Board mtg Part 2 Meeting

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[59] Ray Rodriguez: To call the meeting back to order, we just got back from closed session. I didn't want to interrupt. Everybody was so engrossed in your conversations. I didn't want to interrupt it. But we have, it's 710, and we're just excited about this meeting. So we're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Do we have anybody, a young one of our students can help us, please?

[91] SPEAKER_28: All right, we got one.

[93] Ray Rodriguez: OK, excellent. That good looking guy in the back.

[99] SPEAKER_49: 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.

[116] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Can you give your name to? Ms. Aquino, so we can have it for the records, please. Thank you so much for doing that. I appreciate it. If you ever want something done, you've got to ask somebody who has a beard. OK. OK. So before we, well, let me report out first. We had closed session and we discussed upcoming negotiations with two unions, NTA and CSCA. We discussed public employee appointment or discipline in conference with legal counsel. Basically, we just got information. And the only item that was voted on was that the public employee performance evaluation that with the superintendent, there was a positive one. Um, the, the board voted to extend, uh, his contract one year. And then, um, when we have our retreat, um, on Saturday and moving forward, uh, the whole board and the superintendent as a governance team are going to work together on goals to, um, move our district forward. Uh, very challenging times that we're in and, um, uh, hopefully, um, the leadership that we have moving forward together, we can really start things rolling so that we can improve our test scores and get a better grip on financial stability, which is very challenging with decreasing enrollment. So a lot of challenges, and I think that we have everybody in place that can really, working together, we can move this district forward. On a personal note, I was gone. couple of weeks back east and I was able to look at the meeting and I didn't see my I didn't see me there and I'm thinking Yeah, there's an empty spot there. So I you know, I really missed You know, not that I enjoy a two or three hour board meeting but But I I miss being away. I really love my community and I've been here over 45 years I'm I went to Puerto Rico to help my younger sister that my dad adopted. She lives up in the hills with her issues with electricity. And it's still ongoing. And then I went back to Florida. And my brother, who's been like an idol to me, growing up in the Bronx, he made sure we stayed out of trouble. There was eight of us. And a retired police officer from Newark. And he got a stroke. And within four days, he was gone. So, um, it, it's very tough on our family, but if you knew my brother Angelo, you would know that this is the way he would want to go. Uh, he didn't want to be in, in the hospital and, and in, uh, you know, rehab and all that stuff. Um, there's just, and he just turned 80 and he was so excited. He said, bro, I can't believe I made it 80. And, uh, and so, um, I know that a lot of you have reached out to my family and to us and I appreciate everything and your condolences. Memories are always there. Take care of your loved ones and your friends and give everybody a hug when you can and let them know how much you appreciate them while they're still here. Moving forward, we have the student report. Superintendent, you want to help us with that? Am I on track here?

[352] SPEAKER_28: We are on student report. I'd like to see, first of all, if there's representatives from McGregor campus in the room. OK. Seeing none, I'll move on to Newark Junior High. Any representatives from Newark Junior High here this evening? You want to come on up? Oh, there you are. Come on up.

[370] Ray Rodriguez: We have a police officer out here. And I was talking about my brother being a NYPD. You want to come in? So we can see you. Anyway, go ahead. I'm sorry.

[390] SPEAKER_28: Just tell us your first name and your grade. You don't have to share the last name.

[396] Ray Rodriguez: Oh, yeah. There you go.

[399] SPEAKER_26: Hello. My name is Aliana. I go to Newark Junior High School.

[403] SPEAKER_01: I'm in eighth grade. My name is Madison. And we're here to talk about our school.

[412] SPEAKER_26: Recently, the leadership class put together in spring carnival and dance both were something students look forward to because it's an opportunity to have fun with friends. In addition, we also had a school-wide spirit week to keep students motivated as the year comes to an end.

[430] SPEAKER_01: As of right now, we're interviewing students for the Student of the Year Award and also interviewing students for the Newark Junior High Class Leadership. We also had elections for and we're going to have a lot of fun. We're going to have a lot of positions like president and historian. Upcoming events to conclude the year. Include a farewell dance. The 8th grade class trip and obviously promotion ceremony. Teacher appreciation week is just around the corner for the And we're also looking forward to the student yearbook that is being put together by Mr. Whitaker. We look forward to the next board meeting. Thank you.

[477] SPEAKER_28: Thank you, guys. Cesar, you have the floor.

[485] SPEAKER_60: Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. So as we enter the month of May, it's AP season, as many of you know. For the next two weeks, students at Newark Memorial will be taking our AP exams. Our students registered in 14 exams. So these next two weeks is going to be busy, nothing but testing. As for spring sports, spring sports are coming to a close. So athletes are competing in MVAL finals. Track and field finals will be taking place this Saturday at James Logan High. Seniors are sending in their intents to enroll. May 1st was the deadline for a majority of those. So seniors are finally declaring where they're going to college. So we're sad to see them go, but we're confident they're going to do well in college, or whatever they decide to do. Some senior events. Senior Student Athlete Awards are May 15 at 630. The Athletic Awards Night is June 5 at 7 PM. This Saturday, NMHS Drama will be having the Drama Murder Mystery. That'll be in the Commons, I believe. Friday, May 17th, will be the Spring Concert for all the choirs in Newark Memorial. And on May 28th, that's a Tuesday at 3.30, there'll be the World Language Awards for students who have shown excellence in modern languages, French and Spanish. That's it.

[571] SPEAKER_28: OK. Thank you, Cesar. President Rodriguez? That concludes the student report.

[578] Ray Rodriguez: OK. I wanted to say that this time of year is just so exciting because so many things are happening in May as we get toward the end of the year. Our seniors are getting ready for their year-end event at the high school and then the elementary schools. And then we have testing. So there's a lot going on. And I wanted to thank our administrative boss, Char, who kind of runs the school district for everything she does. Executive assistant. There you go. But keeping us all on track as far as what's going on at each one of the sites, my agent told me, Papa, we're having testing going on in a few days. And she's all excited about it. Third grade is going to be the first time they do the test. So anyway, I appreciate everybody at every site and everything you do for our kids. And let's take time to really enjoy this, not that you didn't enjoy it before, but the last part of the year as we all celebrate the fact that we're celebrating success. So where are we at? Public comment on non-agenda items. Ms. Eustace, did you want to come up? So this is when, if you want to approach the board on any item that's not in the agenda, we allow you three minutes and you can come up and talk about anything you want.

[681] SPEAKER_54: Good evening board members. As I promised, we, CSCA, are still here and we want to be heard. The district received about a 3% COLA and you offered us a half percent COLA. What's wrong with this picture? You continue to deny us a fair wage increase. We should not have to make up your deficit spending. We do not make the kind of salaries that other groups do, but we still need to make a living wage in order to live in Newark. You're making it almost impossible. You continue to spend money unwisely. I see that you want to hire Ryland for a second year. I don't understand why. I understood the first year in trying to get through having Brian leave, having the county come in, and having Kai come in. I understood the transition. I don't understand the second year. That's $116,000 that you're putting where it should be coming out of the business office. You're paying twice as much to get the same work done. I continue to watch the board spend money that could be used to give us and other employees raises. That $116,000 could be used in a much better way. Use it to give us a fair wage increase. And I'd like to introduce at this moment, Carrie Parra, who is our labor rep.

[787] SPEAKER_55: I'm not going to sing. I'm going to recite a little bit of a poem. As we go marching, marching in the beauty of the day, a million darkened kitchens, a thousand mills loft gray, are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses. For the people here are singing, bread and roses, pan y rosas. As we go marching, marching, we battle too for men. For they are women's children, and we mother them again. Our lives shall not be sweetened from birth until life closes. Hearts starve as well as bodies. Give us bread, but give us roses. Danos pan, pero danos rosas. As we go marching, marching, we bring the greater days, for the rising of the women means the rising of the race. No more the dredge and idler, tend that toil where one reposes, but the sharing of life's glories. Pan yirosas, pan yirosas.

[855] SPEAKER_54: Thank you.

[856] Rachel Bloom: Thank you.

[871] Ray Rodriguez: Margarita Moreno.

[882] SPEAKER_38: Good evening, everybody. Good evening, members of the board. I don't have any notes with me. I just came to give my humble opinion as to how I feel. I've been working for the district for 21 years. I love my job. I wouldn't change it for anything else. I worked along certified staff. Everybody in the district met many families. I love my work. But however, as an employee of Newark Unified School District, I always felt that we were not treated equal as the certified staff. And this many years after my first year, I still feel the same way. This offer that We got this year to me is like that's ridiculous. We work just as hard as certified staff If maybe even more okay, cuz I come to work sick or not sick Okay, because I love my work and I know my parents depend on me. I work for the child care department But I speak with all about you know for all the employees They all work hard and I believe that we all deserve you know, a good increment. I also believe that, you know, we don't feel, at least me personally, I don't feel that the district consider us as important as the certified staff. But I also know that if it wasn't for classified staff, certified staff can't work either, because we are a team and we work together and we support each other in everything that we do. So I feel that it's fair that we only get treated as equal and maybe get fair increases in what we pay. So, sorry, I'm a little nervous. Again, I don't have any notes, but this is my opinion. I believe we deserve more, because 0, 0.5, that's like nothing to me. It's a laugh. It's a joke. And it's like, for that, you might as well just say, we're not giving you an increase. So again, this is my opinion. Thank you.

[1032] Ray Rodriguez: I know you might have been nervous, but you did very well. Thank you. Ms. Angela Lee.

[1046] SPEAKER_05: Good evening, everyone. My name is Angela Lee, and I'm a library clerk at Birch Grove Intermediate and chapter communications officer for the Newark chapter. I grew up in Newark from kindergarten to graduating high school. I am an active classified member in the district, attending meetings, joining committees, participating in workshops, trying to give input and work towards a solution towards our problems. I love the site I work at, my students, and my coworkers. But to be 100% honest, I'm tired. I'm tired and disheartened by the district's position to not support its own employees. I see my coworkers stressed because they have too few hours and are having to do more work because of understaffing. They love Newark students and want the best for them. But do you know what happens when employees feel this way? They leave. It's already hard enough to live in Newark with the rising cost. 1% does not bridge the gap between our current wage and a living wage. However, it does help to show that the district has respect towards classified employees. I'm currently pursuing a master's in library and information science. I delayed going back to school because I knew that if I did, I would leave a job and people I love. I hate to say that it's getting easier to see myself leave because of the district's actions. The very least the district can do is to go to the table and negotiate with us. Thank you.

[1138] Ray Rodriguez: Ms. Parks.

[1145] Cindy Parks: Good evening. At the last meeting, you had items before you to where you were approving contracts. I brought up the issue that Dr. Bernard's contract hadn't come before you to be approved, nor what did he appear on the PAL. At the time, Mr. Rodriguez was not here conducting the meeting. Ms. Thomas was. She instructed personnel to reach out to myself and to the board to provide the information on how Dr. Bernard, his contract was being dealt with or whether he should have been on the PAL. It's been two weeks since that meeting and I have not heard anything. I don't know whether you have, but the directions that Ms. Thomas gave were not followed and I would really appreciate an answer to my question regarding Dr. Bernard's contract or whether he should have been listed on the PAL. Thank you.

[1199] Ray Rodriguez: Superintendent, are you going to respond to that?

[1202] SPEAKER_28: We can. Yes.

[1208] SPEAKER_35: Good evening. Just a quick response. Dr. Bernard is a substitute employee at this point. Substitutes are not required to be on the PAL. We've done it in the past just to be consistent, but because he is a substitute, he fills out a time card. He doesn't have to be under contract. or appear on the panel. OK.

[1231] Ray Rodriguez: OK. Miss Janelle Guzman.

[1250] SPEAKER_53: Good evening. Hi. I'm just up here to let you know how I feel. I worked here for 10 years. These past two years have been my worst two years with stress. But I come every day with a smile on my face to help the kids. And for you to offer us a 0.5%, that's a slap in the face. We can't live like this. PG&E is supposed to go up 50%. Gas has gone up four bucks a gallon. What are we supposed to do? You guys can't do this to us. We do our best to make you guys look good. And we don't even get the respect that we should. I don't see any of you guys at our sites. You know? So how are we supposed to feel? I feel that we put our all into it, but you all don't put your all into it. I have a son that goes to Newark Memorial. He's got disabilities. And sometimes I feel maybe I should pull him out of school. He's not getting what he wants. I just feel that you guys should respect us. We all don't have any communication in this district. None of us. We're supposed to be a team. And I feel we're not a team with you. We're a team between us. But we need some kind of respect. Because that's what we do. We give respect. When we see you, we say hello. But, you know, just a little bit of appreciation would go a long way. Thank you.

[1418] Ray Rodriguez: Ms. Leona Gomez.

