001Before we adopt the agenda, please note the staff is pulling item 15 A, new job description. 1880. Excuse me. Thank you. 18 AD. May I have a motion to adopt the agenda? Moved. Moved by Trustee Bulicus. Seconded by Trustee Adams. Mrs. Hayes, do we have any speaker cards regarding the adoption of the agenda? We have two speaker cards. Our first speaker is Christopher and our second speaker is Deardra. Please come forward. You'll be given three minutes to speak. Thank you. Go ahead. So, good evening board members, superintendent, and members of the community. My name is Christopher Mesa and I am serving in the capacity as chair of criminal justice for the NAACP Orange County. Now, I want to begin by noting that this board has just returned from a closed session where there's discussion of
002anticipated and existing litigation. That should have been a sobering reminder that this district is not immune from legal accountability. Tonight, I'm here to address a growing legal concern and ethical problem. Over 40 members of the public signed up to speak at April 23rd, holding numbered comment cards that clearly placed them in the queue cards labeled 1 through 40 plus. But when public comment began, less than half of those individuals were permitted to speak. Instead, we witnessed the coordinated and deliberate manipulation of the comment process under the guise of the rule that allows students to speak first. A group of students arrived with their friends, some reading from prepared scripts, and gave remarks that defended Trusty Balancas' use of the n-word, falsely claiming she was merely quoting a book, among other reasons. This was not a
003spontaneous student interest. It was a pre-planned strategy discussed among board members and supporters ahead of time to stack the speaker line with curated voices and effectively shut out the broader community. The community that came here to call for accountability to demand that this board agenda a vote on discussing curing trustee block for her use of the n-word. Let me be clear. Every single speaker allowed to speak under this topic during that part of the session on April 23rd spoke in opposition to centuring Balakis. Yet we know that over 30 people who signed up to speak in support of centuring Balakis, including those holding common cards 18, 19, and 20 were silenced because of a loophole that this board exploited. This is not just unethical. It may be illegal under the Ralph M. Brown Act. Let
004me quote the law. Government code 54954.3A. Every agenda for regular meeting shall provide an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the legislative body on any item of interest to the public before or during the legislative body's consideration of the item. This board provided the illusion of public comment but not the reality. That is not compliance. That is a violation. Further, under Government Code 54954.3B, the legislative body may adopt reasonable regulations, including limiting the time amount for the amount of time per speaker for each individual speaker. You cannot adopt or exploit a rule of student speak first in a way that denies a majority of the attendees the right to speak, especially when it's clear that this was used to stack the deck in favor of one viewpoint over another. This kind of
005viewpoint discrimination is not just a Brown Act issue. It opens the district. Our next speaker is dear please forward now. Go ahead. Thank you. My name is Dearra Harris and I serve as president of the NAACP Orange County branch. I'm here tonight to also address possible pending litigation. I'm here tonight just not as a leader, as a historical civil rights organization, but someone speaking for every student and family who expects fairness and honesty in our schools. On March the 12th, during a public meeting of this board, trustee Judy Balakis used the N-word, a word with a violent history used for centuries to degrade and humanize black people. What followed was silence, and silence is acceptance. On April the 22nd, the NAACP of Orange County sent a formal letter to this board. We offered to meet.
006We opened the door for dialogue. We requested action. To date, we've received no response. And that is on record. The community returned the following month expecting accountability. Instead, we saw deflection and instead of responsibility, we saw avoidance. Instead of leadership, we saw silence. Let me be clear. Choosing not to agendaize these issues does not make it go away. It does not erase the harm. It does not rebuild trust and it will not silence this community. We are calling on this board to act. But this issue must be put on the agenda. Publicly condemning the use of racial slurs, especially by elected officials, and taking meaningful trust to rebuild. This is not about politics. It is about principle. It is about protecting our children and their right to feel safe. value and respected. Under California Education
007Code 2011, students have the right to an education environment free from discrimination and harassment based on race or ethnicity. Title 5 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires schools receiving federal funding to address racial harassments and discrimination. The NAACP has fought over a century to dismantle systems of injustice. Because of our sacrifice and our labor and our advocacy and our voices, women like you are able to hold the seats that you are through women's rights. But with that power becomes responsibility. Leadership takes courage. It takes clarity. And above all, it takes action. We urge you do the right thing because our students are watching and so are we. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Hayes. Before the board recesses to close session, is there anyone who'd like to speak to a close session agenda item?
008There's a motion on the floor to adopt the agenda. Thank you. All those in favor? I. Okay. And it passes 5 02 to adopt the agenda. Thank you. Now, is there anyone who'd like to speak to a close session agenda? No, we covered everyone. Thank you. Thank you. The board will now recess to close session to address the following agenda items. Student expulsion, one case. Conference with legal counsel existing litigation, one case. Conference with real property property negotiators, three properties. Conference with labor negotiators, CUEA, CSEA, Teamsters, Kuma, and unrepresented employees. Liability claim, one case. Conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, eight cases. Conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, four cases. Public employee employment appointment multiple appointments. Public employment and evaluation of performance. The superintendent. The board will now recess to close session. President Davis, the
009live stream is now in progress. You may start the meeting. Thank you. Good evening and welcome to the May 21st regular board meeting of the Calpestron Unified School District. The meeting is now in session. The time is 7:08 p.m. Mrs. Hayes, please call the role. Student board member Verando, here. Trustee Castianos, here. Trustee Pritchard, present. Trustee Zinger here. Trustee Adams here. Trustee Jones here. Trusty Bulicus here. Trustee Davis here. The pledge of allegiance will now be led by student board member Rando of America and to the stands. One nation indivisible andice for all. Thank you. I'd like to recognize Dr. Chris Brown who will present his opening comments followed by the trustees. We're actually going to report on close session first. Mrs. Hayes, please um read the report from close session. On agenda item 3A,
010student expulsions, trustees voted 70 to approve staff recommendation on the following case. Case number 2025017. On agenda item 3B, no reportable action. On agenda item 3C, conference with real property negotiators, trustees gave direction to staff. On agenda item 3D, conference with labor negotiators, no reportable action. On agenda item 3E, liability claim, trustees voted 70 to approve staff recommendation on the following claim. Liability claim number 2209737. On agenda item 3F, anticipated litigation. Trustees voted 70 to approve staff recommendation on the following cases. ADR case number 20250114M 20250427 and 2025429. 9. On agenda item 3G, existing litigation, trustees voted 70 to approve the staff recommendations on the following cases. OAH case number 2024 445 2024 0330725 and case number 2025 04 0133. On agenda item 3H, public employee employment appointment, trustees voted 70 to approve the the
011following appointments. Maria Finnman, elementary principal, assigned to Vjo Elementary School, effective July 1, 2025. Nathan How, elementary principal, assigned to Laguna Niguel Elementary, effective July 1, 2025. John Bajoric, middle school principal, assigned to New Hart Middle School, effective July 1, 2025. And finally, Meg Ervase, assistant superintendent, curriculum and instruction, secondary education, grades 6 through 12. and alternative education effective May 22nd, 2025. On agenda item 3 I, public employment and evaluation of performance, trustees gave direction to staff. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Brown. Good evening everyone. Welcome to our regular business meeting of the board of trustees for May. Uh the last regular board meeting of the school year. The next time we meet, students will be enjoying summer vacation. And with that being said, we've reached the final stretch of the school
012year. There's 10 school days remaining. Not that anyone is counting. Um I'm sure our students have definitely understood that that are in the room right now. And and this time of year is always filled with excitement, anticipation um and tons of performances and celebrations and events and games uh and awards nights. Uh makes May really probably the busiest month of the year uh in terms of the evenings, which is just super exciting and so much fun to celebrate with our students. Um and before you know it, it'll be summer and we'll be rapidly trying to get everything turned around, cleaned up, and get everybody prepared for next school year. I know you don't want to think about that students, but we will be getting ready. On Thursday, June 5th, nearly 4,000 seniors will mark their
013major milestone. They'll finish their 12th or 13th year of school with us mostly. Um, and they're going to have high school graduations. They're going to be full of excitement, maybe a little bit of nostalgia, hopefully some anticipation for their future endeavors. Um, and they'll step confidently to the next chapter of their lives. And I just want to thank the teachers, the staff members, the administrators, and the parents that have really equipped these graduates with everything they need to go and chase their dreams and make a meaningful impact on the world. We're a big district. We send a lot of graduates out, and they're going to make a huge impact. But they're not the only ones who are making a transition. Thousands of our students, we're moving on from transitional kindergarten to kindergarten, from fifth to
014sixth grade, from 8th grade to high school, bringing new opportunities to learn, to grow, to shine. And so for them, I I just want to wish them the best of luck as they transition to their new schools, to their new grades, to their new teachers, uh for another great year here at CUSD. Um we're also doing a lot of construction work. Last Friday, we officially broke ground on the Rienda TK8 school, our second school in Rancho Mission Vehill, and it is slated to open fall of 2027. All things prevail. Uh next Wednesday, we will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the new stadium, Capo Valley High School. a a great work by our facilities team using CFD funds, matching funds in the state, redevelopment dollars to really keep those costs of new facilities out of our
015general fund budget for students. And I just want to wish all of our students and all of our teachers and all of our staff members who get to take a break to have a restful and relaxing summer. I hope you enjoy your summer and I hope you come back ready for another great year here in Kappa. That concludes my remarks. Thank you. Okay, other trustees. Trusty Zinger. Yeah. No, I would love to some say something kind of piggybacking on Dr. Brown. Happy May Summer. It's been great and I'm with you. If you have kids in school, I'm with you. I have a senior this year and a couple other students that are finishing off the year and it is crazy right now. Um over the past few months, I've had the opportunity to visit all
016seven of my schools in area 2 and um I'm looking forward to be able to visit other schools as well in CUSD. But great things are happening on our campuses. And I was each school site had such a unique feel, but there was so much heart there and so many good things going on. Um last night I had the opportunity to go to the senior awards at Sanon Hills. It was unbelievable. Um gradu um graduating from high school is a wonderful accomplishment, but it's remarkable to hear some of these accomplishments last night that these kids that went above and beyond um had achieved. our CUD CUS USD graduates have much have much to celebrate and are headed off to do great things in the world and it's exciting to see. Um, I do want to
017say if you have a parent that will be a senior soon, um, look into scholarship. They also awarded scholarships last last night and there are some scholarships that they, um, the people giving the scholarships admitted that every single person who applied got one. And so that's like an $1,000, $500 check that your student gets just for applying for the scholarship. So I would highly suggest you have your students look into that. Um, and I was also able to do Lera Ranch Middle School awards. I was equally as excited. These kids are much younger and still doing great things. It was just it's it's exciting. They are impacting um the lives of of the community and um themselves academically. I mean, it's remarkable what these kids can accomplish at such a young age. Um, in late
018April, I was able to go to two different high school musicals. And you guys, if you're not going to the musicals, you need to go. It is unbelievable. I first saw Hades Town at Toro and this was so great. It was such a I I didn't know a lot about Hadestown. It was phenomenal. In fact, they won on Sunday a Cappies award, which is a peer-given. And it is one of the biggest honors because it is their peers voting. They out of 27 schools in Orange County um turoral got high school musical of the year. So it was pretty remarkable and yeah I know they deserve a round of applause. It was phenomenal. Also on Sunday night at the Cappies San Juan Hills got play of the year for Animal Farm which was also remarkable.
019Those are the I I from what I understand those are the two big awards to get. So, and I think they're all great awards, but I hear that those are the awards to get. Um, after I saw Hades Sound, I saw Lays at San Juan Hills. Oh my gosh, I'm watching it and I watch every musical, even long before I was on the board because I've got kids at San Juan Hills and none of them are in it. People always ask me, "What part is your child in?" And I'm like, "Well, they're not." But I'm a groupy. Like, when it comes to the musicals at San Juan Hills, I love it. And um so it's almost emotional watching these kids perform for the last time, these seniors that you've been watching for all these years
020and and at the same time you're so excited for them because they're off to new and great things. Um let me just let's see. It's as sad as I am that they're not going to be back next year, it's exactly what we want to see for our CUSD kids. We want them to come into our schools and we want them to learn and grow and excel and then to go off and fly in the real world. So, it's exciting to see what they'll do. Um, like Dr. Brown mentioned, I had the opportunity to go to the groundbreaking at Rianda. So exciting. I'm excited for this community who's they've kind of been a little smooshed in Asencia, the existing school. So, we're excited to have the groundbreaking and get this going. Um, the school site is
021beautiful. If you have a chance, if you're an R&B, go check it out. This school is going to be a state-of-the-art facility and it's so exciting to see them working on that. Um, last thing, sorry I there's too many things that I've been going to because I don't want to miss anything, but I went to the Toro um pops concert. Again, this is something if you go to your high school's concerts um first off, I had heard about the Doro program. I had never gone to their any of their choir concerts. These kids sang their hearts out and towards the end of the the show, the seniors were able to perform. They cried through their songs but held it together enough to sing beautifully. And then their teacher, Mr. Hancock, who I had never seen
022before. I had heard about him. He's legendary, but I hadn't actually seen him um teaching. He spoke of the privilege it was to have to be a choir teacher. And I had never thought of this, but he said, "Most high school teachers get one year with their kids." He said, "A lot of these kids I've had for four years." And so imagine the bond that they have with these kids. And um he talked about how much they meant to him. Then I guess as tradition goes um he sings this song to them and dedicates it to them. You guys, there was not a dry eye there. It was so beautiful. And um I just want to say teachers like Mr. Hancock are such a gift to our students. And I'm looking forward next weekend on
023the 31st I'm going to be going to the San Juan Hills pop concert and that will be another fun one. So celebrating these kids has definitely been the highlight of this job. We have a lot of work to do but these celebrations make it clear um why we're doing what we do and I'm so grateful to be able to do this. So thank you for listening to my crazy Mayber. May we all make it through. Thank you Trusty Zinger. other trustees. Trusty Jones. So, um, next week, I think it is, we have the groundbreaking for the new stadium, um, at Capitol Valley High School. I want to thank John Forny and his team for the help he uh, gave the school on that. One of the teachers there, the music teacher, contacted me, I don't
024know, million years ago to make sure that the stadium was going to work for the the um um the band of field shows that they put on because it requires this like 17 foot height gate to walk through. And uh so I talked to him. I talked to the football boosters because they've got the snack shack and gave feedback to Mr. Forny and he took it with such grace and actually told me recently that it made it a much better building and that he's so pleased and I know that the school is pleased and this will be something uh really wonderful. So I appreciate everybody's input on that. Um uh last meeting of the year. It's appropriate that it's already summer. It's hot. Uh normally this time of year, it's cold. Um uh Trustee, uh
025Bulockus and Dr. Brown and I went to visit, uh Representative Young Kim, uh a week before last to talk about federal funding. And we gave her a chart of all the federal dollars we get, what are the various sources, what are you they're this this category, this category, what we actually use those for and what would happen in this district if we don't have that money. I I don't know what she will do with it. She was very receptive. She was very interested. Felt our input was very timely. And I want to again thank uh um Mr. Hampton for his input and let's see I think it was Dr. Gomez and uh Kristen Hillman in food services and uh oh and Stephanie uh AA in TIS who all all gave me input on what those
026federal what difference those federal funds make and I think we had a really good time with her and and hope that is going to be helpful to us in San Capistrano over at Saddleback Church on that property there's a proposal to build a battery energy storage system. Um you you may or may not know what that is. Um but it is a uh a site where they have a lot of lithium batteries and it's for saving all of the extra solar uh um energy that is generated during the day. So it can be used at night uh or when the when it's raining. Um it this location is right across the freeway from Capitol Valley High. It's 3,000 ft from Capitol Valley High School. It's also near some of others of our schools, including Niguel
027Hills. But as the crow flies, it's about 3,500 ft, very close to two of our schools. And if you follow the news at all, uh several of these have had fires. The lithium um cells are have instability problems from time to time. They all some are fine. Um but it's a different kind of a fire. It cannot be put out with water. You have to let them burn out. And in the meantime, they send out all kinds of toxic smoke. So Cava Valley High, as you might know, is built at the end of a street. It's at the dead end of a street. There's only one way out. You have to drive towards this property to escape it. So if there was a fire, it would also of course close down the freeway and the
028train tracks. So welcome to your life if this happens. But this would make it difficult for us to get our students and our staff members out. I believe we have special ed students who might not be able to get out easily. You know, many of us our kids are able-bodied and we would just say, you know, go this way, get away. But if you have a student that is not able to do that, it's a different story. So there will be a hearing about this. The California Energy Commission is coming here to our boardroom on May 29th. I think that's right. It's Oh yeah. Uh May 29th, which is a Thursday from 1 till 9. If you have any input about this, you don't need to be there from 1 to 9, but they will
029make the the company will make their presentation and then there will be time for people to testify about uh their issues with this. And um these things are needed in California uh because since Sanopre was closed, we've now had to build all these peaker plants that are basically jet engines polluting the air. The air pollution in this area since Sanopre was closed has actually risen considerably. So we do need these. We do need ways to store this energy when we don't need it so we can draw it when we do need it and eliminate some of these peaker plants. Um so if you have any interest please do come and speak. If you know someone uh southern Mission Viejo, um the part of Laguna Niguel that's fairly close to the freeway, northern San Juan close
030to the freeway, please let them know. Or if they have a child at San at um Cap Valley High School in particular, please let them know. Um I guess that's it. Thank you very much. Okay, Trusty Bulicus. Well, Trusty Jones and I were up in Sacramento this weekend and for the California School Board Association, uh, and people have asked us, well, what do you do? So, as CSBA delegates representing Capo Valley, representing um CUSD, um, everything we do is anchored on four guiding principles. advocacy uh rooted in reality and the needs of local governance teams, protection of local authority and decision makingaking, commitment to nonpartisan student centered leadership, and a relentless focus on student success. These principles guide our work in meeting with local legislators, as we've mentioned before, assembly, state, con, uh, congress people,
031the policy makers, um, to educate them on the needs of CUSD schools and students. So, we will continue to push back on unfunded mandates and threats to local control, and we stand firmly in defense of public education's promise, opportunity, access, and success for every student. Uh, I also wanted to share some activities, lots of graduations, uh, coming up and eighth grade awards ceremonies. Um, and I'm glad that uh, Trustee Zinger mentioned about the pops concert in Hades Town. Just fabulous. Uh, there's still a chance to go see a performance Friday night at San Juan Hills High School. There is the choreographers ball and that is their dance uh, department that'll be putting on a performance. Um, and over the weekend, Toro boys volleyball won the CIF South Section Division 3 championship, which was very exciting.
