Regular Part 2 Meeting

No content available.

[9] SPEAKER_40: 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.

[27] Nancy Thomas: We have just returned from closed session, where we discussed public employee appointment, employee discipline dismissal release, conference with labor negotiators, the superintendent's evaluation, and conference with legal counsel regarding existing and anticipated litigation. No action was taken. I would ask for approval of the agenda.

[64] Ray Rodriguez: I'd like to move that we approve the agenda, but I do have some changes I'd like the board to consider. I just had, recently, eight hours of spine surgery. So I'm in recovery. And if I knew it was going to be eight hours, I never would have done it. But I don't know how long I'm going to be able to last tonight. Normally, after about an hour and a half, two hours, I start cramping up where I might have to leave early. And I apologize. So because of that, since we have two board members and they're not here, I want to make sure that any items that need action that are moved toward the front. Because we have a quorum right now and we wouldn't be able to vote on it. So specifically, placing consent personal items 13.1 and 13.2 immediately after 10.3. business. So the personnel items will come first and then before 11.1, new business on tonight's agenda. The other thing that I'd like the board to consider is item 9.1, public comment on non-agenda items. I want to make sure that we finish the spotlight and hopefully the superintendent's report. Before we go to public comment, and I know it's on there afterwards, but we have a You know in the 20 years that I've been here We've always adhered to a time and for right now the time is no later than 830 so what I like to do is have the board for this meeting wave that So that it would be right after let's say the superintendent's report or the spotlight If that's okay No, no, it's on there, but I just want to waive the 8.30, the time. The 8.30 time?

[189] Nancy Thomas: Right. Okay. Take it in sequence.

[192] Ray Rodriguez: Right, take it in sequence as opposed to the time.

[194] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, we always say that we will do it by 8.30. As close to 8.30 as possible. By 8.30, not after 8.30. Right. Okay.

[204] Ray Rodriguez: Okay, with that I'd like to move that we approve the agenda before us.

[208] SPEAKER_40: Okay.

[209] Nancy Thomas: I'll second that. So, Member Rodriguez. Make some motion. Member Crocker seconds.

[215] SPEAKER_36: Second.

[223] SPEAKER_42: Please vote.

[232] Ray Rodriguez: Is everything working with the two board members not being here?

[236] Nancy Thomas: I think so. We have four ayes. Member Preciado.

[246] SPEAKER_36: Point of order. What is the motion to which we are voting on?

[251] Nancy Thomas: The approval of the agenda with an adjustment to the order of the agenda.

[257] SPEAKER_36: Meaning that we will go in sooner as to what we hear about the teachers and the students?

[263] Nancy Thomas: No, everything will be in the same order in that regard. Right. OK. So four ayes, thank you.

[274] Ray Rodriguez: You want me to address that real quick? No, I'm fine.

[279] Nancy Thomas: Next, we move to student reports. Superintendent, do you want to introduce?

[287] SPEAKER_38: Yes. I think we'll go ahead and start with, if anyone from McGregor Campus Bridgepoint is present, let's have them go first tonight. Maybe they're not here. How about Newark Junior High? Any members? There we go.

[310] SPEAKER_02: Good evening. I am Joshua Limtiaco, the ASB vice president at NJHS. Tad Kawabata, the ASB president at NJHS, isn't here today because he's not feeling well. Lots of things are happening at NJHS. We recently finished our Pennies for Patients program, which raised a total of $2,600, and it was raised used to raise money for patients with cancer. We also recently finished our... Thank you. We also finished our fundraisers. We sold cookie dough, candy, popcorn, and much more. This fundraiser raised about $20,000 used for the 8th grade promotion, school sport programs, and other stuff. Today, we also finished our sixth bully presentation of the year. These presentations to help raise awareness about bullying and other topics. We are also planning our next school dance. This dance is called the Shamrock Shakedown. It will be decorated with rainbows, shamrocks, pots of gold, leprechauns, and much more. The Newark Memorial High School counselors also came to NJHS to give the 8th graders their registration forms for the classes for next year at Newark Memorial High School. Last week, we also had the 7th grade orientation at our school. It was packed. And any questions?

[392] Ray Rodriguez: Great job.

[392] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Thank you for your time, and have a great evening.

[402] SPEAKER_38: Thank you. OK, Sierra, would you like to do the Newark Memorial report, or help lead that at least?

[407] SPEAKER_29: So first of all, this week we are doing AP registration. So all students who, if you have students that are taking APs, make sure to get their registration forms and money in by March 8. A few weeks ago, elections took place for ASB and class officers. For ASB elections, Carrie McMahon won for secretary, for treasurer was Zaira Pineda, VP was Christian Bowker, and I had won ASB elections as president. As for my role here as board member, we are going through an interview process within the next few weeks for someone who I will continue to train next year. So I will still be here and training the next one for him or her to continue on for the next few years after I leave. Prom is coming up on April 14th. The theme is Midnight in the Bay. It will be taking place at the Bentley Reserve in San Francisco. We will be having a taco bar, Dippin' Dots, and Boba, which is honestly the biggest reason people want to come. Tickets for prom will be going on sale Friday, March 9th. They will be $95 for the first two weeks, but will gradually increase all the way up to $115. So make sure to get your tickets soon. And if you are guest passing, also that has to get in because Officer Sandoval has to go through them. The Hats Assembly will be taking place this Friday. As always, lots of our clubs including Indo-American, Tahitian, Ballet Folklorico, K-pop, and many more will be performing. If you would like to come and watch, you are always invited. Our students have been practicing nonstop for months to put on a spectacular show as always. Memorial's got talent. Finals will be taking place on March 28th, which will include Taylor Adams, Joshua Billman, Ashley Kastelan, Ashnell Chan, Manny Cordova, Max Cordova, Abram, Heresia, Sheridan Leal, Sophie McCarthy, Haley Woods, and the Weathermen. Come cheer them on and see all of our amazing students and all of the talent that they have to offer. Ohlone application workshop will be on March 8th from 2 to 8 p.m. in the 2 to 3 p.m. Not 8 in the library so if any of your kids are going or planning to take Ohlone or need to take the Ohlone placement test this will be on March 22nd from 2 to 4 p.m. You have to save a spot and then I have lots of sports news Congratulations, first of all, to Haley Nelson for being recognized as Girls Player of the Week by Cal High Sports. And then MVAL All League was just released this past week. So congratulations to Jamal Frenchwood and Kayla Belt and Haley Nelson for being recognized for basketball. Josh Santillan, Samuel Cangheir, Jesse Esparraza, London Lambana, Francisco Hernandez, Cesar Arroyo, and Alfonso Sandoval for boys soccer. Brianna Santillan, Emily Loizaga, Laura Fuentes, Christina Alvarez, Priscilla Alvarez, Jessica Novak, and Kristen Bauman for girls soccer. As you see, we have very talented athletes. Emily Patnode for girls wrestling, and Xander Pereira and Matthew Costa for boys wrestling. at MVALS for boys wrestling. The boys had eight medalists and seven of which qualified for NCS. Brandon Margucci, Owen Glagos, Brian, Xander, Matthew, and Marcos Jose and Chance. Xander then went on to place fifth at NCS. North Coast Sections is our first NCS placer within the past three years, I believe, so that was amazing to have a boys medalist. Our girls wrestling team placed third overall at North Coast Sections with Christina Craig, Ezra Vavao, Alexis Castaneda, Ariana Pereira, Emily Patnode, and myself meddling. We additionally had three returning state qualifiers this year, Ariana, Emily, and myself. And then finally at state, Emily Patnode won state. All right. Yeah. So she is our 2018 state champion for girls wrestling in all of California. And then Ariana Pereira also got sixth place. And then with that said, we have Newark Wrestling Club coming up pretty soon after school. So if you want any of your kids to join wrestling, it would be a great opportunity for you to come out and try out one of the best sports in the world. Finally, congratulations to the girls varsity basketball team on advancing to the 2018 CIF Division II Championships. They will be getting NorCal tournament tomorrow night at Silver Creek on, yeah, tomorrow, tomorrow night. And so we will, I'll keep you posted on how they do in NorCal Championships. Yeah, we are doing great things at school this winter season. So yeah. Oh, and then the crab feed is coming up in a few weeks. So if you want, Tickets, if you want to come to Crab Feet and support all of our amazing athletes we have, you can come to me or come to Coach K and purchase tickets to support our athletics. So yeah.

[731] Joy Lee: Right.

[731] Ray Rodriguez: Everybody will be dressed in green, right? No, I'm kidding. St. Patrick's Day.

[737] SPEAKER_29: I don't know if it's St. Patrick's Day. No, blue and gold. Always blue and gold. Yeah, it's blue and gold. OK. That's all I have for today.

[744] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Mr. Arriba, do you want to say something?

[746] Ray Rodriguez: No, no, no. San Jose, is that where it is?

[750] SPEAKER_29: Yes.

[751] Ray Rodriguez: San Jose, right? Yes. OK. And we'll be able to get directions if we need to.

[756] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, I can forward it to you. Congratulations to our Newark Memorial athletes. That's wonderful news. Thank you.

[763] Ray Rodriguez: Congrats. Great job. Good job, Sierra. You need to bring your medal next time so we can see it.

[769] SPEAKER_38: We do have a student from McGregor here. I'm going to return to McGregor campus for their report.

[780] SPEAKER_45: Good evening Superintendent Sanchez cabinet members and board members. My name is Adriana Farrell. I'm a junior at Bridgepoint. I started I started school at Bridgepoint this quarter. I will be serving as your board representative. Our third quarter is ending before spring break. We welcome 13 new students from Newark Memorial and other high schools. We are currently meeting with families and we'll have more new students for fourth quarter which starts on April 9th. We are hoping there will be a few more early graduates at the end of third quarter. Our WASC chairman, Dr. Simmons, visited our school Monday morning. He visited classrooms and met with Principal Calderon. He will be coming back on April 30th.

[817] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. All right. Thank you.

[818] SPEAKER_29: Good job. OK. I just got this. Samuel Kanger, he was, I'm sorry if I said that wrong, he was named NCS Boys Soccer Player of the Year as of today by Cal High Sports. So that itself is a huge accomplishment. So that was as of today.

[844] Nancy Thomas: Great news. Okay, thank you. Well next we move on to our school spotlight. Would you like to introduce that, Superintendent?

[852] SPEAKER_38: Principal Robinson, would you please proceed with your spotlight?

[858] SPEAKER_21: Sorry, I'm a little shorter than the kids. Good evening, President Thomas, school board members, Superintendent Sanchez, and executive cabinet. It is my distinct privilege and honor to share the story of Newark's hidden treasure, Snow Elementary School. For the past few years, we have been encouraged to put our school on the map, to tell our story about why parents should choose to go to our school. I'm here to educate the community on why Snow is the school you want your child to attend. Snow is a place where extraordinary teaching and learning takes place. Despite some comments about our schools having subpar education, what you can find at Snow is a superior learning environment with a cutting-edge staff, dedicated parent community, and brilliant students. A great exemplar of the bold and sophisticated education that students receive at Snow is the two Snow alumni who recently spoke at a school board meeting. Abiyupal and Cesar Castillo. Their eloquent words and passion to support Newark students and teachers were vigorously applauded by our community. These young men are truly inspiring reasons why snow is the hidden treasure of Newark Unified. So what makes SNOW a unique place for learning? It's the 21st century educational experience that is provided to students by a stellar staff that collaborates to ensure their success. Some of the highlights of our staff's commitment to student achievement are a focus on literacy. Our school was the first to embark on the Lucy Calkins Writing Units of Study five years ago, and we continue to implement those daily. We then, three years after that, embarked on implementing the Lucy Calkins reading units of study, and they both work hand in hand to support our students with the Common Core standards. We've been using the developmental reading assessment over the past five years. Again, it was our staff who piloted and utilized the assessment that is now district wide. As you know, four years ago, we went to full-day kindergarten. That was district-wide. And we increased the kindergarten standards, raising our expectations to 100 sight words and letters and sounds by December. by December, and we've been doing that for four years. The reason why I share that with you is we often say, is what we're doing working? Well, here's our data to prove it. So what we look is at third grade proficiency rate, which really shares with, which is an indicator of student success. And so as you can see, as I shared, we've been implementing Readers and Writers Workshop for five years and assessing our students and their reading. So you can see the huge growth I thought somebody was saying something. You can see the huge growth in the past five years. So what we are doing is working. We've increased from less than 50% of our students to over 65% of our students. And so that's a huge success. So. It'll be exciting to see this carry over into our CASP results as well. But that's with the hard work and dedication of a staff that was willing to put themselves out there first and try something new. So since we've had such great success with our reading, we are, and it's not going forward for me. I'll keep talking. But the next slide is we have shifted our focus now to math. Last year, we were challenged with choosing two letters out of STEAM to focus on for the year. And so we could not decide. So we chose math and science. And so we've had a huge focus this year on our math. We've had a professional learning community around the eight mathematical concepts and practices. And our teachers, we've done some studying around that. And what we've decided to do as a staff is we have three focus areas. One is problem of the month. You can kind of see up there, it's touchdown totals. And so as a school, entire school, we are focusing on a problem of the month. There are letters A to E, so they start with pre-kindergarten to high school. And so students collaborate in their classroom to go as far as they can with the problem of the month. And at the end, we had a celebration where our grade-level buddies, so like 4th grade and 2nd grade, 6th grade and 1st grade, shared all of their strategies. So it was fun to see the 6th graders learning from the 1st graders on how to solve math problems. We've also been doing number talks, as you can see at the bottom. It's finding ways to work through orally, work through problems either with thought talks or through math equations. And so we're really getting our kids, giving them the opportunity to learn how to think critically and then express themselves. In addition, we're working on some performance tasks. We are starting to do the MARS performance tasks provided by SBMI that we've had a collaboration with this year and utilizing that as a resource to, again, help our students with performance tasks and things that they'll come across on the CASP to help them be more successful. Each grade level, we look at our data, and each grade level creates an action plan. We had a school-wide cycle of doing the problems of the month, the number talks, and the performance test. And then every grade level takes that and makes a grade level goal. And we are coming to the completion of our first round here at the end of the second trimester. And teachers will be going through the cycle of inquiry and seeing how it went, and then creating new action items. So as I said, we took on math and science. So the way that we're looking at science this year is in our innovation lab. So Fridays, through our negotiations last year, we were allocated additional 90 minutes once or twice a month, depending on the month, for additional professional development with our staff. And so we have an innovation lab where teachers come on Fridays. And we are focusing on science as far as sharing some STEM activities. So we do the hands-on as a staff, and then teachers can take that back to their classrooms. Like our ELD teacher takes these lessons and does it in her classroom. ELD support classrooms class as well. In addition, we chose our Fridays to be about innovation. So it's about taking something we're doing and making it new. And so giving teachers the time and opportunity to do some research and to help them or give them the time to innovate. So we've had that focus on science as well. So which There we go. Which we also had the opportunity this year. Abhi, who I spoke about earlier, worked in our summer math academy. He was a high school tutor. He's a senior this year. In the math academy, he participated in the Friday STEM days. And he decided to give back to our community, being the alumni. And he and a couple of other seniors put on an after school STEM class. all out of the goodness of their heart. They volunteered their time. And so we were lucky enough to benefit from that. And it was our fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. And we had about 25 students that participated in a six week long after school STEM class. So we were really fortunate, again, to benefit from our students giving back to our community. So in closing, thank you for the opportunity to highlight the unique learning opportunities offered to our SNOW students. We are proud of the hard work and commitment that our students and staff display on a daily basis. It is my privilege and honor to work in such an amazing school. Thank you.

