Capistrano USD Regular Board Meeting | 9-17-2025

001testing ready. Good evening and welcome to the sember September 17th regular board meeting of the Capistroni Unified School District. The meeting is now in session. The time is 6:30 p.m. Mrs. Hayes, please call the role. Trustee Costanos is absent. Trusty Pritchard >> present. >> Trusty Zinger >> present. >> Trusty Adams >> here. >> Trusty Jones >> here. >> Trusty Bulicus >> here. >> Trusty Davis >> here. May I have a motion to adopt the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Trustee Bulicus. Seconded by Trustee Jones. Mrs. Hayes, do we have any speaker cards regarding the adoption of the agenda? >> There are none. >> Okay. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed. Okay. The motion carries 61 to adopt the agenda. Mrs. Hayes, before the board recesses

002to close session, is there anyone who'd like to speak to a close session agenda item? >> There are none. >> Thank you. The board will now recess to close session to address the following agenda items. Conference with labor negotiators, CUEA, CSEA, Teamsters, KUMA, and unrepresented employees. Conference with legal counsel. Anticipated litigation. two cases conference with legal counsel existing litigation five cases liability claim one case the board will now recess to close session President Davis, the live stream is in progress. You may start the meeting. Good evening and welcome to the September 17th regular board meeting of the Capistron Unified School District. The meeting is now in session. The time is now 7:02 p.m. Mrs. Hayes, can you please call the role? >> Student board member Hansen, >> present. >> Trusty Castianos, >> here. >> Trusty

003Pritchard, >> present. >> Trusty Zinger, >> here. >> Trusty Adams, >> here. >> Trusty Jones >> here. >> Trusty Bullus, >> here. >> Trusty Davis here. >> Um, we will now have the pledge of allegiance. And if we could have uh Grayson Fedrante and McKenna Gro McKenna DR please come lead us. >> Stand. >> Ready. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. These are our two uh TPUSA presidents at San Clemeni High School and at San Juan Hills High School. Thank you. Mrs. Hayes, can you please read the report from close session? >> On agenda item 4 A, conference with labor negotiators, no reportable action. On agenda item

0044B, trustees voted 70 to approve staff recommendations on the following ADR cases. Case number and case number 2025818. On agenda item 4 C, conference with legal council, anticipated litigation, trustees voted 70 to approve staff recommendations on the following OAH cases. Case number 2025 020341 and 202508695. On agenda item 3E, liability claim, trustees voted 70 to approve staff recommendation on the following case. Rejection of government claim number 2413790. And this concludes my report. >> Thank you. I'd like to recognize Dr. Chris Brown who will present his opening comments followed by the trustees. >> Good evening everyone. Welcome to the September 17th, 2025 board meeting. We're about one month into the school year and and this is where things really start going, right? Things are in full swing. So, we've got Friday night football. We've had club

005rushes. our ASB students and our peer assistant students are out there building up the belonging of the of the student groups, getting those student cheering sections up and running, making sure the freshmen are all tied into what's going on and know which clubs to get involved in and which teachers to go ask for help. Our our intervention specialist work or intervention work is happening full swing and our wind time or tide time or uh RAM time depending where you are. It's all got different names. Um, and you know, we're starting to see a lot of kids performing already. It's only September. Um, but we're seeing our athletes in girls flag football out there performing. Our cross country athletes, our water polo players, right? Our choirs getting ready to go. Our our musicals are already starting

006to get ready and do the work that they're going to do. So, it's amazing how fast these kids hit the ground running every year so that by the time we get to spring, we can see some amazing performances. And, um, I know for some of our sports teams, CIF's right around the corner already. Uh the other thing that starts happening now is coffee chats and and evening forums and I really enjoy doing those coffee chats and our first one is this Friday at 8:15 in the morning at Truman Benedict Elementary School. Um so please join me talk about long-term goals, the growth of the district. Um and we have a nice open forum and and back and forth to to answer as many questions as we possible. I I I wrote to answer all your

007questions, but I can never promise to answer all your questions. So I will answer as many as I possibly can. Uh and then we have a series of them throughout the year. So, uh, this is the time where all that starts and I I'm really excited because it it's awesome to get out with our community and engage with our parents and engage with our students. Um, we engage with our superintendent advisory group beginning here shortly, our teachers advisory group. Uh, so it's a fun time as we roll into October, which is by far the busiest month of the year. And that concludes my comments. >> Thank you, trustees. Trusty Adams, >> I have a couple comments to make tonight. Um, I wanted to highlight a couple of things that happened in the summertime. Um, the

008first thing is back in June, I had the opportunity with superintendent and some other staff to visit RHDana Elementary School and see the results of an amazing service project that was completed by Harbor Point Church. Um, they are a local congregation in San Capistrano. Um, Harbor Point has been a wonderful partner and supporter of CUSD students and our schools for many years. And um, yeah, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to their outreach pastor Rob Fernandez and his amazing team over there. They had 1,400 volunteers show up and to serve this campus. And what they did for the school was beyond impressive. Some of the the things they did, the kindergarten playground was repainted with bright new colors. New plants were planted around the campus. They created an outdoor learning area with picnic

009tables and planters. They upgraded the sensory classroom um for our sped kids, repainted other parts of the playground. They also reorganized and painted the sped bathrooms used by our steps kiddos. So that was I know that the principal Kristen Nelson and assistant principal um Juliana Matino Smith were just overwhelmed by just the generosity, the effort, and um everything that Harbor Point did. Um I'm yeah, I'm so grateful for this ministry's continued contribution of resources and volunteer hours to beautify our campuses and prepare them for students for a new school year. Um it's an incredible example of our community coming alongside our schools and it's something I love to see. Um so at this point RHDana Kenosha Elementary and San Juan Elementary campuses have all been recipients of Harbor Point's gracious work and I know our

010families, staff, students are so grateful. So thank you so much to Harbor Point. Thank you also to Kristen Nelson, principal at RHDana, and assistant principal Juliana Matino Smith. They worked really hard um even in the summertime, lots of hours planning, prepping, and working with the church to get these things done. So, well done everybody. Rob Fernandez isn't here tonight, is he? Okay. Um, and then a second thing that was amazing, um, in August, uh, CUSD foster youth and McKini Vento families were invited to an incredible event. It was called Back to School Bash and it's put on by a nonprofit organization called Wild and Whimsy Foundation Foundation. Um, this foundation serves children and youth in foster care and families who are experiencing homelessness. This foundation was established and is led by Heim and Haime Tran,

011amazing human beings with an incredible heart to serve and help some of our most vulnerable students and families. The back- tochool bash is an opportunity for families in these demographics to receive top-notch school supplies before the start of school, to connect with each other and build community, and to be connected with other invaluable resources. Um, Wild and Whimsy partners with businesses, churches, and other organizations to serve families in a variety of ways. And the event was an amazing success. There were 300 plus families there, around a thousand people. Of the 357 families who registered, 200 were from CUSD. 5,000 premium school supplies were given. 200 skateboards were given. 2,000 plus other prizes were given. 20 flag football scholarships were given, which is awesome. 50 haircuts were done at the at the bash free of charge.

012221 volunt or yeah, 221 volunteers came and there were 14 resource partners. Um, some of those partners included Chase Bank, Vanguard University, Saddleback Resource Center, um, Young Life Region One, and our very own College and Career Advantage team had set up a booth as well. Thank you guys for doing that. Um, they were able to offer our amazing pathways that we have at CCA for our students and adult family members as well. Another group was Pillars Counseling and they provide focused counseling for for young men and they actually had some of the young men at the bash build a structure with them. They just took the time to like hey let's just build this structure which was super fun. Olive Crest was there. Sandlot training was there. um an organiz I think it's called Get

013Me the Ball was there and they were the ones they did football drills and they had a gaming truck and sponsored 20 kids to play flag football and provided their equipment as well. So that was huge. Ecoin Therapy was there and then another group called Cinderella's Closet was also there and they offered our high school girls the opportunity to come in and pick a homecoming dress. So, I just want to thank Kiam and Haime to Ron for their incredible hearts and efforts to give back, to serve on these kids, give back, give the give these school supplies. Um, and I also want to thank Chris Carter and the CCA team for making themselves available for this event. And a huge thank you to Michael Gomez for setting up for allowing this opportunity to come to

014our CUSD family. So, well done everybody. Okay, Trusty Bulicus. >> Well, there's a lot of servitude going on out in our communities, which is just wonderful. And I want to be able to share with you um an event that's coming up um the first time, October 11th. It is Love Our Schools Day. And in the city of Mission Viejo, there is a committee that's been created. And so far we've had two um volunteer days uh starting last year in October and then one earlier this year in May. And um with just starting up um and looking into the community for different um service projects, we had 600 volunteers come to us. Um and that kickoff was at New Hart Middle School. Um and we've been so successful that it was decided how about if we