032Uh they played their hearts out last night, but by uh game five, they did lose um in the the state uh not getting the the state award, but uh they had a great year. Um and that's it for me. Thanks. Thank you. Okay, other trustees. Okay. And I will end with um a couple of things. First, I want to tell Trusty Jones and Trusty Bolicus and Dr. Brown how much I appreciate the advocacy they've been doing for uh meeting with our local electeds and um California and uh the work that's been done there. So, thank you. I've also had a chance to attend so many incredible opportunities that are awarded to our kids here. the eighth grade awards at BAMS last night. It was 900 chairs and still we had people standing um as we
033celebrated all that they've done and I appreciate the work that's been happening there. The patriotic program at Concordia TK kinder and first graders as they um they just sang their hearts out. It was just beautiful. attended lay miz at San Juan Hills High School with uh Trusty Jones and Trusty Zinger and um San Clemen High School's Little Mermaid. You'd think that Little Mermaid, there was everyone there. Everyone there loved it. From uh 9 months to 90 years old, everyone loved it. The Pops concert at Tasorro High School under the direction of Keith Hancock, as Trusty Dolinger mentioned, um Mr. Mr. Hancock's song as he sang to the seniors and his launch to them. Um, it really was beautiful and truly not a dry eye in the room. Um, so I was grateful to be able
034to attend that. And as we uh started the groundbreaking for Rienda, it was incredible and we had massive tractors and hard hats and lots of shovels and it was incredible to see what's happening in Rancho Mission VJO. Now we just need to continue to get married and have lots of babies. So, and to all seniors in CUSD, we wish you the best as you begin this next chapter in your life, and we certainly hope that what you've learned in CUSD has helped set you up for success in all that you do. So, um, as we round out the end of this year and we have graduation for at all of our schools, it's just a great time to appreciate the work that's been done and everything that it takes everywhere. So, seniors, good luck and
035enjoy. And uh you're writing your story, so write a good one. And I just would like to take a minute to acknowledge the retirees listed on this month's agenda. Last week, the district celebrated the the retirees for this 202425 school year. And I wanted to share some of the statistics. Um, as of May 14th, CEA 63 retirees, CSEA 48 retirees, KUMA eight retirees, and Teamsters five retirees. Their combined years of service totaled 1,697 years. That's an average of 27 years of service per employee. Amazing. And I I went back and forth on if I should read the list, but I couldn't help it because we have I'm I'm not going to read the names, but I'm just going to read the years. 39 years. 38 years. 38 years. 37 years. 36 years. 36 years. 35
036years. 35 years. 35 years. 34. 34. 33. 33. 33. 33. 32. 30. 30. 30. 29. 29. 29. 29. 28. 28. 28. 27. 27. 27. 27. 27 26 26 25 24 23s. 22 20s 19s. It's been here a while. 18, 14, 10, and seven. That's for our um certificated for our classified tw one at 20, one at 17, one at 13. So that's a lot of years and a lot of service, and um a lot of lives that have been touched. So, just a reminder to each of us, be a little kinder, do a little better, and help help each other along because this life is a life of learning and a life of goodness. And what these teachers and educators and certificated staff have done to help those in our district is remarkable. So, thank
037you. And I'd like to appreciate that for them. So, thank you. [Applause] And I'd like to recognize student board member um Brando. She will join us at the podium to present her end of year reflection. Should I use the clicker or is there where sorry? Okay. Sorry. Okay. Good evening everyone. Today marks the end of my term as the student board member. I wanted to take a moment to express how deeply grateful I am for this experience and this district. I've been a student in this district for the past 11 years since kindergarten. It feels so surreal to finally be graduating from high school and be be moving on to the next chapter of my life. I've learned so much and made so many incredible memories here. Looking back, I realize how much CSD CUSD
038has shaped who I am, and I'm thankful for the opportunities and support I've received along the way. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible. Our teachers and staff and administration who show up every day to support and challenge us. You do so much more than teach. You encourage us, help us discover what we care about and shape us into future change makers. Thank you to our parents and the PTSA for always being there for us. Whether you're volunteering, organizing events, or advocating for education policy, your support makes a difference. It means a lot to have you in our corner. Thank you to the district staff who work behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. You are the driving force behind our schools. Your efforts keep our schools safe and ready for learning.
039And thank you to this board for the time and energy you dedicate to representing our families and students. This year, I've seen firsthand your commitment to showing up and ensuring each student receives a highquality education. Thank you so much for being so welcoming and supporting to me as the student board member. When I first joined this board, I did not know exactly what to expect. It has been an eye-opening experience interacting with so many different stakeholders across the district. This year, I've had the chance to meet many students and hear about their experiences. Those conversations have been the most meaningful part of this role for me. Through working with staff, attending meetings, meetings with our ASB presidents, and speaking with students across the district, I found a way to focus on what it matters most,
040listening to our students and sharing their voices. I've learned that the student perspective is not just one story. It's made up of many ideas, experiences, and backgrounds, and each one deserves to be heard. In this role, I want to make sure I wasn't just representing my own school, but students across the district. I decided the best way to do this was to visit students at their schools and hear from them directly. So today I'm proud to share this USD middle school insights report for 2024 25 with some of my reflections from my conversations with students over the last eight months. Next slide, please. Oh, sorry. Back one. Okay. Uh this year I set out to work more closely with middle school students as I recognize that they often have fewer opportunities and less awareness of
041the board's rule compared to many high schoolers. To bridge that gap, I collaborated with middle school principles and ASB teachers to organize visits to each middle school campus. During these visits throughout this year, I shared information about the board of trustees and mo most importantly created space for students to voice the issues that matter most to them. Next slide. This school year, I had the opportunity to visit Alisa Vjo, Bernice er Don Wanavila, Marco Forester, Fred New Hart, Lera Ranch, and Miguel Hills Middle School. Next slide. So, my data collection involved two key components. First, a survey and then an in-person discussions at each school. Next slide. I met with 383 students across seven middle schools. I met with various groups including the associated student body, peer assisted leadership, yearbook, principal advisory council, student focus
042groups nominated by admin and teachers, and student volunteers who signed up for my session during tutorial time. Next slide. So, of the students I met with, 47.4% were in eighth grade, 43.5% in seventh grade, and 9.2% in sixth grade. Additionally, 65.8% of them had been to the district since kindergarten. Next slide. So, here are some photos from some of my school visits. I appreciated the opportunity to speak with all of these students. They brought forward a wide variety of thoughtful ideas. In many sessions, we ran out of time because they had so much they wanted to share. Next slide. There are concerns often differed from those typically addressed at the district level. As you review this pres presentation, please keep in mind that these are the voices of 11 to 14 year olds. While the
043district must account for a broader range of priorities and considerations, the topics highlighted here reflect the day-to-day experiences and challenge these students face. Next slide. Uh before each visit, I sent out a survey to gather input. I used the three to four most common topics to share the agenda for the in-person sessions. During the school visit, students were invited to expand on their survey responses and speak more about the issues that matter most to them. Uh, additional photos and updates were are available on my CUSD student board member account on Instagram at CUSDSBM. Next slide. Uh, so one thing that stood out to me about these visits was how often the same concerns came up across all of the middle schools. Despite being from different campuses, many students shared similar experiences and challenges. Today, I'd
044like to walk you through the main topics that emerged from those conversations, which I've grouped into three categories. One, fostering a supportive school community. Two, enhancing academic and teacher support. And three, improving school facilities and services. I'll first share some of the data from my survey and then share some quotes and solutions from students. Due to limited time, I'll be focusing on areas where students feel their school and district can improve. However, I do really want to emphasize that overall students expressed overwhelmingly positive views about their schools and the district. Uh, next slide. So, the the first topic is fostering a supportive school community. Most students had a positive experience as portrayed by these survey results. 75.2% of students who took the survey believe that school communication is effective or very effective and 78.6% believe
045their voices are heard. 69.7% felt either safe or very safe. 86.2% rated mental health resources as excellent, good or fair, while 7% indicated not sure. In this next slide, I'll be focusing on ways students feel this uh these statistics can be improved. Uh many students expressed concerns about the accessibility and effectiveness of mental health resources on campus. Uh while adequate resources are available and students are grateful for these mental health resources, students share that sometimes stigma and lack of trust made them feel difficult to use. Uh, one student said, "Mental health is so stigmatized. Even if you need help, you won't go." Another said, "The mental health resources are good, but students are made to feel dumb for using them." To improve support, students recommended raising awareness of these resources at schoolwide assemblies or through
046flyers and digital outreach. So, students know where they can find counselors and that they're available. Also, students say that um there's a strong sense of community at the schools and intramural sports have helped them develop a stronger community this past year. Uh some students uh said that they um felt uncomfortable confiding in school counselors because a common concern was that counselors often tell parents right away without telling the student. In a conversation I had with the student, they said they were caught off guard when their counselor told their parents about bullying they were experiencing without telling them. Another student said, and I quote, uh, "We don't feel comfortable talking to counselors due to the fact that they were almost always tell our parents what we shared." While the students believe that the counselors are helpful
047and have positive opinions of the school's mental health resources overall, students also emphasize the need for counselors to listen and guide students about how to talk to their parents so everyone could be on the f same page first. Students also bought uh brought up bullying. One student explained, "People say really mean things that seem to not affect anyone but eventually wears down a person." Um, one person added, "There is there is some bullying and students don't want to report because they don't want to be pulled from class." And another student said, "Some students can be harmful with their words." Some students are asking for more accountability and asking for consistent action from adults on campus. They also believe it would be helpful if administration could clearly explain the reasons behind certain rules so students can
048better understand the school's perspective. For example, some students were disappointed that they couldn't sit on the grass at lunch, not realizing this rule helped supervisors monitor students more easily. Similarly, some questioned why busy bathrooms were closed. Those closure closures allowed supervisors to focus on fewer bathrooms to ensure safety. Clear communication between students and administration would improve understanding and cooperation. Um, next slide. So overall like fostering a supportive community, students had a very positive experience with academic and teacher support as well. 79.1% rated their class as good or excellent. 71.8% of students strongly agree or agree that they feel supported by their teachers and their in their academics. Next slide. So one of the survey questions I asked students was to name their biggest challenge they face at school. More than 50% said that their main
049struggle was some version of balancing school work with other commitments. One student wrote, "The biggest challenge I face as a student is balancing sports and school work." Another said, "I get a lot of homework and I'm already stressed from outside activities." Another student said that keeping up that their biggest struggle was keeping up with academics and sports and family and friends uh while still having a healthy sleep schedule and food intake. Many students suggested that reducing the homework load might help. Uh while that came up often, I don't think that is a practical long-term solution. Instead, there should be more of a focus on helping students learn how to manage their time and balance different responsibilities, skills that will be important in high school and beyond. Students have mentioned that schoolwide assemblies usually cover a
050variety of topics. I think it would be val valuable to include strategies for time management and affecting effective studying in those sessions. Another topic students brought up was I Ready, which is a online platform where students can learn reading and math. Um, they were mostly concerned with the math section. they seem to like the English better. Uh students felt that the math assignments took a lot of time but didn't help them better understand the material. They said that when teachers assign I read students have trouble finishing it in the aotted class time. One student said in the survey not as much I Ready so we can focus on what we're learning now. Um some students also share that they're not sure how to ask their teachers for help. While they agree that the teachers are
051a great resource and CUSC has some of the best teachers, uh they don't some of them don't feel comfortable going to their teachers directly and would prefer to have more structured support time during tutorial instead of opening open study sessions. When asked what resources would be helpful, students said more tutoring during tutorial and a school help program with tutors to help improve your grades. Uh next slide. So next, facilities and campus services. Uh 14.3% are very satisfied and 50% are satisfied. Um bathrooms were mentioned often during my visit. Uh uh while supervisor presence helps the student said as they felt that they didn't some feel didn't feel comfortable using the p bathrooms during passing periods. So they would wait during class time uh when it was less crowded. However, other students take advantage of using
052the bathroom during class to avoid completing work. So, one student suggested, "I think that teachers should have a limit of three uses per week. This will help limit the number of people going because I know most people who actually want to go to the bathroom are there to waste time instead of using the bathroom normally." Another student said, "I think the bathrooms need to be monitored more often because there are pe uh there are drawings while another student said that the bathrooms are messy." Um, some students shared that menstrual products in the bathrooms are not restocked regularly. Uh they believe these products should be replenished more frequently when supplies run out. Um and a small sign could be added to let students know that they can request additional supplies from the nurse if the machines
053are empty. Uh students also mentioned that because stu uh phones aren't allowed on campus um other students will go to the restroom to use their phone in the stalls which slows the line down. While there are usually supervisors nearby and monitoring students said that enforcement is inconsistent. Um another topic was lunch. um students uh uh wanted more lunch lines because they say that older students will cut in line and by the time they get their food, lunch is almost over. Um some of the specific comments were uh I'll read the quotes. We need more lunch lines. Students spend their whole lunch in the sun waiting and we wait all break for food then the bell rings and we throw it away. So students also said that they preferred last year's school lunches. Um and specifically
054mentioned that they liked when Domino's pizza was was served. um uh across um so while students appreciate the supervisors in general students feel that there's not enough accountability for behavior during busy times and that greater enforcement of the rules would really make a difference. Uh next slide. So overall students have had positive experiences at their school and I want to thank everyone who makes it possible to pro provide our students with such a high quality education. Uh these suggestions reflect some small changes that they believe would further improve their daily experience. I understand that some of these topics might always might not always be seen as the most urgent, but I believe they are important because they reflect the day-to-day experiences of our middle school students. And as a student board member, it's my responsibility
055to amplify their voices. It's been an honor and a privilege to serve as a student board member this year. This board and every student conversation this year has taught me so much and I look forward to continue advocating for students in their education in university and beyond. Also, I want to give a huge uh shout out to Mrs. Hatcher, Mrs. Mclaglin, Mrs. Farikio, Mrs. Nickel, Mrs. Ms. Hoseni, Miss Almanza, Mrs. McClo um Miss McClen, uh Mr. Stone, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Penrod, and Mrs. Morrison for their support and providing me the platform to speak with their students. Also, thank you to the Realize the Dream Grant for their generous donation and funding gift cards for student participation. And finally, thank you to every student who took the time to share their thoughts and ideas with me.
056I hope you continue to confidently share your voices and opinions because they matter. Thank you. And that concludes my student board member comments. appreciate. Thank you. You're hired. Kaden, student board member Brando, we'd like to take this moment to recognize you for your service to the board and the students of the district. As we can tell, she has a heart for education. Um, in the fall, Katherine will be attending the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. On behalf of the board, we thank you for your service and we have a plaque for you and a little gift. And if we could please have the board stand and we'll join you and join us for a picture. If you've never been to a student board member's last day, you might think they all do this.
057You might be wrong. We've never had anybody do this before. Thank you so so much. Thank you. Okay, at this time I'd like to call Michelle um Demurski to um to the podium. Michelle's vice president of the assistance league of Capistrano Valley and she's here tonight to present the positive impacts of the links to learning program. Thank you Michelle. Thank you for having me. If you don't know, the assistance league um has been serving this community since 77, so for 48 years. and um you're our largest partner and somehow we just kind of haven't really been visible but um when I took over the VP I said no we're going to start being visible. So I wanted to come tonight and just kind of shed a little light on one of our programs. We offer
058programs to the elementary schools, the middle schools and now the high schools. Some of you probably heard about our scholarships when you were at those programs. Um but this is my favorite program and I myself was a teacher. Most of us in the assistance leagues were teachers. Um, this program gives grants to middle school teachers. We give $500 to anybody who applies basically. So this last year we gave $45,000. We've been doing this since 2000. So we're almost at close to a million dollars to just your middle school teachers. But not everybody applies. So for me, when I kind of looked at the data, which you know, we're um we're older ladies for the most part. So the data didn't exist before I got there. So for three years now, we have data. And I
059want to highlight these teachers because these teachers have applied every single year since I've been here. And I did professional development for years also. Um not easy to get teachers to sign up for things. Even, you know, I called last year and tried to give $10,000 to the high school and no one returned my call. These teachers every year have been applying and they've done amazing things with hot air balloons. They've gone down to the fish market and had their students dissect slimy things. Um, a lot of technology has been purchased, but I've even seen grade level groups just band together to get a curriculum unit that they're really interested in. Some of the counselors have put together mental health kits. So, they just buy random things. So, when the kids come in, they can
060open the kit up and play with things while they're in their room. So, it's just middle school teachers. But, I'm just so impressed that these people are taking the initiative. And I love being on the back end of the U middle school presentation. So, if we could just take a minute to look at all those beautiful teachers. They're not here today, but I'm hoping that by me shining a light on them, maybe you guys will uh maybe get a certificate or do something to shine a light on them. Maybe any of you out here can shine a light on your middle school teachers. They're often left out. They're, you know, they don't have the big PTSAs and they don't have all the big boosters. So, we're there just to give them these grants. And I'm
061just really proud of the fact that they show up and they fill out the application, they spend the money, they give us their receipt, they go through the whole motion. and that kind of initiative deserves something some kind of gratitude. So, thank [Applause] you, Michelle. Thank you. Thank you for your work. Thank you for your donations to our great teachers. Thank you. All right, we're moving on to oral communications. We're now moving on to oral communications. The total time for oral communications shall be 20 minutes. Mrs. Hayes, do we have any speaker cards? We have 39 speaker cards this evening. Per board policy 9323 meeting conduct. The first 20 speakers will be allowed one minute each. Those who presented request to speak but could not be accommodated within those first 20 minutes may be allowed
062to speak after the board business has been conducted before adjournment. So I will call the first um 20 speakers. I'm going to I'm going to do you in groups of 10. And so please line up over at the far door um by where the gentleman is in the yellow jacket and um doc um Mr. Jindra. So call him a doctor. Dr. You got some work to do. Archer is speaker number one. Logan, Antonio, Levi, Athena, pardon me, Audrey, chairman, point of order. Lie Regan, the student courtesy for coming to the front of the line is not in the public. I in our policy. Student speaking first is part of our board policy. It is not part of your policy. Zachariah policy. I have a copy right here for Robert's rules of order and it needs
063to be addressed by the chair. Can you please sit down? I'm raising a point of order and according to Robert's rules of order, which is what you adopted to run your meetings, my point of order needs to be addressed before you proceed. According to your reference, We will continue to look at the board policies. Everyone will get to speak, just not everyone will get to speak in the first 20 minutes. They will get to speak at the end. We are not going to change our practice at this moment. We're going to continue on with our oral communications at this moment with students first. I believe this policy was changed in 2023, ma'am. And if you'd like to exit the room, we can have Dr. agenda help you with that and we're going to go ahead
064and continue with the students. Thank you. If you could exit the room, we can have someone help you with that. If we could have this first speaker, Archer, please join us at the podium. Look up the laws. They are violating the law. Okay, let me set the timer. One moment, please. Now we're ready. Go ahead. Hi, my name is Archer and I'm in seventh grade at Vista Delmare. Now, just to clarify real quick, I wrote this speech myself and was nobody handed it to to me when I got here. I watched the video of Miss Beluckus say the n-word, which is not okay. And it was not a quote from a book. In my school, all around there are posters saying no place for hate. And yet, what you said is the most hateful racial
065slur. If someone at my school said the n-word, the consequences would be severe. Miss Balancus must be held accountable for the things that she has said. Thank you. [Applause] Our next ladies and gentlemen is Logan. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to go ahead and hold the applause till the end. Thank you. Or actually, no applause, but you can do snaps or you can do some jazz hands if you prefer. Thank you. Hi, my name is Logan and I'm a seventh grader at Cap at Aappo Middle School. To begin, two months ago, Miss Beluckus said the n-word. This word is a very hateful racial slur. It should not be tolerated to be used in any circumstance, even if it was to be promoting a book. It is not all right or okay at all to to
066say this untolerated inappropriate word in any context. As well as according to your ci civility policy, district employees are as posit as a positive role models to children in the district in the district as well as the community. This would mean that you are promoting the use of a slur to students in this district, which is extremely negative. And for this to go unnoticed is unacceptable without justice in the school district. Morally and ethically, she should be held accountable for this use of language during what she said. Thank you. Antonio, please come forward. Go ahead. Hello, my name is Sebastian and I'm a fifth grader at Mariam Berguson Elementary. I want to speak about two amazing teachers, Miss Christian and Mr. Suits. I would I would need a few hours to list all the great
067things they do, but I will summarize by saying they are great teachers who have helped me in so many ways. I've learned so much from both of them. They believe in their students and go above and beyond to help us succeed. They have also helped me feel confident and ready for middle school, which means a lot to me. Even though I am leaving Berguson, my little brother is still there. I want him and the rest of the students to have the same great experience I had. So, please, Superintendent Dr. Brown, help us keep Miss Christian and Mr. Suits at our school because losing them would be a big loss for the students at Ferguson. Thank you, [Applause] Levi. [Music] For all of you students, you can use that second mic if you need to. So,
068you don't have to stand at the podium. Thank you, Levi. Go ahead. Hello, my name is Levi and I'm a fifth grader in the Mandarin immersion program at Ferguson Elementary. I'm here today to ask you to please keep Mr. suits and Miss Christian at our school next year, especially in their Mandarin immersion position. They understand how challenging this program can be. They don't just teach us, they support us. They build us up and they help us find our voice and feel confident. Mr. Suits teach us about being good leaders, run student council, and sometimes even play soccer with us at lunch. Miss Christian leads STEM month, science camp, and she makes sure we feel inspired and excited to learn. They help make school something we look forward to. They build strong connections with our class
069and our whole school. If they don't stay, it won't just affect us, it will affect all the kids after us, too. Thanks for listening and support for supporting Ferguson. Thank you, Levi. Our next speaker is Athena. Good evening members of the school board. My name is Athena and I'm a fifth grade student at Marian Berguson Elementary in Laguna Go. I'm here to urge you to keep two of our most exceptional teachers, Miss Christian and Mr. Suits at Berguson in in the upcoming year. I've been lucky to learn from both of them and their leadership and connection with the students are what make our school so magical and bright. They lead enriching pro programs like student council, science camp, and steam month that make our school stand out. Losing them would be a huge loss for
070Ferguson. Many of us are here tonight because we care deeply about this, and we're asking you to please keep Miss Christian and Mr. Suits at Ferguson next year. Our school thrives with their involvement. Thank you. Our next speaker is Everly. this one. Hello everyone. I am a student at Maryanne Berguson. I have two amazing teachers, Mr. Suits and Miss Christian. Mr. Suits, he's such an amazing teacher. At in third grade, I was diagnosed with dyslexia at the end of the year. So, I wasn't helped in third grade, but during fourth grade, he helped me so much. And he is so such an amazing teacher. Now, Miss Christian, Miss Christian is so amazing. She has a daughter of her own, but she still chooses to spend most of her time with us. And she is such
071an amazing person and I and that is such amazing. She during science camp I am deeply afraid of sleepovers. So during science camp I was pretty scared but she always helped me through it. And it would be I have many friends in fourth grade who I think it they would be pretty sad if they lost both of these teachers. Thank you. Audrey board members. My name is Audrey Kong and I am a fifth grade student at Mary and Berguson. Mr. S and Miss Krishna are both amazing teachers. They are both fun and kind. They have helped us with so many fun things and events. Miss Christian organizes and goes to science camp with her students every single year. She has also helped with things like organizing garden buddies as well. Mr. Suits is a fun
072teacher who helps with everything we need. He also attends science camp. Sometimes he will help us with our math when we don't understand it in Mandarin. During recess, he might even play soccer with us. Mr. Sits and Miss Christian are thoughtful, caring, and fun teachers that we would never want to replace. During class, they teach us step by step so we fully understand, and they make time for fun projects. Miss Christian also helps organize steam month. Mr. Suits arranges for student council. Mr. S and Miss Christian both work well with their Mandarin teachers, too. Many people have siblings in lower grades that want Miss Christian and Mr. Suits as their teachers. I have a younger brother in second grade that I also wish would help have Mr. Suits and Miss Christian too. These teacher work
073so hard for us to enjoy school. Thank you. Our next speaker is Lie. [Music] Hi, my name is Carter Labador. I'm in kindergarten at Bergerson Elementary. I haven't had Mr. Suits or Miss Christian yet, but I really hope I do. My sister had them and says Mr. Suits encourages creativity and Miss Christian makes science really fun. Please let them stay at our school so kids like me can learn from them, too. Thank you. Our next speaker is Rean. Hi, my name is Vegan Liidor. I am a fifth grader at Berguson Elementary. I want to talk about two teachers who have made a big difference. Mrs. Sus and Miss Christian. Mrs. Suits always encourages us to be creative and think outside the box. He makes learning fun and helps us believe in our ideas. Miss Christian
074makes science exciting. She doesn't just teach from a book. She does hands-on experiments that make us want to learn more. Both of them make school a place we actually look forward to. They care about us. They believe in us and they help us grow. The younger students and f and future students of Ferguson need teachers like them. I really hope they can stay at Berguson because they make our school a better place every single day. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Zachariah. Hello. Good evening, uh, board of CUSD. My name is Zachariah. I am a fifth grade student in Miss Christian's class. I am here because my two favorite teachers are on the verge of getting fired or relocated. I believe every kid should have the chance to have these two wonderful
075teachers. They have not only helped me academically but they have encouraged me to try my best and help me with math even because it was hard when I was in a mandrin emo immersion program. They know what to do even if there is a tough day with two teachers and they know how to balance it out with English and fun science. They taught amazing science and inspired me to be become a scientist. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Ian Lee. Hello, my name is Ian Lee. I'm a fifth grader student in the Berguson Elementary School. I'm here to convince you to keep Selena Christian in regular seats at Marian Berguson. If they leave, the younger students won't have as much fun learning as they would with these two teachers. I've sincerely enjoyed
076these the year as a student with them. They have been a part of their family for 4 days just to take care of us in science camp and help fund raise amazing events. Uh please let them keep their job in Miriam Bergen Elementary. Thank you. Our next speaker is John Lewis. Dear CUSD leaders, I am a John Lewis from Marry and Berguson Elementary School, and I sincerely hope that you do not take Mr. Suits and Miss Christian away from our school for multiple reasons. First, they make learning fun by cracking jokes in class and giving prizes to those who do good. This motivates students to give a 100% effort during class. They also make contributions that take their free time away so they can support us in everything like going with us to science camp.
