Regular Meeting

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[1] SPEAKER_32: Got it, Marie, thank you. Thank you.

[7] Elisa Martinez: Hello, good evening, and welcome to the Thursday, September 3rd regular meeting of the Newark Board of Education.

[18] SPEAKER_37: Ms. Gutierrez, roll call, please.

[23] SPEAKER_32: Member Nguyen? Here. Member Zhang?

[27] Bowen Zhang: Here.

[28] SPEAKER_32: Member Rodriguez? Absent. And President Martinez? Here.

[33] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you. So we do have quorum, so we will go ahead and get started. So moving on to item 2.1, which is the approval of the agenda, may I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda? Hang on one second. Member Rodriguez is joining here. Just give him a second for audio.

[62] SPEAKER_37: Member Rodriguez, can you hear us?

[64] Ray Rodriguez: Yes, ma'am.

[67] Elisa Martinez: Would you like to roll there again, Ms.

[72] SPEAKER_32: Gutierrez? Yes. Roll call, Member Rodriguez? Here.

[81] Elisa Martinez: Record noted. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we had moved on to approval the item 2.1 approval the agenda may have a motion in a second to approve the agenda as this unless there's any modifications that staff would like to request.

[99] Bowen Zhang: I move to approve the agenda as it is.

[103] Ray Rodriguez: Second.

[105] Elisa Martinez: Members young moves member Rodriguez seconds.

[109] Mark Triplett: And I was gonna say we have no way. Staff has no request for changes.

[115] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. I should have given you that opportunity. Member when how do you vote?

[123] SPEAKER_37: Yeah. Members young? Yes. Member Rodriguez?

[129] Ray Rodriguez: I vote yes. And I'm pleased staff doesn't have any modification.

[134] Elisa Martinez: And my vote is yes as well. Sorry, just occurred to me, is our student member joining today?

[144] SPEAKER_32: I believe he joins at seven. Oh, sorry then.

[146] Elisa Martinez: Okay, thank you. Okay, and with that, we move to item 2.2, which is public comment on closed session item. Ms. Gutierrez, any comments, closed session items?

[158] SPEAKER_24: None.

[159] Elisa Martinez: Okay, thank you. So before we recess to closed session. We will be discussing public employee discipline this dismissal release 3.2 conference with labor negotiator employee organizations and TA and CSCA 3.3 is conference with labor negotiator NEWMA and represented supervisors and contracted management. 3.4 is conference with legal counsel regarding existing litigation and 3.5 conference with legal counsel regarding anticipated litigation. Okay and with that we recess to closed session. Thank you.

[3580] SPEAKER_37: See, are we all on now?

[3606] Elisa Martinez: Member Zhang is not on, correct?

[3611] Jodi Croce: Yes, I do not see him.

[3613] SPEAKER_37: Oh, there he is. Give it another couple of seconds here.

[3622] Phuong Nguyen: He's connecting now.

[3636] Elisa Martinez: OK, and Ms. Gutierrez, we are live, correct?

[3642] SPEAKER_32: Yes, that is correct. We are still not back from. Do you want do you want us to to return?

[3653] Elisa Martinez: I think we've got everybody now.

[3656] SPEAKER_32: OK, so I think I think we're ready. We are visible. OK.

[3671] Elisa Martinez: Very good. Thank you. And as we reconvene to open session, as we return from closed session or reconvene open session, I'd like to ask everybody to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please. Ready? Begin.

[3696] SPEAKER_41: I pledge allegiance to the flag

[3700] Bowen Zhang: 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.

[3712] SPEAKER_37: Thank you, everyone.

[3720] Elisa Martinez: We move on to item five, 5.1, report on closed session items. And there was no reportable action taken. So we move on to item six, which is the student report, Superintendent Triplett.

[3740] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Martinez. Good evening, board members, community staff. Great to be with you this evening. Wanted to start by introducing two of our junior high students who will begin. I think they're going to take turns. One is Elisa Torres, and the other is Rachel Ristow, and we're delighted to have them here.

[3779] SPEAKER_32: They're just being moved from the attendees to panelists right now.

[3783] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez.

[3797] Elisa Martinez: Hi there, and welcome.

[3800] SPEAKER_24: Hi. Hi.

[3805] SPEAKER_32: And we're just trying to move Rachel to panelists.

[3810] Mark Triplett: Here she comes. Hi, Lisa. Hi, Rachel. Which one of you would like to start?

[3820] SPEAKER_39: I'll start. Great. My name is Alyssa Torres, and I am this year's Newark Junior High School president. I would like to give you all some information on what we have been doing since school has started. So far, my leadership team has sent surveys out to NJHS students asking what clubs they would be interested in and maybe what they would like to start and events they would like to start doing this year. We have also started morning announcements every week on Mondays. And so far, we're off to a great start.

[3860] Mark Triplett: Thank you. And Rachel, are you going to, are you going to go next?

[3866] SPEAKER_40: Hi, my name is Rachel and I'm the Newark Junior High School ASB vice president this year. And I'm going to tell you about the future plan that the Newark Junior High School leadership class has for this year. So we hope to have the online student store up and running as soon as possible. So parents and students can purchase apparel and other school clothing items. The committee is working on a spirit week that will hopefully happen before the end of September. Our assembly committee is hosting a back to school rally in the works and other possible activities based off of what other students.

[3901] Mark Triplett: Wonderful, thank you so much.

[3905] Elisa Martinez: So I'm so sorry. But I just wanted to say thank you to the ladies and welcome them and we look forward to seeing and hearing more from you as the as the weeks progress. Thank you so much. Yeah.

[3917] Mark Triplett: ladies, and also just give an appreciation to your leadership teacher, Mr. Whitaker, for all that he's doing to support you all. Great. President Martinez, should I introduce the next speaker?

[3934] SPEAKER_37: Yes, please.

[3935] Mark Triplett: Wonderful. So next I'm going to introduce our student board member, Mr. Wahab Salemi, who's also a student at Newark Memorial High School.

[3950] SPEAKER_10: Good evening, members of the board, executive cabinet, students, Newark community members. I'm happy to be here and to provide everyone with my student report. Something that student leaders have been doing is really trying to see how we are going to put together events that will be held virtually. from rallies to on-campus activities. We also put an emphasis on community outreach. In terms of priorities, I think students' leaders have really let it be known that student mental health is absolutely paramount and the key to our success. Starting in the month of September, Newark Memorial's ASB Athletics Committee and our athletic department is rolling out a social media campaign to educate students on substance abuse, alcohol, mental health, suicide prevention in honor of National Recovery Month. This month, they have already begun conversations around anxiety versus stress and how to recognize the symptoms and ways we can receive help. They plan on doing a different educational campaign each month. On Wednesday, we had our club officers meeting for those who would like to start a club or continue a club from the previous year. We are now moving our clubs to a virtual setting. Our ASB virtual events committee is planning to hold a virtual art competition from September 7th to the 18th. As we all know, back to school has created many challenges for us all. And one of those is how we have rallies at school. But I think our leadership and ASB team really did a great job improvising. We put together a video that took place, that took the place of our annual back to school rally. NMHS's cheer team, 700 Club, ASB administration, our very own Margaret Rowlands with the powerful poem on race all made appearances. It can be found on our YouTube page. The tech and video committee put in a lot of work and time into making this video. I think everyone did an absolutely amazing job, and I would invite you all to check it out if you have time. The first week of school also consisted of our laptop and textbook pickup. It was planned well considering the circumstances. I know Ms. Rangel and the rest of the admin at NMHS worked really hard to make sure safety was prioritized and that everyone still got everything they needed to kick off the school year from home. And I'm not putting a timeline on this one, but this school year, an exciting thing that I'm going to work with activities director at NMHS to put together is like a mini program, hopefully in the coming months to train and help leaders from our elementary schools, prepare something for the board and give a short update here themselves on what their school is doing. And I think it's going to give them a unique opportunity for us and the community to hear from our elementary school students. And I don't wanna give too much away, but our community will be seeing in the coming weeks That myself, with the help and input of my peers, have been working to put together a resolution to help combat racial inequity, and I can promise that will be absolutely powerful, amazing, and meaningful. Now I move on to sports. NMHS Athletics will begin a phase implementation of preseason workouts for fall sports only, beginning Wednesday, September 16th. Phase one will include workouts for football, water polo, volleyball, cross country on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Just yesterday, they released their return to activity plan. Some of the requirements are as follows. Preseason workouts will be completely voluntary for students, student athletes, and coaches. In order to participate, student athletes must be registered on Family ID, which is the Athletics Department online registration platform. Submit a copy of their current physical. Sign and submit pre-participation athletics workout protocol acknowledgement and liability form. Workout pods will be created by coaches and include a maximum of 12 student athletes, which will not be intermingled. Daily screening will be mandatory. The full details of the plan will be discussed at a virtual return to activity orientation on Thursday, September 10th at 6.30 to present the specific details and procedures of the plan to student athletes and their families. Student athletes and their families should expect a link to the meeting sometime next week. And that's all I have for you guys today. Thank you guys for listening.

[4197] Ray Rodriguez: I just wanted to say that our young leadership teams, whether it's at the high school Bridgepoint or at the junior high are awesome. And they're putting in extra time. And I know that at the high school, the leadership team has a program set up to welcome the new kids that are coming in. And for Ms. Torres over at the junior high, She doesn't know it, but her mother grew up with my kids, and I've known her since she was in junior high. So it's all one nice big circle.

[4235] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez, for your comments. And thank you, student member Salemi, for your report. Superintendent Triplett?

[4246] Mark Triplett: Yes, thank you. And thank you again, student member Salemi. It's really fantastic, all of the things that are going on and being planned by both you and the student leadership. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow being in the ASB class with the students and discussing more of the actions that they're planning. Last, but certainly not least, I wanted to introduce the student representative from Bridgepoint, Ms. Marilyn Rollins. I actually had the pleasure today of being in Ms. Rollins' class, just by coincidence, not intentional. But it was great to see her in the learning environment and really taking leadership in the class. So I'm delighted to turn it over to her.

[4296] SPEAKER_39: Wait, can you guys hear me?

[4298] Mark Triplett: Yes, we can.

[4300] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, hold on. I'm at work right now. That's why. Thank you. Okay, wait you okay you guys can hear me right?

[4307] Sean Abruzzi: Yep, go ahead.

[4308] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, all right. Good evening Superintendent, Dr. Triplett, board members, and cabinet members. My name is Marilyn Rollins and I am a senior at Bridgepoint. Our counselor, Mr. Baylon, has been leading advisory on Mondays. We have talked about being professional and learned more about social justice. Hopefully more students will be joining our discussions. Our back-to-school night will be Wednesday, September 16th at 6 p.m. It'll be a virtual event. Our families will get to attend our Monday schedule of classes. Thank you to Dr. Triplett and Mr. Dolowicz for visiting our classes today. We appreciate your support.

[4351] Elisa Martinez: Thank you so much Ms. Rollins for your report and we know it's obviously challenging since you're at work but You really, really appreciate that extra effort to still make yourself available.

[4363] Jodi Croce: Thank you.

[4367] Mark Triplett: All right. Thank you, Ms. Rollins. Those are our student reports for this evening.

[4373] SPEAKER_37: Thank you. Thank you.

[4376] Elisa Martinez: OK. And so with that, we move to item 7, which is recognitions and celebrations, staff spotlight, Superintendent Triplett.

[4385] Mark Triplett: Wonderful. My favorite part of the evening. Let me just pull up this slide deck.

[4395] Elisa Martinez: Maybe one of your favorite parts, right?

[4399] Mark Triplett: There's lots of favorite parts to these meetings. But I will say I'm really delighted. What I'd like what we're trying to do is create space for celebrating all of our incredible what I call our school heroes, and that is all our educators that are going. above and beyond every day to support our kids. And when I say educators, I think of not just the teachers, but of every person that is involved in supporting kids in schools. And that's everyone from the office staff, custodians, food service, teachers, principals, and everyone else. So if you'll indulge me, I did want to just highlight this week, five people in particular that I've had the honor to engage with in the last couple weeks and really want to celebrate their work and their dedication to our kids. So with that, I'm going to share my screen. All right. So the first person, the first hero that I'd like to celebrate is Miss Maria Silva. She is the custodian at Graham Elementary. I had the honor of meeting her, maybe about a month ago but I saw her again this week. Ms. Silva is just an amazing individual, has been working at Graham, dedicated herself to keeping Graham spotless, and even within the pandemic, she's coming every day determined to make sure that things are clean, safe, and beautiful for our kids, our teachers, our staff. When I first met her, I made the horrible mistake of thinking that she was a native Spanish speaker. And so I started speaking with her in Spanish. But Ms. Silva is a native Portuguese speaker. And she was so gracious to put up with my ridiculous Spanish. And it turns out that she actually really loves speaking Spanish to the families and kids. at Graham and really thinks of it as a great way to engage with people. So I was hoping to have a little clap-o-meter here, but I don't think I'm technologically savvy enough to do so. But I just want to, if everyone can just take a moment to celebrate and applaud Ms. Silva. And when you see her, just thank her for all of her efforts. The next person is my neighbor here at the district office. This is Mr. Ernie Romero. I met Ernie. He's the custodian at MUSIC. Ernie has been, he was a graduate of NUSD, went through NUSD himself. I met him out watering plants one day when I was walking past MUSIC. He's dedicated his entire life to serving NUSD, and he's been at music, just making sure that music is incredibly clean, spotless, and taking care of everybody there. I know he also has family that's gone through NUSD, and even, I think, his father worked for NUSD. So he's just, his whole family for generations have dedicated themselves to really supporting our kids in our community. So I wanted to give him an applause. And then I wanted to honor three teachers. One, the first is Ms. Hannah Hugh, who is a math teacher at Newark Memorial. I got to go into her class. I believe it was last week. She teaches 10th through 12th grade math analysis honors class. It was very rigorous. She was teaching them domain range and functions. And I was struggling to keep up. But what I really liked is just how she really pushed kids and to challenge their thinking. And kids really respond in there. And so the level of engagement and the rigor are really tremendous. So I wanted to appreciate Ms. Hu.

[4663] Bowen Zhang: Actually, that last name is pronounced like who, like W-H-O.

[4667] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Mr. Zheng, member Zheng. Say it one more time.

[4674] Bowen Zhang: The last name is pronounced almost like W-H-O.

[4678] Mark Triplett: Who? OK, thank you. I'll work on that. The next teacher is also at Newark Memorial, Daniel Johnson. He teaches ninth grade biology, just comes with incredible enthusiasm. When I visited his class, he was challenging kids around, is a virus a living thing? And really the debate that was happening and how he was pushing kids was nothing short of like getting them to argue about what constitutes life itself. It was super cool, incredibly well planned out and really pushing kids to engage with each other. And so really, really appreciated being in there. So applause for Mr. Johnson. And then finally, I actually went to this Mr. Sung's class today. He teaches at Bridgepoint High School. He is a teacher in the TAL program, which is Transition to Adult. I'm going to blank on the last part. Transition. Uh-oh. All right, come back to me on what that stands for. I thought it was a really cool acronym. But anyway, he works with our students who are transitioning out of high school, and his class was super fun and also really engaging. He was pushing kids on using Venn diagrams and also different technology like Jamboard, which we've only recently really started to utilize in our district, to really help build kids, students' social skills. Very high engagement and just really warm, loving environment in the class. So I wanted to appreciate Mr. Sung. Member Jeon, did I pronounce that name correctly?

[4788] Bowen Zhang: That's the last name, I guess it's correct.

[4792] SPEAKER_37: Thank you.

[4793] Mark Triplett: And that's that's all of the the celebrations of our heroes tonight. But I look forward to continuing this practice in future meetings.

