Regular Meeting

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[7] SPEAKER_28: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[23] SPEAKER_40: Thank you ladies and gentlemen for attending the Newark Unified School District Board of Education meeting for October 17, 2017. We have just returned from closed session No action was taken. Moving on to 6.1, approval of the agenda for tonight. Can you speak into the microphone, please?

[53] SPEAKER_28: There was, when the agenda was printed, something inadvertently got in the wrong area. It was posted in the correct area. but it was when the final agenda that came out to us was. And so, I want to make sure that we are going for the agenda in the past that was given to us and where my finding is here. Make a motion, I would like to move to reorder the agenda to move public hearing up before new business. And so, as we look at... Okay.

[87] SPEAKER_40: So then, we'll have the... Number 10 will be

[93] SPEAKER_28: after the superintendent's report, which is where it belongs. So some people may have an agenda that's printed differently. This was the one that was posted this way. It was just a matter of that one set of papers became.

[108] SPEAKER_40: Yeah. So there's a motion to move what is currently item 11.1, the public hearing for sufficiency of materials, right after the superintendent's report, before new business. Is that correct? It would be 10, correct. OK. Is there a second to that motion? I'll second that. Second by member Presado. Please vote.

[129] SPEAKER_40: Give me a minute here. Five ayes. Thank you. So then with that, we move on to 7.1, which is student report from Newark Memorial High School. I believe Ms. Van Rossen is not here tonight due to Spirit Week. And so there are no other items for that agenda number. We are foregoing, for this time around, 8.1, which is the school spotlight, which will return on November 7. And then so then we move on to 9.1, which is the superintendent's update. That's in December. Oh, December. OK. I'm sorry, December 5th. I misread. My apologies. 9.1, superintendent's update.

[191] SPEAKER_06: Thank you, President Nguyen, members of the audience, ladies and gentlemen. I just want to update you on a few items. Last Thursday and Friday, Associate Superintendent Salinas, myself, and a few staff attended the CCEE summit in Fresno. Ed Services Directors, our Union President, Tommy Martin-Edwards, Robin Sert, and we spent two days developing a deeper plan for how we're going to implement some improvements. Largely our focus was mathematics as per our data indicates we need to have a stronger plan for mathematics and it was kind of a chance to have a retreat facilitated and do some deeper planning and looking at trying to get to the root cause of what we think is going on with math in our district. And we shared some of the topics covered in our Friday update, so you have that in your email. But I wanted you to know that it was a good time that we spent there, and just getting to think about creating some urgency around math is something that is weighing heavy on us. Would you like to share anything, Ms. Salinas, about that visit?

[270] SPEAKER_31: Just that I think it's testament to some of the work that CCEE is bringing forward to us as a ways of support and doing that in conjunction with the Alameda County Office of Education. I think it was good to have a principal, our labor leader, our president of our teachers union all at the table to look at a problem of practice.

[293] SPEAKER_06: It was a good effort. The next item I want to update you on is Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week, we will be hosting the CLSEI, California Legislative Staff Education Institute, which is about 35 people that are legislative staffers that will be visiting our district trying to determine how is LCAP and LCFF working, or what's not working, and what do we need. And the board is invited to join us on Friday, October 20th at 1145. in the board training room to hear a board perspective with that team. So again, Friday, October 20th at 1145. If you are available, we'd love to have you come. Char will send you a reminder. I think the text reminders have been popular, so she'll keep that up. And you do have a copy of that agenda. I think we sent that to them. Is that right, Char? Yeah. So you should have that. I think it came in your Friday update. recently. Yes. So just know that we're going to be tied up with them. We have them visiting schools. We're going to do a student panel. They're spending time with different segments of our school district, hopefully getting to know us. And not really a spoiler alert that I will be leaning into heavily the lack of funding in the base and how we need to talk about that and how that's impacting districts like ours. So that should be interesting. And then another reminder, we're having a joint board meeting with Ohlone Community College on Wednesday, October 25th at 630 to 8 at Ohlone campus. So October 25th, 630 to 8 p.m. at the Ohlone campus, Dr. Browning and I will be presenting pretty much what we're working on together, what we're working on separately, and where we might be collaborating going forward.

[417] SPEAKER_28: Which campus is it? Is it the main campus?

[419] SPEAKER_06: No, it's the campus here in Newark. The Newark? The Newark campus of Ohlone.

[423] SPEAKER_28: What room do you know of?

[424] SPEAKER_06: I don't know yet, but Char will have parking passes for each of you tonight. They're probably in your area there. Those are the only things I have to report on at this time. President Nguyen.

[437] SPEAKER_40: Thank you very much. So then we move on to what is now 10.05, which is the public hearing. on sufficiency of materials, and so it is 7.16. I would like to open the public hearing. Are there any, I do have a speaker card that has, by Ms. Bonbright, on 11.1, which was this item's previous number. Did you mean to speak at this public hearing, or? No.

[471] SPEAKER_27: No.

[472] SPEAKER_40: Non-agenda item. Non-agenda, okay, got it.

[473] SPEAKER_27: That's what's on my agenda item.

[479] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. So there aren't any speakers for the public hearing. So Mr. Knoop, you have for 10.1, do you would like to speak during the public hearing or when the resolution is being discussed? You have listed here 10.1. That's the resolution. So we'll get to that in about 30 seconds.

[504] SPEAKER_39: I think there may be confusion over the numbering of the agenda. The public speaker should be at the public hearing on this item rather than on the agenda item, whenever it's a public hearing item. He wrote 10.1 because the version of the agenda he has has the public hearing as 10.1 as opposed to 11.1. It's 11.1 up there.

[526] SPEAKER_28: It's 11.1.

[530] Guadalupe Lopez: on here.

[536] SPEAKER_28: The numbering has changed.

[537] SPEAKER_06: So he's speaking relative to the public hearing.