015help our schools. So, in the city of Mission Viejo, um we are working with Saddleback as well as Capistrano and seven of our Mission Viejo schools. Well, all seven mission VJO schools, Bathgate, Castile, um Hanky, New Hart, Riley, Viejo, and Capitol Valley High School. Um their team there and their principles have presented projects that they would like to have assistance on. Um, and of course then we go through our maintenance and operations department to see if we can work on these. A lot of them are paint projects. It might be um refreshening the United States map that's painted on the uh black top. It might be freshening gardens. Um uh there's some doors that need to be repainted and freshened up. But whatever it is they have um pulling weeds. I guess we have the

016farm at Capo Valley High School. Um it is a weed farm. Um, so we're going to really be working hard there, but um, this is not anything that the school district needs to pay for either school district because the volunteers and churches in the community um, take donations. So, we have four consecutive Thursday night dining fundraisers in the city of Mission Viejo. And our first one is tomorrow night at Ogis and it is Ogies for a Cause and so it's all day dining, lunch, dinner. Um and 20% is going to go to Love Mission Viejo to support us being able to buy supplies um and all to be able to do some of these projects. The following one will be the next Thursday on 9:25 and it is pizza with a purpose. at CPK and

017again 20% of the proceeds will go um towards um serving our schools. Rubio's um in Mission Viejo is giving us 30% and all of these restaurants um are doing all day which I love. So I'm encouraging people to have lunch meetings, invite their friends to meet them for dinner. And the last one before we go into our actual uh volunteer day is on Thursday the 9th and it's at Canes um chicken there on Crown Valley Parkway. And again 20% of the dining um will go towards um supporting our schools. So if you want a you need to have a flyer um for us to get credit. So for a flyer or to have it on your phone, go to any one of the schools in Mission Viejo to their Instagram, to their Facebook, and you

018can catch it there. Um, I also have flyers with me this evening. So this is a big effort. Um, and it's wonderful. The community comes out and they're really excited about being able to do something specifically for schools on that day. So it's called Love Mission Viejo is a committee. It's an ongoing committee and it is love our schools day. I just want to end on um what Dr. Brown said. It is time for VAPA, what we call our performing arts. And I have to tell you, I cannot wait for this play at Capo Valley High School. Last year, uh well, this year, last school year in April, I went and saw Mean Girls. I was so impressed by the female vocalist. And I I wrote to the drama teacher and I said, "Wow, I

019can't believe it." She said every one of those lead singers were new to are not in a music class, new to drama, and this is all their own ability. And the awesome news that just rang my ears is they were all sophomores. It's like good, that means how many more years of performance. So, like drama teachers do, knowing what their cast could be, um, utilizing these fabulous soloists, she selected the play Six, which has been on Broadway and all. So, it is coming up next month. Um, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, October 23rd, 24th, 25th, 700 p.m. performances with a Saturday matinea. There's a few of us that are going to go and see the performance. I highly recommend it. It it just blows me away the high school talent that we have. So again, forget Seagarström

020um and these fancy don't drive up to Chandler's Pavilion in LA. It's right here in your backyard. Just get tickets at our local high school. And that's it for tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you, Trusty Jones. >> So I I want to echo a Harbor Point. I uh visited Kenosha when they were doing the work at Kenosha. I didn't help because I didn't know it was that big a deal. But then when they did it at San Juan Elementary last year, I did help. A great a great program that they they do helping uh the schools just kind of freshen things up. Um and Trusty Bulock has talked about six. Six is a reference to the six wives of Henry VIII. And so it's not really a historical play. I understand from people who've seen

021it that it's uh a pop concert with the six wives uh each singing different parts. So I'm looking forward to it as well. So people sometimes talk about among themselves about where they were, what they were doing when a particular event happened. Uh for millennials and those of us who are older than that, one of those events was September 11th, 2001. Most of us who are here tonight remember the horror of that day very well. I didn't know anyone who was injured or killed on 911, but I know some survivors. San Capistrono city councilman Howard Hart and I sometimes talk about what took place. Like many others, Howard was at work that day at his regular job in the Pentagon. Unlike me, Howard had lost a lot of friends and colleagues, and speaking with him

022always makes the events of 911 fresh in my mind again. I'd like us all to just take one moment of silence to remember the victims of that terrible day. Thank you. Uh, President Davis, may we adjourn tonight in memory of the 911 victims, the survivors, and their families. Thanks, >> Trusty Zinger. >> Yeah, thank you. Well, I love the fall time. I love a fresh new year and a fresh new start. and I have been able to visit um several school sites and go to back to school nights and um sporting events. But I just I'll I'm just going to shorten this because I think we're going to run out of time here. But I wanted to say that um last Friday I had the chance to attend a play or musical at San Juan

023Hills and like Dr. Brown mentioned we were up and running but I don't know if anyone was up and running like San Juan Hills. So, because they put on a play in three weeks or a musical and um I wasn't really sure what to expect, um Cambria Graph, who was actually the Sanon teacher of the year last year and she's remarkable. She is over the she's the director of theater at Sanon Hills and she came up with this idea that she was going to do a three-week musical as a fundraiser. And she said before the show started on Friday, she said um they were hoping to get a hundred people there, but they sold out three shows. And um and if you saw it, you would know why. I just I thought it was the

024coolest thing. There were a bunch of things I liked about it. One of them is that there were no cuts. So kids who usually couldn't um who maybe didn't get parts in other shows, everybody got was able to to take part in this, which was really special. I saw familiar faces. I go to all of their shows, so I saw some familiar faces and some I had never seen before. And I thought, what an awesome opportunity that all the kids got to participate. Um, the other piece is that a lot of people can't contribute the time to a musical. It takes a lot of time for these high schoolers and to be able to just set aside three weeks rather than a couple months is a big difference. So, it was pretty exciting to see

025people that you wouldn't usually see up there. Um, she called the she called it was Mamma Mia, but she called it Crash Course Musical Mamma Mia. So cute. And it was anything but a crash. It was a blast. Um, they unexpectedly, like I said, ended up showing up. It was remarkable that they could do all this. It was funny. It was I was laughing. It was fun. And it was full of talent. And um I always look forward to seeing San Juan shows, but I can guarantee I I will be there for all the crash courses they want to do because it was remarkable what they could put together. So um just wanted to shout out to them and to their remarkable teacher and I'm looking forward to other shows and other visits as well.

026But we've got great things in store this year and I'm excited to to see them come to pass. So thank you. >> Other trustees. Okay, this past week has been very, very heavy. For most of us, the assassination of Charlie Kirk is unimaginable. There has not been someone of this notoriety and yet not an elected official who has been assassinated since the assassin assassination of Martin Luther King. Charlie Kirk was the voice of and an inspiration to so many American youth. invited people who disagreed with him to the front of the line to talk, to engage, to encourage critical thinking from our youth. In short, he welcomed those who disagreed with him to have a conversation. It's relevant to our schools in the Capistroni Unified School District because we have TPUSA, Turning Point USA chapters

027in several of our schools. I was at the first meeting at St. Clemeni High School yesterday in which there are approximately 65 students in attendance. These c students deserve our support and prayers. Speech and debate are not violence. We must stand up and reject this idea in all forms. Speech cannot and does not justify violence. Debate does not justify violence. Charlie Kirk was trying to stop disagreements between people from becoming violent. He said the way to keep feelings of hatred from developing toward people who you disagree with was to engage them in conversation. That is exactly what he did. Even our governor who has profound disagreements with Charlie Kirk sat down to have a conversation with him on his podcast. That's what Charlie did. He invited his dissenters to the front of the line. We

028need more speech, not less. Our students in CUSD should not feel silenced. When a discussion arises in a classroom that a student disagrees with, it takes courage to stand up and disagree. It takes boldness to be willing to speak out. Many parents and students I speak to are afraid to speak out because they're afraid there will be some sort of retaliation. Whether that means their grade might suffer or they may be bullied in some way. We are all God's children. We need to treat one another as such. The threats and violence against those who we disagree with must stop. We live in a country founded on freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Our founding fathers did not agree on many, many issues, but they did agree on the fact that our country was founded

029on these important principles. We lose our national identity if we lose these things. When our differences of opinion and faith result in violence, we no longer enjoy the benefit of that great national identity. Regardless of whether or not you support Charlie Kirk's positions on issues, you should take a stand against political violence and support what he worked to do. Create more opportunities for conversation and debate and freedom to express your ideas without retaliation. I call on everyone to reject political and religiously motivated violence and to not associate with those to advocate for such things. Across our country, kids are falling further and further behind. This is where we need to focus our attention. We need to focus on public safety, improving literacy, numeracy, science, and the understanding of what has happened in our history. We

030need to get off our phones and speak to one another, help one another, and lead our youth to be their best selves and improve 1% every day. Stand up, work hard, engage with one another. I also would like to just take a moment of silence um in Charlie Kirk's honor at this time. Thank you. Now moving on to some lighter information. Just a little update on some of the happenings in the San Clemeni world. Sli High School had a super strong September. Staff began with safety training for our new crisis alert system that we have going in across our district and families turned out in force for back to school night. It was fun to see many of the back to school nights and be able to be there for the excitement as as families

