performing Elementary School in the district little did I know that there was something Brewing at the school just said to the surface shortly after the school year started I received two Communications from the district which immediately raised a red flag for me the first communication from the superintendent stated that a principal coach and
027an HR consultant had been brought into support and work alongside the school principal to assist in addressing transparency concerns and telling parents to refrain from engaging and gossip these are just some highlights from the communication my mind was spinning with questions mostly what is going on at this school the follow-up communication and FAQ sheet had several alarming things however for the sake of time I'll highlight my biggest concerns it was determined California Education Code 51513 was violated but later in the FAQ sheet when the question was asked is the district going to perform a curriculum audit the answer was basically no it is your responsibility as a board to ensure schools in your District are adhering to educational codes and policies if one code was violated how does the district know other codes are not
028also being violated I ask that you please reconsider your stance and have a third neutral party perform a full curriculum audit at Murdoch Also let's talk about technology in 2023 and I can't think of a reasonable explanation why the district cannot Implement online tool or platform that is easily accessible for parents to view classroom curriculum of a lot more but I'll be emailing you Robert Weaver good evening um I know this is uh not my first board meeting I've been to this is uh uh one of many so uh thanks for having me back again um I just wanted to thank the board and the district for all of the tremendous work that uh has been put in over the last several years and the tremendous progress that uh that we have made as a
029community and I really just want to say I'm so proud to be a member of the La Mesa Spring ballet school district community and uh encourage you to keep up the great work thank you so much Terry Ryan good evening I also prepared something for a three-minute speech so I'm going to try and ad-lib part of it I am a grandparent of two students at Murdoch a TK and a fourth grade student I volunteer quite a bit of my time and a lot of money to Murdoch to help support the school I am very concerned about some of the changes um I believe in inclusive inclusivity but I also believe that as a parent and grandparent that we have the right to know what is going on and what is being told to our students
030and personally I believe that my fourth grade student is so unaware of anything about gender identity gender preference sexual orientation or any of those subjects that it should not be brought up at school without parents knowledge without our permission to approach those subjects with the child as a parent we ought to be able to say we want to be included in that conversation or can my child be moved out and given instruction in some other area like math or science or writing or reading I believe that yes the kids will talk and yes they will amongst themselves but there have been things that have happened at Murdoch that have confused issues for these young children confuse them and only made things worse um and it's all in the name of being inclusive but you can't
031be inclusive and exclude kids that don't know anything that are naive to these subjects you can't exclude them by putting this all out on the table it is very important that we as parents and families have a chance to speak with our children to try to broach the subject with them to make them understand what is going on when they have no idea and that is what is so upsetting that's time thank you that was two minutes the timer went off yeah oh can I say just one more thing please could you please please just push for taking action on the curriculum and giving the parents the transparency that we're requesting that's all we're asking for thank you Anna weathered sorry if I didn't um good evening um yeah my name is Nana thank you
032for your time and service I know that you work hard behind the scenes and we don't see it um I'm a mother of three children and um I've been part of the La Mesa Spring Valley School District for seven years as well as San Diego unified for some of that time before that um and I am a concerned parent of murder you can probably tell as it says murder comma t-shirt um but I'm here to ask the board um and the superintendent to Advocate on behalf of parents at our school who have a long list of concerns regarding education code violations I'm sure you're all aware as there has been some kind of investigation and I know principal coach placed into our school um unfortunately the recent FAQs released by The District was very dismissive
033of our concerns and in fact as was mentioned earlier some of the codes that were breached were later said in the document not to have been breached um and so it felt like it wasn't a true representation of what's been happening at Murdoch um and in case you're not aware trust has been lost between families and staff um the atmosphere on campus is tense you feel like can I talk to my teacher anymore can I ask them this question are they going to think I'm a problem parent because I want to know what my child's learning I want to be involved I am on campus regularly every year I've been a room parent or an art docent or a PTA volunteer I try to be involved as possible but of course they're gone for hours
034and we'd like to know and feel secure in that and that trust being lost does detrimentally affect the children and that's ultimately who I'm speaking about I'm not here on behalf of myself I'm on behalf of my my children I want them to flourish in school I just like to clarify this is not a Dei issue it's a transparency and accountability issue parents have been repeatedly delayed or dismissed from receiving curriculum and supplemental materials and I really hope as a board and superintendent that you will address that thank you Kathleen Moen thank you for giving me your time um I did write a little bit more than I realized I had time for so I'm going to summarize it a bit I want to start out by saying we have for the majority a fantastic
035school at Murdoch there's great teachers there's a fantastic PTA who takes care of our kids and puts in a lot of time and effort um there's an amazing community of families and kids there and with that said my family is soon going to be leading Murdock we're going to be leaving because of the sex and gender identity topics they're being overtly taught discussed in the fourth and fifth grades with the support of our new principal Megan Young we'll be losing relationships with families at the school my children are going to be forced to leave behind friends staff and many teachers that they dearly love we're leaving because although I hear over and over from the leaders of this school and District talk of inclusivity we're not part of that inclusivity you preach we among others
036our conservative family who feel that during elementary school years certain topics aren't right for our children we feel that a school I'm sorry without a timer I apologize um okay we feel that as a school your responsibility is to teach the skills to our children such as Math Science and English as always there's the overwhelming and overreaching concept of kindness and respect that we believe should be expected in the classroom environment as well however when it comes to gender expression and sexual identity we feel those topics are unique to each family and as such it's the responsibility of the family to be the first person that discusses that with their child and not that of a teacher I don't expect every family should share my values um and I don't expect them to look at
037the world the same way that I do and I wouldn't ever assume that it's okay for me to try and impose my family beliefs on someone else's child especially when they have explicitly expressed their wishes otherwise in fact I'm guessing that's the timer right there okay thank you for your time um and I appreciate everybody who's come up and actually given their opinion tonight I really hate when I mispronounced names the last name Hicks can you tell me your first name Hannah thank you hello Public School District superintendents school board members and principals bear a deep responsibility a responsibility acutely rooted in a partnership with parents it entails unwavering transparency accountability and above all a steadfast commitment to the well-being of our children violations of educational codes have been brought up and we've struggled to
038gain transparency understanding and a genuine partnership instead we've been met with dismissiveness confrontational response and a growing divide between parents and School administration it is disheartening to receive an email from the superintendent referring to parent parental concerns as mere rumors attempting to discourage people from sharing their truths there is no doubt the issues brought up today extend beyond the confines of a single School these issues are occurring more frequently within California and our ability to protect our children is under siege every parent here as well as those who cannot join us tonight find motivation in the unified purpose of protecting our children and safeguarding our rights as parents our backgrounds values and beliefs may vary but we are all parents who recognize that something is greatly amiss regardless of which side of the issue you
