Regular Meeting

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[6] Nancy Thomas: 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. You can see we are a rather small group this evening. Mr. Rodriguez's traveling and member Martinez is is not feeling well. So we just returned from closed session and we took no action and so next we are moving on to public comment on non-agenda items and I have Sean Manolo

[61] SPEAKER_09: Good evening, Superintendent Sanchez and members. My name is Sean Manalo. You may know me from my day job working with the office of Senator Bob Wieckowski. But putting on a different hat this evening, I come before you on behalf of the Tri-City Democratic Forum, and it's the local democratic club organization for Fremont, Newark, and Union City. And the reason why I'm before you is because TCDF has recently endorsed an initiative put forth by the Tri-City Health Center in support of a citywide tobacco retail licensing ordinance. to ensure tobacco retailers do not sell tobacco products to young people and to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products in the city of Newark. As you may know, the tobacco industry has unfairly targeted youth and vulnerable communities with tobacco products that mask the harsh taste of tobacco with flavors highly appealing to youth. If you go to your local convenience store, you'll see flavors like cherry and bubble gum and things like that, all targeted to youth. And research shows that tobacco companies have historically targeted communities of color with aggressive marketing, resulting in disproportionate rates of tobacco-related disease and death. 95% of black youth smokers, 61% of Asian youth smokers, and 58% of Latino youth smokers report use of menthol-flavored cigarettes. This is also true from the LGBT community as well. So our neighbors to the west at Fremont Unified passed a resolution in January that would create in the city of Fremont a citywide tobacco retail licensing ordinance to ensure tobacco retailers do not sell tobacco-related products to young people. and prohibits the sale of all flavored tobacco products in the City of Fremont. This resolution was picked up by the Human Relations Commission in the City of Fremont and is going to be before the City Council on May 7th. So with your endorsement of a similar measure, We would be able to encourage healthy habits and effectuate real change for the next generation. I would be glad to have the conversations with you individually at a later date. But in the meantime, thank you for your service and I'll yield the balance of my time. Thank you.

[194] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Mr. Manalo. Next, we have Darlene Kataki.

[214] SPEAKER_13: Is this okay? I'm Doreen Kotaki. I'm the office manager at Bunker. At first, I'd like to say how much I dislike the process of contract negotiations. To me, it's disrespectful to everybody. The goal of the district that we work is to try to pay us as little as possible to get the budget balanced the way they see it. The goal of our union is to try to help us get better pay so that we can afford to all live here. the wages of classified employees has not kept up with the cost of living here as most jobs haven't. To my knowledge, the NUSD has in the past not always passed along the full COLA given to the district by the state to the employees and it looks like this year they're also trying to not pass along the cost of living allowance directly to the classified employees. Since I've been working here 15 plus years, when I got my job, my salary was great compared to salaries at large. And since I've been here, the benefits have been cut. The salaries have not kept pace with salaries at large. They haven't kept pace with our neighboring districts to where we're just falling further and further behind. If we keep on this path, wages that we pay are prohibiting us from hiring good people. They are prohibiting us from hiring a bus driver. Because if you can go work for Google or AC Transit, that's where they're going. We can't even get one here. This is most, I feel, harder on some of our young classified employees and people. They have small children and a lot more expenses and the pay is lower. For me, maybe not so much. I have a house that's paid off. My children are out of the house. It's two incomes and two mouths to feed. But it's still important that we are given a fair wage that we can live here and work here because Newark needs classified people to do these jobs and unless the pay keeps up, there won't be applicants for them. I've lost my place. It takes all of us working together to educate the children, the teachers, The office staff who take care of the children when they're sick or hurt or need assistance. Office staff always takes care of the teachers, takes care of what the district needs. Our custodians who keep the school clean, safe for all the children. Our food service people who feed lunch to them every day. It takes the district office for staffing, curriculum, and all the things that you do. It takes everybody. But the budget needs to focus on the people because no matter how good the curriculum is, if the school's not safe and we don't have good teachers, it doesn't matter how good it is because there's nobody in the classroom to teach it well or to take care of what has to be done so those teachers can teach. The thing is, we're all important, no matter what our job is here at Newark. It's the people who make our district strong. And I think one reason why we're strong is there's so many of us who have lived here, have our children, have gone through school here, and we stay here. Even though we can jump across the freeway to Fremont, my daughter can make $3,000 a year more two years ago by hopping. But she didn't. She teaches here in Newark because this is where she loves. But I feel like the district needs to be mindful of wages they're paying. They need to think the call that comes to the district, the cost of living needs to go directly to the employees. We need it. The younger employees need it even more than I do. So I'm hoping that you can keep that in mind when you come back to the table, hopefully with negotiations, come back with a better offer and better pay for all of us who are so dedicated and work hard for this district. Thank you.

[462] Nancy Thomas: Jesus Loza.

[475] SPEAKER_07: Hi, everyone. My name is Jesus Loza. I work for BGP. I'm the senior custodian. I worked 19 years for Newark Unified School District. I live in Newark as a Newark resident. I pay property taxes and water bills. Each year the bills cost more money. This year the water bill will have increase of 10%. So do you think with this salary increase is enough to live in the Bay Area? We only ask for a fair salary. Please think enough. Thank you.

[526] Nancy Thomas: Sue Eustis.

[541] SPEAKER_32: Good evening, board. Well, here we are again tonight. We were very disappointed to learn that you still do not feel that we are important. We're not sure that you understand what a half a percent means to us. That half a percent does not have the same value as it does for us, as it does for a teacher, supervisor, administrator. A food service worker, Step 33C, middle range, currently makes $13.34. I mean, $13.34. If you give them a half a percent raise, it's seven cents an hour. What do you expect them to do with $0.07 an hour? $0.07. A child care worker, step 33C, middle range, makes $14.40. Half a percent, same $0.07. Special ed aide, step 39, middle range, $16.27. Half a percent raise, it gives them $0.08. $0.08 an hour. Campus Monitor, 39C, makes $16.70. Half a percent is 8 cents more. Library Clerk, 43C, makes $18.40. You'll give them 9 cents more an hour. Custodian, Step 42C, $17.96. Half a percent is 9 cents more an hour. Lead custodian, Step 46C, makes $19.83. You'll give him 10 cents more an hour. IT Tech is on the highest range. He would make a whole 15 cents more an hour. This offer is sad. What makes it work is half of the classified bargaining unit are below four-hour employees. They're not eligible for medical benefits. Those employees would receive roughly $0.08 an hour more, and this rate would give them a whole $6.40 more a month. What do you expect them to buy with that? Lead custodians are eight hours employees. They would get a whole $16 more a month. They'd be lucky to get lunch. This makes me angry. I can only imagine how they feel. Classified employees are leaving the district. You're having trouble replacing them. You're having trouble getting subs. Those people that are left are being asked to carry a heavier load. We're becoming tired, overworked, frustrated, and becoming very angry. Those of us that are left are not going to go away. We're going to come back here every board meeting. You need to hear us. We deserve a fair wage increase. It's not a half a percent. It's not the same to us as it is for teachers and supervisors. We have to live in Newark. You're not paying them enough to live in Newark. You continue to offer us pennies. We can't live on pennies. This district continues to be a penny wise and a pound foolish. Meeting after meeting after meeting. Thank you.

[781] SPEAKER_24: Next we move on to superintendents report Thank You president or member Thomas Members of the board ladies and gentlemen. I have a few things to report tonight. The first one is a We need to hopefully nail down a date for a governance workshop. I have a few dates for you to pick from. New dates that have been offered by our facilitator are Saturday, May 4th, Saturday, June 1st, or Saturday, June 8th. Is there any indication of which of those might work for you? I've heard from one or two of you, but I don't know if anyone else. May 4th, June 1st, June 8th.

[829] Nancy Thomas: They're all Saturdays. I can do a May 4th, I think, but I don't think I can do the others.

[838] SPEAKER_24: May 4th is OK with you? Are you OK with May 4th?

[840] Bowen Zhang: What day is that?

[843] SPEAKER_24: It's a Saturday. Saturday, May 4th. So we have three. We'll check with the other two members, and we'll get back to you. And Cesar may help me with this one. But we have two rocketry teams that qualified and will travel to the TARC finals in Virginia on May 15th to May 20th. Congratulations to them.

[868] SPEAKER_04: Yeah. Superintendent Sanchez stole the spotlight from me. I was going to mention that. No worries. Yes, so we've been working. I wasn't sure you were here, so sorry. I didn't mean to steal it from you. No worries. Yeah, so we've been working hard the entire year. To build rockets, we had some snags in the beginning with leadership and our advisors. We pulled together. We had our last launch on April 8th. And we were coming into it, we were unsure of whether we were going to actually get enough launches off. But we did end up pulling through and getting rockets up. So now we're working on getting members together and making sure that we have people to send to DC in order to participate in finals. So it's going to be an exciting five days.

[913] SPEAKER_24: Thank you. Is there anything else you wanted to share from the high school perspective while you have the floor?

[919] SPEAKER_04: Oh, yes. I would like to mention Chance Hefter will be competing in the Arcadia Invitational for shot put. The Arcadia Invitational is a prestigious track and field invitational in Southern California. So he'll be representing us there. Mikayla Troshi will be participating in the Northern California Froshoff Championships for both shot put and discus. Either that or 100, I'm not sure, 100 meter dash. We have two people going to some high profile events this weekend. Great.