[1365] Nancy Thomas: Fantastic. Thank you. Next, we move on to our superintendent. Oh, I was looking. I see it now. Ms. Sirt, would you mind coming back? I didn't see Mr. Rodriguez's request.

[1388] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you, Ms. Sirt, for an excellent report. And going back, I've had kids at Snow Elementary starting maybe 30 years ago. And I have grandkids there now. So I think that all our schools naturally are the best. But snow is naturally.

[1412] SPEAKER_21: It's OK. You can say it out loud. OK. Snow's the best. You can say it out loud.

[1415] Ray Rodriguez: Snow. And I wanted to ask you, did you get a chance to bring any snow Parents or anything?

[1427] SPEAKER_21: We have teachers here, I believe. Teachers. And then I know we have some alumni parents, too, back there, I see. So if you've ever been at Snow and wonderful part of our community, will you stand up?

[1441] Ray Rodriguez: All right. And how long have you been the principal there now?

[1450] SPEAKER_21: This is my eighth year.

[1451] Ray Rodriguez: Yeah, thank you. It's, you know. The leadership that you provided over the last eight years, it's so important to have a principal leading not only an elementary school, but a whole community. Because every one of our schools is a community, or is the center of that community. And you've done excellent in working with your staff and the kids. And you also do guard duty, right, outside? Yes.

[1484] SPEAKER_21: My favorite part of the day.

[1487] Ray Rodriguez: So we appreciate what's going on at Snow and we're very comfortable in the leadership that you're providing at Snow Elementary. We thank you.

[1497] Nancy Thomas: I'd like to add that I have visited your classrooms and I've seen the science that setups there. I've seen how your teachers are innovative in terms of how they're using the classroom furniture. Everything in every classroom I've visited is just alive and focused on students. And so I'm not surprised to see how your internal evaluations have improved. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Superintendent, your report.

[1537] SPEAKER_38: Thank you, President Thomas, members of the board, ladies and gentlemen. This evening I prepared a document that I'm going to read from in light of budget challenges, so I'm going to read that to everyone. Given our recent budget challenges, the 2017-18 school year has presented tremendous budget challenges for many districts in the state of California. Please note that the Newark Unified School District Board of Education and Administration holds students and teachers in the highest regard We have tried in good faith to keep reductions far away from the classrooms, as far away from the classrooms as possible. We've taken many input and concerns seriously and have done our best to honor the community's wishes. The top priority for the community and everyone in the district has been to avoid reductions to classroom staff, considering that over 85% of our budget is in staffing salary costs. I feel that we have done our best to honor this priority. At the February 6th board meeting, We presented a plan that would, with the information available at the time, recommend the elimination of 20 certificated positions and increasing K-3 class size to 29 to 1. I'm happy to report that after thoughtful and careful consideration, we've come up with a plan that we believe will address our budget issues and honor the input we have received. Our plan is both pro-student and pro-teacher. It maintains class sizes that allow our teachers to undertake the best instructional practices and allows our counselors to provide the critical academic social emotional support so that they can better serve student needs. We have found a solution that will help decrease the number of reductions from the worst case scenario of cutting 20 positions to cutting only eight positions district wide, therefore saving 12 positions from being eliminated. We are recommending to the board this evening that the NUSD add back two counseling positions and save 10 teaching positions. Moreover, per the board's direction, the K-3 class size language in the collective bargaining agreement of 29 to 1 is to continue. However, this plan will allow staffing student ratio not to exceed 26 to 1 in K-3 for the 2018-19 school year. 26 to 1. Thank you. To address our budget deficit has been historic and ongoing. Part of our challenge is that NUSD has suffered from years of declining enrollment. Then in 2009 and 2010, the state radically cut public school funding due to the recession. However, even as the state has increased funding over the past years to reach an inflation adjusted 2007 level, they continue to add mandated costs such as shifting an increasing percentage of pension burdens to districts and employees. In essence, our funding has increased, but our mandated expenditures have increased even greater. In the face of budget cuts, this district and many others resorted to using one-time funding to maintain programs and pay for ongoing expenses. This is no longer sustainable or a practice that can continue. California schools are ranked 45th in funding compared to other states in the nation. This money isn't enough for school districts to provide quality programs and better salaries not to mention our increased share of pensions and spiraling special education costs. I'm close to the end, but I need some water. Please be assured that none of us in Newark want to cut programs. We've had to make difficult, in some cases, agonizing choices. But we have made them with the mindset that we will continue to support our students and our teachers with all available resources at our disposal. Some districts do, indeed, pay their employees more. Many factors play into this disparity, but there are important ones. Number one, they have higher percentages of unduplicated students and so receive more supplemental state money. Number two, their communities have passed parcel taxes. Number three, their class sizes are large. Or number four, their schools are larger. Current state funding simply isn't enough for NUSD to provide both high quality programs and higher raises. These considerations have led to some frank discussions in the community about where we as a state and a district, about where we are as a state and a district. These have not been easy conversations for our board or for our administration. These difficult times can trigger claims that we don't know how to manage money or we don't care about teachers or children. As we emerge from our fiscal crisis, and we are emerging, our goal moving forward is to live within our means. I ask that everyone reflect on the root cause of our fiscal problem, specifically inadequate funding from the state of California. The NUSD community, including our dedicated teachers, have every right to expect that our district's leadership will be fiscally responsible caretakers of our resources. We take that role very seriously. Our intention is to provide as much factual information to the public as possible. We need people to know the whole story so we are well aware of the challenges we face so we can resolve them together. Please see the attached FAQ. It will also help clarify other questions that have come up in this process. The FAQ is on the yellow sheet in the back of the room, and I will share copies of the letter here in a moment. But with that, I wanted to present that to the board as our clarification of our recommendation in the budget tonight.

[1858] Nancy Thomas: Thank you very much. Thank you. This is certainly hopeful news, given the PKS we had to do about a month ago. Thank you. Any comments from our board members?

[1876] Ray Rodriguez: Superintendent, thank you for you and your staff on coming up with solutions. There's more on the horizon. Right now, the board is in negotiations with our teachers, our NTA group. And together, I'm hoping that we'll come up with other things that can be done in order to minimize having to lose teachers and we're still losing one counselor and in my opinion we need twice as many counselors as we have now instead of having less and you know what kids go through at the secondary level especially when they're in junior high and in high school those of you that been parents not only little ones but as they get older know that there's more of a challenge as they get older. And that's why we drop them off at 8 o'clock and we hope that they're there at 3 o'clock, right? So, but I've always felt good in my heart leaving my kids at school in this community. I've been here 45 years and knowing that they're in good hands and that they're going to get the best education possible. But there are kids that have other needs And that's where our counselors come in. And I am so happy that we've decided to retain two counselors. And hoping that as time goes on, we can get extra money so we can have more. Thank you, Superintendent, for doing that.

[1983] SPEAKER_38: I appreciate it. Hearing no other board questions, let's move to some more important things that allow us to move forward. Wrestling highlights. The boys wrestling team continues their excellence on the mat and in the classroom. This year at the NCS Division II Dual Meet Championship, the Cougars placed third. This follows three years of top four placement with a second place in 2015, fourth place in 2016, and a third place in 2017. The team was led by senior captains Marcos Clavo and Alexander Pereira. Pereira followed up on the team championship with an individual championship at the League Meet and a fifth place finish at NCS individual tournament. Also taking home the individual league championship was junior Matthew Costa. Our boys team looks forward to a successful 2018-19 season. As we are only graduating three seniors, we will also be the beneficiaries of counting an excellent junior high program that is currently training many outstanding young boys and girls for their high school careers. The majority of our team has benefited from the junior high program, and we coaches appreciate the continued support we have received from NUSD. I want to congratulate them. I think I saw Coach Hess in the background. Are you back there, Coach Hess? Can you bring the team forward so we can recognize them? We'll do the girls team next. So the girls team will be next. So the boys team first, and then we'll bring the girls up. Because we know who runs everything. This is going to be the girls.

[2089] SPEAKER_36: OK.

[2092] SPEAKER_38: Would you introduce your coaches? Coach Hess, and then I'll read the boys' names into the record.

[2097] SPEAKER_36: Yeah, our head boys' coach is a former Newark Memorial student, Ashley.

[2106] Ray Rodriguez: All right.

[2112] SPEAKER_38: I know all of the boys team may or may not be here, but if I read your name, raise your hand, but I want to read all the names into the record because this is important. So the team members, first of all, congratulations to the Newark Memorial Varsity Boys Wrestling Team on placing third at North Coast Section Wrestling Championship. Team members, Moises Rodriguez?

[2132] Ray Rodriguez: We can't see him, Superintendent.

[2133] Nancy Thomas: Could we have them come up here so that the folks at home can see you on TV?

[2137] SPEAKER_38: Come closer to the board. You guys can fill in right here. And face the camera right there so we can get you on TV. There we go. Moises Rodriguez, Justin Tran, Brandon Morgucci, Mark Perez, Diego Olivardia, Owen Gallegos, Anthony Osorio, Nathan Wee, Brian Barton, Matthew Costa, Marcos Calvo, Jose Rodriguez, Chance Hefter and senior Alexander Pereira won the fall by taking fifth place. Congratulations to your team. We'll let you guys shake the board's hand and then we'll get to grilling. Congratulations.

[2195] SPEAKER_10: Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations.

[2198] Sean Abruzzi: Come around this way. Here we go. Congratulations.

[2202] Ray Rodriguez: Hey, great job. Congratulations.

[2206] Nancy Thomas: Good job. Great job. Congratulations.

[2210] SPEAKER_38: Tyler Finneke needs to be added to the list.

[2213] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Congratulations.

[2233] SPEAKER_38: I don't know if they could have Candy coach but work with us a little bit. You have it next year. Nine months with Candy. Enjoy it. It has to last you nine months. Okay. Thank you guys. We're going to move to the girls wrestling team. Congratulations guys. The girls wrestling team has had a quite impressive season as well. They've been top finishers in several tournaments this season, including third at the North Coast Section Championships and 10th at the California State Wrestling Championships. So tournament placings, before I do that, is the girls wrestling coach here?

[2284] SPEAKER_10: All right, there you are. So we brought more than just our state qualifiers.

[2290] SPEAKER_45: OK.

[2292] SPEAKER_10: took third as a team at NCS. All right. Last year they took first at NCS as a team. So with us today we have Kaitlyn Euling, we have Kelly Mui, Dearsie Rodriguez, Alexis Castaneda, Ariana Pereira, and Ciara Van Rossum.

[2317] SPEAKER_38: We're going to let me read all the names in the record or we can shake hands first if you want.