[1431] SPEAKER_19: Good evening, members of the board. My name is Leona Gomez. And I have been a campus monitor at BGP since October 2018. More recently, since last month, I'm also the SEL coach at BGP, where I focus on social emotional learning with the kids through SEL activities and SEL focus group sessions. A little history about me. which I think is important to share. I am a product of this district. I started here at Snow School when I was in second grade. I continued. I got my high school diploma, Newark Memorial. I then continued to get my bachelor's in social work, and I was a community-based social worker doing intensive case management in Oakland, San Francisco for almost eight years. I then came here. in October of 2018, so I could be closer to my young kids and not have to commute. I'm honored and I'm humbled to serve the community that gave so much to me, and that's why I'm here, to advocate for us, for the classified staff. And many of us have spoken today, and it really does, it saddens me. The campus monitors, the maintenance managers and crew, the lunch monitors, child care staff, librarian staff, different class aides, we are part of the team. We do deserve to be treated as integral parts of our respective school sites. We deserve competitive living wages, especially with the cost of living. Just as many of our coworkers from different Newark schools, like Ms. Sandy, Ms. Sue, who's still so actively involved, all different all different sites who continue to serve this district for many years and we're here. We stand together in voicing our need to be heard and compensated for our efforts. And this is not to take away from the outstanding work that our teachers do and our administrative staff. My point in speaking tonight is that we support each other. Just as Ms. Janelle had just said, we support each other, we respect each other, and we're not going anywhere. We will continue to advocate for ourselves until we feel that we are heard. are, you know, and are compensated. Like I said, even though I'm still new to this district, hearing about a .5 raise, it saddens me, especially for the amount of work that we willingly do at our sites. Many of us are overworked, many of us have left, many of us want to leave, and it's not easy because we love what we do, we love our kids, And also, just to echo and piggyback off what some of the other staff have already said tonight, there is a lack of communication for us and a lack of a space for us to negotiate our own terms. And I do believe that that needs to change. We need to be treated just as certified staff because we do put in the work, we really truly do. And I urge you to consider allocating funds for us because there's no way that our schools could run without the support that we provide. We have to sustain our current employees, our current classified staff. And yes, we do choose to be here. We choose to be here because we love our kids. We're so passionate about the work we do, just like with me. I feel so humbled and honored to be able to serve where I grew up, like this community that gave so much to me, and to impact the kids and have the impact with our fellow staff.

[1658] Ray Rodriguez: I'm sorry to interrupt you. It's just the time is up and we're trying to be fair for everybody. But I love what you have to say. And it's always seeing our kids that grew up in the system come back. And I appreciate everything you do. So can you just wrap it up for me?

[1678] SPEAKER_19: Sure. My last part is just to please really do consider our plea for fair and competitive wages, especially with the rise of the cost of living for us so that we can continue to live, too.

[1688] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you for taking the time, too. Ms. Linda Sterne-Mason. I hope I said that right.

[1708] SPEAKER_03: Good evening.

[1709] Ray Rodriguez: Good evening. Thank you for coming.

[1711] SPEAKER_03: As a parent of a Newark Memorial student, a Newark junior high student, and a longtime resident of Newark, and I have several questions. What is the district's policy regarding paid administrative leave? And who makes that decision, the superintendent or the executive director of human resources? Is the school board notified about that decision? Is there written criteria for replacing someone on paid administrative leave? Is there a portion of the district budget designated for the cost associated with paid administrative leave? And what is the district's policy if someone is exonerated after a personnel investigation? In other words, if the district finds no wrongdoing after a personnel investigation, do they return to their job? Once someone is placed on paid administrative leave, the district has to pay someone else to perform those duties. From which budget does the additional cost come from? How would the public know how much the district spends placing a staff member on paid administrative leave? And what is Dr. Bernard's salary for serving as interim Newark Memorial High School principal? Who made that decision, the superintendent? Did the board have anything to do with that decision? Does the executive director of human resources make all the decisions concerning hiring, firing, and disciplinary decisions? What credentials does the executive director of human resources have which qualified her for this position? Did she graduate from any human resource academy before being hired? Was she the director of classified or certificated personnel in another district? What is the district's procedure for handling government tort claims? Is the superintendent notified? Is the board notified? Is every lawsuit against the district a lawsuit against the board? Does the board have any role whatsoever in resolving tort claims? And why were the police present at the April 18, 2019 board meeting and again this evening? Under what circumstances are the Newark Police Department called to school board meetings? And who makes the decision to call the police? Where in the district budget does it say how much the district spends on attorneys? Does the district budget identify from which department attorney's fees originate? For example, do you know how much the human resources is spending during any given timeframe? And finally, what is Mr. Brett's current employment status with the district? Is he on paid administrative leave, still under investigation? Is he on paid administrative leave, exonerated? Did he resign? Was he fired? It's time for transparency. And I will be emailing each and every one of you a list of these questions. And I ask that each of you please respond. Thank you.

[1882] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you.

[1891] Ray Rodriguez: No, I'm Duke.

[1904] SPEAKER_57: I've been an employee at Newark Unified Schools for 28 years, 25 of them in the special education department as an assistant. I've lived in Newark for almost 42 years and my children are both successful products of the Newark Unified School system. In regards to appropriate spending of revenues and the proposal to renew a contract with an independent revenue spending organization with all due respect. The representative of that organization made several strong suggestions that all bargaining units be paid reasonable and competitive wages, maybe not necessarily the highest in kind, but competitive. And yet this board continually disregards the advice of the very independent organization that you are proposing to renew a contract with. It doesn't make sense.

[1970] Ray Rodriguez: Can I interrupt you for one second? We're talking about the Ryland contract, is that correct?

[1976] SPEAKER_57: Yes, I am.

[1977] Ray Rodriguez: No, what I'm asking is, this is the time for public comment on non-agenda items. and it's on the agenda.

[1985] SPEAKER_57: I'm talking about our contract. I'm talking about the way you spend money.

[1989] Ray Rodriguez: OK, good. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[1991] SPEAKER_57: As I was looking today at the job openings for classified employees, I noticed several were still not filled. You're still having trouble filling those positions, campus monitors being a great void. You're losing people. There are assistant positions in special education classes that are open, that are unfilled. So you're having trouble filling them. You're not paying us a competitive wage, as has been advised to you. And about three years ago, I spoke to the sitting board about morale. In 25 years, I have never seen the morale so low. And unless all of us have degrees in drama, we're putting on some really happy faces. So I don't know. It's just something to think about. If you're going to hire a company that's advising you, maybe you want to take their advice because you are refusing to pay us a competitive wage. Thank you.

[2071] Ray Rodriguez: Ms. Doote, in 10.5 we're going to be talking about the contract. So if you want to fill out another one of these and speak about just that contract, I'm fine with that if you want to do that. So do we have anybody else for public comment on non-agenda items? OK. That was 6.1. So now we go to the superintendent's contract. I mean contract, we already talked about that, superintendent report.

[2102] SPEAKER_28: Thank you, President Rodriguez, members of the board, ladies and gentlemen. At this time, I'd like to invite Jane Burns to the podium, please.

[2124] SPEAKER_04: Hello. My name is Harkabir Ackwell. I am the president of Rocketry. This, as you know, this handsome young man is Cesar Castillo. And this is Kaylee Taylor. We come before you to ask for your support in the future about the Rocketry Club. A little background, we compete in TARC, which stands for Team America Rocketry Challenge. Over 900 teams compete in the nation. And we actually qualify for finals, which is in the top 100 teams. And we sent out the max number of teams, which is two. We have a very versatile system of organization. We go to launch every Saturday at 7.30 AM in the morning. We schedule builds to help our general members find... Can you hold on for one second?

[2175] Ray Rodriguez: If you're going to leave, could you do it quietly, please? Because we want to be courteous to the person that's speaking. Just wait for one second. I'm sorry, I'm all excited about the Rocketry Club.

[2191] SPEAKER_04: Go ahead. It's okay. We have a very versatile system of organization. We teach our general members problem-solving skills along with hands-on skills in our build sessions, and we hope that you support our club in the future. Here is Kaylee Taylor. She will speak about the future and success of the members in this club.

[2210] SPEAKER_62: Hello, I'm Kaylee Taylor. I want to talk about how we've sent many students into STEM fields, going to very successful colleges, and in those colleges pursuing STEM fields. We have students currently attending UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Claremont McKenna. current students that have been accepted to Harvey Mudd, UC Davis, and many more successful colleges. Even students that don't end up going on to amazing colleges, they still go here to Ohlone and they end up pursuing fields like aerospace engineering and different STEM fields. And many of the students after graduating college go into STEM fields as well.

[2260] SPEAKER_60: We don't just compete, we also work with our elementary schools to get elementary aged kids in the engineering process. So as you all know, we participate in science nights at the elementary schools. We do rocket launches so the kids can get involved in the process of launching a rocket. We kind of teach them some of the basics of rocket design and how we make things fly. So we're very community oriented. In addition to competing for ourselves, we want to make sure that we're giving back to the community that's given us so much. We've come up from Newark School since elementary school, so we want to give back to the community and help out as much as we can.

[2299] SPEAKER_04: And that is all. Thank you.

[2303] Ray Rodriguez: Oh, no, no. Don't go away. Don't go away. So are you going to start a GoFundMe so we can help? Because I'm willing to. Because the board, on occasion, will. when we see something that we want to support, not that we just support a lot of things. I'm willing to give $100 if you're going to have some kind of a fundraiser, and I'm sure a lot of the board would like to do something similar. Can you tell us how we can support you financially?

[2337] SPEAKER_04: So essentially, all we're asking is your support. If there's any money that's left over in the district fund, we ask that you please allocate it to us or some other student club.

[2347] Ray Rodriguez: OK. Any extra money? We can use an intern in our business department. What is your target? Do you have a target?

[2362] SPEAKER_04: Right now, we're very low on funds, as a matter of fact. Let me just throw out an example. A pack of motor, which contains around two motors, takes $25. At normal launch, we use up $9. Right now, we only have $126.29. So we're kind of low on funds.

[2383] Ray Rodriguez: I mean, I've seen it where sometimes they'll have a thermometer, and then you're probably going to stop right down here, right?

[2390] SPEAKER_04: That's actually pretty much it. OK. But yeah.

[2402] Ray Rodriguez: I'd like to write a check but I'll just give you cash.

[2408] SPEAKER_04: That's all. Thank you.

[2410] Ray Rodriguez: How can we contribute? Member Martinez wants to know.

[2413] SPEAKER_04: If any of you wish NMHS Rocketry Club?

[2417] SPEAKER_28: Yeah. Animatrix. Okay.

[2419] Ray Rodriguez: Yeah. Okay. So I don't have my checkbook here, so I went to the bank to give money to my grandkids, so they're not going to be happy that I'm taking it out and giving it to you. So here's $100.

[2434] Bowen Zhang: Are you leaving right now?

[2451] Ray Rodriguez: You want money from Cesar? Hey, you did the pledge for us. That's worth something, right?

[2459] SPEAKER_28: So while you're waiting for some filling of your hat, do you have a target of how much you'd like to raise?

[2468] SPEAKER_04: Currently, we'd like to raise around $1,000. As much as possible.

[2475] SPEAKER_28: So set a time to come meet with me, and I've got a A few dollars I can send your way. OK?

[2482] Ray Rodriguez: Excellent. All right. Thank you. Are you going to DC, or what's going on with?

[2488] SPEAKER_04: Yes, we are going to DC in a few weeks.

[2491] Ray Rodriguez: OK. My nephew is a vice principal there, one of the high schools. So I'm going to give him the information, and hopefully you guys can get together, because he's excited about what you guys are doing. Hey. No, no, no. Thank you.

[2508] Nancy Thomas: You guys did great.

[2519] SPEAKER_28: Young man. You're taking everybody's gas money. What I'd like you to do, young man.

[2526] Ray Rodriguez: Hold on.

[2528] SPEAKER_28: While I do my report, would you tally how much you raised right now? I want to know that number, because I'm going to... Can I make a suggestion?

[2537] SPEAKER_48: If I can suggest you guys get that little card app, and member John and myself can contribute a little bit more next time.

[2543] Bowen Zhang: There you go. You got to understand, we live in a card society these days, not a cash society. You know, I have to say when President Rodriguez, when you put up your wallet, I have to say I've never seen that much cash in my life.

[2560] Ray Rodriguez: I like having suggestions.

[2561] SPEAKER_51: Hi, I'm Jane Burns. I'm one of the two advisors of the club. I just want to say thank you for your support of the Rocketry Club in years past. The district has always been super supportive, and we really appreciate it. We have 11 very excited students going to nationals in Washington DC in a week and a half. And only one of the students going has been before. So we have 10 brand new students going, and they are thrilled. sure that you will approve our trip later on in the meeting.

[2591] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you very much. You've been with us a while and they couldn't have picked a better advisor to have you, in my opinion. OK. So get all our money. I have a few more items.