031um are introduced to their new teachers for their kids that they will spend all year with. It was a great great couple of nights. Um on the field, our fall sports teams are off to a great start. Military appreciation night in the community night complete with the junior band, junior cheer, and of course the ever awaited Triton toss at the halftime tradition. Our JOTC program continues to grow, now topping a hundred students. And thanks to $250,000 gift for the San Clemeni Educational Foundation, every classroom at San Clemen High School is now equipped with new highdefinition projectors, sound systems, and document cameras. Looking ahead, Sony High School is preparing for homecoming week, including the parade next Friday. So, if you guys are around, come on down to um downtown 3 p.m. Something you never want to

032miss. Especially proud that KTLA will be on campus um and at the parade to spotlight San Clemente's High School and showcase our students and our community pride. So, looking forward to all of that. As we um I just wanted to quick highlight some of our retirees for this month. We have uh a PAR educator that's been with us for nine years. Holla um Janine Fox, our school bus driver for 12 years. Marta in food service professional for 19 years. Loren Flask, high school campus supervisor for 24 years. Taye Herrera, school bus driver, 26 years. It's a lot of years welcoming kids on a school bus every day. And then Eileen Barrett, a substitute teacher for nine years. Angel Brown, high school teacher, who was with us for 22 years. Cynthia McInley, elementary school teacher, 24

033years. And Bonnie Pitkin, well, who also was in elementary for 24 years. So, I'd like to thank little congratulations to each of them. [Applause] And now, I'd like to welcome and recognize our new school board member, Addison Hansen. She's joining us from San Juan Hills High School and she has chosen um and was chosen to serve as this year's student member on our board. So, welcome. We're glad to have you. >> Thank you so much. >> And if you have any comments now, would be >> Yeah. Um yeah, I just want to introduce myself. Like, um Trusty Davis said, my name is Addison Hansen and I'm a senior at San Juan Hills High School. I am so so grateful for this opportunity to represent CUSD students and I understand that this role is such a

034privilege and I promise to do my best to represent our students from all across our district. Um I love CUSD and I'm so grateful to be able to be a part of a district with such dedicated staff and students. I want to thank all of the administrators, staff and board of trustees in our district who have s so warmly welcomed me into this role. And I want to also thank my wonderful teachers and most of all my parents for supporting me in this process. Um I wanted to touch on a few things that are going on at San Juan and seems like service happens to be the topic of the night. So I wanted to recognize some of the service clubs that are going on at San Juan Hills High School because we have a

035lot of clubs at San Juan. We have over a hundred. They are so amazing and I think it's so great that a large amount of them are based in service. So a couple of those I'm just going to name some arts of healing which just a a quick description of that. They help um kids um through teach kids like how to cope with um just any worries they might have in school like young kids through art which is so much fun. Um, we have a care for teens uh club writing letters to teens in need. We have uh crumble for a cause which is a fun club with a different theme every month writing letters um with a quite a fun incentive of crumble. And um we have a durable medical equipment aid society which

036is helping raise money to donate medical equipment. Um, we have Arts for Chalk. Um, I'm just got to go through them now. Humanitarian Advocation Club. Um, we have Jars for Joy, Just Serve, Laura's House, um, Service for Change, Soldiers Angels, Women in Need, and those are just some. So, that is amazing. San Juan is doing so much service. I'm so grateful for our community giving back to us and I'm so glad our students are seeing this example from our community and we're learning to give back as well and I'm sure this is happening at all of our other schools. So that is so exciting. Um I want to make a few quick comments on the agenda tonight. I'm so excited to hear this presentation from CCA. It really is such an incredible program and opens

037so many doors for our students to explore career paths and find out more about where they want to go in their future. From giving students opportunities to explore paths of education, medicine, business, fashion to even aviation careers, which I just think is crazy. I didn't even know that was an option until recently. Um, I am so impressed by this program and I look forward to hearing this report. So, thank you so much you and welcome, welcome, welcome. >> Could I just add that Addison is the first student trustee from San Juan Hills High School. You may not know that. Welcome. >> It's very exciting. Thank you. Okay. And we are now moving on to oral communications. The total time for order communication shall be 20 minutes. Mrs. Hayes, we have any speaker cards for oral

038communications? >> We do. We have 12 speaker cards. So, I'll set the timer for 2 minutes each. I'm going to call your names and ask you to line up along the wall by our um double doors over there and our security guard in the yellow jacket and then come forward when it's your time to speak. Minutes user air. Okay, our first speaker is Grayson Pedrante, followed by McKenna. Then it'll be Roxanne, Nicole Webster, Lisa Meyers, Anne, Mary, Bradley, Angela Dean, Kelly, Birdie, and Lindsay. Grayson, go ahead. >> Good evening, members of the school board, staff, and community. My name is Grayson Pedranti, and I am a junior at San Juan Hills High School. I am devastated by the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a leader who inspired so many young people while on a university campus

039engaging in debate and discussion. His courage to speak up and invite dialogue instead of conflict was his strength and the kind of example young people need everywhere now more than ever. Tonight, I ask that we pray for Charlie's family, for those that loved him, and for the millions of people around the world who are hurting from this terrible loss. I hope that this awful event can become a catalyst to inspire young people globally to engage in conversation and debate to heal the divisions among us and to and to lead by faith and courage. I know I am committed to doing so and I believe many others are ready to stand up too. Thank you, >> McKenna. I just Hi, I'm McKenna and I am so honored to serve as a Turning Point USA president at

040St. Clin High School. I would just like to thank the board and our school district for allowing clubs are at our high school where we can gather. I'm so looking forward to coming together with the members in TurningPoint USA each meeting and learning more about our Constitution and the freedoms of our country. I loved having 65 plus students at our last meeting yesterday. I'm so proud to be an American. Roxan, good evening. My name is Roxan Berlin. I'm here as a parent for advocate um for proactive school safety. My kids are six and nine. They go to Wagon Wheel. I have a kindergartener and a third grader. Um there are so many school shootings all over the country. And I'm left thinking, why are we not protecting our kids when we lock our doors at

041night? It's preventative. It's a deterrent to people who may want to gain entry and cause harm. Right now during school hours, our front doors to our schools are open. Any person wishing to do harm can walk in and start shooting. When I go to the school and volunteer, I always walk in and tell Gina, the front office person, "Anybody can walk in here. It's amazing. Why is my husband's office more secure than my child's school? Why is my home more important and more safe than my child's school? I propose at minimum our schools need to secure single point entry systems with buzzer access and cameras with comprehensive video surveillance. Just like many private schools, my son who is in kindergarten spent three years at Sarah. This is what they have. Gina will be then able

042to identify the person waiting on the outside of the school and then buzz them in if they have business to be there through communication. I propose that we that is my short-term goal. My long-term goal would be to have at least one trained armed security personnel not to intimidate but to protect. Sarah two years ago did this. They raised $90,000 for this cause in two weeks. These aren't luxuries. These are necessities. Our children deserve to learn in an environment that not only is safe and inspiring. >> Thank you. That concludes your time. Our next speaker is Nicole Webster. [Applause] Hi trustees and supervisor Brown. My name is Nicole and I have a child that attends first grade at a Capital USD school, Sensio to be exact. And I'm incredibly frustrated with the class sizes. My

043child's first grade class has 32 students, the maximum allowed by the state. And when bringing my concern to the district, I've been informed that 32 to1 is within guidelines for the number of students in each class. The average elementary class size in the US is 19 and the average in California is 23. All first grade classrooms in my child's school are 30 to 32 students. The California Teachers Association, the California State PTA, and the School Superintendent Association all recommend 20 students in elementary classes with a maximum of 24 students. Project STAR in Tennessee, run by Harvard professor Miss Stellar, found not only did students from smaller class sizes test better while in the smaller classes, but persisted for their school years that followed. I'm asking the school board and Superintendent Brown to look at the

044class size policy and really think how this is affecting our children and our local teachers. Both our children and our teachers deserve better than what Capital USD is providing. Thank you. >> Please hold your applause. Our next speaker is Lisa Meyers. >> Good evening everyone. I have a senior at San Juan Hills and I want to say that the back- toschool night presentations by her teachers were outstanding. I was so impressed and have such gratitude about the professionalism and the dedication of her teachers. She plans to be a STEM major and her calculus teacher has an engineering background and her AP Chem teacher has a passion for science that would inspire anyone. Her AP lit teacher offered to read college essays and her AP government class is teaching the deep analytical skills necessary to become

045a thoughtful citizen in a democracy. Last week at their school there was club rush as we heard. There are so many wonderful opportunities for students to participate in clubs that their booze had to be spread over two days. Two of our school board members, Lisa Davis and Judy Beluckus, did not come to encourage and support the Best Buddies Club, the Hearts for Chalk Club, the Habitat for Humanity Club, or Laura's House Club. They came to stand with a small group of students at the Turning Point Club whose founder said things like this. If you're not willing to close the local school, then you shouldn't be on the school board. buy weapons, buy ammo. If you go into a public place, bring a gun with you. And he advocated for the elimination of federal and state

046departments of education. These statements absolutely horrify my family and I. I am always optimistic about teenagers and I have to believe that any student who is a part of this club has not read or heard all that the founder said. But for two of our schoolboard members to go out of their way to support this organization that goes against every value is just shocking to me. I am still disgusted by the grotesque Muslim hate speech at last month's board meeting. I ask where are the val our next speaker is an please come forward. >> Good evening. Um, I'm here tonight because I'm deeply concerned about the rise of hate speech, especially against marginalized communities and the impact it has on our children. Our students are watching us. What we allow, what we ignore, and what

047we choose to stand up um against. I absolutely believe in free speech and open discourse. Those values are essential for a healthy democracy, and they're values I want us to model for our young people. But there's a difference between respectful disagreement and speech that dehumanizes people based on their race, religion, and identity. At the last meeting, a man spoke for three minutes with openly racist and anti-Muslim remarks. During that time, there was silence from the board. For families here and those watching from home, that silence can feel like tolerance or even acceptance of hate. I ask you, what actions can the board take in those moments? We all know there are boundaries in public comment. I feel certain that if I started talking explicitly about sex acts or said the f-word, you would silence me.