[539] SPEAKER_40: Do you want to speak during the public hearing then? Is that correct? Yes. OK, please. You're welcome.

[544] Cary Knoop: Sorry for the confusion.

[545] SPEAKER_40: That's OK.

[546] Cary Knoop: That's our fault. So I looked at the, tried to understand how this works with the textbooks. And what I read is it said that the textbooks have to basically be books and they cannot be like sheets or photocopied material. And, you know, my eldest goes to the fifth grade now and he, for math, he has actually a textbook, you know, so you can actually see what's happening next week, which I always find interesting. You know, when I was a student, I always wanted to look forward. But in the earlier grades, he didn't have that. So anyway, I think my question is like, Does the district and does the board guarantee a certain level of funding for these textbooks? Because the way I understand it is local control formula that does that. And one of the problems with local control is like you give all the, you know, the power to the schools and it becomes very complicated. But the question is how much, the bottom line is how much do we spend on textbooks? The second question I have is just one in terms of like due diligence. How do you, how does the board, I mean, is the board going to ask and say, did you ask the teachers if everything was okay? Do you have all the textbooks available? Maybe ask a couple of parents to see if we're okay, or is it more passive that you say, well, as long as we didn't get any complaint from everything or have anybody, it's probably okay. So I'm just, you know, I'm sure that the board members will ask the district, you know, what process, was established for the board to sign their name and say, yes, we know it's ours. That's basically what I wanted to talk about. Thanks.

[658] SPEAKER_40: And I think to address your last, the final question, from my experience, I think each principal has to certify that there is a sufficient amount of textbooks in his or her school.

[670] SPEAKER_06: They signed a document.

[671] SPEAKER_40: No more comments on public hearing? OK. So 719, we shall close this public hearing on sufficiency of materials. Then we move on to the true 10.1, which is resolution 2080, sufficiency of materials. Is there a motion to approve?

[693] Ray Rodriguez: So moved.

[694] SPEAKER_40: By member Rodriguez, is there a second? I'll second. Second by member Crocker, please vote. Five ayes, thank you. 10.2, board budget reduction. We do have a speaker, Tommy Martin Edwards.

[721] SPEAKER_42: Hello. Sorry. Yeah, you can hear me. My throat kind of shocks at this moment. So I want to share a bit of a personal story regarding some of the things I heard at the reduction study session. About six or seven months ago, I was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome. This rendered me almost entirely crippled. I was almost put on a feeding tube just over spring break. The lovely people on this board that were here last year supported me greatly, and I, I mean, I was, as they might be able to tell you, in very bad shape. So I fully understand how important it is for everyone to have quality health care. And Member Rodriguez, you said that you hope that by having health care as a benefit for the board members, we're able to attract more candidates for these offices in the future, which I think is a brilliant idea. But the problem is that we don't even have health care right now for our teachers. My husband had to leave the district in order to get quality health care so that I can continue to get medication. If we're not able to provide that sort of health care for our teachers, if we're not able to offer health care to our teachers to make sure that they can be attracted so we can get the best and brightest there, then we really need to look at why we're offering health care to the board members or really to anyone at this point if we're not willing to provide it for people for everyone. So if you hope to keep health care as a benefit for board members. I do hope that this also opens up a greater conversation on health care for teachers. And if that's not something that is going to happen, then I would support the board taking the appropriate measures to remove health care from their benefits. And I thank you very much.

[841] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. So how I'm reading this agenda item is that it seems like a first reading as far as discussion. And then at a later time, if there is an actual proposal that needs to be made and it would be brought forth for adoption?

[858] SPEAKER_30: I don't see it that way. It says action and discussion. We could take action or we can move it later. So it's on there as action and discussion.

[868] SPEAKER_40: Well, that's fine. But I think this is the first time we've seen this document tonight, right? And so I don't know if we necessarily have time to synthesize

[880] SPEAKER_30: It was part of the board study session where we kind of went over these pieces. This both documents the... Right. Tonight.

[894] Nancy Thomas: I'm of the mindset that it would be a good gesture for the board to forego medical benefits. I've done a lot of study on this as part of CSBA and about half of school boards get benefits or take them and half do not. I think that in the case of medical benefits, at one point, we were paying upwards of $20,000 for a board member's family medical benefits. And our whole salary is $250 a month. So there's a big disparency there between what the state says we can pay ourselves in salary and what we could maybe get as board benefits. I think that with our dire financial situation, I think now is the time for us to say let's medical benefits for the board. Board members don't come to be on the board as a main source of employment and most employers provide medical insurance. So I think we should look at this as a public service situation and not because we can get three or four or more times as much money in benefits. So I think it might even work the other way, that people will be attracted to run for the board because of the medical benefits, not because of the service aspect of it. So that's my thought on it.

[1017] SPEAKER_40: Ms.

[1017] SPEAKER_28: Crocker? I'd just like to repeat, since we have two board members that were not here, comments that I made. My feeling is that There are two categories we need to zero out. One is the medical benefits, and the other is the conferences. We'd save about $24,000 there, which is a good percentage. There are some things we have no control over, and that is legal expenses. Very little amount of our legal expenses are actually generated because of our requests, but rather they're in reaction to protecting the district and protecting the board. The legal expense is the other big item that's there. The rest seem to be things that are necessary for the process of running the board. And I certainly agree that we need to encourage members of the public to become interested in being board members. I don't think that by eliminating the stipend, you need to have something that covers the expenses. I don't know about the other board members, but I spend more money and expenses for the board than I do in money that comes in. And that being the case, there are ways we have of giving back to the school district, either by expenses of going places or buying things that we need to do or representing the board in various community situations. And I think that it should not take away from the family's money for someone to be on a board. You're donating your time, and I think that there should be something there to allow people to take care of expenses. But I think it's overkill to pay for medical. I think it's overkill at this point to pay for conferences. Our board members have been on the board now for at least a year, year and a half. And so the learning curve should be a little less steep. And come the next election, if there are new board members, then I think we need to revisit the conference item again. But I'm for voting tonight on those two items.