077Not only do they make learning fun, but they also teach us some very important things. Like in fourth grade with Mr. Suits, he taught us about the gold rush. And in fifth grade, Miss Christian taught us about the American Revolution and so much more. In conclusion, I really hope that you do not take these two absolutely amazing teachers away from our school. Our next speaker is Pippy. Following Pippy, we'll have Sophie, Owen, Troy, and Lily. Pippy, please come forward. Hi, my name is Pippy Dennis. The Mandrin program is great. I am the fourth grade the fourth kid in my family to go through it. The first group of kids just all just got accepted to great schools like UCLA, Berkeley, and Stanford. My own brother is going to BYU on a full ride scholarship all
078because of Ferguson. The Mandrin program makes Kappa Unified look good. But it has but it has one weakness. We all struggle in English. There have been tweaks to make it better. But nothing was that effective until Mr. Suits. He is the very best teacher on this planet. He makes all of us love English. He paid so much extra attention to all of us who needed extra help and will be the teacher I always remember for the rest of my life. Parents won't put their kids in Chinese without strong English teacher. And Mr. Suits is the strongest. Thank you. Our next speaker is Sophie. Hello everyone. My name is Sophie Irvine of Berguson Elementary School. I would like to address the situation as a first point of view as a student. I and many other students
079have reasons why we believe our two teachers, Miss Christian and Mr. Suits and any teacher with a tenure should stay at our school. They're extremely kind and awesome teachers. Every time I walked into their classroom, I had a smile on my face. They made me want to go to school. They made school so much more fun for me. And I want younger students to enjoy them as much as I did in fourth grade and this past year. That's why I believe Mr. Seuss and Miss Christian should continue to work at our school of Murray and B Mary and Berguson Elementary School of Laguna Deal. Good afternoon. I have put together a small portion of all that Mr. Suits and Mrs. Christian have done for me during my time at Berguson. First in fourth grade, I
080wasn't enjoying school that much. So, one day I told Mr. Suits about it, and he went above and beyond to make sure that I would enjoy my time at school. I always knew he had my back when school was hard. Also, Mr. suits has led student council with Miss Newbury for his entire time working at school. Next, Mrs. Christian is about the most hardworking teacher you will ever meet. She will stand up for you more than any teacher I have met. I always love her class because she cares about us and introduced us to science, has led STEM month, and this year alone has raised over $20,000 for our science camp. Her love for science is contagious. These two teachers don't have to go to science camp away from their families, but they do. Our
081school has gone through many changes in principles, but these teachers have never wavered in their support. That is why I'm asking you to give them tenure or at the very least let them keep their jobs. Our next speaker is Troy. Hello, my name is Troy Tang. I am in the fifth I am Miss I am in Miss Christian's fifth grade class. I believe that Mr. Suits and Miss Christian should stay at Mary and Berguson Elementary. My reasons for this is because they make their subject interesting which brings more focused students into their classroom. They also create fun activities for us to do which would bring us h which would make us happy and less bored. My last reason is because they challenge us so we can learn more to prepare us ahead of time. If
082you ask for evidence, you can ask any fourth or fifth grader and they will say how much they like Mr. S and Miss Christian. Oh my god. [Music] And and even the lower grades are also eager to be in their class, including my sister. This is why I believe that Mr. S and Miss Christian should stay at Mary and Berguson Elementary. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Thank you, Troy. Our next speaker is Lily Zullinger. Yeah. Extra. Hi, I'm Lily, a freshman at San Juan Hills High School, and I'm here to propose a grab-and-go snack cart at our high schools. The cart would offer student access to quick, healthy snacks with fruits, grains, and more. The cart would be staffed and it would include the same student ID we already used in the cafeterias
083to ensure inclusive access to the quick bites. District provided documents tell us that 18 schools in our district are titled as low income causing lower quality diets at home. Our district cafeterias have a policy when you could take all the lunch or you can't have any. With this rule, I've experienced my friends and peers taking school lunches only to eat a few bites. that snack carts would not only provide both quality and nutrition, but would be fast and easy to grab the healthy snacks with no waste of of food and equipment. It has been proven that balanced foods increase focus in the classroom, and grabbing go-karts can ensure that students are getting the nutrition they need to excel in classrooms. Thank you. Okay, the students are going so fast, we're going to add more than
08420, so we're going to ask the next eight people to line up. Jason, Barbara Nelson, Jennifer, Dedra, Bradley, Linda, Amber, and Shan. Jason, please come forward. Good evening board. Good evening board. Congratulations on the success of the students and the graduations. Um I am a stakeholder here in this district. I have a son in this district and I work with um Orange County, the government. And my concern is that we need to diversify this board more than it is currently. Congratulations on all of the women. But um the representation for the stakeholders here need to be reflected here in the board. And I know well I've communicated with some of you. Thank you for the response and uh I hope to see you soon. Our next speaker is Barbara Nelson. Barbara had to leave. Okay.
085Jennifer Mumroy. Good evening. My name is Jen Mafua and I'm a high school library media technician. I live in President Davis's neighborhood and I've worked in the library at St. Clenny High School in her area for five years and I love it. Some of you are new and uh may not realize that ever since COVID in 2020, library staff have been working out of class every day to help students access their curriculum and fulfill the district's adherence to the Williams legislation by serving students whose Chromebooks have black screens, no power lights, malfunctioning keyboards, Wi-Fi issues, frozen trackpads, password reset, among other issues. This is technical work students rely on to access their curriculum and assignments. We have agreed with the school district to adopt these new skills and responsibilities into an updated job description and
086ask for 5% raise. Please advise your negotiating team to approve that raise and we'll be happy to continue that work. Thank you. Our next speaker is Dedra Harris. Good evening, President Harris. The timer. Can I reclaim my time, please? Sure, please start. Good evening, President Davis, trustees, superintendent, and member of the community. My name is Dearra Harris, and I serve as the president of the NAACP Orange County branch. I'm here tonight not only as a civil rights leader, but as the voice of every student and family who expects fairness, dignity, and accountability in their schools. On March the 12th, during a public board meeting, Trusty Balis used the N-word, a word with a long violent history rooted in the dehumanization of black people. What followed was silence. And silence in moment like this is acceptance.
087On April the 22nd, we sent a formal letter to the board. We asked for a meeting. We asked for leadership. To this day, we've received no response. Let me be clear. Refusing to agendaize this issue does not erase the harm. It deepens the divide. Speaker, your time is up. Our next speaker is Bradley Zaminski. Bradley, please come forward. Go ahead, Bradley. Can I reclaim my time, please? Okay. I'll ask all speakers to please be prepared when they come to the podium. Thank you. I would like to express my disappointment and frustration with how this board has sherked accountability to their students, constituents, and community members. Last month, I witnessed this board seemingly prioritize voices that align with the moms for uh lipetry majority on uh this board and has also yet to hold board member
088Balakis accountable for the harm she caused this community when she used a racial slur during the uh March meeting. As a result, this board has implicitly endorsed this kind of behavior, placing black students at further harm, at risk of further harm. In order to rebuild this board's trust with the community, I would first like board member Balucas to explain her in her own words why her actions were harmful and insensitive. Second, I would like the whole board to engage in racial sensitivity training showing a willingness to learn and grow in the same way their students are expected. Finally, for now, I would like this board to reinstate the policy of the previous board to extend time for public comment. Your time is up. speaker. Our next speaker is Linda Moore. Linda, please come forward. Okay.
089I want to address what I observed at last month's board meeting, and I arrived early at 5:00 p.m. to participate in the scheduled protest against Trusty Balancas's use of the N-word. But I noticed a group of about 20 people gathered at the entrance and recognized several as having spoken at many pre previous board meetings. Their focus always being on the uh right-wing topics banning books for forbidding CRT uh demanding parent notification. And this group appeared to con convince the security to set up the delineators early and they quickly got into that line. That was followed later by a group of high school students associated with them. What this caused was for the speakers first speakers allowed to speak and thank you Miss Moore. Our next speaker is Amber Smith. I condemn trustee C Christa Castiano's
090actions for fueling division over another trustes use of a word used in a life in a literary discussion by rushing to censor another trustee while ignoring the context a book with the n-word over 400 times and excusing similar language from speakers that also said the n-word, and everybody clapped and cheered for them, hypocrites. Her selective outrage prioritizes politics over unity, stifling honest dialogue about complex issues. Instead of fostering understanding, she inflames tensions, undermining our shared values. We need leaders who bridge divides, not widen them. Let's demand fairness and unity from our board. And on another note, when other people are speaking, we remain silent. I was screamed at the whole time I spoke both times last month. And I'm not Mom's for Liberty. Our next speaker is Shan K. Hello. Um, I'd like to recognize
091the horrific crash um involving the Dana Hills High School students, including the death of 16-year-old student Rebecca Sisbetus and injuring five freshman. My heart and prayer go prayers go out to the families, friends, and staff of Dana Hills. This accident involved children, and this one moment doesn't define any of them. However, it potentially involved drinking and driving. I'd like to request that the district utilize the JAD program as a preventative measure instead of a punitive one. Um, and on a totally different note, not myself, Amber, or anybody else involved here on the board or otherwise are moms of Moms for Liberty. Not one of us. That concludes our speakers and I will reiterate those who presented a request to speak but could not be accommodated within our 20-minut allotted time are allowed to speak after
092all other business of the board has been completed. Thank you. At this time I'd like to open the public hearing regarding the 202526 local control and accountability plan. The time is now 88. Yeah. Miss Hayes, do we have any speaker cards for public hearing? There are none. There are none. At this time, I'd like to open the public hearing regarding the proposed No, just kidding. We're going to go ahead and do that. And the public hearing is now closed and the time is 8:19. At this time, we'd like to open the public hearing regarding the 2526 proposed budget adoption. The time is still 8:19. Mrs. Hayes, do you have any speaker cards for the public hearing? There are none. Okay. And it is now closed at 8:19. Okay. And we're moving on to discussion action
093items and 14A 2526 local control and accountability plan. This is an information item only and no board action is necessary. I'd like to recognize Greg Merwin, associate superintendent, who will introduce the item. Thank you, President Davis and trustees. Staff presents item 14A, Local Control and Accountability Plan, or also known as the LCAP. This is an information item we are presenting to you proposed to the proposed 2526 LCAP, which is the second year of a three-year plan. This year, uh, to gather feedback from the CU CUSD community, Dr. Gomez who's sitting next to me here and I intentionally combined forces and brought together the concept of a world-class education and vision of a CUTD graduate with the LCAP integrated those and then we held 16 different uh engaging interactive meetings with different stakeholders including our high
094school students, teachers, classified staff, principles and parents and we encouraged conversation and we presented those together and u we received great feedback from those conversations and those then are being funneled into the LCAP work. So Dr. Gomez is going to share a couple other um highlights and an overview and he will take it from here. Good evening members of the board. I want to thank you so much for the ability to address this part. But our LCAP feedback season was absolutely amazing. And I want to highlight one particular meeting that we had and that was with our DAC um members. And the most amazing thing about what we did in these engagement sessions and we did them across the district as Dr. Merwin shared. But in th that particular meeting, we had families that spoke
095Russian, Mandarin, Spanish, English. And this room was filled with with our families moving through talking about the vision of a CUSD grad. And it was probably one of the most inspiring things to see our parents in all those different languages give us such rich feedback. One about the things that we're doing well and the things we can grow on. It was absolutely inspiring and th those comments throughout all of our sessions have been reflected in our LCAP process. We are also going through uh technical review with the Orange County Department of Education. So, they are giving us feedback. Uh there's no uh particular action that the board would take tonight. Um but that would come back to you for approval in your June board meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Do we have any comments?