039stand on we all have a core concern for our children so let this be the common denominator that is the first step toward finding a resolution that honors every family present these issues transcend a single agenda it's about the lack of transparency in the lessons being imparted the absence of equality the defensive response of Administrators and the influence of personal biases on choices that directly impact our family and students parents should have an opportunity to know what their children will be exposed to in order to make informed decisions about their respective families foundational Concepts outside of Core Curriculum should be established at home and not through a curated narrative based on an individual's perspective as a mother of three young black children I grasped the importance of equality inclusion and diversity however I cannot fathom
040how lessons are being delivered that elevate a small minority of student population while my daughter is excluded and subjected ridiculed by the color of her skin there has been no special lesson taught to make her feel accepted there's been no representation of staff so that she can see other people who look like her there's been no response from the administration regarding the events that have taken place at school that reflect racism that's time okay Jasmine Alvarado hi um my name is Jasmine I'm a parent of Murdoch student um she's in a fourth fifth combo and we are lucky enough to have the same teacher we had last year again they have an amazing relationship and I have a heavy volunteer um Presence at Murdoch a running the art program as of last year and the
041year before um and I find myself in those classes just amazed at what these teachers do every day for our kids the comfortability that each student has coming up to those kids and feeling safe and included um in all aspects of it I'm here to say I support all kids being represented in the books they read and I support the teachers and staff at Murdoch when teachers read inclusive books students develop empathy compassion understanding that are all important and valued by embracing diversity and following California law and Ed code and the fair Education Act we are affirming children celebrating differences and raising them to be accepting people I'd like to thank the district for sending out the FAQ page in the interest of transparency and for their confirm continued support of inclusive inclusion and equality
042in our schools and I have seen our our teachers take action against topics like racism there was something happening in a class and they had an entire assembly about that happening and I think that is action and um my student is a loving caring girl and she is in the Skittles Club as well and as an ally and loves her friends and that's all I gotta say thank you Sylvia McNally hi Sylvia McNally so just some bullet points of my concern um first concern I believe that the principal coach and the HR coach needs to be a new person who has no prior association with this school district it's skewed teachers in the past from what I've been hearing are refusing to release share instructional information it's our choice when it's appropriate to discuss sexuality
043and sexuality topics I remember learning this about ninth grade I think of more appropriate type might be in junior high not in fourth and fifth grade there's appropriate and unappropriate times and again this is being done without parent consent you're failing our children you're not insisting on quicker actions and resolution by the actions and the code violations that have been occurring at this school it's my understanding that this happened the first week of August I will be escalating this and this is going to be escalating to escalated to are your elected officials by the way two other districts have happened to cancel a similar curriculum similar to what is trying to be implemented at this school just in case you didn't know that um the actions of several code violations that's one reason why we're
044here these concerns and how you guys have dismissed our feelings and the actions that's why we're here nobody wants to be dismissed you guys have not appropriately addressed our actions I work for a company that is very dismissive inclusive we have a diversity company Department that's perfect that's fine but there's appropriate and unappropriate you guys did not get our permission to start implementing these and you're doing it without our permission I do not think it's appropriate to be doing this to fourth and fifth graders Daisy Hernandez um yes hi everyone my name is Daisy Hernandez I'm a mom of two one of 17 and a younger girl of nine she's in fourth grade uh one of my concerns is that I think as a parent I one of my rights has been violated since the
045teachers are not being transparent of what they're going to teach like this gender identity um one of the stories that I'm gonna just tell is because my nine-year-old girl she comes home and she says mom um I don't know what non-binary means and I'm like why where did you hear this and she's just like it's in my Chromebook she show it to me I have some pictures at other parents mentioned I feel that I'm being ignored by you guys like the board everyone here that it's not solving our problems and I feel that I haven't I'm not getting hurt by you guys or not being cleared of what your guys are going to teach to my kid so or rather have you guys to ask me what you guys are going to be teaching my
046kid thank you and also we have um uh email from somebody that's having an issue with um Zoom so uh we have two comments from Zoom as well we have three hands raised down on Zoom okay Lisa Connery hi I'm Lisa conry I'm a grandparent at Murdoch I started decades ago as a student helper in this District became a teacher in this district and retired as a principal in this District this District Owns My Heart but I have to tell you I'm here tonight because we started this meeting with somebody talking about safety and as I listened I think we are ignoring the safety of another very important group and that's our parents they need to feel safe and what I'm hearing is they haven't felt heard as a principal I knew that I needed
047to sit down when there was a problem or a concern or a compliment and meet face to face and they wouldn't always like the answer they got because sometimes it was out of my control but they knew that I was trying and they knew that I had a partnership with them would I have felt the change in the district in the last few years is that lack of partnership it feels more like a management and not a community and that breaks my heart what I'm here to do tonight is to ask you please meet with them face to face I know you're busy everybody is busy but they are giving us the most precious people in their lives they've taken a leap of faith and they're asking you and trusting you to include them because
048in the end that's who their legacy is that's who they live their lives with we don't job out those responsibilities we sit down in small groups campus after campus principal superintendent or assistant superintendent and we meet with the parents we listen to their questions we read their body language because we know that they trust us and my greatest fear tonight is that trust has been broken and trust is very delicate and takes a long time to repair so please please do better was he going to kill them yeah do you want to go ahead and read um names off of Zoom then sure yeah we're going to start off with Chris Chris I'm going to allow you to talk if you could please unmute your mic I'm here hi thank you for giving me an
049opportunity to speak my name is Christine and I'm a parent of two children at Murdoch Elementary School a kindergartner and a second grader and I'm with you today because this is a my request is for transparency for honesty um this is not an lgbtq issue for me we have a my family is mixed race um we have members of of the lgbtq lgbtq community and my family both biologically and both our chosen family this is not an issue of whether we are allies or not this is an issue of Murdoch Elementary Megan Young failing to support her parents support her students to be inclusive of all students this is up to her this is due to her failure to be honest to be transparent to give us as parents an opportunity to know what our
050kids are learning in school outside of Academia it's no secret that the state of California is pushing all sorts of of lessons that are related to Social Development and that's that that may not be going away but what we need to know is what our kids are being taught and when so that we can prepare them ahead of time to have those conversations ahead of time or prepare ourselves to answer certain questions that they might come home with I have tried to be supportive of Murdoch I have given Megan Young and I have given David Feliciano more opportunities to respond to me than I can count at this point and to be continually passed off to a former assistant superintendent is really just deplorable and it's despicable the school district preaches that they want a
051partnership with parents they invite us to conferences to workshops at Bancroft in La Presa but not at Murdoch at Murdoch they tell us that the schools it's not the school's job to partner with the parents I have a five-year-old who came home one day completely traumatized because she learned through word of mouth it's on school campus that she was going to one day bleed from her vagina that she was one day going to get a period not a conversation I would have had with my child at the age of five but one that I definitely would have liked to have been somewhat better prepared for in answering it when she did come to me with it at that age I have been requesting information disregarding what the school teaches about race what they teach about