[4806] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Superintendent triplet. This is wonderful. We certainly this is not something we've done, at least since my tenure. And, you know, it's just so refreshing to start to see who our team is, you know, and and all the great things that they're doing. So thank you for bringing this forward. Okay, so we move on to item eight, which is public comment on non-agenda items. And Ms. Gutierrez, I believe we do have some comments.

[4840] SPEAKER_32: Yes, the first one is gonna be from Ms. Vanessa Shea. Okay, great, thank you.

[4860] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, and then Ms. Gutierrez, if we could also just set the timer, and does everyone know that there is a three minute limit on comments? Yes, and the timer is ready.

[4870] SPEAKER_33: Okay, very good, thank you. Thank you so much. Good evening, members of the board. We know this year has been full of challenges, and as a district, you have worked tirelessly to overcome those challenges. As members of the school community, we appreciate your support for our students during the pandemic. However, we are in yet another moment of heightened racial awareness in America. While we collectively mourn the murders of many Black Americans and navigate the path forward, it is absolutely critical to consider the impacts of these traumatic modern events and their direct connection to Black American history and on all students of all races. Not only do we need to address the emotional state of students and staff, but also make changes that create real positive impacts on our students' lives and collective futures. Furthermore, students at Newark Memorial High School are concerned about these matters and have been organizing to foster change needed in our schools. We stand in solidarity with the student leaders who are collectively speaking on behalf of their peers and school community that they care so deeply about. We as concerned staff, community members, employees, and or parents to children in this school district are calling on Newark Unified School District to ensure there is a safe learning environment for every student. Since the recent murders of George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Anthony McLean in Pasadena, Eric Salgado in Oakland, and Daniel Prude in Newark, Americans have been addressing race, anti-racism, and inequality. We are disappointed in the lack of efforts by the district's faculty and school board to take deliberate anti-racist actions within board and academic communications with parents, students, staff, and faculty. Our district has not made a statement or action plan that is a commitment to equity. We understand that the student board member will be releasing a resolution September 17th, and we stand in solidarity with these efforts. To be clear, ignoring the injustices of widespread normalized racism and intolerance of others, or making a statement during district PD without an action plan is not an option. Science and research has proven time and time again that, excuse me, children have learned racial bias and facial recognition by three months of age. Black children as young as three years old have been shown to have significantly lower self-esteem based on their own identification of their skin color, which has also been linked to lower academic achievement. Black and brown students are significantly more likely to receive discipline resulting in removal from the classroom. suspensions, expulsions, referrals to law enforcement, and more than their peers, which has been directly linked to incarceration rates. The school to prison pipeline is a key issue facing many school districts and implicit bias plays a large role. A single suspension in the first year of high school doubles the dropout rate chance for that child.

[5052] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, Ms. Shea, you have about 20 seconds, just if you can close your statement.

[5057] SPEAKER_33: Thank you. Schools with police are more likely to refer children to law enforcement, are likely to refer children to law enforcement for non-serious violent behaviors. Black and Brown students are more likely to be arrested at school and leads to the adultification of Black and Brown children. Evidence-based alternatives to having police in schools include restorative justice programs, positive behavioral interventions and supports programs, mental health counselors, and hiring social workers and nurses. Accountability is one of the only known factors that lead to behavioral changes in people.

[5090] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Shea, for your statement. Thank you.

[5096] SPEAKER_37: OK. Do we have another speaker, Ms.

[5099] Elisa Martinez: Gutierrez?

[5100] SPEAKER_32: Yes. Ms. Akilah Byrd, and I believe she will be finishing the statement from the first speaker, Ms. Vanessa Shea. Thank you.

[5113] Elisa Martinez: Welcome, Ms. Bird. Thank you.

[5116] SPEAKER_05: Good evening. Accountability is one of the only known factors that lead to behavioral changes in people who occupy positions of power. California school dashboard data shows that in 2019, NUSD, 8.2% of students with disabilities were suspended at least once, which shows NUSD is at a red performance level. 5.1% of socioeconomically disadvantaged students were suspended at least once, which shows that we are at an orange performance level. Additionally, in 2019, 8.5% of black students were suspended at least once, and 4.1% of English language learners were suspended at least once. As community members and K-12 educators, we are trusted leaders, mentors, and role models to countless students who will grow up to be the next generation of Americans. We expect you to teach and lead by example, exhibit kindness, provide resources, and promote a safe learning environment for all students. From here on, anything less will be considered inadequate and being on the wrong side of history. Talks about race can be challenging, but we must turn this silence into dialogue. These conversations are not reserved only for students of color, our students in general, but for staff as well. You're equally responsible for helping our students build their capacity to understand and confront racism as well. Contribute to a society where peace and justice prevail. A recent report requested by State Superintendent Tony Thurmond was drafted by selected educators and leaders in California, and one of the thought leaders who drafted this report is a principal in USD, myself. In a report advancing social emotional learning amid a pandemic and a national awakening to systemic racism, a few recommendations for school districts include understanding that students, their families, teachers and staff, and the entire school community have suffered a great trauma. Therefore, the new school year requires a new approach to education that balances the need for standards based academics with social emotional learning, rather than stressing the need to catch students up academically, moving beyond equity by expecting teachers to understand and practice anti racism. A plan to ramp up critical mental health services offered through schools to students in recognition of the shift from seeing schools as solely academic institutions to seeing them as a comprehensive support systems they are. Professional development that helps teachers relate to the unique experiences their students while are practicing self care. Furthermore, a neighboring school district, Hayward Unified, has brought forward policy on- Ms.

[5291] Elisa Martinez: Burdick, if you could please close out your last statement. Thank you.

[5295] SPEAKER_05: Absolutely. I will just jump to the end. Sincerely, Vanessa Shea, Alternatives to Suspension Coordinator for Newark Memorial High School. Victoria Garcia, Health and Wellness Consultant for NULC in Alameda County. Akilah Byrd, principal of Graham Elementary School. Jane Love, mental health clinician at Graham Elementary School and parent. Britt Wolven, health and wellness consultant for Newark Unified School District. And Ashley Acosta, manager of parent engagement and health services for Newark Unified School District. Thank you for your time.

[5330] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Bird. You know, normally we don't respond to public comment, but I was going to ask you to comment, Superintendent Triplett, because this is a conversation we've been having, not only with our student board member who kind of hinted at something that's coming, but even prior to that. So, you know, I just wanted to give you a chance maybe to comment.

[5358] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Martinez. I just want to honor the words that were just spoken by these staff members and just express on behalf of the whole district, deep commitment to really having these challenging conversations. These are super hard conversations and first and foremost we got to really be reflective and shine the light on ourselves both as individuals and as a system to really get to the root of the systemic racism and oppression and absolutely committed to working with staff, students, and community to really to create an action plan that I hope will really push on this really difficult but critical work. So you made a reference to student board member Salemi's plans and really, really encouraged and hopeful that that'll be a start. And I know that board member Salemi is really committed to to moving forward and really organizing our student leaders in support of these kind of efforts as well.

[5434] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely. And, you know, we definitely look forward to that conversation really starting because, again, most of us on the board are relatively new and we know this is a difficult conversation to have, but we're deeply committed to making sure we begin to have that conversation because these are problems we need to solve, and we're committed to that as well. So thank you, and thank you for your comments. Ms. Gutierrez, do we have additional comments?

[5465] SPEAKER_32: I do want to put on the record that there was a request by Mr. David Fink. However, he did not log in, so he's not in attendance anymore. OK.

[5476] Elisa Martinez: Thank you very much. And that's it for public comment. Fantastic.

[5483] SPEAKER_37: So moving on to item 9.1, superintendent report. Superintendent Triplett.

[5488] Mark Triplett: All right, sorry, let me bring up this deck. Great. So thank you, President Martinez. I just wanted to give some updates on some different things that have been happening within the district, some of the successes and also the challenges that we're facing and the actions that we're taking to try to address them. First of all, I wanted to update the board and community around safety protocols and safety steps that we're taking. One thing I think possibly alluded to it in previous meetings but we wanted to make the board aware and also community aware that we have been continuing to modify what we're calling a daily health check so that it's a process that we are using to ensure that anybody who is entering onto any of our campuses right now has been screened and that we're that we're ensuring that we're really being careful and conscious of the health and safety of all the members of our staff that are entering campuses. So recently we moved to an online system because we felt like it would actually decrease the amount of physical contact in any sort of morning health check and at this point we have online health checks for every school but then also every department in the district and that happens on a daily basis where staff are logging in, communicating their health with regard to COVID. And so then we can monitor that during the day. And then we also use that survey. It's confidential because it is, obviously it's individual health and personnel information, but the supervisors are then using that information to also be aware of who is on our campuses on a daily basis. And that helps to support custodial staff as they're making sure that they're following all of the cleaning protocols and keeping everybody safe on campus. So that is one part of a larger facility safety plan that we have. I just wanted to make the board aware that we have created this safety plan. It includes protocols for staff around cleaning daily. It includes guidelines that are aligned to state and county around reporting any possible exposure to COVID. It also includes the use of and the procurement of safety equipment. And then, of course, also PPE supplies that we have procured and have available to staff that are entering campuses. So that's, that's a little bit about the health and safety protocols that we have are now have in place and and are continuing to grow and improve but wanted to make sure you're aware of that. And technology is another thing I know I updated the board last meeting and want to continue to update because it's such a critical piece at this point in the, in the distance learning process. So I'll just start by saying we really want to appreciate the teachers in particular and our IT department because given the conditions and given some of the age of some of our teacher laptops in particular, we are experiencing challenges and teachers have I've been really patient and graceful with all of the challenges that are occurring around slowed delays and getting booted off of Zooms or Google Meets at some times. And honestly, I think these are things that companies are experiencing throughout the country right now, just given the move to working virtually. And definitely districts throughout the country are experiencing challenges like this. But I wanted to update the board on some of the steps we are taking. So we are, we're still waiting for the teacher laptops that the board approved for purchase. I believe it was almost a month and a half ago. We hope to have those in by October, but we all are really anxious for those to come in because those laptops are gonna, we intend that those will perform much better in terms of all the things that teachers are doing online. We've also, in anticipation of returning to in-person learning at some point in the future, we've started to think about what are the things that we're going to need to make sure that we've already planned ahead on. One of them is we've ordered cables and dongles. Dongles are like the things that connect laptops to other devices and things like that. So we've ordered those so that any teacher that is either currently working from their classroom or will be in the future, that if they are experiencing any sort of Wi-Fi challenges, that it would be, we're hoping that the connectivity would be much better if they have the option of plugging into a cable. In addition, we're noticing that some of the document cameras that teachers use, that they're finally reaching their end of life. And this probably would have been the case even without the distance learning. However, I think that being in a distance learning setting has put additional strain on those document cameras. So we were intending to begin purchasing and replacing document cameras as they go out of service. We are continuously monitoring our bandwidth. And that's one thing that's come up as a question is when internet has slowed down. Of course, the first thing that one jumps to is, is maybe we don't have enough bandwidth. But as of right now, we've run a lot of tests. And we actually are not maxing out our bandwidth at all. We have we have plenty of bandwidth and so we've identified that any sort of slowdown is actually not a result of bandwidth issues. However, we are monitoring it and we are considering increasing bandwidth in anticipation of return to in person learning. And then lastly, our IT team is doing an amazing job under really, really challenging circumstances to provide tech support through our ticketing system. And they are fielding, constantly fielding, tickets to from from teachers and and staff around different technology issues and then they they're either helping online or in some cases actually going out to the schools or having. Staff come to the office to try to troubleshoot what's what's the issue with with the device. So that was our tech update. In terms of enrollment, this one's pretty quick. Just wanted to keep the board apprised of where we are in terms of our enrollment in comparison to projections. So I believe I reported at an earlier board meeting that we were still over projections in terms of our enrollment. Unfortunately, we have dipped a little bit. So at this point, we are 35 students below our enrollment projections. And it's something that we definitely want to be aware of. We continue to have families register and enroll in our schools, but we definitely are monitoring this and want to do everything we can to ensure that we maintain and even increase enrollment. We are over enrolled in the over in projections, I should say, in the high school, but we are below projections and majority of our elementary schools and then our junior high. Let's see. And then I think I'll go pretty quickly through this, but I do want to continue to highlight that we have created, I'm looking at, sorry, I'm looking at spelling error, distance learning, distance learning parent and student handbook, both in English and Spanish. and it's available on our website under recent news and it's also been sent out I believe via email to all families. It's really, I just want to encourage, continue to encourage families to utilize this handbook because it articulates a significant amount of aspects of how we're doing distance learning and different components of it. One, first and foremost, is we continue to really want to champion the idea that of students making sure they are they got their screens on and their camera ready and in my visits to classrooms I've been to about 23 classrooms in the last couple weeks. I've been really encouraged to see to see that of course there are situations in any in any family where sometimes the computer's glitching, doesn't have enough bandwidth or whatever it is. And so some students have to have their screen off. But in general, and we want to be sensitive to that, but in general, we also really want to encourage students to have their screen on and be camera ready to learn because it's really critical that they are mentally and physically present in the learning spaces online. Really quick, the part of the handbook does outline attendance, the importance of attendance, and then also what families should do in different attendance situations. So again, I won't go dive too much detail, but I do want to encourage families to continue to reference and utilize the handbook. Just like in normal in-person learning, we do really want to stress the importance of attending virtual classes every day. If a child is sick or cannot attend for whatever reason, the parent can still, just like normal, call the attendance clerk at the school and let them know. And we have had situations where families are with their student, they're trying to log on and there's a technology issue. And so they're unable to log on. And I know that can be stressful for the student and the family. And what they should continue to do is just like normal, call the attendance clerk at the school and let them know. And of course, those kinds of issues are excused. We also have an expectation, and this is from the state that students are participating in what we call asynchronous learning. That's the not live learning, but the other aspect of every school day of the offline learning and teachers have really spent a lot of time planning. and developing the lessons so that students do have a chance to be learning in asynchronous way as well. And the state is requiring us to make record of that when students are participating offline in asynchronous time. I won't go into too much detail, but these are other guidelines just to really encourage the importance of students taking breaks and transitions between classes. We have built a schedule that way that teachers are really focused also on social emotional learning. It's one of our. our priorities this year as a district. And in the classes I've seen, I've been really, really impressed with how that's being lifted up and addressed. It's really important because all of us, you know, this is, this is really, has been a traumatic time. And, and so social emotional learning always was important, but more so than ever. And then just highlighting that we design the schedule for office hours for teachers. So teachers are available to meet with small groups and with parents online as needed. So that's all part of the structure. I'm going to jump over here real quick, because I know despite all of this, we do have some families and students who really continue to have challenges of getting online, getting to class. And so I wanted to just highlight some of the things that we're doing. Clearly, we need to continue to do more, but I wanted to just highlight some of these. Some of that is the schedule is designed for small group intervention classes throughout the day. I observed a couple today. It's really great. So that's a chance for students who need extra support. The teachers are available to provide that. We continue to have coordination of support teams, COST as they're called, even in the virtual world. So those are parent partners, schools, leadership, teachers who meet regularly and discuss students and families who need additional support and how to support those families. We have parent partners that are making regular phone calls, checking in with families who students are maybe not attending or haven't showed up on a regular basis. We have attendance check-ins as a regular calls on a daily basis. We do have a team making home visits for families that we haven't heard from or might need additional support in person. Of course, you've heard of the nutritional supports that are being provided, and I wanted to personally appreciate Member Rodriguez and Member Nguyen, who have been out at some of the lunch distributions this week and last week. Thankfully, the state has now enabled us to serve lunches to any David O'Brien, M.D., Ph.D. : Child under 18 and so it's not it's not required that they fit any certain category. And so that's that's that just happened this week. And we're really glad because we know food. David O'Brien, M.D., Ph.D. : Continues to be a big issue for our community and then behavior health continues online. And then lastly, I just wanted to highlight this and this because this is an issue that's we really been hearing a lot is that that some families really want help with the technology. And so we are built currently building out and more information to come on this, but we're building out some family work tech workshops that you'll hear more about in the in the upcoming weeks. to support families who, in every different way, families who have trouble logging on, turning on the computer, getting onto the Zoom classrooms with their child, all of those different aspects we really want to support. And that's my report for this evening.