048Or if I said the n-word, oh wait a minute, may maybe not. Okay. Um, so why is hate speech treated differently when its harm is just as real? I urge you to explore a clear policy, one that protects free speech and robust debate, but also recognizes the responsibility we have in this space to protect children, families, and staff from normalizing hate. Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Mary. Good evening. I was very impressed hearing about the myriad of clubs at your at your uh schools, especially the hundred at your school. It's amazing and I loved all the sharing of all the wonderful things you ladies are seeing with the clubs and the different drama and all that stuff. Uh regarding student safety, a mother of touched on that about the buzzers. I have another

049request. I request that Capitol Unified School District call an all parent meeting to discuss the ramifications of AB495. very sadly 495 was passed apparently and supposedly with modifications but not to the satisfaction of many many organizations. Um there's so much vagueness in that particular bill. And I just want to say that even though supposedly our governor has made it there's no liability to you guys and the school districts, there's going to be a lot of liability right now. There are hundreds of lawyers looking at this bill and they're finding all kinds of loopholes. So please don't feel like if a par person comes in here with an affidavit, you go, "Wow, I'm sorry. We can't we can't not let this child go. You will be liable." So I would ask you to do your due

050diligence, have meetings here telling the parents, have lawyers here explaining what the other lawyers are seeing because this is a a a total problem for human trafficking, child trafficking. And if people are are going to just turn their head and say, "Well, our governor said, "Well, we're not liable. It's okay." I think we're very very uh foolish to to believe that the parental disaster has no uh no signatures, no no parent required, no court orders, uh no background check, no verification, no oversight, no ID scrutiny, no notary. So if there's a promise of no liability for you, don't count on it because I know that there's a a whole slew of lawyers right now looking at this and please protect yourselves and most often most importantly protect our children. Buzzers will help, but this will

051be a a total travesty if we see people walking in with an affidavit and you I say we can do nothing about it. Take the child. Thank you. Our next speaker is Bradley. Uh, I would like to thank member uh Davis for bringing up the assassination of Charlie Cook Kirk and for reinforcing the importance of disagreement and using our constitutional right to free speech. As many people, I was shocked and in disbelief when I heard of his assassination because despite the climate of political violence that we live in, uh, I still find it unimaginable whenever someone dies in an act of political violence. I was also in disbelief when Democratic Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated in an act of political violence in January of this year. Uh an act of political violence which

052Lisa Davis seems to have forgotten already. I am also disgusted by the words of Attorney General Pam Bondi who has said, "We will absolutely target you and go after you in reference to anyone who speaks critically of Kirk's legacy." And we've already seen firings of teachers and other professionals in acts of proactive um compliance to these threats. In fact, Kirk would have opposed these uh threats, stating hate speech does not exist legally in America. There's ugly speech, there's gross speech, there's evil speech, and all of it is protected by the First Amendment. This quote perfectly encapsulates Kirk's legacy in my view because he is an individual who made a living off of hate speech. He employed stochastic terrorism by continually and on a mass scale demonizing and dehumanizing marginalized communities in our in our country

053which has been shown to increase the likelihood of violent acts against said groups. He also said that certain deaths are acceptable in order to protect the second amendment in our country. And um I think I am also concerned that uh this board has chosen to elevate this individual in their uh official capacity rather than recognizing the Democratic state representative Milsa Hortman when they had the chance. >> Our next speaker is Angela Dean. Angela Dean. >> Good evening trustees. I want to take just a very brief moment tonight to remind everyone of something that seems to have been quickly forgotten. That on record in a meeting, one of our elected trustees recently used the n-word and was never admonished by the rest of the board. In light of her presence at the Turning Point recruiting booth

054at San Juan Hills, along with the renewal of lynchings that seem to be now happening again in this country, her words again remain highly relevant and unforgivable. That is all I have today. Our next speaker is Kelly. >> Thank you allow for allowing me the time to speak tonight. I'm here on behalf of myself and fellow Capistrono Unified parents who want to share our concerns with the board. My name is Kelly Callus and I'm both a parent and an educator. I currently have a kindergartener and a loss flores at Los Flores TK through 8 and an 18th month old. Um, while our family's journey in Kappo is just beginning, my 12 years as an educator have given me a deep understanding of how profoundly classroom environments shape students early learning experiences. Although we recognize the

055constraints of the state's funding formula, we ask that the board look beyond numbers and ratios and instead focus on the students, the children who fill these classrooms every day. As you know, the state's universal TK program lowered ratios to 10 to1 this year in half-day settings. Yet the very next year in kindergarten, those same children and children from preschools with small class sizes and kids that have never been in a school setting before are all piled into a full day kindergarten pro a classroom with ratios of up to 31 to1 and no additional adult support. Our teachers here are incredible. They're dedicated, hardworking, and deeply committed to their students. But the expectations placed on them and on our students in these earliest years are simply too much. These are the years that lay the foundation

056for learning and confidence. They are the years when students must feel successful, safe, and supported. And in order to thrive, just because the state allows 31 to1 ratio in kindergarten does not mean that we should. I strongly encourage the board to take a closer look at kindergarten in CUSD. Please consider ways to provide additional support, whether through reduced ratios, added qualified aids, or innovative solutions that ensure our youngest learners are not lost in the crowd. Our children deserve classrooms where they can learn, be seen, known, and set up for success. Thank you, [Applause] >> Birdie Hatch. Hello. My children are proud aviators at LNES. Our school has four combo classes, K1 uh K1, 1, two, 2, 3, and 45. Each class at the school has either 31 or 32 children in each classroom. These classrooms

057are built for 20 to one. My child is in a one-two combo and cries every day because she doesn't get to go to lunch with her peers because she has to go to lunch with the two three second and third graders. Combo classes not only affect children's education with lack of dedication and attention to their needs. It also affects their mental health. My son's grade has had a combo class three years in a row. It has affected their education. Please consider the whole child's wellbeing well-being when forcing schools to have these combo classes. Trustee Bard, we have Steam night at our school on October 10th. We encourage you to come visit our campus. >> Our next our last speaker is Lindsay. I am here tonight to advocate for those unable to do so for themselves.

058I have two kids at Lost Floor's TK3, a five and six-year-old. I have been informed that CO funding has ended in addition to the class size caps subsequently increasing, but we need more help in our K- through3 classrooms to support not only our educators but our children. I am speaking from a safety plea. My first grader who was six told me she accompanied a classmate to the nurse's office and when I asked how she got back from the classroom, she said alone. According to the principal, the protocol they follow is that buddies go to the RN and when the child who is not ill or injured returns alone. A staff member will call down to the teacher and say so and so is on their way back. They watch the child for half the distance

059to the destination. After that, there are no adult eyes on this child. From what I understand, it's because there's not enough staff available. Los Flores is not a locked campus. All it takes is a person who's not supposed to be on campus and or has ill intent for something to happen, especially when no adult is supervising any child returning to class. What happens during a lockdown when that child's left outside alone? Just this week, there was a swatting incident in Los Flores. All there needs to be is a catastrophic event for there to be a catalyst for change. But this should be a never event. Period. I am requesting from our elected constituents at CUSD to help us keep our most precious gifts protected by providing additional funding to lost florists for AIDS and assisting

060to keep our children safe. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. Okay. At this time, I'd like to open the public hearing regarding resolution 2526-10, determining steps to ensure availability of textbooks and instructional materials fiscal year 2526. The time is now 7:55 p.m. Mrs. Hayes, do we have any speaker cards in for public hearing? >> There are none. >> Okay. Thank you. The hearing is now closed and the time is still 7:55 p.m. Okay. We're moving on to 13A, College and Career Advantage 2526, school year highlights. This is an information item only and no board action is necessary. I'd like to recognize Chris Carter, executive director, College and Career Advantage to introduce the item. All right, President Davis, trustees, and Superintendent Brown, thank you for allowing me this opportunity to share some highlights and some program pathways uh

061of College and Career Advantage. I'm very fortunate to have this opportunity to run this incredible program and I'm excited to be here this evening to share it with you. College and Career Advantage is a regional occupation program, Joint Powers of Authority. And for those in the audience that aren't aware, uh we are a separate district that sole purpose is to support multiple districts. And our districts as a joint powers of authority that we support are the Capistrani Unified School District and the Lugana Beach School District. Um and being a separate district, we are fortunate to have our own board members and our board is made up of board representatives from uh CUSD and LBUSD. Our board members are listed up there. Lisa Davis is our president. D. Perry from Laguna Beach is our vice president.