052lgbtq and gender and gender identity just so that I can prepare my children ahead of time or answer questions afterward in the name of inclusivity this school Megan Young is pointing out kids are she's putting kids on stages because of their differences she's pointing out their differences whether they be lgbtq or anything else she's segregating our students and Felicia all right go ahead and introduce the next one uh next is going to be Veronica H Veronica I'm going to invite you to speak you have technology allows me all right Veronica if you can unmute your mic please uh can you hear me yes we can hear you fine uh hi my name is Veronica Hinckley and Michael insurance is about what they read to my kid my daughter is afraid it's terrified to go to
053First fifth grade she don't want to go with those t-shirts that teach inclusivity the people they are in there they know where and what people are I don't want to give her the name in the but most of them are the upgrades five six in the mixed one some people um are reading books inappropriate to my to to kids and my concern is I don't have any problem with inclusion my sister belongs to the lgbtq but I don't want you to include some people and exclude other ones you're excluding my daughter when you're teaching uh books or gender stuff that I want to teach in my house according to my beliefs I don't like when the teachers uh use that I'm gonna use the teacher voice and what about our parent voice you guys not
054hearing our voices you're not listening it's like we're gonna do this and that's it we don't care for me it sounds like that I'm really thinking about moving also my daughter from this District because it's very disappointing she was there since kindergarten and I was very very happy with Miss Louisville amazing job she was friends and she was hands on she don't like nobody Park in the west spot on the blue spot today one of the teachers Park in the uh in the Blue Area blocking the way for the kids nobody tell her nothing she blocked the area the blue areas in 7 40 a.m and when I went back to pick up my child she was still there um 3H will be the next uh participant to speak brief you could unmute your mic
055I did thank you and thank you for your time um I am a parent who has unfortunately removed my children from La Mesa Spring Valley and from Murdoch Elementary my journey started um last school year when I reached out to the principal um regarding topics um that bordered on political and religious beliefs specifically sexual orientation and gender identity um being discussed in the classroom that are not developmentally appropriate for an elementary school child I reached out via email to the principal set up a meeting with the principal I've spoken to the deputy superintendent about this issue and through those discussions I lost complete trust and faith in the school district and the um uh at the school and had to pull my student or my child um who was devastated that he is no longer
056with his um friends um as a parent I was doing my due diligence last year to investigate um these concerns and meeting with the teacher I mean the principal I um she put out a notice last year that said we respect and honor All Families preferences I reflected on that statement because when I left the meeting I was very unsettled and realized that my concerns when I met with her were never validated preferences were never respected and at times I wasn't even heard um she even gave me a statement that good thing there are options for schools these days which shocked me and left me feeling like my concerns weren't validated or respected she followed it up with we wouldn't want you to leave but the damage was done the statement seemed to indicate that
057if I did not agree with her and how things were done at Murdoch um I should take my child elsewhere what I tried to convey in that meeting is that personal views should never be reflected in the learning environment as fact topics should be appropriate to the developmental level of the student having conversations or reading books that make students question their gender identity or even consider their sexual orientation is an inappropriate in an elementary school setting the topics I felt uncomfortable with may be appropriate at a high school or Junior High School level but what happened to letting our kids be kids I do understand respect and support the need for diversity inclusivity and representation of all students in the classroom including in literature I wholeheartedly support representation of diversity and inclusivity and choosing books
058that represent students of all kind in the class is a great way to do this my concerns lied in the bridge between representation of diversity and dipping into the sharing And discussing of personal political and religious beliefs in a manner that impressionable young minds can construe with fact and in turn be celebrated and encouraged with young children without the parents knowledge that transparency piece that everyone has been talking about as I mentioned above I believe some of these discussions work within the common core standards there's a time and place for learning about and responding to diverse views it's not until ninth grade when students are expected to respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives summarize points of agreement and District time we have one more participant with their Henry's Megan can you hear me yes we can
059thank you Megan okay thank you so much for your time I'm also a parent in La Mesa Spring Valley I'm not a parent at Murdoch but I'd like to voice my support for the teachers for the inclusion and for the school board standing strong lgbtqia children exist those parents exist and it is perfectly appropriate and absolutely okay for a kindergartner to come to school and talk about their two moms or their Two Dads that's not pushing an agenda it is not that the teacher acknowledging that those children's parents exist is not saying anything inappropriate what's inappropriate is when my children come home and ask why someone in their classroom or on the recess use gay as a slur that's when I have to have a conversation that I'm not comfortable with that I have to
060explain that other people in the world exist to hate others and I am not okay with that I want their teachers to continue you what they are doing in talking about inclusivity about kindness and about love that's what I want them to keep doing and do what they're doing so I support the teachers at Murdoch and all of the teachers in the La Mesa Spring Valley District thank you so much I have um so two additional comments both from Lemon Avenue from someone that was having a problem with zoom um so the first is good evening esteem members of the school board dedicated faculty fellow parents and community members as a concerned Community member and parent of a fourth grader in The Amazing Spring Valley School District I'm compelled to address the topic of gender
061education within our schools the issue holds deep significance for me and many others in our community our shared vision is to Foster an educational environment marked by understanding respect and growth for our children I commend the dedication and initiative of parent groups such as those at Murdoch as we Champion a broader gender education we are not challenging Traditional Values but promoting a culture of understanding and empathy we must recognize the rich tapestry of gender that extends beyond the conventional binary framework throughout history and across diverse culture and existences of more than two genders has been acknowledged as Educators and stakeholders in our students Futures we bear the responsibility to deliver an education that mirrors the diversity of the world and prepares them to engage with it insightfully while emphasizing parent involvement in education is crucial
062our foremost priority should be the emotional and psychological well-being of students grappling with their gender identity we should proceed with sensitivity understanding that direct parental notifications might not always be in the best interest of the child transparency is our educational process in our educational process is Paramount all concerns from parents warrant immediate attention well parental feedback is invaluable the design and implementation of curriculum should remain an expertise of our Educators our goal should be to nurture a synergistic partnership between Educators and parents geared towards the collective growth of our children Progressive ideals rooted in exclusive in inclusivity and understanding should be viewed as an opportunity for Collective growth these ideals Encompass a wide range of identities some of which resonate with our students warranting their inclusion in our educational curriculum in conclusion the welfare and
063holistic development of our children should be our Guiding Light in this ever-changing world it's crucial for our educational ethos to be inclusive and ex and adaptable appreciating diverse identities I urge you all to come together bridging our differences and focus on molding our students for a brighter more understanding tomorrow and then there's a letter from a student which is much shorter hello I'm a fourth grade student from Lemon Avenue in La Mesa Spring Valley School District I'd like to address the recent message from some of the Murdoch parents in our district about teaching lgbtq topics I strongly believe we should learn about lgbtq subjects first there's really no difference between those who identify as lgbtq and those who don't we all do we're all just people second it's the purpose of school to learn about