[6392] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Superintendent Triplett. Thank you. Any comments or questions from the board?

[6403] Phuong Nguyen: I just have a quick comment. For families who are using Wi-Fi at home, they can check their internet speed if they go to speedtest.net. So that's speed, S-P-E-E-D test, T-E-S-T dot net, N-E-T. And that will, if you go on there, you click on the Go button, and then it will help you, it will give you a an evaluation of your download speed and your upload speed so it will that can help answer some of the bandwidth questions and then from there you can analyze and see if you will need to change providers or if you need any help please let us know. Thank you.

[6450] SPEAKER_37: Thank you everyone. Student member Salemi.

[6453] SPEAKER_10: Yeah I just because Superintendent Triplett did touch on technology and I had a I guess a comment for him and his team. I know the hotspots that the district provides, I think they only connect to school devices. And I know we're in the middle of, if I'm not mistaking, and I know we're in the middle of trying to get new devices, because a lot of them are getting old. And some kids are using their phones and teachers have other laptops or even students. So maybe the hotspots are, we can get them to connect or get some that connect to other devices and not just the school devices.

[6489] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you, Board Member Salemi. Yeah, I know that has been an issue. The devices we have, they do specifically connect to our student Chromebooks. And one thing we did, we did just want to make sure that the devices are being used and prioritized for students. And so I think that's one of the reasons that we purchased those. It does seem like that has been an issue in some cases, and so we'll keep troubleshooting that and figuring out how we can meet the needs of students who may have a non-district Chromebook, but require the hotspots. So thank you for that.

[6536] Elisa Martinez: Okay, thank you. And with that, we move to item 10.1, Sorry, 10, which is the staff report and Superintendent Triplett. The item is the fiscal health risk analysis report. I'll hand that over to you.

[6557] Mark Triplett: Great, thank you. Sorry, it looks like my computer shut down some of my windows while I was talking, so I'm gonna open it back up. Yeah, so I'm gonna tee it up to Ms. Dela Cruz in a minute, who's our chief business officer, but I did wanna say the FCMAT report has come back, and I think we have someone this evening who's going to speak about the details of that report. We're really appreciative of the analysis. It definitely highlights our deficiencies and that's a good thing because we really want to make sure that we are continuing to take action to be as fiscally responsible as possible. I would say that the good news is that thanks to the leadership of Ms. Dela Cruz, that there are many things on the report that we actually already have taken action on. And so I'm really pleased with that. And then there's things that we still do need to take action on. And so I'll turn it over to Ms. Dela Cruz, who will then introduce our guests.

[6626] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Yeah, if you recall, board members, a few months ago, We received notice from the Alameda County Office of Education that FCMAT, the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team, would be engaging the district in this fiscal health risk analysis. And the reason for that was because the district had filed four consecutive qualified certifications. So that's what triggered this analysis. And it was a really good process. And part of this process included interviews with our board members, as well as district staff. And there was also a list of documents that was requested by FCMAT, which we uploaded to a portal for their review. And this is the result. So we received the draft report a few weeks ago. And we have the opportunity to review it as Dr. Triplett said. And we already started taking action on several items and some that we've already addressed. And so tonight we have two representatives from FCMAT, Mr. John Von Fleu and Ms. Jennifer Noga to present the information. And again, This report focuses on what we were going to call the no answers, because there was a series of questions that was part of the review. And anything that was answered with a no is what will be highlighted in this report. So it's not necessarily about the things that we are doing well. So just please keep that in mind. So with that, I'm going to ask Mr. Von Fluh and Ms. Jennifer Noga to present the report.

[6749] SPEAKER_18: Good evening.

[6751] Mark Triplett: Mr. Volf, can I just say one more thing? I apologize. I do want to just highlight that this evening we're going to hear from them. We will not be discussing this evening the actions we are taking to address the noes, so to speak, but please expect that that will be at an upcoming meeting where we're basically separating the report from then the action steps. Apologize for the interruption, but I just wanted to be clear about what to expect this evening.

[6783] SPEAKER_18: Very well, good evening, Newark Unified School District trustees, Superintendent Triplett and Mr. LaCruz. My name is John Bonflute. Joining me is Jennifer Noga. I'm a chief analyst with FICMAT, and Jennifer is a fiscal intervention specialist with FICMAT. And this is one of those reports where you get just FICMAT representatives because of the importance of the review. Ms. Dela Cruz took it very lightly as to what we reviewed. We went through three and a half days of interviews. We requested 100 document categories and which had several documents with each one. And it was a pretty daunting. That's why we tried to use FICMAT staff so that we can streamline it a little bit. And so thank you for that cooperation right off the bat. Can you hear me OK? I'm at the ready with my headphones. And so if you have any point, let me know. I want to give a little bit of background on FICMAT. FCMAT, the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team, is an independent and external agency. And I know we've talked about this before because I interviewed with all of you during our visit. We work both inside and outside what is called the AB Assembly Bill 1200 fiscal oversight. And in our role, we do about 70% of our work as management assistance, 10% is fiscal crisis, 10% fraud and 10% professional development. We really like to be proactive on that as much as we can, but sometimes we can't avoid the intervention piece. FCMAT dates back to the early 90s, 1990s I should say, and is about the fiscal oversight of schools. AB 1200 is a set of standards and criteria that are progressive in nature, and eventually lead to intervention. And eventually that the final step of intervention is a school takeover and loss of local authority. And that's where FCMAT gets highly engaged. And we want to stay away from that. We all know that the responsibility of the district's fiscal stability lies in the board and the administration to provide the board with good information to make decisions to keep you in a fiscal solvent position. In the 18-19, the 2018-19 Budget Act, the legislature gave FCMAT additional authority and expanded our role. There's two pieces of the role, is one to be more proactive, and one, an accountability of the county office oversight. And with that, it required us to engage when certain conditions are met in districts. And we're to engage with this fiscal health risk analysis tool. The conditions are that a district would have unapproved budget, negative certification, three or more qualified certifications, a change of certification, a downgrade by the county office, and a determination of lack of going concern. Just a brief understanding of what those are. district in good fiscal position is called a going concern. It's account speak meaning that you're in solid financial position. A negative certification means that you are unable to meet your fiscal obligations in the current and successive fiscal year and qualified means you may not be able to meet your fiscal obligations in the current or subsequent two subsequent fiscal years. So That's a little bit of background on FICMAT and the fiscal oversight. The fiscal health and risk analysis tool is graded on a scale of 0 through 100. The higher score means it indicates that there's a higher risk level to the district. weight the questions differently. Not every question has the same amount of impact on the risk of fiscal solvency. So we've gone behind the scenes and did different weights and different triggers that will elevate a district score. So where are we with Newark? Newark was identified as a fiscal concern back in the beginning of the fiscal year 2018-19. Both of the interim reports for 18-19, the first interim and the second interim reports were qualified. And that means that back then they were identifying that the district may not be able to make their fiscal obligations in the current and two subsequent fiscal years. For the 19-20, the budget was initially conditionally approved by the county office. And then subsequent to that, the first and second interims were certified as qualified. The trigger, if you recall, is after three qualified certifications. And we came in after four qualified certifications. And why was that? Alameda County Office, we talked to them first as to whether they concur with the certifications. And they, in working with you and knowing a little bit more about you than we did at the time, the Alameda County Office asked us to delay our engagement to see what would happen in second interim for 19-20. When Newark Certified is qualified for the second interim, we had no choice and they had no choice for us to engage. So that's what was the initial or the final trigger for us to engage. So we visited the district at the end of May, interviewed many of the staff and all of you board members. And the fiscal health risk analysis is a result of that and the review of documents. I just want to remind you that the, and this was stated in the process, early in the process, that FCMAT works on a deficit reporting model. Meaning we don't sit here and tell you all the good things you're doing. We only highlight and identify the things that we think that improvement can be made. Either you're doing wrong or they're not to industry standards. or identified in some other way as a concern. So our report is all based on that. It's none of the student reports that you had earlier, the employee awards that you had earlier. This is the downer of the meeting. So I'm not going to go through the whole report. But rather, I'm going to highlight some of the crucial points. You have the report available to you. I'm sure knowing what I know of you, board members and staff have already gone through it extensively. But I want to go through the most crucial points from our perspective. The report identifies Newark as a high risk of insolvency. And the area and many areas of fiscal concern were found. We're not here to place blame or identify fault. But it's intended for us to identify areas of concern and share that information with you and hopefully give you directions on how and what to work on in order to resolve those fiscal issues. The district's risk includes the inability, first and foremost, to maintain sufficient reserves due to the forecasted deficit spending and the failure to act to correct that trend. What is causing the deficit spending trend? Partially is things out of your control. And what I mean by that is the community of Newark is experiencing declining enrollment. The community is producing less and less kids for your district every year. Districts in declining enrollment have a very difficult time in keeping pace financially with those changes. And it's been significant. The district is down nearly 300 kids in the last two years and is projecting that to continue. Even in a district that is responding, a declining enrollment issue is very hard to keep up with. It's very hard to cut expenses as fast as revenues are dropping. There's also rising costs and compensation with statutory benefits. You've heard of the STRS and PERS increases. they have increased liabilities and so they're increasing the the draw from the districts and so that is a burden. And then we just finished the gap funding component of LCFF where there was a huge infusion of funds over several years and that ended. And from now to this point going forward we're anticipating only COLA funding and to make that matters worse the COLA funding is zero. So what's been the issue with with responding to those uh draconian if you will uh cuts to the the district's funds? Turnover in key leadership positions from superintendent to CBO to board members and several department administrators there was very little longevity in the board, in the district. What that does is there's creates an inconsistency of information, a lot of learning curves that are being, that a lot of people are on the learning curve and implementation. There's always questions asked if there's another options for implementation or did you calculate that correctly? Or there's this instant insecurity in the information that's being provided. There were two resolutions that the board approved, one in October of 19, Resolution 2158, and another resolution in March of 20, Resolution 2061, both to address these, the loss of revenues and to mitigate the deficit spending. However, it seems that there's a lack of confidence to fully implement those, the cuts identified in the resolutions. And this may be to new staff. It may be board members coming on board and not having that process. It may be the anticipation for waiting for the new superintendent to come lead the helm. And it's a variety of things. But there's very little leniency in making cuts. When you have to make a cut, any delay in a cut compounds that in future periods. So a 3% cut necessary, I'm just using an example, I'm not referring to anything in the report, but 3% cut this year that's not made becomes a 6% cut next year because you have this year and next year deficit spending that you have to catch up with. With the district, I know there's been different proposals as to how to resolve that. Um, and we're not here to tell you how to resolve it. We're here to tell you that it needs to be resolved. Um, and looking at the at any typical district and Newark's typical in this case, about 87% of the district's expenses are in salaries. That leaves very little that leaves 13% for utilities and all other expenses that the district may incur. So when you look at it that way, there's very little margin to resolve the district solvency without addressing some salary staffing component. On a good note, you're down to 86.8% of the district's expenditures being salaries. It's down from over 89.5% back in 16-17. So some improvements have been made in that category. So those are what we feel are the highlight and the important pieces that we need to convey. I do have some positive observations though and I want to share those. We believe the district is aware and acknowledging the issues. We had, as we interviewed the board members, as we interviewed the CBO, as we interviewed Superintendent Triplett after he came on board, very well aware of the issues and acknowledging that they are issues. The board members are active and engaged and committed to resolving. Very seldom do we go into a district and get agreement from all five board members to And all were very, very engaged and interested. And a cheerleader with Mr. Rodriguez, strong cheerleader with Mr. Rodriguez in making the district successful. The risk score that we identified is at 29.3%. On a normal scale, that would put the district in a moderate risk category. When we looked at the cash flow forecast, and that was even before the deferrals were called, and the deficit spending both in history and in forecast, that elevated the district's fiscal risk too high. So where do we go from here? It's just crucial that you all stay committed to resolving the district fiscal issues. Work together on cost saving measures. We're gonna have continued fiscal stress and limited revenues and increasing expenses are sure to come. You need to work together for increased efficiencies and cut costs. I know that the county office has been engaged in working with you over the process. They're your partners. We want you to work with them closely. They're your initial oversight agency, and they want to see you succeed as well. They can help you with decisions, with implementation, and you want to be transparent and cooperative with them on every case. We encourage you to take action and do so timely. As time continues, this year for certificated, with the timing, there are no adjustments for certificated. Classified, you do have opportunities. But soon, you'll be at the beginning of the year in January. And at that point, you'll need to have a good plan together for certificated and what you need to have on board at that point. and make plans for the 21-22 fiscal year. We know that the board was elected and in most cases here appointed to lead the district. And I believe that you are determined to do so. I want to remind you that inability to maintain fiscal solvency is the quickest way to lose that authority. Um, and I know that, you know, that, and I believe that you want to avoid that. Um, local control is, is what, uh, the district, uh, board members are all about is, uh, running a district to represent the needs and most beneficial to the community. And, uh, you want to maintain that control. Do you have any questions regarding the report or anything that I can ask, answer this evening?

[7794] SPEAKER_37: Any questions from any of the board members?

[7801] Elisa Martinez: No, Mr. Von Flew. I think Superintendent Triplett mentioned, you know, we definitely intend to have some follow up conversation. I think speaking not only for myself, but for my fellow board members, we really appreciate the amount of work that you all have done to really comb through. I mean, the report is very extensive and very specific on some of the areas of opportunity for us. So again, definitely look forward to hearing from the team how we're going to mitigate. We know I think all of us when we signed up to have a seat on the board, we knew we were coming into a challenging situation here in Newark. But we know we have some tough work ahead of us, but it's got to be done, right? Because we all agree that we would rather have the decisions or our fate in our own hands as folks here from Newark. So absolutely hear you loud and clear. So again, just thank you to you and your team for the extensive report.

[7870] SPEAKER_18: Thank you. We just want to reiterate that the amount of confidence that we have in the capable and engagement of you board members, we found a lot of credibility and knowledge and confidence in Miss Dela Cruz and in Superintendent Triplett. Just recently, as we talked to him, we know that they're all committed to providing you with what you need to make the decisions and right the district. So I just wanna end by saying thank you very much for the cooperation in this process. It is daunting, it never comes at a good time. And so we know that it took extra effort and we appreciate that. And we hope that you found value in this analysis and use it as a road map going forward. The connections that we have, you have our contact information. If there's ever a question or something that we can help with, just, you know, feel free to contact us. We want to see you succeed.

[7935] Ray Rodriguez: I wanted to take a minute and thank you, Mr. VanBleu. Over the years, FCMAC has always come in and been very thorough, very honest on what we need to do to get back on track. I know Jennifer, we can go back a long time, all the years, and I also know that FGMAC is always gonna be there if we need something, the clarification or to kind of help us along the way, and it's really, really appreciated. Thank you for the time you took to work in the district and during difficult times and talking to our new superintendent and our new board members, and it's really appreciated. And I know you'll continue to be there if we need to reach out to you.

[7984] SPEAKER_18: Absolutely.

[7985] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you.

[7986] SPEAKER_18: Thank you.

[7987] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. Any other comments?

[7991] Phuong Nguyen: Go ahead, Bowen.

[7994] Bowen Zhang: I'll actually be a little bit contrarian to Member Rodriguez. I think the statement about over the years we've seen FGMA coming here to help us, that itself It's a revelation of our problem. I mean, we shouldn't be seeing you guys on a regular basis going forward. I don't see you guys this often.