[952] SPEAKER_24: Thank you, Cesar. My last item is I have a guest here presenting tonight, Mr. Tom Hanson from Mission Valley RRP. He'll be presenting a little bit of an update to the board. Welcome, Tom. Is there somebody here with you this evening? Yes.

[969] SPEAKER_11: Dr. Cliff Adams. Director of Educational Resources at the Center. I'd like to... Okay. We'll just hang on for half a second. Take a minute. Okay. Okay. First of all, thank you for the invite. We always like to come and visit and update the board. Thank you very much. Member Thomas, Superintendent Sanchez, Superintendency, we know that The eight measures from the state are important for every school, every district. And we contribute to one measure in a major way. It's the college and career indicator. We have spoken about that before in past updates. And what we'd like to do is just help keep track of our longitudinal data and let you know what we're doing to increase performance percentages at schools in our JPA and in particular at Newark Memorial. So I'd like to just start the presentation with a recap of our mission statement at Mission Valley ROP. Mission Valley ROP provides relevant career technical education by preparing students for employment in college through industry standards, tools, training, and experience. So we try and stick with this. We teach coursework in nine of the 15 state-outlined industry sectors. We do some of this at Newark Memorial High School and some at Bridgepoint. In these sectors here, art, media, entertainment, business and finance, engineering and architecture, hospitality, tourism, recreation, and public service. We also teach a variety of industry sector coursework at the center that is located at the corner of Blacow and Stevenson in Fremont. And you can see there's a variety of sectors represented there. For example, we do a refinishing and paint automotive class as well as an auto technology course that falls under transportation, of course. We have a variety of health science courses. We do some engineering and architecture, education, child development, family services. So we have things that are available at the center that we do not, we intentionally do not offer those same courses at all of the sites in the three districts in New Haven, Newark and Fremont. The center classes, as you can see, there's in the health sciences, we do medical assisting, nursing assisting, pharmacy, tech, sports therapy, one and two. We have a fairly wide variety of coursework and we've been doing Most all of this for several years, the information communication technology, digital electronics and pure science principles course is fairly new and the architecture and civil engineering class is newer, but we are, what we offer is fairly stable at the center. This is where the college and career indicator comes in. to play. And this is for every district and every school. There are three essential factors that contribute to state percentage prepared calculation. One is the pathway completer percentage, where a student would complete a complete pathway. The state defines that as a 300 or better hours in the same course pathway. At the center where we do two-hour courses, two-hour courses for 180 school days is more than 300 hours. Every single student from Newark that would take the bus to the center will automatically become a completer. They don't have to look for course two or course three. courses one and two at Memorial will also create a completing student. So we have some of those opportunities as well. A second contributor to the percentage, the CCI percentage, is A to G status for individual courses. So what that means for us is when we can take a career technical education course, apply to the University of California, and get A to G recognition for that course, when a student from Newark completes that class, that will stand as a completed A to G elective, just as if they took a content course or some other elective course at Memorial that was A to G recognized. There's a third component, and that is articulated coursework. We have many courses that are articulated with regional community colleges, where if students perform at a certain level, they may have to take a test. They may not have to take a test. It really depends on what those community colleges require. When they gather college credits on an individual on their own college transcript, those courses contribute to prepared status calculations. So you see the arrows popped up there. The career technical education pathway, and that is the completer status for 300 hours of instruction. At Memorial, we have Culinary Arts 1 and 2 and at the Mission Valley RIP Center, it's all of those courses and that's based on the two-hour course per day time that we offer those courses. The next item here with the college and career indicator is the A to G, the A to G status for courses. We have been working to increase the percentage of courses that we offer that are A to G. So instead Instead of deciding not to teach a course, we will look and see how can we get this course A to G recognized. So when kids take it and complete it, they'll get that recognition. The courses that are on the UCCSU list, there are quite a few actually. It's better than half the courses that we teach. I think it's in next to 70% of what we offer. And we have courses in Area D, which is the lab science area. Area F is fine arts. Area G is the elective kind of catch-all category. So it makes sense that we would have far more courses in G. But we have been working on identifying these courses for a number of years, actually. The last item here, you see the completion of dual enrollment, that factor there in the prepared and approaching prepared columns. When we can articulate a course that is taught at the center or at Memorial and students follow through with gathering those college credits on a transcript, then they will help your school calculation at the end of the year once that cohort graduates in terms of college and career prepared. So we have been, that's probably been our major area of focus for the last two to three years. So this is a list of articulated college credit, just to give you an idea of what they would be. We have our neighboring Chippewa College. We articulate with them with automotive technology, careers in ed, computer tech, applications, construction technology, emergency medical responder, sports entertainment, marketing, sports therapy one. Now, you may notice all of these courses are not all A to G courses, but they would still serve completers and for college articulation purposes. And of course, we have courses articulated in other areas at other regional community colleges. Students don't actually have to attend these schools to get credits while they're still in high school. But the state has been very clear There is a value in having high school students pass and complete credits in college. There's a strong correlation with persistence and their ability to understand what they're getting into when they make choices for post-secondary work. At this point, I'd like to invite Dr. Adams to share data with you. We keep track of longitudinally data that's associated with these three major areas that contribute to college and career indicator percentages. Thank you.

[1555] SPEAKER_20: Thank you, Superintendent Hanson, Superintendent Sanchez, members of the board, members of the administrative team. This is one of the fun parts. This is where we can see the progression of Newark students specifically and how they're doing and contributing to the College of Career Indicators dashboard numbers. And you get an idea of where your students are at and what they're doing over the last couple of years. So if you look here, you have articulated college credit. So the 16-17 school year, 65 Newark students earned college credit. That increased last year to 149. In the current year, we're going to see that increase again. So 149 students last year earned college credit. That translates to money. It's less credits they have to do as they're working towards degrees when they enter colleges. It helps them be further on in their progression to their advanced degrees. Next, we have our industry certifications. One of the things that we have with our classes is that there's internships that are tied to it as well as opportunities to earn certificates that industry recognizes. These are things like the Food Safe Handler Certificate, BLS, Basic Life Saving from American Heart Association, OSHA certificates. We have a number of agencies that provide certificate exams. We bring them in, they take these exams, they get these certificates that says they meet a certain level of proficiency in these career tech education opportunities. 2016-17, 101 Newark students earned industry recognized certs. Last year, 153, so quite a jump of students from Newark Memorial High School, and then we've added some classes or a culinary class at Bridgepoint, and 11 of those students were able to earn industry recognized certificates. I want to take you really quickly just to the enrollment right now that Newark has with ROP programs. Currently, there's 685 students. You can see on the left side where the students are enrolled at ROP programs at Newark. Memorial High School as well as Bridgepoint. And in the fine print on the right side, the number of students that are enrolled at the ROP Center just across the freeway. I want to take you really quickly through your CCI percentage and how that can be increased. And this can be accomplished by increasing the number of students enrolled at the ROP Center. In 2016-17, 116 Newark Memorial students were enrolled. In the year 2017-18, 117 students. And currently, you have 146 students enrolled at the ROP Center. Currently, we have 38 articulation agreements with local colleges. So these are those classes that if they can pass this class and meet the requirements that the college stipulates in the agreement, that they can get those credits. And our A to G courses are continually progressing. 15-16, we had 23. In 20-16-17, we had 27. In 17-18, we have 30. Currently this year we have 35 and we right now for to be on the books to roll over for next year it will be 42. And we're constantly looking for ways that we can do that. It's a little bit of a process. We have to examine our curriculum and then make sure it meets the rigor and relevancy that the UC requires. We have to enroll. We have to submit. It goes back and forth. Sometimes we have to adjust our curriculum to match what they want. But it is a process but we're excited about it because it gives more opportunities for the students that attend there. Just want to give you a quick little rundown of Newark Memorial's CCI indicator status. This comes right off the CDE's website through the dashboard. So this is the percent prepared in 2016, that cohort, 37.8. 2017, you had 39.9. And then last year, it's 43.8. So you can see there is some positive progression there. So that's definitely good news. The last thing I want to share with you, because there was a little bit that we've been asked to share this with you, is the bell schedule alignment with ROP and Newark Memorial High School. So this slide shows you how The first and second period would align with what we do at the center. Our classes at the center are from 7.30 to 9.30 in the morning, and then 1 to 3. So students who enroll at the center have to take a two-hour period to go to the center to do that, to complete those classes and be part of those programs. And so we line up with the center. because you have kind of a block schedule going on. But you'll see that we have the 7.30, 9.30 class. And it doesn't necessarily interfere with the students after their second period. And in the afternoon class, they come over. It's a five-minute bus ride. And we'll be here. And it also aligns with the afternoon class. So it doesn't necessarily interrupt the regular bell schedule. It just takes the place of the two periods at the beginning of the day or the two periods at the end of the day. So, thank you for the time that we've given and we're open to answer any questions.

[1897] Nancy Thomas: Well, I have to say I'm a proud member of the ROP board representing Newark on that board and I delight in coming to the monthly meetings and learning firsthand about all these great programs that you have and it's heartening to see the increase in the metrics that you showed us this evening. You are really making great contributions to our students, and we really appreciate it. Thank you. Does anyone else want to ask any questions or say anything?

[1931] SPEAKER_33: No questions, but I agree with Member Thomas. And I think the courses that you guys provide are definitely indispensable to our students and will help them with their future careers. So thank you, definitely.