064things we might not already I'm sorry this is a question isn't it the purpose of school to learn about things we might not already know this can help our understanding as we grow up and let's be honest many students aren't familiar with these topics yet I've always been taught that there's nothing wrong with being a part of the lgbtq community so I ask these parents what the heck is wrong with the lgbtq community you might know what I'm going to say next nothing I hope we can all learn together thank you thank you so that will end our public comment section we next have a public hearing of the initial proposals for La Mesa Spring Valley Teachers Association do we have any comment cards for that oh during the email readings somebody did a raise
065their hand I don't know if that's post public comment or not it's up to the board um I'm I'm fine but that will be the final comment okay great thank you I'm gonna allow so to join via Zoom if you could please let them meet your mic hi thank you for giving me the time um I just want to say that I do understand supplemental materials are read at the discretion of the teachers um my concern isn't that it's um the materials that are being read and the lack of transparency with parents most people just want to know what the controversial books that will be read regarding gender sexuality other controversial topics that families might have different beliefs on it's irresponsible for an educator to read books and introduce social issues but then refuse to
066answer the questions about the material children are told to ask their parents the questions but we're not made aware of what books they were read if children don't have a safe place to go and get their questions answered they could be left confused parents have been concerned about this for years and are being ignored at all levels I'm asking for an open dialogue between staff and families I'm asking for a solution-based compromise that works for staff and families and lastly I'm asking for our concerns to be heard thank you foreign we will now move on to our public hearing the initial proposals for the Mesa Spring Valley Teachers Association do we have any comment cards for public hearing okay next we're on to our reports with our 2022-2023 unaudited actuals financial reports okay audience this
067happens to be the business that part of the meeting that's rather um interesting topic to go over after all of our public comment tonight so I apologize that this material um seems a little opposite of where we just were so we're going to go over the 22 23 unaudidactuals tonight and um unaudited actuals is the final financial report of a fiscal year um it's pursuant to Education Code that we we this is one of the big four reports that I like to say and it's the culmination really of the whole budget cycle from the previous year you can see from the the chart that we go we start back in July 1st and we end the year on June 30th and then our business office team is busy closing the books and that's what summer
068usually consists of in in the business office with reconciling um all of the transactions of the year and closing the books um and so this is the report from the district it will be followed up by a report from our independent auditor and then the auditor report will be the official financial statements for the district for the 22-23 year but this is the district's final report and it is submitted to the County Office of Education for their review after board approval tonight so tonight mainly we're going to discuss the general fund the district has 10 funds as you're aware we have a system called fund accounting and each fund is set up first particular purpose and our general fund is our large largest Fund in the district it's got a budget of about 200 million
069dollars and so we're going to focus on that tonight but your report that is attached to the action item has the information for all of the funds and at the conclusion of this report if you do have questions about the other funds I'm glad to take them so we're going to cover our year-end revenues a look at the year-end expenses we're going to compare our final budget when I say final budget I don't mean adopted budget I mean the final budget that was subsequent to the adopted budget last fall when we had all of the changes when the state passed their budget so we're going to compare that to our unaudited actuals and we're going to look at the all-important ending fund balance and reserves and then finally I'll give you an enrollment update because
070as you know enrollment ties so closely um with our financial situation so looking at our revenues you can see from the pie we have the biggest bulk of our funding come coming from the state in the in the form of the local control funding formula 65 in a normal year it's even bigger it's maybe closer to 77 or 78 but post pandemic with all of pandemic relief we see other state revenues now at about 23 normally that's that shift is a little different we see less other state revenues and more local control funding formula taking up the share of the pie and then of course we have our other federal revenue or federal revenues and other local revenues local revenues can be a grant it could be donations it could be a variety of different
071things facility use fees so those numbers um looking at our final budget and fall compared to our unaudited actuals all of these figures are presented in millions of dollars local control funding formula we came in at 129.9 million just a little higher than our final budget due to some shifts in how the calculation is is kind of came up with in terms of how the calculation is calculated is what I was going to say um because the legislature made some changes to Ada and and using a three-year average so we had some changes there federal revenue a little bit less than we were anticipating a lot of those changes are a result of timing and when we recognize Revenue so while we still anticipate receiving that amount of Revenue a portion of that 11 million
072will be recognized in the 23-24 year and then we have other state revenues um the difference there with the 43.2 to the 45 8 comes from our transportation grant funding that was new this year and finally local revenues um recognizing um a portion of the mental health grant that we see the 12 million mental health Grant so all told coming in at 198.8 which I think may be one of our highest budget years um in the in the history of the school district to be honest with you and then we're looking at expenditures um the bulk of our expenditures comes from certificated salaries classified salaries and employee benefits and those three large categories make up 87 percent of our whole budget as you can see we have our our highest priorities in our people um
07387 is a little on the higher side than we normally would see again but we have this infusion of a lot of funds that provide for additional Services recognizing the needs post pandemic so normally you might see between 80 and 85 for example and we're at 77 this year and then materials and supplies services and other in capital outlay are all kind of generally usually take up about that portion of the budget we don't spend our money on stuff again we spend our money on people and looking at details on expenditures I'm going to just going to lump it kind of together when I say certificated sellers classified Sellers and employee benefits are all coming in a little higher than projected as you know we had a salary schedule increase and so a large part
074of that is resulting from that increase and as well because of additional funding we hired additional people to provide additional services so again um the large part of that when you look at the re the reduction in books and supplies a lot of that is timing we have some curriculum adoptions that the expenditure wasn't recognized in the current year because the textbooks more than reason it's just very you know the rules of accounting really but doesn't mean that we don't have those funds available to spend on curriculum that will happen in this current 23-24 year and then um a lot of times we have things budgeted and again timing wise whenever the expense hits the books it may not always hit in the the year that we had budgeted so we see a reduction in
075services and other operating expenses as well but our expenditures did increase from what we projected from 1776 up to 179.6 and then here's kind of the big picture overview combining all of that information that I've shared on previous slides um we actually came in revenues of 198.8 expenditures 179.6 resulting in a surplus of 19.2 million with an ending fund balance of 66.3 when you look at the differences on the right side there's a reason that there's not a difference in the increased decrease column it's because of a rounding issue so we recognized an increase to our fund balance of 3.1 million so not a bad year not a bad year this is the part that I really want the board to focus on again going back to what I just reviewed in the previous slide
076with the increase to having the ending the year in the surplus of 19.2 million we had a beginning fund balance reserve of 47.1 million and because of that surplus of 1902 we have an ending fund balance that's very healthy at 66.3 million the components of the ending fund balance are important to understand by law we have to have a minimum three percent reserve of 5.4 million dollars set aside this board likes to have an additional two percent and we we kind of raise the bar here and we say we want to have a minimum of five always and so we have an extra 3.6 that we dedicate towards that two additional two percent reserve and we have a commitment a board commitment of 34.7 million that mitigates the effects of declining enrollment because as I