[8016] Elisa Martinez: Not offended, not offended as a resource, but I'll make a statement, but after a member when comments go ahead.

[8026] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I just would like to echo all of the other board members and just say thank you to your team. Ms. Noga and Mr. Bonfour for walking us through the process during the interview. It wasn't a cakewalk, but I was very nervous going into it, but you guys really put us all at ease and made sure that we understood what was going on. So I really appreciate it. So thank you so much.

[8053] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Nguyen. And I actually did want to just piggyback on something that Member Rodriguez said. I think that we do need to see you as a resource. Because it's not always a bad thing. And I tell you, because as a new board member coming in and learning and not feeling like I could positive certify, given the definitions, there was almost a sense of, but do we want FCMAT in our business? And the answer is absolutely yes. I mean, you know, if you, again, we learn, need to see you as a resource. not ideally you don't come in when you know the house is on fire of course so that's on us to make sure that that we are proactive in that way um but there are sometimes that are there's conditions that we that that are difficult to manage um right so so i'm sorry if i disagree with my colleague here i think that as needed we should see you as a resource um but ideally ideally in different circumstance than what we're seeing now. So thank you.

[8122] SPEAKER_18: We definitely like working on the management assistance side versus the fiscal crisis side. So that's where we like to live. So we want to be at your disposal for the management assistance. And let's all stay away from that fiscal crisis.

[8137] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely. We agree with that.

[8139] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you. Oh, sorry. I was just going to say more on the processes and procedures and maybe some of the efficiencies versus the fiscal.

[8147] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely. But I'm confident that we're going to get there. I mean, if we look at the report, besides, again, putting out some of the immediate issues that we must, there's a lot of your the input around building processes, which was, again, kind of, I think, music to all of our ears in terms of you know, making sure we have an action plan, and I'm sure we'll hear from Superintendent Triplett and his team on that. Thank you so much.

[8176] SPEAKER_18: Thank you.

[8177] Elisa Martinez: Thank you.

[8180] Carina Plancarte: Thank you.

[8183] SPEAKER_37: Ella Cruz, that was good on that.

[8186] Elisa Martinez: Yes. Okay, thank you. Moving to item 11, which is employee organizations.

[8194] SPEAKER_37: Ms. Gutierrez, do we have folks? from our partners?

[8199] SPEAKER_32: Yes, we should have Miss Catheerine Ingham-Watters from NEWMA. One second while we make her a panelist. There she is.

[8221] SPEAKER_21: Good evening Board Member Martinez, Board Members, Superintendent Triplett, and Executive Cabinet. It has been a busy time around NUSD. NEWMA has continued to support teachers, students, and families during the last several weeks. Classes are well underway and lessons have moved from less community building to more rigorous lessons and assignments. Site leaders are working on developing and providing meaningful professional development sessions relating to our three priorities under the goal of equity during distance learning. Our focus areas are student engagement through rigorous standards-based instruction, assessment for learning, and social emotional learning and wellness. Our school teams, such as COST and PBIS, are beginning to meet to discuss students' needs and appropriate supports during distance learning. NEWMA members, in conjunction with NTA and CSCA, are working together to support our families during this time. Finally, NEWMA would like to express our appreciation for the compensation increases provided to our group. We are appreciative of your support of our work and our dedication to the Newark community. Thank you and good evening.

[8307] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Ingham-Watters. Okay, and Ms. Gutierrez, you said she was the only speaker? Okay, correct. Okay, so we move on to item 12, which is old business. And that is the, this is regarding the open seat on the board. And in a previous meeting, the board had given direction that we'd rather keep the seat open and allow that seat to be filled during the regularly scheduled election. Of course, that did require action from our county superintendent. As the rule is, we as a board have 60 days to fill. And if we wait beyond the 60 days, which would have been, I believe, September 13 for us, then it would have gone to the county superintendent where she would have had to call special election. So what was included as part of the agenda is resolution number 2233, again, from the Alameda County Superintendent of Schools. And this is, basically, this is the resolution without reading the entire, in its entirety, is that the, if you all will permit me to just cut to the bottom part here, which is that the Newark Unified School District Board does not order an election or make provisional appointment to fill the vacancy by September 12th, pursuant to the requirements of ed codes 5091 and 5093, the Alameda County Superintendent Schools will not order a special election to fill the vacancy on the district board. Pursuant to ed code section 5093, the vacated seat shall be filled as planned at the regularly scheduled November 3rd, 2020 election. Item three is a superintendent's designee are hereby authorized and directed to take any other actions necessary to effectuate the purposes of this resolution. And this resolution was adopted on August 31st of 2020 by superintendent of schools, Karen Monroe. Okay, so this item is for information only. we knew we were pending this official resolution so that we could go ahead and allow this seat to be vacant until the election.

[8468] SPEAKER_37: Okay, any questions or comments?

[8473] Ray Rodriguez: I just wanted to say my thanks to President Martinez for continuing to reach out to the county so we can get this resolution prior to the And they, after Ms. Gutierrez put us in the bind, so we were kind of up against the wall. I'm only kidding. I, it's been interesting working with four board members instead of five, and it puts a little more pressure on the board to make sure that we're there. And, and it's, I think this board has been pretty well with it. And, and, you know, I, as I stated, time before, I really appreciated Mr. Chavez for stepping in and being a board member for a while. And now we're looking forward to the November election and we'll have basically a complete new board other than President Martinez. And I'm very, very, what's the term or what's the word I'm looking for? I'm very positive that the board that's going to come on board in November is going to do an excellent job in moving us forward. So I appreciate everything you guys do for Newark and our little kids.

[8557] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez.

[8559] SPEAKER_37: Any other questions or comments from the board?

[8562] Bowen Zhang: Well, I just want to use this opportunity to thank member Gutierrez for her service on the board for a little bit over a year and a half and obviously thanking board member Rodriguez for serving on the board for really for close to 24 years. I guess you will complete this 24 years, Mark. And yes, often I will have a brand new board, but I do want to have a little corrections, except you say, except for President Martinez. It's actually mathematically not possible for both members to do that. At least one of them will be here.

[8598] Elisa Martinez: We're trying to make sure we don't go too deep on election talks. So so anyway, with respect to the resolution from our county superintendent, if there are no questions, I will go ahead and move on.

[8612] Ray Rodriguez: Do we need to accept it or?

[8615] Elisa Martinez: No, this is her action. So I think it was more for information only.

[8620] Ray Rodriguez: But it is a resolution. So normally a resolution, you know, something it's done on our part.

[8626] Elisa Martinez: Don't we need to. I did inquire about that, which is a resolution that we needed to adopt. But this is a resolution that. Comes from them. That comes from them.

[8635] Ray Rodriguez: Got it. OK. Thank you.

[8637] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you for asking the question. Okay, and with that, we move to item two, new business, which is 3.1, which is a resolution on Distance Learning Bill of Rights. And before we go ahead and get started, Ms. Gutierrez, I believe we have a public comment on this item.

[8665] SPEAKER_32: That is correct. We have public comment from Mr. Terrence Pringle.

[8679] Terrence Grindall: Great, thank you. I'm Terence Grindahl. I am a candidate for school board. I'd like to applaud you for bringing this disinstalling Bill of Rights forward and urge you to support it. In addition, I'd like you to consider reaching out to corporations to get true broadband internet into the homes of every student that needs it. Hotspots are helpful, but the bandwidth limitations and other limitations cause issues for students, particularly where there's more than one student in a household. Also want to encourage you to keep thinking creatively. Other cities are working with the cities to have study locations that are safe. safe and effective places for students to study in libraries and in community centers. So I want to encourage everybody to work together to help bridge that digital divide. And again, I want to applaud you and encourage you to support this distance learning bill of rights. Thank you.

[8747] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Grindle, for your comment. Okay, so here the recommended action is that staff recommends that the Board of Education adopt resolution number 2020-21.006, Distance Learning Bill of Rights. May I have a motion and a second to open any discussion?

[8769] Ray Rodriguez: I'd like to make the motion to approve.

[8772] SPEAKER_37: I second it. Member Rodriguez moves, Member Zhang seconds.

[8777] Elisa Martinez: Very good and I will hand it to you, Superintendent Triplett.

[8783] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Martinez. I'll just say a few words, and then if it's OK, I'd love to then hand it over to student board member Salemi. I think this is a really important resolution, and I wish I could take credit for drafting it, but I cannot. This is really drafted by a student board member and some of the other students, I believe, gave input as well. I think it's really important. for us to, as a district and as a board, to really be listening to the voices of students, listening to what they are saying about what they need and what they think is really right for their learning. So I just really wanna advocate strongly for this. And without further ado, I'm gonna turn it over to the student board member.

[8831] SPEAKER_10: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. And I just want to say firstly, this is something that I was very happy to have written and give my thanks to Dr. Triplett and Ms. Gutierrez for the help and support as always. This is truly a promise to our community. And I think it is a form of accountability and a tool to keep our teachers and administration and district accountable to create a standard here at Newark Unified in a time where, you know, the pandemic has exacerbated the injustices that exist in our community and in our schools. This is important. This is really putting our students first. This is the board telling its number one stakeholders, which are the students among many other things that, yes, you have a right to your counselors during this time. You have a right to mental health services during this time. That if you're a student with special needs, you won't be forgotten. That if you're a minority student, you won't be put at a disadvantage because of the situation we're in. That the district and the board of education here in Newark are committed to its students. That the board wants to recreate trust with our community. And I think this is a foundation for many more meaningful and specific changes. that I think we can work toward. And I mean, how powerful would it be if we chose right here right now to empower protect and commit to our students in an unprecedented way to really say yes, we are here for you guys during this time and we'll continue to be here for you. And I just want to say we've also seen similar resolutions passing in the boards of education of LA and San Diego and On a side note, I think we've all seen what kids throughout the country and right here in the Bay Area have been going through. And we've seen the images of kids sitting outside of fast food restaurants all day long in the hot sun just to connect their devices to Wi-Fi. And that's not right. And we need to firmly stand against this. We need to make sure that this isn't happening in our city. Now and always, students are entitled to specific rights. And I think this is a great start.

[8952] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, student member Salemi. I will open it up for any questions or comments from the board.

[8961] Ray Rodriguez: I just wanted to thank our young people for stepping forward and taking a leadership role. And in the late 60s, early 70s, it was young people that managed to force the end of the Vietnam War. And so many positives came out of young people getting involved more in the importance of voting. And the challenges of today are probably even more so. And I am so, so appreciative of young people taking a leadership role. And I don't know if you're able to vote yet. I don't know if you're 18, but it's just so warming to see this. It's really going to take us to so many new important things that we're doing. And having young people lead the way is probably the best way to go, in my opinion. Thank you. I appreciate it.

[9023] SPEAKER_37: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. Comments? Anybody else?

[9029] Phuong Nguyen: I just wanted to say really quickly to student board members, so let me This resolution is very thoughtful, and I'm always in awe of the leadership that is coming out of our students here in Newark. And you guys have wonderful articulation and are capable of doing a lot of great things. So it makes me really excited to be able to approve this resolution, especially it coming from students and the expression of students. So that's really appreciated.

[9072] Elisa Martinez: OK. I just also wanted to comment, student member Salemi, what an advocate you are. Only in the short time that we've known each other and that you've been here with us, I hope that you know more more students start to listen to these meetings so they can see what a champion they really have I mean really a true advocate. So just very excited to see what you're going to continue to do for for not only for the students and their families as you speak so passionately and eloquently. And so really look forward to working with you and, you know, really making a difference. I think you mentioned the word accountability at the beginning, was it? I wasn't sure if it was you, Dr. Triplett, but that's true. I mean, you know, we all, many times we all come with really good intentions, but, you know, these actions are really a great way to hold all of us accountable, all stakeholders. and really remembering to your point who the number one stakeholder is. So thank you so much. Thank you for your work. Thank you, guys. Okay, and so if there are no further comments, I will ask Ms. Gutierrez to please repeat the motion on the table.

[9167] SPEAKER_32: Motion by Member Rodriguez and second by, oh, let me read the actual motion. My apologies. I have staff recommends that the Board of Education adopt Resolution Number 220-21.006, Distance Learning Bill of Rights. Motion made by Member Rodriguez and seconded by Member Zhang.

[9187] Elisa Martinez: Very good. And with that, I will call for a vote. Student Member Salemi, how do you vote?

[9194] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[9195] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Member Nguyen?

[9198] SPEAKER_37: Yes. Member Rodriguez?

[9200] Diego Torres: Yes.

[9201] SPEAKER_37: Member Zhang?

[9202] Diego Torres: Yes.

[9203] Elisa Martinez: And my vote is yes as well. So the motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much. And with that, I know that sometimes I speed through some of these resolutions. On this one, historically, and I know member Rodriguez is a champion for this as well, is that we actually read this resolution out loud. So in the past, what we've done is we just take turns with everybody here before us on the panel, and we'll all take a paragraph until we get to the bottom. Is that okay? Does that work for everyone? Okay. So I will have, I will ask you to start, student member Salemi.

[9249] SPEAKER_10: Thank you. Just one second. Okay. Resolution whereas, due to the ongoing pandemic, NUSD will be beginning in a distance learning setting. The pandemic and distance learning has shined a light on the many forms of inequity and inequality in the newer community. Further, distance learning has created a setback for those families and students who cannot afford technology. These injustices brought by the pandemic have and continue to put many students at a disadvantage.

[9281] SPEAKER_37: Superintendent Triplett.

[9284] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you. Where how can I only get a small one? Okay. No, that's right.

[9289] Elisa Martinez: How about you do two? How about you do to the next two, please?

[9293] Mark Triplett: Whereas Newark Unified School District, the mission is to inspire and educate all students to achieve their full potential and be responsible, respectful and productive citizens. And whereas every student has a right to quality education, regardless of any predicament, the district faces and member when

[9319] Phuong Nguyen: And whereas the Office of the Governor of the State of California released guidelines for schools during distance learning, which are also state law, these guidelines include the following. Under newly intact state law, school districts are required to provide devices and connectivity so that every child can participate in distance learning, daily live interaction for every child with teachers and other students, class assignments that are challenging and equivalent to in-person instruction, targeted supports and interventions for English learners and special education students, and... Member Zhang, the next two.

[9364] Bowen Zhang: Whereas the City and the California State Superintendent are committed to closing the digital divide and ensuring a rigorous education for all students, and whereas the California State Legislature allocated $5.3 billion in extra funding for schools to make sure students receive appropriate instruction and support learning, and?

[9382] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez, the next two as well.

[9386] Ray Rodriguez: Whereas Newark Unified School District is committed to making sure that no student is left behind, Newark Unified School District also is committed to making sure every student is successful and supported in their pursuit of education regardless of socioeconomic status. Now, therefore be it resolved that the Newark Unified School District Governing Board is committed to making sure that every student receives a high quality education during distance learning.

[9421] SPEAKER_37: Ms. Delacruz?

[9425] Marie dela Cruz: Be it further resolved that Newark Unified School District now recognizes the rights of every student in the district during distance learning, that the purpose of this resolution is to promise that the district is working to ensure equality and equity in the community. Newark Unified School District will hold themselves accountable in ensuring that every student has these rights.

[9450] Elisa Martinez: Ms. Saavedra, can you go through item, through bullet two?

[9453] SPEAKER_29: The father resolved that Newer unified school districts shall act consistent with the following practices. Number one, every student has the right to Wi-Fi access in order to participate in class instruction from home. Number two, every student has the right to live instruction and should have the ability to contact a teacher if they need that help.

[9479] Elisa Martinez: And Ms.

[9482] SPEAKER_37: Gutierrez, the next two?