[1944] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Our CCI numbers, how do they compare with the other districts that you serve?

[1952] SPEAKER_20: You want to be totally honest and frank?

[1953] Nancy Thomas: Yeah. They're slightly lower. And how would we have to do to increase them?

[1959] SPEAKER_20: Well, it's back to, so we part with the, you're talking about the poaching prepared. Yeah. That number specifically. From our standpoint, we see more students enrolled in pathway programs to get that 300 hours, more articulated classes, as well as more A to G classes, which we are working. So students need to enroll in those and complete those.

[1982] Nancy Thomas: So I hope you're working with our high school on ensuring that we have more of our students.

[1989] SPEAKER_20: We're adjusting curriculum. We're working with site administrators to try to make sure that we're accomplishing those goals. Thank you. Okay? Thanks.

[2001] SPEAKER_24: Thank you, Tom. Thank you, gentlemen. That concludes my report at this time.

[2006] Nancy Thomas: Okay, next we move on to the scenarios for deficit reduction. Would you like to introduce that?

[2014] SPEAKER_24: Yes, I'll introduce Beverly with Ryland Consulting Group, who's going to, she and I will both kind of co-present on this tonight.

[2025] SPEAKER_21: Okay. Proceed. Yes, this is a continuation of the strategic plan, the fiscal recovery. Just a little more specifics. Just to let you know, the fiscal recovery plan was not to direct you on the cuts you needed to make. You have to decide what your cuts are. I just wanted to make sure you understand the strategic plan is that. We give you ideas. We'll evaluate what you think. But the actual reductions need to come from the constituents of the district and the board. So, but the thing we're talking about tonight was we were asked, how can we reduce the deficit? And we gave you two scenarios. I want to go over the first principles to stop a deficit. You can't use one-time funds in budget planning. If you need one-time funds during the year, that is fine. You exceed things. But you need to plan to replace those funds wherever you got them from, their special reserve. Keep in mind, this district has a 2.2 reserve above the 3% we're required to have in the general fund. In scenario one, what we're doing is actually reducing the deficit for the next year and the following two years. When the county looks at Newark, they say, are you solvent in the current year? Are you solvent in the next two years? Also in scenario one we're going to show you, you make sure in one year you cut everything so that you have no deficits in the following years. In the scenario two, you use beginning balances. You had a really big beginning balance this year, over six million, so that really helped you. But we're going to look at scenario two where you are literally using beginning balances and balancing your deficits. You can't reduce it all in one year, but you can reduce the structural deficit over time. One of the things you always have to do to make sure the district's not qualified is have your 3% reserve all the time. The county perhaps won't write you up if you're doing deficit spending in a future year, but they will write you up if you don't maintain the 3% reserve. Some assumptions this year that we brought forward are enrollment. Enrollment is a particularly complicated thing in this district. I can tell you right now we plan the budget for next year on 5,701. We're having about, it's pretty early right now, but we look like we're 100 down from that right now. But I'm not really concerned because all the kindergarten enrollments have not come in. And I was here last night for the kindergarten meeting. And there was a lot of parents who said they hadn't got on our website here to register. That's not uncommon for kinder parents. But there's a continuing loss through 22-23. And that may not help your deficit situation. When you're declining like that, it very difficult to maintain solvency. You have to look, and I thoroughly believe employee groups need to be recognized, and the area we live is very costly, but your employees need to be planned and probably cut for in this particular district where there's a lot of cuts, a lot of deficit. Okay. I just want to bring up, At this point, our unduplicated count is very good. We are still maintaining the 55. It doesn't look like we're going to lose concentration in the future years. It doesn't look like we'll lose the concentration funding. So that's good. Just to give you the step and column for certificated is 1.67. And for the classified representing a significant part of the district, it's about 0.72. That's pretty normal where districts are at. CalSTRS right now, we're planning on our multi-year. I am using the multi-year from the second interim you saw with CHI, so that's my beginning point. We are using the most conservative CalSTRS and PERS that we know. One of the things at the May revision, we think it will be finalized and if the governor supports it, we'll be able to have lower costs. But right now, we're taking the higher costs because we don't know if the governor is going to finalize it. We heard today that the March revenues are down, which is not a good thing and there have been a lot of months the revenues down at the state. So we don't know what the governor is going to do. Other significant assumptions I'm not going to go through because Kai will actually go through them, went through for the second interim. But the cost of living for next year is going to be 3.46 and 2.86 for the year after that. The lottery is staying pretty stable where it's at. And the board approved the resolution in February for a 2.2 reduction, which we have done for the budget for next year. And all books and supplies are adjusted for the consumer price index. I want to talk about scenario one. Now, if you look at the yellow highlighting, you can see, start with the beginning balance in 2018-19, you can see 6,000 there. That's a very, I mean, six, million there. That was a really good beginning balance. You ended much higher in the next year. But your ending balance is continuing to go down to $4 million to $2 million. That's the decrease in enrollment. What we can tell you is that the revenues when you're Enrollment goes down, your major force of revenue, your 80%, your LCFF goes down too, and that's very significant. So you can see in the yellow highlighting there is the deficits. In 18-19, there was 1.807 deficit. In 19-20, even with us planning the cuts, there's still 1.4 in a deficit situation at this point. And that is something that the board sent a resolution that we should not have a deficit like that in 19-20. A resolution you did last August said we don't want any more deficit spending and so reduce it. So that's what this scenario does. You can see in the out years, 20-21 and 20, there's no more deficit. But how was that accomplished? I'm going to go through that. If you look at scenario one, it's a total elimination of the deficit next year in 19-20. You've got to reduce 1.4. You've got to reduce 20,654. And for the following year, you've got to reduce 1.5 million. That means a cut of over $3 million next year on top of what you've already done. That's pretty substantial. The thing it produces is no deficits in your out year. But that's a pretty hard cut to manage in one year. And if you give a raise, That needs to be added to it there. So those are things that need to consider in Scenario 1. It's not exactly balanced, but I want to put notice at the bottom there. You see a 1% raise cost about half a million dollars, a 2% raise cost about $1 million, and a 3% raise cost about $1.5 million. It's pretty consistent here that those are the costs of raises. So this is something that, you know, making cuts over $3 million in one year, it was hard for us this year to make cuts of $2 million. But that is something that you would need to do to get rid of your deficit in the out two years. So scenario one is pretty substantial cuts in one year.

[2502] SPEAKER_24: Beverly, can we hold for a moment just to give the board a moment to absorb that and perhaps ask questions if they would like.

[2508] Nancy Thomas: You're saying a cut of $2 million. But we already increased this year, starting with balanced budget in June, we've already increased $1.8 million. How confident are you that this district can further cut $1.4 million next year if we can't even cut this year anything? We didn't cut a thing. this year?

[2546] SPEAKER_21: No, we didn't cut a thing this year, but you had a beginning balance that was very high. Probably some cuts should have been made this year, but they were not. And one of the things, if you find out during the year that your enrollment is down, that you basically had money that was cut from you, the one-time money was reduced, It's hard to make a structural deficit cut once you've staffed your district. It's very difficult. You would be making cuts in places like travel and conference and supplies, and those are what we call soft cuts. They may be one time, but they're not going to affect your out years. You need to really affect your ones, twos, and threes, which are permanent costs. And that's something that's hard to do once a budget gets into place. So for instance, the district was down in the one-time money this year, about 500,000. They started the year without a, without, with a surplus. But by the time the one-time money was taken, they were in a deficit situation. And then the enrollment was down, 168 students. So once again, another cut came because of the enrollment. This is why the cuts were made September through December and the board approved in February. Thank God you did approve those cuts and they were made in substantial areas to where they would help reduce the structural deficit in future years. One of the things to reduce structural deficit, you must make permanent cuts. It isn't supplies, it isn't travel, it isn't, you know, custodial supplies. It's most of the time going to hit programs or it's going to hit staffing.

[2650] Nancy Thomas: Okay. The point I've always made and continue to make is that that $6 million in the beginning fund balance is money from Fund 17. If we transferred $3.3 million from Fund 17 at other points in time, we have taken money out of 17. So we threw it in the ending fund balance so that, OK, we can deficit spend. But it's still not.

[2679] SPEAKER_21: But we don't do that going forward. It's in the past. We can't change that.

[2684] Nancy Thomas: But we don't need to spend it. We can put that money back into Fund 17 where it belongs. That's my point. My point is that money never should have been taken out of Fund 17. No, it never should have. And so we can put it back. There's nothing that says we can't put it back and put some discipline into our spending. Because with saying we're going to cut $2.2 million,

[2708] SPEAKER_21: next year when we've already... It's three point, it's over three million. Okay. In this particular scenario because you're trying to make your expenditures be within your revenues.

[2719] Nancy Thomas: Okay, but the point is we didn't anticipate having to cut, having to increase our spending by 1.8 million this year and those hopefully won't continue but We haven't looked at programs. We haven't looked at anything other than staffing, permanent staffing. Staffing or permanent cuts, yes. Yeah, that's really the only thing we've looked at. No, it's not true.

[2747] SPEAKER_21: Everything's were cut.

[2748] SPEAKER_24: I mean, we looked at it. The other factor of that is we are well below our projections as well. So as Beverly mentioned, we're down enrollment a significant amount. We've already staffed for the year. That adds a lot of expense that's still eating away at our budget. But finish what you were going to say.