077said at the beginning and as you know enrollment is critical to um the financial future of the district we have to be planning according are planning our budget according to the students that we serve in the population that we serve and then we have a commitment to deferred maintenance as you know we're in the middle of a measure V Bond program and and our facilities and they also need the attention and the funds to devote to them to keep them in good repair to have good safe and learning environments for our students and so we have a set aside of five million dollars for any like any repairs Beyond what's happening in the school bond program restrictive carryover of 17.3 million again as the name implies restricted those are funds remaining from restricted sources meaning
078they can only be spent for a particular um particular program services and so those will carry over to be spent in the 23-24 year and then we have revolving cash in our stores in the warehouse of about three hundred thousand all told we end the year with a 27 percent Reserve percentage for on the unrestricted funds available which is very very good when I started here five years ago pre-pandemic we were in the neighborhood of about seven percent so now the district really Falls in line with other districts in the state other Elementary School Districts who carry similar Reserve percentages around 25 25 to 27 percent and then as promised our enrollment updates kind of exciting so every year we based on base our enrollment projections on Trends um on on you know birth rates
079other things that we project um our enrollment may be who's going to show up and I got to give my hats off to Christine Lewandowski who does such an amazing job with our enrollment projections Christine Works in our accounting budget she's our supervisor budget and accounting she projected 10 696 and as of yesterday we were one student below that I don't know that we've ever come that close I talked to her late this afternoon and she said I think we actually beat it as of today so I'll have to go back and check on that but enrollment last year at seabeds was ten thousand seven thirty nine um we were expecting a decline of 44 which maybe now it's not a decline of 44 maybe it's 43 or 42 but really overall I want you
080to know that our enrollment decline is stabilizing which is good news and that's largely due in part to our TK expansion and the next steps after approval of the unauded actuals is that we do have our audit scheduled for the week of September 25th our business office our well I shouldn't just say business office because it's district-wide the audit it's School sites are involved in all of that as well that happened September 25th and it just seems like we closed the books and then we go into audit and um there we go the team will get Summer in October we always say the business office has summer in October um and then after the auditor compiles their report um that report will be reviewed by our audit committee and that typically happens in December and
081then the final audit report comes to the board in January and then it's passed on to the county office in the state and then we always want always always continue to monitor enrollment because that will be how we build the budget going forward for the the following school year 24 25. does that seem like 24 25 is seems so far away but it's around the corner and really that's all I have tonight but I do want to give a special thanks and shout out to um Seth boomgarden who's our director of fiscal services and Christine Lewandowski as I mentioned she's our supervisor of budget accounting they lead a great team did a great job and it's I just saw the report it's very thick it's no it's no easy lifting so I just want to
082say thanks to them and I'll take any questions you may have yeah okay thank you thank you our next report is overview of literacy professional development um I'd like to introduce Allison long she's our executive director of educational services and kind of building on the report that we did last month when we were talking about some of the things that we were implementing um as a result of our work with ncus one of those is our work in helping retain our teaching staff and part of that is ensuring that we have strong professional development program and Allison is going to talk about our literacy professional learning that was developed this year to kind of recalibrate literacy instruction across the district so she's going to give an overview would it be possible to take a couple
083minute break a break Allison is going to talk about it in a minute yeah sorry about that sorry about that it's all good there you go okay good evening board members superintendent and cabinet I'm happy to be here tonight to share with you all about our literacy professional learning that is taking place this school year and I'm going to start with this quote um really when we're thinking about why a focus on literacy sharing thoughts ideas and emotions is key to the Human Experience developing literacy skills facilitates effective communication over a lifetime children hone their skills to read write speak listen think and respond critically skills that unlock the world's secrets and provide unlimited possibilities literacy matters because of the Endless doors it opens and that visual underneath is not showing up correctly on this
084presentation but that's okay it was alive prior but there truly is a link between literacy and social emotional learning when you think about emotional literacy being one's ability to read recognize and respond appropriately to emotions and feelings in oneself and in others and social literacy is learning how to build and maintain respectful relationships so another why behind our literacy Focus this is our end of the year 2023 iready diagnostic D3 data and if you look at this this shows that we assessed 9853 students at the end of last school year and if you look at the bars the green bar with the the diagonal lines indicates our students mid or above grade level that was 36 percent and I already gives us a direct correlation between how students will perform on State Testing so we
085don't have those scores yet but when we do we typically see a good correlation between i-Ready and um and S back but when we look at this I'm also looking at or we're also looking at the students in the yellow and the red and this represents 45 of our students who on this one assessment are performing are reading below grade level and as Deanne shared last month in our ncast recommend recommendations for our school district our focus on literacy aligns to these recommendations so the first was systematic professional learning that defines the expected outcomes for teaching and learning building a sense of collective efficacy for improving learning outcomes for each and every student developing students sense of academic self-efficacy and narrowing the focus to ensure understanding and mastery truly when we think about the why
086behind the literacy Focus it's all about recalibration and Alignment so it's recalibrating what literacy instruction and learning looks like in the Mesa Spring Valley and we have a lot of new teachers in our system and many of those teachers did their student teaching during covid and so they were doing student teaching through virtual learning and so they might have not had the opportunity to truly pull that small reading group we also looked at data and anecdotal observations and they showed inconsistent instruction in student learning across all of our schools and truly consistency is the biggest piece for us no matter what school you attend in La Mesa Spring Valley you should be having a well-rounded systematic literacy instruction and so when we really talked about that and looked at that we kind of came up
087with this statement as the why behind embarking on this work this year and it's in La Mesa Spring Valley teachers will provide standards-based data-driven literacy instruction that allows all students to read write speak and listen every day and so truly our priorities in focusing on student learnings is just this regardless of the grade level students or reading writing speaking and listening every day that they're thinking practicing and applying their learning both collaboratively and independently and that learning is frequently measured and monitored and we're assessing when we need to assess and when we think about instruction instruction should always be standards-based data driven systematic explicit which means the skills are taught in isolation but also integrated so that you're integrating those literacy skills throughout different subjects throughout the day and that there's a gradual release and
088for those of you who are not Educators the simple way of thinking of a gradual release of teaching is I do we do you do so it's the gradual release of the cognitive load from the teacher to the student and if we look at this image this is Scarborough's reading rope and this is really a diagram that provides a visual metaphor for the complex ability to learn how to be a fluent skilled reader so you can see all of the skills that align and they're truly woven together to ensure that students are reading fluently and that they're demonstrating reading comprehension and this is really the idea behind a systematic reading instruction program and when we think about instruction I'm using a lot of teacher terms tonight but when we think about um instruction we think