[9485] SPEAKER_32: Every student has a right to all school provided resources and programs such as counselors, mental health professionals, college and career guidance, et cetera. This access should be equivalent to what a student would receive if in-person class were in session. Every student has a right to receive instruction from qualified, experienced, and caring teachers.

[9508] Elisa Martinez: I'll read the next two. Every student has the right to get important information regarding their education and school. Further, every effort should be made to provide the information upon request in the language the student and the student's family understands. Every student who is entitled to extra care and resources should be able to get that help. For example, special needs students, English learner students, foster youth, homeless students, et cetera. And we come back to you, student member Salemi, that may be the next two as well.

[9545] SPEAKER_10: Every student has the right to get lunch and brunch provided from the school. Every student has the right to a quality education that will keep them on track for college and career. The effects of distance learning should not hurt a student's chances of getting into the college of their choice.

[9561] Elisa Martinez: Superintendent.

[9564] Mark Triplett: Every student has the right for their school to try their best in providing a quality education when it comes to electives and hands-on classes such as art, ROP, science, and PE. The Newark USD and its schools will make every effort to accommodate our deaf community by doing such things as providing ASL translation or captions.

[9590] Elisa Martinez: I believe that was member Nguyen.

[9594] Phuong Nguyen: Number 11. Yes. Every student has the right to an education free of gaps caused by racial inequality, inequity and inequality. Newark Unified School District promises frequent and concise communication in order for every student to be on the same page. Should I just finish the last one? Yeah, please. And then Newark Unified School District will educate their community members and provide them with tools to be successful when it comes to technology.

[9626] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Very well written student member. So let me thank you so much.

[9630] SPEAKER_10: Thank you.

[9633] Elisa Martinez: Okay. And with that, we move to item 13.2. Don't believe we have any speakers there. And this item is, um, right. There's a recommended action to authorize staff to award, uh, to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder after vetting a is complete and administration determines an award to be made. This is for a paving bid. So may I have a motion and a second to open discussion on this item?

[9669] Bowen Zhang: I move that we authorize staff to award the lowest responsible bidder after vetting is complete and administration determines an award can be made.

[9679] SPEAKER_37: I second. Student member Salemi seconds. Okay, and Superintendent Triplett, will you go ahead and

[9691] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you, President Martinez. Well, I was trying to think of a good segue between the Student Bill of Rights and paving, but it's just no contest. There is no segue. It's a hard act to follow. But having said that, I do think paving is really important. And I know that some of our parking lots and spaces have fallen in disrepair. So I'm going to hand it over to Ms. Delacruz to explain a little bit about this next item.

[9722] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Ms. Gutierrez, can we ask the panelists to join us, please? We have a panelist this evening. Our project manager, Mr. Ralph Caputo, is here. So as part of our Measure G bond priority list, we did have a few paving repairs and improvements that were needed. And the sites that were included in these priority projects were Schilling Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, Snow, John F. Kennedy, McGregor, and Music Elementary School. So our project managers have already gone out to bid. They've provided notice to bidders and also did a walkthrough. The bids were opened yesterday. We do have I think we received about 1, 2, 3, 4. We've already received six bids. And I'm going to have Mr. Caputo just describe a little bit of what these projects involve.

[9797] SPEAKER_19: Good evening, President Martinez, trustees, Dr. Triplett. Yes, yesterday we received six bids for paving projects that were on the district's priority list that was reaffirmed in February of this year. And the paving projects involve miscellaneous paving in the front of the campuses mostly. And they vary by campus. This involves seven campuses plus a little bit of work at the district office, which is funded separately, not with Measure G funds. We received six bids. Bids were very competitive. There was a wide range of the bids. The lowest responsible bidder, or apparent low bidder right now, was $442,101. And the highest bid was $892,762. But most of the bids fell within the $442,000 to $580,000 range. And all within the estimates that we provided. At this juncture, we have this as an action item to authorize the superintendent and CBO to finalize the vetting process and award because as bids were received yesterday with any public process, the low bidder has, well, first we have to review all the documentation, which appears to be in order. Secondly, the apparent low bidder has an opportunity to ask for relief if he finds that his bid was in error, that he made an error in the compilation of his bid. And secondly, there's a brief window for other bidders if they find an irregularity. Um, in the bid documentation, um, can ask for a, uh, protest of bids. Um, so, um, accordingly with the bids received yesterday, we have to finish this process out early next week. And any of the first three or four bidders are well within budget. Um, right now the lowest responsible or apparent low bidder is Tri-Valley. And then American Asphalt, another company was right behind them. I think you have the bid results. I can read them if you want every individual one. But the point here is there's also a a bid alternate for work at Lincoln. Lincoln has some areas in the front of the campus that have some sharp turnarounds for drop-off as well as buses, and those areas are more deteriorated than some of the areas in between. So the base bid was to do major repairs where the damage is the worst and some skin patches and lighter repairs in the other areas. The alternate that we left as an alternate so that we can determine whether there was sufficient funding to fund it was to do a little bit more extensive work in other areas. And it's an add of 60, hang on one second, 65,688. And so the total of the first three bidders, including the alternate, would be $507,793, $555,888, and $589,601. Because the bids came in favorably, our recommendation would be to award the bid alternate. And if there's any further questions, I'm pleased to address them.

[10023] Elisa Martinez: Thank you.

[10024] SPEAKER_37: Any questions from board members?

[10030] Elisa Martinez: Comments? I just, I think, so I'm not sure if this is a question for you, Mr. Cabuto or Ms.dela Cruz, but I think just procedurally, obviously, the scope we know we are in the process of evaluating elementary schools. So with regards to the bid, assuming we approve the bid, I believe the language that the actual contracts, individual contracts would come back for approval, correct? Because I think that's where we do need to consider once again, the sequence in terms of what we prioritize in case any of these campuses are affected by the consolidation efforts. So that would be my only concern, or question rather, is do we have that leeway?

[10088] SPEAKER_19: So the action item tonight is to award the project with the option of the alternate or to not include the alternate. Beyond that, the board can defer approval. I believe the bid says for 60 or 90 days, but keep in mind we're getting into the weather. The intent was to award it, if not tonight, at the next board meeting. And the work is anticipated only to take about 45 days. So the work would be done in relatively short order. If we postpone the bid or cancel the bid and rebid it, we're just into a whole nother process and it might defer it till the springtime or summer.

[10136] Elisa Martinez: Okay, so this is in essence, you know, just given the timeline, this is work that would happen in the next month and a half or next two months.

[10145] SPEAKER_19: Yes, with the award and bringing back for the ratification on the 17th, you know, there's times to get the bonds, insurance, mobilization, and then coordination with the sites because, you know, with seven sites, we're going to be phasing it. So, you know, it could span a 45 to 60 day period. But yes, it would, it would probably get started within a couple of weeks and be 30 to 45 day window.

[10177] Ray Rodriguez: That was going to be my question as far as the timeline. Um, so the inconvenience to the, um, employees go out to the, to the community. If, if our employees cannot park in, uh, at the site and have to park across the street or how does that normally work?

[10202] SPEAKER_19: We would be phasing the work, you know, most of these areas are specific areas in a larger parking area, but we would have to phase it and I think that's part of the Part of the motivation in having this out to bid at this juncture is because we're still in distance learning. So we don't have the impacts of many students at this juncture. And also we have weather coming up. But yes, we would work with each site to look at the most conducive way to get the work done efficiently and still accommodate staff that's coming to the site.

[10238] Ray Rodriguez: And there's always the question since we're in the process of closing one or two schools on putting money into the elementary schools. But what we're doing, in my opinion, is something that we should have done a long time ago. And it's so important. Everybody drives nowadays to be able to have the parking lot look nice and not have the way it is. But I did have a question. There's a couple of schools that are not on here. Is it that they're parking area is just doesn't need any repair or it's just something that that we might be able to do later.

[10289] SPEAKER_19: So the question is, happy to address I didn't know if you wanted to speak up first how these particular sites were on the list. But these were the sites that were identified. more than a year ago for specific campuses and specific portions of the campus. And that's what the funding was allocated for. Certainly as funds become available, there's not only more needs at these sites, but other sites as well. And then your earlier question, you know, with asphalt repairs, such as roofing as well, you know, the longer We allow conditions to deteriorate, the more expensive it is to completely remove and replace rather than being able to do some patches and overlays, seal coats and other alternatives we have to not only address unsafe conditions, appearance, but also to extend the life of the entire asphalt section, including the base rock. So, you know, it's an investment in the properties that will prevent you from spending more money next year, the year after, if we don't address these most urgent needs.

[10365] Ray Rodriguez: So if at some point we have kids, we decide to have students come to the sites, if everything, if it opens up, And we're in the middle of doing this with the work then be done in the evening, so it does not disruption during the day is that basically what the plan is.

[10386] SPEAKER_19: Well, the bid was set up not knowing when students would necessarily be coming back because that's open and subject to change. So inherent in the documents is phasing in each of these areas that would be conducive to that. Many of these areas, we have sufficient areas that we could stage the work and be efficient. And some areas were more limited.

[10413] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you.

[10415] Marie dela Cruz: Mr. Rodriguez, I just wanted to add, regarding the schools that are on this list, these were the schools that were prioritized several months ago, the ones that were put on top of the list. But it doesn't necessarily mean that if we have the opportunity, we may be able to do other sites.

[10442] Elisa Martinez: I think I'm going to come back to my original question, though, because I think we didn't we didn't address it, which is, you know, there are some elementary sites and right now, you know, we're valuing all sites. So I think, at least for me to kind of get to get that clarity and and, you know, it looks like the work would have to be completed by early November, which is prior to us making decisions right on the school consolidation. Can you tell me how much of this is aesthetic versus safety? How much of the repairs are just because we want it to look better versus safety? We're not quite, you know, we don't know what will happen and what we would do with the sites that remain open. So it really is a question of, you know, do we use the money for this or something different right now? But for me, it is important to understand if it's a safety issue we're fixing versus

[10500] SPEAKER_19: So obviously any new asphalt surfacing will enhance the appearance, but the work is primarily focused on addressing deteriorated conditions and reducing the liability for further cost if it's ignored because it'll, you know, through this winter and next it'll just create further deterioration and more expensive repairs or full replacement rather than some overlays and repairs. So it's preventative maintenance and addressing, you know, big potholes and very much deteriorated conditions. Also, I will indicate to your prior question that Under public contract code, we have bids. We can award the bids. We also have the ability to negotiate work out if there is a change in direction on a particular school. But it would have to be done in you know, in the negotiations. We cannot add work and increase the scope of a bid beyond 5% or 10% if there's something there, because that would foster us to really want to throw out bids and do a new bid. But under public contract code, we can work with the low bidder when that process is complete and remove a campus or delete certain work or negotiate to put certain work on hold. You know, the bid was based on a whole of a project and a lump sum, although we will be requiring a schedule of values for each site so we can budget it separately and appropriately. There's, you know, there is the ability to talk about putting something on hold or negotiate or negotiate a school out.

[10623] Marie dela Cruz: Does that answer your question, President Martinez? The actual contract will go before the board at the next board meeting. And if there's some concerns about certain sites, we have the ability to work with our contractors or the contractor, rather, in terms of possibly maybe putting a site on hold or possibly even deleting a particular scope of the project.

[10657] Phuong Nguyen: Ms. Delacruz, could that be written into the contract prior to it being approved?

[10664] Marie dela Cruz: From my understanding, it's already something that's allowed under our public contract code and under the terms and conditions. Is that correct, Mr. Caputo? Yes.

[10680] SPEAKER_19: We have the ability to delete a site if that's what the district wants. We just have to negotiate with the contractor the price of it. And it could either be in the award of the contract, or it can be done as a change order.

[10701] Bowen Zhang: I do want to just mention one small thing, that previously the board approved that for the measure G-bound, we only spent up to half a million on paving. And for the ration fund, only up to $10,000 on paving on the district office side. So that was what the board approved previously.

[10722] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah. But we also said that depending on how the actual bids would come out, that we would review the the budget with the board. And fortunately, with this particular bid, it did come in lower than the $500,000. The lowest bid is at $440,000. Good.

[10742] Bowen Zhang: Thank you.

[10747] Elisa Martinez: So to answer your question, Ms. Illa-Cruz, that does help, I think, get clarity in terms of what we're, again, just bringing us back to the bid and what we're voting on. I think to Member Nguyen's point, I think the it will be important in the next phase, assuming we move forward, that there is language. My biggest concern is timing. I think there was some language, and I don't know if it's referencing the completion of the contract or the completion of the work, but it's early November. So I think it says the work must be completed or something must be completed by the first week of November. So I think timing is going to be important. making sure we, because if we overlay our consolidation advisory committee work, that would not be completed by November. The recommendation would not come to the board by that time. So if you could please be, you know, make sure that those, the timeframe and that flexibility is built in given that timeframe.

[10811] Marie dela Cruz: Sure. Yes, we can certainly work on that.

[10815] SPEAKER_19: With respect to the dates, the notice or the time frame is based on a notice to proceed. And that's after bonds, insurance, and award is made. And it's, I don't have it right in front of me, but it's 40 or 45 calendar days from the issuance of a notice to proceed, which is from the board approval. And then we review final contracts, make sure we have insurance in hand, and then the clock starts. so that November time can fluctuate depending on when we make actual award.

[10850] SPEAKER_37: Okay, very good.

[10851] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. So if there were no further comments, I will ask Ms. Gutierrez to repeat the motion on the table.

[10864] SPEAKER_32: The motion is that for the board to authorize staff to award the lowest responsive.

[10874] Marie dela Cruz: You're at three, six, five, two.

[10878] SPEAKER_32: Authorize staff to award the lowest responsive responsible bidder after vetting is complete and administration determines the award to be made with a motion by member Zhang and second by student member Salami.

[10893] SPEAKER_37: Student member Salami, what is your vote? Yes. Member Zhang.

[10901] SPEAKER_24: Yes.

[10903] SPEAKER_37: Member Nguyen? Yes.

[10905] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez?

[10907] Ray Rodriguez: Yes.

[10909] Elisa Martinez: My vote is yes as well. Thank you. So the motion carries. Thank you.

[10917] SPEAKER_19: Thank you.

[10920] Elisa Martinez: Thanks for joining, Mr. Caputo.

[10922] SPEAKER_19: Good evening.

[10927] Elisa Martinez: Okay, moving on to item 13.3. Board Policy 4040. The recommended action here is, sorry, I didn't ask, do we have any speakers for, nope, okay, thank you. So item 13.3, the recommended action is staff recommends that the Board of Education approve Board Policy 4040 as presented. and replace administrative regulation 4040 user obligations and responsibilities with exhibit exhibit 4040 employee use of technology. I have a motion and a second to open discussion.

[10972] Ray Rodriguez: I'll make the motion.

[10975] SPEAKER_37: I have a second. I second. Number one seconds. Thank you, and Superintendent Triplett, I will hand the baton to you.

[10991] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Martinez. I believe we're going to have Ms. Saavedra speak on this item.

[10999] SPEAKER_29: Yes, thank you, Dr. Triplett. This policy is a policy that is updating the language regarding the user obligation responsibilities for the use of technology on campus. The caveat here is that while we had previously in other board policies, they usually come along with an AR. This one is actually being replaced with an exhibit. The exhibit is directly coming from the state as a recommended language for employees to sign and commit that they will be following remote employee use of technology.

[11048] SPEAKER_37: Okay, thank you.

[11051] Elisa Martinez: Any questions or comments from the board? Okay, all right and so Ms. Gutierrez, can you please repeat the motion on the table?

[11069] SPEAKER_32: Motion is that staff recommends the Board of Education approve Board Policy 4040 as presented and replace Administrative Regulation 4040, Users' Obligations and Responsibilities, with Exhibit 4040, Employee Use of Technology. Motion made by Member Rodriguez and second by Member Nguyen.

[11089] SPEAKER_37: Thank you. And with that, Student Member Salemi, how do you vote?