062Uh Jennifer Adams is uh and Howard Hills and Lisa Zolinger make up the rest of our trustee board. So, thank you very much for your time and effort that you give to us to make sure that we have the um the leadership and direction to run our programs. So, as a separate district, uh we have a separate administr administration and I have two of my directors here tonight. Kim Thomas, director of curriculum instruction. Kim's right here, and Nicole Burkeman, director of student and support services right here. Uh, and I can tell you, uh, this program would not run without these two incredible individuals. I rely on them every single day. And at the end of the evening, if we have questions, guess what? We'll probably be deferring to these two wonderful individuals right behind me.

063Um, we also uh have our manager uh of instructional programs actually runs our adult programs at the Capistronto Valley. um learning center uh Dominic uh Velinoith. Uh we also have our support staff. So um we are housed actually here at the Capistrano Unified School District D district office. Um we also have off an office over at our adult learning center at Capistrono Valley. Uh our um support staff is made up of our K12 pathway coordinator, uh a uh Dave Foster, uh Al Gutierrez does purchasing and um accounts payable. Uh, Wang Gutierrez, actually his brother, does inventory and delivery for us. We have Lupe Holin uh who runs our adult programs over at the uh at the learning center. We just hired a new payroll technician, Kelly Corbansky, uh that's going to support our uh accountant,

064Joel Vadron, and then uh Carvin Perez, our instructional coach. And uh the gal behind all of this is Kathy Struxma, our HR and executive assistant. Uh we are small but mighty. If you looked at all the other ROPS that probably have similar programs, uh they have much larger um support staffs and administration. So we do a lot with a little um we are grant funded. So it's important to keep our uh our um staff um lean. So some people might ask what's the value of CTE and um when we look there's a lot all kinds of of things that we can talk about but uh there's absolutely a growing man uh demand for skilled workers in the United States of America and uh we're seeing uh huge rises just here in Orange County in the

065uh demand for health care uh manufacturing the trades in all of our US industries looking for skilled trades. So, our goal is to provide those types of opportunities through CTE or career technical education to our students. CTE programs offer pathways to higher paying careers uh apprenticeships and certifications that uh can lead to careers without having to go to a four-year college and spend the investment into that uh opportunity. Also, hand hands-on job readiness. Um CT combines technical and soft skills. And it's interesting in this new role, I have an opportunity to speak with people in industry all the time. And the number one thing that they say that's missing for students who come into the workforce is soft skills. And um our programs have uh a distinct um unit that teaches soft skills. And soft

066skills are extremely important. And so we feel that students who take a CTE course walk not out with not only technical skills but also with the soft skills necessary to be successful in career. And then real world learning. Um CT connects kids to their their academics. Um, a lot of times you'll see kids come to school each and every day mainly because they want to get involved in their CTE program. And I'll show some data in a little bit that um that uh that shows uh how CTE affects attendance. And then improved retention. Uh I'm going to send show a little piece of data on this. Uh those who participate in uh CTE courses uh have higher levels of graduation rates. And then um a pathway to advanced degrees. We're very proud of our program,

067College and Career Advantage, uh, which we coined, uh, many, many years ago. Uh, we really, uh, um, pride ourselves on not only offering career technical education for individuals to be able to walk out into the workforce, but also careers, uh, classes that connect to college and prepare students to go on to four-year universities or even two-year programs. So, uh, here's a piece of data that I wanted to share with you. This is actually what's called CIG incentive uh or CIG uh grant region. CTIG is career technical education incentive grant and we're divided up into regions in the state of California. We happen to be region six. Um this doesn't have a light on it unfortunately, but um so we're uh lumped with Los Angeles uh down on the bottom. And when we look at region

068six, it's highlighted in red down there. I want you to look at this really closely because this is a um a uh annual um or a average yearly cohort attendance rates by CTIG region uh for a 4year cohort. So we're looking at students uh throughout Orange County and then uh and LA uh that um that attended our schools. You've got the numbers in the first uh four columns and then we have percentages in the last four columns. So if we look at the last four columns, uh we look at nonCTE participants attendance rate. So these are students who didn't take any CTE. And so uh if you look at students who didn't take any CTE classes, their average attendance rate in LA and Orange County was 86%. 86.7%. If a student took one class, just

069one class, uh one CTE class, it jumps up to 90. And then if a student was a dabbler, a dabbler is a student who took many CT classes. So they may have never completed a pathway, but they took multiple CT class uh classes, they jump up to 92 and they followed the CTE pathway completers average 95. So Clark, take note. So Clark would love this stuff. But um so uh we uh we see a direct impact on our students uh who uh participate in our CTE programs. This is a same type of chart and this is looking at graduation rates. Now we in Capistrono have high graduation rates. So when you look over at 98% now we're pretty pretty close to that um as a district. But if you think about the entire county, go

070back and look at uh in uh two counties, you look at non students who did not participate at all, 77% graduation rate, and then it just bounces up to 88 for one class, dabblers 94, and then 98 for pathway completers. So I believe that that data screams CTE is a important aspect uh in our students lives and really connects them to their education. And we're proud to say as we look at our enrollment numbers, uh, they continued to grow at the high school level. They dipped at middle school. I noticed we lost a program at one of our middle schools. Kind of unfortunate, but we do have shrinking numbers. And so I was at the Orange County Department of Ed yesterday at a presentation and uh they shared that um as uh throughout Orange County

071they we watched the uh declining enrollment uh throughout all of our schools and the one thing that was continually going up participate participation in CTE continually growing. Um and uh so that was exciting to see numbers dropping in our not that was not exciting. That was not good at all. That was a bummer. But uh but seeing that CTE was holding strong and our classes were doing well. Uh and then we had uh the middle schools dropped a little bit. We have programs at our middle schools. Uh we might have culinary, we have a wood shop still and uh we have career uh technical inst uh investigation labs. We have video production. A lot of different programs at our at our middle schools. Uh and then we have an adult program uh over at the

072Capo Valley uh learning center at Capo Valley High School. uh that is a program that offers classes for free to our students. This year we've bumped up we have a waiting list for all of our classes and so our capacity is 221 this year. Uh so we're excited that we're full. We wish we could offer more. Again, we're grant based so um we don't have a big a large capacity to continually add programs. Um so we kind of max out where we're at. However, um if you look at our um our data, we there's 15 industry sectors in the state of California. That's going to change uh soon. Um we're realigning with the nation. Uh but uh CCA, a college and career advantage, offers us offers 14 in the Capistron Unified School District. The only

073one we don't have is marketing. This young lady right here teaches marketing over at Alisa Niguel. However, our marketing pathway is actually part of business. So we could almost say we had 15, but we don't offer the marketing pathway. And then uh there's 58 different pathways, distinct different pathways in the state of California, and we have 25 represented here in the Capistron Unified School District. And that's made up of 179 different courses. That is huge growth. So um we've seen these courses growing. Well, we don't have the capacity. I've got approximately 35 um CCA teachers. Well, they don't cover 179 different courses or 463 different sections and they don't account for the growth we've seen because we don't have the capacity to keep hiring teachers. So, a lot of our growth is coming straight from

074the Capistroni Unified School District and our teachers are um single subject credentialed teachers are coming to us with industry passions and things they've done outside of maybe their um their uh teaching gig. And um we were able to get them credentialed in a uh industry pathway and offer new courses utilizing our own teachers here in the Capistron unified unit uh Capistronified Unified School District. And um so we have 463 sections. 30% of them are articulated. That's dropped a little bit because we've offered so many more classes. We haven't been able to keep up with our articulation. However, uh we have 70% of them uh uh offer high school honors. 100% of our courses, even our new courses are um are uh UC throughg. We and we have 11 dual enrollment courses. That's up from last

075year. The nice thing about our dual enrollment courses, dual enrollment uh is usually run by a is uh a class run by a teacher that was hired by the Saddleback or um you know, a community college in our area uh and they run a a college course on our campus. Uh the last growth that we've had, we've actually utilized our own internal teachers. So um we've been working with Saddleback uh mainly to hire our Capistrono teachers or our um CCA teachers to be able to offer additional dual enrollment courses. So um we're proud to be able to to do that and we're looking forward to building on that in the next year. We also offer internships, um work-based learning opportunities. Uh we're actually now getting ready to offer some apprenticeships starting next year. uh we

076have about 20 uh 2,257 industry certifications and I mentioned we have seven adult education classes with classes that were that are tuition free and um we're one of the only ROP that offers tuition free adult adult classes. If you looked at any of the other ROS in the county, they charge for their adult program. So we're proud to say using our grants, we're able to offer those tuition free for our uh region. So, I wanted to highlight tonight, uh, like I said, we had 25 distinct pathways. So, sit back. We're going to go through each. No, I'm kidding. We're going to go through three of our pathways. And I just chose these three. Maybe next, uh, year we can go through three or four more. Um, and I'm going to highlight some parts of these