[2766] SPEAKER_21: No, I was just going to say that permanent cuts tend to come from staffing. And they do come from some programs that may be permanent ongoing. So that's why we've given you a list of programs we have out there. As you can see from that list, most of our programs are federal and state. And they have requirements to run those programs. There are a few that special education has to be contributed to. Other programs have to be contributed to. Those are things we can look at. And the strategic plan, fiscal recovery plan, talked about us looking at those programs and studying them, how we could reduce and make them more efficient. That was spelled out in the fiscal recovery plan. It never said you need to cut here. It said you need to look at your programs and make them more efficient and save if possible.

[2815] Nancy Thomas: What's so disheartening, I guess, and it's in the past, I know, but Every year, this board has said, we've got to cut our deficit spending. And if you look at 2010 to 2018, Newark and Livermore Valley are the only districts in that time frame that have not increased their reserves year to year or over that period. And that was over many years of one-time funding that they probably spent on one-time things, and they've been able to build their reserves, and we've never been able to return money that we've put in policy that we have to return to our reserves.

[2863] SPEAKER_21: Right. I understand, and the district should increase their reserves beyond the 3%. Right now, what we have is the $2.2 million in the special reserve, and that's why I'm saying you shouldn't use it to balance your budget at all. Leave it there, because you're going to need it if your enrollment keeps going down. Yeah, and yes, I would recommend this district increase reserves beyond that.

[2884] Nancy Thomas: I'm sorry. I'm neglecting my colleagues. Thank you. Lucia and then Bowen. I'm so sorry. Thank you. This is my hot topic.

[2893] SPEAKER_33: Everyone knows it. Thank you. I was just wondering in regards to Member Thomas' comment. Is it, have you guys, in regards to, what did you say, Fund 13 or Fund 17? Fund 17 is our special reserve. Have you guys looked into the scenario of possibly returning those funds? Is that even something that we can consider at this point? Or maybe we can look to that in the future, but not right now.

[2924] SPEAKER_21: I think it's difficult when you're trying not to deficit spend at this point because you would literally, if you're returning the money to Fund 17, then you're going to have to cut expenditures more. It's a difficult time to do it. For instance, in the second scenario that we're going to look at now, if you have any more questions about this first scenario. you'll come to a year where you have surplus, and then you can start putting some money away. You have to get to a point where you have a surplus in your ending balance, then you can start putting money away. It's hard when you're deficit spending, and you want to stop the deficit spending.

[2957] SPEAKER_24: I'm sure you have a question. I don't want to hear it.

[2960] Bowen Zhang: Yes, so is Fund 17 the Russian reserve?

[2963] SPEAKER_21: No, it's special. It's the non-capital special reserve that can be used in the general fund.

[2971] Nancy Thomas: What we did two years ago is we took $4 million out of Russian and put it into, this is history, we put it into Fund 17 for emergency purposes, and now that $4 million has been swept into the ending fund balance so we can fund our deficit spending ongoing.

[2992] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so the source of this one-time money is from the Russian fund, right?

[2996] Nancy Thomas: The source of some of it. Since I joined the board, I think we've had about $10 to $12 million that is now dwindled down to $2 million. And in the last 10 years, it's $6 million that we have deficit spent. So we've taken $6 million out of our reserves between 2010 and 2018 to fund our deficit. And that's never... We've never accomplished balancing our budget and cutting our spending to get reserve, right?

[3040] SPEAKER_21: Yeah, but you can see here that this is calling for cuts of almost $3 million to get rid of the deficit in the out years next year.

[3048] Nancy Thomas: That's the $3 million that we already took out of Fund 17. Yeah, right.

[3053] SPEAKER_21: It's deficit spending. It's how much you're spending more than you bring in.

[3060] SPEAKER_24: To kind of frame this a different way, help me make sure I'm saying this correctly. So you said we had a shortfall of enrollment of about 160 students this year?

[3070] SPEAKER_21: No. Well this year it was 168.

[3072] SPEAKER_24: 168 that was short this year, right? Yes. So that 168 represents roughly about the 1.5 million in my rough estimate of where we didn't anticipate that would occur. So there's that components going on. Then at the same time, last year we made some reductions and we're making, planning a budget for this year, specifically staffing at a higher number that was plus the 168 or wherever we're short this year. So that's encumbered some of those funds as well that adds to this, that compounds this factor. I think the other factor that I think is important to mention is the increase of STRS and PERS continues to increase. Exactly. Expenditures on maintenance of effort in special education.

[3120] SPEAKER_21: Right. We have returned to the 3%.

[3121] SPEAKER_24: Becomes a factor. Yeah. And certainly the cost of living in the Bay Area.

[3124] SPEAKER_21: And special ed continues to increase.

[3126] SPEAKER_24: Right. So I just want to make sure that that's in the record, because those are really difficult factors. This is the most conservative scenario that we've prepared. There is another one that's coming, but I wanted to make sure that I had a chance to share those components. I'm sure there might be other questions on this scenario before we move forward. I do.

[3145] SPEAKER_33: I do have one question. We're currently in the process of registration, so enrollment. We are already staffed for the following year as well.

[3156] SPEAKER_21: Well, we're in the process of staffing. We made the cuts we thought would be okay. And right now, we're finalizing some of the cuts. We've had more resignations come at this point. So literally, it is early for us with the enrollment down. We're saying right now about 100. We had planned for 46 less. We may be at 100 less. So we just need to be careful on how we finish staffing.

[3181] SPEAKER_33: OK. So that was my question is, do we have an idea as to how much we may be done in enrollment? You said about 100. And if that's the case, we should be able to properly staff and accordingly?

[3193] SPEAKER_24: Well, I think the importance is if we do have a resignation, and if that resignation occurs in a place where we can reduce programmatically, then we do it. But if we have a resignation in an area that we can't reduce, But we wouldn't do that. For example, a special ed teacher that's hard to find, that we have someone in that position that resigns, we're probably not going to cut that position.

[3222] SPEAKER_33: And I understand that. I guess my point.

[3223] SPEAKER_24: But there might be opportunities where that does happen. So we can soften the blow to some degree as that attrition occurs naturally. But there's no guarantees.

[3231] SPEAKER_33: So then I guess my question more on an education basis is, if we have about 100 students down already in enrollment.

[3240] SPEAKER_21: And it is still early. I mean, it could still come in.

[3243] SPEAKER_33: But just keeping those numbers in mind, is there anything that we can do right now proactively other than wait for registrations?

[3252] SPEAKER_24: Not yet? Everyone, unless they received a March 15th notification, is owed a contract. So we're contractually obligated to those positions. But unless there's a natural vacancy, so we can't force anyone out.

[3267] SPEAKER_33: So just natural attrition at this point.

[3268] SPEAKER_24: Natural attrition is the only thing. And this district has a lot. You finish answering.

[3276] SPEAKER_21: No, that's correct. And this district does tend to have people who are leaving and, you know, we're getting resignations pretty much daily at this point. The good news is what we're trying to do is also maximize our ending balance. Some positions never got filled during the year. So we're doing everything to close positions to increase our ending balance. That really helps. To let you know, special ed has a hard time hiring. So we end up closing a lot of positions near the end. We check with the special education director. Can she let these positions go? So we're doing everything we can right now to increase the ending balance of this year to help us in next year. Because when you plan your budget, you plan with everything being staffed. Special education has a particular problem getting staffing. And I want to let you know, across the state, special education is increasing in almost all districts, and the costs are hitting districts. So we're not singled out. It is across the state. Terry, who's the president of the firm I work with, says she's seeing it everywhere. Special education populations are just increasing.

[3342] Nancy Thomas: How much are we spending, and can we change our TK guidelines? It was never anything that was really put in policy. We were never really told how much it cost to give free TK.

[3357] SPEAKER_21: We can look into that, yes.

[3358] Nancy Thomas: But I mean, we need to do that now because people are going to want to be starting to enroll in TK. To me, TK, we shouldn't be giving slots away for TK that cost us money.

[3374] SPEAKER_21: Yeah, but you also have to realize the reason they did that for this program is to provide a service and to increase our enrollment, which the district needs. So there's a two-pronged thing here.

[3384] Nancy Thomas: But it's nice to do things to increase enrollment, but there's no guarantees.

[3389] SPEAKER_21: I think we have to look at the cost and kind of decide, and we can look at those costs to see how much it was this year. I've already talked to Kay. We can bring that back, how much it cost this year.

[3400] Nancy Thomas: And not allow, not give free TK Fremont students. We've had some interviews.

[3406] SPEAKER_21: I agree with that. Yeah, we shouldn't be giving it to Fremont students.

[3410] Bowen Zhang: So I look at your estimate that, speaking of race, so this is the scenario that we'll give no race in the next two years. That's the number you come up with.

[3420] SPEAKER_21: I'm not saying that.

[3421] Bowen Zhang: I'm saying you would have to cut for it. Or what about race within the COLA? So when you make this number, did you You did take into consideration about that 2.86 cost of living adjustment going forward, right?

[3440] SPEAKER_21: Not in the salaries, but you put it everywhere else. It's in the revenues. Basically, how ECOLA flows through right now is throwing through our LCFF formula, meaning the bases are coming up, funding each student. So that has been increased. But the salaries until it's negotiated has not been put through. through the salaries at this point.

[3460] Bowen Zhang: Yes, so if we take, say, a fraction of the COLA and give it to a raise, that will increase the number we need to cut, right?