[11095] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[11097] SPEAKER_37: Member Zhang?

[11098] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[11099] SPEAKER_37: Member when yes. Member Rodríguez.

[11104] Nicole Izant: Yes.

[11105] Elisa Martinez: And my vote is yes as well. So the motion carries. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm moving on to item 13.4, which is the 2019 20 unaudited actual financial report. Um, Staff recommends that the board approve the 2019-20 unaudited actuals financial report. We'll hand that to you, Superintendent Triflett.

[11144] Mark Triplett: Thanks, President Martinez. Yeah, this really marks the closing of the books for the last budget year. So I think it's really significant. And I'm sure you've looked over the document, but 185 pages represents an unbelievable amount of work on the part of Ms. Dela Cruz and her team. So I just want to really appreciate them and their thoroughness. and all of their attention to detail. But I do think it would be worthwhile to have Ms.dela Cruz speak a little bit to the details. And then I'm sure that board members may have some questions that they want clarification on.

[11182] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, before you, and I got out of my cycle here. So to open discussion, I would ask for, I didn't ask for that, right? A motion and a second on this. So I apologize for that. So to open discussion, may I have a motion and a second on the recommended action that staff recommends that the board approve 2019-2020 unaudited actuals? So may I have a motion and a second, please?

[11211] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve item 13.4-2019-20, unaudited actual financial report.

[11219] SPEAKER_37: Thank you.

[11220] Bowen Zhang: I second it.

[11221] SPEAKER_37: Thank you, Member Zhang.

[11223] Elisa Martinez: OK, and I apologize for the interruption. Ms.dela Cruz, go ahead.

[11230] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, President Martinez, Dr. Triplett, and members of the board. Can I please have sharing access, or do I already have it?

[11242] SPEAKER_32: You have it. OK.

[11247] Marie dela Cruz: Do you see that? Yes?

[11251] Leonor Rebosura: Yes.

[11256] Marie dela Cruz: All right, thank you. It's my pleasure to present to you the 19-20 unaudited actuals report. This report is our end of the year review of last year's 19-20 actual revenues and expenditures. It covers a period of July 1st, 2019 through June 30th, 2020. And this report is due to the Alameda County Office of Education by September 15th. We will have our auditors review and provide the audit report by December 15th, which is why this is called unaudited, because our auditors have not yet reviewed our report. So in summary, our 19-20 actuals, if you look at the highlighted column, we ended with a $1.6 million surplus. If you look at our revenues as compared to the estimated actuals, which was our budget before we closed the books, our revenues projected were pretty much on target. We were 99.93% accurate. If you look at the difference between the actuals and estimated actuals, it's only about 48,000. That's a 0.07% difference. And in our expenditures, we were 3.25% lower than our estimated actuals. So our beginning fund balance was at $7 million. With a net increase of the $1.6 million, we ended with a fund balance of $8.6 million. Some of the planning factors throughout the year that was used to our budget and also close our books was pretty much remained the same throughout the year, which included our cost of living adjustment. You can see that at adopted budget, we had projected a 3.26% and we ended with a 3.26%. And our STRS and PERS rates remained the same, starting with 17.1 and ended with 17.1. The rates throughout the year pretty much remain the same. In terms of our ADA, which is the average daily attendance for our district and our enrollment, the actual ADA was 5,477. And as you recall, because of the school closures, the cutoff for last year was February 1st for 19-20. However, this was a decrease of about 83 ADA compared to 18-19, which was 5,560. And our districts are funded based on the greater of the current year or the prior year. And since our prior year adjusted ADA was 5,553, that was the number that we were funded on. And in terms of enrollment, our certified enrollment was 5,631 in 19-20. This was, unfortunately, a decline from the previous year, or actually lower than what we had projected at adopted, which we had projected 5,700. But it was also lower than the previous year enrollment, which was 5,718. Our ADA to enrollment ratio for 19-20 was 97.3%, which is in line with the average for the last five years, which has been 96 to 97%, which is really good. I just want to review a little bit about our unduplicated pupil percentage, because we did talk about this at our interim reports. As you can see, from 13-14 to now, we were at 59% several years ago. And in 19-20, we were at 52.5%. This number represents our English learners, foster youth, and socioeconomically disadvantaged students that are eligible for free and reduced lunch. And the reason why this is important is because we receive additional funding based on our UPP. Anything above 55%, the district receives additional concentration money. Unfortunately, because in 1920, our number was below 55%, we did not receive any additional funding for our UPP. Oh, and our goal for this year is a little aggressive, but we're hoping that we can reach 57% this year. In terms of our general fund revenue, as I mentioned earlier, our actuals were $48,000, a little more than what we had estimated. And that's less than 1% difference compared to our estimated actuals. As you can see, 81% of our funding does come from our local control funding formula. And the rest is federal revenues, other states, and other local.

[11609] Mark Triplett: Excuse me, Ms. Delacruz, are you able to increase it to the presentation view for everyone?

[11618] Marie dela Cruz: Is this not presentation?

[11621] Mark Triplett: Yeah, it's a little small. If it goes to the full screen, that would be better.

[11628] Marie dela Cruz: OK, let's see.

[11630] Mark Triplett: Maybe the slideshow button. The one next to animations on the next one down.

[11647] Marie dela Cruz: Animation.

[11650] Ray Rodriguez: I like that one. That's a senior button, the big one.

[11656] Marie dela Cruz: I'm sorry. Sorry, Ms.

[11658] Elisa Martinez: Leclerc. You could also go to the bottom of your screen right next to the... What is that? Is it your date or your battery? There's a little icon for presenting. It's right next to your percentage to your your percentage go down one more one keep going to your keep going right now. Nope. The little right next to the number 124. Is that 124? If I'm reading right, right next to it to your left, right there.

[11696] Marie dela Cruz: Is that helping you?

[11699] Elisa Martinez: It should if you didn't click it again. I should go to slideshow.

[11709] SPEAKER_10: I think you're supposed to put resume slideshow.

[11714] Mark Triplett: Oh, there's the button right there.

[11715] Phuong Nguyen: Yeah, right here.

[11718] Mark Triplett: On the top of your screen, Miss Dela Cruz, a little bit. There you go.

[11723] Marie dela Cruz: Did that work?

[11726] Mark Triplett: No. All right. All right, maybe we should just move forward.

[11742] SPEAKER_41: Yeah, it's fine.

[11745] Mark Triplett: My old eyes will just get a little closer here.

[11749] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, because I'm seeing it in presentation mode, so I'm not sure what I'm not clicking. I'm sorry.

[11757] Mark Triplett: Do you see where the term slideshow to the left of your arrow right now?

[11767] Marie dela Cruz: My arrow?

[11769] Mark Triplett: Yeah, where your arrow is to the left. slideshow directly to the left. Move your arrow for a minute. Move your cursor. Okay, there you go. Now move it back to where it was, to the left, to the left, to the left, and up. There you go. Now to the right.

[11792] Bowen Zhang: You know, I don't, I don't think Mrs. Delacruz can actually see her cursor when she moved on to the top because on her computer, that's presentation show. Yeah.

[11803] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Well, let's, let's move on.

[11806] Marie dela Cruz: I'm sorry.

[11807] Ray Rodriguez: Yeah, because I'm not, um, I went to options and I hit zoom and I hit a hundred percent. It is real big right now. That's the magic button.

[11818] Mark Triplett: Yeah, that makes sense.

[11820] Marie dela Cruz: okay it has something to do with sharing screen i'm sure and i'm not i'm not seeing the no problem i apologize for interrupting no it's okay so um all right where was i okay now i'm Is this the last one? The revenues, we're talking about revenues?

[11857] Michael Milliken: Yeah. OK.

[11861] Marie dela Cruz: All right. So in terms of our revenues, 81% of our revenues does come from LCFF, and the rest is from federal, other state, and other local revenues. The general fund expenditures, looking at the highlighted column again, our estimated actuals was at 67.9 million, and our actual revenues was actually 3% lower, about 2.2 million in savings. And overall, this was due to, number one, we had a mid-year spending freeze, early cutoff, based on a resolution that the board had passed. Our target was to save at least $500,000 in mid-year savings, and we met that goal. We didn't know that we were going to be closed due to the pandemic, but it helped. We had savings in materials and supplies, some of our utilities, electricity, transportation, and other services. We received federal support. The Federal CARES Act provided funding. We closed our schools on March 17th due to COVID-19, and our students and our teachers transitioned to distance learning. The federal and state emergency funds provided support related to activities due to the pandemic, and a total of $570,000 in expenditures was spent for disinfecting facilities, protective equipment, maintaining our nutrition services, and providing materials for distance learning. These were all funded by the federal and state emergency funds. We do provide contributions and transfers to our restricted programs. and mainly in our special education program, our routine restricted maintenance account and our afterschool program. So as you can see, our estimate at adopted was at 9.6 million, but our actual contribution came in at about 9 million, which was $666,000 less than we had anticipated. And this was due mostly to the reduced spending due to closures of our schools and also some increase in special ed revenues. In summary, our general fund ended up with 6.1, almost 6.2 million in unrestricted fund balance and our restricted fund balance is 2.9 million. The unassigned amount of 482,000 represents the Federal CARES Act and emergency funding that we received. And the reason why it's showing as a negative there is because of the timing. revenues are actually coming in from our 2021 budget, but we were able to spend it in 19-20. The details of the restricted ending fund balance is included in the full report. So in terms of where we were and the direction that we're going. If you look at our prior year actuals and our multi-year projections, this gives you an idea of how our year ended in prior years. Starting with 16-17, you can see that we had a deficit of $1.3 million. And this was a year where there was a transfer from our Special Reserve Fund 17. And we ended up with a reserve of $2.6 million with that transfer. And then in the following year, there was a deficit of $1.7 million. And again, a transfer from the special reserves, fund 17 of $3 million. And we ended up with a reserve of $4 million. And in 18-19, we had a slight surplus of $252,000. where we ended with an ending fund balance of 4.4 million, almost four and a half. But part of that fund balance was designated for other assignments. There are 700,000 in other assignments and non-spendable. And we ended up with a reserve of 3.8 million. And last year in 1920, this past year, We, this is where we ended up with our increase of 1.7 million. So now our ending fund balance is almost 6.2 million, which gives us a reserve of 6 million. And for the next three years, including this budget year, we're looking at a slight increase next year surplus, but in 21-22, as you can see, have a deficit of $203,000. And then in 2020-22-23, it's $1.8 million. And that's assuming our assumptions stay the same. And part of that assumption is that there's an estimated $1 million in savings from school consolidations and closures. So based on these current assumptions, we will be able to meet our 3% minimum, which is what's required to have in our reserves. which is about $2 million per year. But again, keeping in mind that this is all based on current assumptions. Oh gosh, I can see all that. Okay, so in our other funds, We do have positive balances in our adult education fund, our child development fund. We have a cafeteria fund and a special reserve, our building fund and capital facilities, developer fees, special reserves, our bond and our self-insurance fund. So in total, we do have 60 million in ending fund balances. But other than the general fund, most of that is restricted. So in summary, we did end up with an increase in our general ending fund balance of $1.6 million. The unrestricted ending fund balance is $6.2 million. and are restricted is 2.9. We have a reserve of 6 million, which is about 9% of our total expenditures. Keeping in mind our current assumptions includes an estimated savings of 1 million in school consolidations in school year 21-22, that's next school year. But even with that estimated savings, we're still experiencing a projected deficit of 203,000 and 1.8 million in the following year. If we do not end up consolidating and closing schools in 21-22, we just want to keep in mind, we would need to identify other significant reductions in other areas. So school funding in future years is still uncertain due to COVID-19. Right now they're projecting zero COLA, but there's a possibility that we could have a deficit factor. Our auditors will be here to review our books and have our report ready by December 15th. And our next report will be the first interim report, which will be in December. So with this, we're recommending approval of the 19-20 unaudited actuals. And I just want to take a moment to recognize my team, especially Kim Lola, our Director of Fiscal Services. They put in a lot of work in closing the books, Maggie, our Budget and Position Manager, Jody, my Administrative Assistant, and Liz, our District Accountant, Jane, our Accounts Payable Technician, and Stella, our Accounts Receivable Technician, Mary Bingham, Payroll, and Annette Rucker, our Payroll Technician. It takes a lot of work to close the books, and I just want to recognize and appreciate all of them for putting all of this together. And with that, I'm sorry, my presentation mode never.

[12477] Elisa Martinez: No worries, figure it out. Thank you, Mr. La Cruz. Thank you for your thorough report. And always, I think this presentation that you've added over the you know, these interims and reports really, really helps to digest all that information. So thank you for that. And I will open up to questions or comments from Board members.

[12507] SPEAKER_37: Any particular questions?

[12510] Bowen Zhang: So just questions and comments. So one comment I want to make is I'm actually glad to see the reduction on the services and operating expense column, which is the object of 5,000 plus. Ever since I got on the board, that column has been occupying every increasing slice of the pie. I think it started with 7.8 million and then it's 9 million plus and we're projecting more than 10 million. So it's good that we get that under control and hopefully we'll continue to be vigilant and monitoring that slice of the pie. Question regarding the budget projection. So is there any base or what is the base that we project a duplicated account for next year to be 57% even though we have seen chronic decline on that percentage. That's number one. Number two is that in projecting this new year's budget, under what assumption do we have as to when the school will reopen, meaning we'll start paying the utility bill?

[12578] Marie dela Cruz: So in terms of the UPP, the 57% goal was really based, I mean, it's an aggressive and very different from what we've experienced, I understand, but it's really just based on what we hope to do in terms of getting more applications for our free and reduced lunch eligible students. We have experienced 57% in the past, so it is our hope that we can reach that goal, but we'll have to wait and see. And the other part of your question had to do with if we were to open up schools in terms of how that would impact our utilities.

[12631] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I'm just guessing the projection of next year with a surplus of roughly 700,000, that is based on the assumption of when the school will reopen. Is that next January or based on the assumption that school will reopen, will be closed for the entire year, therefore not paying that much utility bill?

[12650] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, when we built the budget, we didn't really make any adjustments to our utilities because we weren't sure whether we were going to go in person or distance learning.

[12663] Bowen Zhang: So this is your thing where you're projecting the budget based on the normal usage of the utility?

[12668] Marie dela Cruz: Yes.

[12669] Bowen Zhang: So that's pretty much guaranteed on the more conservative end?

[12674] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, very much so. Okay. So more than likely because we've already started in distance learning, we've already experienced some savings there.

[12684] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Mr. Liu. Thank you, Member Zhang.

[12688] SPEAKER_37: Any other questions? Member Nguyen.

[12693] Phuong Nguyen: So in terms of the goal for the UPP, I know that just this week it was stated that all the kids are going to be able to receive lunch regardless or meals throughout the district. And how are we being proactive in making sure that families still are informed to fill out the forms despite the fact that you know, it's really convenient now for them not to have to fill out the form. So how do we, how would we go about doing that?

[12728] Marie dela Cruz: I know that we started out with an aggressive campaign. Our child nutrition department sent out mailers and emails and what is that called? The phone calls, the yeah. Yes. So we would just continue to make every effort to try and get those applications in. The fact that we are providing free meals now shouldn't change that. So we're going to continue to try and get those applications in.

[12764] Mark Triplett: If I could add, I appreciate that question, member Nguyen, because the truth of the matter is it is, it's gonna be, the fact that we now are providing food for anyone under 18 is a good thing for the community, but it will have, it will create challenges around trying to get people to fill out the form when they don't actually need to fill it out in order to receive food. But we have, like Ms. Del Cruz said, we have been, really pushing an aggressive campaign. And part of that is also having our parent partners have been one-on-one with families, helping them fill it out, to walking them through it. I do think we need to continue to think of additional strategies for having those applications filled out. One thing that we can definitely consider is as we build out these family tech workshops, I think that would be a great place to engage with families around also, hey, have you filled out the application form? This is really important. It's really important to the health of our district, et cetera, et cetera. So I think that's another place where we're going to start doing more outreach as we have more of these family workshops.