[2322] Ray Rodriguez: So I have to read the tournament placings and raise your hand if you're here and I mention your name first at

[2351] SPEAKER_38: First, Jesse Bethel. First, Jesse Bethel was the, I guess these are the team placings, is that right? These are the schools. Okay, second, at Roger Bronis. Third, at the Rich Swift Ironman Duels. Third, at Brittany David. Fourth, at Folsom. Second, at Women's West Coast Tournament of Champions. Second, at WAAC League Finals. Second, at Lady Baylor. Fourth, at Napa. Third, at NCS. Tenth, at State. Something's going right over here, ladies. Congratulations. State qualifiers, Sierra Van Rossum. I know Sierra's here. Ariana Pereira. How do you say it? Pereira. Pereira. Thank you. And the state champion, Emily Patenaud. And I think what's most telling from what I hear from the coaches, not just the win, but just the fine young people that these young ladies have become and the way they work as a team. And we're really proud of you. So congratulations, ladies.

[2443] Ray Rodriguez: There's no doubt in my mind that out of two out of three matches, the girls can beat the boys anytime.

[2451] SPEAKER_38: They both nodded their heads. I think one more section to report, or two more sections. Next, I want to just tell you that we had a really good meeting. We, meaning me and member Rodriguez, had an opportunity to go to the high school and sit around the table and talk to high school students. about some of their concerns about the budget. We talked about budget cuts and how do we stay more connected with students. We had some Q&A back and forth on how things work in funding public education. And just really always impressed with the caliber of students at Newark Memorial and just their willingness to try to help us solve problems, which I think is remarkable. And as a result of that meeting, we're going to continue to go back once a month, me and at least one, maybe two board members, to continue the conversation with students I don't know if you wanted to add anything to our conversation or what your reflections were on that, Mr. Rodriguez.

[2506] Ray Rodriguez: I wanted to thank student board members here for inviting us and putting the meeting together. Sometimes the students feel like they're out of the loop and that we're talking about cuts or whatever that affects them personally, and yet we don't take the time to talk to them. It was a great get together with student leadership and very hard questions. And I felt that we took the time to answer some of them. One of the things that was, came up, that's come up in the last two board meetings that I've watched on my laptop at home while recuperating was, you know, how do we get $3 million in the hole. And what happened to that money? And since I'm the oldest board member, I've been around the longest, it's just within the last eight to 10 years since my kids graduated from Newark Memorial that we've lost almost 1,000 students. And that equates to about $10 million. And that's a heavy hit. And we could have, during that time, We've made cuts like the MCA program or cut the punter program. Eliminate AP or cut that down. Reduce the number of athletic offerings that we have other than your primary, your big ones of football, baseball, and basketball. At the junior high, the electives. And at the elementary school, keeping the school size to 24 to 1. We were very fortunate and blessed that we had one-time monies during the last eight years that we could use to keep some of these programs going. Now, in retrospect, I might think, well, maybe we should have made the cuts during those years. But the kids that were in those programs and that benefited from having lower class sizes, they and their parents appreciate the fact that we didn't do that, that we didn't make the cuts. But now we're at the end of the road, and our money is basically gone. And I'll take responsibility for a lot of that. I feel that if you have a dollar that the state gives you, that dollar should be used on kids, and keeping programs going, and keeping counselors. And to that effect, I've always approved the budget over the years. even though knowingly we probably should have made some cuts. And now we have a new superintendent that's only been with us two years and he's got to guide us through this because the state says you're at the end of the road and either you make the cuts or we'll take over the district and we'll do it for you. And we don't want that to happen. So in working with our partners, our union, I'm sure that we're going to get through this very difficult time and we'll be stronger because of it. So I'm very confident in the Newark community understanding, if not agreeing, at least trying to understand where we're coming from. That $3 million was spent on children, on keeping things going for Newark kids. But here we are. So in our conversations with the students, they brought that up. They had very hard questions. One of the things that also came up was the issue of tenure, as you know. with our teaching group that once they attain tenure, then they have seniority, they have a right to do different things. And so we told the students that that would be a conversation that would be better had with their teachers to fully understand what tenure is. We encourage the kids there to encourage their students that if they have any issues, if something comes up in the classroom, then, You deal with it at the classroom level. You deal with it at the site level with the principal. You don't come to the district office. And you've got to deal with it so that it can be handled there. So that was important for them. And they felt that, you know, they were being heard. And we're hoping that we have another meeting with them. And these are student athletes. We just gave awards to or listened to what our athletes have done. Our athletes are also primarily students. And they're second to none, in my opinion. And so they're students first, and athletes second. And in spite of the challenges of being an athlete, they do a very, very excellent job. And Sierra, I thank you for the leadership that you've given in helping us put that together. Maybe you can share some thoughts on it, if you don't mind.

[2818] SPEAKER_29: I just want to say thank you. from all of the students that I put together. They were all, some of them were student athletes, but some of them were more into the drama or some of them aren't taking AP classes or aren't, I wanted to touch all different criteria across students, across campus. And everyone was just so happy and thankful that you took our very hard questions to heart and stayed with us much longer than the time limit permitted. And just so we could get anything that possibly popped in our heads in. And we've already been putting together a name like, superintendents, student council cabinet or whatnot. That we want to come back and we want to have a say and have a bigger role within what's going on in the board and what's going on in the district. very thankful and happy that I'm able to get the students connected in that way and really involved in what's going on around our district. And so that will be a work in progress within the next few months of really getting down the concrete details on everything. So yeah, I just want to say thank you for that.

[2892] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Sierra, for being a leader and pulling this together. And for you, Member Rodriguez, for working with the superintendent to have those tough discussions. Ms.

[2904] SPEAKER_40: Crocker? Yes, I just would like to say that watching the students tonight, listening to Sierra, makes me feel very proud of our district. I think sometimes people like to dump on people that are in situations where they have to make tough decisions. And I think we have to remember the community that we have at our schools are marvelous. If you go to any of the schools, you will find the teachers are dedicated, the kids are excited, the parents are there. We're a small community, and so it's really easy to see when there's a malfunction that's happening. And we need to address that. But I also think that we need to celebrate all the wonderful things that happen. Close to 40% of our students are involved outside sports, extracurricular sports, things at the high school. That's a fantastic percentage. And those of you that have been involved in any kind of athletics in terms of a high school know how important it is to developing your character. It's terribly important. And so giving that experience to the kids and providing the facilities, which we do have, is really very important. And I really want to thank all the coaches that dedicate the time because they certainly are not getting paid for their time. They are developing or dedicating the time to be involved with the kids and to make sure the kids learn that if you work hard, you'll see results. And a lot of kids don't know that, because they've never worked hard. So I think this is one place where they really learn it. So I'm very pleased. And thank you, coaches that are here. Thank you, Coach Hess. And thank you for all the coaches at the high school and all the kids that are involved, a wonderful thing that we have in our community. And I'm not sure that's true in all communities in the Bay Area.

[3014] Nancy Thomas: And I would like to echo what my board colleagues have said, but also to talk a little bit about our elementary schools and the fantastic work that's going on in those schools, as echoed today by Ms. Sird with Snow School. Several years ago, even though it cost a little bit more money, we instituted an all-day kindergarten And I keep hearing from teachers, first grade teachers, second grade teachers, how better prepared our students are coming into first grade. So we've done a lot with the minimum resources that we've had and with the state cuts. So I think given what we've been dealt, I'm very satisfied and happy that we have been good stewards of the community's resources and spent it well. Thank you.

[3065] Ray Rodriguez: Can I just quickly? One of the things that came up that I thought was very important, a question from one of the students was, we talk about the fact that we've lost students. And the question actually is, why? Why are you losing students? And when a two-bedroom apartment or a home runs well over $3,000 a month, and you can't buy a house for less than $700,000, $800,000, You can understand why families are looking toward Tracy, Manteca, Stockton, and other areas in order to have their dream of owning their own home or being able to rent at a reasonable rate. So that came up. And then the issue of us going, why are we 45th out of all the states in funding? And the superintendent highlighted that. We're constantly talking to our representatives, our senator, an assembly member, about at the state level, if they could just bring us up to, let's say, average within all the states and give us another $4,000 or $5,000 per student, we wouldn't be here tonight talking about budget cuts. So that's something that all of you can get involved in, in writing your representative. And we're doing it. We go up to Sacramento when we can and lobby for more money for our schools.

[3161] SPEAKER_38: Thank you. Just on a final note, I know Sierra and I are still having conversations about how we expand this idea. And I can tell you, they want to talk to other board members. So we're going to put together a calendar for the rest of the school year, once a month, and invite other board members. I also think inviting other probably junior high and high school, Bridgepoint, McGregor to kind of expand this idea. So more to come. But I wanted to report on that. But thank you. And then the final item, really, for me to report on tonight is very timely and important, especially in light of recent events around the US and school shootings and what's been going on. So I'm going to ask one of our partners, Lieutenant Jolie Macias, to step forward, introduce her team, and talk about our partnership and what we're doing.

[3215] SPEAKER_42: Hi, everybody.

[3221] Penny DeLeon: Thank you for having me.

[3223] SPEAKER_48: My name's Lieutenant Jolie Macias, and I want to quickly introduce Captain Jonathan Arguello. He oversees field operations. And then most of you in the room probably know the former officer Sandoval, but it is my honor to announce that he is now sergeant. All right. Sandoval. All right. And it's also important to let the board know that Sal, Sal, that Sergeant Sandoval will be continuing his relationship with Newark Unified as our dedicated school resource officer sergeant. Great. OK. All right. In addition, he oversees a patrol team. So this is a collateral assignment for him that I can't think of a better person to fill that role.

[3278] SPEAKER_38: Just a quick point. Did I see you raise your hand as a snow alumni?

[3284] Abbey Keirns: Yes, Captain Arguello was. All right. That's right.

[3288] SPEAKER_38: All right. That's all.

[3291] SPEAKER_48: Thank you. It's so weird. Proceed, sorry, I know it's awkward. So first off everybody, Superintendent Sanchez asked me to come tonight to give a little bit of information about a very important training exercise that we are planning and coordinating. So the police department is working in conjunction with Alameda County Fire Department We're working with Paramedics Plus. We're working with Alameda County, EMS, Mission Valley, ROP, and then, of course, Newark Memorial High School to put on a two-day training event that's going to be at Newark Memorial High School in our event center. The dates are Monday, May 21, and Thursday, May 24. When I walked in,

[3351] SPEAKER_38: So I want to just clarify, that means on those days there will be a lot of police there but there's not going to be a problem.

[3356] SPEAKER_48: Yeah, and I'll get into all that guys. One thing, when I walked in, I had a brief conversation with my previous speaker from Snow Elementary. asking, how do we get in on this training? How do we get on this training? And it's important for me to give you a little bit of background before I go into what we're going to talk about coming up in May. So a couple things that we've already done, and this has really been spearheaded by Sergeant Sandoval, is putting on some training that you guys are probably already aware that has occurred at the high school. They put together a very comprehensive site safety plan and done a run-hide-fight type training for The school staff, they've also rolled this out to the junior high. The next phase, and that's where my conversation with Robin comes in, is we are working now toward to roll this out to the elementary schools as well. So I just wanted to give you guys a little background on educating all of the school staff and administrators if an event like this happens. Moving forward, our goal for this training that we're putting together is mainly to instill confidence in our community here that Newark Unified School District is doing everything in our power to ensure the safety of our kids. So what is an active shooter? I'm sure at this point in the game, if anybody has seen the news or looked at social media, we know pretty much have an idea of what an active shooter is. As we've seen in events such as Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Bernardino, etc. And now most recently at Stoneman Douglas. This training is focused on active shooter. An active shooter, like it says here, basically is an incident where it's targeting a large number of people at one time. The training that we're going to put together isn't necessarily just how to respond to an active event, an active shooting event. It's also going to lend the interoperability of all the agencies that I previously mentioned and it can also translate over into a terrorist type event. It can translate over into a natural disaster or any other critical incident that might occur within our community. Again, what is an active shooter? It's basically an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people confined in a largely populated area. It's important for me to point out that there's some, I want to show you, just kind of give you a snapshot into some statistics. The FBI put together this pretty comprehensive report some years ago. They highlighted or they looked at events from 2000, excuse me, to 2013. So I'm a little bit dated on my reports, but it's the most comprehensive report that I want to cite, but it really gives me a good insight to share with you guys. Of those incidents that they looked at, it was over 486 incidents, I think, total in that time span. 69% of them ended in less than five minutes. 64 of the incidents is when they could discern an actual time frame of how, from beginning to end. And out of those 64, only 23 of them ended in less than two minutes. Therefore, it's so important for me to emphasize, I'm going to show you a little video. And basically, the video highlights the model where we're going to approach. approach with, and it's called Utilizing a Rescue Task Force Model. The Rescue Task Force allows for a much more aggressive approach. I'm going to show the video in a second. It's modeled San Leandro Unified School District in conjunction with their police department, Alco Fire also, and the same team that we're going to be working with to put on our training is highlighted in this video. And then I just wanted to touch upon this picture that I added in the mix here. Oikos University, as you guys know, just is a reminder to this community that this is something that can happen right in our own backyard. For those of you that don't know, this occurred in April 2, 2012, at a private university just up 880 from us in Oakland. So do I? You got it? Just kidding.