[3470] Michael Milliken: Yes.

[3470] Bowen Zhang: Because this is assuming that zero raise.

[3475] SPEAKER_21: Yeah, because that's why in the cuts, the raise is there. If you give raises and you don't have a deficit, to not have a deficit, you're going to have to reduce for the raise. So that's why that's included there.

[3486] Bowen Zhang: So I guess in reality, that this number will certainly be higher than this number. Because I just cannot imagine a scenario where $0 raise for anybody in the district for the next two years.

[3499] SPEAKER_21: Yeah. It's difficult, but it depends on the board's priorities. Employees are a priority in every district, and employees will demand that. And we just may have to realize that what our priorities need to be. The strategic fiscal recovery plan talked about that, that you have to consider your employees' needs or you're going to lose employees. It affects morale. It affects everything.

[3532] SPEAKER_24: So another way to say that would be, could we figure out the reductions to offer a raise which would add to the cut? But another way to say it is, we probably can. We just would have less employees. And we would be more aligned with the size of district that we are, a district of roughly 5,700, maybe approaching 5,500 instead of 6,100. Yeah, I see.

[3557] Nancy Thomas: How much does the, let's assume that we have to take the increase in STRS and PERS out of COLA, because that's the only increase we're getting. So how much does the increase in STRS and PERS reduce our COLA? from the percentage that, what did you say it was for next year? 3.6, 2.8. 3.6, yeah, when you factor in the increase in STRS and PERS and deduct it from that, what is that percentage?

[3588] SPEAKER_21: I have to tell you what the overall across the state is. Your PERS and your COLA that's coming from the state is not covering the cost of special ed, is not covering your PERS and STRS, and that's why a lot of districts are going into cuts right now. It's not covering your ongoing costs.

[3607] Nancy Thomas: It's not just a problem here. Oh, I know. We can't predict. We can't predict the increase in special ed, but we do know the increase in PERS and STRS. So I'm asking you, how does it reduce that COLA? To what extent? Does a 1%?

[3622] SPEAKER_21: It depends on how many employees you have, how much reserves you had. I can't just give you a number off the top of my head. It would not be correct. So it would be something as we calculate the budget, as we calculate our ending balance. That's why we're working on increasing our ending balance right now. Everything we can do. Special Ed can't hire all they need, so we let the positions go. Those are the things.

[3645] Nancy Thomas: But I guess the point I'm making is that we want to give you a number, and I can't. No, no. But the point is, When our employees say, we have 3.6%, give that to us in a raise, they've already lost some of it in stirs and purrs. So it's that, you don't know it off the top of your head, but it is a decrease. And we're always fighting the fact that the state's not funding us appropriately. Or enough?

[3674] SPEAKER_21: No, I can bring back a chart to show you what the state is showing us at this point, how we don't have enough money coming in to increases every year. And this district has, on top of that, decreased enrollment. So it makes it very difficult to stay balanced. And thank God you have that 2.2 reserve out there. But we're not going to plan to use that anymore at this point.

[3696] Nancy Thomas: Well, but you're using the ending fund balance, which is even more than that, huh? I mean, from our reserve.

[3701] SPEAKER_21: In this one, it's really not using the ending balance.

[3703] Nancy Thomas: No, but I can see the handwriting on the wall. I can see it on the wall, and it makes me sad because we started out last year saying we want to get rid of our deficit spending in 2019-20, and you're telling me we can't do it. We have to keep spending.

[3719] SPEAKER_24: Well, I think what we're saying is we can do it. This is the price. This is the price. And I think the other part that I would tell you.

[3726] SPEAKER_21: Your $6 million just came down to $4 million.

[3728] SPEAKER_24: Well, and the declining enrollment was worse than we anticipated. I know. I know. I fully agree. And the state's not doing their part. And I agree with that.

[3735] Nancy Thomas: I fully agree. And I said I'm not going to approve a deficit budget, but I'm being forced to. I can see it coming. Anyway, any more comments before we move on?

[3750] SPEAKER_21: Keep in mind, to make a $3 million cut, it is difficult. And as long as you have a plan to replace and stop the deficit spending, the county knows you have a plan. As long as you have a plan and maintain always your 3% reserve, if you do that, you're doing very well. So this is the combination that produces all of your expenditures within the revenue. This is scenario two, which a little bit more reasonable about the cuts because you are allowed to use your beginning balance. And you'll see the first year you still have the six million. You're going down to four million. But you're cutting in 1920, 1.464, 941. You're cutting that amount, that yellow amount at the bottom because your deficit is 1.4. So you're cutting the deficit. for that year and for the next year. And you can see you don't have a deficit in that next year. So you're always trying to reduce that deficit. In the next year, you're going to cut 1.5. And in that third year, you actually have a surplus of 1.2. That isn't a deficit, that yellow. You finally have in that third year a surplus, which could be used to either replace your reserve, give employee raises. I mean, and that's the more moderate way to make the cuts, and I think it's much more reasonable. A little bit over $1 million, $1.5 million in two years. You know, there are things that can be done. Once again, you give raises, you must include those in the cuts, too, because you just don't have enough. But I mean, the good news is in 21-22, where you're probably beginning to grow a little bit, You're coming up with a surplus. That's the first time you've had the surplus since the beginning of this year. Yes.

[3863] SPEAKER_33: Yes. That's why I put it down there so you can see what it would cost and what we take the cuts to. But it's much more doable in this scenario than in the first scenario.

[3883] SPEAKER_21: I mean, I'm going to tell you that I recommend this scenario because you can make reasonable cuts and give cuts with a raise to employees.

[3894] Bowen Zhang: So in this scenario, that means next year at this time, looking to 2020, 2021, we should be looking at a 1.46 million cut?

[3903] SPEAKER_21: Yes.

[3904] Bowen Zhang: OK. And the 1.678 million cut was the one that we did two months ago? Mm-hmm.

[3911] SPEAKER_21: So it's a little bit less than we had to cut for next year. So the good news is it's a little bit over a $1 million cut. And there's things we can do to increase our ending balance every year. As long as we control spending, that's something we always have to do. But there's some things that you have to spend money on to keep kids safe, to do what you need to do for the education. The educational programs we have are important for the students. And in the first scenario, you'd probably be devastating educational programs and staffing. And that would be very difficult.

[3946] Nancy Thomas: I think we're still going to be devastating programs because we're just spreading the cuts over two years. So I mean, but I think there are program cuts that we can make. But I don't know if we can make them to that magnitude without hurting our kids. I'm talking about programs that we're doing that, or maybe other districts don't do.

[3972] SPEAKER_33: I have a question, and I do have this for Member Thomas. And it doesn't have to be now. I'm just going to put the question, and we'll maybe talk about it later. I have been trying to pinpoint programs. Maybe you can pinpoint some, because I do have some concerns about that. But what I did want to ask about is, And the green is special ed and you don't see any expenditures to the right because you'll look and the green in the middle of the page

[4018] SPEAKER_21: Special ed gets federal and state funding, but the federal and state do not fully fund special education. So you're contributing over $7 million to special ed. And our special ed program is actually doing very well in comparison with other districts. They're doing a good job of managing the costs. Another thing is we estimate early and the money comes in for the SELPA at the end of the year. So a lot of things decrease this contribution towards the end of the year. a lot of your federal funds that come in. And you get a lot of federal funding because you have a lot of kids with needs here in the district. So your funding for special education goes up during the year. So this is the more reasonable scenario. I think the district could manage that. We planned moderate declines in enrollment. But this is the one Yes, I would recommend, and yes, your deficit spending, but you're also planning for surplus in that out year. I mean, literally, I think when you're doing this kind of action, you do not literally qualify yourself because you have a plan for everything going on. I mean, that's all the county will look for from you. Do you have a plan to reduce deficit spending? And that's what this is, elimination of the deficit annually. Yes.

[4101] SPEAKER_24: I had a question and put the message to the board.

[4103] SPEAKER_33: Just real quick, with the first scenario, one large cut for 19-20 means we have enough deficit for 20-20 moving forward.

[4113] SPEAKER_32: Correct.

[4114] SPEAKER_33: Okay.

[4119] SPEAKER_24: Okay. When you and I had spoken about the 85-15 rule, is this the 15 sheet or is that a different It's a different sheet. We're going to work on bringing that back to the board as well, right? Yes, we will. Because part of what I promised the board was a list like this of everything that is not staffing out of general funds. So we still owe that to the board. We'll be bringing that forward at a future date. Tonight, we're not asking for action.

[4148] SPEAKER_21: No. We're asking for input and guidance. That you would have information.

[4151] SPEAKER_24: What more do you want to see? What specific things do you want to see more staff to work on?

[4157] Nancy Thomas: I'd like to see program costs. I'd like to see what the cost is of the programs that we have.

[4166] SPEAKER_21: Every program, the federal and the state?

[4168] Nancy Thomas: No, no, no, no. I'd like to see the cost of the programs I've put on my list.

[4173] SPEAKER_21: OK. Not a problem. The first one I have, they're East Bay Induction Consortium. It's at the top of the list. Yeah. Yeah. I put that first for you. Yes.

[4184] Nancy Thomas: Well, it's not that that's not a worthwhile program. It's that it was supposed to be making money for us.

[4191] SPEAKER_24: Yes. And I want to see the 15% that isn't staffing in a launcher list format. OK. Other questions or requests for information?