[1142] SPEAKER_40: So are, and we'll get to you in a second, Member Rodriguez, are we talking about the cuts that, I mean, I can see the travel and conference being something that can take effect immediately, but for the, you know, health and welfare, is that?

[1159] SPEAKER_28: I think by the beginning of January 1st.

[1161] Nancy Thomas: And not fiscal year? No, it's usually the open enrollment period in which someone would choose a.

[1170] SPEAKER_39: Open enrollment closed on October 6th.

[1173] SPEAKER_28: People can use our, you can use the same system that we have for medicals, just a matter of that you're choosing to pay for it versus the district paying for it. So I don't see where there would be an interruption of coverage, just a matter of who's paying for it.

[1188] SPEAKER_40: Right, but so Ms. Richards says open enrollment ended October 6th?

[1192] SPEAKER_39: That is correct.

[1194] SPEAKER_28: But if you have a change of something.

[1198] SPEAKER_39: If you have a change, yeah, it would potentially reopen the ability if there's a change in the funding model. I see. That would create a special open. Okay. Got it.

[1208] SPEAKER_40: Member Rodriguez?

[1210] Ray Rodriguez: I was hoping the board would consider a cap of right now the district pays around 40, I think about 40% of the health and welfare. And I was going to suggest a cap of 30% which would be saving. I just thought that having some kind of a health benefit come the election next November would add additional people. It would still be a small amount. Now, as far as what Tommy said, the, you know, when I first came on the board, we had full benefits for board members. for classified and for teachers. And the classified continued, what we get is basically, what's available to us is basically geared or by what the classified get. The teachers years ago gave it up and in lieu of that, they received about $7,000 a year extra. and they wanted it to go in salary as opposed to benefits. And in retrospect, that was probably a mistake on their part, but at the time, the individuals that were part of the bargaining unit were getting ready to retire some of them and they wanted extra, you know, and which is, you know, but it is what it is. I agree that, you know, once we fiscally that we're, We have money that we should consider offering some kind of a health benefit to the teacher group as we do to the classified and discuss that. But I wanted a cap but that's fine. These are desperate times that we're in right now so, you know, having the benefits. The problem for me individually is that I'm stuck with what we have now. because of my wife's colon cancer, I cannot go anywhere else because they don't accept pre-existing conditions. So I can't go back to my employer and say, what's available now? And she wouldn't qualify if she was working. But the benefits that we have now through the GPA are still available. You know, so it's not like I don't have anything, so I'm fine with it. So as far as the other things, having the stipend, personally, I don't have a problem eliminating the stipend also and just zeroing where we will be zeroed out as board members. But that's up to you guys on how you want to do that. The conferences, I haven't gone to conferences in the last three years, three or four years. And so mine should be zero, but there's something in there. So I don't think we should be going to any conferences unless we pay for it ourselves, okay? So that's where I stand on it. So I'll be voting yes on eliminating the health and welfare. I think it's time that we just move on with that. Mr. Newt made a big point as far as we're spending a lot of time talking about something that's, you know, in the big picture is minimal. But it does set an example where the board is showing leadership by doing this. And it said, you know, because there's going to be a lot of tough decisions moving forward. And it puts us right at the forefront, which I think is a good thing.

[1458] SPEAKER_40: And I've agreed with everything that's been said at the desk thus far. What I would advocate for is the zeroing out of the health and welfare and then travel and conference. That essentially eliminates over 50 percent of the board's budget which does hopefully sends a strong, clear message. And then I would say as far as the monthly stipend, that's something that we can certainly revisit. later on in the process as far as the budget, and not necessarily moving it off the table, but... You don't have to eliminate it.

[1494] Ray Rodriguez: You can freeze things for a year until we get through this, you know, cycle that we're in right now, but I'm fine with revisiting the siphon part and moving on with the rest.

[1505] SPEAKER_30: All right. Member Preciado? Yes. So I made my comments at the study session, and I just wanted to know in terms of what Member Crocker said is that It doesn't mean that you eliminate the actual health and welfare benefits. It just eliminates the district's costs. So for example, like if I wanted to do benefits, that I would just pay for it on my own and the district wouldn't pay for it. So at least, so we're not eliminating that, right, in terms of the access. It's just eliminating who's paying for it. At least that's my understanding.

[1536] Nancy Thomas: Also, my understanding is that after a board member is no longer on the board, they can continue, is that correct? That's correct. They can continue to enroll in the district's health care. And that is a great benefit in and of itself, because the district's health care is very good. And because it's in such a big group of others that are in it, I think we get good benefits for a relatively reasonable cost.

[1570] SPEAKER_40: Okay. So with that, I would like to make a motion for the district to shed its burden of health and welfare and travel and conferences for the Board of Education. I'll second that. Seconded by Member Rodriguez. Please vote. Five ayes.

[1596] SPEAKER_39: Thank you. Can I get clarity on one thing? Yes. With regard to the health and welfare, the effective date, we're saying January 1, is that correct? You didn't actually state a date. You said that the travel immediately, that's fine.

[1609] SPEAKER_40: As soon as feasibly possible, based upon the open enrollment process and what our insurers will indicate, will tell us. Thank you. On to 10.3, donations. Is there a motion to approve?

[1630] SPEAKER_30: I'll move to approve.

[1630] SPEAKER_40: All right, member Preciado, is there a second?

[1633] SPEAKER_28: I'll second.