077pathways and kind of share what a pathway looks like. So, uh, patient care is probably one of our largest pathways, which is great because our county tells us where is the largest need right now, uh, in future jobs. It's healthcare. it's exploding. And so what are we trying to do? We're trying to meet those needs. That's what ROPs do and that's what we do as uh you know career technical educators. So we have our P patient care um uh pathway. It's offered at Alisa Niguel Capitol Valley High School, Dana Hills High School, Laguna Beach High School, San Juan Hills High School, to Sorro and regionally. And when I say it's a regional program, meaning that anybody from any of our high schools in both the Laguna Beach or the Capistronia Unified School District can take

078advantage of that pathway because we have afterchool programs for those individuals. And so, um, I highlighted this one not only because it's one of our largest, but it also has a career technical student organization connected to it. It's called HOSA. Um, which is actually future healthc care professionals. Um, I don't know where I was HOSA. No. uh they had changed the name. It used to be Health Occupation Students of America. Uh we have a uh several chapters. Um and uh this year alone or last year, we were able to send 60 of our HOSA students to um Sacramento to par uh participate in the leadership conference. Of those 60 students that we sent with their teachers, uh 10 of them uh qualified for the international leadership conference which was in Nashville. um and we were

079able to send them to compete against students throughout the uh world. So uh that was exciting uh for us. We also um have internships in this program. This program does have uh a uh several medical internships connected to their classes. So it gives students another opportunity uh not only to take a class but to be involved in that real world experience at a work site. Um so I just wanted to put this up there up there for all of you to look at. I know it's a lot of information bouncing around, but when we look at pathways, if you look at the top, there's these level two classes. So, all of those level two classes are um are considered um concentrators. So, those classes, if you take a concentrator, great, wonderful, you're um you know,

080taking a CTE class. The following year, if you take a number three, which is a um which is a capstone, uh then you are a a pathway completer. Uh and in that uh you need to go in sequential order. So you have to take the two before you take the three. And so I just kind of circled if you took medical core uh in an afterbell class, great. Uh and then you took any of those other classes, but let's say you took medical, hospitality, and careers, hospital careers, uh you're a pathway completer. So that's the way it works. So many of our kids can take multiple pathways throughout their experience. Um, so we also have a robotics engineering uh pathway. I share this one with you because it's connected to first team and it's pretty

081exciting. We have robotics at and engineering at uh Capitol Valley High School and San uh San Clemeni High School. Uh there's a small little program at Aliso. Um right now they don't have the engineering classes, but we've had engineering there. But it's also regional. So, um, what's exciting about this program is we have a robotics team, and I think I share with every year when we come up, we share about a robotics team, uh, one of our, uh, um, proudest groups out there. Uh, they're our first team robotics group, and they build their own robots and compete not only, uh, in our region, but, uh, also throughout the state and, um, and the nation. And so our first team robotics program um is an afterchool program and has representatives from all of our high schools

082including Lugana Beach on the team uh bringing our our uh individuals from throughout our region and they also um have multiple teams that compete. uh they end up going like I said to the state and national uh competitions and uh they've led uh made it to world champions uh which is in uh Houston uh the last year and so uh our engineering and uh design pathway is what the overarching pathway is called uh again if you take a two a lot of our kids will take multiple uh robotics programs and they're in the robotics program after school they're probably in it for four years uh maybe three uh but you've got uh two and then if you go and see down there they do the uh the level three robotics, they're a pathway completer. And

083then I I share this one. It's actually a smaller um pathway uh that we have. It's actually only offered currently at San Juan Hills High School. Uh the reason that I highlighted it is because it's growing and we're really excited about the growth we're going to offer in this area. So, uh this is residential, commercial, and construction San Juan Hills High School. Next year, it's going to be a regional program. and we're building it out in San Juan at a space at Union High School. This actually currently offers pre-apprenticeships as we speak at San Juan and it will at the at the next level and we're going to be offering youth apprenticeships in this program in the future. So again, a small program right now um it's called Bida, Building Industries and Trades Association. They

084have three levels of classes right now at um at San Juan Hills. That third level course is actually been transformed in what do we call a tiny house class. Uh we're working in conjunction with the Simon Builder Foundation uh to create uh this four-year program which will have a youth apprenticeship. So we took uh two groups of students from the Bida ones and twos in the past that were going to be in beta 3 and some high level bit of twos this year and built two teams of 15 that will build a tiny house which will be suitable for living uh this year. the out of that group of students, some of them are seniors, but many of them are juniors. We are going to try to build our youth apprenticeship using those students in

085the fall of 2026. And like I had mentioned before, the goal is that this construction pathway will be offered regionally uh for all of our students throughout our district at um at in San Juan at Union High School. uh the benefits of pathway completion uh college and career uh the uh college and career readiness indicator uh is supported by this also pathway distinction on your transcript uh UCSU transferable courses we have dual enrollment and we also have articulated courses and everybody wants that orange cord we also have uh graduation regalia that comes with anybody who completes a pathway throughout their time with us in the caproni unified school district you know I mentioned that our numbers are growing going and one of the reasons we believe our numbers are going is because of our site

086support and our ambassadors. So we have um our career guidance specialists at each of our sites that um are work handinhand with futurologists or futurology counselors. Um uh we have Summer Yim at Cabo Valley in Laguna Beach at Dana Hills in San Clean High School. Uh we have Marissa uh Aravalo at San Juan Hills in Union. We have Lynn Bell and at uh Aliso Niguel and at Tasoro we have Sam Ferlick and we have this year 88 ambassadors up from I believe it was 67 last year and we have several of them here tonight. I'm going to ask them to come up and introduce themselves and their school and their pathway that they have either been engaged in or completed. All right, please. Hi, I'm Simron. >> And I'm Annabella Pedazza. >> And we are

087both seniors at Kappo. Currently, >> um we're currently in the patient care pathway and this is our third year in this pathway. Our sophomore year, we started off by taking medical core. Our junior year, we took medical assisting and we're currently in the health intern class. >> And I can speak for both of us when I say like our favorite part of going through all of these different courses is just patient care. like example medical assisting. We actually got to go inside and actually experience real patient care and interact with real people and hear their stories as well. So that was really amazing. >> Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Mela Rajal. I'm a sophomore at Alisa Nigel High School and I was enrolled in fashion design and this is my second year in it. Thank

088you. >> Hi, I'm Noel Gomez. I go I'm a junior at Tasorro High School and um I was enrolled in many um CTE classes, but my favorite pathway that I've been in is the teaching pathway and I get to go to Los Flores Elementary School every time we have a period one block, so Wednesdays and Friday mornings and I get to help TK and TK kids and it's been a really um helpful internship that I've been able to do and I'm really grateful for this. So, as you can see, our numbers continue to grow because we have wonderful uh ambassadors and representatives of our program. We have, like I said, uh at each one of our sites, 88 ambassadors, uh that, um are the spokespersons for our programs. And so, uh they get to go

089out and share kind of all of the different things they do and um all the classes that they've taken. Um they're involved in summer registration, back to school night, eighth grade orientations, middle school advisement, um our CTE road shows, uh student panels and workshops, elective fairs, OC pathways, and they uh will march in our parades and uh participate in our f festival. So, we're excited about our ambassador program. It's probably one of our key components to really build uh leadership around CTE. Uh we're adding leadership roles this year as well, so we're excited about that. So that concludes my information this evening. Uh like I said, we have many different pathways, 25 to be exact. If you click on that, uh QR code, uh you can start to investigate some of those or go to

090our website. And so, thank you very much. And I'm um happy to answer any questions if you have any. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Haste. Do we have any speaker cards on this item? >> Well, first of all, ambassadors, you are incredible. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being here. thanks for all that you do and your excitement for what you do. You're darling. Thank you. Um Trusty Adams, Trusty Zallinger and I all three had the opportunity to attend your meeting last week and that was just so fun to see the excitement surrounding everything that you guys are doing. So, thanks for being such good examples and um all of you look like you're um going to age well and going to be it's hard to believe that that you two

091are seniors and you are you two are juniors. Is that correct? See, sophomore. Yeah, it's amazing. So, thank you for your leadership. Thanks for what you're doing and thanks for being really good examples and sharing um what's happening in the program. So, thank you trustees. So, it's obvious what CCA does for kids. A lot of it is obvious, but I learned recently something that is not so obvious. I have a friend whose um son uh well his her second son is uh uh finished his career in education in in engineering. He got his engineering degree and uh the second son was going to become an engineer and he uh went into the robotics classes. He doesn't go to Cavo, so he couldn't take the engineering classes, but he got on the robotics team and found

092out that he hated engineering. And he did not major in engineering. I don't remember what he majored in, but uh think of the many dollars that were saved by the poor parents who didn't send him to an engineering school and didn't end up wasting a year or two of their college fund on classes that he wouldn't have used. So, I just think that it's we think about kids learning about a career, but sometimes it's like learning that you didn't like a career, and that's fine for many people. You know, if your kid is in college for an extra year or two, you can afford it. They're in estate school, whatever. But for especially for lower income families, those mistakes can be devastating financially. and the kid may end up having to the student may end