096Okay. Thank you. All right. And Mrs. Haste, do we have any [Music] um Thank you. Okay. And this is just an action item. So, we'll move on to 14B 2526, proposed budget adoption. It's an information item only. Also, there will be no board action necessary. I'd like to recognize Clark Hampton, who will introduce the item. I don't need the little microphone just yet. So, you might need it. So, thank you, President Davis, trustees. So, this is is a preview of our budget for 2526. And I want to thank uh Philip Townsen and her staff for the work that they do all year long getting ready for these times when we uh present the budget to you. You may also notice in the item we have a new format uh for the budget. We have a
097budget book which provides a little more detail to the community on how the budget is built and then ultimately uh where the money is uh spent. I'd like to now turn it over to Philip Townsen to present the item to you. Thank you. Good evening. So this is the initial look at the 2526 budget before it is brought back for adoption on June 18th. The assumptions in this budget reflect the information from the governor's January budget. Obviously, the May revise just came out last week. Um, the COLA percentage used in this budget is 2.43 and at the May revise, it did come in slightly lower at 2.3%. In addition, the May revise proposed a lower amount of revenue for the transitional kindergarten smaller class size that we're going to see next year. It was lower
098than the initial proposal in January. And the reduction in funding was recommended by the legislative analysts office because they said that they they felt the amount of money provided was more than the cost of the implementation. None of that proposed revenue has been included in this budget. So once the state budget has been signed at the end of June, we will revise the budget and and include that revenue and adjust the COLA. So this slide shows what happens with the COLA when it's introduced a year before. Um the COLA started out at 2.93% and as indications came in that inflation was lower, the COLA was lowered and so we went from a high of 2.93% a year ago to 2.3% now which means of course that the revenue that we will get just decreases as
099we go through the year. So we have to adjust our budget as we go. So the 2.3% cola for 2526 is now fixed as of the May revised and it won't change again. This chuck I'm sorry I'm on the wrong line. So 2526 is the final year of the transitional kindergarten implementation and with a reduction in class size from 12 students to one adult to 10 students to one adult, we expect to have at least 70 classes of transitional kindergarten this year. And those classes consists of an AM and a PM class of 10 students each this upcoming year. This is our multi-year projection. Shows the reserve levels for the current multi-year. It does not include any new revenue proposed by the governor. It does not include the revised lower cola or any recent negotiated
100settlements with our bargaining units. All of these items will be incorporated into the revised budget that will be presented with the unodited actuals data on August 13th. And just to switch gears a little bit and talk about insurance challenges that we're facing. Um, as you all probably know, insurance for all types of, uh, things such as property, uh, car insurance, uh, property and liability have all been increasing and our liability insurance is the same. Since 2019, our insurance has gone up almost 200%. U one of the reasons for that is AB218 which uh changed the time allowed for individuals to file for claims. In addition to their annual premiums that have increased, districts have also been required to make additional one-time payments for the last four years to cover the cost of the additional lawsuits
101stemming from AB218. And since most districts in California use the same insurance company, a skip and self. A skip is our basic insurance and self is our additional insurance kind of like an umbrella insurance. Um so as you can see in the chart the um payments have increased every year and we're expected expecting to pay again next year but we don't know how much since we are all covered by the same insurance company. We all get a bill each year and the bill goes back to 198687 and we all pay additional amounts based on that. I just want to be clear, this is additional coverage for the insurance. It doesn't mean we've actually had claims against us in this area. So, just to be clear for the public, it doesn't mean we're getting a lot
102of claims from this. It just it's a group insurance rate and so claims anywhere raise the rates for everyone everywhere. Correct. So the 202526 budget we've will be brought back for adoption on June 18th and once the state budget is signed the revised budget will come back for for approval on August 13th. And with that I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. Mrs. Hayes, do we have any speaker cards on this item? We have one speaker card. Mr. Mr. Christopher Mesa, please come forward. Dr. Good evening. My name is Christopher Ma and I serve as the chair of for criminal justice for the NAACP OC branch. I'm here tonight to speak about the near elimination of cultural proficiency funding. This year, the district spent just $17,000 out of a $380,000 budget, a
10395% cut. And now you're proposing only $25,000 for next year. This is unacceptable. Cultural proficiency training provides the skills and understanding to serve our diverse community. Defunding it, especially now, is not just irresponsible, it's harmful. On March 12th, Trusty Balakis used the n-word at this dis on April 23rd. Instead of accountability, we saw coordinated efforts to silence the community. Balis even accused Trusty Castianos of summoning those people. Let's be clear, black community members are not summoned. They are speaking out because they were harmed. Yet instead of investing in antibbias training, you're gutting it. And some on this board still defend the use of the n-word if it's in an academic context. No. The community has told you clearly it is never okay. This board must do three things because Balakis will not resign. The board
104must centure trustee Balacis. Number two, ban racial slurs in policy. And number three, fully fund cultural proficiency to prevent this harm from continuing. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Okay, trustees, comments. Okay, thank you. And we'll move on to 14C. Thank you. CSD CARES well-being update year two. This is an information item only and no board action is necessary. And I'll like to recognize Greg Merwin, associate superintendent, student and support services, who will introduce the item. Thank you very much, President Davis and trustees. Staff presents item 14 C, CD Care's well-being update year two in review. So the presentation this evening will include updates regarding the programs, the resources, the trainings for CUSD CARES, as well as our successes and our lessons learned from our second year of implementation. Finally, we will conclude with
105next steps for the 2526 school year. In support of the item, in the back of the room, we have principal Oakrove Elementary School, Dr. Emmer Robles. We have coordinator of athletics and activities, Mr. Greg Kemp, and coordinator of counseling sports services, Mr. Omero Kural. So first and foremost, CUC Cares is about supporting the well-being of our students so that they can be successful in their educational careers. CST Cares emphasizes three different uh components. It encourages positive connections, building a sense of school community, and providing multiple opportunities for celebration. So as you all know, COD Cares also addresses well-being of our staff. But tonight, as we look at year two and review, we are focusing first and foremost on our students and the utmost importance of their well-being. So, listed on the slide are the programs,
106resources, trainings that we will be quickly reviewing uh that we implemented this past year uh that directly or indirectly support our students and we will provide you a brief update at the end regarding our next steps. So I always start with this slide because I want to remind everyone of how CUSD cares fits into our system of support for our students. So this image shows the multi-tered system of support and you can see on the b the bottom the base of this are three areas where we how we support our students. We support them with teaching and learning, positive behavior and also student well-being. You notice then the red highlight that is then the student well-being portion of this system and that is how CD cares fits in to the multi-tered system of support. CD
107cares provide support for students in tier one meaning all benefits tier 2 some that need more support and tier three where a few of our students need intensive support. So as we speak tonight yes we address teaching and learning and positive behavior but tonight is about the student well-being portion. So jumping right in, the first uh component of CUD CARES for our second year are our student centers. As you can see here, we have increased the number of schools with these rooms to six. Each school has customized their room to be unique to their school setting and their culture. Students are always part of the design process and the work is supported by Orange County Department of Ed as well as Children's Hospital of Orange County. Um the examples here on this slide are from
108Marco Forester Middle School and this is Rocky's calm room and that was named by the student body in in name of uh Rocky the roadrunner. Of course, uh additional schools will be receiving the student centers in next year. I'll share those details when you with the next steps at the end of the presentation. Onor Cares Middle School inter mural sports program. And looking at the numbers, it was a huge success this year. And so, let me point out a couple of the ways that we built on the success from last year. First and foremost, we went from three to four different sports that were played by our middle school students. Secondly, notice the participation rate. We went up 14 over 14% from last year with nearly now a third of our middle schoolers participating in
109at least one of those sports. and hearing from student board member Verono, she was mentioning how that came up in her uh focus groups as well as being an important part of their experience. So, uh continuing on with the data from this from this program, we are seeing similar trends compared to last year and those trends are that students who are participating have uh higher attendance rates and fewer suspension and discipline issues compared to students who did not participate. And we wanted to go a little bit deeper this year. And so this is a preview of the CD cares surveys that were presented in the spring. We pulled one of those questions out that really got at the heart of uh do are students feeling connected to school. And so we wanted to ask our
110then look at how our inter mural participants answered that question because ultimately the inter murals should help them feel more connected. So, as this table demonstrates, 64% of the inter mural participants stated agreed or strongly agreed with that statement. I feel like I am part of this school. Comparing that to the non-inter mural participants, uh only 55% answered it the same way. So then understanding the success of the middle school program uh and and recognizing that CSD cares from the beginning of it inception had a focus on middle school middle schoolers in particular they have unique needs as superintendent as student member student board member Verando mentioned in her focus groups she learned too that they have unique needs and so we focused from the beginning on our middle schoolers uh they're coming into from
111elementary to middle and then they're going from middle to high school. It's an important part of our students uh progression. However, we also recognize elementary students need support and we heard that loud and clear last year when we were presenting this where elementary families said, "Well, what about elementary students?" Uh teachers and principles at elementary said, "How about could we do something for elementary as well?" Thus, the elementary lunchtime sports pilot was born. And so this program was piloted at 12 of our elementary schools starting in January and will conclude at the end of the month. Uh this was this is a one day a week sports program during lunchtime for our elementary students kindergarten through 5th for anyone who wants to participate. As you can see here it was typically on a Tuesday, Wednesday
112or Thursday and that there were those 12 schools participated. the different games that they uh participated in are listed there and unofficially we did hear soccer, basketball, flag football, the favorites. So we also then wanted to look and see uh uh were there similar trends with the inter mural sports compared to the elementary lunchtime sports and yes we did see similar trends of some positive uh impacts of the program. So you can see over 2,300 students participated across the 12 schools and of those students participating they had higher attendance rates and they had fewer discipline referrals. Uh we also included a couple of principal testimonials and overall uh principles were very uh pleased with the program and and said you know there are fewer discipline issues. Kids are excited to come they come running out
113when they know it's lunchtime sports that day and they're very excited. So it's had a positive impact on our elementary schools. You'll recall last year as we presented uh our first year we focused on mindfulness training for our teachers and uh we um presented that to teachers and then after last year's experience we then said let's go ahead and and design something for our parents. So we uh this year as part of year two of CSD cares provided a four session webinar series for our parents on mindfulness. So you can see the different topics from the different weeks uh from communication, connections, parenting etc. uh using mindfulness strategies. Uh as you can see we had 51 parents attend. However, of the now that's a small number. We recognize that. But those 51 notice the the
114results and how they responded. uh over 90% either agreed or strongly agreed that it was helpful and uh 80 nearly 88% saying they've learned something they could apply at home with their students. We also continued from last year we continued with our mental health training for staff. So, CUCT Cares is built on again a focus on middle school. Uh, and this training is something that empowers our staff to be aware of student me student mental health needs as well as signs that a student may need help. Uh, the commitment again and this year was any new middle school staff would be trained. And then you'll recall from last spring, uh, trustees gave great feedback and said, "How about our high school super student supervisors? They could really benefit from this training." So, we went ahead
115and we trained them during our November 1st professional development day. We also continued to offer uh mental health training to any employees that wanted it over the summer and then also on that November uh student free day. Also, in year two, we uh continued to explore the concept of student well-being check-ins. Last year, we piloted with one program. This year, we came back and we piloted with two different programs, Sonow and Panorama. Uh so as a reminder, the concept of this is that it provides students the opportunity to share how they're feeling on a weekly basis using a one to two minute prompt that they access on their Chromebooks. Uh the responses are then are viewed by their teacher, counselor, the administrator on site, and then any families can have access to those responses anytime
116they'd like upon request. The bottom line here as we look at the at the results uh we need to continue to explore and investigate this. The reason is uh we we did ask our pilot teachers for their feedback from this past year and we did have a small window of time for the pilot. It was only February until uh uh last month. 35 responses was not a large sample size and then also uh 60% strongly agreed or agreed they would want to use them next year. The majority of the respondents preferred SO to grow because of ease of use, uh, student written responses, different ways to use it. Uh, you'll note the quotes on the slide that counselor feedback and teacher feedback, it's mixed. So, it is not a strong endorsement for for this uh
117for this approach. You'll notice in the teacher feedback uh positive things, but also saying I just don't understand how this how this connects. I don't this is intrusive. How do I fit this into my day? So uh I'll share with the next steps at the very end on what we've learned from this. So on to the surveys. I've already previewed one of the questions with you based on the inter murals. But uh one of our commitments after last year was to create a system of being able to measure the uh measure our effectiveness of our programs and collect feedback from our families, our students, our staff regarding safety and well-being. How do they feel on our campuses? and then determine what we're doing if it works or not. So, thus we came forward then with
118the CSD cares safety and well-being surveys. Uh this was administered during two a two-e period uh in April. This was for students, for staff, and for families. And please note the incredible participation rates by our students. We had 26,000 students participate in this survey in grades 3 through 12. That's a 270% increase in participation of students compared to 2024 student surveys. Staff was similar to compared to previous surveys on the number of families. A 25% increase in participation. This is establishing the baseline for us because this is a brand new survey and we don't have anything to compare to uh because it's apples to oranges with previous surveys. But this is very exciting to have very authentic uh voice from students, staff and families regarding how we're doing in these five areas. So you can
119see the different survey categories that were presented to the to uh the during the survey. The ones we're focusing on tonight are related to CST cares safety and sense of belonging. So before we jump into those uh results very quickly, here's what it looks like when you get the responses on a particular question. This is district-wide uh response based on this statement for connectedness. I am happy to be at school, right? What's their feeling of sense of belonging and connectedness at their school site? Notice what we see are yes all all of the time, yes most of the time, some of the time and no never. So the way that the survey data are are um collected and shared with us, you can see the number total number of students that that answered, you can
120see the percentage of the total that answered that way. But note the yes some of the time because that's important that when it's kind of a neutral is not considered favorable and it's not considered unfavorable. it is truly neutral. It is not part of the favorable responses when they say yes some of the time that is not considered favorable. So as we look at the next responses please remember that because that in other surveys that would potentially be favorable but not in the way that Panorama has organized the data for us. So take a look at that as we move forward. Here we go for safety. There's about six questions on on safety and note the overall percentage of favorable responses. Elementary and secondary students overall 67% favorable. Families 88% favorable. Staff 79% favorable. You'll
121note in both of the the this slide and the next slide, families are reporting the highest favorable scores for this topic. And then when you notice the students even though for the overall both sets of students were 67% you'll note that from elementary to secondary when you dig into the individual questions there's actually a decrease from elementary to secondary in that sense of safety. So for example looking at that question how safe do you feel when you are at school or in online school sessions you have elementary students saying 75% are favorable but 20% neutral. So remember that because that means that you have 5% unfavorable. Okay? So the 70% 75% favorable doesn't mean the other 25 are not favorable. It just means 20% are neutral on the topic. So that's important. And then also
122for secondary then you can see 68% favorable, 23% neutral. So there's a shift definitely in their responses as they move from elementary into middle and high school. When we look at sense of belonging and again that's school connectedness then the elementary students score 75% secondary 69% favorable families 91% favorable staff 80%. Again families reporting the highest uh scores uh for favor favorable scores for belonging and there's a decrease again from elementary to secondary but note the difference when you look at the individual questions. I feel close to people at the school, identical favorable scores for elementary and secondary. A little difference in the neutral scores, but then when you look at that connectedness, I feel like I am part of the school. Notice the difference. But again, I want to point out that the neutral
123percentage secondary 31% are scoring neutral. So just note that 56% favorable doesn't mean the rest are unfavorable. Okay? at the you just have a large portion where students are kind of ambivalent kind of they're kind of sort they're answering more in a neutral setting. We also want to share with you how our principles are going to use this. So this is an actual look at Dr. Jenkins dashboard of the scores from uh Union High School. And this is what she sees when she opens up her computer and looks at her CSD CARES uh scores. Notice no let's see if I can use this. Oh, look at that. All right. So, note she can look at students separately and that's what she sees here. All five domains and then you have the the difference compared to
124the district. Okay? So, she can see how is she comparing with the district uh with the district averages. Each one of these is a drill down. So, she can go into different student groups. She can look at grade levels. She can look at it all different ways. And then note she has it broken down by all the the other respondents, teachers and staff and family members. And then she can actually pull all of them together and compare them side uh right next to each other to see what the trends are. All of our principles have the data access to it right now just like this. So they can already start building their plans for next year on what are they going to do to uh help students feel safe, safety, belonging. Notice there's also, we're
125not getting into it tonight, but grading, fairness of discipline, rules and norms, and support for academic learning. So, hitting a lot on a lot of the things that student board member Rando uh asked in her focus groups were brought out in this survey. And just to wrap up, two final things. We do we did hold our first ever CUC care safety and well-being expo. This was on May the 2nd at Kenosha Elementary School. We had about 200 families and staff uh staff members attend because again CUC cares about employees and families. Uh you can see m multiple organizations were there to provide resources and services and we were treated to incredible presentations first and foremost by the Camino Coros the Mariachi band from Marco Forester. Also, the San Clemeni High School sparkle team was there
126sparkling away. And then the local San Juan Capistrono Native American tribe member Jackie Nunees uh performed for us as well. And finally, uh you'll recall from previous presentations, we created a CD Care's employee poster that has a QR code for employees to go to resources and assistance programs for employees. Uh looking at that this year, we said, you know what? What if we created a poster for students specific to their school on what they would like on ways to connect on sense of community, ways to celebrate activities, events, etc. Because really students don't care at all about this district office. They care about their school. And so we worked with the very innovative creative uh principal John Musen at Capo Valley High School and we are mocking up a Capo Valley Cares poster that we
127will roll out in the fall at Capo Valley with a QR code specific to their school uh on all the posters so students can easily access um when are the next events coming up, what are different things happening, how can they connect and and uh be part of the community there at Capo Valley. If it works, and we believe it will, then we would support all all of our high schools in developing similar posters. Okay. So then looking to the future, what what does uh year three look like for CUSD Cares? Uh first and foremost, we'll continue to build out our student centers. Shorliffs Middle School is nearly done. So that'll be open early fall. And then New Hart Middle School, Lara Ranch Middle, and Don Janu Middle School. All of them will have uh
128student centers by the end of the year. Middle school inter mural sports will continue. We will we will continue to seek out community partnerships. Uh we will continue to uh use the five-star program to get uh accurate data on who's participating so we can monitor and really decide again we have a third of the students participating but that means twothirds are not. So they're not connecting with the sports program. So what else can we do that are non-sports activities to get them more involved uh at our middle schools? And I'm going to run all this by uh uh student board member Verando and B and connect it to her data and make sure it fits with what she heard. Also, we'll continue the training for staff um middle new middle school staff will be trained
129as well as optional trainings for other staff members on during the summer and on the November non- studentent day. We will expand districtwide so that every uh K5 student will have access to noon time sports program next year. And we're going to focus on Mondays and Fridays because we know that's our toughest day for attendance, right? Mondays and Fridays are the toughest days. So, we're going to we're going to schedule them on Mondays and Fridays and we hope uh Deputy Superintendent Hampton, we're going to see good rises in attendance based on that at our elementary schools. Uh we'll continue to provide mindfulness training. We're going to do another series for parents and this time we will uh we really want to build it into an entire year of parent workshops for our families. let them
130know at the beginning of the year and market it and really create like a parent institute or a parent university and have multiple options of trainings and the mindfulness would be one option for our families next year uh to if they wanted to learn more about that with the well-being check-ins. We're going to stop. We're going to pause and we're going to talk to our teachers, our counselors and administrators and see what what the work is with them. What are best practices with a check-in system? We know some of our teachers use them on their own where they check in informally with their kids. We know that it's working in some places and not in others. So, we're going to spend some time and talk to them uh before we decide how do we proceed
131forward with additional pilots. We will update the board accordingly. We'll continue to use CD Care's survey uh next year. We will uh support our schools because they can customize their own versions of the survey. If they want to get at uh different questions for their schools, they can create different versions of it so they can ask more specific questions for their schools. And we want to continue to dig deeper to see what's working and what's not with CSD Cares with our students, our staff, and our families. We'll roll out the student posters cappa valley, see how those go and then we will start uh developing and planning for our next district's e expo in 2526. We are excited about continuing this important work. We appreciate the support of our board and happy to answer any
132questions that you have. Thank you. Miss Hayes, do we have any speaker cards on this item? We have three speaker cards. I'll ask you to line up. Ann, Dedra, and Michelle. Ann, go ahead. Okay. Um, my name is Ann. I'm uh a mom and a nurse practitioner and really tired. I don't know how you guys do this all night. Um, COD CARES is a wonderful program. Uh and I think it is important that we that the board thinks about and the schools think about um caring for all the kids and the diversity of kids and um so really I mean I was I think it's important that there be a conversation about diversity and um and how we use our language. And I appreciate Trusty Castellanos wanting to have a conversation and just have it
133on the agenda to talk about accountability and sensitivity. And I appreciate you trying, Trusty Castellanos. Um so and I think it's really important too that um we think about you know all kids that are um in a marginalized group and um you know we're in a pretty um white district but there's there's all kinds of um kids that are diverse and there's you know LGBTQ kids and trans kids and they all need extra care. They're the ones being bullied and I appreciate your time. Thank you. Dedra, please come forward. Good evening again, Dearra Harris, president of NAACP. I first want to applaud the efforts of this wonderful program of CSUD CARES. And I secondly, it raises a question that many of us are probably challenged with at this moment and is that does the CSUSD
134board really care. Are you concerned about all children and their safety and their well-being? Because this community has called on this board to act and to publicly condemn the use of racial slurs, to praise a critical item on the agenda, and to take re real steps to rebuild the trust. This isn't about politics. This is about principle. It's about protecting our children. The NAACP has spent centuries, over 116 years, fighting to dismantle systems of injustice. Because of our sacrifice, because of our labor, because of our advocacy, because of our voices, women like you are able to hold seats. That's the women's rights. We all know our history. But with power comes responsibility. The children are watching and we will continue watching. Thank you. Our next speaker is Michelle. Good evening. My name is Michelle. I
135have three kids in CUSD, a TK and seventh grader at BDM and a freshman at St. Lenny High School. I want to highlight what a valuable asset the CUSD cares program is to this district. In particular, the middle school intramural sports program has been fantastic. Uh my kid has done it two years in a row. Um it gives our students an opportunity to visit other schools. They got to ride a bus, which was really fun. They really enjoyed that. Um and they get to engage with peers from different communities. One of the stated goals of the CUSD cares program is to foster connection and strengthen our sense of school community. So, I asked the board, "How does your silence, your complete lack of response after Judy said the N-word during a public meeting contribute to