[2606] SPEAKER_28: Jane, would you talk with Mr. Nguyen about how we could deposit the money appropriately? A couple more things. Board retreat and governance training on this Saturday. Just a reminder May 4th at Whiteford Elementary from 8 30 a.m. To 2 Just a reminder for the board and that is funded and the breakfast and lunch will be provided by CCEE So that is a grant Also want to remind everyone tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. At Logan High School Special Special Olympics Track and field at James Logan High School. I know member Rodriguez and I will be attending. I don't know anyone else. They're all welcome to attend. It's always a great day and just inspirational what we see there. I do want to thank our MOT department and I want to kind of give you a list of some of the work that they have done over the spring break. I'll read you a little laundry list of stuff that they accomplished over spring break. HVAC caulking, overweight room at the high school, downspouts in the 300 and 400 and 700 hallway, replacing ballasts at the high school. We have a beehive at Kennedy. We're trying to extract some bees out of Kennedy. Power wash the STAR lab, grounds at the high school, paint the poles at BGI, caution lines at BGP, backhoe benches at BGP and corp yard, ramps at and paint at Schilling. Main lines, Kennedy and Lincoln. Bid, walk, stadium. I'm not sure what that is exactly. Oh, stadium lights. Bidding and walking, recommending repair for stadium lights. ACWD vault was repaired, I think. Kennedy water pressure has been resolved. Working on the old gym. Fire inspections. Junior High School, McGregor Music, and a backhoe at the Corp Yard. Just a lot of things that you would never see, but a lot of work went in that week. And I think one that I think I'm proud that they did as well is they recovered a $3,100, $31,000 repair to the floor that had gotten damaged by another group. They chased those dollars down, and our repair has been, our floor at the high school's been repaired in the old gym at no cost to the district. So I just want to congratulate MOT and their team for their work over spring break. A few more things. Upcoming study sessions, just to follow up with the board. May 16th, we were planning a study session from ADIS. At the June board meeting, we will have a marketing update by Valera during my report. June 6th meeting, we will look at a spotlight recognition from 5 to 530. 530 to 630, we will be planning a board study session for Latinx summit results, and we'll do a 6.30 to 7.30 closed session, that night was a short closed session. And June 19th, we are slating another solar presentation for the board. So that's what's coming up. I just wanted to share that with you. That concludes my report.

[2810] Ray Rodriguez: Okay. Thank you, Superintendent. Welcome, Member Thomas. Thank you. Congratulations.

[2820] Nancy Thomas: at my major award.

[2822] Ray Rodriguez: At the next meeting, could we invite the ladies that received the awards tonight and maybe come to the meeting, if that's OK? Sure. OK.

[2832] SPEAKER_28: I do want to route a picture of what was repaired so we can show it to the audience. That concludes my report. I apologize.

[2840] Ray Rodriguez: That's OK. Thank you much. OK, we go to employee organizations, NTA. Please. Welcome.

[2871] SPEAKER_27: Good evening and welcome to you. We missed you last board meeting.

[2875] Ray Rodriguez: It was my birthday. That was the money I gave that young man. That was my birthday money.

[2878] SPEAKER_49: Good, good.

[2879] SPEAKER_27: I matched it, by the way. OK, thank you. I matched it. And it was my hat, so sorry it was dirty. I wear it a lot. Anyway, good evening board and cabinet and gentlemen. Just a couple of things that I want to touch on tonight. I'm not going to scold anybody because I have a reputation of doing that, I guess. I do want to talk about a couple of awards that we've received. The CTA has a GLBTQ plus, I think I got them all, Guy De La Rosa grant and scholarship program that they do annually. And this year, for the first time, I believe, in the history, two Newark teachers applied for the grant and each got $500. to give back to the students. Juleus Chapman applied for a grant to purchase library books for $500. He got $500 to do that. So we're working with the library clerks to find out what we want to buy for them. And then Amanda Yop, high school teacher, She's the GLBTQ advisor. There we go. Yeah. And she got a $500 grant to purchase a button maker and buttons for pronouns so that students can wear their pronouns. And if you don't know about that, we can have coffee together and I'll tell you about it. Another award that we recently gave Each year, our chapter gives a Who Award to an outstanding union member and supporter. And that went to Megan McMillan. And we had a big breakfast in Oakland with all the other chapters. And it was quite an event. And for the first time, we had 10 people from our chapter and Megan's family. It was 50-50, which last year, we had nobody go. So, it was nice to have 10 people go. So, and that's all I have for tonight. So, thank you very much.

[3032] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Thank you much. CSCA? NEWMA? Did you want to come up? Okay. Ms. Eustis, thank you.

[3053] SPEAKER_54: I told you at the last meeting that two of our people won Golden Bear Awards. One of them happens to be here. Before she gets out of the room, I want to recognize her. Pat Doyle.

[3065] SPEAKER_54: Hello, Pat. So I've been around for 42 years. She's been around longer, probably about 46, 45 years. And so if you have not seen, there's a book she wrote, and it's about the Newark Unified School District classified employees. Pat, do you still, do you have a copy of it left? Could you bring it so that I can show it to them at the next board meeting? If you haven't seen it, it's really cool. We, under Susan Condon, and we had our 50th anniversary. And they, she had written this book on all the employees that were in the classified bargaining unit that had worked here and all the different jobs that they had throughout the whole district and what awards they won. There is just, and I'll tell you, it's the only, it's the only book that's written this way. It's in CSCA headquarters and it's in our, our awards room and so it sits proudly there. She still continues to work on updating it. She finds new people that she had not mentioned in the book and so she's going to periodically she puts up like a little supplement to this book. So it was a lot of work. I'm very proud of all the years that Pat did. She was she did my newsletter maybe 20 years 14. So I exaggerate a little bit, but she certainly is one of those very rare people. She was sort of kind of like the truant officer at the high school, and I think she's pretty proud of our attendance at that time. Everybody knows who she is, including the kids, and they'll say, aren't you Miss, she didn't go by Doyle. She went by Pat Rowe, but people still recognize her. And so she did a lot of work here in the district. She's one of them. Maria's not able to be here tonight, but I'm also really proud of all the work that Maria has done for this chapter. And I believe that Maria is receiving another award as well. And it's from the Latin community. And so I certainly am pleased that, I'm certainly pleased that they recognize all of her work. for the community as a whole. We are going to be having a classified school employees night, May 20th, and we are going to be having it claim jumpers. So we move back. It's where we have our Christmas stuff. And we're going to have a really good time. So if you get a chance, please stop by. Thank you very much.

[3242] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you for mentioning that. Thank you, Pat. You've been telling me what to do for a lot, a lot of years, or calling me all the time.

[3254] SPEAKER_17: NEWMA. Good evening, everybody. So today, I just want to update you on some fun things that are happening. It was already mentioned earlier, but it's time for state testing. We're all embracing it. It's a good thing. We're going to do fabulous this year. But I want to point out some highlights of some of our team members. So I want to talk about Dr. Wendy Castaneda-Leal at Schiele. She's doing some amazing things this year with her team. And one of those things that she has implemented is a Saturday camp to give her students a little extra confidence, get them ready. She had 65 students willingly come to school on a Saturday. How fabulous is that? They also had their first Dia de los Niños at the site with 150 participants there. And she is cordially inviting you to join her open house on the 22nd. So we have great things happening all over, and that's what's happening at Schilling. I also want to talk about what we're doing in our secondary campuses. Mr. Neal has been really putting a ton of effort in reaching our parents at the secondary level. We always worry that the kids get older and the parents start to step away, and he is not accepting that. So he has worked really hard. They are just starting a PTA. So they had their initial parent meeting. They decided to go PTA, not PTO. and it had a huge turnout. So that's going to be so great for our students as our parents and kind of embrace the secondary life. He's also going another step further and he's going to be joining us at music tomorrow morning for a coffee with the principal because my ELAC team, they wanted more time with him. They wanted to ask him questions, get to know him, kind of size him up, get ready for middle school, and he's graciously decided to join us. So we have all kinds of wonderful things going on there. But most importantly, we want to let everyone know that next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. And we value and cherish each one of our teachers and all they do for our students and our community. The following week is Staff Appreciation Week, and that's our CSCA friends. And we cherish them, too. So we invite you to celebrate them with us. Thank you.

[3373] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Thank you so much. OK, we now go to 9.1. So this is the Sunshine District proposal to the Newark Teachers Association, NTA. Anyone want to talk to this, or are we just?

[3408] Nancy Thomas: You have to open the public hearing.

[3411] Ray Rodriguez: I don't see it. Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. I just don't even see it. OK. So we want to open the public hearing on Sunshine District Proposal to Newark Teachers Association. Anyone want to approach the board on this particular item on the public hearing? Seeing none, we close the public hearing. And we move to old business 10.1, change of regular board meeting date for June 2019. Who wants to? Shar, this is, this one was, I know we normally don't have our, did you want to say something on this, if you don't mind? Sure. Thank you.

[3463] SPEAKER_37: So we are asking to move the regularly voted upon June 20th, Thursday, June 20th, meeting to Wednesday, June 19th. We, Newark Unified, are very proud that six of our administrators are going to be recognized, including our Superintendent of the Year for Region 6, Ms. Salinas for Region 6, Mr. Larry Simon, Ms. Angela Ehrlich, Mr. Mark Neal, are all being recognized at the AXA Awards, and it falls on June 20th. So we'd like to move the meeting. All of our winners and their staffs can attend the dinner, and you're all included and invited to attend the dinner for them. So if we vote on this, then we do not have to make a special meeting and make any provisions for what we have to do that night.

[3512] Ray Rodriguez: Got it. OK. Thank you. Thank you much. And congratulations to the award winners. So I need a motion and a second, please. Changing the meeting date.

[3524] Nancy Thomas: I move that we change the meeting date to the 19th. OK.

[3528] Ray Rodriguez: Need a second?

[3528] Nancy Thomas: I'll second it.

[3529] Ray Rodriguez: Member Thomas makes the motion. Member Gutierrez seconds. Please vote. Okay, motion passes unanimously. So we're good there. Thank you for bringing this up this way. This way it's done the way it should be by the board voting on it.

[3557] SPEAKER_52: Facility use schedule updates 10.2 Superintendent or mr. Guy So it's been a month since we submitted the new fee schedule to the board and we haven't had any public comments So I would recommend that the board approve the new fee schedule It's been 15 years since we updated the new fee schedule.

[3579] Ray Rodriguez: Okay? Any board member want to have any comments on this? If not, I need a motion

[3589] SPEAKER_47: 6 Yeses.

[3620] Ray Rodriguez: OK, 10.3, board policy 3290, gifts, grants, requests. This is the second reading, so this is when we normally vote to approve this. Anyone want to address this or any comments on this one? If not, I need a motion and a second.

[3640] Nancy Thomas: I move that we approve the board policy 3290.

[3643] Ray Rodriguez: OK. Member Thomas moves that we approve 3290 need a second, please. I'll second Bowen seconds member Ying Please vote Okay motion passes Six ayes Okay, ten point four board policy and administrative regulation thirteen twelve point four Williams uniform complaint procedure Procedures, second reading, conversation, motion, and a second. Anyone like to talk about this? Or if not, please, I need a motion.

[3690] Nancy Thomas: I move approval.

[3694] Elisa Martinez: I'll second. OK.

[3698] Ray Rodriguez: OK, let me just, yes. Member Thomas moves. Member Martinez seconds. Member Martinez, there you go, perfect, thank you. Okay, item passes unanimously, six ayes.

[3716] SPEAKER_60: Member, student member.

[3724] Ray Rodriguez: Other than personnel.

[3726] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, you should be able to vote on this.

[3728] Ray Rodriguez: Yeah, you're gonna vote on it? Yes. Okay, just raise your hand, say yes. I vote yes. Okay, it's unanimous, thank you. OK. 10.5 is the agreement with Ryland School of Business Consulting. We have a couple of community members that would like to approach us before the board discusses this. Ms. Parks.

[3762] Cindy Parks: Good evening. May 2018, Brian Richards left y'all hanging. He resigned as CBO. June 19 of 2018, you approved a proposal, a contract from Terri Ryland Consulting. Terri's contract was her contract. What you saw at that time was not your NUSD contract. There was no maximum. There was no date. Fast forward to Kai being hired as your CBO in September. And when your first interim came through, and you had to drop it from positive to qualified due to the financial issues this district is suffering from, you chose to bring back Ryland Consulting. At your January meeting, you had a proposal from Ryland Consulting. That proposal did not have a contract with it. That proposal what was before you was for the January through June $20,000 to extend the contract. As of March 31st, 2019 financial, just in January, February, March, you've already spent $56,000 of the 20, which is the reason you have a proposal before you today, which has the contract that was signed in January for $20,000. If you look at page two of that contract, there are some additions added, which says that you're going to indemnify them. There's no signature. There's no initials next to it. I don't know who wrote it on there. There's no initials from you. There's no initials from them. Did you even have your attorney authorize this before you agreed to indemnify them and defend any contract, the contract? before you tonight is I assume an addition to the $20,000 because the agenda is the only thing that says what you're approving tonight, and it says $116,000. So $116,000, and as of right now, to date, this fiscal year, you spent $133,000 for Ryland Consulting. Now granted, you didn't have a CBO until September or whenever, Kai actually started, so you were able to use the CBO money. But you're broke. So you're paying a CBO almost $160,000, and you have before you a $116,000 proposal, and you've already spent $132,000, $133,000 through March. I think you need to seriously consider your financial options for your financial situation and who's running this district financially. Thank you.

[3951] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Mr. Newt.

[3964] Cary Knoop: Good evening. It's pretty much what Cindy said, and I just want to make sure that I think Ryland resulting

[3975] Ray Rodriguez: I'm sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Newkirk.