[1634] SPEAKER_40: Second by member Thomas. Please vote. Five ayes. Thank you. A donation of $150 to Graham Elementary from Teresa and Steven Nelson for fifth grade science camp. A donation of $478 to Graham Elementary from Life Touch National School Studios for fall 2016 photos. A donation of $8.75 for Newark Memorial High School for LRG Prep LLC principal's donation. And a donation of $120 to Crossroads by Tammy Alcorda of Newark Schools Foundation for supplies. Item 10.4, board policy. on a non-structural operational roles and concepts. Do I have a move to approve? Okay. You did. This was listed as 12.5, so was that out of order for you? Okay. Go ahead, Mr. Duke. This is the BP 3000, correct? BP 3000, correct. Okay. Which is 10.4, yeah. Go ahead.

[1710] Cary Knoop: Yes, so I noticed that CSBA has a rather vague template now about what the definitions are for the, you know, the roles of the board. And prior was a full page of things that the board is intent to do. And I looked at these things and they look pretty good to me. You know, these are things that the board should do I think. And so we're all striking them out. So I think the first question would be was the prior page the prior CSBA recommendation or was it a new unified edition and you know second if that's going to be stricken it may very well be that these things are somewhere else in the CSBA because they may have moved it and we may have not revisited that particular board policy where the other roles were included if I hope that Kind of makes it clear. But if you just look at the first page, the whole first page is basically eliminated. And there's some good things in there. So anyway, thank you. Thank you.

[1784] SPEAKER_40: Is there a motion to approve item 10.4? I'll move to approve. Member Thomas, is there a second? I'll second. Second member Crocker, please vote. Five ayes. Thank you. 10.5, board policy 3100, update to CASPER language. Is there a motion to approve?

[1811] Nancy Thomas: I'd like to discuss that a little bit. Sure. There's very little change in this because we approved it a couple of years ago. And then maybe to Mr. Newt's point, I think the AR that goes along with this. Whenever we bring a policy back for an update, I would hope we have, would have the AR as well. I also would like us to have the notes that come from CSBA because they're full of good information. The one thing I disagree with on this is the just arbitrarily crossing out budget advisory committee. I think we're in the middle of a budget crisis. If you go to the CSBA sample, under that whole optional paragraph, there are three options that boards might want to consider in terms of having a budget advisory committee. And given our situation with our budget, it may be time for us to have either a board-appointed budget advisory Committee, there's three different options. So I would like this one to come back with the notes, make this a first reading, have it come back with the notes from CSBA, and maybe allow us to discuss whether the time might be right. That decision was made two years ago, and two of our members were not on the board at the time. And I don't think we had much of a discussion on it, but we might want to now, given especially that we have an ad hoc committee that the superintendent has pulled together.

[1923] SPEAKER_40: OK. So can we bring this back and we won't take action on this? Thank you. We've already done the public hearings. So 12.1, public comment on non-agenda items. Ms. Perks.

[1947] Cindy Parks: Good evening. At the end of last month, this district held several meetings to discuss the current financial crisis and seek input from the community. During those presentations, Fund 21, the bond, and Fund 25, developer fees, were mentioned as monies for capital outlay to be spent on a specific purpose. I think the board would agree that Fund 21 money can only be spent on projects within the ballot measure language. If I may take a moment to explain the parameters pertaining to Fund 25, These monies came from the developers who have paid fees based on the square footage of a new development. These funds are not to be spent on regular maintenance, routine repair of schools, nor deferred maintenance. Instead it is, as it says in your May 16, 2017 Resolution 2048, the purpose of the fees is to finance the construction and reconstruction of school facilities in order to provide adequate school facilities for the students of the district who will be generated by the new residents taking place in the district, which I confirmed on August 1st with Mr. Potter and Ms. Alodoyan. I'm not sure I pronounced her name right. There are government code and ed code sections which define the conditions of overcrowding and explains how this money is to be used to mitigate those conditions. We can look to our neighbors across the freeway as an example as to why there's a need to collect the appropriate fees from the developers to mitigate overcrowding in the local school level. I think you would concur, Newark is not in the same situation as Fremont. As we have heard, enrollment is down 1,200 students in the last 10 years. Currently, overcrowding is not an issue. However, over the last three years, this district has spent tens of thousands of developer fee dollars on projects that do not mitigate overcrowding in Newark schools. In July, September, December of 2014, November, December of 2015, environmental services was paid And it was the comments were bond lease leaseback. April 2016, Salas O'Brien for HVAC. April 2016, DSA fees HVAC. March 2016, June 2016, independent roof. January 2017, KPW structural engineers dry rot. June 2017, Thornton, Thomas City to assess the junior high bleachers. March, April, and May of 2016, January of 2017, Dutra Sierra O'Graden. Per Dr. Markin, Dutra was hired mainly to analyze NUSD's real property resources to assure that they were being optimized in terms of their operational efficiencies. He was to provide strategic assessment management counseling and the feasibility of the district's involvement in the Civic Center project. Some of these items look bond related. Could they be a coding error? If so, why weren't they caught? Since 13-14, since the year 2013-2014, $300,000 has been spent. And in the 17-18 budget, $200,000 is allocated. Here are some of the documents to support my claim, as well as the 2007 Miller-Brown and, yes, Greg Dannis publication, Developers' Fees, Don't and Don't Not. I've highlighted the areas in the documents, and I hope you'll take the time to review.

[2152] Cary Knoop: Two quick comments. I kind of missed the meeting minutes. Because normally, when you have a meeting, then the next meeting, you take the minutes from the prior meeting, and then you approve them. So they're not there. And I know everything's videotaped, but I think it's just important to have the minutes for the next meeting. I have a question about the, or a comment about the agenda. So I looked at the bylaws, and it looks like the superintendent and the president sit together and make the agenda. Now, what I assume, and maybe that's just the wrong assumption of me, is that that goes in complete cooperation with other board members. So if a board member would like to have something agendized, then naturally the president would bring that forward unless it's highly inappropriate to agendize it, it would be agendized. The reason I mention it is that in the workshop here, I thought there was an example where there was some confusion from some members what actually a board agenda item was about and of the scope of it. So again, I just would like to emphasize that, you know, a body should, you know, work together and if members would like to see items on the agenda that the president together with the superintendent, you know, make an a good plan, make sure that, you know, voices within the individual members of the board are heard, and that things can be discussed, of course, if it is appropriate. It may be that certain items are not appropriate, but under normal circumstances, I would expect that a board member, if they say, I really think this, you know, needs to be agendized, that, you know, that's something that under normal situations, a president would say, yeah, sure, I'll take that into the conversation and make sure that happens. Thanks.