[4202] SPEAKER_04: Cesar? So I'm wondering, with the projected decrease in enrollment in the coming years, how we're projected to increase in revenue from 64 mil all the way up to 66 in the 21-22 school year?

[4216] SPEAKER_21: That's step and column just coming through. You're talking about the revenues?

[4221] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that revenue.

[4222] SPEAKER_21: Yeah, it's the COLAs coming through that are adding to the LCFF formula. There's these two COLAs that we have. The one thing that's happening that our COLAs have been very small the previous years, because we were getting money from the previous years in growth. Now they're putting more into the COLAs. So that's the COLA increasing. Yes.

[4242] SPEAKER_33: One more question.

[4254] SPEAKER_21: Right now the budget will be finalized with a May revision, but right now we're doing finalizing staffing and Like I said, going along, we're trying to increase our ending balance to help us at this point. So you're going to get a third interim coming up where a lot of these assumptions come forward. So we look at your third interim. It's us trying to maximize as much money as we can in the year. It's not unusual to do that because literally you just don't spend some things you plan during the year. You plan with all projects being totally spent and sometimes they are not. And that will increase our ending balance.

[4289] SPEAKER_24: What I would recommend is we bring these two same scenarios back at the next meeting with the additional information that's been requested. Okay. Both from the board as well as from me too. So that we put that all in the public eye again.

[4302] SPEAKER_21: Okay.

[4304] SPEAKER_24: Okay.

[4305] Jodi Croce: Thank you.

[4306] SPEAKER_24: Thank you Beverly. Okay.

[4307] SPEAKER_21: And I just want to say at the end of the two scenarios was something we didn't talk about and I want to talk a little bit about of how the control over the district goes. The county office has the primary goal of looking at us and making sure we're going to stay solvent. They look at all our budget adoptions, our financial reports, and they're always looking on our multiyear, how do our future years look. They will be very impressed that we're planning cuts in those future years. Yes, we may be deficit spending in one year, but they can see we return to a surplus, which is a really good plan. They look at your collective bargainings more closely. basically because this district has been qualified. And any debt you have, they're going to look at it very closely. What is the definition of a financially troubled district? The number in the state has increased because of all the one-time money going away, because of decreased enrollments across the state, not just here. And the county will look at Do you have plans? Have you made plans to keep yourself solvent? Can you meet your financial obligations as long as you're paying your bills? You don't want the county to tell you to cut. You need to plan to cut, and the county will look positively on that. Under a qualified certification a third time, it's going to get a fiscal assignment will be given to you, a fiscal expert. That's going to cost you money, so it's going to increase your expenditures. They're going to look at everything much more closely. You'll be scrutinized more for everything. So even your contracts won't go through easily. So a third qualified means you are literally going to have a financial expert coming in. Everything's going to take a longer time. Your collective bargainings will take a long time. And if things aren't improved, they will withhold compensation from the superintendent if he's not making sure the board is guided in the right way. If you have a negative certification, literally, it's a much more severe thing. You're going to have a fiscal advisor. But any action of the board inconsistent with fiscal recovery, power will be taken from the board because somebody will overrule the board. You need to develop a fiscal recovery plan and consultant with the district. So the same thing we've done now with this is going on is literally what they're looking for us to do. And it's nice that we're doing it on our own. They will not abrogate collective bargaining, but they want you to be careful about your collective bargaining. If you have three in a row, there's going to be automatic engagement coming into the district. I just want you to be aware of that. This was presented to you before, but we didn't have time to go through it. Read this particularly carefully. Get a third interim, we're going to have automatic engagement. State receivership, you never want to get to that. If you get to that, it has to go to the legislature at the state. And it's not recommended that this district get into fiscal receivership. You need to make the reductions. you need to stay solvent. It can take four to six months for the people to come on. And the state intervention, you will pay for state intervention. Don't ever think the money you're going to get from the state is free. They will charge you. A state administrator will be assigned. And you're going to pay for it for years from now, because you're going to keep coming back in to make sure you stay solvent. So I don't want to spend any more time on that, just that I wanted you to be aware of some of the things that are going to happen if the district doesn't maintain their solvency. As long as you take the action you need to do, they will say, OK, you're being irresponsible. We can leave you in charge. Yes. But they don't hesitate to take over districts that aren't doing what they need to do. I mean, unfortunately, there's a whole list of districts that have been interceded on by the state right now. And so the district response is critical. And our next steps are our third interim report coming up. The governors may revision. That's when we'll finalize the budget and be bringing it to you in May after the governor decides is he going to give us the reduced costs in retirement. And we'll bring you a budget public hearing. And we'll adjust staffing as much as we can with the attrition to the amount we planned.

[4577] Nancy Thomas: I think the district took the proper action and it's very positive, so... Are we going to, in the third interim, you know, look and remove the unfilled positions that we haven't... so the third interim will not have... we won't have a real big fallout at the end in our actuals?

[4598] SPEAKER_21: It could because we're doing everything we can to increase that ending balance. You do that at the end because people don't spend the money they have. It might not all be staffing, but it could be supplies and things. Yeah.

[4613] Nancy Thomas: But I hope we will, especially with personnel positions that haven't been fulfilled, that all those salaries will be taken out of the system.

[4622] SPEAKER_21: Exactly. OK. We took out like six special ed aides yesterday. that never got filled. Personnel told us we could take the positions. So they are giving us the permission to get rid of the positions right now. The special ed director said she will hire a new in the new year.

[4638] Nancy Thomas: So the positions we filled with contracts and special ed, we have taken all of those salaries out of the budget?

[4647] SPEAKER_21: We had in the past taken some of those out, but now there's some things that we don't contract for special ed aides. You know, it's mostly for teachers.

[4656] Nancy Thomas: No, but I mean, during the audit committee meeting, we were told that the business office doesn't automatically or immediately take the salaries out when we hire a person on contract that otherwise we were trying to hire.

[4673] SPEAKER_21: Well, we should be. If we didn't, then that was something that we just didn't do. But I know that it was done in the business office because one of the first things I saw when I worked on the first interim was salaries coming out because contracts were on board. Yeah.

[4689] Nancy Thomas: So, I would just like, hope you make sure that. That happens. That has happened for all of this, all of the contracts for positions that we put in place.

[4700] SPEAKER_21: Yeah, that was the reduction and I think I, when we did the 5,000s, we listed how much the salaries went down. Ones and threes with the benefits. You go down with the salaries and you go down with the benefits.

[4712] Nancy Thomas: Right. The restricted salaries came down, but the restricted expenses went up way beyond that. So I put it in an email to you so we can talk about it. OK. OK, thank you.

[4728] SPEAKER_24: Any more questions? Well, we will be uploading these as supplemental documents.

[4732] SPEAKER_21: Yes. Prior to borrowing. I've already given those to you.

[4734] SPEAKER_24: Both handouts, OK. Yes.

[4736] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Beverly. I wish it was a happier subject. It's not.

[4744] SPEAKER_21: You know, this is going on across the state right now, so just don't feel alone. I mean, just not having the one-time money anymore, districts with increasing special education costs, enrollments down across the board. You know, a lot of districts are looking, and I think this district's taken a proactive route and started the cuts already. It's good. You guys have, I'm proud of the board to making the cuts they have made. And you're going to be making some more. I can't say you're not going to be. Yes.

[4772] Nancy Thomas: And the master schedule and everything you're working on, superintendent, is showing that we're going to be reducing 13? We are staffing to appropriate ratios. Good. Thank you.

[4783] Bowen Zhang: I guess we also need to prepare for a recession looming on the horizon. We're already the 11th year in the current economic cycle, the longest expansion ever. You know a recession will be coming. We're not going to grow our economy 30 years in a row. That's very true.

[4798] Nancy Thomas: Thank you for mentioning that. Thank you. Okay, next we move on to employee organizations. Let's begin with NTA. Mr. Merritt.