[3977] Cary Knoop: Starting at zero, right? Right. OK. And Ryland Consulting, I think, is a great consulting company. So it's nothing negative towards Ryland Consulting. I think they're doing a great job. But the business office is supposed to do that work. They're supposed to handle budgets and things like that. You can't have the business office plus an external agency. Frankly, I find it a little bit annoying to see in the agenda notes that, well, we need this because of all the board requests in the FGMAT report. I think that's kind of silly. I don't think that's not right. So, you know, the business office should handle this. They should handle the budget. And I understand if there's a transition period where, you know, the former CBO left, that you need some help, but, you know, The business office needs to handle this. We don't have extra money. And just the same thing what Cindy said about the contract, you don't put handwritten notes in contract. I think that's very unprofessional. And I think the indemnification and the, you know, the hold harmless, that's a normal clause. But there is also in addition that the district defends any legal attacks to that business unit, which is way beyond that. If somebody were to sue Ryland independently, it would imply that the district would help out for that. So it probably didn't go through a lawyer. And again, you don't want to have contracts with handwritten notes on it. I think that's just not done. Thanks.

[4086] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Ms. Eustis.

[4106] SPEAKER_54: With all the concern of having a budget where we are, we're deficit spending, I believe that spending this $116,000 is just not appropriate. Use it for something else. I know what I would like it used for, obviously. But seriously, even if you don't use it for that, use it to make up the deficit. I believe that the business office has the ability to do their job. Allow them to do their job. Quit spending money that you don't need to. It's like you're beating a dead horse. Please, don't spend another $116,000 on The report you got, Noel is right. You haven't followed through. It recommended that you give your employees a raise. I don't think we're seeing anything different since she made that observation. We're certainly not getting any indication that there's an interest to talk. So please, please spend the money wisely. Be careful with the money. You've got to treat your employees better than what you're doing. You've just got to. And Ryland, by the way, is a wonderful, they did a great job. I have no complaints with the work that they did. But we should be able to do it ourselves.

[4191] SPEAKER_49: Thank you.

[4196] Ray Rodriguez: Okay, so this is before us. Staff recommends the board approve an increased amount on the agreement with Ryland School of Business Consulting. Establish financial stability and fiscal solvency in order to drive continuous improvement. Contract is for $116,000 and we have copies of the one that we did in January. Superintendent, did you want to address this?

[4222] SPEAKER_28: I think that the work that Ryland has been asked to do, they continue to do it. They've done a good work with it. I think that Ryland is here. I don't want to speak for Ryland. I think they certainly Could answer or field any questions from the board not from the audience relative to this topic Beverly do you feel comfortable speaking to the anything on the contract or anything that we've done? Or we're gonna present some recommendations later.

[4246] SPEAKER_58: I know you're ready to speak to that but Any help district needs we will provide I And there's not a problem if you don't want to help. I already have another assignment. I already told the business office I'm moving on to another district on May 15th. I'm just trying to help the district with their budget for next year because you haven't had documentation of your budget and FCMAT wrote you up on that. So I've been helping them just write everything down so people can follow it. But it's up to you. You want our help. You don't want our help. I mean, it's literally up to the district. The district, our firm is in demand. I'm in demand in different places. So like I said, I've already given the office that I'm moving on May 15th. I'll be available by phone or anything. But we want to provide what you want. I know when I was brought in, it was for the budget reductions going on at that time. And so we helped with that. strategic plan. We worked with that. We basically just want to help you manage your finances. Whatever help you need, we make some recommendations. And literally, we'll do what you want. That's the only reason we're here. And if you don't want us here, we'll gracefully bow out. Anything else? Any questions?

[4335] Ray Rodriguez: Yes, thank you for, Member Martinez.

[4342] Elisa Martinez: Yes, I've had some conversation with district staff. This is not a question about whether we want you here or not. It's a question about process. And so when I look at the agenda item and I look at $116,000, but the contract, the only visibility I have is $20K here or $25K or $20K here, where's the rest of it? So frankly, I just don't think, in fact, I had recommended this agenda item be pulled. There is not enough for us to seriously consider and vote on this item. So frankly, I don't know what else to have a discussion. The process is just not ready for us to vote on.

[4384] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Beverly, if it's OK if I call you Beverly. You're great. We love having you here. But I see the contract from January. I'm wondering. you know, how much do we owe them so far? Because we're in May. And how much more would it take for them to stay with us, let's say, until June 30th at the end of the fiscal year? Those are my questions that I have.

[4411] SPEAKER_28: If I may, I would recommend allow us to pull this item and bring it back with a more detailed contract, full detail of what's spent to date and what would be proposed work going forward. I think we can easily pull it and bring it back with more detail and let the board make a more informed

[4428] Ray Rodriguez: Right, and I was on the phone when we did the agenda setting and I really didn't have a chance to look at this, but I would have asked for it to be pulled. I agree with Member Martinez, so thank you, Superintendent. I would like to pull it. Does everybody else feel okay with that? We'll pull it and bring it back in two weeks. But I'd still like to have my question answered. We're in May. How much do we owe them? you know, to take us until now, for instance.

[4460] SPEAKER_52: Hello. OK. So with this.

[4463] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you, Beverly.

[4464] SPEAKER_52: Appreciate it. With this extended contract, well, it will be up to $116,000. So, so far, for Mrs. Brevely, I can't pronounce her last name, but. Hieronymus. Hieronymus.

[4479] SPEAKER_49: It will go up to $116,000.

[4479] SPEAKER_52: So right now, we're currently billing We have a bill from Rhode Island services around $75,000. So if we go to June, it will come up to $116,000.

[4495] Ray Rodriguez: So we're approving a contract after the fact, then, basically.

[4499] SPEAKER_52: Right. Yeah. Because we didn't want to stop the services because we have many requests from the governing board in regards to the fiscal recovery plan, a second set of eyes.

[4510] Ray Rodriguez: OK. OK. Member Gutierrez, thank you. Mr. Nguyen.

[4518] SPEAKER_48: I think I reserve my questions.

[4523] Ray Rodriguez: Fine.

[4523] SPEAKER_48: I reserve my questions for the next time since we're going to be pulling this item.

[4525] Ray Rodriguez: Yeah, that's correct. And we should be talking about this at the next meeting, because we already decided to bring it back. OK. Before we do that, Member Thomas, did you want to say anything?

[4535] Nancy Thomas: Yes. I appreciate, too, what Ryland Consulting has done for us ever since we lost our superintendent last May. One of the things that comes to mind when I see what the cost of this program and what's been occurred so far is internal controls or the lack thereof. The business office has a contract. It's for $20,000. The minute there's work that goes over that amount, it has to be somehow authorized. That means that staff up to $44,000 or whatever the limit is can authorize and create a new contract. But that didn't happen. We just said, oh, we need the work. Keep doing it. That's how spending goes under control, goes out of control, I think, is when, oh, we need the work. Let's just keep spending it. And we're not following normal cost accounting and internal control procedures. And I've seen this in many other cases where we don't have contracts that are signed or the contracts have information in there that's not current.

[4615] Ray Rodriguez: It's just... We're getting beyond, so if you don't mind... I'm sorry, am I out of order? No, no, I just was hoping you can, you know, this isn't time for us to... Well, I think it is.

[4625] Nancy Thomas: This is a contract that has an issue that I think we need to speak to. I'm sorry, I'm done.

[4633] Ray Rodriguez: We're going to bring the contract back so you'll be able to say more on it. That being said, we go to 10.6, superintendent.

[4646] SPEAKER_28: I'm going to ask Beverly and Mr. Wynn to share what's in the queue tonight.

[4671] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. You're back, Beverly. And again, Beverly, like Member Thomas said and Member Martinez, we all, all of us, appreciate you being with us and helping us through this whole deficit spending thing that we're on. Thank you.

[4699] SPEAKER_58: Thank you. We were asked to bring back what we presented at a former board meeting. We gave you two scenarios for deficit reduction. Come up with a plan so we could reduce the deficit. First I wanted to talk just a little about the ground rules that the district should abide by. Newark has been in enrollment decline for the last 25 years with only six years seeing an increase. That means your trend is definitely downward, which is concerning. That no use of one-time funding goes forward in budget planning at this point. That you have a reserve of 2.2 in Fund 17. That's what you need when you're declining. You need to touch that if, you know, it happens during the year. But you don't need to put it in in your budget planning or you're not planning properly. If you do use that money, you're allowed to use that money during the year, especially for the enrollment declines. But if you do that, you need to replace it the following year. An enrollment in a declining district, you basically have to cut almost every year. That's because whatever you go down in revenue, you must for the following year replace it. I suggest that you build your reserve beyond the 3% recommended by the state. You've done that in your Fund 17, having 2.2 there. But that's all you have. You used to have a lot more. So you right now just have 2.2. That's beyond the 3%. If the enrollment continues to decline beyond the adopted budget, if you're basically revenue declines, one of the things I think I've explained to you before is when your enrollment declines, it isn't just your LCFF that declines. Almost all your other revenues decline, too. Your lottery declines. CSR declines. Everything declines. And it's a problem. So this was the first scenario we presented to you. This scenario basically says you will eliminate your deficits for the multiyear. This is based on the multiyear projections from the second interim. Basically, we said you eliminate your deficits for the multiyear time, which is two years out. You eliminate them all in one year. Basically, that puts you at three. You can see there at the bottom, 3.045356 would need to be cut next year so that you're out of the deficit situation in one year. That's a difficult cut to make and could put pressure on the district basically, but that's what we presented. Below you can see the amount of employee groups raises. It's about for 1%, it's about half a million Two percent, it's about a million, and for three percent, it's about one and a half million. So literally, that would add on top of it. If you put raises in, you would need to actually cut for that, make reductions. In the second scenario, and I went over what this was, and I'll talk to you about the second scenario. You use beginning balances when you come in higher. You can use your beginning balances, and you can go a little bit beyond your revenue as long as you maintain your three percent reserve. In this scenario, in 1920, you would cut about 1.4 million and 20,000 for the next year. So you basically cut that 1.4 there. And you actually cut for the out year, the next year, you would cut 1.5. Those to me are more reasonable cuts that you could probably manage. And to me, this is what the superintendent recommends. It's what I recommend. It's a way to go. And one of the things, when you're cutting for two years in the future, you don't know what's going to happen in two years. You don't know where the state budget is going to be. You don't know where your enrollment is going to be. So you might be overcutting. And that could be very dangerous for the instructional programs and for things that we need to do for our employees. So I think the second scenario is much more reasonable that you could handle. 1.5 each year is much more reasonable. We did that this year. And it was because we had what we call some low-hanging fruit. There was a lot of small, small classrooms across the district. And so staffing needed to be reduced. Much as you guys don't want to do that, It makes sense when even the schools know their staffing, their student count is really low. It's one of the first places you go when you're a declining district. So at this point, the raises are the same. You put those in. You always maintain your 3% reserve. And this particular scenario can offset deficit spending. You cut annually by the amount of the reduction in the following year. Minimize disruption of daily operations. And basically you have to consider what you need to do for your employees. So at this point, are there any questions about this is the scenario the superintendent's recommending, I'm recommending, Kai's recommending? It's much more reasonable. And if you literally find that you find extra money, you might have to cut less. Do everything you can to raise your money. Get rid of the contracts maybe that you have. any which way you look at. But one of the things you need to realize for deficit spending, when you do your cuts, you need to do real cuts. And real cuts are things that affect you in the out years. Unfortunately, one of the things is employees, staffing is one of the things that are real cuts. But there are also programs and things you could look at if you eliminate programs. So those are all things that were put in your strategic plan to look at. But it's always up to you. We don't come in and recommend cuts to you. You have to come up with your cuts. So, any questions? Oh, the good news I didn't show you is in this scenario too, 21-22, you actually have a 1.226 surplus. You actually are in positive spending. You're not deficit spending in that third year. I mean, that's a very good thing. You can do things that you want to do with programs for employees You know two years of tightening the belt and that third year you would be in much better shape I Was very happy when I saw that you weren't you aren't deficit spending Yes

[5121] Nancy Thomas: You mentioned something about reducing staffing this year. But the reduction this year is not shown there.

[5135] SPEAKER_52: It would take effect in 1920.

[5138] SPEAKER_58: Yeah, 1920. The cuts we made this year were for next year. That's 1.678 you see there. Those are the reductions of staffing.

[5144] Nancy Thomas: No, but I thought you said that even during this year there were classrooms consolidated or something, and you were talking about next year.

[5154] SPEAKER_58: I was talking about next year. When I came in in February, it was cuts for 19-20, we were talking about.

[5159] Nancy Thomas: And I've always made the point, and I'm going to continue making the point, that those undesignated reserves that, in the ending fund balance, came out of Fund 17. That's one-time money that was never meant to be spent for deficit spending, and yet we continue to to deficit spend and not make the hard choices. And the cuts that are listed there, the 1.44 million, there's no definitive plan against it. We haven't discussed any specific cuts to be, you know, having to look at cutting another additional money, additional amount in 2020, 2021. without ever having any conversations about where that might come from. We haven't looked at programs. We haven't seriously discussed consolidating schools. So, that's a huge amount of money that we've not been able to make decisions about in the past.