[12836] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. And I know that member Rodriguez and I will be continuing to engage with families and pass out lunches throughout the next several weeks. So we will definitely do our part in making sure that we'll help pass out the forms to families. Thank you.

[12854] Marie dela Cruz: Appreciate that.

[12857] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. I think we all picked up on that 57 percent huge, you know, kind of data point there. Of course, my discomfort is with the word we hope because as I mentioned to Dr. Triplett, hope is not a strategy. I think we have to start from a place where do we believe that 57% of our kids are eligible of our families. If we believe that that is a true data point, then I think it's just being we I certainly I think the rest of the board member would like to understand what specifically are we doing and Dr. Triplett, you just spoke about really taking advantage of any point of engagement. Right. But I think that it is it's difficult to given that we're kind of giving food, no questions asked, if you will. So it is going to require more rigor. I think that is an important not only because of course, it does give us those additional funds, but because we know there are families out that are in need and just really having that clarity of who they are so we can, you know, specifically reach out to them. I think that'd be great. So, you know, that's my only comment. I think that, again, the information is, you know, quite digestible. And though that this year is, you know, turned out to be a lot more positive. It's it truly is an anomaly. Financially speaking, it's an anomaly. Right. And I think that's really important as we think about the tough decisions that are that are coming up in front of us. And as we look out the next two years out, I say this because I know that there have been some, you know, some discussion or out in the community about, well, hey, you know, we're actually doing a lot better than what we thought. But I think it's really difficult to say we are making a decision based on current condition, because this is not a normal condition. And I just wanted to kind of add that comment, because we still have the pressure. And we heard it from FCMAT today. We are considered high risk. And some of that is because even though we have indicated the intent to make these changes, we haven't delivered on that. Um, so again, you know to to not only my fellow board members, but really to the community, you know, as you look looking and reviewing the information, please know that that is what we have in mind as we're marching forward with some of these some of the difficult work ahead of us. But thank you again, Miss Dela Cruz and the princeton triplet for the report. Okay, so with that, um, The Miss Gutierrez, if you could please repeat the motion on the table, please.

[13049] SPEAKER_32: Yes. The motion is that staff recommend the board approve the 2019-2020 unaudited actuals financial report. Motion made by member Nguyen and seconded by member Zhang.

[13064] SPEAKER_37: Thank you very much. Student member Salemi, how do you vote?

[13069] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[13070] SPEAKER_37: Thank you. Member Zhang?

[13072] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[13073] SPEAKER_37: Member Nguyen? Yes.

[13076] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez?

[13077] Ray Rodriguez: Yes.

[13079] Elisa Martinez: My vote is yes as well, so the motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. Item 13.5, staff recommends, sorry, it's 2020-21 agreement with Curriculum Associates. for I ready services. Recommended action is staff recommends approval of the agreement with curriculum associates. And may have a motion in a second to open discussions, please.

[13115] Phuong Nguyen: I move that we approve item 13.5 for 2020 21 agreement with

[13127] SPEAKER_37: Thank you. Member Windmoves, Member Rodriguez-Seconds. Okay, Superintendent Triplett, I'll hand that to you.

[13135] Mark Triplett: Thank you. So I'll speak on this one. So this is a program that is both an assessment tool, online assessment tool, but also provides lessons and supports to teachers. It's both ELA and math and We've been using this program for a number of years now. I do know that there was some questions with regard to the details of the contract. And to be honest, when I first read it a couple of weeks ago, I also had some questions. that for some schools the cost is per pupil. And then for one school in particular, for Birch Grove Intermediate, the cost is for a whole school license. And so I just want to take a moment to explain why there is that distinction. What it is, is as we were working with iReady, They supported us to identify that with a school with many more students, third to sixth grade, it would be more cost effective to buy a whole school license. But with schools with significantly less students in third to sixth grade, then more cost effective to buy single licenses for students. And then in addition, you'll see on the Birch Grove line item, there's a articulation of, I think it's called implementation support services. And although it's, we needed to just put it in some schools item, but really the understanding is that those support services will be used for all the different schools. So that's not just for Birch Grove. Hopefully that addresses some of the questions, like I said, I had when at first going in, wondering why there was that distinction there.

[13258] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Are there any comments or questions from the board? I happen to, you know, as far as the teachers for my children have used i-Ready. I'm a big fan of it and I know that there's high reliance on it right now so I think anything we can do to give them those tools is great.

[13286] Phuong Nguyen: Definitely in agreement with that.

[13289] SPEAKER_37: Okay, there are no other questions or comments. Ms. Gutierrez, can you please repeat the motion?

[13302] SPEAKER_32: Staff recommends approval of the agreement with Curriculum Associates LLC. And the motion is made by Member Nguyen, seconded by Member Rodriguez.

[13315] SPEAKER_37: Thank you. Student Member Salermi, how do you vote?

[13320] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[13322] SPEAKER_37: Member Zhang?

[13324] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[13325] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez?

[13327] Michael Milliken: Yes.

[13328] SPEAKER_37: Member Nguyen? Yes.

[13331] Elisa Martinez: And my vote is yes as well. So we, the motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent Triplett. Before we move on to item 14, just watching the clock, we're a little over 15 minutes out. I'm going to ask, I believe, and you all can tell me if you think I'm wrong, for a 30 minute extension of the meeting. I think we should be done by 1030, since we could only extend once.

[13363] SPEAKER_37: Does that make sense?

[13365] Bowen Zhang: By 30 minutes.

[13366] SPEAKER_37: Thank you. Member Jean-Louis, you have a second?

[13370] Phuong Nguyen: I second.

[13372] Elisa Martinez: OK. So the meeting extension is for 30 minutes. And student member Salemi, how do you vote?

[13381] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[13383] SPEAKER_37: Member Jean? Yes. Member Rodriguez?

[13387] Ray Rodriguez: No. Yes.

[13390] Elisa Martinez: member win. Yeah. My vote is yes as well. So motion carries. We extend the meeting by 30 minutes. Okay. So with that, we move to item 14, which is consent agenda personnel items. Staff recommends approval. Sorry. Staff recommends the board approve the personnel report as presented. May I get a motion and a second?

[13420] Ray Rodriguez: So I'll move.

[13422] SPEAKER_37: Member Rodriguez moves.

[13427] SPEAKER_10: I'll second.

[13429] Elisa Martinez: Can members, so let me do a second on a personnel item.

[13434] SPEAKER_37: Sorry, no. Sorry about that. Thank you.

[13438] Bowen Zhang: I'll second it.

[13439] SPEAKER_37: Thank you, Member Zhang. All right, Member Rodriguez moves, Member Zhang seconds.

[13446] Elisa Martinez: And Member Rodriguez, how do you vote?

[13452] Michael Milliken: Yes. Yes.

[13453] SPEAKER_37: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

[13454] Michael Milliken: Yes.

[13455] Elisa Martinez: Remember when? Yes. And my vote is yes as well. So the, um Motion passes. If I am 15 consent agenda, So if I can ask for a motion and a second to approve items 15.2 and 15.3 on the consent agenda.

[13487] Bowen Zhang: I move that we approve items 15.2 and 15.3. Second.

[13493] SPEAKER_37: Thank you.

[13497] Elisa Martinez: And student member, how do you vote?

[13502] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[13503] SPEAKER_37: Member Zhang?

[13507] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[13508] SPEAKER_37: Member Rodriguez?

[13509] Michael Milliken: Yes.

[13510] SPEAKER_37: Member Nguyen? Yes. And my vote is yes as well.

[13515] Elisa Martinez: So items 15.2 and 15.3 are approved. And we do have a speaker for 15.1, which is the Bridgepoint Continuation Crossroads Alternative High School 2021 School Plan for Student Achievement or the SPSA.

[13532] SPEAKER_32: Okay. Ms. Gutierrez? Do you want, okay, yes, sorry, let me get the speaker, and she should, the speaker here, I have Ms. Dabita Saeed. Okay, thank you.

[13549] Mark Triplett: And President Martinez, should we also call in the two staff members to potentially speak on this item if questions arise?

[13561] Elisa Martinez: Let's go ahead and do the speaker. And if there are any questions from the board, then we can go ahead and bring them on. Go ahead, miss. Is it safe? Please correct me if I'm pronouncing it wrong.

[13583] SPEAKER_35: She's on. Hello, it's Mrs. side. Can you hear me? Okay, thank you. Okay. Good evening, board members, educators, and fellow community members. We moved to California in October of 2019. This was the second move for both of my teenage daughters during their high school career. We moved from Texas to Colorado and then to California. So as you can imagine, each transition had its challenges. The hardest for them was the move from Texas to Colorado. The school was unfortunately dealing with its own challenges, and then my girls fell behind. The school there had no structure and the students were allowed to leave classes they chose. So as you can imagine, two teenagers who were struggling with new state, new curriculum, trying to make friends, et cetera. They chose to leave class often to be with whatever friends they had made. Both of my daughters ended up being a full year behind. They were both on track to be a five-year high school student. When we moved to California, we were worried about what to expect for high school for them. We moved to Newark and found Bridgepoint High School where one of our daughter attends and crosswords where the other one attends. Both girls have made leaps and bounds in their education since becoming part of these two wonderful schools. not having the proper funding to provide needed resources to all the students at these two schools is truly devastating to the students and their families. We have to consider that most of the students in these schools have faced some sort of challenge in their young lives and these two schools are what they need to get to the next phase of their high school career and beyond. We must remember that these students are future and their education is so very important. Most of them were not even consider college is the next step if it were not for these schools. I know that is the case for my daughters, I am pleased to say that as of August 2020 both of my daughters are now on track. to graduate early because of the amazing staff and teachers at Bridgepoint and Crossroads. These two schools have made such an impact in my daughter's lives in 10 short months that they went from potentially being five-year high school students to likely graduating early. The school made this impact while they're understaffed and figuring out how to educate through a pandemic without proper resources for students. I have no doubt if it were not for the educators at these schools that my daughters would not be graduating early or on time. Please consider funding approval for these much needed bridge point. I mean, I'm sorry for these much needed for these schools, the bridge point and crossroads not approving their site plan has already prevented these schools from spending on what the students really need. These students are our future, and they deserve a fair chance at their education. Thank you.

[13751] Elisa Martinez: Thank you so much for your comments, and we're very, very glad to hear the impact that's had on your family. Thank you so much.

[13758] Penny DeLeon: Thank you.

[13760] Elisa Martinez: OK, board members, any questions or comments on item 15.1?

[13770] SPEAKER_32: Point of order, member Martinez. We don't have a motion on the table yet.

[13775] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, we have not. May I have a motion and a second to open discussion on item 15.1?

[13787] Phuong Nguyen: I move that we approve item 15.1 Bridgepoint Continuation Crossroads Alternative High School 2020-21 school plan for student achievement.

[13797] Ray Rodriguez: Second.

[13799] SPEAKER_37: Thank you, member Rodriguez. Thank you, Ms.

[13802] Elisa Martinez: Gutierrez for getting us back in line. Are there any comments or questions?

[13811] Phuong Nguyen: I actually would like to hear from our staff who is waiting. I know they waited during the last meeting and and I know they're waiting now so I would really appreciate it if we could hear from them.

[13824] SPEAKER_37: Okay, let's go ahead and have them join Dr. Triplett.

[13829] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Yep, here they come. And just allow me to introduce our wonderful principal, Ms. Calderon, who is the principal of all the schools on the McGregor campus, as well as Ms. Cervantes-Folk, who is in charge of all our special projects and supports with all the site plans of our schools. Welcome to you both.

[13853] SPEAKER_25: Thank you.

[13854] Elisa Martinez: Welcome. Thank you. Are there any specific issues or sections of the SIPSAs that the board members would like to hear, or just maybe just a general overview? Given that it's in a consent item, I just, unless there's specific questions, maybe just something that you'd like to highlight, unless there are specific questions.

[13877] Phuong Nguyen: No specific questions, just highlights or an overview.

[13885] Elisa Martinez: Would that be you, Ms. Calderon?

[13887] SPEAKER_25: Sure. So just a brief overview. There are two separate plans as Bridgepoint and Crossroads operate as two separate schools. One thing I wanted to make a point of clarification. I know that there has been a lot of questions around our membership and our compliance with Ed Code. In our August 7th meeting with Ms. Cervantes-Falk and Heather Bell of the CDE, Ms. Bell said that the membership of both of our schools has been consistently in compliance since I became principal. So I just wanted that to be known to the public and to the community to reassure everyone that we are always looking to be compliant when it comes to meeting those kinds of parameters. It's really important to us. As you can hear, you know, we serve some really underserved families, families that are of at-promise youth, and we want to be there to support them as best we can. Both of our plans are focused on making sure that we improve our graduation rate for both of our programs. We are lucky in some ways that this has been an area of challenge because it's meant that we could retain a full-time academic counselor. As Ms. Rollins spoke about earlier, he is piloting advisory for BridgePoint, looking to do that at Crossroads as well to help our students to expand their college and career readiness skills. We were hoping to hire additional clinicians to serve our non-Medi-Cal students. Because of the postponement and the delay, we weren't able to post those positions, but we're hoping we can do that because we want to make sure that mental health and wellness continues to be kind of a key component of the support services that we provide. And just as always, you know, our SPSA funds are incredibly important. We don't get a lot of general funds. We are small, so we don't get quite the ADA that our sister schools get, but we are looking to always expand the resources that we have for all of our students.

[14005] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Kaldura.

[14010] SPEAKER_37: Any other questions?

[14012] Ray Rodriguez: Can I say something?

[14014] Elisa Martinez: Sure.

[14016] Ray Rodriguez: Just as it's already been said, the wonderful things that are happening at our alternative schools over the years. And thank you, Ms. Calderon, for being with us a while and hanging in there. And it's really appreciated what you do there. And having a daughter that was a crossroads and for a while and she needed to catch up, she was behind. And then I remember a couple of the speakers and going to the graduation at Bridgepoint, a gentleman that's getting his master's in counseling and it took him a little bit longer, but he always remembered the time he had at Bridgepoint. So, you know, it's nice to be able to offer this to our kids that are not geared for whatever reason at a regular high school. So thank you for everything you do there. Appreciate it. and all your staff.

[14070] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And thank you so much for your patience. I know that the process, at least for both of the schools, Crossroads and Bridgepoint, unfortunately, procedurally, we had some hiccups there. And I think it is important that you do highlight the actual impact of that. So we will always try to do our best procedurally. that doesn't mean that to your point we're not trying so I think that is you know something that we've talked about in the meetings with our community that there are times when we don't a procedure gets missed but it's not intended it's not ill-intended unfortunately sometimes it does have these consequences direct impact to our to our kids so you know we're all learning and I think as we go through we'll try to definitely do a better job at anticipating some of these things so that we don't directly impact our ability to invest the resources. So thank you for your patience Ms. Calderon.

[14140] Phuong Nguyen: Yes and I just would like to also say thank you to Ms. Calderon and her staff. I know that I was very lucky towards the end of last year to be able to work with you on a project and with Ms. Gutierrez and I've seen the impact that you have on those students' lives, and it was very emotional for me. And also, it just brought a lot of things back. And I know how much work your staff is doing and how much you guys really care and love your students. And they, in turn, love you guys so much back. And I saw that, and I was very grateful for that. So thank you so much for all your hard work and your staff as well.