[3677] SPEAKER_42: Do you want me to go back?

[3685] SPEAKER_48: Larry's got it.

[3706] SPEAKER_22: We're here today working with the San Diego Police Department and Paramedics Plus and other allied agencies on an active shooter drill. And the purpose of the drill is twofold. We're practicing the command and control aspect, and we're also practicing the tactical aspect. So some of the doctrine on active shooter calls has changed to be more proactive and a little bit more aggressive. So what we're doing with this drill is, from the command perspective, we're practicing deploying our assets much quicker than we would have in the past, getting our hands around the problem, talking about different sorts of notifications that are required, and actually working with law enforcement and other agencies that we may not traditionally work with. On the tactical end of things, we are pairing up our firefighter paramedics and our other fire personnel with law enforcement and members of Paramedics Plus and other agencies to go in and make quick rescues in a warm zone environment whereby the police have taken care of the threat but we still have people that are injured and our mission is to get in and do quick extraction and provide some medical care outside of the target building.

[3775] SPEAKER_60: They followed a script that was really calculated out to really run like this scenario. And what it was is our people that are really in charge of our force options training did a lot of research throughout the nation, different incidents. So they really tried to keep it like a reality-based training. But once the officers responded to the call, including a dispatch script, they were facing students with real type of injuries. And once we brought the, you know, fire department in, the paramedics plus staff to start dealing with those injuries, they had dialogue with the officers or firefighters and they really resolved it like it really was a real situation.

[3813] SPEAKER_26: Well historically when there was a shooter type situation, law enforcement wouldn't go in. They weren't sure. They'd wait for a SWAT team and of course we know that could be a significant delay. So incidents like Columbine, Virginia Tech really changed the thought of law enforcement so that they know they need to get in there quickly. So that paradigm has shifted. Another interesting change has been that law enforcement realizes they have to have their own medical capabilities. So a lot of SWAT officers and patrol officers now have medical training and equipment to deal with what we call self-care and buddy care. Another paradigm shift is instead of having two command posts, a fire command post and a law command post, it really needs to be a unified command post. And so the right people at the right level are making the right decisions together.

[3860] SPEAKER_37: Lockdown drills are new to schools, but for years we've been doing fire drills, earthquake drills. I think hopefully we'll see in the future that we'll think of all the scenarios when we have bomb threats, intruders on campus. For years what we've seen is something happens in school, like Columbine, and we all react, we practice, but then we don't practice and practice and practice. So I think it's the goal we're going to make sure we just keep it on our mind, and just keep practicing. It should be part of our culture.

[3898] Kat Jones: Great. Wrong one.

[3914] Penny DeLeon: So can you go to... The white slide? You see the white slide?

[3920] SPEAKER_42: Yeah.

[3924] SPEAKER_48: So at the end of that video, it showed all the partners that worked in conjunction to put on that training. And I wanted to kind of visualize for everybody who's going to be working together on our training day. It's Newark Unified, the police department. It's important for me to point out the top middle emblem. That's Alameda County EMS. And the person that we're going to be, that I've partnered up with in helping us facilitate the EMS, the coordination and training for the paramedics and the firefighters is a man called Jim Morrissey. And he was a former tactical medic for the FBI. He is currently Alameda County Terrorism Preparedness Director. And he's additionally a tactical medical specialist that has done all sorts of extensive training, not just within our own country, but around the world. It was real nice. I want to brag a little bit about my staff here. Yesterday, he came out and did a site survey with us at the high school. He took a look at the site plan or the site safety plan that Sergeant Sandoval put together for Newark Memorial High School. And he was impressed. He expressed that we are leaps and bounds ahead of many other agencies that he's worked with across the country. So I'm really proud to say that, but also just giving you a little insight in the caliber of person that we're going to be working with to put on this training. A couple things in preparing us for this day. And like you pointed out, there's going to be a lot of police cars, a lot of you know, first responders, fire rigs, ambulances, et cetera, at the high school while school's in session. So some things we're going to have to do ahead of time is an extensive notification process. We're going to do the all call for student and parent notify. We're going to utilize student role players for our exercise. We're going to utilize the ROP, law enforcement students. We're also going to tap into the fire science students at the Stevenson campus. Additionally, we're going to work with the theater program to help us with the application of theatrical makeup to make it very realistic. One of the vice principals had an excellent idea. I'm looking forward to us implementing the media class is going to do an end of the year project to make this a learning exercise for them as well. They're going to do interviews and put together their own end of the year a video. So that's going to be something we're working in. But additionally, I just wanted to point out that we're going to do notifications to all the neighbors in the area with a mailer. We're going to reach out to all the local businesses adjacent to the site, mainly on that north end shopping center there near the Taco Bell, etc. And then we're going to utilize that school marquee that week and use our police signboards that look similar to the one in the bottom right-hand corner there. So how will we do this while school is in session? That's a big question. Not just how will we do this, but why are we doing this while school's in session? Well, I'll tell you, there's nothing more important than making training as realistic as possible. And we're going to accomplish that by having not just the student role players involved, but the staff involved and really learning and observing and identifying some of the challenges we're going to face if we encounter an incident. So this is a snapshot of the area that we're going to be working in. You guys all know it very well, the event center. That yellow line is going to delineate where we are going to basically barricade off. And I just kind of created some red boxes to simulate like some fire rigs. Nothing is to scale, don't judge me. The blue are kind of, you know, representing police vehicles, and then ambulances. So we're really going to be working on the far north end of school, keeping that area contained and under security throughout the entire duration of the exercise. The entire event center is going to be, we cleared it with athletic director Kualihi, that we're going to be doing some, we call them dry runs, you know, just walk-throughs and whatnot. to really familiarize not just us, the law enforcement staff, but all personnel with the intricacies, the ins and outs of that kind of complicated floor plan. So we'll be accomplishing many things here, you know, the site familiarization and just wanted to give you an overview where we're going to be working. The actual scenarios which are going to, like you saw in the the short video are going to be some live fire exercises, not to, you know, make any, it's not, we're not using real weapons. We utilize in training airsoft type weapons. We don't, it won't make, there won't be a mess. We're going to keep it clean. But with the theatrical makeup there will be a little bit of, you know, tarps put down to make it very realistic and there's the potential for, you know, having to have a little bit more of an extensive cleanup than normal. And then lastly, the actual scenarios when we work together. We're going to do some classroom training for our medical personnel, law enforcement personnel, but then utilizing that north end wing of classrooms inside the event center for our actual exercises. So some other considerations that people are probably wondering how it's going to go. go down if school's in session. We're going to keep the morning pickup drop-off consistent throughout the day. We're going to just make sure that our barricades allow for that regular horseshoe pickup drop-off of kids. Like I mentioned before, the security will be posted at all entrances to ensure that we don't get some very looky-loos or stragglers who want to come in and participate. And then I also put in here, because we're doing student participation, I know how this goes sometimes when we have student role players. Sometimes they get a little antsy if they're not, you know, entertained throughout the whole time. Alameda County EMS has a campaign called Stop the Bleeding, and they're going to get additional training while they have some downtime. They're not going to be doing their role playing, but they're going to be learning how to do tourniquet application and some basic first aid stuff. And that's going to be spearheaded by our partners at Alameda County EMS. And then lastly, the site familiarization, like I mentioned, doing the walkthroughs in the event center. And then this is one thing I'll have to vet through Principal Huerta, but I think she'll give me the thumbs up on this, is after the end of the school day, after we've cleared out the majority of students, I want to do just walkthrough of the entire campus with the various staff, just to make sure that everybody knows where is the theater, where is the STAR Lab, where is, you know, so it's just a second nature if we get a call from somebody, we know where to go to immediately. So lastly, I just wanted to just point out that this is something that is super important. I know it's not a very pleasant topic, but there's nothing more important than the safety of our children. So I just wanted to point out that this training is just the crux of the immediate response, there are many additional layers that we're going to encounter and uncover on our training days. And one of those things that we already started discussing is this next piece. Although we do have a great site safety plan, where we've identified rally points at the high school, and we've identified that at the junior high, and we're working toward that for all of our elementaries, The next piece beyond that is what do we do after? So the next time I come and meet you, speak to you at the school board, we're probably going to have to address this next phase of what we would do in a critical event. So parent reunification, I want us to start having that dialogue and discussion. And just other things that we're going to have to look at is aftercare. What do we do after the event? So just lastly, I'm going to leave you. With one more reminder that under pressure you don't rise to the occasion. You sink to the level of your training. And I just want to lastly emphasize that the importance of replicating the realism. And that's why we put this thing all together. We get all these groups and stakeholders involved. We'll be ready to respond.

[4509] SPEAKER_38: If you'll hold for a moment, the board might ask questions. Yes, of course.

[4513] Nancy Thomas: Well, I would like to say thank you so much. And I'm just so grateful that you are doing this training at our high school and that the community is involved in it. It's so important and so needed at this point in time and timely, given what has just happened. So are you going to be videotaping it?

[4535] SPEAKER_48: So we'll have the media class documenting. Good. And then that's the one thing I didn't mention in here, but I do plan to reach out to the media to see if they would be interested in covering similar to how the San Leandro piece was covered. And hopefully, Superintendent Sanchez, if you'd be interested in participating in that as well. Ms.

[4558] SPEAKER_40: Crocker? Yeah, I'm delighted that you're doing this. You're taking a lead in this. My concern is that there are things that we can do on the campus, facility-wise, that might be simple, that might make things better. And so I'm hoping that you will come up with recommendations of modifications that we can make, whether it's fencing or whether it's location of something, whatever it might be. I think let the board know what it is that you find that needs to be adjusted, because number one is the safety of our children.

[4592] SPEAKER_48: One thing I didn't mention that is already in the works, and this is another credit to Sergeant Sandoval, is the key project, which basically every single key ring of every officer in the city will have access to the entire campus. And that's something that has been very difficult to accomplish many years to come. Previous SROs, our current chief, he said he faced that challenge years ago when he was SRO. So thank you to this board for approving all of that.

[4619] SPEAKER_40: Yeah, so I think it's important that we know So we're talking about doing a facilities plan. And so I think that needs to be part of it. So keep us abreast.

[4632] Nancy Thomas: Miss Ben-Rothen? That was before? Did you want to speak? Yeah.

[4639] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you very much. And we're looking forward to your presentation or involving us in it. What's that, May, it's going to be May?

[4653] SPEAKER_48: May 21, 24.

[4654] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. I have two family members that are retired NYPD officers. And my sister teaches very close to the Douglas, the school in Broward County in Fort Lauderdale area. And that whole community, it's just a devastation. We had an incident at Newark Memorial High School about seven, eight years ago.

[4685] Penny DeLeon: 2009.

[4686] Ray Rodriguez: Right.

[4687] Penny DeLeon: Yep.

[4687] Ray Rodriguez: And my daughter Monica reminded me of it. And everybody was so frightened. And we were very, very fortunate that the staff, the district office and the staff at the high school, everybody dealt with it very well. And the Newark Police Department because we couldn't let our kids go home for all day long.

[4708] SPEAKER_48: There was many learning points. Right, exactly. From that. And you mentioning not being able to go home, I mean, that's what I'm talking about, that parent reunification, doing a much better job. And that's where, you know, how we're going to progress and move forward.

[4721] Ray Rodriguez: Trying to find out where the kids were and stuff like that. So I'm glad you're doing this. And I really appreciate the partnership, especially with the Mission Valley RRP and their classes there and the fire department and everybody involved. And thank you, thank you. I'm looking forward to this. Appreciate it.

[4740] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Lieutenant. Next, as we move on to public comment and non-agenda items, I'd like to say that our protocol allows that we can stop public comment after half an hour and then resume it at the end of the meeting. And given that Mr. Rodriguez may have to leave early and we want to get some action items taken care of before he does, I would hope that you would be as succinct as possible. We have about 20 people that want to speak. If they each take their full three minutes, that would be an hour. So let's try to keep it to a half an hour if we can. And if we need to extend it, because each one of you, it's important each one of you gets your three minutes if you want it, but we may have to. continue at the end of the meeting if it goes too long. So with that, I'd like to call up Angela Silvera. Thank you, Angela. Ryan McCarthy.

[4821] SPEAKER_52: Hello. I've been here a couple of times. I haven't mentioned before that I'm an attorney. I have right now one client, a car manufacturer that's local. Prior to that, a number of clients. But when I'm not serving my clients efficiently, they have the ability to fire me, get somebody else. That doesn't take a whole act of Congress. It's simply just an email. We're not working with you. Send your file to somebody else. So that's, thankfully it hasn't happened to me. But it could happen. And I'm prepared for that. And it reflects to me that I need to take seriously what my clients ask for me. Where are your clients? the board, we're your clients, and we can't just send you an email and say, send your file to somebody else. We have to do something else. So we are doing something else. And I have here, there's one member missing, but I have here for Mr. Rodriguez, Ms. Crocker, our notice of intention to circulate recall petition. This was filed. If you want to take it, you're getting it by certified mail. And the registrar voters will have it, and you'll have the opportunity to respond. Since September, when we started talking about fiscal things, there have been numerous opportunities for the board to step up and make the district do something right. and every single opportunity you've had, you've not done it. What do you expect from us? We ask you over and over and over, do the right thing. Mr. Sanchez said, we're not going to touch the classes. The first thing we heard about is we're touching the classes. We're getting rid of counselors. We're getting rid of teachers. Our classroom sizes are going bigger, bigger, and bigger. 45 students in a classroom. at the junior high or high school, if you allow it, and not a word from you. Stare at me. Stare at us. We keep coming back. I'd rather be at home watching what's on? I don't know.