089about a tiered instructional model so tier one is universal it's what every student is getting in the least restrictive environment so truly thinking about the Core Curriculum that everyone is getting and then when you think about our students with special needs so we put in accommodations during tier one instruction they might have accommodations or modifications that help them access that tier one if we think about our English Learners it's integrated English language development that we're putting into that tier one model and then when we recognize that students aren't making aren't able to access that tier one instruction we move to tier two and really tier two could be a small group it could be working on individual IEP goals it's designated ELD for our multilingual students so really just thinking about the second level of
090support and then tier three again is intensified it's typically for about one to five percent of our students and so really thinking about this would be more of a one-on-one situation of how am I intervening how am I working with teachers to make sure that I'm accessing grade level standards and for us we truly believe that everyone is a teacher of literacy so regardless if you are a kindergarten teacher or an 8th grade PE teacher you are a teacher of literacy and last year we embarked on focusing on our targeted instructional area which is the comprehension of informational text because our data has shown us that students an area that we need to focus on is students accessing non-fiction informational texts and so how we've done that is through our instructional Focus statement I'm not
091going to read it but it's up on the screen and we really utilize our monthly learning leaders meetings with our principals to do the work around this and they in turn take that work to their school sites for our monthly site learning days our sld days and so they're sharing that information and really focused on our instructional statement and then the way we do that the way that we fine-tune it even further is by um focusing on a powerful practice during a cycle of professional learning last year we spent a lot of time focusing on close reading because we know that that's a strategy students use to access informational text this year we are focusing on three Cycles so we are up in the ante so collaborative conversations about text is the first cycle that
092we're currently engaged in so how are students having collaborative conversations with one another we'll move into short constructed written response so I've read something I've talked about it with my peers now how do I demonstrate my learning through writing and then our third powerful practice uh will be going deeper into one of the previously addressed uh powerful practices and that's going to be site determined so it's really grounded in data and what is the site seeing and what does the site need to do and work on a little bit more with their staff and their students and so I I share all of this with you to show our professional learning plan for this year by December 22nd 2023 Everly Mesa Spring Valley certificated staff member will have participated in a two-hour professional learning session
093with a literacy focus and as you can see these are these um professional learning opportunities are organized by grade level by grade span and subject area so they're tailored specifically to grade spans in elementary school and to Middle School content areas what the teachers are teaching for our special education teachers and also our pupil support services staff our social workers our counselors our psychologists will all be going through literacy training that applies directly to the role they have in supporting students and then in the second half of the year we'll be going deeper into some of these areas so let's say that I'm a first grade teacher and I want to know more about running a small reading group and tier two instruction there'll be an offering that um that will be offered in Us
094in an area such as that so that they can go deeper with their learning and the two things I'll say about this and our ability to do this is twofold so number one it's our amazing ed services team and that doesn't Encompass learning support only special education student supports it's really been all hands on deck because this is a pretty big undertaking to provide professional learning for all of our teachers our certificated staff members and the other thing that makes this possible is our mou with our Teachers Association we have an mou in place that um that allows us to provide professional learning opportunities and so we're able to make this happen with all of our staff and so tier one is truly happening in the classroom and tier one is also going to be
095focused on during our professional learning tier two is utilized for any students who are demonstrating a need that's Based on data so this might look like small group instruction inside or out of the classroom scaffolding and reteach so I always say scaffolding think of building a building and the scaffolding is in place so that the building can finally support itself and we can remove the scaffolding and it's the same with instruction you're putting those supports into place so that students can access those grade level standards we also have through our elop grant we have an elop intervention teacher at every School site and so they're able to pull small groups of students Based on data that are in third through eighth grade we have a sips which is a phone a phonics program that both
096our elop intervention teachers and our classroom teachers are using for our upper grade students we found that they've mastered a lot of those early literacy skills but they struggle with reading comprehension so this year we're piloting a program called cars and stars that focuses on comprehension and then after school tutoring that's provided by classroom teachers and by elop intervention teachers and then of course our tier three because we're always going to keep continuing to support students and accessing those grade level standards and so for students that are identified as needing greater levels of support this may look like continued small group instructions so more time maybe a smaller group size this could also be a time-bound goal so like a 30-day goal that you would work on focusing on a particular skill to monitor students
097progress along that way and then a Student Success team meeting or an SST which is a collaboration between the teachers the support staff at the school the parents Etc to truly identify interventions to be put into place to support Student Success so that is in a nutshell what we'll be working on this first half of the Year any questions uh no questions I mean looking at the uh the slide where it shows the i-Ready scores obviously it's concerning you know 45 percent of school um students are a low grade level or or sort of behind so uh I'm glad the school district is uh creating a continuing education for the staff because uh it is needed to kind of strengthen and give them the tools they need to to bring to the classroom to address
098this concern and to uh hopefully help each student achieve um better scores and better skills within the reading comprehension thank you very much thank you that's our intention I don't know how many teachers have already participated but my sixth grader did come home complaining that her math and science teacher was teaching her about reading yes it is aromatic everywhere everywhere literacy in every subject every grade level um so quick question um after the two-hour professional development are there um practices in place to make sure that teachers can like work together or like get support uh because I think it that's one of the hard things is you go to a professional development you're like this is really cool I'm so excited and then the implementation part is the difficult part and you need absolutely extra
099support there yeah so we'll also be sharing this with our principals um we have also shared it with our instructional and data support teachers who are our student-centered coaching staff on campuses so making sure that we are providing the professional learning to both of those groups so that they can monitor and provide support we have teachers on special assignment in our department we have other staff members who are there to really um and we're also going to be asking teachers for feedback so once they go through the training we always give them an exit ticket and say what do you need more support with so that we can look for Trends and Implement and truly we are we're doing a lot of work with our new teachers as well and it's really like we we're
100here we're here we're putting ourselves out there reach out and let us know what you need so that we can support you in that success to actually Implement it's that learning and doing Gap right and I I would add one of the pieces Allison alluded to earlier is we there's actually a four hour professional learning requirement that's part of our mou it's this swap day concept and so the first two hours for December is literacy the other two hours there's some self-selected coursework and so it gives an opportunity for the further support or going deeper Etc so that that kind of implementation can be supported there's a real desire to drive that based on the feedback and the needs that come of that so that the second part of this can continue to support and
101build on that professional learning I have a question um the the focus here has been on class um certificated staff but I was wondering you know paraprofessionals a lot of the time are also running small groups um is this a pld that will be available for um for paraprofessionals or our pair is also going to be going through this yeah I think we need to look at it this is more geared towards the classroom but I absolutely agree we have paraprofessionals who are supporting literacy instruction in classrooms and so we're getting through December like in full transparency we're getting through December to get through all our certificated staff and then it's looking at how do we bring this and I think we've been really intentional with um for example we had our principals working with