[2273] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. Diane Barnbright.

[2282] SPEAKER_27: Thank you. And I would like to speak on our after school sports programs for the grade schools. First of all, I'd like to say that I'm 100% in favor of them and co-ed. So I am not here to complain that we have them and that they're not being run properly. However, today, when I picked up my granddaughter from Lincoln Elementary School, the smoke was hurting my eyes and my throat. There was no Nixie that was put out from the county fire department saying that we had bad health. I tried to find out very hard. I spent a good two hours researching this trying to figure out how it is that this Nixie gets put out so that the school district is aware that we have a problem. What I did call Cheryl and told Cheryl that, you know, I felt there was a problem outside. The junior high did cancel their game, however, The grade schools went ahead with their practices. By the time 430 rolled around when the practice started at Lincoln, the air was much better. But tomorrow is also another spare the air day. And the Nixies are not happening for the Santa Cruz fire, which affects us more than the Napa fire did. We canceled a lot last week for the Napa fire. I just want us to be fully aware that we need to pay attention to the air at each individual site maybe. Cancel if it's bad. What the coaches told me was if you don't want your child to participate in the practice, they don't have to. But what that does, and I learned the hard way because my granddaughter got hurt on the field in a pothole that if they don't practice, they get put on third string. And so therefore, if you don't allow them to practice, it hurts them. The other thing is that I would like to see a rule put in that we have co-ed and that co-ed must be the team. Therefore, the coaches need to play all of the students, not just a few. This is not to see who's the best, it's to teach our students sports. It's not about winning, it's about playing. Does that make sense? Thank you.

[2404] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. Terry Marzano.

[2420] SPEAKER_10: Good evening. I just wanted to make a statement and a reminder to the board and to our administrators here from an employee group of the library clerks that we still have an elementary school without a librarian. And that has been in effect since last December. This is a Title I school. And as you're all aware, Title I schools, the libraries serve as the primary resource for students to get their books, to have access to the internet, to provide parents with access to the internet, as well as books to be read in the home. Many Title I school parents and families do not have books in their home. They do not have access to the internet, and the library serves a vital function for that. While we've graciously been offered for the library staff to additional hours, if available, to help out at Schilling School, that is not a good solution for a long-term problem. That's a very, very short-term Band-Aid at best. Most of our librarians work three days a week and have taken other jobs or other commitments for other times of the week because of the short-term nature of our jobs. And therefore, there's not a lot of extra time during the school day to serve at a different site. In addition, that creates kind of a chaotic situation at that site. And while we all want to help, it's not a good long-term solution. So I would encourage the board, and I know this is a tough time financially But this is a vital service to a school that really depends on these services and serves all of the students, all of the teachers and any of the parents who are at that site. So I would really encourage there to be a concerted effort to ameliorate this problem and to get a library clerk in place as quick as possible knowing that your library staff from all around the district will help out in getting that person trained up to speed and ready to serve the students at that school. Thank you.

[2536] SPEAKER_40: to 13.1 Employee Organizations with NTA.

[2542] SPEAKER_42: Hello again. I just want to remind the board I brought this up at the last board meeting but there is still policy that I've sent to both Ms. Salinas as well as Mr. Sanchez on non-discrimination policies for our transgendered students. Especially at the high school, but now even more increasingly at our junior highs and our elementaries, we're seeing students realizing their gender identity is different from what they were assigned at birth. And it's very important that we get policy on the books for these students so that they don't have to rely just on the kindness of their teachers, but rather on policy and leadership from the board.

[2581] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. Thank you. CSCA, NEWMA. Okay, thank you. Moving on to 14.1, personnel report. Is there a motion to approve?

[2593] Ray Rodriguez: So moved.

[2593] SPEAKER_40: Member Rodriguez, is there a second?

[2595] Nancy Thomas: I'll second.

[2596] SPEAKER_40: Member Thomas, please vote. Five ayes. Thank you. Onto consent agenda item, we do have two speakers on two separate topics. So let's go with 15.6, Mr. New.

[2621] Cary Knoop: I'm sorry to be. When I read this declaration for the need for fully qualified educators, it specifically says the attached form was part of the agenda and the declaration did not appear as part of the consent calendar. Maybe I misunderstand, but that seems to me that it should not be in the consent agenda. Where did you see that? That's page 103. over here after the date, this paragraph.

[2671] SPEAKER_40: Okay. So it does say on the last line, the attached form was part of the agenda and the declaration did not appear as part of the consent item. So I think your desire then is to pull this item out to for discussion then we can adopt outside of the consent.

[2684] Cary Knoop: Right, it's just a little thing but. Okay, that's fair. Yeah, so just, I have my 2 minutes so I just want to, you know, I know that board members are really concerned about the quality of education, we can get good staff and I'm sorry, I'm not too well-versed on this. This is relatively new for me but I understand the district tried hard to get the right employees, they couldn't, then they tried to tried really hard to get potential teachers that are in training, and they couldn't find any except for six. So out of the 17, we have six that we get from interim positions, and then the others. So at one point, there is a quality issue, of course, in terms of getting good teachers, so again, It's just a concern that I raised that perhaps the board want to ask about.

[2748] SPEAKER_40: So we will pull 15.6 out to address at a later time within this meeting. So we'll get to that in a second. 15.8, Ms. Cindy Parks.