[4999] SPEAKER_52: I'd rather be somewhere else. But I'm here to ask, again, do the right thing. Do the right thing. And if you won't do the right thing, then you don't have to take this copy right now, because it's going by certified mail, which is what the code requires. And we are doing that. So if you want to read it, that's fine. You get a heads up. But I'll take it back with me. And Mr. Preciado will get his also by certified mail. But it is time to listen. And when Mr. Sanchez says, I'm going to listen to the community, And we tell him, don't touch the classes. And then he proposes, let's touch the classes. It's up to you guys. Am I at three minutes already? Yes. Holy crap, that was fast. Yep. Thank you. If anybody wants this, I'm in the back or I'll take it right now. But I don't want to approach. So thank you. Thank you.

[5062] Nancy Thomas: Kimberly McCarthy followed by Jamie Miller. Miller? Muller?

[5076] SPEAKER_31: Just to touch really quickly on the jobs that you said you saved. You said you saved 12 teaching jobs, so you're only letting go eight. That also doesn't include the 15 temporary teachers that are potentially being let go. So we are losing not just eight, but potentially up to about 23. So just so everybody is aware, it may not be eight, it may be far more than that. In the wake of the recent school shooting in Florida, not to mention countless other mass shootings that have occurred at all schools across this country, I find it morally reprehensible and unconscionable to even consider removing a single counselor. It isn't within your power to change the lenient gun laws in this country, but what you can do is make sure our students here in Newark are seen, that they are heard, and that they have support. When you raise class sizes, the teacher spends less and less time with each student. So she sees them less, hears them less, and provides them with less support. Taking away our guidance counselors is literally taking away the one person our students can go to with any problems, be it at home or at school. Regardless of where you stand on the gun debate, I think everyone can agree that we need more focus on mental health and emotional stability of our children. Who will these kids talk to when there isn't anyone there? We cannot guarantee that everyone has access to personal health care with mental health benefits, but you can give them a teacher. who doesn't have 35 to 40 students per class, one who can see, hear, and support them, you can provide a guidance counselor, one who has time to see students in a crisis without making an appointment three weeks ahead of time, not one who is assigned to 3,000 students. You have shown a complete lack of empathy for our students. You expect our outstanding teachers to continue to do the same job year after year, adding more and more students to their classrooms and refuse to negotiate a fair contract with them for the work that they do. I'm not sure how a guidance counselor responsible for 3,000 students is in any way going to meet the needs of any of them. Did you know that the recommended guidance counselor to student ratio recommended by the California Board of Education is one for every 364 high school students and one to every 461 junior high students? What you are proposing is far greater than the recommended ratio. You are the trustees. You have been saddled with the responsibility of making a very tough decision. But you also have the ability to say no, no more, send the budget back to the district and tell them to do better for our students and for our future.

[5220] SPEAKER_17: Okay, I'm Jamie Miller. I'm actually here representing Newark Soccer Club for the first part and then I'm going to make a comment as a parent. Superintendent Sanchez, you made a comment earlier about all available resources at your disposal that you'll plan to use that. I want to share with everybody a story that I had recently. I recently tried to rent facilities on behalf of Newark Soccer Club using the online Facilitron system. For those of you who don't know what that system is, Newark Unified utilizes this site so organizations and public can rent facilities at local schools. The site has a calendar that the school is supposed to manage so the public can rent from the schools on days and times that it's available. That way they can book out for their own school events and then the public can rent outside of that. After holding a reservation for the Newark Junior High School gym for several weeks, I received an email the week before cancelling it. I then used your system to make two more reservations, this time at the high school instead. One was declined, the other was never declined. I called and spoke with the athletics department to find out the gym was in fact not available. So I finally cancelled the reservation myself at my expense for a processing fee that I had to take on myself for our youth non-profit organization. I then called my own daughter's elementary school to use their small gym instead. Once they confirmed it was available, I booked it again using the same Facilitron site. I tried everything to book through Newark Unified School District to put money back into our community, back to our school community. I went even as far as coming to this office and requesting a meeting in person after my calls went unanswered here at the Newark Unified School District. I met with Sarah Wilson here at the district who encouraged me to come here to voice my frustration with this process. Sarah Wilson is a contact I try to use to utilize help me booking with Newark Unified. She's an administrative assistant for business services here. Unfortunately, she chose not to reply to my emails after I met with her. Emails sent on January 30th, February 1st, and February 5th. We spend, for the Fremont School District, we spend $20,000 every year for a seven-week program that we host in the wintertime. We also used to use Newark Unified School District to rent your junior high facilities. Facilities we can no longer use because they are in a very poor dilapidated condition. We had too many injuries there. We can't even see the track past the weeds. I don't even know how we can even host Newark Junior High School soccer games on those fields. It's embarrassing. So as a parent, here's my point. The facilities are embarrassment. They're an eyesore. I don't understand how they could have gotten in such bad condition. We don't even have a track there anymore because the weeds are overgrowing that entire site. We have one high school and one junior high in Newark. Why does it look so bad? I don't understand it. You guys talk about declining enrollment. Of course people who can afford an $800,000 house can afford an education for their children outside of Newark Unified School District. Of course they can. That is unfortunate for the rest of us. Why would they want to go to school here when we're talking, we're in the news for talks to eliminate teachers and counselors. One teacher position eliminated is way too many and this very public deficit is humiliating to our little community and I'm going to leave with this. You ma'am made a comment that people are here to dump on people who have to make tough decisions and I think no, it's called holding people accountable for the current situation we're in.

[5410] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Thank you. Could I please ask that staff follow up with Ms. Miller on some of these issues and see if we can help with any transaction fees that she had to pay. Next, Sam Matsumoto followed by Rachel Bloom.

[5435] SPEAKER_27: Hello, good evening guys. I'm Sam Matsumoto. I'm a visual arts educator at Newark Memorial High School and tonight I'm speaking on behalf of some of the teachers at Newark Memorial High School. with a concern that's been going on during my time but has grown with increasing frequency, the issue of in-house subbing. So, as you, as the community may or may not know and I know it's different at the elementary sites and probably at the junior sites, high school teachers get one prep period a day to, you know, take care of their 100 to 225 students, their grading, their planning, all that. And some teachers need a little bit of extra money. They're happy to in-house sub, cover another teacher's class when they're not available. No big deal. But recently, just in the past month, there have been several weeks where we've been required to in-house sub two to three times a week. So out of our roughly five hours to take care of our massive student load and adequately prepare for them, in addition to the hours we already volunteer on top of that, we have to go in and cover someone else's class. just losing that precious time is straining on top of the job site. It's exacerbating on top of everything that's going on and really not helping morale. So I would just hope that we can maybe do some more active recruiting. I've talked to several of the guest teachers and sometimes it's not about pay. For some of them it's really just about how they're treated as employees and respected and how they're, sent throughout the district. So some of it isn't about money and some of it is. We know that the surrounding districts do pay more. So I would just, I'm just here to kind of advocate on behalf of my fellow members and hope that, I know again we have a lot to do, but that we could also pay attention to this issue as well. Thank you.

[5538] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. After Rachel Bloom, it will be James Cummingham.

[5549] Rachel Bloom: Hi, everyone. I'm Rachel Bloom, the science resource teacher at Graham and BGP. First, I want to say, reflew a shlema to Ray. That means go well soon in Hebrew, so reflew a shlema. And then also, I talked to, I have Frankie's daughter in my class at BGP on Monday. She said that the baby was born, so I want to say mazel tov to him. And then I was going to speak at the last meeting, but I was sick. I'm sure you all are so sad that I was sick. But I wanted to say that, so. that I made Shrinky Dinks for everyone. And so I wanted to say, like, you'll look at the Shrinky Dink, and you'll notice that it's not a very cool Shrinky Dink. So now you'll own the Shrinky Dink, but it won't be a cool Shrinky Dink. So that means if you want to own a cool Shrinky Dink, you should go to Graham's Family Science Night and make a cool Shrinky Dink. That was going to be my sales pitch, but now the Family Science Night's over. I think there are going to be Shrinky Dinks tomorrow at Kennedy's. I don't really want to advertise theirs, but it's true. So these are the Shrinky Dinks. So my next pitch will be, if you would like to improve your Shrinky Dink and maybe turn it into a magnet or something, you're welcome to come to Graham's Makerspace. And then I can help you do that. When is that? The Makerspace, it's kind of all the time. And then Kennedy's Family Science Night will be tomorrow at 6 to 7 30. So here are the shrinky dinks. And then the fourth thing I wanted to say to try to entice you to come to Graham is next Wednesday on 3-14, hint, hint, Graham has a special event happening. So if you would like to know more about that, you can contact us. So thank you.

[5650] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[5660] SPEAKER_36: Superintendent Sanchez. fellow board members, staff of the Newark High School, parents, and students. My name is James Cunningham. My son is in the seventh grade, doing excellent at your school. He's a 504 student. The teachers there are excelling in ways I couldn't believe possible. He went from a failure student, his first marking period, to B average now. I appreciate the fact that you've reduced the numbers of teachers to which that will not be dismissed. However, there are still apparently eight, and in some cases, maybe more with attempts. 60% saving is great. Still have 40% to go. I would like to propose a suggestion, maybe you have looked at it, maybe you have not, of a buyout. I myself am an ex-union representative of UAW, General Motors, and president of the union. I know that buyouts work. We use them very well and efficiently for General Motors. Reduced our numbers dramatically in 2008 based on that. I looked up the records. of the pay for people who have tenure and have been here several years. I'm sure some of them would certainly welcome an opportunity to retire with a buyout. Their pay runs on the average of $90,000 to $115,000 by public records of 2016. The teachers to which you're proposing to lay off is about $37,000. So if we can just get two or three teachers that are willing to take some sort of a buyout, we can save even more positions. Have you looked into that?

[5755] SPEAKER_38: Yes.

[5756] SPEAKER_36: You have? And what was the outcome?

[5759] SPEAKER_38: It wouldn't be as high a yield as we'd like it to be, but we could re-look at it. But anyway, I shouldn't be interacting with you.

[5764] SPEAKER_36: OK, do I need to bring this up in new business to propose this?

[5768] SPEAKER_38: No. I think that, no, I don't think so.

[5773] SPEAKER_36: So it will be addressed?

[5775] SPEAKER_38: It has been addressed.

[5776] SPEAKER_36: OK, I understand it has been. It will be addressed.

[5779] SPEAKER_38: I'll revisit it, yes.

[5781] SPEAKER_36: It will be addressed? Yes. OK. Next meeting, I can come and find out something, right?

[5785] SPEAKER_38: Yes.

[5785] SPEAKER_36: OK. I'm looking forward to it. Thank you all very much. Appreciate your time.

[5795] Nancy Thomas: Mr. Knoop, followed by Megan Knowles.

[5803] Cary Knoop: Good evening. Well, if the recall is going to go through, I hope. We're going to get more members who are proactive, who don't just sign at the dotted line, but work with the district to find solutions and make sure they do everything in the power to keep the cuts out of the classroom. I would like to congratulate the superintendent and the CBO for the last meeting where I think it was an example of transparency. open government, you have a process where you take a bunch of firms that come back to you and candidates, you do an interview, you filter them out, and you say here are two or three firms that we think we're comfortable with, but now we want to put it in a public space, we want to have a presentation for the public, and we want board members to actually make a decision in public which firm to take. That's a normal thing. If you go here in Alameda County and you go to school districts or city governments, you will find that process all the time. That's democracy at work. Nothing in closed session. You know, I got a little bit uncomfortable when there was a discussion in the last meeting about closed sessions. I can think of two things. One is, if a board member or board members are not comfortable to publicly make decisions, They should think about if they're doing the right thing, if they're doing the right job, because you have to make decisions. You can't keep everybody as a friend. You're going to have to make decisions. As long as it's not, you know, libel or, you know, you're accusing anybody of illegal acts, you can voice your opinion. We don't live in North Korea. You can say, well, you know, firm A doesn't do it for me. Nobody's going to sue you. If the other thing is that you say, no, I don't want to make any decisions. I think the superintendent should make all the decisions. So we can sit back and just sign at the dotted line. I think that's not doing your job. That's my opinion. So again, I hope the superintendent and the CBO continue on this process where they bring forward a filtering process and at the end bring Dilemmas questions and what have you to the board and board members should be qualified to make these decisions in public instead of Putting it back and saying we don't want to make any decisions. We don't want to be responsible for everything That's not how it works You're responsible for everything And you should do everything in your power to give your vote and let the public a new work know why you're standing for Thank you

[5987] SPEAKER_09: Hello, this is my first meeting. Really enjoyed it so far. The community here is fantastic. So I'm going to get started on my points with just a quick one off. During the meeting itself, there was discussion about how children's education priorities were put ahead from 10 years ago, and you didn't want to take away their ability to learn 10 years ago. Unfortunately, that's now caused our children today and their ability to learn. I took issue with that. I'm a parent of a TK and third grader at Lincoln Elementary. I'd like to start by iterating how great a community this is. It is relatively small and very tight-knit. I feel it's this way because of the businesses that come out to support us, because of the families that choose to make this home, because of the teachers and support staff that choose to work here, and parent volunteers who are committed to our schools. The teachers and support staff choose it because of the community. Their salaries are not the highest in the area. Their health benefits are a mess, their tech in their classroom is not the greatest, and they're often at a lack of resources in the classroom. Newark is a great place to live. However, our teachers and support staff are not being supported. We've made a mess out of our current financial system, our current financials, because of 20 years of mismanagement that needs to be held to account. We need our teachers to be able to teach. You remove them from classes, class sizes go up, learning quality goes down and the all-important standardized testing scores plummet. Remove social science teachers and our increasingly tumultuous world is even harder to understand. Remove counselors and children's direction and emotional state have fewer outlets. You remove PE teachers and we suggest the importance of the ever-increasing obesity epidemic and related health consequences are not a priority. I feel the district did not listen to our community when we showed up to the budget meetings. We unequivocally stated that these positions are to be protected. I understand that there are current budget restraints. That being said, I'd like to know how many administrative and executive positions at the district level have been eliminated.