[4821] SPEAKER_25: Good evening. My name is Timothy Merritt. I am the president of the Newark Teachers Association. Well, I got the bruise. I got the bruise. I got my TB test. I'm clear for three years. I have a copy in my bag if anybody needs it. Okay, I want to start, well, I'm Timothy Merritt. I'm the president of Newark Teachers Association. We're in the process of our election cycle. We're doing nominations right now. I hope somebody will nominate me again. You guys can't, and I know you would, but you can't. You have to be a member. We also had another election that happened last month. We elected two representatives to the NEA, National Education Association. It's our big parent organization. So we have a representative assembly of 8,000 delegates that go to establish policy and direction for educators across the United States. For the first time in a while, we have two elected representatives from Newark that will represent those. And I'm happy to say that Juleus Chapman from the Newark Memorial High School, a resource teacher, was elected. And the other person, oh yeah, that was me. You know, nobody else wanted to go to Houston. So I said, OK, on the 4th of July week, I'll go to Houston. which I'm really excited to be a part of that and learn more. I also went to some conferences, and Julius came with me, for human rights and racial and social justice. And I learned a lot about microaggressions, microaggressions. And I wanted to share a little bit about those. People often associate microaggressions with race or age or some common thing. But we have microaggressions every day. And they're like paper cuts. It's something cutting that hurts the individual. It doesn't kill them. But if it happens in the same place over and over and over again, it gets to be unbearable. And so I was bleeding over there. I've been bleeding over there. I haven't been to a board meeting for a couple of times. When I had another meeting, too, I was pretty sick. So I stayed home in bed. OK. I'm going to move on. Microaggressions, just keep that in mind. COLA, big microaggression. the right to consult. In our contract, or as I'm trying to get everybody to call it a collective bargaining agreement because it's not NTAs, it's between the district and the teachers, we have a clause that calls for consultation. Consultation, the best I understand it, and I'm not the smartest person in the world or in the room, But consultation means that you get an opportunity to discuss things in advance before decisions are made. And one of the consultation rights that we have is in-service training. It's also called professional development. And our teachers are complaining about the quality, the quantity of our professional development. One of the questions that comes to me quite frequently is, do I have to go to this? It's like, well, why wouldn't you? Because it's a waste of my time. Positions. Positions are also supposed to be part of the consultation process. And it doesn't mean that we have the right to override anything that the district decides, but we have the right and hopefully the respect to be given the opportunity to discuss frankly and openly before the decisions are made. If there was a position that we needed most right now, to improve our test scores, to improve our attendance, to improve our climate at our schools. They're mental health associates or counselors. We don't need help teaching math if we can't control the students in our classroom. You can't teach 30 some students that we cannot control. And it's not because we don't know how to classroom manage. It's because the students are in crisis. And when the students are in crisis, then the teachers become in crisis. And the cafeteria workers are in crisis, the custodians are in crisis, because we take it on. Customer service. I am an expert in customer service. I've decided to say that. I am. I think I've admitted this here only because Ray was here, and he's not here tonight. So he's not listening either. Well, I bet he's watching YouTube. I bet he is. He is watching. He is.

[5221] Nancy Thomas: Oh, is he sending you messages?

[5223] SPEAKER_25: Customer service. I have more than 30 years of customer service. Most of it's in the retail industry. I was also a missionary in a foreign country where I was not a first language speaker. So I have some ideas. I have some ideas about what it's like to be in a place where I don't understand everything they say and they probably don't understand half of what I say. These are all connected. People. People. Thank you very much.

[5282] SPEAKER_10: So my update this evening is brief. Oh, by the way, good evening. I'm Amanda Gallaher, Principal of Music. Just to give you an update of where we're at, our site administrators are currently busy working on their SIPSAs. So we have some new documents to present to you shortly. All the administrators who are participating in the AXA academies, they've completed them now. So we are continuing our professional growth, and that's pretty exciting for us. Our group of members who are support providers, our OTs, our psychologists, they are in the thick of things right now. It's time for transition IEPs. So they are hunkering down and kind of, you know, making sure our students have what they need so we are helping them get everything they need to be successful. That's what NEWMA's up to right now.

[5328] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Oh, and by the way, we saw your, we've seen your marquee. about attendance, and we talked about your attendance numbers today during the study session. Keep up the good work. Great.

[5341] SPEAKER_10: Thank you. You're welcome to come by and, you know, take pictures by trying to get the word out. So, all right. Thank you.

[5348] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. CSCA, Ms. Eustis.

[5375] SPEAKER_32: So as you were talking about CalPERS, I just wanted to remind the board, more than half of our bargaining unit is not in CalPERS because they don't qualify. They're not over four hours. So keep that in mind when you look at those figures. May 4th is going to be the South Bay Field Office is going to recognize a number of are members that are stationed out of the South Bay Field Office. So all the chapters have submitted people who they feel that has really worked really hard this year and that have done a tremendous job for their chapter. I think I told you two weeks ago that we submitted Maria Huffer and Pat Doyle for the Golden Bear Award, and they give out 11. and pleasantly surprised that both of them have one, so they are going to be of that 11 people. We also, in May, we have classified in school employees week, and so on May 20th, we were planning to take our members to Chevy's and have a little bit of an early evening at Chevy's, but I think we're going to be changing it because they have changed their menu and we can't afford to go there. So we are looking for a new place because it's going to be a little bit more than what we can afford. But thank your classified employee during this month because we do work hard. And we have been consistent for years of working hard for Newark Unified School District. And although we may have our differences when it comes to negotiations, We still have appreciation for the district and for all the employees in the district. We appreciate the teachers and the supervisors as well, and also the superintendent and other administrators. But May is for the classified bargaining unit, so make sure you say hello to them and thank them for all the job that they do, because they work really hard for you. Thank you.

[5511] Nancy Thomas: Next, we move on to a public hearing on sunshining the district proposal to the Newark Teachers Association. Public hearing is open. Is there anyone that would like to approach to comment on the public hearing?

[5534] SPEAKER_15: Good evening STEAM board, members of the cabinet and community present tonight. My name is Jessica Saavedra and I am the Executive Director of Human Resources and I'm here to officially present the Newark Unified School District initial proposal to the Newark Teacher Association. The Newark Unified School District and the Newark Teacher Associations are parties to a 2016-2019 negotiated agreement with an expiration date of June 30, 2019. This is the initial proposal of the district for a successor negotiated agreement. The Newark Unified School District values the people who make up our district community, students, employees, parents, and residents. We believe in preserving and nurturing relationships based on respect, trust, and transparency in order to meet the legitimate expectations of our community to provide equality equality education to all students. We value classroom in which the needs of all students are met, and we'll embrace effective practices, procedures, and tools to ensure engagement of students in the joy of learning, improved student achievement, positive academic outcomes, and accountability to all district community. We value our professional district community in which all stakeholders are lifelong learners, welcome innovation, reject all forms of inequity, acknowledge the full scope of professional responsibilities, and believe in structure and meaningful collaboration in pursuit of continuous improvement. We value protecting the fiscal health of the district, the short and long terms for the benefits of the district community. We believe the level of expenses must be aligned with the current and projected revenues in order to maintain economic stability and prevent disruption to the educational program. The District makes the following initial proposals to the Association for a Successor Agreement. 1. Work Year, Article VI. The District proposes to reopen and modify Article VI and 11, Leave of Absence, as necessary to enhance attendance at professional development days. The District proposes to explore changes to the work years of specific non-classroom classifications to more accurately reflect district needs and unit members' workloads. Number two, workdays, Article 7. The district proposes to reopen this article to enhance attendance at events such as back-to-school night and open house in order to better meet the interests of students and parents of the district community. Number three, evaluations, Article 9. The district has an interest in reducing or containing cost of evaluation process and in streamlining and simplifying language to make the process for understandable and user friendly for all participants. Number four, leaves, leaves, article 11. The district has an interest in modifying language to promote the consistent presence of the regular classroom teacher for the benefit of students and to update language to conform to changes in the law. Six, compensation, article 13. The district proposes to open this article to discuss current and future levels of state funding for the district under the local control formula, funding formula. The District unites fiscal challenges including continued declining enrollment and their impact on the District's ability to negotiate a fair and equitable adjustment to total compensation. The District reserves the right to make proposals on new subjects of bargaining during the course of negotiations in compliance with Government Code Section 3547, Subdivision D. The district looks forward to candid and constructive dialogue with NTA negotiation team in fathers of reaching an agreement that is fair and equitable to all parties. Thank you very much.

[5776] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. The hearing is closed. Next, we move on to new business donations report. I would entertain a motion accepting the donations report.

[5800] Bowen Zhang: I'll second it.

[5802] SPEAKER_33: I'll make a motion.

[5806] Nancy Thomas: It's been made and seconded. Please vote. Three ayes. Thank you. Next, Board Policy and Administrative Regulation for the Williams Uniform Complaint Procedure. This is a first reading. We typically ask questions or maybe make suggestions for the first reading, but we bring this back for a final reading and final approval. And these usually conform to the CSBA recommendations.

[5857] SPEAKER_33: I'll make a motion that we approve.

[5859] Bowen Zhang: To bring it back to a second reading?

[5861] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, you can make a motion to bring it back for a second reading.

[5865] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I'll move to bring it back for a second reading.

[5870] SPEAKER_33: Okay, I'll second that.

[5872] SPEAKER_24: Point of order, I would recommend that member Gutierrez withdraw her motion so we have a clean motion and then a second.

[5878] SPEAKER_33: I withdraw my first motion.

[5880] Nancy Thomas: Okay, so we have the motion made by Bowen, Mr. Zhang, and seconded by Okay, please vote. Four ayes, thank you. Next, we have consent agenda personnel items. Do we have to vote on these separately?

[5906] SPEAKER_24: No. Only if you want to pull them.

[5908] Nancy Thomas: Okay.

[5908] SPEAKER_24: You can vote as a bundle.

[5912] Nancy Thomas: I would entertain a motion to vote on them as a bundle.

[5917] Bowen Zhang: So I move to approve 12.1 and 12.2. No. 13.

[5919] Nancy Thomas: OK. Yeah. It is 12.1 and 12.2. OK.

[5926] SPEAKER_33: I second that motion. Please vote.

[5941] Nancy Thomas: Three ayes. Thank you. Next on the consent agenda, we have four items, curricular overnight trip for music.

[5954] SPEAKER_33: Just a point of order. I didn't know if our superintendent wanted to read the donation report.

[5961] Nancy Thomas: Oh, that's a very good idea. Can we move back and have him do that?

[5965] SPEAKER_24: Certainly. I was ready to. I just didn't want to mess with the flow.

[5969] Nancy Thomas: Just give me a kick.