[2770] Cindy Parks: With $3.6 million of cuts needing to be made, employees will be losing their jobs. I would like to once again express my concern about the money being spent on meeting supplies, meeting snacks, and incentives at the school sites and here at the district office. On page 21, it has a warrant for the Bay Area Women Against Rape for $17,924. Do you know what that's for? According to the comments, this is payments two and three of a one-year contract that started in June. At this pay structure, for one year, you would be paying $107,544. Now, would you like to know what that warrant is for? I would like to know. Remembering what I said earlier about developer's fees, on page 31, a check is in the amount of $31,544. $672. It was issued to Segura Construction. This check was charged to fund 25 developers' fees. This move did not happen due to a mitigation of children from a new development. On August 1st, when I questioned the developers' fees being paid on the $1,541 worth of Whiteford moving supplies, those charges were ultimately charged to fund 40, the Russian money. As Dr. Markin stated in his presentation on November 3rd, 2015, the Whiteford students need to move from a more restrictive environment and you might be already violating federal regulations. Second of 2017, Special Ed State of the State presentation, one of the slides said, move from Whiteford to Music Elementary Benefits, least restrictive environment, inclusion in a community, additional support from onsite administrator, increased likelihood of students staying in the district. As this is an unlawful payment, I respectfully request this project be correctly coded and charged to Fund 40 then properly journaled plus if all The funding, the Fund 25, unlawful payments errors are not corrected. The members of the community will seek judicial remedy. And I'd like an answer concerning the warrants I brought up earlier.

[2911] SPEAKER_30: Mr. Richards. If this is our time to let her speak and then.

[2916] SPEAKER_40: Are you done with your comments? Mm-hmm.

[2920] SPEAKER_06: OK. OK. We're going to have to gather information

[2922] SPEAKER_40: Okay, we'll gather the information, the input, and then we'll respond at a later time. Thank you.

[2928] Cindy Parks: I hope you get to hear too.

[2934] SPEAKER_40: Okay, so then consent agenda items and numbers 15.1 through 15.10, omitting 15.6 to have a move to approve.

[2944] SPEAKER_28: And 15.8. Are we going to pull that out until?

[2949] SPEAKER_40: Are we going to pull that out or just bring back more information, right? I mean, so 15.1 through 15.10 minus 15.6. Is there a motion to approve?

[2961] Nancy Thomas: I'll vote to approve.

[2962] SPEAKER_40: By Member Thomas, or second? I'll second. Second by Member Crocker. Please vote. Five ayes. Thank you. Which then brings us to 15.6, which we have removed out of consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve this item?

[2988] Nancy Thomas: Well, can we have a discussion or should we make a motion first?

[2991] SPEAKER_40: Either, either or. We can discuss it and, or. Okay.

[2995] SPEAKER_30: Member Preciado. You can let her go first and then I'll, yeah.

[2997] SPEAKER_40: Member Thomas.

[2998] Nancy Thomas: Okay, I would benefit from hearing a little bit more about the difficulty we're having in finding fully qualified teachers and, you know, specifically the ones that are listed.

[3017] SPEAKER_38: So good evening Board of Education Superintendent Sanchez. The state of California is undergoing a teacher shortage through multiple, for multiple reasons. Attrition, competitiveness, benefits, availability between this district and other districts in the surrounding area. And so These typically are the areas where we are seeing a great need of teachers in these areas of qualifications, multiple subjects, single subjects, special education. These are typically areas where candidates and we are competing for the same commodity. Teacher credential programs, students, candidates are able to look at multiple options for school districts who are employing them. They're looking very simply at two things. salary and benefits. And when you couple those two things, they are seeing more competitive prices and benefits are available to them in other school districts. They will take those first before they go to a district that does not offer benefits. And so these typically are areas, special education is a nationwide problem and so there are multiple school districts who are offering lump sum incentives to recruit new teachers in those areas as high as $10,000 or $15,000 incentives to come to that school district with relocation costs. At this time, we do not offer that for our special education teachers new to this district. Single subject in the areas of math and science are highly competitive across this nation. And again, there are incentives that are being offered to certain districts. We did increase years of service, which is now limitless for Newark. So any new teacher who's coming in with X amount of years They are paid accordingly based on their years of service regardless of the time they spend in this district. That is a great incentive, but most districts are offering the same thing. And then when you see the annual salary and the competitiveness and the competitive rates, those are factors that will be looked at by potential candidates. Multiple subjects, elementary schools, again it's competitive and for the same reasons I just mentioned. This is why we're seeing less qualified individuals coming to our school district, they still have to have met the basic requirements of a college degree. They have to have the CBES, which is the basic test to meet the requirement just to even be a substitute teacher. They need to be enrolled in a credential program. And those are the factors that we're looking at now when we're trying to recruit, because it is very difficult. So I hope that's answered your question.

[3180] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. Member Preciado?

[3188] SPEAKER_30: It was in terms of the process that I'm not sure if we because we had a consent unless we create another section it's still consent I feel like it's but we pulled it from consent but it's still under consent or what section is it under them as a

[3205] Ray Rodriguez: It would stay in the same section, just pull for discussion.

[3209] SPEAKER_30: But then that's consent, that's my point. So I'm wondering, in terms of that process, I know I think we need to do that, but I also want to make sure... I mean, is this, yeah, is this a legal thing that we're doing by pulling it? We are treating it in a way... You have to amend the agenda to do that. So I guess my thoughts are, since we are having a meeting next Wednesday, I know we don't, it was a joint meeting, if there's a way to do a special meeting before, or I don't know, to figure out that this needs to get done. I'm just wondering in terms of that process piece, because I don't want to approve it and then all of a sudden say, oh, that was not really approved because it was under consent. At least that's how I read it. I don't know what your thoughts are on that.