[6125] Nancy Thomas: Timothy Merritt followed by Amber Torres.

[6139] SPEAKER_51: Good evening. My name's Timothy Merritt, and I'm a teacher. So this week I had a sad experience, I think, at my school. I'm not going to talk about budget cuts and teacher reductions, even though there are teachers at my site that are possibly affected. But the junior high band and choir comes to each of the elementary schools and presents a short presentation to the sixth grade students to give them an idea about what their options are when they go to high school for extracurricular classes to take optional classes. And wonderful program. Love it every year they come. This year there was a little snafu at our site, and so the auditorium wasn't prepared for them. I pulled the curtain back behind the stage, and it's filled with e-waste, which got moved out of some extra rooms that has been sitting there for a few weeks. So there were no risers for the choir. And the chairs weren't set up for the band. And things happen. It's OK. The junior high came in, and the kids were fine. They didn't care. They sat on the floor. They made do. They introduced themselves and talked about their experience with the band and choir. And they introduced themselves and said which school they came from. They say Milani. And they're proud of that. Well, Milani doesn't exist anymore. So half the kids clap and yeah, yeah. And half the kids boo, boo, boo. Then the next kid stands up and they say they're from Bunker. Half the kids clap and yeah, yeah, yeah. And half the kids boo, boo, boo. That's not what we're teaching our kids. And another teacher said, well, we won't have to deal with that next year. And I'm not sure that we won't. Because we were promised that we were merging two schools. And I've talked about this before. I've worked in retail for more years than Mr. Rodriguez has been on the board here. Hard to believe. We merged many department stores together and they became one. The name became one. Milani and Bunker are now Birch Grove. And now we're still being told, despite having a unified community, trying to unify these two communities together, two very diverse communities, we're being told as teachers that we still have to have two separate collaboration staffing meetings at the end of the year. I, as a sixth grade teacher, decide that I want to go teach first grade. And I could do that because I student taught first grade. And now I have to put in for a transfer to go to my own school. So we're not teaching our kids that we're one community.

[6340] Nancy Thomas: After Amber, there will be Wahab Salemi.

[6349] SPEAKER_18: Hello. My name is Amber Nolasco-Torres. I'm currently a student at NGHS. The time I've spent at NGHS has been wonderful. This was all thanks to my teachers. They have inspired me, and some have become my role models. Unfortunately, some of these teachers who have a lot of potential might leave due to unfair pay, treatment, and insensitive decisions by the board. And I don't blame them. I mean, teachers have one of the most important jobs in the world. They dedicate their lives to educate and inspire future generations, yet our district is underpaying them, and now you want to get rid of them? They have to suffer the consequences because of your decisions. These are teachers with potential leaving to other school districts where they will get paid better. The students at these other school districts most likely already have resources. We need these teachers here where there are students that really need them. These teachers can inspire and spark a love of learning in these students, but that might be difficult due to the amount of kids you want to put in every classroom and the teachers you want to get rid of. The teachers that will end up working in our district will be unexperienced and have bad resumes. Let's not forget, many kids will be left with no counselor at an age where students need mental support the most. So the excuse that is being given for underpaying and laying off these teachers is that we are in a difficult situation financially as a school district. Because if, but if you really think about it, a reason we are in this problem in the first place is because of the poor decisions the board has made. So if they were the ones that made the poor decisions, why should it not come out of their paychecks? All I'm trying to say is that bad decisions result in consequences, not a raise. Why are we even focusing on these types of issues when we should be focusing on the quality of education of every student in our district? This is unacceptable. Do you realize the damage and long-term effects your decisions could have on these students' education? The board is being inconsiderate and, quite frankly, not doing their job. The district's mission is for every student to reach their full potential. But my question is, are these students really receiving the resources and attention to do so? I mean, even the amount of paper that is able to be used is limited. So this means nobody should be getting a raise right now. Nelson Mandela once said, we all know that education, more than anything else, improves our chances of building better lives. So explain, are you prohibiting or allowing students to build better lives? Thank you.

[6502] SPEAKER_13: Good evening. I'm extremely grateful to speak here today. My name is Wahab Salim and I'm an eighth grader attending NJHS and I've gone to school here all my life. The mission of our district is, and I quote, the Newark Unified School District will inspire and educate all students to achieve their full potential, be responsible, respectful, and productive citizens, end quote. All of you have voted the opposite. All of you have turned your back on the education and future of the kids in our district. All of you ignored and neglected the interests of the people, students, teachers, and voters. but you justify it because there's a budget problem, because student enrollment has been on decline and will continue to do so, and are hoping that the new homes will bring in more students. Let's stop and think about the solution we have at hand. It will not only be a slap in the face to the people, it will go against your own mission. It will lead to less individual support, increase class sizes to low 40s. We won't even have a textbook for each student, let alone the old and out of date ones that we have now. It will leave us with a pathetic resume for our district. We might as well fill a gym with students and put a teacher in there. I'm disgusted to see that the kids in this elected board, that see that this elected board has the audacity to cut 15 teachers, three counselors, both of our deans. They ignore our falling scores, low ratings, socioeconomic challenges. Let's not forget, we'll leave thousands of high schoolers looking into college with one counselor. That's oppression at its finest. The one counselor that we do have at the junior high will be gone. Last year, half the NJHS staff left because our pay was too little. We were left to rehire and deal with inexperienced educators. This year, it seems as the other half is leaving for the same reason. But after hearing about the cuts, many respected teachers will voluntarily be departing, which will leave us with a bigger burden. But no, this can also be justified because before the decision, the board had the public's input and took every opinion into consideration, right? Oh, is that all a stunt too? So when a potential fire family buyer looks here, they'll say, why would I want to buy a home with schools that would do no good for my kids? And many people that do live here will just send their kids out of the district like they're doing now. So yes, you're right, student enrollment will continue, in fact, to decline. But whose fault is that? The students didn't mismanage the money which led to the deficit. And I can guarantee that almost all of you do not understand how much, how even the school works. Not once have I seen any of the members, with the exception of a few, come to our campus in all my years. Not once have I seen you ask the kids what they want. You ignored us when we said make cuts from the district level, when we said don't touch our class sizes, teachers, quality of education. You didn't listen and said, Mr. Sanchez, you gave yourself a raise. Be one of the highest paid superintendents in California with a quarter of a million dollars, while the people of your district struggle to make ends meet. And we'll now have to deal with this. There's no transparency here. A 14-year-old shouldn't have to tell you how to do your job. Let's focus on real problems instead of cutting our educators. So please, reconsider before your deadline. There is one thing that you will hear, and that is the way in which you vote this election year. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I'm okay. And that is evident in the decisions you have made. Thank you.

[6693] SPEAKER_24: Good evening. I'm a Lincoln family member. I haven't been here for a while. It's good to see everybody again. I started off wanting to be on the agenda for a couple of reasons, but one is at snow. Last year, we discovered there was an enormous dip in the floor of room 15. There's another room nearby as well. The maintenance staff that are on site, they thought it was significant enough to bring it to their maintenance director's attention. Nothing done. I brought it to the maintenance director supervisor at the time. Nothing's been done. I mean, it's so significant that if you set a basketball at one part of the room, it will roll rapidly to the center of the room. There's funds available for finding out whether or not the sinking of that floor is a danger to the students. Next on my thoughts are the Lincoln Fence. You know, the fence is coming up. I, on the site council, I voted to approve it. Not so much because it's going to really keep anything but the dumbest of criminals out, but because it actually serves to help the staff there from keeping the kids that are runners on the property running. I didn't know that was the case. I didn't know that was a problem. But apparently kids have a tendency to run and get crazy. I have my own one at home. I can only imagine having 30 of them maybe 45 of them in a school and having one run out the door and have to chase them down. So the fence is a good idea to help the teachers out in that regard. But it's also important to note that one of the best things about our school right now is that it is part of our community. And if that fence is locked like it is some of the other schools around this district, it's gonna fall out of our community. It's gonna become another barrier that we would walk by and drive by in our kids go there now and they do all the right things that kids should be doing on those grounds. So I know that when we voted in on the student site council that get the fence we also stipulated when we approved that for you guys to vote on tonight that it was supposed to be presented with the stipulation that it will be open in non-school hours for the community to use. I don't see that on here and I'd like you to readdress that please. And lastly on this budget stuff, which I've been in and out of this stuff at all times. You guys have been up here and you don't have your hands on the numbers, you get the numbers given to you. Which tells me that you're getting the wrong numbers. You ask, can we spend this money? And you get the answer that says, yeah, sure, and here we are. We go into meeting with the town, we drag everybody out there. You guys really had our hopes up that we had input on this, you really did. It really makes you look bad the fact that the person that was giving you the advice or the people that were giving you the advice up front didn't tell you that there were limits in the categories that you could make the cuts. And that is just, you know, that's part of the reason why we're here is because such a simple thing as that, that turned around and broke the hearts of all these people that thought they were participating in the system and the system had turned around and asked them to be a part of it. Let them down.

[6890] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Thank you. Your time is up.

[6897] SPEAKER_24: Revisit cameras because our cameras have proven to be not adequate and they were recently upgraded.

[6903] Nancy Thomas: Staff, Mr. Yarbrough brought up a couple issues at Lincoln that I think deserve to be followed up with and can we get a report at the next board meeting on those issues?

[6913] SPEAKER_38: Yes.

[6914] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next we move on to, I believe we got everyone for non-agenda items. Did I miss anyone? And we made it in a half an hour. That's good. Thank you. Next, we move on to old business. 10.1, second reading on board policy administrative regulation. OK, we'll give you a few minutes, those of you that are wanting to leave.

[6964] SPEAKER_42: Thank you. I can't remember.

[7013] SPEAKER_40: I love Shrinky Beaks. I love Shrinky Beaks. Oh, they're wonderful.

[7017] Nancy Thomas: They're wonderful. We should go tomorrow night to Kenyon. I've got a meeting at 7. Okay.

[7025] SPEAKER_40: This is the Shrinky Beaks that you made for us. Thanks, Mike. I did it for him.

[7034] SPEAKER_40: You've got names on them?

[7036] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, I noticed that. Oh, okay. Do you have Jan's? Who do you have?

[7041] SPEAKER_38: Oh, I must have given her the wrong one. Here's Jan's. Here's Tom's. Oh, let me get that to Tom.

[7047] SPEAKER_40: Thank you.

[7048] Terrence Grindall: Thank you. Actually. Keep going, I think. Yeah.

[7051] SPEAKER_43: It's just one quality for sure.

[7054] SPEAKER_42: OK.

[7070] SPEAKER_40: It's not a time if they need to talk, they can go outside.

[7073] Nancy Thomas: Could we carry our conversations outside, please? So next, we move on to old business. 10.1 is the second reading on board policy, administrative regulation, or student use of technology. Board, do you have any comments?

[7093] SPEAKER_40: No, I move acceptance.

[7097] Nancy Thomas: Second. Member Crocker moves acceptance. Member Rodriguez seconds. Please vote. Three ayes. Motion passes. Next we have a speaker. Two speakers on the next item which is a third reading of BPAR 1240 volunteer assistance. Angela Silveira.

[7130] SPEAKER_43: I am going to talk this time. OK, hello. I'm Angela Silvera. I have a third grader and a kindergartner at Lincoln and a future Lincoln student. And I'm PALS president, so I'm very invested in my time at school. So with the volunteer policy, I came and spoke when it was the first time around. And I want to thank you for considering everyone's thoughts on the volunteer policy and making the changes that have been made But I come to you now because of logistics. I am very concerned about the rollout of the policy, when the policy is going to happen. I know there was discussion of starting it next year, but if that's the case, then people need to know this year of what to do because they need to know where they can go, how much it's going to cost, who they give their paperwork to, who's going to keep it on file, and all of that. And you need it at not only the site levels, but the district level, the parent level, You know, if we have to keep copies of our things to make sure that you have the records, all of that needs to happen. And I am concerned because it seems as though sometimes what happens at the district level doesn't get down to the elementary school levels or really all the levels of what needs to be done. And especially because this will be so broadly needed. for so many people to get fingerprinted. I'm really hoping you guys have a plan in place, and if you don't, to get one. So that's what I have to say. Thank you.