[5973] SPEAKER_24: Summary of donations report April 18, 2019. $200 for Snow Elementary from Vinod Vasant Peral for STEAM projects. $140 for Newark Junior High from Your Cause LLC trustee for PG&E for school use as determined by principal. $165 for Snow Elementary from Karen Dopey for library books. In-kind donation of office supplies for Snow Elementary from Emma Moreno for office and classroom use. In-kind donation of file cabinets for McGregor from Fremont Bank, Percil Santos for McGregor use. Did I read one wrong?

[6011] Nancy Thomas: No, that was fine.

[6012] SPEAKER_24: OK, thank you. Thank you. $505 total.

[6015] SPEAKER_33: Thank you. I just wanted to add that I think I heard in the background that the last name should be Dopey. Excuse me? I think I heard in the background that the last name for should be Karen Dopey.

[6024] Nancy Thomas: Dopey.

[6026] Megan McMillan: Dopey.

[6027] SPEAKER_24: Dopey. Dopey.

[6028] Nancy Thomas: Karen Dopey. Thank you. Next, we move on to the consent agenda. I'll read these and then there's someone that would like to speak to one of them. The 13.1 is curricular overnight field trip request music, 13.2 non-curricular field trip request music, USC placement agreement, quarterly report on contracts, and Warren's report for March 2019. Ms. Cindy Parks would like to talk to 13.4, which is the contracts.

[6065] Cindy Parks: Hi, yes. The reason I wanted to, well first of all I'm very happy that there's only two contracts on here based on all the deficit spending and all of the contracts that we've seen at other quarterly contract reports. The reason I wanted to address you this evening is that there is a contract that I was kind of looking to see attached to this agenda. It wasn't attached to the January agenda and I've not seen the name on a PAL report. So either somebody is getting hired in the district, they either need to be on PAL, I would think, or they would need to have a contract. And so I was looking for John Bernard's contract. So I'm wondering if he should have been on the PAL, which Paula Vanchera, who is the other interim principal at the high school, was hired quite a while ago as a guest administrator. And she was on the list. However, Mr. Bernard, Dr. Bernard has not been on the PAL, nor have I seen a contract for him. So my question is, why was the contract not on there, or should he have been on the PAL?

[6134] Nancy Thomas: Could we ask personnel to look into that and get back to the board and to Ms. Parks, please? Thank you. So I would entertain a motion unless someone on the board wants to pull any of these Items.

[6156] SPEAKER_33: I move that we vote on items 13.1 through 13.5.

[6161] Bowen Zhang: I second.

[6166] Nancy Thomas: Please vote. Four ayes. Thank you. Cesar, thank you for hanging in there with us on a school night.

[6181] SPEAKER_04: We don't have school tomorrow.

[6184] Nancy Thomas: Oh, we don't?

[6185] SPEAKER_04: Spring break, you know.

[6186] Nancy Thomas: Oh, gee.

[6187] SPEAKER_24: Spring break. You know how to party, Cesar.

[6190] SPEAKER_04: Oh, wow, that's great. You know how to party. I get to spend a lot of time with the board. Yeah, I do.

[6194] SPEAKER_33: Thank you. At least you got chocolate today. Yeah.

[6199] Nancy Thomas: Oh, my gosh. Well, that brings us to Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief, and Discussion. Would you like to start? Do you have any comments?

[6213] SPEAKER_04: No, I don't have... No, no comments at this time.

[6218] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Bowen?

[6221] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so last Saturday was the New World Family Day, so I think hundreds of families with young children, 3-year-old, 4-year-old kids were in the community center park. It was a great event. A lot of children were around 3 years old, 4 years old, 5 years old, and this is the time that parents are thinking about whether they want to send their kids to Newark Unified or other districts. And it's just a disappointment that we didn't have a table there. We should have a table there. I see a lot of organizations, the Optimist Club, the other police department, they all have tables in the community center parks. So hopefully next year when we have another family day, I think we lost a really, really big advertisement opportunity last Saturday.

[6278] SPEAKER_33: I wanted to ask our superintendent if it's possible to generate some kind of report in regards to our TK students. Of the enrolled TK students, even if percentages, but how many actually continue with Newark schools and then how many don't. And then a second is, I was actually wondering if we have any programs in conjunction with Newark PD of any sort. That's one. And then two, I'm actually looking in particular to see if we can maybe work with our schools or our students to implement some kind of programs that will educate our students on proper conduct when being addressed by police officers here in Newark. And as well, maybe any programs that could help the police officers get to know more of our students. And especially since we're such a close, such a small community here in Newark, so we can help educate our students and our police officers of the community that we have and who we are and who are students. Please.

[6352] Nancy Thomas: By the way, I watched the liaison meeting on TV, and you did a very fine job of running that meeting. Thank you. Is there anything you want to say about it?

[6361] SPEAKER_33: The liaison meeting, I was nominated this year to be chair, so it was my first time acting as chair to that committee. Thank you. You did a great job. Thank you. I'm not going to lie. I was a little bit nervous. But just maybe a little update on that. We did discuss the license with McGregor. It's still in process. We will be bringing that back. There should be some discussion within our board. And then we will be bringing that back to the city liaison meeting as well. And there will be some future discussion or maybe some additional information provided we're going to have a lot of activities. On area 3 for us as well and. And then maybe it looks like we might have some more. Cultural activities. Hopefully occurring within our school and our community members

[6438] Nancy Thomas: presentation because I think ROP is doing just a fabulous job for our students. And so I hope we can find ways to increase the CCI score on our dashboard. Also, I went to the CIF meeting. I'm the CSBA delegate to the California Interscholastic Federation that manages all the athletics for the state. And there were several votes that took place there. They're going to be starting baseball and soccer. Anyway, they're going to have regionals and state-level contests in several sports coming up. They did vote about including continuation school students in sports, and that was voted down. I didn't get the details on why, but anyway, one of the things that they did unanimously recommend that we call our legislators about is a bill that would require that athletic trainers be certified. Right now, California is one of the only states where athletic trainers are not certified. You can call yourself an athletic trainer and get a job somewhere even if you're not qualified. So I appreciate that our athletic director sent our recommendation that they pass that legislation on. But it reminded me, too, that it's been a long time since we've had a presentation by our athletic director. And so it would be good to hear about the athletic program at a future meeting. And that's all I have. Superintendent.

[6553] SPEAKER_24: A few items. Thank you, Member Thomas. A couple things I want to follow up on. The first one is beyond the DARE program with Newark PD, I will find out what else we do with them. And I like the idea of modeling good behavior and having police contact. I think that's critical. And how else can we partner with them in other ways? I do want to, if we need, there may be a need at the board pleasure, if you want to have another study session on budget to look deeper in the scenarios, we can do that before the May date that was mentioned. So think about that. If you have interest in that, it's just a matter of scheduling time. But I know Beverly and I can pull some of that information together and maybe do something in between now and the May date that she referred to. We'll talk about that agenda setting probably, but I want to just put that out there that we're willing to do that. I do feel, and I don't know if this is going to be June or August, but I would like to probably do a little bit of study session on legalized marijuana and the impact in a public school setting. Having been in Colorado in my prior work, I know that We're about to have a tidal wave of issues, and if we can get some policies in place sooner than later, and what that looks like is increased use of edibles and access to edibles, things that don't look like drugs, vaping, and I think supporting that resolution would be a great idea to support, you know, not just tobacco, but vaping that occurs with both medical and recreational marijuana. It becomes very much easier to access, and I'm very worried about that and the impact of that. And the big thing that I do want to share for the audience at home as well is The level of THC that is now in marijuana is approaching above 50%, and some as high as 60%, 70%. And when Colorado implemented some of these things years ago, we saw a big spike in kids overdosing on marijuana because of the level of THC in the drug. And it's something I'm very concerned about. So that's on the horizon, and we'll schedule that in. But I'm starting to research policies so we can get something in place before it becomes a problem. But it is coming. And the last one that I wanted to call out was, I know Ms. Thomas may not be able to be here at the next meeting, but I want to know, where are you going to be? I think you're getting some kind of award or something?

[6712] Nancy Thomas: It's a secret.

[6713] SPEAKER_24: Is it a secret that we can't say? We'll wait, then.

[6715] Nancy Thomas: No, it's not a secret. It's not a secret. I've been notified that a friend of mine nominated me to be one of Kansan Chu's community heroes, and he awarded me that award, and they're having the ceremony at the next school board meeting, so can I have your permission to not be here?

[6739] SPEAKER_24: You can have a note from your mother, yes. Congratulations.

[6742] SPEAKER_33: Early congratulations.

[6747] SPEAKER_24: And my last comment is, Ray Rodriguez, if you're watching, notice the time of adjournment.

[6752] Nancy Thomas: Ah, there you go. I forgot. I would recommend that we bring the proposal, the resolution to the next, and I think I forwarded it to you, the one that Fremont had, so we can just put Newark in its place. Okay, thanks.

[6770] SPEAKER_04: I would like to make one more comment. I completely forgot about this earlier when the superintendent gave me time, but Newark Memorial is a National Honor Society. We just recently established it a month ago, but we do have a National Honor Society, so it's one more opportunity for students to get things on their college applications. They will be having their first fundraiser tomorrow from 3 p.m. to closing at Panda Express. So I will share a photo of the flyer with Char and she can send it out to the board members. But just show the flyer to the cashier and National Honor Society will get a portion of the funds. It's the one across from Safeway in Newark, yeah.

[6816] Nancy Thomas: Meeting adjourned.

No minutes available.