136a sense of community?" Your inaction sends a painful message to our black students, families, and staff that their dignity and safety are not worth defending. And it tells the entire community that racism can be met with silence. The n-word is a harmful racial slur. Saying it is racist. Defending it is racist. Words matter. Leadership matters. And accountability matters. Hold Judy accountable. Our children are watching. I urge you to be on the right side of history. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. Trustees, discussion, comments. Well, I would like to say how much I appreciate it. And when I got on the board, that was the first thing I wanted to do was get sports back in middle school and elementary school. So, thank you. I I've been able to attend quite a bit of the
137events and I love it and I I love the statistics and how it's how it's helping our students in so many ways and um making a difference. So, thank you. And I love the panorama and what we're doing with that and how we're actually really working hard to um get feedback from our community. So, thank you very much. Okay. And we will move on. Oh, I'm sorry, Gila. I'm sorry. I didn't notice that. No, sorry. Um, so I have several questions. Um, when uh Trusty V uh Trusty Verando mentioned uh the counselor info that students say they don't want to see counselors, I have to say I'm pretty alarmed that counselors are just saying to the parents, "Oh, your child is being bullied." I I that seems problematic, but uh that aside uh because I
138don't want them to be afraid to tell their counselors. Um but um I felt that um if students are afraid to be seeing their counselors, it seems like if we're feeding this data to counselors, I'm not sure exactly what good it's doing if they um are concerned for a variety of reasons. One one remark I believe we said was they don't like being called out of class because then they know that they it's known that they were tattling or something. Um so I I hope we can address that. Um you don't necessarily need to respond. I'm just if you want to respond, go ahead. I just I'm just throwing these things out there. I appreciate the feedback. Keep going. Okay. So um regarding the inter murals back on slide six, can we see slide six
139again? um it's probably hard to determine with you know attendance and suspensions and discipline whether it's improved for specific participants. What I kind of wonder is whether the inner murals end up sort of self- selecting the kids who are uh have better attendance, less suspension, less discipline. So, I'm just wondering if if there's any sort of a way, even if we only did it at one middle school, to kind of try to figure it out because to do it at all of them would be hard, but one middle school might be able to look at the data and and and help us somehow because if you know, I love the the middle school inter murals, don't get me wrong, but but I think we need to know whether um it's like it's like the A
140students are getting the best grades, you know, it's are we self- selecting those kids or act not we're not selecting them but they are self- selecting um the kids who who are going to tend to have fewer suspensions, discipline, etc. Um I'm also wondering if we can ask some some kind of demographic question so we can understand what types of students for example don't feel safe. Is it the students who Is it the mostly the sixth graders in middle school? Is it the students who don't have siblings? I I mean, I'm just throwing that out there, but but could we be getting some demographics? I know that in the old uh check survey, we got all kinds of demographics, and I don't know that I I think it's worthwhile doing that. So, we absolutely can
141with Yeah. asking a few demographic questions. Is it girls more than boys, etc.? Um, and if I could if I could say too, we actually we I appreciate the feedback on kind of digging deeper in. Is it what what types of students are are accessing it and is it making a difference for them compared to prior to and then after or during the inter murals, right? We can actually look at the data of student by decile. So we could look at the students that are that the the highest decile with the best grades compared to the lowest desile with with the lowest grades and see what types of students are engaging and then what the difference is with that. So we will absolutely do that as a next step. Yeah. Something to just tell us
142a little bit more. Yes. Um, and um, I also wanted to say I thought it was interesting that that the parents thinks the schools are safe and the kids are maybe not so much. But I think to parents they're thinking about physical safety whereas kids are thinking about being bullied, being teased that feels unsafe to them. I don't think they mostly think that the there's lack of physical safety in their school. That doesn't occur to most kids. Um, so I think that that's kind of an interesting issue that we're assuming that parents thinks it's safe and kids not so much. But I think it means something different to parents. If I could speak to that actually. So a couple of things. So one, we know who the kids are. So we don't need to ask
143demographic datas because it's linked to them. Okay. So the principles absolutely can data. I was aware of that. Okay. Um, the other thing is when it when we show the data here, it's it's aggregated into a category called safety, but it's multiple questions, right? So, so that parents had to answer questions about bullying and mental safety versus safe in bathrooms, right? And so principles can dig out. So you could have different principles at different sites who actually have the same safety number but very different reasons and way they got to that number and so very different interventions that they would have to then put in at their site. Um, so with 54 sites, it's different every site. We just aggregate it for the district, but okay, each principal can actually already look at that. Okay,
144I appreciate that and I I wasn't aware of that. Um, and then I just did want to make sure that schools had some ability to u customize this for things they wanted to know at their school that some other school doesn't need to know that. Yes, absolutely. Next year principles will be trained in how they can create their own variation. They can ask different questions. We'll we'll keep something as a standard districtwide so we have an apples to apples every year but schools will have that option too. But they can add three or four questions. customize something on their own to send out and check on that. They can actually give ad hoc. So if if for example a principal says, "Hey, we're having a sense of belonging that's a little lower than our peer
145dis peer schools. We're going to implement this particular intervention for sense of belonging, they actually give little ad hoc surveys throughout the year to monitor their progress using the same questions that are in the big survey or variations of those questions that are norm referenced across the country. Um so that they don't have to wait for April to see how their intervention did, right? they can roll an intervention out and then in six weeks in October really look and say are we moving the needle or not so that's one of the powers of having a platform like this is that principles can go quick teacher even teachers can go quick in their rooms because they can see the data by their class and I know you're very familiar with panorama these guys are just beginners
146at it so so I appreciate all that I have a question um I believe it's called the five-star um program that we use in high school yes and middle school as and in middle school. Okay. So, are they using that to participate in different things? Because that was the question is identifying the kids not engaging and then being able to have the administration figure out a way to reach out and encourage them, find encourage them, find what would what would it take for you to, you know, come and join us and to participate. So, they're going to use this in the same way. Most middle schools are using it regularly and that's how they're tracking the inter murals to see who's participating, who's not. And they even use it to see who's in the audience
147watching, spectators watching if when they have it in an area where they can kind of keep track of which students are there just observing the games. They can even see who's participating that way, which is also then they're feeling connected even though they're not playing. So we'll continue. We just need to make sure that it's consistently used across all middle schools for all four all four sports so that we can have um really authentic data. Thank you. Other trustees. Yeah. Is there a body of research on connectedness related to staff? And because it it strikes me as odd that 20% of our staff don't feel connected to the school site and that has to translate in some kind of variability. how students perceive the safety and and fairness and and justice within, you know, their
148environment. Absolutely. The way they feel impacts how the students feel. Yeah. I would Yeah. Yeah. And the there are, as the superintendent was saying, about five or six questions then that the staff answered that the principles can dig into deeper and see what what was the, you know, what's the underlying theme underneath those questions and then maybe figure out some options, work with staff to Why do you feel this way? Yeah. Because that does impact students. Yeah. And Dr. Pritchard, there is research that talks about the sense of belonging um and connectedness for staff as a measure of the culture of the school and the collective teacher efficacy, which um John had researches talks about how the greater the collective teacher efficacy you have, the greater the student outcomes you get. So you're absolutely right.
149The reason we ask teachers is students connectedness and students belonging matters, but your teachers have to connect and belong as well. So uh it's it's we got to work on both things. We go back to that slide on teachers the which which slide well that Dr. Pritchard is mentioning the so it would be the survey results and then you can see that I thought it was like 5%. So staff 79 is safe safety and then the sense of belonging so the 80% there can be broken down then each princip so it's a yes or a no it wasn't a no it's it's actually five or six questions where it's strongly agree agree agree some of the time most of the time it's so they're various 20 and 21% yeah so like here 80% of the
150staff would say they feel connected generally across the district that they feel aense sense of connectedness, but that means 20% don't, right? And 21% don't feel safe. So, or that's my wonder. Are they or neutral or is it that they don't feel safe? Because we didn't bring out the neutral of the staff and there is a neutral percentage. So, that would definitely f factor into it. So, maybe we can bring that back because I'd like to see that because that's a that's a very different number. Be happy to share that. Great. Thank you. And the and the last thing I'd like to mention is that rather than focusing on bullying, we mentioned quite a few times in a few different parts, let's work on building strength, building character, self-esteem, focusing on um character and grit.
151So, let's help continue to build that into what we're working on. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Thank you, trustees. Thank you. Okay. And we're moving on to 14D resolution number 2425-30 supporting title 9 and fairness in girls interscolastic sports. May have a motion to adopt resolution 2425-30 supporting title 9 and fairness and girls in intercolastic sports. So moved. Second. Okay. Moved by trustee Adnum. Second by trustee Bolicus. I'd like to offer a substitute motion um which is that rather than voting on this resolution tonight, we ask the two superintendent to put it on a board workshop agenda as soon as can be done uh reasonably. Um and this is just an effort to see if there's some kind of common ground. I think there are uh families that feel uh concerned about this and
152I and you know I'm I'm not saying there's something wrong with this but I I I think we need to discuss what families feelings are. So Okay. Do we have a second on the substitute motion? Second. Okay. Trustee um seconded by Trusty Castianos and I will go ahead and present the item. Okay. All right. And and will we have a Hey, do you have something to present on that? All right. So, there's a substitute motion on the floor. Go ahead and present the item, right? It's not amending. So, it's a substitute. So, you can present the item. Um we will then discussion uh hear from the public and then you'll vote on the substitute motion first and then if it passes it passes and it carries the first one with it. If it doesn't pass
153then you would vote on the original motion after the substitute motion. Okay. So public comment comes with after the presentation. Yeah. So public comment would come before voting either way on either motion. Okay. So public comment before my presentation and also before No, you can present. Okay. if you have something to present for your motion and then Lisa will present. Okay. And then public comment. So, um be shortly after Trustee Zinger and Adams were um were elected, I met with them and talked to them about I said, "Well, you know, I didn't support your campaigns, but I said, we're on the same team now and we're going to work for kids together." So, I looked up in the dictionary, what does team mean? And I got a couple of definitions. One is a number of
154person persons associated in some joint action. And here's an amusing one. Two or more horses, oxen, or other animals harnessed together to draw a vehicle, plow, or the like. We're not doing that. Um, but the point is that team members work together for a common goal. And the goal of this board in this district is always to do the best for our students. I've talked to trustee Zolinger and Adams and also Trusty Bulockus in workshops. I can't recall if I've talked to Trust Davis about this, so whatever. Um, about consensus and decision-making and working as a team and the four of us um again I'm I I can't remember with Trusty Davis um agreed that working together as a team and coming to consensus was a good thing. I I'm not going to state that
155I have anything in favor of this resolution or against it. I don't think that's the point. It's not I'm not going to say it's a good one or bad one. What I'm going to say is I know there are people in the community who think it may have larger implications that it's the precursor to things that will be more objectionable. There are fears. There are concerns. And this we just talked about connectedness for kids. This harms connectedness for some kids. So, the reason I'd like to do a workshop is it would give the board the opportunity to make our intentions more clear to the public and address specific concerns. The last board meeting was contentious. This board meeting was not as bad and I thank the audience for that. Um, but contentiousness on the board,
156even if it's just among the board members, doesn't move the needle for kids. And I actually think maybe the worst part of it is the reputation for contentiousness in this district may cause families not to move into CUSD, not to put their school children in our schools. It may discourage good candidates from applying to work in this district. And we have to be thinking about this again. It's not about this resolution. It's about contentiousness. Um, I don't know whether Dr. Brown would have applied to this district to be our superintendent if he thought we had a reputation for contentiousness. So, I do not think, know, believe that a workshop would for sure change the outcome on the vote. I'm I'm not trying to get it a different outcome there. I think there it sounds from
157the the morers and seconds that we would have we've got four votes for this. Um, and I don't have a problem with that. But if we have a discussion, even if not a single thing changes, then still it's a it's better because it means we're no longer seven different information individuals. We are a team that works together to try to reach consensus. Just tries just tries. Um maybe the resolution would be changed a little bit to allay to some community concerns. A word here and there might do it. Maybe the workshop discussion and little changes won't change the vote, but it will change who we are from seven individuals into a team of seven. So some of you know we are working with Delabispo. We're a Delispo school. we're going to be uh consolidating it
158with another school and a lot of parents are not too happy about that. Dr. Brown met with parents from Delabispo regarding their school's future. Trusty Jones, let's stay on topic. I I know, but I just want to say I know I know you want topic, but it is the topic, but it isn't. This is actually in this this is in regards to this resolution. So, if you could please stay on topic, but parents heard him. he they felt heard and a lot of changes weren't made but it does cause people to feel heard. So that's all I want to do. I am not saying change this, I won't vote for it, any of that. I might vote for it. I don't know. But I think we need to come together as a board. We need
159to talk about this in a something other than a board meeting and just see where we all stand and help the community have more confidence about where we are. Trusty Jones, ladies and gentlemen, if you could please remember um hands and claps. Thank you. Um this is the time for a discussion, Trusty Jones, and this is the opportunity to make those little changes as you would like to. So any any trustee can have have anything and add to this discussion at this time. I'm going to present the item. I'm going to present the item and then speaker cards. The same order. The same order. Absolutely. Thank you. Okay. At our last board meeting, we saw many of our CUSD students come to the podium in this room to bravely, boldly, and independently express their thoughts
160and views on a number of topics. I was beyond impressed with the courage and boldness that they displayed. As a trustee, I could not be more proud of what I saw in that meeting. But our job on this board is not solely to facilitate meetings and speeches, but to listen to and implement what our students, our families, and our communities are asking for. One of the topics a number of parents and students spoke about last meeting was fairness in our athletic programs, especially as it relates to girls sports. They spoke clearly, boldly, and respectfully. Most importantly, they asked the trustees to take action. They requested something very simple, fairness and ensuring that every student feels safe in sports. The topic of protecting women's sports is not new or isolated to our area. It's a major
161topic across the country, which explains why I've heard from so many students and community members on the topic, not just in our last meeting, but over the past several months and years. In each of these conversations, I was ultimately asked, "What action is the CUSD board of trustees going to take to ensure our female athletes feel they are being protected and treated with fairness. As we saw in the track and field CIF finals in Orange County, we had a male compete in the girls events. As we know, this creates an unfair advantage. Personally, I strongly support the Save the Girl sports resolution. I played volleyball, basketball, participated in track and cross country in high school. As a high school athlete, I would never have been able to compete against my male friends in any sports
162I participated in. We are simply made different. We should not expect our girls to compete against biological boys. And up until recently, that was an almost universally supported truth. But this issue and tonight is not what I personally feel or support. It's about the facts and most importantly the acting on the will of the very parents and students we've been elected to represent and serve. So let's begin with some of the facts. National Library of Medicine male puberty even when f followed by hormone suppression results in enduring advantages in muscle mass, skeletal structure and oxygen capacity. These are not temporary differences. They have a direct impact on speed, power, and stamina in sports. The American Psychological Association also acknowledges in its 2021 research summary on gender and physical development that there is no consensus that
163cross- sex hormone therapy erases sexbased athletic advantages, particularly in the first three to five years posttransition. Even the center for disease control and prevention while taking an inclusive approach to student to student well-being recognizes in its 2022 youth risk behavior surveillance report that biological sex remains the strongest predictor of physical performance outcomes in adolescent athletes. We don't allow students to take steroids to enter into another weight class. So, how can we justify allowing individuals to use hormonal drugs to enter an entirely different athletic category? This isn't fairness. This is favoritism towards ideology over biology. One of the student speakers last meeting specifically asked what we as a board were going to do to comply with the president of the United States executive order 14201 which states clearly athletic programs or activities shall be designated based
164on biological sex. Institutions that fail to comply with this distin design designation shall not be eligible for federal funding under Title 9. Least anyone think that this is a partisan issue. Even Governor Gavin Nuome in a public statement last year following controversy in CIF guidelines said, "I believe in inclusion, but I also believe in competitive fairness for girls. We must have a hard conversation about what that looks like." Even this year, Governor Gavin Newsome highlighted this as a fairness issue when speaking about saving girls sports. If leaders as different as Trump and Newsome can agree that fairness is at stake, we should be able to as well. Now, let me be very clear on something. At CUSD, we have zero tolerance for discrimination or disrespect towards any of our students, regardless of their race, religion,
165sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, chosen gender, or pronouns. We are here to teach, love, protect, and create a safe environment for each of our unique students in the district. Never in my lifetime would I expect this resolution to be necessary, but it is. This resolution is about protecting opportunity, fairness, and the safety of our female athletes. This is a policy issue rooted in common sense and compassion. Let me again repeat what matters most. Our students asked us to ask act. They asked why their titles were being threatened, why their safety was uncertain, why we as a board, the governing board of this district that should be leading by with by example and with unity were silent. We owe them an answer and that answer should be we've heard you. We stand with you. We will
166work towards doing what is right for our girl athletes. This resolution is not about hate. It's about protection. It is not about exclusion. It's about fairness. It's not anti- anyone. It's pro- girls. It's not about politics. It's about listening to our constituents. At our last meeting and every conversation I've had with our student athletes and their families, students have begged for us not to look away. Tonight, I ask this board, don't let them down. Support this resolution to protect opportunity, safety, and fairness for every girl in this district. And I have a lot of resources. If any of you would like to have them, I'm happy to pass them on. And with that, Miss Hayes, do we have any speaker cards? We do have speaker cards this evening. I have 23 total, but I believe
167a few have a couple have gone home. So, we're going to set the timer for one minute. and to hear those speakers. I'm going to call the first 10. Delaney Morgan, Brian, Kinsley, Annayia Kesler, Briella, Luke Kesler, an Samuel Penrod. If I pronounce your name incorrectly, please forgive me. Delaney, please come forward. Thank you for letting me speak. Hello, I'm an student at CS US Capistron Unified School District and a 14-year-old biologically female athlete with three older sisters and a twin brother who compete at high levels in athletic sports. I have played soccer since as long as I can remember and never thought of the day I might have to change with, play with, or compete against biological males in my competitive soccer career. Thankfully, I have never had to do this, but I know
168how hard, unfair, and unsafe it would be. I have a twin brother, and I know for a fact that this competition would be unfair, unsafe, and uncomfortable. Remember when you would change in the PE locker room for the first time? Now, imagine there is a boy in it. you would not feel safe or comfortable. And I would just like to say that this is our private space and it should not be shared with the people that aren't actually women. Men are biologically stronger, faster, and have more lung capacity than females. And from playing goalie, I know I would not feel comfortable. Delaney. Our next speaker is Morgan. Good evening. I am a 14-year-old CUSD student who competes in competitive track and cross country. This issue shouldn't even be a debateworthy topic as biological male athletes
169should not be allowed to participate in women's sports. Not only is it extremely unsafe for the young women and girls, but it's also unjustified to have a male compete against a female. Science clearly tells us that men are made stark differently than women as they have an increasingly greater amount of muscle mass, larger lung capacity, and greater bone density than women. So why would it be fair to have men compete in a field that is specifically designated for women's sports? We have separated sports by gender in order to make it fair. So why would we have to go back on what was originally created to give women more rights? When male athletes are permitted to compete against girls, it strips away female rights, opportunities, and experiences. Why should it be fair to have these young
170women who have worked exceptionally hard to get where they are now be defeated by a biological male who was born with an advantage? We should be supporting these girls and their accomplishments, which can never be achieved as long as biological male athletes take away women's rightfully deserved opportunities. It's just plain and fair. Our next speaker is Brian Blake. Hi, my name is Brian Blake and uh I play on the basketball team at San High School. As a high school player in Southern California, I would support the proposal to prevent transgender girls to from competing in girls sports because I believe it protects fairness and safety for female athletes. I play I play in a competitive league and I've seen how much the girls grind and starting in uh earn starting spots, win games, and catch
171the eye of college scouts. In a sport like basketball where height, strength, weight, and speed can make a huge difference. I were that transgender girls who went through m male puberty might have physical advantages even through with hormone therapy. Physical attributes of transgender girls could tilt the court in a way that feels unfair to girls who trained their whole lives for these moments. I also think the safety for I also think the safety for girls in a physical game like basketball like drive when you drive to the hoop box out for rebounds dive for loose balls it can be intense and if someone has a higher strength and size by their biological background it could uh make the game less safe. Thank you. Our next speaker is Kinsley. Good good evening. I'm Kenley, a student
172athlete from S. Clemeni High School, and I'm here to talk about the unfairness of men competing against women in sports. As a wrestler that has wrestled boys before high school, I get how hard it is. But what's harder is wrestling them when they're transitioning into men. I work so hard to accomplish my goals and what I want to achieve. But I don't want that taken away from me. All the trans all the training hours I put in, sweat, tears have made, but just to get my dreams taken away from me is really disappointing. Thank you. Our next speaker is Anya or Anaya. Anna, come forward, please. Hello, and thank you so much for letting me speak tonight. I am a word CUSD student who fears my future in high school as a female wrestler. It
173makes me feel so uncomfortable to think that in my freshman year I will probably have to wrestle grown men who identify as females. That is so uncomfortable and unsafe, especially for a girl my size. It is also very un It is also a very unfair fight, especially in a full contact sport. My dad has always taught me that a boy should always sorry has should always treat me like a lady. Um always treat me like a lady. I have an older brother who is also a wrestler and the thought of me trying to wrestle him is a joke. He is stronger and faster than me. Thank you so much for your time and please keep girls safe in sports. Our next speaker is Briella. Um hello. Hi. Um I'm Bril Anderson and I'm a junior
174at San High School. As a female athlete competing in track, basketball, and tennis, I dedicate countless hours to training, pushing my limits, and striving to break records, and earning an athletic scholarship that will help pave the way for my future. But that dream is at risk. When biological males are allowed to compete in women's sports, the playing field isn't level. Their physical advantages, like greater muscle mass, bone density, and cardiovascular capacity, overshadows the hard work and dedication of female athletes like me. All female athletes deserve the chance to compete against others that have the same physical starting point. This isn't about inclusion. It's about fairness. Every time a male athlete competes in a women's event, opportunities for female athletes are diminished. Scholarships, records, and recognition that we've worked tirelessly for become harder to attain. Female