093up having to finish a degree whether they like it or not. So, I think what you you learn you don't like can be just as valuable as what learning what you do like. >> You know, I wanted to uh follow up on that because uh our internships are a great way uh to feel like do you really want to be in healthcare, right? You know, you walk in in a healthcare internship and it may not be for you, you know? Um, so those are that's a great example of why we offer multiple opportunities for students to p pursue a variety of different career pathways, right? So >> the other thing I would add that CTE has has historically done is it brings relevance to the content that students are learning in other classes, right? So

094it helps answer the why do I have to know this? If you're in the health pathway, your bio class makes a lot more sense, right? Anatomy really starts to add up. If you're in marketing or business, math starts to make some sense, right? or so does English for creative writing for how you're going to write these marketing things. So I I think for a lot of students having that that career link adds relevance and when you add relevance research has been very clear you can push kids rigor so they can take more rigorous courses when they have a framework with which why am I learning this is answered intrinsically through a robotics course or something else. So that's I think the other power of having CTE courses run alongside the regular A throughG course work

095um and encouraging kids to take both. I agree with all that, but I'm going to come at it from another angle because I remember years ago when at Capitol Valley High School um they the CTE class built their first electric car and we had the mayor from the city of Mission Viejo come and drive it. Um I was there in the workshop when he started to ask each one of the students and what are you studying and what are you hoping to do you know when you go to school? None of them talked about auto or mechanical. You know, there was a biologist and this and that. It's good to have another skill. Um, and my son who is 24, he doesn't know how to lift the hood of the well, he knows how to

096lift the hood of the car, but how to fix it. You know, I grew up in an age where you learn that sort of thing. But um so I just think skills learning and uh in an area is just as positive. So healthc care is really strong and we want to be able to support manufacturing. But something that I learned a couple years ago when we opened up the fabulous esports at Toro, um I had no idea there was careers in such a thing. But then, you know, celebrity influencers, yeah, I didn't know they made so much money until, you know, so down the road, I'd love to have you come back and let us know how that is doing and is that growing in to a culture and kind of um job market and

097all because I it it was new to me. So, I want to learn uh how it's going later. Thank you so much and thanks for being here and I hope you are a future teacher at CUSD. Sorry. Um, so fabulous. Thanks for the presentation. Um, as a parent of CUSD, if I'm maybe I'm a brand new parent or maybe I've been around since kindergarten, at what point do because I talked about this um, when we start having those conversations with older students with A throughG requirements, right? And understanding what does that really mean? And as a parent of three, it probably took me to my second or my third before I was like, okay, what really does all of this mean for them and how do we navigate this pathway? And so this is a

098whole another system really truly that they can learn to navigate and learn more about themselves in kind of an exploratory study. maybe um they believe they're in the A throughG route or they want to go to university, but then other things come about and they may want to do one of these pathways and learn more about their passion in life, right? So, where do we start as a district introducing this pathway for them? Because I feel like when we get to high school, as you know, and we're freshman, not only a parent of a freshman, but the freshman themselves, I feel like it's overwhelming just trying to navigate high school. But at that point, you know, you already are know your pathway or you are in getting engaged in your pathway. And so I'm assuming

099it would be better if we started it earlier. And you talked about the middle schools and kind of maybe there's exploratory studies programs that we're doing with them to kind of engage CTE courses. >> Yes. So, um, we have an elementary program. I highlighted it last year. Uh, and it's a work-based learning continuum at that level. Uh, they have little investigation labs. It's called IAN. Okay. >> Um, so we start there and then, uh, we have the CTI labs at the middle school. Um, but the key piece right now is that all of our courses are A throughG. So you don't have to decide a different pathway, right? Because if you take one of our courses, it's not taking you off that trajectory. Although, as we know, when you're talking your pathway, we know what

100that pathway looks like, athletics, and all the languages and all where do you fit this kind of stuff in, right? And so that's why uh one of our biggest benefits has been our CGS's, our career guidance specialists that we have that work in futurology because they're boots on the ground at each one of our high schools. And so, uh, these ladies go out all the time and they meet with all the guidance APS. Um, they go to all the guidance AP meetings. They inform them about what we have and what's going on. They also go out and meet with the, uh, counseling teams >> and, um, share the information about dual enrollment or about articulated classes or about the programs and the pathways. And then finally, um, those CGS's now being boots on the ground

101are able to work daily with our counselors and our futurology counselors to help kids and parents understand their pathways. So that's been improved quite a bit in the last, I'd say, three or four years, right? So, >> okay. Fabulous. >> I would also add that I think one of the things that makes CCA unique as opposed to some of the other ROS that are in Orange County is that they're really tightly bound to the two districts that they support, right? I mean, their office is literally right over here. Um, they work with our ed services division to try and make sure it's seamless experience for our kids. So, it's not, hey, by the way, there's this RO over here that serves all these districts that you might want to get involved with. It's there's this

102CCA program that's everywhere at CUSD, including our middle schools and elementary schools, and we can jump right in and work together. And I think that gives us a little more flexibility in our work with CCA and has allowed them to serve the needs of our students a little faster than some of the other more separated RO uh programs that aren't aren't a joint program. >> And I I have to concur with that. Our relationship with our two districts is so symbiotic. It's uh you know we work here. I work for Kappo. So I mean you know and lead the program. So that's that's very unique and that doesn't exist in other ROS. >> Thank you. I have a question. Can you go back like four or five slides? Are you going >> this one? >>

103No, further. Further inbell afterbell schedules. >> I should have explained that. >> Yeah. And the industry certification are they only offered in the inbell and not the afterbell? >> Yes. So if you see that tied to that course it's only in that course currently. >> Yeah. Are there a lot of students that are getting the industry certifications in our district or is this >> uh we have approximately 2,000 industry over 2,000 industry certifications. Um you know a lot that could be safe serve that could be or serve safe uh that could be CPR. Um what is our solid works? >> Solid works in in hospital this >> but how many how many are there? We just did that the other day. >> Well engineering is unique to Capital Valley High School. during bell um program

104only on that site and so those students that take it during the day has earned with robotics they don't have solid works or the hos they don't have the milk but every single one of our students receives a industry recognized the program that lists all of their core competenc that they've along with badges that they >> Yeah. But the solid works certification actually is a employable skill set. So you can start earning money as soon as you start having these skills. I'm always curious in this discussion about um so what is the outcome for a student whose pathway is driven towards this more industry level certification if we're educating and helping parents make those kinds of choices or if it's only the A throughG. I think A3G tends to overwhelm a lot of um >>

105well we made a a big transition several years ago um probably 10 years ago when we rebranded ourselves because we were seeing dropping enrollment right and so uh we were realizing that people were not taking our courses because they were not A throughG >> and so we did shift and um and and moved over into that world and a lot of our hands-on automotive and stuff like that could they're A throughG and articulated courses now um so uh our goal is to make sure that you can take a class that's going to be for a trade and you don't have to go to a college, but it would still be A through G. So that you know, it's it's kind of dual purpose, right? >> Um we're uh you know, we've been very strong in

106culinary and automotive. Uh but like um we've only had a small construction class, right? And that's a trade that is in high demand right now. It's going to be even higher demand as the Olympics come and stuff like that. And so uh we wrote a grant last year called Catalyst. We were the only ROOP that got this grant. It was from uh it was from Jobs First, California Jobs First. And so uh we're going to be building out um more trades. The goal would be able to maybe build out another trade, maybe welding, electronic or like uh electrical or HVAC, something of that nature. But um the goal is to start to add a couple of those. So we really do have pathways to highpaying careers. our um our adult programs and then our student

107programs that we have that are after school that are in, you know, uh vette, pharmacy tech, um surgical tech. We don't have the high school one this year, but we've had in the past medical assisting um and did I say farm techch already? Those classes um and dental uh assisting all lead to jobs, you know, so those students who take those courses can sit down and take the exam. If they pass the exam, they're uh ready to go straight into industry if they would like to. Those jobs are probably lower paying jobs, 22 to $30 an hour, but can grow from there. Our goal with those individuals is get them excited about that, get them into that medical profession, and maybe they go on to become a dental hygienist or a um you know, a

108nurse or something of that nature. >> Thanks. Uh two more slides the other way. my second part of my question there. So, youth apprenticeships and work experience. Can you um explain that a little bit more? >> Yeah. So, um next year our goal is to um so we're we applied for and were granted a pre-apprenticeship last year for our um beta program at San Juan Hills High School. Uh and so and we were able to um uh award students certificates for their competencies uh along the pathway uh in that um pre-apprenticeship. Uh but now uh we also jumped into a partnership with Sim uh Simon Foundation and we're looking at doing a youth apprenticeship. It'll probably be in conjunction. We don't have a youth apprenticeship that we own, but um but uh Orange County Department

109of Ed does uh offer youth apprenticeships. So, the Simon Builders program would like to have students in their senior year be hired in jobs that they will they claim that they will find them jobs in local construction programs within the region or area. So our students would be able to go and work in the morning for a couple hours, get paid, and then come to work and it would be a youth apprenticeship paid program that would be connected to that tiny house um and bida 1 and two. So that's the goal on that and that's going to open up. Kim and I were just talking this evening about um and Kim was doing some research tonight about a variety of different uh apprenticeships, youth apprenticeships and um non-traditional apprenticeships. So that's another area that we're