[7230] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Ms. Parks?

[7241] Cindy Parks: I also wanted to thank Dr. Wong for his working with the community and for the revisions that have taken place from the first reading. There was a lot of issues with the logistics of how it even read and some of the requirements. And I wanted to tell him that I appreciated his working with those that have expressed concern and hope that this is the transition into this, as Angela just spoke, is smooth and that everyone is notified with ample time and that you have your organizations in line that will help those pay they can't afford but want to volunteer.

[7281] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. If neither of you are speaking yet, I would like to say that I think it is important that we have a rollout plan for this board policy and that it be brought to the board so that we can ask questions and the community can hear what that rollout plan is and how it is going to reach down to the site level. One of the things I brought up early on was when you have the certification for the TB, it can be signed off. It does not have to be signed off by a doctor. It can be signed off by a for example, school nurse. And I would hope that staff would look at a way to make this more cost effective for parents or volunteers that have to get a TB questionnaire certified. That's the kind of thing that I'd like to see maybe thought about and included in a plan that's brought forward. But I would bow to my fellow board members for their thoughts on this.

[7368] SPEAKER_40: I think it's really very important to encourage volunteer participation at all the schools. It's also very important that there be some sort of control about who's going to be there. We all know of situations where people that were inappropriate were volunteering in schools. And that's always a worry that you have. That being said, I think that I'm glad to see it's very comprehensive. I am very strong in making sure that anyone that has contact with kids has TB clearance. That's a disease we don't think much about, but if it hits you, it is life altering for the teacher as well as for the student, whatever, whoever might be getting it. So I think it's really very important that we have it. I would love to see some way of being able to coordinate getting these requirements taken care of at a workshop, something in the fall. I don't know what the cost is going to be and I know that's an issue that we have. But perhaps there are connections we can make with Washington Township or with Kaiser where they might be able to handle that. I think we need to look into it. But whether we can do that or not, I think we need to pass this regulations as it is so we can go ahead and get a plan. I don't know that's going to happen this year. I don't know what we're doing this year for parents that are there. I assume that they are getting coverage, whether they're getting the fingerprinting for all of the things that are listed. But I think at the very latest for the rollout for fall.

[7469] Nancy Thomas: Perhaps Dr. Wong can clarify.

[7471] SPEAKER_32: So this full policy AL revision for volunteers assistance is to be rolled out throughout the course between now and June in preparation for the fall for the 2018-19 school year. And so our plan would be to do a lot of the things that you've just mentioned, as seamless as humanly possible. There are limitations on our resources. We do have to work through things such as working with the school nurse and the TB clearance. Fingerprinting is an ongoing issue. but we will look at all our options and then roll out information to schools. The community is aware of what needs to be done.

[7510] SPEAKER_40: So what are the sites doing now for the rest of the school year?

[7513] SPEAKER_32: They continue to use the former or until this I guess the current BPAR language. Once this, the board approves this, this will take effect July 1. July 1. That's the plan of action.

[7527] SPEAKER_40: So what is happening now in the schools is what will continue to happen until July 1?

[7531] SPEAKER_32: That is correct.

[7532] SPEAKER_40: OK. Thank you.

[7533] Nancy Thomas: OK. Thank you. With that, I'll entertain a motion.

[7537] Ray Rodriguez: I want to Mr. Wong, our HR director or assistant superintendent, thank you very much for your hard work. I know you haven't been here very long, but volunteers has been at the forefront, especially at the elementary school level. Earlier, we talked about budget cuts. And over the years, I've fought back on closing an elementary school, and Lincoln being one of the ones that's always been talked about. And one of the reasons that I did that, and especially at the elementary school level, is the volunteers that we have. So it's got to be seamless, and it's got to be where It's easy, we're asking people to take time out of their day and to donate their time for the betterment of their kids. So the more we can do, and I know that any time we approve something, it's always set in motion. So any suggestions on how to make this better, we welcome those. You can get them to the school board members, to the district level. We want to make sure that volunteers are welcome and that we do everything we can from where we're at to make it work. So with that, I'd like to move that we approve this third reading of our regulation 1240.

[7632] SPEAKER_40: And I second it.

[7640] Nancy Thomas: Please vote. Three ayes, thank you. The next item is the 10.3, the wish list for Lincoln Elementary. I would, did we have a speaker on that? Oh, I'm sorry, I, go ahead. No, no, that's fine. Oh, I'm sorry, you are right here. Okay, fantastic. Thank you, Angela.

[7671] SPEAKER_43: No problem. I just wanted to say that I wanted to make sure that you were all aware of the addendum that Merrick Yarbrough mentioned. It's on it's on one of the pages that was attached. But with that I feel like there needs to be some sort of sign or plaque that says to be remained unlocked when school is not in session because I feel as though it will get forgotten easily. And I don't want that to happen because I am right near the school. And there are hundreds of children and families there every single weekend. And they utilize it. So I just don't want that to be lost. And so I'm hoping that there can be some sort of sign so that can be honored. Because the school site council, I'm not sure, would have approved it if that stipulation hadn't been there.

[7730] Ray Rodriguez: Great.

[7730] SPEAKER_43: Thank you.

[7731] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Superintendent, do you want to comment on that?

[7737] SPEAKER_38: No, I'm happy to look into it and see how we can try to reach the accommodation. I know we've had a lot of vandalism and theft occur off the roof at that school. So I think we need to, I think we can figure out a way. So let me put a plan together and see how we can address that and have them be satisfied with it being open as long as we can secure it and secure some of the roof issues that we've dealt with. I don't want to say what we've had because I don't want to give away our solution. But we have had some vandalism there that I'm very concerned about. But that's a separate issue I think we can address. And leave it open. Thank you.

[7777] Ray Rodriguez: I'll look into it. Do you want to bring it back?

[7780] Sean Abruzzi: No, I think... I can follow through.

[7782] Nancy Thomas: Okay. Yeah, Ms.

[7785] SPEAKER_40: Crocker. Yeah, I think it's a discussion we have to have about all sites. As more and more sites are looking to be able to completely enclose the campus. What we do with the campus is going to have to be a decision that we make generally across the whole district right now. Half of the elementary schools are accessible. And so I don't know that Lincoln should be any different. The fence maybe is there for use during the school day if we have to have lockdown. And I think that's probably the reasons why Lincoln chose to take their special money that they could choose whatever they wanted with to use it for that expense. I agree, I think that there's less vandalism if there's more community on campus. It's when you lock things up that people get angry and they come and they do. And so I think that I didn't see the agenda that you were talking about in the information that we had.

[7843] SPEAKER_43: Go ahead.

[7849] SPEAKER_40: I have nothing after the sign-in sheet. For some reason, this is jumping around. It will not stay in one place for me. I think perhaps in procedure that we do we lock the gates at the elementary school at any elementary school during the week when the kids are not on campus? I don't know. And there's so much of the high school that's available, so much of the junior high. I know the junior high center core is locked. in the high school center core is locked when there's not somebody there, but the fields are available. And because the elementary fields are in a different relationship than the high school and junior high. I mean, they're sort of integrated into where the buildings are. But I think the best anti-vandalism is having community members there playing with their kids and being involved in the tagging that can happen. It's less likely to happen if it's available for people to play with. play on to be there, to be involved as a community resource. So I would like to move that we accept this as it is and we will, I think when we talk with the police about the procedures that we're talking about too, I think this is going to be part of the conversation that will be there. We want to make sure we can have a lockdown, but also the fact that the community is using these facilities and that's an important piece too. So Ms. Crocker, you make the motion to accept?

[7945] Nancy Thomas: Yes. Mr. Rodriguez?

[7947] Ray Rodriguez: I second it.

[7948] Nancy Thomas: Mr. Rodriguez seconds it. Please vote.

[7950] Ray Rodriguez: I wanted to just add something real quick. To me, Lincoln Elementary has always been one of our most beautiful schools. When you just look at it from the front, it just, you know. So my hope is that the design is something the parents will continue to be proud of. Because a lot of times fences go up and they just don't look very good. So I'm hoping that the Lincoln community will be proud and happy with this fence. Not too long ago Lincoln did have an issue and the staff and the parents handled it very well. So I'm just hoping that this is going to be used to make Licken even look more beautiful.

[8005] Nancy Thomas: Please vote. Three ayes, thank you. We have changed the order of the agenda to take the consent agenda Next, before new business.

[8037] Ray Rodriguez: OK, so I'm going to leave in a few minutes. So is there anything other than the items that I mentioned that are action items?

[8046] Nancy Thomas: Yes, there's quite a few. The personnel agenda items are very important, followed by new business.

[8055] Ray Rodriguez: Why don't we do those, if that's OK?

[8057] Nancy Thomas: OK, so I think they should be pretty quick if you can do it.

[8060] Ray Rodriguez: It's 13.1 and 13.2, right? Yeah. OK.

[8064] Nancy Thomas: I'll entertain a motion for 13.1.

[8067] Ray Rodriguez: Move to approve 13.1. I'll second.

[8069] Nancy Thomas: OK. Please vote. Thank you. Three ayes. 13.2, appointment of the principal, Schelling Elementary School.

[8086] Ray Rodriguez: Move to approve 13.2, the new principal for Schelling Elementary.

[8091] SPEAKER_40: I'll second.

[8094] Nancy Thomas: Please vote. Three ayes. Mr. Superintendent, would you like to make an announcement?

[8108] SPEAKER_38: Yes. Would you give me the full last name of the, I know it's Wendy.

[8115] SPEAKER_32: Dr. Wendy Castaneda-Leal.

[8120] SPEAKER_38: Wendy's not able to be with us. She's out of state at this time. Normally we'd have them be in the audience and introduce them to the board. But I can tell you Wendy was the top recommendation of the committee. We went through a long process and I think she's a good fit for our community. And I think she'll bring a much needed elementary lens to that community and also is a person who happens to be bilingual as well, which is very important at Schilling. So I'm pleased with the selection and excited to have her move and start here. She does have family here in the Bay Area, so she's not moving here cold. She has friends and family here. So there is a bit of a support system for her when she arrives.

[8163] Ray Rodriguez: And I'm happy that she grew up in the Bronx, Newark, where I grew up. Oh, you had to say something. I'm glad you mentioned that. So I'm sure she'll do very well.

[8174] Nancy Thomas: Great. Thank you. I'm sorry, Jane. That's all right. very time-sensitive new business items. Do you mind if we try to go to them?

[8182] SPEAKER_40: We have the next consent you want to do, the non-personnel? Oh, the 14-1? Because we've got some things.

[8191] Nancy Thomas: I was only told to move 13, not 14. OK.

[8196] SPEAKER_40: So let's go to new business. We've got people going places. I don't know.

[8201] Nancy Thomas: OK, next under new business then, is it OK? It's your call. OK, we go to 11.1, which is the 2018 CSBA Delegate Assembly election. Thank you. Last year, you voted for me. And I have another year on the Delegate Assembly. These folks that are on the ballot, I know many of them. And I would like to make some recommendations, if you don't mind. I would like to recommend that we approve Valerie Arkin, Amy Miller, Annette Walker, and Ann Dwight. Those are individuals that I have known and worked carefully and closely with.

[8249] Ray Rodriguez: So... I'm fine making a motion to approve it based on your recommendations.

[8255] Nancy Thomas: I'll second that. Okay. So the motion is that we vote for Valerie Arkin. Amy Miller, Annette Walker, and Ann White. Please vote.

[8269] SPEAKER_40: All ayes.

[8276] Nancy Thomas: Ms. Rodriguez? Three ayes. Thank you. I think the second interim report is very important. Can you stay for that?

[8295] SPEAKER_50: How long is your presentation? Well, that was my question. Since the presentation got posted with the agenda, if it's the will of the board to move forward because of the pressing of the matter of the night, the board can take its action if it chooses to do so. And we could hold the presentation until the next study session or at another time. Or if the board has specific questions, they can send it to me.

[8315] Nancy Thomas: I feel comfortable, based on having reviewed the second interim and your presentation, that we can vote on that. I agree. OK. Who would like to make a motion? Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize, Ms. Parks. 11.2. And following you will be Mr. Nook.

[8351] Cindy Parks: Thank you for having the full document and the presentations. When the agenda was available on Friday, that's not always happened, and it's been kind of frantic to try and work my way through the document, which is very cumbersome. There were a few things that I did have questions on. The presentation, well, it doesn't even matter, but on Fund 11, the adult ed, You had a $21,334 balance, and you were very clear that you did not want the $100,000 transferred, that you wanted them to work within their budget. However, that $21,000 will be eaten down to $19. At the end of this year, the forecast is. And so you did not work within your budget. Granted, it was because you had leftover money. That money will not be available next year, so just be aware that you do need to make some type of adjustment in adult ed per the numbers that are here. In your child care, you transferred $42,440, which was in the budget. They said that they needed that in order to meet budget. However, they will have an ending balance of $57,021 is the forecast. I would imagine that that would be corrected at the unaudited actual These are questions, so I hope that I will get answers, not like the last time.