102a um a gentleman Dominique Smith who did some social emotional training with our principals and it was so great we were then able to offer it to all of our social workers paraprofessionals bus drivers so it's really when we are finding things that we know are gonna be beneficial for all students and all staff it's building it out so that everyone's gaining access to it cool thank you any other questions uh when it comes to the The increased here obviously when you get to tier three it's very very like that is the being driven by the the principal and the the data coach of our given campus to kind of dive in and and see how they can further escalate it and how it works that's a good question most sites have an intervention team
103so it's going to be a team of the administrator the IDS teacher the classroom teacher um maybe a special ed staff because they do have some expertise and goal setting so it's just going to be a broad range and then when it gets to tier three and we're setting 30-day goals that's always a conversation between the teacher and the parent and then when we move into an SST which is a bigger group we're always inviting the parent and sitting down and collaborating on the supports that we put into play so it's definitely a team effort there's not one or two people on the campus that are driving the work cool thank you very much you're welcome okay there we go thank you thank you thank you items 6A new new business um this is the
104board policy updates yes we'll need a motion in a second I have a quick question um there was in the mental health I think portion it talks about um creating something about providing access and creating posters and whatnot have we have we already gone about creating these items um to help um you know identify approaches and resources for mental health Yeah we actually received some templates from the County Office of Education um right before just after the school year started um all those weeks kind of blend together in my head but we did send them out per to the directive of the new law and post them I'll stand that way and then I think I can't remember if it got removed or not but there's something about um social media and mental health and
105social media and the um the report that came out I think over the summer around that and notification about kind of the how to best use social media and the harms of social media um have we figured out what that looks like um do you I'm do you mean like the report out in the in the news it might have been I'm trying to remember where exactly in this it was there's a there's a requirement yeah yes okay I just wanted to make rose following okay there's a requirement to notify parents about the availability of mental health services and one of the ways to do that is via social media is that what you're asking about it doesn't make sure but I know that the the it might have been something that that wasn't in
106this after all um but or it might be and I'm not remembering yeah I met the first sentence in mental health talks about the impact of social media and health and well-being so here's me rereading um that's part of the um just updating the surgeon general's guidance and it's just making sure that that's part of one of the things we communicate yes got it and our middle schools in particular emphasize that when they do parent education and things like that yeah cool thank you sorry any other questions regarding the board policies I'll need a motion in a second I'll move to approve the updates to the board policies um all in favor say aye aye aye opposed okay um item 6B is announcement of intent to reappoint our Personnel commissioner should I read the thing
107sure Steve battock currently serves at The District's appointee on the Personnel commission through December 1st 2023 with this item it's recommended that the board approve and publicly announce its intent to reappoint Steve Babbitt to the La Mesa Spring Valley Personnel commission for another term so the way that it works is the board announces the appointment then at the next more board meeting holds a public hearing to get any input on that and then there's an item to approve the appointment and it's it's a reappointment so it's an extension of the term we are going to move to announce yes okay I'll move to announce the intent to reappoint Personnel commission or debit a second any questions okay all in favor say aye aye aye opposed okay item seven new business business service seven a is
108business service Services consent items I'll I'll move to a point or to approve the business services consent items also again any questions regarding these consent items okay all in favor say aye aye opposed okay item 7B is the Consolidated application for the 2023-24 school year to the California Department of Education I moved to approve item 7B a second do we have any questions regarding this item okay all in favor say aye aye aye opposed um item 7c is the unaudited actuals financial report so this is just us approving what Jennifer had reported on I move uh to recommended approval of the attached 2022-23 unaudited actual financial report all second and I'd also like to thank the financial team for all that they do for those of you if everyone it's 138 Pages it is it
109is a hefty document yes all right all in favor say aye aye aye opposed um item 70 is the Gan limit Jennifer do you want to give us a little reminder about the Geon limit sure I knew you would ask it's one of those items that it usually does require a little bit of explanation so the Gan limit is is in the law and it's meant to constrain government spending basically and every year we calculate the limit that we in our district would spend and it's adjusted for inflation and student population or Ada and so the board must adopt um the Gan limit for the previous year which is our 2223 year we know what that is and then you must adopt for what we estimate it to be for 23.24 okay any questions regarding
110that okay this is a roll call vote this is you Jen well once we have a motion in a second thank you thank you we'll need a motion in a second then we'll roll call I moved to motion um item 70. also again I all right item seven e is acceptance of gifts donations and awards Rolando Elementary has received a donation from price philanthropies for three thousand dollars for wellness centers for social and emotional learning I moved to uh accept the donation and also say thank you for the donation a second okay any questions regarding this donation all right all in favor say aye aye aye opposed okay and item seven f is our designation of authorized representative by or for facility programs I move to approve um item sevenf oh second okay this is
111a roll call vote I okay item eight new businesses Educational Services item 8A is Educational Services consent items I move to approve the Educational Service consent items I'll second any questions regarding these consent items all in favor say aye aye opposed okay item eight B the master plan for English learners I move to a pro item 8B I have one I'll I'll second with one modification to it um the second page on it says um the list of all of the Board of Trustees and it says Tiffany Caitlin and I was wondering if we can fix Caitlyn's name what's happening before that's funny that you didn't catch it um all right so we have a motion in a second with the correction um all in favor say aye aye opposed and item 8C expansion of
112prevention and early intervention services with San Diego Youth Services I moved to approve item 8C a second sorry can um I I have a question on this one um Karen yeah really quick because I think we have someone from San Diego Youth Services here okay great so if there's any questions that the board has fantastic I will correct my question could you explain what dinosaur School is hi good evening and thank you for being here and again it's been a pleasure to be at the service of Mesa Spring Valley School District for my entire career actually I started out as a clinician working in a partnership with your District way back in the day so being here tonight is an honor and thank you very much for the continued partnership as well as serving all
113of your families and the community and young people I have over the last 25 years so I thank you tonight happy to talk about dinosaurs School literally using puppets to teach social emotional Wellness with young people literally how do we get along with others at the basic core it is the basic skills that all of us have even tonight to show respect to each other how we've all shown respect to each other have common conversation tonight is a perfect example of the skills that the the dinosaur School teaches through its puppets and the staff have amazing voices amazing engagement if you haven't sat in as District employees or teachers I definitely recommend you do so it's a sight to see on the other side as a psychologist I'm a licensed psychologist when young people go
114through dinosaur school and social emotional learning early they don't go through the other programs at the other end and I thank the heavens for that there was a lot of parents and family members spoke tonight that talked about what happens when we don't do this work in those early years and so I commend the district I commend you all to take in the steps to not only have these services and start now with us along the hope but being able to expand these Services I also want to note Pei school-based Services is a county-wide initiative funded by the county of San Diego we're not the San Diego Services isn't the only provider that does this curriculum in San Diego County we just so happen to do this and gifted with the opportunity to do this