[3251] Ray Rodriguez: Can I respond to that? Please. This is done all the time. Either the board can pull an item and take it off consent. or a community member, and then that means that we discuss it and then we vote on it. I don't know whether there's any precedent that's been set where we have to either bring it back the following week or the following two weeks or put it in, switch it from consent to new business or whatever. We've always done it that way. So I don't see where that, you know, if anybody wants to address that, I just.

[3290] SPEAKER_30: Well, for general, we would. Yeah.

[3292] SPEAKER_38: If the Board of Education is more comfortable, we can pull this to the next board meeting and put it on the action item.

[3297] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, sure. I think the point is, for example, the state has said that board policies cannot be on the consent agenda. And this seems to be one of those items that cannot be on that.

[3310] SPEAKER_40: This is annual procedure. Yeah, it's not a board policy. That every board takes. Right. Right.

[3317] SPEAKER_30: It's only the fact that it says.

[3318] SPEAKER_40: Let's bring it back because I don't want to spend the next 45 minutes discussing process and procedures on this. We'll do. Let's take it back. Can we. Easiest way to go. Can we please amend though on the third page you have St. Mary's University. I believe it's St. Mary's College. There's a typographical error on page 3. listing one of the universities, it should be St. Mary's College unless there's a St. Mary's University I'm not aware of. Okay, we'll correct that too. Thank you. We'll bring this back to the next board meeting.

[3351] SPEAKER_28: Can I just ask a comment?

[3353] SPEAKER_40: I'm sorry, go ahead.

[3354] SPEAKER_28: Thank you. We are not 17 teachers in the whole. We are not 17 employees in the whole. What we are is you figure that over the year we may need 17 exceptions. So at this point, how many people do we have that are in those categories?

[3372] SPEAKER_38: No, what this is saying is how many teachers who are not fully qualified, in other words, they are not completed. Are they in the classroom at this point? They are in the classroom, so they are currently interns, intern teachers in the classroom.

[3386] SPEAKER_28: How do we get them in the classroom without having done this before?

[3390] SPEAKER_38: No, we've done this before. This is not a new.

[3392] SPEAKER_28: No, I know, but did last year's approval take care of this year's teachers?

[3399] SPEAKER_38: This will take care of this. We have to adopt it every year. I understand. Yeah.

[3403] SPEAKER_28: Correct. So that last year we approved this for the teachers that were hired for the beginning of school. Correct. And then we're setting this up for next year.

[3410] SPEAKER_40: For this year. No, no, it's for this year. It's adoption of.

[3412] SPEAKER_38: These are for the teachers we've had.

[3413] SPEAKER_40: We're acknowledging the fact that we have 17 teachers who are not fully credentialed in our district.

[3418] SPEAKER_28: So there are 17 teachers there.

[3420] SPEAKER_38: There are currently 17 teachers who are not fully credentialed in our classrooms teaching but they have met. requirements to be in the classroom. The basic requirements from the Department of Education to teach in the state of California. They've met all the requirements to, to meet that need, but they're not fully credentialed. And, and this is.

[3437] SPEAKER_28: Okay, so they're involved with the BITSA program then?

[3439] SPEAKER_38: They're involved in, in credential programs, so they're currently taking classes at the accredited colleges, schools and colleges. And they're being supervised by the university and by the schools. Yeah. And so they are interns. Correct.

[3452] SPEAKER_28: Okay. Okay. I thought that it was, it was done as a potential need rather than the actual need that we have now.

[3459] SPEAKER_38: This is actually an actual need.

[3461] SPEAKER_28: Okay, thank you.

[3464] SPEAKER_40: So it's bringing back. Yeah, we're bringing it back. Member Thomas, did you have something?

[3467] Nancy Thomas: No, I covered it.

[3469] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. Can we cut down the chatter in the back please?

[3474] SPEAKER_38: Thank you.

[3479] SPEAKER_40: On to 16.1, is there a move to approve staff recommendations?

[3485] SPEAKER_28: I move to approve.

[3486] SPEAKER_40: By Member Crocker. Second. Second by Member Rodriguez. Please vote.

[3496] Ray Rodriguez: I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm not able to, for whatever reason, it's gone. Oh, you got it. I'm there. There's only one copy, so it's not.

[3512] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[3514] SPEAKER_40: Five ayes. Thank you. Going on to 17.1, Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests. Let's start with Member Rodriguez.

[3530] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you President Nguyen. I just remind everybody that this is spirit week and even though the assembly is Friday and they changed the format now where all the classes perform at one time, The whole week is really dedicated to Spirit Week and I already talked to Superintendent Sanchez, maybe in the future we can invite the city to be involved because it's a celebration of what we're doing here, especially at the secondary level. And it's a time to celebrate. Maybe we should invite our partners to celebrate with us. So Spirit Week, in my opinion, should be a citywide event that we involve other people. So just hopefully we'll see everybody if you can set aside the time on Friday. I know that we didn't get the report from the student board member on what's going on at the high school, but it is Spirit Week. And I think the assembly normally is around 11 o'clock. Can you send us something, because we still have a couple days.

[3606] SPEAKER_28: There was assembly last Friday. Right, but that was different. It started to kick off.

[3609] Ray Rodriguez: That was different. That was a kickoff. Yeah, this one is the actual performances and stuff. So, OK. The other thing I have as far as I want to have a item agendized and it's board behavior and we had it before and we discussed it. It's something that we can't do in closed session, we have to do in open. And we're right now in a budget crisis. And I'd like to see a breakdown of emails from each one of us to staff or to the administration, because we had said that we would monitor ourselves. So it would be something that, because of the budget crisis, that we revisit to make sure we're all on track on the fact that we need to make sure that staff has is focusing on the budget. That's all I have. Thank you.

[3671] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. Member Crocker?

[3673] SPEAKER_28: I have nothing.

[3674] SPEAKER_40: Member Prezel?

[3676] SPEAKER_30: I have a few things. One, I'd like to find out why we don't have a librarian at Schilling if all the other schools do.