[8438] Nancy Thomas: I believe we can get those questions answered quickly.

[8442] Cindy Parks: OK. Then on page 17, under page 17, the operations and housekeeping, there's an $81,493 difference. And I'd like to know why there is such a large difference there. Now to address the letter that was read earlier today. On February 6th, there were budget cuts that were presented to you. At that point, the community was very vocal in the fact that they did not feel that you listened to them. I feel that at this point, it was a big, it was way too much drama that didn't need to happen. The superintendent said that the decisions that were made at that point were done based on the information that you had on February 6th. On January 31st is when your teachers had to report to you on whether they were returning or not. That happened prior to February 6th. Your negotiations with your teachers union and your CSCA group and NEWMA, every time you come out of closed session, you say there's no action that's been taken. If no action has been taken and no money has been brought into this district since the January 16th board meeting when your CBO gave you the updated numbers from the governor's seminar that he had gone to that day. What has changed between February 6th and today that had all this drama attached to it? I don't understand why that had to happen. 15 temps were noted on that date, 20 reduced staff members, 35 people. Besides more funding, which was noted earlier, you did overspend. When you got one-time money, you allocated for more years than that one-time money allotted. You overspent. Thank you.

[8565] Nancy Thomas: Could we have Mr. Richards address two of those issues that

[8570] SPEAKER_38: We've addressed all of those issues multiple times. The only factors that were new is we didn't have any new money that came in, but there was additional retirements, resignations, and other time to be able to problem solve in order to meet our March 15th deadline. Other than that, I do resent the comment about nothing gets answered. In fact, we've answered more questions for Ms. Park than probably anyone in this community. So I don't think that's fair to staff, and I don't think it's fair to this administration, but I can tell you that The facts remain to be true. We didn't create the drama. The drama was created, but it was not necessary. I agree on that part. I can tell you that sometimes time helps you find other solutions, and that's what's occurred. There's no secrets. There's not been some backdoor deals going on. These are the recommendations I'm bringing to the board and trying to resolve the issue based on what community input has been. And I feel good that we have saved 12 positions. I put it in writing. It's going to go out public tomorrow. Those are the facts as they remain. And I will tell you that I'm happy to talk more about that, but I can tell you that we've done our due diligence. We've spent a lot of time and resources and staff trying to find another way to solve this, and we have. So be that what it may, and I think that if people... I wasn't... Well, that part I need to respond with. The rest of it can wait. The rest of it can wait for staff to prepare appropriate responses like everybody else. So I think that's where I am with that.

[8663] Nancy Thomas: OK. Right.

[8666] SPEAKER_38: Right.

[8669] Nancy Thomas: Actually, I understand that the ending fund balance in the Child Nutrition Program is restricted money because that money is federal money for food. So I understand that, and so I just wanted to say that. So Mr. Newt, please come forward.

[8700] Cary Knoop: Thank you. You know, when you have budget cuts, it's so important to look at these interim reports for a board because it's not just like Well, you know, we just approve it and we go on because you do want to be diligent, ask the questions. I feel sometimes the questions that come from the public kind of need to come from the board, you know, because some of the public members, they spend a lot of time and they need to, I truly believe that, they need the best for the district. And sometimes there's a feeling from the public, I think, that if we feel that board members are not asking these questions, who else will ask these questions? So, I think people care and it's not, the questions are not asked for being a pest. I don't believe that, okay. So, I have a quick question, only one. So, I looked at the capital outlay for the restricted funds and we, you know, for equipment replacement, we're over about 10,500. And we have basically for the year projected $80,000. And my question is a simple one. Capital outlay for the restricted fund. What does that mean? What restricted funds do we need to use for capital outlay? So that's 80,181. And then for equipment replacement, we went over $10,500. And the question is, why restricted funds? If we could get a real-time answer, that would be really great. Thanks. Okay.

[8803] Nancy Thomas: Yeah. Yes, and I'd like to tell my fellow board members and Mr. Newk that I did ask three or four questions of Mr. Richards today regarding the budget and one being the large ending fund balance and will that be returned to Fund 17, which it will be after a financial period. I understand.

[8832] SPEAKER_50: How about if I just answer the question. So with regard to the question that Mr. Knoop just asked The restricted funds, the purchased equipment, that's actually the routine restricted maintenance fund. The maintenance department purchased some equipment. They also purchased some replacement vehicles for some of the older vehicles of the fleet. Some of the things that were surplused at a prior board meeting have been replaced. So that's what those are. It's the only restricted fund that I can think of in the district currently that has a capital outlay budget. With regard to The $21,000 in adult education, that was an ending fund balance related to a categorical program that had to be expended this year. So they are expending it on what the purposes of that program are as part of the consortium with Ohlone. And with regard, you mentioned already the child care ending balance being restricted to the food service program that's part of the after school care program. So that is what that is. And with regard to Fund 17, the event that has yet to happen is the April property taxes coming from the county.

[8894] Nancy Thomas: I knew it was something like that. Thank you. So given that, my questions have pretty well been answered on this item. Should we have a motion? I will move that we accept. Second.

[8910] SPEAKER_42: OK.

[8912] Nancy Thomas: Please vote. Ms. Crockford? Ms. Crockford, would you please vote?

[8923] SPEAKER_40: Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I'd done that.

[8925] Nancy Thomas: Well, it didn't come. Thank you. OK, three ayes. Thank you.

[8933] Ray Rodriguez: OK, so I'm not able to, especially if the speaker's on the other items on the new business. Is there anything that you want to bring forward that we need to take action on?

[8948] Nancy Thomas: Is there anything that's time-sensitive that we can't delay until the next meeting?

[8952] SPEAKER_50: I'd like to make a suggestion of what we normally we would only ever do this if it was 10 o'clock and it was time and we didn't want to extend but the president could move all remaining items on the agenda as a single motion if the board chose to do so to accommodate Mr. Rodriguez's situation and the fact that we will lose a quorum.

[8972] Nancy Thomas: We do have a speaker I believe on 14.2 Can we have the speakers that want to address these items come forward?

[8984] Ray Rodriguez: Yeah, I'm fine with that.

[8985] Nancy Thomas: OK, Ms. Parks, would you like to speak to 14.2 and also 14.11? And I want to pull 14.6. And 14.6 needs people. So pull that up.

[9013] Cindy Parks: OK, now you got me all confused here. So you're?

[9015] SPEAKER_38: 14.2, I think, was the first one.

[9021] Cindy Parks: 14.2, I pulled that one because there was two meetings that night. There was a special meeting, and there was a regular meeting. And the minutes were encapsulated in one set of minutes. And you have two meetings, and so they need to be separated out because you had one that were special and one that was for a regular. So that's for 14.2. Sorry. I need to speak on 11.11, too, because that's my item on the agenda.

[9060] SPEAKER_40: 11.2? Do we want to finish the consult? CBLC.

[9066] Nancy Thomas: Oh, OK. 11.11, please. Do you want to do that now? Yes. Yeah, go ahead. So that we can work.

[9073] Cindy Parks: So let me do 1114, though. So in 1114, that's the warrant. And on page 28, there's a warrant for $52,500. And it's for a completion of an HV upgrade and roofing for McGregor, Whiteford, and Music. And I guess I don't understand why that warrant took so long, because on May 2nd of 2017 is when that completion notice was filed. And within 35 days of you filing the completion notice, the check is to be mailed out. So I don't understand why we're still paying on something that was supposed to be closed out already. 11.11, I am here as the chair for the Bond Oversight Committee. This is an item that I requested to be placed on the agenda. On behalf of the Measure G Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, I would like to extend our thanks for placing the item on this agenda on such short notice. For the last six years, the CBOC has taken seriously its responsibilities to this community. We have met quarterly, diligently kept an eye on various projects and the Measure G finances. It hasn't been without struggles. If you recall, the first two years, we had issues with the information provided by the audit firm. In previous annual reports, we have cited the committee's struggles to get annual facility tours and the lack of receiving necessary information in a timely fashion. As chair, the committee has directed me to bring a recent situation to your attention and seek your assistance. On January 4th, 2018, the CBOC had a special meeting in which we toured half of the school sites. With us on the tour was the interim MOT director, Shelly Arthur, and two Banner representatives, Robert Sands and Eric Barger. The tour took place on Ms. Arthur's first day as interim MOT director. We were fully aware Ms. Arthur wouldn't have limited answers pertaining to the projects. However, Mr. Sands had been working in Newark for almost three years and Mr. Barger oversaw the play structure projects. As we toured the various sites, it was very apparent the Vanna representatives couldn't answer the questions posed by the committee members. Mr. Knoop, as the committee's secretary, documented the questions. And at the conclusion of the tour, he spoke with Ms. Arthur and Mr. Sands about his plans to email over the committee's questions to the district office. Mr. Knoop emailed the various questions on January 8, 2018. On January 9, 2018, Mr. Simons addressed the security cameras concerns, the security camera concerns. On January 22nd, Mr. Knoop sent over a follow-up email in which he asked for response timeline for the remainder of the questions. In the district's reply email, he was told a response would be sent by the end of the week beginning or the beginning of the following week. On February 13, 2018, the committee had a special meeting to discuss the 2016-2017 annual report and for the district to provide an update on the questions generated from the site tour. At that meeting, the committee still did not receive answers to the questions and the members expressed frustration with respect to being ignored. By a vote of the membership, if by the end of business on February 21st, 2018, the district failed to respond in writing to the committee's questions, I was directed as chair to bring this matter to your attention. I am here today because the committee the district to communicate with us. This is a symptom of a much larger issue. We have tried diligently to do our work and have been hindered by the lack of We need the situation remedied so we can fulfill our responsibilities to the Newark taxpayers. Do you have any questions?

[9323] SPEAKER_40: Thank you.

[9329] Nancy Thomas: Is there anything else? Yeah, I think at the end of the evening I will make a comment on this.

[9337] SPEAKER_40: I would like to pull 14-2 in addition from the consent.

[9341] Nancy Thomas: Okay, could we also bring back the minutes that were mentioned?

[9351] Ray Rodriguez: No, that was the one. No, that's what she's referring to.

[9355] SPEAKER_40: Oh, okay, 14.2 and then 14.6.

[9359] Nancy Thomas: 14.2 and 14.6, so can we pull those items so that we can... Bring them back. Bring them back and so that we can... How do we do that, Mr. Richards? Just call for the...

[9371] SPEAKER_50: So you are calling all remaining items on the agenda that require actions except 14.2 and 14.11. So it would be items 11.3, 11.4, 11.5, 11.6, 11.7, 11.8, 11.9, and 11.10. 11.11 doesn't require an action. And all of the consent agenda except 14.2 and 14.6. Right. OK.

[9409] Nancy Thomas: Can I have a motion to move those?

[9413] Ray Rodriguez: Mr. Richard's list. Mr. Richard's that we move on all those items.

[9417] Nancy Thomas: So Mr. Rodriguez moves. I'll second. I move. Ms. Crocker seconds. Please vote. Ms. Crocker?

[9434] SPEAKER_40: I clicked it. Oh, now it worked. OK.

[9437] SPEAKER_50: I guess.

[9441] Nancy Thomas: That's three ayes. Thank you very much. Mr. Rodriguez? Thank you. Thank you for hanging in there with us. Thank you. So we can continue with discussions, is that correct, without a quorum?

[9454] Ray Rodriguez: I want to thank you, Board President Thomas. And we had two board members at it the last moment. because of family issues couldn't make it. So that's why.

[9467] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[9468] Ray Rodriguez: Normally I would be in my laptop watching the meeting like I have the last two, but it's important that we do this.

[9474] Nancy Thomas: Godspeed and get well soon. Thank you. Thank you. OK. So we can have discussion items, right?

[9491] SPEAKER_50: Cannot deliberate without a quorum. You can receive information. So if the employee groups have things they wish to speak with the superintendent's report or your reports, but you cannot take any action other than the action to adjourn without a quorum.

[9506] Nancy Thomas: OK, that sounds good. I will entertain employee organizations. Is there anyone here from NTA? No? OK. CSCA? No. NEWMA? OK. So then we can move on to Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief, and Discussion. Ms.

[9544] SPEAKER_40: Crocker? I have no announcements or requests except that following through with the plans that we're talking about with the Newark Police Department in terms of looking at our sites and finding out what we can do in terms of our facilities.

[9569] Nancy Thomas: I think it's, in view of experiences I've had and that have been brought up by several people this evening, I think we really need to look at our board governance handbook in terms of responsiveness to requests and input and so I would hope that at some point we would agendize a discussion about the protocols specifically as they relate to responsiveness. And that's all I have. Superintendent?

[9608] SPEAKER_38: I agree with that last comment. I think we do need to discuss how we can be more responsive And I think that that's something we have to plan for and allocate resources to, but I'll be glad to agendize that. Other than that, no further comments.

[9623] Nancy Thomas: OK. And thanks, staff, for all the work leading up to the second interim, the work with the adjustments to our cuts and things like that. It feels good to not have to notice as many teachers or staff members. Thank you. So with that, meeting adjourned.

No minutes available.