115curriculum here it's an evidence-based curriculum they go through incredible steps and again partner with teachers partner with parents and community in every step of the way I've got to have dinosaur School in my first grade classroom we we had it for a few years in San Diego I'm in San Diego unified I think it switches around from schools it was so well done with the kids like the puppets were amazing and every time they come in and do a lesson it's very organized the format the kids know what to expect and then they would leave um little like visuals that they had talked about like when you're gonna start listening give me five and so we have the little sticker you know little thing visual from dinosaur school so when you're as the teacher they're
116in there while they're doing the lesson it doesn't just stop there we like the teachers have access to the different cues of like remember waiting is hard what are some things we can do to make waiting easier like things like that so I pursue saying that because it is such a valuable tool for the teachers as well and so we get those questions all the time that you know teachers go so well what now what do we do that program actually gives the teachers some additional skills to follow up with around the social emotional reward systems supporting positive behaviors in the classroom with the young young people they teach you breathing strategies which come in handy as a teacher too yeah yeah so currently you work with four or five schools within the the La
117Mesa Spring Valley School District expanding to high school right yeah we have four um current and then and it has rotated around different campuses in the six years I've been here and we'll be expanding to support five additional campuses yeah for the last 10 years has been just at least you know but but the relationship has been established for the last 10 years at least yeah one of the school districts do you work with in the in the county uh in in the county we work with over 22 different school districts in the county we um work with about five of the name school district of east region and then San Diego unified is a big one and then we also have Partners so a lot of the times we'll get a county contract from
118County San Diego and then we subcontract to other cbo's which we do that as well in the north county and South County well-established longest episode organization within the county that provides them go social emotional learning for for youth vulnerable youth throughout the the community both homeless foster care anyone who needs it right now that's that's your story I mean that's your your objective and your mission so I appreciate the work you do I appreciate the work you're doing too thank you I don't know if we had a motion or a second I got excited about dinosaurs emotion in a second okay do you have any additional questions okay so all in favor say aye aye opposed all right um and we're down to item nine a human resources consent items I would like to thank
119HR for doing all of this there's so many people on here they're so much hiring um and I'm very excited for that um does this mean that we're fully stuffed or how close to fully stuffed are we thank you so much for recognizing that and I have some incredible staff who are in the audience today and we'll share that with our team they worked Around the Clock especially throughout the summer to make sure we were fully staffed um fully staffed in HR we always have things happening throughout the day but we are as fully staffed I think as we can be right now we're really happy to report we have teachers in classrooms we have um we have paraprofessionals we continue to hire we continue to have job fairs at the last Tuesday of every
120month um but we're looking really good for making school um happen so we're really grateful for all the support and for our incredible team processing everybody to be out at schools awesome thank you I'll move to approve the standard recommendations oh second anybody have any additional questions all in favor say aye aye opposed and that leads us to our closing communication Communications announcements reports and Communications from the board and superintendent what real quick so uh yeah obviously started the new year um well that's like to thank everyone who came out to express their concerns and their um thoughts on the last month of uh here in the district especially at Murdoch Elementary um yeah a couple prepared words real quick I'll make this brief so uh we all have many roles in our daily lives
121and as I sit here uh my role as a father of two amazing Spring Valley students as the most influence on my perspective the focus of everyone involved in the Learning Community should be CR the creation of a safe caring and inclusive learning environment where all students can Thrive to be their their very best and also to be comfortable to be Express who they are although I have visited most schools in district I have first-hand extensive experience with Murdoch being that my children go there in regards to the concerns that have been brought to the board specifically regarding Murdoch who want to express that overall I have truly enjoyed the school over the past few years I believe that Murdoch exemplifies the priority of a great learning environment like all schools in the district Murdoch
122has airing and passionate staff but they also have a strong base of parents that uh support are supportive in the efforts to enrich the school over the past month the learning environment has been impacted by a rapidly growing conflict over a complex set of topics including supplemental learning material and parental rights and others these topics should remain at the parent and District level from my perspective open honest and respectful conversation is essential as we navigate this is the situation within within our the Mesa Spring Valley Community those involved are not some uh unknown members of the other team or side or your enemy uh that we are all people that have multiple roles in the community staff members are just residents of the of the area and or your neighbors some are even parents of
123students that go to local schools the staff have also have feelings rights and concerns over raising and educating their own children that deserve the same respect and consideration as all of you so I implore all of us to remember that we are all people that treat each other even those you do not agree with on a particular topic with respect and embrace and remember that you know you may not have all the relevant information to a situation before uh the before we jump into conclusion so on an experience that is not our own but we do respect I do know that the district as a whole has taken this matter seriously I have I've been willing to meet with parents as well I've joined the zoom call I have met with the parents and I'm
124open to meeting with parents to have open and honest conversations and that is something I will continue to do for those who are willing to participate and that's what I would like to say thank you thank you other board members announcements um I I would also like to thank everyone that came out and spoke today um it's there's a lot of um a lot of people came out and speak and I really appreciate hearing the hearing from everyone um I also wanted to talk about um beginning of the school year I got to go to Lemon Avenue and help out with their book fair and it definitely brought back a lot of memories for me as someone that loves to read and loved the book fair growing up um and I also got to um
125they're having a um Gala for to um to help fundraise for their Garden in at the end of the month um and so that was that was pretty cool to learn about and hear about um and it's been great seeing our schools up and up and running and they're so busy and things are going on it's great thank you any announcements no Minerva no no I just want to say thanks for everyone to everyone for coming out tonight it was a lot of like comment I think the most since I've been on the board and um that you can hear the passion that each speaker has and I think that it was handled really well and very professionally by everyone involved so I want to say thank you to everyone here that we're able to
126listen whether we agree or disagree we were able to listen respectfully so that we could have everybody's voice heard which I think meant a lot to me as as board president that I didn't want to have to not let people speak um and that we were able to do that because we were all able to listen and be respectful and that makes me really proud of this community that that we can do that so thank you Mr superintendent yeah I just wanted to thank parents especially students who came out and spoke um it means a lot uh just for everyone to be involved and make their voices heard it's so important um I also want to thank sdys and just proud of the partnership that we have there we've had for a long time um
127sad that uh not all of our neighboring districts are able to continue that experience um and um so thank you guys for for coming out here and glad that we're able to expand services in our schools um and happy back to school time for everyone it's been a a very very busy start to the year so thank you everyone okay anybody else all right so it is 8 10 p.m and we can adjourn this meet