110just now investigating and building. So >> So it wouldn't be out of bounds to say you could get the statewide apprenticeship uh through the adult ed program as well. >> So the youth apprenticeship is a smaller version of the larger >> the adult program. We could look into that. It's not something that we're looking at right now. We're looking more at the youth apprenticeship um program uh and uh and looking at even having uh we're getting ready to write a grant um the uh K12 strong workforce grant. One of the areas we're considering is the teaching pathway that's offered at Toro and we would like to see that expand to um all of our high schools because all of our high schools have future teachers. Um, and we're looking at, okay, so if we built

111this program, these individuals get to go, it's really cool. I went last year to go and work with elementaryaries. One of the cool things would be is if uh we could even have them be Paris on our campuses, >> right? >> And um that would be us looking into maybe becoming our own apprenticeship u youth apprenticeship provider, which we could, or we could use Orange County Department of Ed or another agency if necessary. So, uh that's something we're investigating. We're going to kind of do some we're doing all of our research for K12 strong workforce right now. Uh we want to make sure that it's high priority if we write to it so that we have a greater opportunity to gather get that we get four opportunities combined with Kappo CCA and Laguna Beach >>

112and we also work closely with Saddleback because Saddleback has a lot of its own adult program and so trying to not step on each other's toes. We're youth apprenticeship, their adult apprenticeship. Um they get a lot of funding from the state to to do those things. Uh so the more we can take advantage of partnering with Saddleback as opposed to trying to run uh you know concurrently with them I should say uh it's good and we have a good partnership with them u they work on a different timeline than we do so sometimes it's a challenge but I think the other thing to bring about about the pre-apprenticeship and the youth apprentichip is it's kind of two pathways to sort of two different arms in construction right so Chris and I met with >> which

113one of the local >> western states >> yeah western states carpenters union and that's where the pre-appren apprentip work came from, right? So that that's like on its way to a union job. They got to do the pre-apprentichip, the apprentichip and go on. And the youth apprentichip with Simon builders is a different pathway to to a different type of of a workforce, but we want our kids like in all ways to have as many options as possible. Four-year, two-year, direct to industry, whatever they want. And so that's sort of why we try to get both. Even though you might some people might prefer one versus the other. We have >> What is Simon Builders? I don't >> Simon Builders is uh it's RSI. It was Ron Simon Incorporated. Uh they are the largest cabinet builder

114in the United States of America. Uh they were the first people to build box cabinet, you know, like you can go buy your kitchen at Home Depot or Lowe's. They did all of that. Um and made he made his millions. Ron's about uh 90 something years old and uh this is his his legacy he wants to impart uh before he moves on to that next uh place. uh he wants to have a large youth program to um continually build on in the trades and so he's giving back in a large way. Um and uh so we started working with him this summer. It was really last minute and it's really going rapidly. Uh and Cena at um at San Juan Hills High School and Colin McDonald uh the teacher over there uh we all went

115out and met with them and they were eager to get on board and the Orange County Department of Ed supported us with some money as well. So, um, that came that I mean that's fresh. I mean, we just it just dropped in our lap probably in July. Um, but we were able to work quickly uh with, you know, our our high school principles are amazing. So, um, their willingness to work with us and stuff was pretty uh pretty cool. So, I mean, we were we were able to move faster than any other um group because of the relationships that Chris was sharing that we have with our principles. Um it was >> well and again being just two districts where you don't have to meet with these five other districts and figure out how you're

116going to do it. We can just do it and we make one call to Laguna Beach and it's there. Right. I would just like to add that beyond ag and all, I have found out in the community that when you have a wonderful program, it opens doors for you and they don't even have to have a a certificate uh or a a pathway. So, I'm going to give you an example that I've lived through is that of our robotics program. Um and uh one of the um team captains years ago from Capo Valley High School, his dad worked for Loheed Martin. He didn't know what his kid was getting involved in. What is this robotics? Went to his first competition and then he kind of saw some industry people there that he knew. And then

117we went to the major competition. He started to see a lot of different ones. He then learned and became a big supporter. Um, and he's in a capacity for Lockheed Martin that if anyone comes in and says on their resume that they have been in first, they're not guaranteed a job, but they're guaranteed an interview. Um, and when you listen to the speakers and the Woody Flowers who created First and all, um, just about every Nassau engineer um, had been and done something with First. So that's just a program that we offer and the kids may not go into engineering but they've learned that in robotics because automation is part of the future. Um so I see these programs. I had a gal pull blood for me. I have very small veins. I said wow

118you're a really good how fast. She had gone through our Dana Hills high school healthc care um program and and she said oh well I've been doing this since I was 16. I'm like where were you drawing blood at age 16? and that's when I learned. So, I just think there's, you know, a lot of great um opportunity and I just love to see this area grow. Um it's kind of like having work experience when you can talk about that you've done this in school and all gives you a leg up. >> Thank you. >> Other comments? >> I want to just say a couple things really fast, so that's okay. Um I just started learning about this um health internship. It's over at Mission Hospital, right? Um, so I'm a volunteer at Mission Hospital

119and I love what I do there, but it's very different than what they're able to do through this internship. They are getting handson experience shadowing doctors. This is not like opportunities you get outside of a program like this. This is putting people way ahead, finding out even what kind of specialties they might be interested in, which is something people go to medical school and they still don't know what specialty they're in. And even if you don't figure that out through this program, you're getting way more exposure. I was talking to a girl today who's in it. She's saying um just a couple because we didn't get all into it, but she's done um or looking at doing specialties, L & D, cardio, patho, OB, all of these things that she would not have an opportunity

120to do, I'm pretty sure, in any other capacity besides this one. Um and so I think that is awesome. And another point for people especially in patient care, they need hours to go um when you're applying to med school, nursing school, you need hours. Having um a like certification, medical assisting, surgical tech, things like that, that helps you get your hours that helps you get into those programs, which is just awesome. We are putting our students way ahead of the game, and I just don't think you can get that experience in a lot of other places besides our CCA program. So, I think that's awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Love it. Okay. Thank you. I love it. I love the direction that we're going and I especially love that um the youth the

121Simon Builders Foundation and that you guys just jumped on that and made that happen and really put it to work and the electrical and HVAC. Let's go. We need it. We need it. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay. We will now move on to the consent calendar. Mrs. Haste, do we have any speaker cards for this item? >> There are none. >> Thank you. Hey ambassadors, before you head out, thank you again. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. >> You want to take a picture? >> Absolutely. We would love to. >> Yep. >> Come on up, ladies. >> Coming up here real quick. >> Sure. Okay. One, two, three. Thank you. Okay. Um, do any trustees have any consent items they'd like to pull?

122I have a question about one of them. Does that mean I'm going to pull it? >> Yes. Go ahead. Okay. Which item? >> Uh 14B2. >> 14B2. Okay. May I have a motion to approve the consent calendar with the exception of 14B2? >> Moved by Trustee Jones, seconded by Trusty Bulkus. Mrs. Hayes, please call the role. here. >> Student board member Hansen. >> I. >> Trusty Castianis. >> I. >> Trusty Pritchard. >> I. >> Trusty Zinger. >> I. >> Trusty Adams. >> Hi. >> Trustee Jones. >> Hi. >> Trusty Bulicus. >> Hi. >> Trusty Davis. >> I. >> Motion carries 70 to approve the consent calendar with the exception of 14B2. >> Okay. And Trusty um Adams. >> Yeah. So Oh. Second. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. >> And discussion. >> Oh, now

123all in favor? >> No, just moved a second. Thank you. Please go ahead. >> Um, so in the language, um, it's under, let's see what page 155. I'm looking at the edited version. Um it says the board of trustee trustees believes that parents and guardians are their first are their children's first and most influential teachers. And I know we had a discussion about this last time. I thought we had said we wanted to stick with acknowledges but we switched it to believes. >> It was believe and I think we wanted to switch it to >> I thought it was acknowledges and we switched it >> up which was >> Michael you would want to we have the notes on it. Yeah, the it should reflect acknowledges not believe. So if the board doesn't mind amending

124that that would be that would correct that. >> Yes, you are correct. It was acknowledges and the board during the workshop said leave it as acknowledges. >> Um so it's a typo because there was a discussion. So it will reflect when it goes live acknowledges. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> And will you send that back to the board once it's finalized? >> Okay. Well, if you wouldn't mind sending it directly to the board as well. Thank you. We can't vote with that being a change. >> Okay. All those in favor of um 14B back to as discussed in our workshop to acknowledges and then moving the item as is. >> I >> Okay. Any opposed? >> Okay. Motion carries 70. >> Okay. May I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? Moved by Trusty

125Zinger. >> Seconded by Trusty Bulicus. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Motion carries 70. Um, with a preferential vote by Trustee Hansen. Thank you. I'm sorry I didn't acknowledge that throughout the meeting. I'll do better on that one. The time is now 8:46 p.m. Thank you so much. Have a good night.