175athletes in our section are counting on you to protect our rights and safety for not only us, but future generations of female athletes as well. Our dreams deserve a fair chance to become a reality. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Luke. Good evening. I'm a 17-year-old CS or CUSD student who competes in wrestling. I'm here tonight to address how unjust it is for male athletes to be able to have the right to compete in women's sports based on how they feel. My parents have raised me to never put my hands in a woman in any sort of way. And I don't think that it's right to justify that happening within our high schools just because of some how someone feels. I'm the older brother to aspiring young female wrestler who's planning on competing
176in high school in the next two years. And I do not think that it's right that my sister should have to be put in harm's way and at a disadvantage due to her sex. It is not fair to her that at 13 years old when she goes out to compete, she should have to even think about wrestling a man, let alone a man who could be of 18 years or older. I understand people have emotions and feel certain ways, but I always put the physical protection of my little sister and all female athletes before the feelings of others. I want people to know that this is what I stand for, not what I'm against. I stand with my values and I stand for female athletes. Thank you. Our next speaker is an 2% of the
177population of the world is left-handed. The same amount that are born intersects. A per a person's genetic makeup and internal and external reproductive anatomy is not a useful indicator of their athletic performance. Trans girls are girls. Trans boys are boys. Science doesn't support uh sports transports bands. Many um trans athletes compete at a disadvantage and very few participate at all. This shouldn't even be an issue. Trans sports bans waste public money, codify discrimination, and serve as gateways for even broader anti-trans attacks. This is how hate works. You hurt one group, so now you have permission to hurt another. Let's stop the hurting of marginalized kids. Our next speaker is Samuel Penrod. Following Samuel will be Bradley. Samuel, go ahead. Good evening. My name is Samuel Penrod and I live here in CUSD. I'm a taxpayer
178and I also speak for parents and neighbors in my community who who couldn't be here tonight. We are deeply concerned about this agenda item because it uses false and straw man narratives to justify exclusion as fairness. combined with the use of a racial slur and the suppression of public comment. These actions expose the influence of outside extremist groups with a national agenda and the alignment of some trustees on this board with that agenda. As Dedra Harris said, this is how hate works. You hurt one group, now you have permission to hurt another one. You do not have permission to hurt any child of any ethnicity, any orientation, or any identity in this district. This school board was Our next speaker is Jeff Pearlwoman. Jeff, please come forward. I apologize. Bradley and following Bradley. I'm going
179to call the next so we don't get confused. I apologize. Uh up next is Bradley. After Bradley, we have Jeff, Shan, Amber, Lori, Susan, Heather, Kira, Stephanie, Jamie, Susan, Victor, Mary, and Lisa H. Go ahead, Speaker. This resolution simply parrots talking points from fear-mongerers on the far right, and it's clear that actions such as these have clearly begun to do damage among the student body. Many of the student speakers have voiced several inaccuracies and a few complete falsehoods with regards to the experience and intentions of transgender individuals. I now choose to speak to these students because I trust in their ability to learn and grow more so than many of the board members today. I would like you to ask yourself these questions. How do I know my fears are true? What information are these
180fears based on? Have I considered the perspective of a transgender student who could be my peer? I know you are all smart because like myself, you attend a CUSD school and I know what a little and I know that a little bit of critical thinking and a single conversation with a real life trans individual will help you realize that these trans fears or transphobias are at best irrational and at worst. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jeff Pearlman. goes online. My time, please. Sorry. Okay. Thank you. Uh my name is Jeff Pearlman. I'm a local. If one goes online, he can hear the four hardright members of this board raving about their faith. Uh we love God. We love Jesus. God talks to us. Literally, God talks to us. And as a fan of faith,
181I should find that reassuring. But there we were last month and you guys conspire with Frank Rodriguez of the extremist hate group Gays Against Groomers. Literally two days before the meeting, you hold a Zoom call with this guy. You plot out the schoolboard meeting and you have him again a member of a hate group writing talking points for your children to read out loud. And now we're back. And this time you're teaming up with Sonia Shaw, a state superintendent candidate who recently showed up at a high school track meet to berate both the mother of a trans athlete and the athlete themsself. Sonia stood there mocking them and berating them and belittling them in front of other parents and you guys align with her. And I I have to ask, does the stuff you learn
182does the stuff you learn in church matter? Do any of the lessons? The speaker is Shan. Shan, please come forward. Today, today there's an ongoing Title N investigation in Virginia involving a biological female identifying as a boy who uses the male locker room. Three boys are being investigated for sexual harassment simply for voicing their discomfort, saying, "Why is there a girl in here? I'm so uncomfortable. There is a girl, a female, bro. Get her out of here." These are teenage boys reacting to a situation they weren't prepared for. How are we expecting children to navigate these complex social issues, especially when even adults struggle to agree on the rules? Further, if gender identity is an internal sense of self separate from biological sex according to progre progressive ideology, why does gender identity override biological sex
183in contexts like sports? It seems that instead of pursuing equality for female athletes under Title Nine, we're watching a shift towards redefining fairness to fit ideological preferences that are sidelining the very protections Title 9 was designed to ensure for female athletes. Thank you. Our next speaker is Amber. Title N enacted in 1972 ensures equal opportunities for all students in education, including sports. It's vital we protect girls sports under this law to maintain fairness and safety. Biological males due to physiological advantages like greater muscle mass and bone density can dominate female competitions, undermining the level playing field Title 9 guarantees. Studies like a 2020 analysis in sports medicine show these differences persist even after hormone therapy in contact sports. This also raises injury risks for girls. Protecting girls sports isn't discrimination. It's upholding Title 9's promise
184of equity, ensuring our female athletes have fair chances to compete, succeed, and thrive. Let's commit to safeguarding our females opportunities. Thank you. Our next speaker is Lori. You could be spending your time building an inclusive and safe community for all, but instead you are sewing division between children based on an antiquated and inaccurate belief about human biology. There are other ways you can be using your time, power, and community resources, but instead you're going after trans kids. Scientific research has found the idea of two sexes is overly simplistic since gender identity or expression can be influenced by a combination of anatomy, hormones, cells, and chromosomes. Clinging to the binary is outdated. This resolution and the reason behind it are intentionally harmful towards trans girls. My hope is the children that you are protecting from one
185another are watching us and they are more emotionally intelligent, accepting, and braver than we are. They are they are not going to cling to these lies that you hope they will. The girls you are protecting will realize this is a political move and it was never about them. Our speaker is Susan. Susan, please come forward. Susan, there's no last initial, so it's just Susan with no last initial. Good evening, school board and community members. I strongly support voting to keep biological males out of female sports to ensure fairness and safety. Biological males typically have advantages like greater muscle mass and bone density which can create uneven competition limiting opportunities for female athletes especially when they're applying to colleges. Studies show these uh differences often remain despite hormone treatments. In contact sports, there's also a higher
186risk of injury for girls. This policy isn't about exclusion. It's about preserving the integrity of women's sports. Please vote to protect fairness and safety in our uh district's athletics. We were made in the image of God, male and female. That is our nature and that cannot be changed. Our next speaker is Heather. Heather, please come forward. This is from a friend who disagrees with me on most political issues, but we both care deeply about our daughters. Her daughter is an incredible athlete. She says, "We want to ensure an environment that values excellence, discipline, and fairness, values we teach our daughter on and off the field. Today, we are seeing girls sports undermined. CIF's current policies allow male-bodied athletes to compete in female divisions. And that's not equality. It's a loss of fairness. And what our
187district does affects our whole community, including private schools. Our daughters train year round. They work hard for every win. They shouldn't lose opportunities, scholarships, or confidence because the system refuses to recognize biological reality. This isn't about hate or exclusion. It's about protecting the integrity of girls sports, something Title 9 was created to protect. If we care about true equity, we must advocate for clear boundaries and competition. Let's stand up for our daughters, for fairness, and for the future of female athletics. Thank you. Our next speaker is Kira D. Hi everybody. I'm Kira and I think it's absolutely absurd to be standing here talking about this. Um there are there is no such thing as a trans girl. There's no such thing as a trans kid. There are girls and there are boys. Gila, we don't
188need to workshop this. While you're wanting to workshop, girls are losing their titles. Girls are losing their scholarships. For you, this is an ethereal concept. It's something that all these people here get to go home and talk about in vague terms. It won't affect their lives. These young women that came up here, it is affecting their lives. They are missing opportunities right now. And you want a workshop, Gila? Seriously, no. This is so easy. Pass the resolution. Boys aren't allowed to play with girls. End of story. Our next speaker is Stephanie Kamancho Van Djk. Good evening board. Uh my name is Stephanie. I'm with the LGBTQ Center and also a former alum of this district. Back in 2013, the California legislature passed AB1266, the School Success and Opportunities Act, which requires our school districts to
189allow trans students to fully participate in school activities and programs that are consistent with their gender identity. This law has effectively supported trans students for over a decade without controversy until now. Choosing to uphold these protections is not only the right thing to do, but is also what's demanded by state law and California Ed Code. At the center, we hear many stories from our trans youth who are simply looking for a place where they could be accepted and seen for who they are. School is no exception. For many of these young people, school is not just a place where they can learn, but it's also a place where they could feel safe and have a sense of belonging without fear of judgment. I urge this board to lead with compassion, respect, and inclusion by respecting
190uh by rejecting this resolution and standing firmly in support of our student. Our next speaker is Jamie H. Hi, I'm a CUSD parent, an educator, and a former competitive athlete athlete thanks to Title N. Born in the 1970s, I directly benefited from this groundbreaking policy that opened the door for girls like me to thrive in sports. That's why I'm outraged to see Title N being used tonight, not to protect girls, but to exclude and erase trans girls. This resolution isn't about fairness. It's a manufactured controversy designed to distract from unresolved racial harm and to stir fear about our small population of trans students who are already vulnerable to bullying and discrimination. Trans girls are girls. They deserve the same joy, discipline, and sense of belonging that sports provide. California law and CIF rules already ensure
191fairness. Defying them this could cost this district both financially and morally. This board should focus on protecting students, not targeting them. Stop using feminism as a shield for discrimination. Title N is about inclusion, not exclusion. Our next speaker is Susan Keller. Susan. Um, thank you very much. My name is Susan Keller. I'm a resident of the district and a law professor. I urge the board to reject this resolution. A, as it stands, it's only a declaration of a position. It's not actionable. Um, that's necessarily so. It has no action items in it because to literally discriminate would violate California law as the pre as a previous speaker indicated. But even or particularly as a statement of ideology, it has negative effects. It communicates by by focusing on biological categories of male and female that not
192only transgender students but also non-binary and interex students and not just athletes don't exist, that their identities um are not valid. This message is underlined by the use of of misgendering by the board which sends a wrong message I think to our students who look up to um adults as role models and it affects the poor health it creates poor health in outcomes for the students who are your charge. Our next speaker is Victor. Victor please come forward. resolution supporting title nine fairness and girls intercolastic sports. Title 9 was created to make an even in competitive playing field based on several physiological differences between a male and a female. Unfortunately, time and culture has tainted that basis with feelings instead of biology. I commend the trustees for bringing up this resolution to not affirm a
193condition that requires addressing at the core, not the symptom. Female athletes are reduced to a secondass athlete when adults condone allowing a competitor that possesses biological advantages because they don't feel like the sex that they were born as. And us adults that are supposed to protect decide to take the childish way to affirm instead of taking the adult responsible duty to care and help them achieve in the skin that they were born in. Statistics prove that affirmation does not work as our next speaker is Mary. Mary, please come forward. Good evening. Why should any female athlete rec uh relinquish her sports dream to make room for a male? Regardless of gender identity, males have performance advantages over females, and female athletes are still being treated less favorably than male athletes at every turn. We must
194not diminish females opportunities. There's a website called hecheated.org and they have shown since September 2024, they've logged 5,149 males in the women's sports. This is not a small problem. Testosterone levels are arbitrary and subject to change in very short period of time. We don't compete with testerone levels. We compete with our bodies. Male bodies are fundamentally different. They have longer legs, large larger lungs, hearts, smaller valves in the anterior pelvic tilt, hip anterversion, quadricep angles, tipper angles, and wider shoulders. These are all differences that are not due to testosterone. And no changes with testosterone being repressed will make that difference. performance is not only based on strength alone. There are many mechanics that go into it. Throwing for example that men have an Our next is Lisa H. Lisa, I want to begin by saying
195that I am so proud that you're persevering with this agenda item amidst all this pettiness about outdated vernacular. both AB89 intercolastic sports gender equity by um Kate Sanchez and Billis bill AB8844 have been killed in Sacramento. We need this here right here at at Capo Unified. Please employ fairness, compassion, and common sense. Save girls sports. Abide by Trump's executive order. No men in women's sports. Please approve reso 2425-30. God bless you all. That concludes our speakers. [Applause] Yep. Okay. So, ladies and gentlemen, um we're going to trustees, we're going to go ahead and have a discussion regarding the substitute motion. First comments. Okay, we'll go ahead and call the question. No, I I was going to let someone else comment, but no one else wants to comment. No, I I'll go after you. That's you,
196John. Do you have something to say or not? Well, uh again, I just want to say this is not about this resolution. I am not saying this resolution is bad and it's only a resolution, as it was just pointed out. It's not a policy. This is strictly about whether we want to be a governing team or not. Um, and it's about community trust and fear. Uh, trustees Adam, Zinger, and Bulacus have said they believe in working together to find consensus, to find compromise. If this passes, this is going to send a message to the community and we need to discuss and acknowledge that maybe that can be mitigated. I don't know. But that's all I want to do. I'm I'm not speaking against the resolution. I'm I'm simply not. I But I think there is
197there are other issues here for the community and I just think we need to have a conversation about that. That's it. I I just want to, you know, talk about that a little bit. I think that is truly why you serve on a school board. You govern And so, excuse me. Okay. Um, to be part of a team and make hard decisions and to go ahead and and make a decision tonight. I there is a lot of confusion in this room about what this resol resolution is and what it does for kids in our district. You've heard the speakers that the information that they are giving to us is not accurate information about I'm speaking about the resolution. They are misunderstanding. Your job as a member of the board is to educate and let them
198understand what our powers are here. This does not lie in our jurisdiction. It just doesn't. Whether this Pat whether whatever you decide to do tonight, it doesn't change tomorrow for the kids of Kappo. It doesn't have impact. Excuse me. We listen to you speak, Miss Davis. It is now my turn. Okay, you can you can be asked to leave. Trusty Costiana, if we'll just stay focused here up on the board. Thank you. And ladies and ladies ladies and gentlemen in the audience, if you could please hold your comments. Trusty Castianos, please continue. Honestly, this is not an easy position to be in and it's hard decisions that we have to do all the time. And there are always times where this room is hot and it is a hot topic and we have to do
199things that put this district first. And oftentimes we get we get ladies and gentlemen, please hold your applause. Up in the moment we do I I've I've seen it for five years. We get Especially postco, we get caught up in moments. But it is not about this moment. It's about allowing us to have a discussion. Trusty Jones is right. It it my opinion of this resolution doesn't matter. It's about having a moment for you to discuss as a governing board and to really get facts out there as to what this does for the kids of Kappo. You have to stand up and and make hard decisions. And this is a hard decision you have to make tonight. Trusty Bulockus. President Davis, can you clarify um and solve the confusion about what this resolution does? We
200recognize there is a law and if this is voted on uh to be approved, it does not change anything tomorrow or But that's not the only question that people have. I hadn't finished speaking. I'm sorry. But you're talking about the resolution. It's not about the resolution. Let's go ahead and let Trusty Bulicus finish. Thank you. Okay. We we would like to go ahead and vote on that first, I think. Let's go ahead and let Trusty Bulacus share her comment first. Thank you. So the the point is is that if this were to be approved, those trustees approving it are stating in support of um fairness in women's sports. And if down the road legally um there is a change, then we have set a precedence in a resolution that um that we would support the
201new law if that were to be changed. But that is clarification is not is it not? Yes. I just wanted that to be clear. This is really a resolution of intent and support for supporting women in sports. Okay. Trusty Jones. So um when we had our first long workshop, we did the introduction and the first chapter of this governance core. So we've done the first chapter. This is something from the first chapter I want to read. Striving for common ground. Sometimes individual trustees for whatever reason find it difficult to find common ground with fellow trustees in the board. When this occurs, it can jeopardize the ability of the board to de develop a unified cohesive governance team. If this happens, it is extremely important for the board not to give up but take the time
202to try and work together even in the face of deep differences and difficulties um difficulties. Effective governance requires that adults on the behalf of children they serve find avenues of agreement so they can govern the district in an effective manner and that that is the reason I want to have a separate discussion is to fulfill what we have learned so far from the government's core book. Thank you. Let's go ahead and agendaize that for a different meeting and let's go ahead and stay on topic regarding this resolution because that is a whole different thing. There's there's a lot to lot to dive into governance and trustees. Miss Davis, this is governance. This is actual govern. You're being asked to govern that we don't agenda. We are governing. Okay. But your your comment is very confusing
203and I'm I'm clarify. Let me go ahead and clarify. We're going to go ahead and stay on topic for this resolution. And the resolution is regarding supporting title nine and fairness in girls intercolastic sports. So with the amendment or the substitute resolution motion, we will vote on that first. Absolutely. So still on topic of that substitute motion, the substitute motion is to push this down the road. So the discussion is that correct? your substitute motion. Would you I'm sorry. Would you please re reread your substitute motion? Oh, I'm sorry. I Thank you. I I think I put it away to uh rather than voting on the resolution tonight, we ask the superintendent to put on a workshop agenda as soon as it can be reasonably done. Okay. So to move this discussion regarding supporting title
204nine and fairness and girls interscolastic sports as part of a discussion during a board workshop that's the substitute motion. So if there's any additional comments here trustees I'll say something. I I may be and I may be wrong, but I may be the only one up here who actually has had a child in high school affected by this. Um, so as much as I love love the idea of governance and I think it's beautiful when we speak about it, sometimes we have opinions that are so strong that it's not going to it's it's not going to vary. I But let's try. I Well, I I am trying because I was listening and I do empathize with you. In fact, I I prepared like a little statement. And I don't know if I could say it
205now. Well, hold I don't know. You could if it's if it's we need to stay on topic with specifically for this substit mainly just just letting her know that I I do care about what you what what you are saying. I if I thought more talking about it would change my opinion. I'm not trying to change her mind. I just want to have an offline discussion as a board. That's all. I just don't know if that's not going to We don't have We never have offline discussions. still public. Well, no, offline, but out of a board meeting, that's all. Just in a workshop. I I it's Okay. Thank you. Trustes Andre, please continue. I just I want to be respectful to everybody, but this is a topic that I'm passionate about. It's also something that
206I spoke about a lot when I was campaigning and I know that there the people who voted for me that I spoke to were very much on board with this that we want to have fairness. I feel very very strongly, Trusty Davis already said it, that every single child, regardless of their gender identity, deserves to feel safe and valued at our schools and we need to protect our trans kids. I absolutely believe that. Um they are h they human beings that deserve what all of us deserve. They deserve compassion and equity. But at the same time with that wi-i wi-i which are very strong convictions I have. But at the same time I recognize the importance of fairness and protecting title n. It was enacted to ensure equal opportunities for women and girls in education
207and athletics. That mission remains vital today. And as much as I respect those kids who may who are feel that they were born in the wrong body, and I do respect them, I'm not saying they weren't. I'm just going to leave it at that and let them be what they need to be. It's not fair to our girls. It was not fair this last year when my daughter was forced to play a biological male. It wasn't fair. She got in the car and screamed the cry, the ugly cry. She was so upset. It's not fair. And my daughter is not playing. She's not playing basketball or some of these more contact sports. It was tennis. This this trans student who I have a lot of compassion for hit the ball significantly harder than any of
208the other kids. And she felt like she didn't even have a chance to hit the ball. And she and then the ball hit her twice. And she had bruises on her from the ball hitting her. So you can't tell me. And now are there girls that could hit the ball that hard? Yes, I'm sure there are. So with other sports though, it is even more of a fairness issue. I have had personal experience. I I believe in the science that's been mentioned. There is it is what it is. I wish as a district we could come up with some type of a solution for these kids that want to play sports. I would love to have a league for for trans kids or have something that we could do. There are I would love Yeah,
209you can call it whatever you'd like, but the truth is it is not fair. It is not fair and it is not safe. That's how I feel. I I want to support and love all these kids, but we have to get back to fairness and safety. So, so when we talk about this, we could talk about it until we're blue in the face. And we already have had a good discussion tonight on it. Um, I respect how people feel and I realize that we have completely different ideologies, but I I can't get on board. So, I I don't feel like I need further discussion. But I do there's a lot of things I feel like we can sit down and have conversations with. Um, we can go further into it. This just isn't one of
210them for me. Sorry. Are we just are we just allowing all I'm I'm lost. I don't understand what well I would like to make continuing on with the discussion which is governance so that we are allowing people are you then going to take a vote and then allow for more discussion for on your absolutely we're going to correct we're still on the substitute motion and it let me um trusty Jones I am in favor of a discussion in regard to your substitute motion not in regards to substituting on title 9 which I don't believe your substitute motion is appropriate to substitute, but I'm all in favor for a conversation about how to have better governance and part of it will be finding a time when all of us can attend and all of us can
211be there. I Oh, I certainly am. Thank you, Trusty. Trusty Jones, go ahead. It just doesn't seem like to me with respect that you understand that that I feel that if we are not taking time in a situation where there's different feelings really time like a workshop time to discuss it we are not being a governance team that's why it's about governance to me and that's why it's we can't just say ladies and gentlemen, well, we'll talk about governance another time. This is about the fact that I don't see governance going on here because we have I know we have dissension in the community. We've heard it tonight. I'm not dissenting on this this particular resolution. I'm I'm dissenting on the fact that I think our community needs to have a conversation. We need to
212talk about it more rather than just just voting on something. That's this is our opportunity to talk more clear. President Davis, may I make a comment, please? Um, Gila, I appreciate your efforts to uh work well as a governance team and I appreciate how you have welcomed uh Trustees Aller and myself to the board and you have worked well and I think we've proven to you that we want to work with you as well. We will work with anyone on the board. We will have any conversation. We will collaborate on this issue. We are discussing it right now. We have heard from the public. I don't believe that a workshop is going to uh improve or make a difference. And so um yeah, I'm I'm ready to vote on the resolution. Are you calling the
213question trusty Adams to to vote on Gilas? Yeah. Okay. All right. and we'll go ahead and the the questions on the board. So, will this be a roll call? Miss H. This is a roll call. Doesn't have to be. Doesn't have to be. Okay. For this one, it does not have to be. Okay. All those in favor of the substitute motion. And would you like Trusty Jones to go ahead and reread that? Everyone. Okay. I don't think it's necessary. All in favor? No. I Okay. And all any opposed? Nay. Okay. And you're going to abstain. Okay. Thank you. Okay. And so the motion does not pass three with a three to four vote with aial vote preferential vote of um abstinence from the student board member Vando. Okay. Okay. And now we'll move back over
214to the motion, the original motion regarding U resolution 2425-30 supporting Title 9 and fairness in girls intercolastic sports and trustees discussion. Yes. Um I think what we're talking about tonight is basically a biological unfair disadvantage for girls. That's it. That's what we're talking about. Allowing biological males to compete against biological females under the umbrella of girls sports with the guiding rules and regulations of girls sports puts biological girls at an unfair disadvantage. The federal government has recognized this. So has the NCAA. Even as Trusty Davis or President Davis mentioned before, even Governor Nuome recently said allowing biological males to compete in girls sports is unfair. It's time for CIF to recognize this as well and protect our girls. Thank you. Other trustees, Trusty Richard. Yeah. So, just on the this resolution, it is not policy.