[14181] SPEAKER_41: Thank you. Good evening, board members, and thank you again for taking the time to look at this and look at it with the critical eye. I want to say also thank you to Julie for being very patient with the process and also being very active as well. I think through the process, we both learned that having a joint council is really going to be beneficial. given the sizes of the schools, and also knowing that we can still have the two separate plans, because we are talking about two separate budgets, but getting clarity on that really, I think it's gonna help the school and it's gonna, just with the logistics of PISOs. So thank you so much. And Julie, again, thank you. It's been a pleasure working with you through this process.

[14241] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Okay, with that, Ms. Gutierrez, if I can have you repeat the motion before us.

[14250] SPEAKER_32: Yes, the motion is that the administration recommends the approval of the 2020-2021 school plan for student achievement as presented. Motions made by member Nguyen and second by member Rodriguez.

[14267] SPEAKER_37: Thank you. Student member Salemi, how do you vote? Yes. Member Rodriguez?

[14274] Ray Rodriguez: Yes.

[14275] SPEAKER_37: Member Zhang?

[14276] Ray Rodriguez: Yes.

[14277] Elisa Martinez: And Member Nguyen? Yes. My vote is yes as well, so the motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much. Thank you for staying late. Thank you, everyone, for your support. Thank you. Thank you. OK, so with that, we move to item 16, which is Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements and Requests. So item 16.1 is Board of Education Committee reports. I know that I will be giving one for the Consolidation Committee. Are there any other committees that met in the last two weeks that any of you would like to give an update on? OK. I see none. I will move forward. I have a little bit of a lengthy one.

[14331] SPEAKER_32: Sorry, Ms. Martinez, what number are you on? Oh, no, I apologize. I made the mistake. My mistake, I apologize.

[14338] Elisa Martinez: No worries. We're in item 16.1, which is board committee reports. So I did want to give it a report regarding the consolidation advisory committee. We did meet last Thursday, the 27th. As just as a reminder, member Wynn and myself are both on the committee. And let's see. So what I wanted to start off with was some of the some things that went well and some of the challenges that we had as part of our first meeting. So I wanted to say that I think what worked well last week was that we had I think most of the committee members joined. I believe we had two that were absent. We have gone back and confirmed that they will be joining for the next meeting. We had very good and lively discussion. I think everybody participated. So definitely looking forward to the ongoing engagement with regards to process. the the obviously the focus of the committee and and certainly the team was not shy about sharing their concerns. So that is definitely a positive. We did have some challenges and and and I think I will put it from the perspective of after after the meeting, you know, we had a debrief and certainly member went, went in myself and then obviously with the broader team. So first and foremost, we had some technical issues. So that delayed the start of the meeting about 30 minutes. And so that's something I know that the team is working to make sure we troubleshoot before next week's second meeting. And I think most notably, we had some procedural issues, errors with regards to, I'll call it agenda structure and the meeting guidance. And I take full responsibility for that. given that the board direction was that both myself, you know, newly appointed and member Wynn, that we would serve as the chair and co-chair of the committee. So I think where things went awry, you know, in retrospect after debrief is, you know, in fact, one of our committee members in public comment had asked the question, you know, why didn't we include the committee charge document as an attachment? And when I say agenda structure, we actually didn't allocate time to review the committee charge that the board directed as an item, just to make sure we all had the same baseline to start. So we didn't do that. And I think that's what contributed to some of the confusion. Via public comment, even prior to the meeting, and certainly with some of our committee members, folks had expressed concern about the fact that the board members would be holding the chair and co-chair role. And somehow, incorrectly, it went up for a vote. And I say procedurally incorrectly because, again, it was board directed that we would function in those roles. I actually went back and reviewed every single meeting from back in November through April. And the board was very clear over four or five times that that would be the case. No one had expressed any concern with that through then. So I wanted to, again, apologize for that. So member Nguyen and I will be chairing and co-chairing as directed by the board. I will serve as chair. And member Nguyen, as we agreed, would be co-chair. I think the second thing that further caused some confusion was that we actually didn't discuss roles and responsibilities of both the board members versus, I'll say versus a facilitator, because we have a facilitator. And I think there was some question around, well, what does the board do and what does the facilitator do? As well as our superintendent, who is also an ex-official member of the committee. The intent is that we will be reviewing those roles. Again, the board's intention in us being the chair and co-chair is that we run the meeting in accordance with Brown Act. And so we would be managing, if you will, the meeting. The facilitator, obviously, would be managing the discussion and the content, and that both member Nguyen and I are not voting members of the committee. And I think that was once again, another thing that got lost because we actually were asked for a vote and we voted. So there was definitely a lot of procedural errors. Once again, I take full accountability for that. We will be conducting a reset. At our next meeting, we will be allocating time and that may slow the process down. But we think absolutely, that's the important and the right thing to do. And I think that's it. I'm trying to make sure I covered all my notes, but number one, is there anything I left off that you think is important to cover?

[14677] Phuong Nguyen: No, I think you covered it. And I just wanted to clarify part of the confusion. And I do agree that there wasn't clarity on our roles as the chair or the co-chair and what the facilitator's role is, and also the committee member's role. And because of that, And that's what caused me to not support. And I voted no to President Martinez and I being chair and co-chair. But I am okay with us being chair and co-chair on the committee as long as we are non-voting members of the committee. So I just wanna make that clear. Thank you.

[14720] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And again, I think that was just again, the lack of clarity even with the facilitator and ourselves.

[14731] Ray Rodriguez: Can I ask something? Not to interrupt you. I would like to have this come back. A lot of times when you start advisory committees, the board members...

[14754] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, just give it a second, because it was cutting out. Can you go ahead, try again?

[14758] Ray Rodriguez: So sometimes when you start advisory committees, the two board members serve as chair and co-chair just to get things going. And then you serve it. At that point, you serve at the pleasure of the whole committee. And if the committee wants to have a different chair and co-chair, I think that that should be something that's OK. It's hard for me to be in favor of, two board members being chair and co-chair, even though you're non-voting, when this is something that's gonna come to the whole board. And so that's just my feelings on it, but I don't know how much... I think we have a couple of months left, but if the majority of committee members I really feel that that's something that we should do. Okay. So, um, I don't have anything else as far as committee reports or anything, so I'm good. And, uh, Dan, thank you for that report. I, you know, appreciate it. Thank you.

[14834] Elisa Martinez: So this is this is an item that we all voted on, member Rodriguez. So, you know, I hear you, but I think before it's brought back, I would need consensus. Ms. Gutierrez, would it be a consensus or a vote to bring back?

[14850] SPEAKER_32: Because of the because it's already been voted on, the best thing here would be to give another vote. For to bring the item back.

[14860] Bowen Zhang: So before we will, We're talking about voting to bring this back to decide whether board members should be chair or co-chair or what?

[14868] Elisa Martinez: Yes, it would have to come back. That's the recommendation that member Rodriguez is making. So this item would have to come back at the next board meeting. But again, there has to be a majority.

[14883] SPEAKER_32: Just a point of order, President Martinez. The actual request here, what it actually involves is a change of the charge. So if it is being brought back, it is being brought back to change the charge of the committee. So just keep time in mind and that it will require a change of the charge.

[14907] SPEAKER_37: OK, thank you. Thank you for pointing that out.

[14913] Bowen Zhang: And I guess there will be another meeting before the next regular board meeting, right?

[14922] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. So again, procedurally here, I'm not, I'm a little bit in the gray here in terms of whether we need to, I guess I could, is it, I think it's more of a consensus because it's not, we're not, we're not assigned for action here from an agenda, from agendized perspective, it's a report. So if the majority of the board, if I see a consensus, then we could certainly agendize it for the next meeting?

[14953] Ray Rodriguez: If you look at your board handbook, you'll find out that when a board member votes yes on an item, they have a right to bring it back. It doesn't have to be a majority, it's just one board member can ask for an item to be brought back if that board member voted yes on it originally. So it would come back, but To be honest with you, if the rest of the board doesn't want it to come back, then I'm fine. I just think it's, in my opinion, it's a bad idea. I don't want you to be president.

[14994] Elisa Martinez: And I normally would agree with you, Member Rodriguez, except that we had a discussion over literally November, December, January, February. It was almost in every single meeting for about six months. And this issue was never a concern. This has always been on the documentation. The intent, once again, and I think if you recall the conversation about being board directed, was that we wanted to make sure that we allowed for all the information, as thorough as possible, that we actually were there to make sure that the process continued and was timely. And if you look at some of the meetings verbatim, that was the intent. It's never been the intent for us, if you will, to put the finger on the scale. It really, procedurally, was to make sure that we were following a solid and... So if you're serving as a facilitator, then that's fine.

[15059] Ray Rodriguez: But it just... You're on... jim barker, PB – he or he, PB – he or he, PB – he or he, PB – he or he, PB – he or he, PB – he or he, PB – he or he, PB – he or he,

[15086] Elisa Martinez: you know, the vote or how long we could extend the meeting. Those are the roles that member Nguyen and I would play. Also, I mean, I know that there's some of the conversations around the type of the data that's being brought forth. So we are there to also help make sure that we give direction to staff if needed for additional data and things like that. So I think unfortunately that the, you know, the confusion there lay in terms of whether we were voting members in which we are not. And I think that was the confusion that really allowed the discomfort to be there. Are we the only district that's done that? No. And I think that's one of the questions that we had for Ms. Dela Cruz as she was looking for best practices. Other districts, I think we've heard some folks that Newark has never done this. that may be true doesn't make it wrong, right? So I think it is just different, certainly causing discomfort.

[15148] Bowen Zhang: So we don't need to bring it back to and to just to just say the chair and coach are not voting member. That's already been said.

[15157] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, I think that was the implication. Yeah. Okay, so With that, I mean, is anybody, anything to Member Rodriguez's point, unless the rest of us want to bring it back, the assumption is that we would move forward with the current charge document?

[15181] SPEAKER_37: Head nods.

[15183] Elisa Martinez: Okay. So the assumption is Member Nguyen and I will continue with the current document. Okay, thank you. All right, so moving on to 16.2, which is announcements, requests, debrief, and discussion. Just watching the clock, we have 17 minutes. I will start with student member Salemi.

[15209] SPEAKER_10: Thank you. So I just had a couple of things. The first one was something exciting that another exciting thing that I'm doing doesn't really have to pertain to the board, but I think it's cool to point out is me and another friend, Amber Nolasco-Torres, working on some tutorials for our, you know, junior, I mean, sophomore, junior, and seniors on how to register and pre-register to vote. And we're doing that in Spanish and in English. So maybe they can show their parents. And another thing, just a suggestion, I know we were talking about the family workshops in terms of technology. Um, speaking of tutorials, maybe it would be nice. We made some tutorials, videos to send out to schools and for kids to show their parents. In terms of the technology. And that's all.

[15262] SPEAKER_37: That's all. Okay. Thank you very much. Member Rodriguez.

[15268] Ray Rodriguez: No, I, I just wanted to thank the superintendent and staff for, um, just being in the middle of everything, which is what we want you to be as far as the opening of the school and being on top of business learning when there's some issues that come up. I'm very happy with the involvement of staff and making sure that this business learning works. Remember, Nguyen and I got a chance to visit some of the school's fast lunches and we're ecstatic that A lot of people wrote emails, made phone calls, whatever was done to open it up to where all the kids can get, you know, free lunch for a few months anyway. So, and that's all I have. Thank you.

[15318] SPEAKER_37: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. Member Zhang?

[15323] Bowen Zhang: I actually just want to say the school has started and we're using software, whatever it's on Google Meet to conduct meetings. And we need to understand that neither Google Meet nor Zoom was ever designed or created for tens of millions of people working, using concurrently at the same time. And, and there's a reason these software are called enterprise software, not consumer software. And many of our modern operating systems, even the new computer was not designed for multi-way streaming of video. They are designed for one-way streaming like YouTube or Netflix. So technical glitches will happen on a weekly and daily basis. I mean, the outage of the software will also happen. I just really appreciate the hard work of teachers and the parents. It's frustrating because, like I said, these are hard engineering problems, and there is no quick fix on these problems. I just really appreciate the patience and the perseverance of our staff and teachers. And I also appreciate the understanding of our parents. These are indeed unprecedented times. We just need to hands up and keep doing what we're doing. Thank you.

[15401] SPEAKER_37: Thank you, Member Zhang. Member Nguyen?

[15406] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I had a lot of fun. Thank you, Member Rodriguez, for encouraging me and inviting me. to join you on the lunch distribution. We were at Snow last week and Ms. Joni and Ms. Teresa were very nice to all of our parents who came by. And then yesterday on, we were at Graham on Tuesday, I believe, and Ms. Lydia and Ms. Carolina was there and distributing lunches. And it was really, it was just fun to see all the families come and pick up lunches and then also get to interact with the staff. And then we'll be doing that again tomorrow at Schilling. And then along with member Zhang, we attended the junior high school PTSA this last week. The principal, Ms. Krishna and the assistant principal was also there. And we have a great group of parents there at the junior high. And they're also working on making a transition between the PTAs from the junior high to the high school. So I thought that was really a great idea. And then yesterday, I was able to attend one of the BGI classes at back to school night, Miss Jones and Miss Keith's class. They are really, really supportive of their students and also their families, making it really flexible in this challenging time, like Member Zhang had said, in terms of the technology and being able to help parents with their flexibility in terms of scheduling and knowing that it is hard for parents who are working to have to review lesson plans with their students and then trying to meet deadlines. And they are being flexible with the deadlines, which I really appreciated um to hear. So I know that our teachers are going above and beyond extending not only technical support to our students while they're in classrooms and um and helping parents get through this and making sure that you know they're in a good mental state and um and everything I just I'm deeply you know in awe of all of them and um so appreciative for so much caring and love that all the teachers are putting into their students and their families. So thank you so much.

[15566] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Nguyen, I will make it short. So, again, thank you for everything. Member Jeong, thank you for reminding us of, you know, just how difficult this situation is and that these platforms are designed by really I'll look at the other side if it's designed to give us issues, because this is not what they're designed for. So thank you for that. Reminds us to be patient. I did want to thank BGI. It was back to school night. I think our teachers are doing wonderful. My son's teacher was amazing. So it was wonderful to just know that they're there to help. And I know we as parents aren't always seeing that detail. So it just made it, that connection point was really fantastic. Thank you for everything. And I'm going to hand this back to you, Superintendent, for closing remarks.

[15618] Mark Triplett: Thanks, President Martinez. And thank you, board. Just I did want to make a quick comment. I appreciated President Martinez, her comments around the subcommittee and and her wanting to take responsibility. But I, too, want to take responsibility for on behalf of the district for how that committee didn't start off on the best foot. And I really think that we need to make sure that we are really well prepared. And so we're really committed to correcting that and supporting that group to make the hard recommendations that they're going to have to make. So I appreciate both Member Nguyen and President Martinez for being on that committee, and also all the committee members, because it's going to be really hard to make those kind of decisions. And yet, as we saw tonight in the FCMAT report and in the unaudited report, clearly we have to make some really hard decisions for the good of our community. So thank you.

[15690] Elisa Martinez: If nothing else, I will ask for a motion and a second to adjourn.

[15694] Bowen Zhang: I move to adjourn the meeting.

[15696] SPEAKER_37: Thank you, Member Zhang. I'm going to second.

[15701] Phuong Nguyen: I second.

[15702] SPEAKER_37: Member Nguyen seconds.

[15706] Elisa Martinez: Student Member Salemi, how do you vote?

[15708] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[15709] SPEAKER_37: Member Rodriguez?

[15711] Ray Rodriguez: Yes.

[15712] SPEAKER_37: Member Zhang?

[15713] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[15714] SPEAKER_37: Member Nguyen?

[15716] Elisa Martinez: Yes. And my vote is yes, as well. So meeting is adjourned at 1022. Thank you for joining us and good evening. Thank you.

[15726] Marie dela Cruz: Good night. Good night. Good night, everyone.

No minutes available.