[3689] SPEAKER_06: I could answer that quickly. It's been a vacancy that has been open for a while. I think the prior principal didn't have a chance to hire it before she left, and we're still, I believe, in the hunt. Is it frozen now, or is it not frozen? Currently, it's frozen. But if we want to unfreeze it, that's something we can do to allow us to hire that position for that school. That would make it on par with the other schools.

[3712] SPEAKER_30: Yeah, because I know we had talked in terms of freezing generally in terms of the ones that weren't. As an equity issue, I don't think it makes sense. I mean, if that means that we have to figure out in terms of everyone gets the equal amount of hours, or we can have that discussion.

[3728] SPEAKER_06: If we release it for hire, then we can do it.

[3729] SPEAKER_30: Yeah, but that means one school cannot be the only school that does not have a librarian. It's either no one has one or everyone has one.

[3739] SPEAKER_06: So if it's the will of the board, we can unfreeze and allow me to move on that position. I would agree.

[3747] SPEAKER_40: I think that's something that you would need to bring back at the next board meeting for a formal agenda item and discussion adoption. All right, we can do that.

[3753] SPEAKER_30: Yeah. And if we're having a meeting next Wednesday, a joint meeting, can we do that as part of that? I know it's a joint meeting, but if it's a joint meeting.

[3766] SPEAKER_06: During the Ohlone meeting?

[3767] SPEAKER_30: Yeah. Either after, have a formal, or we agendize that piece, or before. Who runs that? Is it Ohlone that runs that meeting now? That one is a joint board meeting, so we would have to tag on after that meeting is over, or either before.

[3782] SPEAKER_06: OK. Let me get, excuse me a second. It's my understanding that we can go forward without taking formal action on that position.

[3790] SPEAKER_39: That position is not on the list of ones that the board took action to freeze. OK, that's an internal decision.

[3795] SPEAKER_06: So we can correct that. OK. So we can do it without any action. OK.

[3798] SPEAKER_30: Got it. OK, perfect. Thank you. All right. And if we can just reach out to the parents and let them know in terms of the next steps. And then I have a city school liaison, so maybe that's it. If we set up a meeting, I know. So that way, maybe we can discuss for the future in terms of spare week or other projects that we're working on that we need to discuss as how we move forward in terms of housing, big picture things that are coming up with a potential new school or not, those types of discussions. Okay, so that. And then I just, if we can set up just the board ad hoc committee date, then we can do that after, because it's only two of us. So we'll just set the date and then we can meet. The budget ad hoc? OK. Yes. Thank you.

[3850] SPEAKER_06: Thank you.

[3850] Nancy Thomas: That's all I have. Member Thomas? Regarding the ad hoc committee, Mr. Newk mentioned to me that our board bylaws or mention that our board bylaws say that ad hoc committees need to be approved, recommended by the president or approved by the board. Is that true?

[3878] SPEAKER_06: My understanding is this is a superintendent ad hoc committee, not a board ad hoc committee. So this wouldn't go through the board. It's a committee I've done in advisory capacity to me. So it doesn't have to go through board appointment and all that. I can double check. But it wasn't the intent was not to make it another board ad hoc Brown Act committee.

[3898] Nancy Thomas: I wanted to. Well, no. It wouldn't be a Brown Act committee. But I guess we had the discussion among ourselves about start having an ad hoc committee. But if you're requesting it, I think that takes it out of that realm so we don't have to worry about it.

[3916] SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I think I've got a good structure in place. We're continuing with the committee, and I think that the superintendent budget advisory committee is what we're referring to. That's one piece. I think the ad hoc committee was really my request to work with two board members to help fill the content for budget study session between now and the 15th. And that's what I think member Persaud was referring to. We need to schedule that time, even if it's via phone. to be able to craft the contents of those budget and study sessions. Is that my correct, Mr. Bergeron? Okay. So I just want to make sure I'm clear on that.

[3949] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. The, Tommy said something about a CSBA, I mean about a policy on transgender that I believe he gave. Do we know if there's a CSBA policy on

[3967] SPEAKER_31: So I do have it in my queue. I'm trying to still match it with what CSBA has. What I received from Tommy was from a different organization. So I'm trying to match it with CSBA. OK.

[3980] Nancy Thomas: Because I think CSBA has a fantastic staff that vets everything with them from a legal standpoint and really is our representative. And so that would be my recommendation.

[3994] SPEAKER_31: Thank you. And that's what I'll follow. Because so that all of our policies are in line with CSBA.

[3999] Nancy Thomas: Yes. OK. And then maybe at some point we can have a discussion of Fund 40. I don't know. Some of those things at some future meeting.

[4014] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. So I will reiterate Member Rodriguez's statements about the importance of a spare week. and having firsthand experience with it about 12 years ago, it is a big deal for our students. I mean, they, that's all they breathe and live for the, probably for the past two months now.

[4031] Ray Rodriguez: I remember you dressing up, by the way.

[4034] SPEAKER_40: Let's not, let's not bring back those memories. But I will say personally that I'm done with Spirit Week because the sophomores have been practicing my Kodosak for the past two months. And I've heard the same song on repeat every single night. for the past two months, and I don't want to hear it again. So in a way, I'm glad it's over. Or shall be over, excuse me.

[4055] SPEAKER_06: With that, superintendent? Along the lines of Spirit Week, and we'll send this invitation out to the city tomorrow. But this Friday, 4 PM to 7 PM, there is a tailgate party at Newark Memorial. Come join us for the Cougar Pride tailgate party. featuring games, music, and food trucks. Friday, October 20th at Newark Memorial High School Stadium, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. We'll forward that on to the city as well, and I will try to identify other events, assemblies, and other things where there's opportunities and put it into a summary for you as a board and have something back out to you tomorrow. That's all I have.

[4101] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. It is 8.16, meeting adjourned.

No minutes available.