215That's correct. Resolution is not policy. if you're feeling so strongly about this because policy would actually do what I think your community is asking on this issue. Um and and I have another question because all I got was this. So I'm I'm a little I'm I'm catching up to the to the discussion. And I'm hearing all the So it it's not policy, it's a resolution and it's directed towards the governor of the state of California or CIF because I was looking at board policy for CIF and as far as I can tell they have guidelines on this stuff. If we were to adopt a resolution and I guess move to policy at some point, I'm assuming that you would want a policy in our our board, would we be in violation of law? Because I
216I don't know. I'm trying to figure out the bigger structure here and as Trusty Jones has kind of alluded to. It it it's a it's volatile for sure and it certainly you know that brings a lot of passion to the discussion and I I just as a board of governance and long-term member of the board it when we do these things and it's not carefully staffed out because I I I don't I I didn't know who was presenting it. I was assuming it was leadership. So I but the staff hasn't had a chance to actually vet this and we don't have any legal opinions on how far we can extend this before it becomes a matter of concern for the district because I know we have a lot of athletes student athletes in here and
217if we violate the CIF ordinance does that forfeit Go ahead. So often boards take resolutions as statement of position or intent. So this resolution would be a statement of position or intent. Uh we cannot violate state law. We cannot violate CIF. That would put our students CIF eligibility at risk. So this is at this point the way it's written um it's a statement that would be given to CIF and to the governor um stating the position that the board believes is the right position, but it does not have an impact on policy. um uh because policy would would have deep negative ramifications for our students. This doesn't get close to that though. No. Tell me then CIF uh who sits on CIF for our region? You know, I don't know the representative, but I can
218get that for you. Well, there's no athletic directors here. There's no coaches. there's no no one here to guide the board's larger picture discussion of all this because I I feel like I understand some of what's been written and reading the paper and the the whole thing, but there's lots of gaps in what I'm willing to talk about at this point because I I don't understand all of this stuff and I I I'm a long-term board member and I do have some interest in understanding of education and this seems to get really close to a dangerous part for us and you know you're the leadership And there's four of you, so you can do what you want. But I'm We're a board of seven, Gary. But we are we're a board of seven. This this
219is clearly a board of seven. The four there's leadership in this. I'm not saying it's wrong or ill advised. I just I'd like to know where we're kind of drifting into as far as direction because this may have unintended consequences. There's no unintended consequences whatsoever. We've confirmed that. And this resolution, as it states on the bottom, with who? At this point, as worded, the consequences of course will be uh division in the community as you're seeing in the public right now and in the media. But as far as our students eligibility, um this does not change our policies in any way, shape, or form. You know what a resolution does? I know I don't have to state that to you but in the far in what it's going is it's going to the governor they're
220going to the state legislature the department of education state department of education and CIF and it's letting them know that as a board we support the fact that girls and boys should be competing differently as a board if this passes that that's what this would do is it lets them know that that's where we stand so that as they move forward and as we know what Governor Nuome shared last year that even Governor Nuome has a question on that. So it's just sharing it's sharing however this goes it will share yes and I understand the the larger debate here. What I'm more concerned about is how close do we get to a point where we're not dividing the community, but there there's a there's bigger there's a bigger picture here that I'm still a little
221Let me just be real clear. And I know you said you had other documents that you could share and could it be that you have the CIF uh document on the policy for uh is it gender identity and certainly we have a policy. We'll we'll definitely have staff get that to all all trustees. Absolutely. No problem. Um to us or we know what it is. Could we at least see the what CIS says? Certainly. We can all look it up. Anyone any one of us can look it up just the same as we do research on any item that we have. I do outside research. Yeah. Yeah. So, so that's that's there for us to to to delve into for sure. Resolution. Correct. But don't but didn't read. Oh, I've read. Okay. So, what does
222it state? Would you like me to look it up? No, I actually don't have my phone here tonight, so I can't. But I'm We could probably have staff look that up. We could take a quick recess and and look it up if we would like if that's the I think of the board. I I just think there's a lot of confusion around the intent. No, no confusion. No confusion necessary to actually have jurisdiction over high school athletics. This is a resolution. We didn't take a we didn't take a stand in a resolution during COVID when the the movement was was to let them play. We didn't because we couldn't because we don't we didn't have we didn't have that jurisdiction. We didn't have we can say what we want to say and have a you
223can go as a board member and and and talk to CIF. We have superintendent, principles, coaches, athletic directors that all serve in CIF that make CIF policy that have to follow California ed code. No problem. So, this is simply a resolution that's saying if it passes or not going to make a um a statement to the public that we are not allowing um boys to play with girls, but that's not what we're doing. No, you can say that we're not but but but but the conversation from the public is not what what that is. Tomorrow in the newspaper or online, press, whatever, what will it say? Trusty David, we will decide once we're finished on the vote instead. No, no. What? What? We It's gonna say CUSD, largest school in Orange County, bans transgender athletes.
224Um I I'm I'm sorry, but I didn't notice that in one word of this. I understand. And Chrisos, Trusty Costanos, I don't believe you believe that to be true. I not for one second do you think that that's what this is saying. Oh, I absolutely am listening. That's not what I'm saying. It did. You said that it will be in the papers tomorrow. Okay. Because the way you're the way you're presenting it here tonight is giving the illusion that that that this board has the power to do that. I'm I'm so sorry if I've made a a misstep in that regard. I have absolutely not. Clearly. So, please state clearly what this intent is. I will go ahead and read the resolution for you. No, no, no, no. In your words, in your words, explain
225it to the public what this is. I recommend that you read the policy out loud so you everybody knows exactly what we're or it's not a policy. Read the resolution that was given to all of us. It's not necessary to read the resolution because then we know what we're voting on. Super superintendent Dr. Brown has already told you what this does. It doesn't change anything tomorrow. It is intent of the board if the board passes the resolution that the intent is that we want to uphold title nine for girls in sports. Okay. I am going to go ahead and move on with my comments because I have a couple things to say. Please do. And I did my research. Great. And um I think it's going to be an automatic assumption of how I feel
226about this, but I'm a mom of three daughters who played high school athletics and it was not a good situation by any stretch of the means. and Trusty Davis and I have sat on this board long enough where we've been emails and meetings and conversations and we have been on the same side of this and you know I sit there with you and every time we had a complaint from a parent I I didn't hear it in the last month's board meeting so I'll I'll go over it again. Every single time they came to us about a complaint about girls sports, not once was this mentioned. What was it was never mentioned there was a transgender issue and that's why that's why girl sports wasn't fair. It was always If you want to talk about
227fairness in girls sports, excuse me, just let me finish. Please do. Then don't interrupt. There are so many issues around girls sports and there are lots of things to dive into that actually have huge impacts for athletes in this district, but this isn't actually one of them. I don't know of a transgender student that's participating in sports in COSD. I have I don't know of a formal complaint that's ever been made about a transgender student because of what Trustee Zinger had experienced. I have I don't know of any of that that have ever existed in this district. But yet we're spending hours and hours of time talking about something that isn't actually a problem for a CUSD student or family. If if I can just respond to what I was gonna go ahead and let
228Trusty Costiana finish her commented to to govern this district and these families and and to do what we can in this area. But this isn't even a conversation that's ever come to me that it's there's something going on out there where a girl is feeling out however it's happening. I I haven't heard it. test. Could we ask the you know this is a time for the board to talk about this. Could we ask the audience to I know you want to talk among yourselves but but just to let us do that. Thanks. I guess after reading and listening I'm I'm just going to go into some things that I wrote down because I I think that at this point it's probably on deaf ears. But after reading and listening to our speakers tonight and hearing
229your answers, you've confused me even more and you don't really have a clear vision as to what you want. But when you bring a resolution to this board and asking each of us to sign our name even though it's only a statement of belief and it is a statement of belief about a problem that doesn't actually exist in this district, then my only conclusion can be that this is performative. And I am uncomfortable for for that reason for that why this was brought to this board. You're politicizing our district instead of dealing with matters at hand. And we have important issues. Even I wrote this without even listening to the COSD cares presentation or without even listening to student board member Rando's. I I hadn't even heard it and I wrote down some thoughts. And
230yet we have 330 students in this district who just told you that they were happy every single day at school. students, but yet we're not talking about them. We're talking about this performative political help our students and in this case it hurts them. While we may not have any athletes that this actually impacts, we do have trans and we have non-binary students. And actions like this, while this may not be may not be directly impacted, resolutions like this hurt those students by targeting by vilifying them and making them feel less than. I am not an expert on transgenderism and I don't ever claim to be, but I struggle to understand so much of it and I'm trying to learn. But when in doubt, I'm trying to vote on things that look very confusing to me
231to always error on the side of kindness and compassion of kids that exist in our district. And I would hope that you would too. I decided to seek out some information like I stated before and I wanted to really educate myself. What are some true facts out there? Well, they're are great kids and they face enormous struggles. And here's what they actually face. There's a story about some numbers and I'm going to say those numbers tonight and then I'll explain. 75,000 41 86 and 56. 75,000 high school kids participate in high school sports in Utah. in the state of Utah. Four transgender kids playing high school sports in Utah. One transgender student playing in girls sports in the state of Utah. 86% of trans youth are reporting suicide ideiations. 86% 56% of trans youth attempted
232suicide. That's what this resolution is doing is pushing that needle. Four kids and and I have to quote the governor of Utah. What I mean what a leader in governance. What a leader in governance. His quote was four kids and only one of them playing girls sports. And that's what this is all about. Four kids who are not dominating. They're not winning trophies. They're not taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find friends and feel like they are part of something. Four kids trying to just make it through their day. Rarely. I I I honestly have so much fear and anger been directed towards such a small group. I mean, I I I will put if you want to read the the letter I have it that the the governor sent to the
233state assemblained all of this and gave the numbers and explained why he vetoed the bill in the state because there was more work. He did exactly what you did, Trusty Jones. He asked them to please have a further conversation and he he vetoed it because he didn't feel the conversation had been thoroughly gone through. That's what he did. He chose governance instead of passing a bill that he knew just didn't sit right because people were doing it at at late hours of night and not communicating. And he's like, we've got to talk this out. That's why he did it because he believes in governance. Whether whether I whether he agrees and he's going to pass the bill eventually, probably. But at that moment in time, it wasn't the time and he knew it as governor
234of the state that was leading. So for that reason and as much other that I've stated, I've taken the action that we I hope we can work together and find a better way. And that's why I supported Trustee Jones. Okay. As a mom of three daughters, we can all find common ground and absolutely want the best for our girls and young girl athletes and can find a better path forward as a board. It does not have to be this way. It doesn't It doesn't have to be this way. I'm voting no only because it it has nothing to do with the resolution. It has nothing because I have yet to express my personal opinion about this topic and I'm not going to because this is really about the power of what we're doing here and
235the message we're sending to the public. The resolution does not it if you want to protect girls sports then we can talk about the things that I mentioned before. Let's talk about better facilities. Let's let's talk about pay to play. Let's talk about coaches coaches pay. Let's talk about expanding. Let's talk about expanding opportunities for girls in this district because let me tell you, it was not a great experience for me as a mom of a girl athlete. And there are a lot of things we could do. And we could do it better, not on a resolution that alienates, but on a policy that elevates all kids. That's what we should be doing. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Trusty Bulicus. Just one clarifying comment in what you shared, Trusty Costanos, to our know to my
236knowledge, um there is not a transgender girl, am I saying it right? Um competing in girls sports in our school district. It's CIF. Our school district competes with all of California in whatever sports. So let's not isolate it just about whether it's happening here or not. It's the potential of competing. I I I want to clarify that. No, I completely understand that. But we don't govern the other districts and we don't govern CIF. That's the that's what I'm trying to communicate here. But we're making a statement though. That's all it is is we're we're the largest school district in Orange County making a statement that we support to protect Title N and girls sports. We We're that's that's all it is because I asked a lot of questions too. I don't want to go against
237Ed code, but I do think there's power in this statement and I have four daughters and it's to me it's very important for me to protect my girls. Like it's Yeah. So it's a statement. Well, it's very important for every mom to protect their girls. Whether it's whether it's a girl or a trans girl, it doesn't You're a mom, right? So everybody wants to protect their their child. It it we we can't say that because we don't agree on some things or we have disagreements that we don't want to protect our children. That's that's not right. Trusty Jones. So you suggested that I make some edits uh and you said as you love to do which I I never like it when when board members attack each other on the dis and I didn't appreciate
238that but uh that being the case I'm like to insert two where's after the last whereas so the last whereas is whereas protecting the integrity of girls sports is in central essential to maintaining an even playing field for female athletes and preserving the title the intent of title nine. Whereas the board understands that members of this community may be uncomfortable with this resolution and whereas each of us commits to responding in a timely way to all members of the community to express the reasons for their discomfort or alienation and then there be therefore be it resolved. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So I'd like to address a couple of things. Um, Trusty Castion, you had quite a few questions and I w I started taking notes a little a little delayed, so I may not answer
239all of your questions, but um, I would like to see a policy in CUSD as the largest school district in Orange County, the 10th largest school district in the state of California that passed a policy that we will protect girls in sports. We have Trusty Zinger that mentioned her daughter, that's that's a student in CUSD. So she shared that that and and there are many others. You haven't heard from them because maybe they think you might not listen because I've maybe maybe as as I as I was on the board four years ago and I brought forward a policy on a couple of policy or resolutions that did not pass. did not pass. I'm sure you remember. And so I would love to see a policy pass in in the NCUSD that we would protect
240girls and sports, biological girls in sports, biological girls in one sports, biological boys in other sports. And I would have no problem adding another another area in which other students could compete. Maybe maybe there are students that would like to compete in a co-ed so that it could that I would have no problem having some of those and that that could be a part of a discussion for later and let's talk about expanding opportunities. Absolutely. I'm all in. I'm all in. We have close to 20,000 girls in CUSD staff. Is that about right? Close to 20,000 girls. 20 20,500 somewhere in there. 18 to 22, I don't know, somewhere in there. It's about protecting all of those girls. It's pro protecting girls that would like to play sports and compete fairly. And we are in
241the state of California. So, I'm not sure I found it interesting that you focused on the state of Utah. I'm not sure if you were I don't believe you're from Utah. And I don't I don't know maybe your girls great it was some great data and it just came out because it just happened. The state of California doesn't collect data on it. So they do potentially there's a reason for that. No. Well, I didn't pick Utah for a spec specific reason other than they had great data points to make and he was making an argument of governance. So I wasn't sure if maybe one of your girls attended um a school in state of Utah and played sports. I wasn't sure if I was um not unaware of that. So in the end, this policy
242is or this resolution is simply a statement of facts. And if we decide, however we decide and whatever we do with this vote, it will, as it states in there, it will go to each of those groups that tells them as a board, some of us would support moving forward with policies to make these changes. And it's about fairness for girls and competing in sports. Other comments? Would would you support my additions of my additional two whereases about families who may be uncomfortable with the resolution? I would not. Well, I I I was asking the board in general. I 100%. I'm just sharing that I would not Um, okay. Uh, whereas the board of trustees of Capron Unified School District understands that members of our community may be uncomfortable with this resolution and whereas each
243of us commits to responding in a timely way to all members of the community who express the reasons for their discomfort or alienation. So it's just again trying to address the people who are concerned which is I I wanted to take this offline to do that. I don't have the opportunity to do that other way otherwise I just you know as the superintendent said this will divide the community. I'm just trying to mitigate that a little bit. Okay. I'm ready to vote on the resolution as is. So, are you calling the question? Yes. Thank you. Okay. Mrs. K. Hayes, will you please call the role? Student board member Verando. Abstain. Trustee Castianos. No. Trusty Pritchard. Nay. Trusty Zinger. I. Trustee Adams. I. Trusty Jones. I would have voted for it if we'd had a discussion.