[5231] SPEAKER_52: Okay.

[5234] Ray Rodriguez: Member Martinez.

[5238] Elisa Martinez: we have a plan. So you know as I try to kind of think about what I'm trying to vote on tonight. And when we qualify or give a positive is do we believe we have a plan. Yes, right. And numerically we have a plan. Yes, we have a plan that specific for next year. But the year beyond that is I don't know enough to have a sense of that we really do and will come up with a plan. I think that we've talked about, again, the right sizing of our district. Again, nobody wants to talk, and it's not a popular topic, around the consolidation of schools, even potential additional cuts to staff, and looking at programs. The key is that we need to talk about it to have a credible plan. Doesn't mean we're going to go do it, right? But if we are not at least putting it out there and saying, hey, this is our best hypothesis as to what's going to drive that 1.4 million cuts the following year, then I can't have the confidence that we have a solid plan beyond a number, right?

[5319] SPEAKER_58: So you're saying, let me try and understand. You're saying because we don't tell you what is going to be cut in that 1.4, it's not a plan? Because what the county is going to look at, what the outside sources look at, or is the district serious about reducing the 1.4? Is the district serious? They're not going to, our firm doesn't come in and tell you what cuts to make. It's organically up to you. We wrote that in the strategic plan. The district has to decide. We can't say what needs to be cut because you don't know where your enrollment's going to be.

[5351] Elisa Martinez: I understand that, and I'm not looking at Ryland per se, because this is something that the district staff is bringing to us. So you just happen to be helping with the process. But this question is for district staff. And if we can't, again, absolutely, we don't know. Hope is a strategy. It's hope that we're going to see an enrollment increase. But it's not. It's not a real strategy. then what should we be making an assumption? We, again, the key is that we know, we don't know what's going to happen, but do we at least have a credible path? And Member Thomas, I know you've been beating the drum about how are we evaluating programs. Again, none of these are popular cuts, but what do we have in front of us to be able to get that? Believe me, I want to give a positive, status to this interim, but I need that.

[5414] SPEAKER_28: If I may, to be able to respond and hopefully help clarify some of it, the reason this is on the table tonight for a vote is we need to have a model in which we're going to build further steps for the board. So if you choose scenario one or two, whichever one you choose, the staff will come back and start delineating what makes up the 1.4 for in this example of 19-20. And the board can weigh in on yes, no, we want to cut this or that. But we need to have at least some agreement around how fast and what's the pace of how you want to do it. That's really what we're asking tonight. Happy to come back and do as many study sessions as you want. But we have a May 3 deadline to submit to the state and to the county. June 3, I'm sorry. June 3. All we're asking for tonight is which of the models you think makes the most sense, so we can begin building those scenarios and fleshing out the details of what is the cumulative, what are the numbers and the detail that make up that 1.44. Got it. Thank you for clarifying. That's kind of how we're approaching it.

[5486] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you.

[5487] SPEAKER_28: I'm not saying what yet, we're saying how much. Thank you. We'll come back and the board will work with us on the what.

[5493] Bowen Zhang: Yes, so I remember in the last board meeting, we were talking about scenario one will be too dramatic or too sudden because it's really just cutting to the bone in one year. And you recommended maybe the more gradual, more reasonable approach will be scenario two, where we balance our budget for two years and the third in 2021 will have a surplus. So I think I would, if we need to vote on the path, I will prefer the second one. a more gradual reduction, balancing our budget in two years, and starting the third year with surplus. I don't know whether the rest of the world, anyone want to consider Scenario 1, where we do it in just one year.

[5537] Ray Rodriguez: You can make a motion if you want. If not, I'm going to make a motion that we accept Scenario 2.

[5543] Bowen Zhang: And another question is, do we need to vote on qualifying, positive qualification tonight, or we don't? No.

[5553] SPEAKER_28: If I may, both scenarios would lead us to a positive qualification, correct?

[5558] Ray Rodriguez: Right. Okay, so if nobody else is... I would like to... I'm losing it. I would like to make a motion, thank you. Did you want to do it? No, I wanted to say something before. Okay, go ahead.

[5584] SPEAKER_48: I just, my concern, I have a concern regarding the additional hours with Rylan as well. So I feel that Rylan has done their job by providing us with the resources, the information that we need. I think at this point, it is up to us and our team to decide on something. I do agree. I want to say thank you for bringing these scenarios. But I think it is important as well that regardless of the prior contract, whether we approve it or not, I think it is important to say that you have provided us with the information. I do agree that there is more information that our board has requested, which doesn't mean that we're not going to get it. At this point, I do want to say thank you for providing us all the information that you guys have so far.

[5642] Ray Rodriguez: OK. Thank you. Member Thomas.

[5645] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, I just would like to talk about what Member Martinez said about the lack of a plan. And we're going to be asked to do two things coming up. One is to vote for a positive third interim and the other is to vote for a budget. And if we go into either of those without some specific recommendations coming from staff about how to cut 1.44 million. I will have a very difficult time voting for either of those. We have seen nothing on paper other than a few things that we would be negotiating that have been public knowledge. So I'm not talking about negotiations out of school. But other than that, we have not had any specific recommendations. And I need that to feel comfortable.

[5700] SPEAKER_28: If I may respond, I'd like to respond for member Thomas's request. I agree and I am committed to bringing back more than is required to cut in a laundry list of items that can be reduced and recommended by staff and the board can make the final decision if they would like to.

[5719] Ray Rodriguez: Okay, member Yang.

[5723] Bowen Zhang: Yes, so speaking of because member Thomas mentioned about a 1.44 million, that 1.44 million is for fiscal year 2020 to 2021, right? And if we're going to vote within the next one or two months, we'll be voting for the budget for fiscal year 2019 to 2020, right? And voting on that budget, I know we already have that $1.6 million being cut. So, and when voting on 2019 to 2020 budget, what will be the big item that we'll be voting on?

[5753] Ray Rodriguez: Okay. You want to answer that? Please.

[5757] SPEAKER_52: So, the next board meeting will be Presenting the third minimum, what our financial status is going to be like. Then more importantly, on the upcoming year, we'll be presenting the adopted budget. We'll give you what we're going to project for 19-20, but then also 20-21 and 20-22, the out-of-years, of what our budget's going to be like.

[5780] Bowen Zhang: But we'll be at least a year away on deciding the $1.44 million cut, right?

[5787] SPEAKER_52: Mr. Bowen, you're exactly right. Because there's going to be a lot of variables that's going to change. We're going to have the May revision from the new governor. It's going to let us know what the COLA is going to be like for 19-20.

[5800] Bowen Zhang: And the next year's enrollment later on this year.

[5804] SPEAKER_52: Enrollment will stabilize in 19-20.

[5807] Bowen Zhang: So I want to make a comment on the enrollment. I will say in the long run, we probably do need to prepare for a long-term declining enrollment, not because the quality of our school district, just the demographics of the millennials. If you look at the millennial generation, we don't have five kids per family anymore. And when we get married, we have kids. We're in our mid-30s, probably. Not going to be 22-year-old dad. You're not going to see a lot of 22, 23-year-old dad and mom anymore.

[5838] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Everybody's got a chance to speak, so.

[5843] SPEAKER_47: I'd like to move to Voda.

[5844] Nancy Thomas: I still have a request.

[5847] Ray Rodriguez: Let me make the motion and then if you want to speak. So I'd like to make a motion that we accept scenario number two. And if we're going to move forward, I would need a second.

[5859] SPEAKER_47: I would second that.

[5860] Ray Rodriguez: OK. OK. Member Thomas.

[5862] Nancy Thomas: OK. One of the things in that second year out, and this speaks to what Mr. John was saying, is that we have to put something in the budget for that multi-year projection. So we have to make some assumptions. What we've done in the past is we've said, OK, we're going to reduce funding, reduce the number of staff. And that number has fluctuated up and down from one interim to the other, to the budget, to, you know. So, you know, it's easy to put a placeholder in there saying we're going to get rid of staff, and that's how we're going to manage a budget, or we're going to reduce supplies and we can't, you know, supplies we can't, it's pretty hard to reduce that. So that's the kind of specifics that are real numbers that I'm going to be looking for going forward.

[5918] SPEAKER_58: You need ongoing expenditures to be reduced to help reduce deficits in future years. That's not books and supplies. Books and supplies are needed for the students you have and basically It's not ongoing. You can't reduce books for any length of time.

[5934] Nancy Thomas: I know. But I think in the past, we've done things like that. We've done. We said we're going to need a multi.

[5939] SPEAKER_58: I can say that that's what I have seen.

[5940] Nancy Thomas: Yes. Exactly. I have observed that. And that's what this person anyway, this board member is going to be looking for in the.

[5948] Ray Rodriguez: OK. Got it. Thank you. This recommendation comes from the staff and also from Ryland, is that correct? Correct. Okay, good. So we have a motion and we have a second. So everybody's got a chance, has had a chance to speak on it, so let's vote please. Member Thomas, thank you. Okay, motion passes unanimously, thank you. And we're all, the whole board, member Thomas and all the other board members, we're all looking for staff to help us through this because we don't have much time to, you know, look at stuff that we need to look at in order to get to that 1.4.

[6009] SPEAKER_28: I would like to, and I'm going to ask staff, I do want to make sure we come back prior to the final budget to one or at least one or two budget study sessions fleshing out the details of the numbers in red that are highlighted there and the red with the yellow backing so that there is clarity for the board of what we're planning to reduce.

[6031] Ray Rodriguez: Not to interrupt you, but we already have the study session that member Thomas had asked for for the next meeting so we might have to have a special meeting. That's correct. Okay and I'm okay with it board I think it's it's something that you know We need to do it. Thank you everybody for your input. Thank you Rylan. Beverly. I'm not going to put Beverly Rylan. Thank you. Are you going to be at the next study session with us? I'm not sure.

[6069] SPEAKER_28: Depends on where we land with the contract. Okay.

[6071] Ray Rodriguez: Good. So I'll talk to you further on that, Superintendent. So we go to the next one, which is new business. Thank you, everybody, for the conversation on the prior item. Revised course of study, American civics.

[6094] SPEAKER_28: If I may, we do have staff here on this topic. Amy Black and two teachers. OK, excellent.

[6104] Ray Rodriguez: Come on, let us see you.

[6106] SPEAKER_25: Good evening. So I have the pleasure of bringing forward a new, actually it's a revised course. It's not technically new, but we'll talk about that in a minute. I have Cameron Tyson, who teaches AP at the high school, and then department chair of social sciences, Gordon Crosby, and they are the co-writers of the course. So really happy to have them here this evening to be able to ask or answer any specific questions that the board may have. But essentially, I think you had an opportunity to read the course. The course was written, reviewed at the high school with administration, signed by administration supported, as well as presented to curriculum council. and curriculum council voted unanimously to put the course forward to you to review. And so essentially it's combining two current semester courses, government and economics. into one titled American Civics class. And really the theory behind that, and Mr. Tyson will probably do a much better job at describing it if you want more details, just being able to have some flexibility in the class by making it a year-long class. Sometimes the concepts are overlapping, and so it makes sense to be able to talk about the courses as opposed to, you know, siloing the sections, and then also in preparation for a calendar change for next year where we have a much shortened first semester as opposed to the second semester. It is going to have an impact on these semester classes, so also in response to that. So not only is it an instructional response, but also a response logistically to the calendar. I don't know if there's anything that you wanted to add that I missed.

[6220] SPEAKER_14: Next year is an historic election coming up. We have the way it is now. A certain amount of students will take economics first semester and government second semester. And then the other course will take government the first semester and economics second semester. It's nice to teach government with the presidential election coming up. All those kids taking economics are going to see in reverse all those things happening. This gives us flexibility to teach current topics throughout the year as they come up throughout that year. Yeah, flexibility is one huge thing for us. Overlap. I mean, if you can't talk about economics without talking about government, you can't talk about government without talking about economics. They're so interconnected. And for us to try to pry them apart, it's difficult for us to do. Many school districts in the nation are turning. It's like what's old is new in school districts. Many school districts are turning back to the old civics because it is a year-long course, gives us flexibility to teach both economics and government at the same time.

[6280] Ray Rodriguez: Excellent. It's hard for me because when I see you I think about swimming so. Member Gutierrez and then Member Martinez.

[6292] SPEAKER_48: I have two questions. The first one is I believe there's a government AP and econ as well, right? That is correct. Is this going to be applying to the AP class as well?

[6302] SPEAKER_39: It would apply to the AP. It would apply to the AP government. You do it in first semester, you get your AP government credit. In the second semester, we just call it civics so that we can continue teaching new government and economics. Because to teach AP government in 15 weeks is ridiculous. No teacher can do it. No student can do it. There's just so much information that it's going to be information overload.

[6326] SPEAKER_48: So the course will stay the same as you guys stated?

[6329] SPEAKER_39: Yes. It'll just give the AP government teacher flexibility to continue teaching aspects of government into second semester. And the way we have it now is that with AP government being in first semester, students don't even look at AP, or at least before I took over the course, didn't even look at government again ever until they took their AP exam in May. So our numbers were always very low on the AP testing score because our students were always being taught economics second semester. and didn't value them. So what I did with the approval of Creek Council and the principal for the past five years is I combined the courses.

[6365] SPEAKER_48: And then my next question is since there will be a combination of the courses, are there going to be any teachers that don't have class to teach now?

[6374] SPEAKER_14: No, that will not impact. We'll still have the same number of seniors, we'll still have the same number of classes to offer. One thing that will have to change is our classification because if we do change the class, it currently is economics and government, two separate classes. If we combine them, we're going to have to change the number so that like all of us, like myself, who went to Newark Morrill High School years ago.

[6398] Ray Rodriguez: With my daughter, I'm sorry.

[6400] SPEAKER_14: Absolutely, class of 89. those classifications we would all be considered civics so this having a new number on it will give that a new designation for the registrar they asked for us to change that as well okay thank you excellent member Martinez hi there you'd mentioned that there is you know other districts or you know across the country are moving in this direction do we know kind of impact is this

[6432] Elisa Martinez: As we know, our kids, you know, we have the higher performers and kind of, you know, middle and then folks who struggle. Have we seen any detriment, you know, as we move to this type of... I just want to make sure that we are thinking about the needs of all of our kids and that, you know, the structure, and I just don't know enough about it, and based on what you've seen, are there any risks?

[6455] SPEAKER_39: No, I would say in fact it's actually better for the students who are at the up and coming level or the achievement level, it needs to be of the achievement gap because it allows the, because in government, I've taught both courses and in CP government, you are racing through that course to try to get through 17, 18 chapters in 18 weeks. And then in economics, which is very not, the book we use is about 15 years old, doesn't even cover the 2008 crash. So, and in that course, you are, because you've already gone over a lot of it in government already, you're crawling through that course where you're springing through government. And this just allows the teacher and the staff to be able to combine and integrate both courses so our students get a more holistic approach and understanding of the system of government, economics, and personal finance. So it actually would help the students who are at the, who are maybe not the highest performing students.

[6512] SPEAKER_14: With permission of administration on our March 11th work day, our staff came together and kind of laid out what the course would look like throughout the year, certain topics, units, back and forth going throughout the year, meeting the needs of the students. Thank you.

[6529] Ray Rodriguez: I'm all excited. This is excellent. Student members, Cesar?

[6537] SPEAKER_60: Member Gutierrez pretty much asked my question for me. I was just wondering what the impact of APGov would be looking forward to next year, how it would change. So it wouldn't change at all?

[6545] SPEAKER_39: There would be no impact. You'd get your AP credit first semester, and then we'd be able to prep you for your test second semester even further, because we'd be teaching economics and government at the same time.

[6553] SPEAKER_14: Right. There is currently no AP civics class or test. So it would be APGov and, yeah.

[6561] SPEAKER_39: And civics. And it just allows us to continue teaching government with economics.

[6565] Ray Rodriguez: Excellent. Thank you. You okay? Remember good chairs.

[6569] SPEAKER_48: Just one more question since you brought up the fact that your current books don't include that 2008 crash. There is no, you guys are not asking for any updates? No, we already have the books. But how are you guys including that? Is that in your curriculum?

[6582] SPEAKER_14: Our department is one of the departments that's been low on the list of getting new books. Some of the books that my world, I teach world history. The books are older than the students are. So we love new books but Right now, our plan is to use the current books that we have and move forward with that, hopefully adopting new books as we go along.

[6604] Ray Rodriguez: I'm out of money with the rocketry club.

[6605] SPEAKER_14: I'm sorry.

[6609] SPEAKER_28: I can tell you that I know Associate Superintendent Salinas is looking at other core areas. I don't know where social studies is in the queue, but we can get that information for the board.

[6620] Ray Rodriguez: OK. So we need a motion. in a second to approve this item unless somebody else wants to speak to it. And this, the administration recommends approval of the revised course of study to be offered in 2019-2020 to provide academic excellence via equity and opportunities for all students. And ADG is mentioned in here, which is something that's dearest. Okay. Motion and a second, please.

[6651] SPEAKER_47: I make a motion. I vote on this.

[6653] Ray Rodriguez: Member Gutierrez makes the motion.

[6657] Elisa Martinez: I second.

[6657] Ray Rodriguez: Member Martinez seconds. Please vote. All right. Motion passes six ayes. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for staying a little bit late. I apologize. Thank you. Thank you. OK, next item is 11.2, change order number two with Decatech for a district wide auto value project. Did you want to? I don't have any questions. OK. Anybody have any questions of Mr. Simon on this particular item? OK.

[6702] Nancy Thomas: Is there any fiscal impact?

[6704] SPEAKER_60: There is. I believe it's listed on the item as around $26,000. Yeah.

[6711] Nancy Thomas: Well, in the notes it just says fiscal impact, yes. Usually we put the number in there.

[6717] Ray Rodriguez: Yeah, the additional amount of $28,400.

[6718] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, I'm just making the point. No, no, thank you. It should be consistent.

[6727] Bowen Zhang: That's not from general fund.

[6734] Ray Rodriguez: You want to ask that question?

[6736] Bowen Zhang: So the funding source is not from general fund, right?

[6742] Ray Rodriguez: Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Member Gutierrez, did you have something? Did you want to speak to this? No.

[6751] Guadalupe Lopez: That's okay.

[6751] Ray Rodriguez: Yeah. Okay. So we need a motion and a second on this one, please.

[6757] Nancy Thomas: I move approval.

[6758] Ray Rodriguez: Member Thomas moves approval. Need a second? I'll second it. Member Gutierrez seconds. Please vote. Okay, all votes are in. Okay, motion passes six ayes. Thank you, Mr. Simon. Okay, next item on the agenda is 11.3, addendum to master contract with Aspen Rehab, And we have a community member who wants to speak on this, Ms. Parks.

[6807] Cindy Parks: Good evening. Just painting the picture so you have a full understanding of what you have before you. On August 21st of 2018, you approved a $250,000 contract with Ascend. It was to be for three months to cover certain positions that were unable to be filled. On January 17th, you approved a contract for $225,000 with Ascend to cover for three months for positions that you could not fill. Tonight you have before you another amendment for $225,000 for three months for positions you couldn't fill. If I recall, when I looked at a document that I have at home, you have, you're spending double this year. on what you spent with this company last year. I just want you, in your current financial situation, to have the picture on this particular item. I understand through the language in here that it's mandated. But is it perhaps something that you need to up the salary so that you can get people? I'm not your personnel director. I don't know how you would need to perhaps consider that. But my daughter does teach at Fremont, and I did reach out to her. And she does not think that they are using a vendor, that they actually have employees. The only trouble that they're having is getting psychologists. So is this something that you need? Because if you're doubling your budget for one year, isn't it better to perhaps pay a little bit more so you have your own people? And again, you're broke. So you can't continue this type of spending. Thank you.

[6916] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you.

[6916] SPEAKER_28: Thank you much Okay Mr. Yeah Staff is prepared to clarify some of those items prior to the board for the board.

[6927] Bowen Zhang: Oh Yeah, I just have a question regarding the Contracting all these positions do we have? is there any bidding process for which contractor we select or a due to any legal compliance. There are literally just one available.

[6947] SPEAKER_59: So we have a hard time finding even contracts.

[6949] Ray Rodriguez: OK, excuse me, excuse me. We have Ms. Willis here, our director of special ed, to answer any questions.

[6955] SPEAKER_59: Good evening, Board. We have a really hard time actually even finding vendors to fill our vacant positions. We really struggle with that. And I will say that these monies balance out with the monies that we're not spending, unfortunately, on employees. It's just a little bit more for contractors.

[6977] Ray Rodriguez: Okay.

[6978] SPEAKER_28: Did you have anything? Did you want to clarify some of the details that were mentioned in public comment? Anything you want to clarify from public comment?

[6986] SPEAKER_59: Well, I do know that the speech and language pathologist shortage is statewide. I know that all districts that I know of are struggling to fill their positions. I'm actually Fremont is a part of our Mission Valley SELPA, so they do have many positions that are not filled and are using contractors, as is New Haven. I think we do struggle a bit more than the other districts, and I think we could look at some ways that we could make that more effective.

[7014] Ray Rodriguez: Okay. Okay. Member Martinez.

[7022] Elisa Martinez: I have the same problem with this contract as we did with the Urieland consulting contract. So again, not disputing that we need it. We know we have a gap. But how does this all balance out? If I were to look at the budget staff and understand this is what we budgeted, we know we haven't hired, what's that total bucket? We just approved over 200K a few months ago. what's making up this cost? So it's that visibility, you know, I'm approving blindly right now another $200.25. So are we talking about support for 20 kids, 15 kids? How many hours? My only point is, and even if you answer right now, again I had this conversation with staff, if you're going to give me two minutes to think about it, I just can't make an informed decision. I can't ask questions. This is another item that I had recommended be pulled until we were excuse me, until we were able to see that information and be able to ask questions. So it's more of a comment to staff.

[7090] SPEAKER_59: Thank you. I'm absolutely very willing to provide any information the board should wish.

[7097] SPEAKER_28: Would there be an impact if we were to pull it and wait until the next board meeting to provide additional information?

[7103] SPEAKER_59: I think that would be OK. I think we can manage.

[7105] SPEAKER_28: There's not any risks with IEP service or?

[7108] SPEAKER_59: I don't believe we're that close, no. on the budget.

[7113] Ray Rodriguez: Because there's a fine line when we're talking about special needs. It's contracts and everything we have.

[7118] SPEAKER_48: Member Gutierrez. I know that you said that we have a difficulty statewide. Can you talk a little bit more about the difficulty? Is it just people are not taking that study, or the compensation is not there?

[7133] SPEAKER_59: I'm not sure what the underlying reasons are. I do know one problem is we don't have enough colleges who are offering speech and language pathology credentials. I do know people who want to get into it and can't. There's a backlog. So that's part of it. I don't think that's the entire issue as to why people aren't going into the profession. I actually think it's an amazing profession, one that if I'd known about before, I might have chosen.

[7163] SPEAKER_48: And then in regards to a recruiting process, I mean, do you think there's anything that we can do different to improve that at this point?

[7172] SPEAKER_59: So I do think that looking at the possibility of paying a little more is not a bad idea. I think that, especially with the fact that we are not a district that provides benefits, that is a challenge when we're competing with other districts that do in a shortage, and people can go anywhere.

[7192] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[7193] Ray Rodriguez: Member Thomas.

[7194] Nancy Thomas: My question is about three months. Have we already spent into this $225,000? We have not. Then do we support speech therapists into the summer, throughout the summer?

[7208] SPEAKER_59: For some. Not many, actually. I think we have one speech and language therapist for extended school year.

[7214] Nancy Thomas: Then I'd like to echo what Member Martinez said. I'd like to see how many students, how many hours, and do the bottoms up pay per hour. I was looking at the restricted. decrease in salaries, which was, I believe, about $600,000 at the second interim. Now time is gone. And the resulting increase based on these contractors is buried, and we can't see it. All I know is that the, what they call it, services and other has doubled. It's more than twice what we've taken out in salaries. The increase is more than doubled in contract, which isn't all special ed, but some of it appears to be special ed. So to have some kind of accounting would be helpful, I think. I can do that, for sure.

[7281] Ray Rodriguez: I had a question. You can go first, if you want to go.

[7288] Bowen Zhang: And then I'll be last. Well, I just wanted because we know we still have some time So I will be comfortable pulling this from on today's agenda and speaking of a bigger turn I think a couple weeks ago we talked about the encroachment of the special ask eating into our general fund I think when we're going to vote on the budget or whatever for the next year We do want to have a clear strategy about how we're going to tackle the special ask spending

[7315] SPEAKER_28: I would recommend we pull this item. OK.

[7318] Ray Rodriguez: I'm fine with that. OK. I wanted to ask you something, Ms. Willis. My granddaughter is trying to become a behavioral specialist, and she's in school right now. She's talking about interning in different internships. Do we provide that opportunity to individuals based on the need that we have to intern and reach out to colleges to let them know that we're

[7346] SPEAKER_59: In speech and language, absolutely. In psychologists, we do. Teachers. We have not ever had a behavioral intern.

[7356] Ray Rodriguez: OK. But for the needs we have, we are trying to recruit interns.

[7364] SPEAKER_59: Any way I can, yes. We've literally only had two people who have even applied in the last six months.

[7370] Ray Rodriguez: OK, great. Thank you. Thank you very much. So we'll bring this back in two weeks? Yes. Thank you. Appreciate it. And we'll see you tomorrow at the Special Olympics. Special Olympics. OK. OK. OK, next item is 11.4, receive district proposal to Newark Teacher's Association. OK, so we just receive this, what are you asking from us on this one?

[7408] SPEAKER_28: Just receiving, that's all.

[7410] Ray Rodriguez: Okay, so we don't need to vote on anything, we just, the board?

[7414] Nancy Thomas: I move that we accept.

[7416] Ray Rodriguez: Okay, good, thank you. Thank you, Member Thomas. Member Thomas moves that we accept the district proposal. I second. Member Zhang seconds, please vote. Thank you, Member Thomas, for getting us through that. OK, next item is 11.5, Day of the Teacher. Superintendent? Let me start. Staff recommends the Board of Education adopt resolution number 2134, the Day of the Teacher. OK.