244I abstain. Trusty Bulicus I. Trusty Davis I. The motion passes uh with a four two one with a preferential vote of abstinence from student board member Brando. Okay. And we'll move on to 14E grant of access easement. May I have a motion to approve the grant of access easement serving the Randa K8 school project site and delegation of authority to executive public agency certificate of acceptance? So moved. Second. Okay. And Miss Hayes, do we have or cler and cler will present. Thank you uh President Davis. So this is just a cleanup after the purchase of the property for reind school site. This is just a there's a driveway that crosses RMV property. This is just an easement, a follow-up easement to allow district to have access to the back of the campus. Yes. Thank you,
245Mrs. Hayes. Do we have any speaker cards on this item? We do not. Okay. Trustee discussion. Okay. Mrs. Hayes, please call the role. Student board member Verando. I. Trusty Castatos. Trusty Pritchard. Hi. Trusty Zinger. Hi. Trusty Adams. Hi. Trusty Jones. I. Trusty Bullicus. I. Trusty Davis. I. The motion carries 70 with the preferential vote of I from student member Brando. Move on to 14F. Instructional materials. May I have a motion to approve instructional materials recommended for adoption by the IMRC committee. So moved. Moved by Trustee Adams. Adams. trust and seconded by trustee Bulockus. Mrs. Hayes, do we have any speaker cards for this item? There are none. Okay. Discussion. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. All the those in favor say nay. Okay. Opposed. Thank all those. All those opposed please say nay.
246Okay. The motion carries 70 with the preferential vote of I from student member board member Brondo. 14G resolution 2425-28. May I have a motion to adopt resolution 2425-28. It authorizes the temporary interfund transfers. So moved. Moved by trustee Zinger, seconded by second trustee Adams and Clark. Thank you, President Davis. This is a resolution to allow for uh funds in the district to borrow from other funds for cash flow purposes within a fiscal year. Thank you, Miss T. Do we have any um speaker cards for this item? There are none. Discussion. Yes. Um Mr. Dr. Hampton, can you please just say for the general public what you had already shared with us uh in the Q&A there was a question about um the timing and June 30th that we will be solvent this year. Just what
247you had shared if you could share that out please as far as the these interfund transfers. Yes. So the uh the inter fund transfers allow for borrowing from one fund to another. So next fiscal year if there was a cash flow issue with one fund they could borrow from another fund until they the cash flows resolved because uh the operations within the school district receive their revenues at different times but the expenses may happen where they need to be covered and then but before the end of the following fiscal year for the resolution the fund is paid back. So it's just temporary with inter fiscal year borrowing from one fund to another purely for cash flow. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Mrs. Hayes, please call the role. Student board member Verando. I. Trusty
248Castianosis. I. Trusty Pritchard. I. Trusty Zylinger. I. Trusty Adnams. I. Trusty Jones. I. Trusty Bulicus. I. Trusty Davis. I. The motion carries 70 with a preferential vote of I from student board member Virando. Okay. Okay. And we'll move on to 14H. Resolution 2425-29. Resolution of the board of trustees of Capistrroni Unified School District determining that approval of grounds department facility project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act and approving the project. Have a motion. So move second. Okay. Moved by um Trusty Jones, seconded by Trusty Bolicus. And Dr. Hampton, will you please clerk, will you please present the item? Thank you, President Davis. So, u with the um the property in Dana Point that will be uh leased by Toll Brothers. It's been a a lease arrangement that we've had uh in the works
249for several years now and Toll will be moving forward with that uh lease arrangement. So, currently the grounds department is on that property. So, in order to vacate the property for Toll Brothers to move in and begin work on their project, we're going to relocate the grounds department to the Loscolina property. uh Po de Colleen is property in Laguna Niguel and this is just a a mitigated negative declaration to be exempt from the SQA move. Thank you, Miss H. Do we have any speaker cards on this item? There are none. Thank you. There are none. All right. And trustee discussion. Okay. Miss Hayes, please call the role. Student board member Verando. I. Trusty Castianos. I. Trustee Pritchard. I. Trusty Zinger. I trusty Adams. Hi. Trusty Jones. Hi. Trusty Bulicus. I. Trusty Davis. Hi. I. The
250motion carries 70 with a preferential vote of I from student board member Brando. Okay. And we're moving on to the consent calendar. Uh Mrs. Haste, do we have any speaker cards for this? Oh, is there anyone that wants to pull any items? We do have two speaker cards. Okay. Speakers first. Thank you. Um, Candace and Shireen Smith, come on up. I am speaking to item 19A, April meeting minutes, which are a gross misrepresentation of the meeting. In the interest of public transparency, I will add some context here to document what actually happened there. Leading up to the meeting, Lisa Davis and Judy Bulicus had their friends distribute this message on social media. We need you again, please. Frank Rodriguez has set up this grassroots Zoom. Cameras must be on. Please share out with likeminded common
251sense activists that are willing to speak. Love, Judy, and Lisa D. Frank is a paid political operative who makes his livelihood disrupting schoolboard meetings. He's the former director of Gays Against Groomers and left that organization when they were blocked by payment platforms for being a hate group and could no longer monetize his chaos under that brand. On the Zoom call, Frank and Amber Smith recruited the parents of 13 children as young as the eighth grade to read scripts at the meeting sight unseen. The students arrived in a van and were whisked through a side door by Davis's husband, who was also witnessed working the front door and assigning people as VIP. The kids admitted that they had not watched the recording of Judy saying the N-word. Of note, one of the children was Zinger's own
252son, and most attend church with Davis and Zinger. Davis planted her scripts in public comment and paraded 13 white children in front of a room full of black people to defend the use of a racial slur and called for the resignation of Christa Castianos, who simply asked for a discussion on the matter. A person of color called Lisa out for stacking the deck. Lisa's husband gave her hand signals from the front row to have the woman ejected and then gave Lisa more hand signals to clear the room, which she did. Brent Davis has not been elected to this school board. Rigging a public meeting has drawn intense legal scrutiny to the district. To deflect, today they proposed a review of Title 9. Um, tonight Lisa said a community member asked the board to protect girls
253sports last month. That is a lie. She was one of the children Lisa scripted. She deliberately planted this topic last month to divert your attention away from Judy. This Moms for Liberty board is here for one reason, to discredit and dismantle our public schools and make way for privatization and vouchers. It is missionritical that the parents of this district become watchd dogs or we will lose our schools as we know them today. Attend every meeting, speak up for your kids, document the truth because it won't be reflected in the minutes. And while I have a little extra time, Jennifer Adams was 100% endorsed by Moms for Liberty. Lisa Zollinger, Jennifer Adams, and Lisa Davis held a secret event in Laguna Niguel was with the president of Orange County Moms for Liberty who said among other
254insane things at this meeting that Chalk Hospital was sending a bus around to the high schools to take the girls for abortions. They are Moms for Liberty. Thank you. Our next speaker is Shireen Smith. Good evening. Shireen Smith, former middle school principal of Lis Viejo, high school principal Capo Valley, superintendent of Lagona Beach. Um, I have lived in San Clemeni for a very long time, almost 40 years, and I worked for this district for almost 25 years. my husband uh over 30 years. He just retired a couple years ago from Alisa Niguel High School where he was the AP Euro teacher and coached girls volleyball, boys volleyball, and a couple of other sports on the side. So, we were very very um you know, this is kind of our tribe, Kappo, and it hurts my
255heart to see what's happening in this district right now. I think we can do better. Um what we saw tonight was really divisive. and it compounds what happened at the last board meeting where people were silenced and marginalized. You have the opportunity to build bridges. You have the opportunity to show real leadership. You have the opportunity to build trust to um expand feelings of inclusion to help people feel that they belong in this district. But I don't see you taking advantage of that opportunity. Instead, I see you doubling down on the wrong thing. Um, I hope you reconsider. I hope that you open your arms up to people with differing opinions. I hope you act in a constructive way to move forward. And you can do that. You can take the high road. You, Judy,
256I know it was unfortunate that you use the n-word and um, and you've received a lot of heat for it. And I think you could truly show true leadership by stepping up and saying, "Yeah, give me the censure. I made a mistake and I need a consequence and I would like to lead this district forward in a way where it can heal." There's a lot to be done. Um what we saw tonight is not a good direction. It's not healthy. I was so impressed with Mr. Merwin's um presentation on CAPO Cares. That's what you should be spending your time on. Keep the main thing the main thing. this other stuff is just um I I've said it three times now, dividing the community. It's not good. You should be spending every second on instruction learning
257and making sure kids feel included and cared for. So with that, I encourage you once again, take the high road, do the right thing, and make sure that this district is regarded as the very high-erforming and um admirable district that it has been in the past. Thank you. Do we have any trustees um that would like to pull any items? Okay, I'm going to pull 18 ag and may I have a motion to approve the consent calendar with the So moved. Second. You might also need another um an extension for time if you go over 11. I think we're going to make it. We'll we'll check it check with that in just a couple of minutes. Thank you, Trusty um Pritchard. Okay. Uh so I have a motion by Trustee Jones and a second by
258second. By Trusty Pritchard with the ex and we're pulling 18G. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Okay. And um anyone opposed? Okay. Motion carries 70 to approve the consent calendar with the exception of 18 AG with student board member Rando casting preferential amount of I. Okay. And staff if you could please give us a one little rundown on 18 a new job description for a social worker. Uh yes, President Davis be happy to do that. Dr. Gomez uh is going to share a little bit more about the act the focus of this position and how it connects to uh our dashboard and our need for supporting our foster youth. Thank you. This work of for this job description for social worker uh comes out of our identification um as a district in differentiated
259assistance based on the 2024 dashboard. uh our foster youth students were identified in the red category for suspension rate indicator, chronic absenteeism, and then low academic uh achievement indicators. Uh through a process of technical assistance with the Orange County Department of Education, working with our ED services team, uh we had to identify how we would go about systemically addressing and supporting the needs of our foster youth students. Uh one of the things that came out of that needs analysis and kind of root c uh root cause analysis was the need for a point person that would help with all the inter agency coordination between uh the different foster care systems uh the social workers that are at the county level all the different reports and all of those pieces. We also need somebody that can
260help support if there's a behavioral incident as we know that the suspension rate for our foster youth students is higher than just kind of the general population of that. So this particular position was created as part of our differentiated assistance plan to address and support our foster youth students and our homeless students as those needs are quite intense for the group of students involved. Thank you. who is currently um handling that for uh up until now that we are expressing this greater need. Great question. That's a shared responsibility um partially myself as the executive director of state and federal programs. Also, our coordinator of counseling, Omera Corell, who was here a little bit earlier, he helps with that. And then we have another support staff um clerical support that helps out with a lot of
261the reporting and getting records sent to different case workers and those kind of records requests that we get for our foster youth. Welcome. Dr. Pritchard, would you like to make a motion to extend the meeting? Move to extend the meeting. Thank you. A second. Okay. Moved by Trustee Pritchard and seconded by um Trustee Zinger. Thank you. And then now take a vote. All in favor? I I. And anyone opposed? I passes 61 with a preferential vote from student board me. Thank you. Okay. And we will move back to um Okay. And we will go back to public comment. Well, I would like to All right. So, let's start over. We need a motion for to approve item 18 AG. So moved. Moved by trustee Adam, seconded by trustee Zinger. And now we will move all
262those in favor. All those in favor? I I Okay. And any any opposed? I Okay. Pass 61 with a preferential vote of student board. Thank you. Now you need a motion to extend the meeting for the remainder of public comment. Trusty Pritchard has go ahead and has shared that and if I can have a second please and a second by Trusty Adams and now we will go to public back to public comment. Thank you those of you that have been very patiently waiting. Hold on. Hold on. You got to vote. All those in favor. All those in favor I I pass a 70 preferential vote of student board member Brando. Thank you. I will call the names of the people who didn't get to speak earlier. Please line up in the order I call your
263name. The first one is Julie Isela, Jason Heather Puhek, Amy Plo, Michelle Blanchard, Don Rentop, Amy Jamie H, Barbara, Miss Trumbley, Linda Haddock, Roger Perez, Farah, Fiona, Carol, Lindseay, Dennison, please state your name when you begin to speak so we make sure we capture the right correct people. Thank you. Hi everyone. Can I go? Thank you to all of you for your service. I'm Amy Pllo. I'm a library media tech at Alis Ovo Middle School. I've been a media tech for eight years. Um, I spend two to three minutes per student and up to 20 students a day with a variety of Chromebook problems um that I'm required to diagnose on top of my what my job description is. I It is much cheaper to pay library staff to do this work than to hire
264more TIS staff. The lowest paid technology person makes 25% more than the highest paid library staff person. We're asking for a 5% increase to reflect our increased responsibilities. Chromebooks are more complicated than caring for books, as you can tell from the list of things that we've listed earlier. Um, and because of the fragility and expense of them, this 5-year-old negotiation between library staff and CUSD is going to public employee relations board mediation next week unless you, the school board, compel CUSD negotiators to adopt the proposed compensation of 5%. speaker is Thank you. Jamie. Hi. The last board meeting left me feeling angry, heartbroken, and honestly shocked. Trusty Bulicus, after you used the N-word from the DAS in an email to me, you said you would publicly apologize. But when April came around, I couldn't believe
265what I was witnessing. And thank you to our student trustee for your powerful and eloquent words that night. This could have been the perfect moment for you, trustee Bulockus, to take responsibility and acknowledge the harm that was done. Instead, we saw deflection, gaslighting, and a coordinated effort to silence community voices, especially those most directly impacted. Children were handed pre-written scripts and used as shields so the adults in the room could avoid accountability. That's not leadership, it's manipulation. Even more disturbing is the growing number of parents coming forward with stories of bullying. One teacher reported that students are openly using the n-word on campus. This should leave us all shell shocked. Instead, our board and district leadership continue to model denial. This is a call to action. Do better. Our next speaker, please come forward and
266state your name. My name is involved you and parent very involved volunteer at Bathgate Elementary. Due to Judy Buckus's use of the nword, her lack of accountability, her and your vote to stop further discussion, the parents of Bathgate feel that Judy has shown disgraceful behavior that betrays the core values of Mission Vjo character Council Awards. Our petition with 240 verified signatures on change.org prove that Bathgate parents no longer want you to present at our school's character council awards. Judy, don't let racism be the legacy that you have as a trustee and as a former Bathgate parent. Take accountability, Judy, by telling the board and the parents that you were open to having a discussion. And last, Judy, why was it so easily that the nword rolled off your tongue when you could have used any
267other word to describe James? How about using other identifiers like person, man, or any other word in your vocabulary? If anybody wants to get a hold of me, you can reach me at nojudypbathgmail.com. Next speaker, please come forward and state your name. My name is Paola Trumbley. I am a bilingual community leasant. I've had the privilege of supporting and organizing various events across our schools, our churches, and city of mission VJO. I've been part of serve day, multicultural metley, via de los muertos. I've helped out through PTA ASV grand night, the twist programs, love mission vo beautififications day. I am here today. I want to extend a warm invitation to everybody for our second annual Mission VJO Pride celebration that we're putting together Saturday, June 21st from 12 to 4. It's going to be at
268Saddleback College. This special event is a celebration of our LGBTQ community and a tribute to the values of diversity, inclusion, unity, and belonging. The day will feature a variety of vendors, activities, food trucks, live music, and fun for everybody. And I hope you guys can make it. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Linda Haddock. I'm a parah at uh ATP and I wanted to speak to the whole board, I guess, regarding the racism that is inherent in this district. I mean, it's it's was proven by what you said, but I've been involved in this district since my kids started in 1999. I've won just finishing up ATP this year. I've only worked here for about three years, but my my kids are biracial and African-American. And they were used they were called the
269n-word a lot. They were don't touch me with that black hand. My four my daughter was in fourth grade and was told What? By a kid. What is a BMW? She said a car, you know. No, a black man's weenie. I mean, this was a fourth grader who sexually harassed her and nothing was done except Oh, give me an apology note. And then they had that kid be her mate on the pill. Thank you. Our next speaker, please step forward and state your name. Hi, I'm Fiona Carroll and I spoke here two years ago asking the board to take action to prevent gun violence. Guns are the number one killer of young people in this country. And at the May 2023 meeting, dozens of speakers, including many students, asked for an agenda item to be
270added to find more effective ways to educate students and their families about safe gun storage. We got the runaround and the agenda item was never added. Studies have shown that lockdown drills and armed security guards have a negative effect on students mental health. Bullying and ebikes are mentioned in the safety section of the CUSD website, but not safe storage. Safe storage info. If you're concerned about student safety, this is the agenda item that needs to be added. Another agenda item that needs to be added is the damage done by the board's refusal to address Judy Blex's use of the N-word. Do better. Admit your mistakes and learn from them. Whether it's using the nword or wasting your time on a problem that doesn't exist, our students safe learning environment and their lives depend on it.
271I am impersonally affected by gun violence and racism. Thank you. Our next speaker, please come forward and state your name. Lindsay Dennis. Um I hopefully being here so late will pack a punch. Um so my daughter spoke earlier. There's a teacher there are two teachers that are phenomenal at um Ferguson and the Mandarin program. They're the English teachers that support the Chinese teachers. And I know you've heard it from a bazillion of kids, but um just to paint a picture, uh when they teach math in Mandarin, it's opposite. So instead of saying 1/4, they say four ones. And it gets very, very confusing. And so my little daughter Pippy, she was having a tough time with math. And the Mr. Suits, her English teacher, who does not teach math, um said, "Come into my come
272into my classroom during lunch." and she he spent oh three times a week going over the math with her. So it made her understand he's a phenomenal teacher and I know your hands are tied on so many of these teachers but do not get rid of Mr. Suits and do not get rid of Miss Christian. They are phenomenal teachers that make that program a thousand times better than it could be. Thank you. That concludes our speakers. Thank you. Okay. This this evening I'd like to adjourn the meeting in memory of Mrs. Basset who recently passed and she was an art teacher at Concordia Elementary. May I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? Moved by Trusty Bullus. Second. Trusty Adams. All those in favor say I. I. Motion carries 70 to adjourn the meeting with
273a preferential vote of I from student board member Rando. Time is now 11:08. 1109.