[7458] SPEAKER_28: Whereas the 28th annual Day of the Teacher will be observed in all schools and educational institutions of the state on May 8, 2019, and whereas the Board of Trustees of the Newark Unified School District wishes to commend and express its appreciation to the teachers who serve the students of Newark Unified School District, and whereas the Board of Trustees and the superintendent recognize that the uniquely highly specialized skills are required to meet the varied needs of young people served by the district instructional programs and are proud of the success that these programs have achieved and... Can you... Let me have Member Thomas go... Go ahead.

[7495] Ray Rodriguez: Sorry. If you don't mind. Thank you.

[7497] Nancy Thomas: And whereas it is further recognized that the quality and success of students is the instructional outstanding performance of the teachers who have committed their considerable skills, talents, and energies to meeting the needs of their special students.

[7513] Ray Rodriguez: Now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Trustees and the superintendent to hereby thank and commend the teachers of Newark Unified School District for the outstanding and meaningful contribution they are making to students and families served by Newark schools. Thank you. So we need a motion and a second.

[7535] SPEAKER_47: Make a motion that we vote on this? Yes.

[7542] Elisa Martinez: I second.

[7543] Ray Rodriguez: Member Gutierrez makes a motion. Please vote. Sorry if I cleared you. Motion passes. We did it in reverse. That's fine. OK, next we go to Classified School Employees Week. Need a motion and a second?

[7585] Nancy Thomas: I move that we approve the resolution for the Classified School Employees Week.

[7591] Ray Rodriguez: I second it. And that's resolution number 2135. Please vote. OK, motion passes unanimously. And member Gutierrez, you want to start us off? Are you looking at it? Sure. Please.

[7618] SPEAKER_48: Whereas the legislature of California has officially designated the third full week of May of each year as Classified School Employees Week, as time to recognize the many contributions of classified school employees to public education.

[7632] Ray Rodriguez: And member, did you want to?

[7635] Bowen Zhang: Whereas the members of the Board of Trustees and the superintendent are personally aware and appreciative of the high standard of quality and service provided by the members of the classified staff. Member Martinez.

[7650] Elisa Martinez: And whereas the services provided by the members of the classified staff have a profound and significant effect on the operations of programs operated by the Newark Unified School District. Member Thomas.

[7664] Nancy Thomas: And whereas it is further recognized that all adults in school environment are important to the success and well-being of our students.

[7672] Ray Rodriguez: Now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Trustees and the Superintendent do hereby recognize and commend the members of the Newark Unified School District California School Employees Association Local 208 for their outstanding effort in serving the district and meeting the needs of the students, staff and parents of the Newark Unified Schools. Thank you. You can clap if you want. Did you write that Ms. Eustis? OK, we go to 11.7, resolution. Oh, did I fix? Oh, OK. Sorry. No. OK, 11.8. OK. So 11.8, we have. OK. That's OK. It's OK. 11.7, staff recommends the Board of Education approve resolution number 2136. Non-reemployment or certificated employee. I need a motion and a second, please.

[7757] SPEAKER_47: Make a motion.

[7758] Ray Rodriguez: Member Gutierrez makes the motion. Hold on, let me clear it first, make sure we're good. OK. Member Gutierrez makes the motion. And I need a second, please. OK. I can make the second. Any discussion? Please vote. Oh, the votes aren't in. OK, hold on. OK. OK, excellent. Thank you. OK, motion passes. Five ayes. It's in place since the student member would not vote. OK. OK, 11.8, emergency attendance waiver. Staff recommends the board approve a form J-13A, attendance waiver due to poor air quality from wildfires on November 16, 2018. It's my understanding this allows us to be reimbursed. Is that correct? That is correct, yes. So let me clear this. OK, we need a motion and a second. Member Gutierrez makes a motion.

[7848] Nancy Thomas: I second.

[7849] Ray Rodriguez: Member Thomas seconds. Please vote. Excellent. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, staff, for getting this to us. Appreciate it. 11.9, we have, that's our new business, monthly business transaction reports. Mr. New.

[7887] Cary Knoop: Good evening again. You know, the FICMAT report recommended that this monthly business report be part of the meeting every month, which I think is a really great idea. But they also stated in addition that any time when some anomalies came up or things that needed to be explained or adjustments of the course of the ship need to be brought forward to the board so that the board is informed. Looking at the report from this month, you know, I would think that, and I'm sure the board members will ask that, the questions will be books and supplies went up, what, $300,000 in budget versus the second interim. That's significant. I mean, we've been year to date since September up over 30% in the budget projections for books and supplies. If you look at the period between the second interim and the report, that's $300,000. So I think that's an item that I'm sure board members are delighted to hear why that is. Also, services and other operating costs gradually still go up. And I think the most important question is, are we still on for $1.8 million of a deficit? Or are we lower? Or are we higher? Because, you know, all these budgets meetings are all saying 1.8. And I know that's a number from the second interim. But, you know, if there's any knowledge that we're not making that number, I think it's very good idea to, you know, make sure we use accurate numbers rather than saying, oh, well, that was second interim. And we're not going to change it until we get talked to the third interim if we have knowledge that the deficit is going to be higher or lower. So I think that these are the three questions that kind of conform fit, but, you know, ought to be discussed. Thank you.

[8013] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. OK. Nobody else has asked, so I need a motion and a second, please.

[8023] Nancy Thomas: Discussion? Yeah, I'd like to make a motion.

[8026] Ray Rodriguez: OK. Member Thomas would like to make a motion. I'll second. Discussion? Member Thomas?

[8032] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, I, too, notice that the books and supplies had increased substantially. Can you describe why that is?

[8042] SPEAKER_52: I can get that information to you, maybe on a Friday update.

[8047] Nancy Thomas: I think it would be good to have that information maybe so everyone, including the public, can also maybe describe it at the next meeting or something. And this is something I've asked for several times is that Matt was very clear that it's not just the report, but a description of deviations from the adopted budget. And it seems to me with our deficit spending that books and supplies is something that we have control over more so than other areas. And so it's, I'd really like to know why we aren't overspending, what exactly we're overspending on in that category.

[8092] SPEAKER_52: I'll get that information for you on the next board meeting.

[8099] Ray Rodriguez: Okay, we have a motion and a second. Please vote. Okay, motion passes with member Gutierrez abstaining. Did you want to talk about that or are you okay just moving forward? Thank you. OK, next is 11.10, individual service contract. And this is also special ed, right? Special needs. So the staff recommends the board ratify the agreement to provide academic excellence via equity opportunities for all students. The dollar amount is $41,266. Any questions of Director Willis?

[8163] Nancy Thomas: Why is this coming to us now? Was it a new student, or what?

[8166] SPEAKER_59: No, this is a student that's been with us all year. This student attends a non-public school, and that particular non-public school contracts with the County Office of Education, Alameda County, to provide counseling services. The student is emotionally disturbed and has a lot of counseling services. It is free when the student qualifies under Medi-Cal. However, the student stopped qualifying for Medi-Cal a few months ago. And so when that happens, then the counseling bills come to us. Then we have no control over when that happens and when it doesn't.

[8200] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[8201] Ray Rodriguez: Yeah. Thank you, Ms. Monson. Any other questions? OK, we need a motion and a second, please.

[8210] Nancy Thomas: I move approval.

[8211] Ray Rodriguez: Member Thomas moves. Need a second?

[8214] Elisa Martinez: I second.

[8215] Ray Rodriguez: Member Martinez seconds.

[8220] SPEAKER_28: Did you want to share one more thing? Yeah.

[8223] SPEAKER_59: I apologize. The good news in that is that these monies will be paid for. They won't be coming in from the general fund. They'll be coming from mental health funding, which is highly restricted funding.

[8239] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Thank you for doing that. Appreciate it. Good news. OK. OK. Everybody voted?

[8246] Nancy Thomas: The student member can vote.

[8249] Ray Rodriguez: You can vote on this one if you want. Yeah. I didn't get my vote in time. OK. Raise your hand. Raise your hand. Still. OK. Good. Thank you. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Member Thomas, for encouraging him to vote. I think that's great. OK. We move to consent agenda, personal items 12.1. Ms. Parks?

[8279] Cindy Parks: Good evening. I had to add another slip because of the information I received earlier. I'm coming to you now to just ask for then consistent reporting. As was reported earlier based on my public comment on agenda items, There was a person that should have been on the PAL, or maybe, or now we were told this evening, Dr. Bernard wasn't put on the PAL. But for consistent reporting, in the past, if someone was approved, or somebody was going to be a guest teacher in this district, they were put on the PAL. Currently, on your PAL this evening that you will be approving, there are five guest teachers and one guest administrator. So in order to be consistent, you know, why he was left off. Somebody might have just left him off. But I think that there should be consistent reporting. Since I was going to come up and talk about this now, I might as well bring it up again, the consistent reporting of the, using the employee number. As I had mentioned, when it first was used a couple meetings ago, instead of the employee's name, this is something that's new. In all of the years that I've come, to these meetings, the personnel had never used an employee number instead of a name. If you don't have a name in front of you, what do you even know if you're approving? It's kind of impersonal, especially for maybe someone who's been in the district for 30 years and they are retiring. don't wouldn't you want to know I mean maybe for especially for some board members who did attend school here that they might want to know that one of their teachers is retiring. I just think that it's kind of impersonal and then just you know on the agenda for tonight on your PAL you do have a Laura Forrest who did resign and her name is on there and not her number. So just the consistency that you have some that have the number some that have the name when they're retiring or resigning, you don't have a consistent form is my point here. I did check with larger districts around us. I checked with Fremont and with Hayward on their PAL just to see if there was something that they did that we're just following suit and where they reported their name. Now they might also report their employee number, but they did report their name. So just to be consistent, I think that we need to make sure that we're carrying out what we're doing through the whole process, and that's all I'm asking for. Thank you.

[8429] Ray Rodriguez: Ms. Parks, I didn't stop you, but when you fill out the form, it was basically on what's on here, okay? But yeah, and I'm talking about the personnel and the form that's in front of you. Yeah, but you decided to broaden it a little bit, and that's fine. We can talk about that any time, but it's specifically about the item that's on there, in my opinion, okay? And in my opinion, I thought you went a little bit overboard, okay? But that's fine. We can talk about it. If you feel that, you know.

[8457] Cindy Parks: I feel like I was within the parameters. And if you have other board members that disagree with what I just presented, I would have thought they would have interrupted me. But I think that I was on target. I don't think that I. And then the other thing is. And this isn't for discussion. No, that's fine.

[8472] Ray Rodriguez: The other thing is mentioning somebody's name is something that we refrain from now without getting the person's permission.

[8478] Cindy Parks: I have freedoms. But you perhaps don't. I have freedoms. that I, as somebody that speaks here, has freedoms in identifying. And you can set up. Thank you. In fact, you've already done it before with previous people that I've mentioned. You've had other superintendents that have contacted your attorneys, my understanding.

[8494] Ray Rodriguez: OK. Thank you much. OK. So we have item, the personnel report. I need a motion and a second, please.

[8510] Nancy Thomas: I move approval.

[8511] Ray Rodriguez: Member Thomas moves.

[8513] SPEAKER_51: I second.

[8514] Ray Rodriguez: Member Martinez seconds. Please vote. OK. Ms. Gutierrez? Oh, sorry.

[8524] SPEAKER_26: It's OK.

[8525] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Student member? No, no, you don't vote on that. OK. Thank you. OK, motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We move to consent non-personal items. You want to help me, Member Thomas? Read some of these out for me, if you don't mind.

[8544] Nancy Thomas: OK. 13.1, actuarial valuation report on post-retirement benefits. 13.2, curricular overnight field trip request for Graham Elementary, sixth grade, to Boulder Creek. Curricular, non-curricular, overnight out-of-state field trip for Newark Memorial High School, Rocketree, to Virginia. 13.4, rejection of claim number 569505. 13.5, budget adoption calendar for 2019-20 revised. 13.6, minutes of the regular meeting of March 7th. 13.7, minutes of the regular board meeting of March 21st. 13.8, minutes of the regular board meeting of April 4th. 13.9, minutes of the regular board meeting of April 18th.

[8591] Ray Rodriguez: Okay, I want to pull 13.4. Does anybody else want to pull any item other than 13.4? OK, so I need a motion to approve 13.1, 13.2, 13.3, 13.5, 13.6, 13.7, 13.8, and 13.9. I move to approve 13.1 through 13.9 except 13.4. Another way to say it. Thank you. I second. OK, member John makes the motion. Let me clear it, if you don't mind, and we'll be re-voting. OK. And member Martinez seconds. Please vote. Excellent. Thank you. OK, motion passes unanimously. Okay, 13.4, Mr. Knoop.

[8663] Cary Knoop: Good evening again. Of course I don't know anything about this case and I have no opinion and what have you about it. I don't know any details of course. But what I think is very important for the board or for the organization as a whole is, I mean I can understand that board members not necessarily want to get into the case at a certain stage. I mean, I understand that. But what is important for board members or the whole organization, for the safety of the whole organization, is that there's a proper process done. That the process is done by the book, that the board sets a direction for our moral compass, if you will. And so it's absolutely essential for board members to be aware of not the contents of the package, but how the package moves as a process. And make sure that we have a process that board members feel confident about. You don't want to get into a situation where later on board members would say, well, we didn't know. Well, you ought to know. You need to ask the questions. And again, you do not necessarily have to ask the questions about the contents of the package, but you have to understand if the process is done confidently and by the book and so on. So I don't know any details whatsoever, but I just want to make sure that I feel it's very important for a board member to be on top of that, to be on top of saying, is the process kosher? Do we have any concerns there? Without knowing the details of the case. So thank you.

[8772] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you for your comments. Okay, I have 13.4. Staff recommends approval of Keenan and Associates recommendation to formally reject claim number 569505. Number two, establish financial stability and fiscal solvency in order to drive continuous improvement. I need a motion and a second for this item, please. Who's gonna make the motion? Okay, I'll make the motion, I need a second. I'll second it. OK. Member Yarn seconded it. Please vote. OK. We have five yeses and a student member voting no. OK. OK. We go to 14.1. Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief, and Discussion. OK, who wants to go first? Member Thomas got an award, so we'll let her go first.

[8855] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, thanks for allowing me to be late. It was a nice.

[8859] Ray Rodriguez: No, we appreciate you coming in. I wasn't thinking you were coming. Yeah.

[8861] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. There were a couple. First of all, I'd like to thank Ms. Eustis for inviting me to a CEA retirement meeting. It was very informative. There was a very good speaker, a doctor speaking about medications, and I learned a lot. I had two items that I put on my request list, and they are, two of them are listed as being replied to in an email to the board. I think those two items need to be looked at, not just as the actual data that I'm asking for, but a staff report on the evaluation of the programs that they refer to. So I would like those to be staff reports as opposed to emails.

[8916] SPEAKER_28: Can I have more specifics on which exact ones you want to see staff reports on?

[8919] Nancy Thomas: I was just looking it up under your... Please. Let me look.

[8923] SPEAKER_28: I have it here. I know what you're talking about. Let me make sure I have the correct one.

[8930] Nancy Thomas: Here it is. OK, I think I asked a question about the EBIC report. see an evaluation of that report, including the cost. And the other one I think was the FIT reports. I think that would benefit. I was surprised that the FIT reports was not discussed when we talked about the Local indicators, when we talked about the dashboard, I think it would be important that the FIT reports be part of that kind of a discussion and kind of give the board an idea of what condition our sites are in and what priorities staff is putting on fixing things, knowing that they can't fix everything all at once. So, thank you.

[9009] Ray Rodriguez: Member Martinez.

[9012] Elisa Martinez: In order. Thank you. So I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I think you know what I'm going to ask. The counselor data. This is, I think, the third meeting, at least, in a row.

[9024] SPEAKER_28: I'm going to be presenting that data as a staff report at the next meeting. I'm going to actually expand it to a detailed list of on-track, off-track students by grade level, by ELL, SPED, race. And really looking at what are we doing for kids that are off track? What's the number? So I do have a detailed report I am working on.

[9045] Elisa Martinez: And again, I am looking for touch points, right? I mean, not that it's the only indicator, but I think that's really important.

[9051] SPEAKER_28: It's going to be very surprising, and I look forward to sharing it with you.

[9054] Elisa Martinez: Thank you very much. Two other items. The FIT reports, I know that Member Thomas, I think when I first sat in this chair, you asked about the FIT reports. That was in December or January, somewhere in that time frame. I know that there was quite a bit of discussion on this at the LCAP meeting yesterday. I heard from some of the parents, or their kids attend the school that my kids attend to. And I saw an email that came through. So where are we on that, I think, is at the end of the day, is my question. When will we see the status on those fit reports? And then finally, maybe I heard wrong, Superintendent, but when you were going through the schedule of the study sessions, I know we've talked about the restorative justice session and I didn't hear you call that out earlier. So, can you correct me if I missed that or where in the calendar?

[9121] SPEAKER_28: We just haven't scheduled it yet. It's still on the queue. It's still on the list to come. We haven't scheduled to pass these three that are coming, but it'll probably be the following month. So we are working on it. I know Associate Superintendent Salinas is working on a more comprehensive study session for that. There's just a few things ahead of it, but it is coming.

[9141] Elisa Martinez: And my only concern is I know, you know, you did call out through June some of the study sessions. So again, you know, this in conjunction with, you know, how we are leveraging counselors knowing that this is a theme we hear about, trying to get a sense of urgency, and again, how big is this problem, and what do we need to do before the start of next year? So, that's the reason I'm going to continue to push the urgency on this one.

[9170] SPEAKER_28: Well, I definitely know Associate Superintendent Salinas wanted to present this before the school year because there's kind of a double benefit, not only putting it in front of the board, and I think it was more than restorative justice, it was really what is the disciplinary protocol? What is the due process from simple infraction all the way up, so kind of the disciplinary ladder, so that's what she's working on. If the board would like, I could move that into the slot where we currently tentatively looked at solar and try to do it sooner. I know that Ms. Salinas was thinking for sure before the school year starts, so if that's still acceptable, if not, we can move it into the solar slot and do it sooner if you like. So it's at the will of the board.

[9216] Elisa Martinez: I mean my vote is yes, and you're absolutely right. I think that it's not right. We started with that restorative justice, but we did talk about really understanding progressive discipline exactly. Thank you, but I know I don't speak for the board so.

[9231] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you.

[9232] SPEAKER_48: Member Gutierrez. I have a couple of items and I wanted to ask a request if you could you guys could please provide us with, and this is more just, I want to tie it back to the budget and the fact that we already have a number that we're going to be looking to maintain. And so in order to make an affirmative decision as to what things we may need to cut, I would like if it's possible for you to provide me with the list of all the courses we currently provide in AP. So all the AP courses we currently provide with the number of students enrolled in those classes, and how many of those students actually take the exam. That's one request. The next one is if you can give us an update on the recommended.

[9292] SPEAKER_28: The AP exam, correct.

[9294] SPEAKER_48: So how many AP courses we have, and how many students are enrolled in each class, and then out we're going to be leaving that up to attrition. So that's how many students actually take the AP exam. And the next request is if you can give me an update. We made recommendations to cut 19 positions. Currently, I'm aware that we cut reduced one position and the less the rest are right are currently being left to attrition. But if that's all we're going to be So my concern is that being that the March 15th date already passed, I just wanted to get an update as to what's our status in regards to the reduction of those positions. And finally, if you can, and again, this is just so I can be properly informed when it comes to making budget decisions. If you can make the board a list of all the current programs currently used by the district. And I would like the name of the program, the funding source, the actual cost of the program, if there's an evaluation process in place, the date of the last evaluation, and the result. And I can repeat that. Sorry. And the result of the last evaluation. We have the recording.

[9382] SPEAKER_28: OK. I don't think you have to repeat it.

[9384] SPEAKER_48: OK, then.

[9387] SPEAKER_28: Okay, and and if possible, I would like to superintendent if there's a if you can provide me with the Approximate date I see when you think you can provide me with any of them with these Let us work on that and we'll see what we can do as far as approximate date I know that the list of programs we have to run that we did run part of it as far as what are non staff Costs I don't know. What do you guys think? A month?

[9418] SPEAKER_52: Two meetings? I would like to get through the third interim, and then the adopted budget, and we can present those lists.

[9424] SPEAKER_48: OK. And the only reason why I asked for that list, because I want to be informed for making those budget decisions. So. OK. We'll try to get it sooner. OK.

[9432] SPEAKER_28: We'll work.

[9434] SPEAKER_48: Let's work on it. And AP courses, is that something that will take more?

[9440] SPEAKER_28: I need to pull some reports. I probably could have something for that in a couple of weeks.

[9445] SPEAKER_48: and the 13 positions? That's pretty easy. OK. That's fine. OK.

[9450] SPEAKER_28: Yeah. Thank you.

[9452] SPEAKER_35: You OK? Would you like me to respond, Ryan? If you have that information, definitely. So we did agree that we were going to be reducing FTEs by 13. Attrition is one of those ways that we're going to. As you know, we have a PKS, one laid off employee that's no longer going to be with us. In addition to that, we have other reductions that have to do with just the positions not being needed anymore, which is the natural, the cut or the reduction of employees. We have some employees that are in the non-reelect. So even though they're being non-reelected, but the position is going to be collapsed. And we do have one retirement that's going to be collapsed and one person resigning.

[9504] Ray Rodriguez: One resignation. Not to interrupt the conversation, but this is the time where we make requests and the fact that you wanted to answer it is fine, but it's something that come up at a future board meeting when we have the board workshop and everything. So we have it, the recording, Member Gutierrez and what she's asking for. Okay. Anything else, Member Gutierrez?

[9528] SPEAKER_26: Thank you.

[9528] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Member Jones?

[9532] Bowen Zhang: I really don't have that much. I just say finally we got a full board after a month, so welcome back. President Rodriguez and I'm glad Vice President Thomas actually made it to the meeting.

[9542] Ray Rodriguez: Yes. It's good to have a full board. I agree. Cesar, student board members?

[9547] SPEAKER_60: Nothing at this time.

[9548] Ray Rodriguez: Okay. Thank you. So I just have a couple items. Right now over at, well, it's probably over now, at Snow Elementary, Mrs. Zealy with the Music for Minors or Seniors. She's making presentation and she's going to different schools. So this is a partnership that we've had for years and it's going well throughout the district and it's appreciated. So if we can find out if she's going to have any more events so we can go. And I appreciate the end of the year events, Char, that you're putting together for us. And each site is sending you information and stuff and that's really appreciated. A comment was made about visiting schools. Superintendent, so again, and when you're visiting a school, if you can reach out to the board members to see if maybe if our time allows that we can go with you. Sure. And it's just, you know, this is really a volunteer job that we have. I mean, we get a small stipend and no benefits or anything, but we still, the fun part is visiting the schools, okay? And I mean, I visit all the time because my grandbabies are there, but And I try to visit the high school and with events. So it's important that, you know, when we have time, if board members can do the fun part, which is visiting the schools and seeing the kids and everything. And before I go to you, Superintendent, I just have one more thing. You know, Ms. Parks and Mr. Newt, they come up and we have other people that come up and they talk to us about different things that's going on. And I really appreciate that because it broadens my thinking. And sometimes suggestions are made on how we can do things better. And I appreciate that also. But to me, it saddens me a little bit after 22 years being on the board when board members go after the administration, especially in a public setting. We had an item where we're talking about the service contract where we went back and forth We asked more information and that to me is healthy and we need to challenge our administration to give us information But sometimes you know, it kind of seems to go to the line a little bit So when we have our board retreat coming up on Saturday, hopefully that'll be something that we discuss on what can we do to to make us a stronger governance team because We just talked about superintendent evaluation. He can't go anywhere. He can't be successful unless we as a whole board get together and come up with a plan to move the district. And I think everyone that's here wants to move our district forward. So, superintendents, on you?

[9720] Nancy Thomas: Well, I'd like to just respond because I know what you're referring to.

[9724] Ray Rodriguez: I wasn't talking to you directly.

[9725] Nancy Thomas: No, but it was about me and it's very clear. I think these are important issues. that need to be, we need to be transparent about how we're doing our work. And it's not to impugn staff, it's to make staff aware of concerns that we have. And I don't think doing that in the context of the agenda item that was up was inappropriate.

[9758] Ray Rodriguez: I don't think, when you belittle staff, in my opinion, that doesn't bode well for us.

[9765] Elisa Martinez: I'd like to, again, I know this is, and this is, I think this is a healthy discussion. It may not feel right, but I think it's healthy. I respectfully disagree with your statement, President Rodriguez, and I think that, I would hope that staff feels that we are challenging issues and bringing questions. None of us are questioning your capability. And so I think we need to have this discussion.

[9797] Ray Rodriguez: Well, we are. And when we have the board retreat, we can ask. Maybe superintendent could share more. But there's just a difference between questioning and challenging our staff than belittling them, in my opinion.

[9811] SPEAKER_28: public that just goes over the line okay so and we'll discuss that at the retreat on Saturday I respectfully disagree I didn't hear any belittling going on at least from the from the board so thank you okay thank you superintendent you got five minutes um I don't need five minutes I will be moving progressive discipline presentation to June 19th and I'll push solar back so that that's Really easy to do and I think that it will be informative and even if we do create it sooner, we can share it again with sites and building a level of PTA groups so they know how does it work and what is that for. I think that other than that, I would say I look forward to Saturday. Please, I would like to start at 8.30. The sooner we start, the sooner we get things done and

[9867] Ray Rodriguez: Looking forward to that. And we added an hour because of member Martinez. We were going to do it to one. We can always extend the meeting at the board's pleasure. We can always extend it if we're really going well and you guys want to.

[9880] SPEAKER_28: But we're almost to ten and that concludes my report.

[9884] Ray Rodriguez: Okay. So it's 9.53 if nothing else. Meeting adjourned. Thank you.

No minutes available.