Regular Meeting

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[0] Elisa Martinez: to the Thursday, September 17th, 2020 regular meeting of the Newark Unified Board of Education. And Ms. Gutierrez, roll call, please.

[15] SPEAKER_32: President Nguyen, I mean, sorry, Member Nguyen? Here. Member Zhang?

[20] Leonor Rebosura: Yes.

[21] SPEAKER_32: President Martinez? Here. And Member Rodriguez? Absent. He, just for the record, might join us later today, and I will make a note of that. Thank you.

[34] Elisa Martinez: And before we move on to the approval of the agenda, I just wanted to just very briefly remind everyone viewing us that you all can submit requests to speak as public comment. The instructions are on our website. you can either choose to submit written comment and those written comments are due one day before. And if you'd like to actually submit live comments, the deadline for those submissions are 1 p.m. the day of the meeting. So again, if you're interested, please visit our website and you'll see the detailed information on how to do that. Thank you. And with that, we do move to item two, which is approval of the agenda. I know that I have a modification, but does anybody have any modifications they'd like to make before we move? I would request that we swap the items four and five, where we, Typically, right after closed session, once we reconvene, we do Pledge of Allegiance, and then we do the report on closed session items. So if we can make that change.

[120] SPEAKER_19: Noted.

[124] Elisa Martinez: If there are no other modification requests, I may have a motion and a second to approve with the modification.

[138] SPEAKER_32: President Martinez, if you want to wait a little bit, I think we might have lost member when it looks like that happened.

[143] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, I'll give it a minute. Again, we are just waiting for member when to rejoin. Looks like we lost connection. Can you hear us, number one?

[205] Phuong Nguyen: Number one, can you hear us? Yes, I'm sorry about that. My computer just crashed.

[210] Elisa Martinez: Okay, no worries. We're ready to move on? Yes. Okay, good, perfect. Okay, sorry, and so we were in, we were on item two, which is the approval of the agenda with the modification to swap items four and five. May I have a motion and a second, please?

[229] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve. Thank you.

[231] Bowen Zhang: I second.

[233] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Zhang. And Member Nguyen, how do you vote? Yes. Member Zhang?

[240] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[242] Elisa Martinez: My vote is yes as well. So the motion carries. And with that, we move to item three, which is closed session, where we will be discussing public employee discipline dismissal release. Item 32, which is conference with labor negotiator, employee organizations, NTA and CSCA, conference with labor negotiators, NEWMA, unrepresented supervisors and contracted management. Item 3.4, conference with legal counsel regarding existing litigation and conference with legal counsel regarding anticipated litigation. And I apologize, I didn't ask if there were any comments with regards to Closed session?

[287] Nancy Thomas: No comments.

[288] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And with that, we adjourn to closed session. Thank you.

[3597] Bowen Zhang: Hello, Mr. Salemi.

[3603] SPEAKER_18: Hello.

[3603] SPEAKER_36: Hi.

[3608] Mark Triplett: Hey, Mr. Salemi.

[3612] Elisa Martinez: Okay, are we live? Yes, I'm sorry. Okay. Okay, welcome to those of you who are just joining us and welcome back to those who join us before we adjourned to closed session. So welcome. We reconvene to open session. And with that, we ask everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please. Ready? Begin.

[3659] SPEAKER_18: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States

[3664] Phuong Nguyen: of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[3682] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, everyone. With regards to closed session, there was no reportable action taken. And student member Wahab Salemi has joined us. So let the record show. And item, we move to item six, which is recognition and celebrations. Staff spotlight, Superintendent Triplett.

[3724] Mark Triplett: OK, thank you very much, President Martinez. Good evening, school board, community, and staff. Thank you for joining us this evening. We wanted to start this evening by doing some quick spotlights and appreciations and shout outs for some of our outstanding staff at our schools. So if you'll bear with me, I'm going to jump to a slide deck. So the first person I wanted to celebrate tonight is a member of the Child Nutrition Services Department. He's our district. His name is Mr. Gambino Perez Bermudez. I had the pleasure of meeting him in one of the first days that I was in NUSD. I went and helped in the district kitchen. And I was just struck by Mr. Bermudez's energy, his enthusiasm, his teamwork, and his tireless spirit. Since then, I've had a chance to see him out and about distributing lunches, working with others, connecting with families and students. So I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate him. Maybe we could do a little what they do in elementary school, All right, the next person we wanted to just give a shout out to tonight is Ms. Amanda Goliger. She's the principal at Music Elementary, our neighbor here at the district office. And Amanda is a champion of all students. In particular, she is so thoughtful and caring about our students with special needs and making sure they have the very best in education and in care. She's created an amazingly warm community at MUSIC with high expectations, but also loving care for everyone. And she's also a leader of our NEWMA group. So she's one of the NEWMA leaders that supports all the NEWMA folks throughout our district. So silent clap for Ms. Goldiger. And lastly, but certainly not least, I wanted to shout out Ms. Shereen Raber. She's a second grade teacher at Schilling Elementary. I had the pleasure of being in her class, I think it was last week. Her positivity, her energy and enthusiasm I would have thought that it wasn't possible to do that every day, but Dr. Wendy assured me that she is like that every single day, which is just phenomenal. I observed her teaching phonics to the kids. She was really promoting a growth mindset. This had amazing energy and enthusiasm. So she's I can't remember exactly how many years she's been there, but I know that she has been a part of the Schilling Elementary community for for many, many years and is dearly beloved. So some silent claps for Miss Weber. And that is that's our appreciations for this evening.

[3929] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Superintendent. All right, moving to item seven, which is public comment on non-agenda items. Ms. Gutierrez.

[3940] SPEAKER_32: Oh. President Martinez, there are no public comment, and I also wanted to make a note that Member Rodriguez has joined.

[3947] Elisa Martinez: Yep, thank you. You took it out. I was just about to say that. Hello, Member Rodriguez.

[3954] Ray Rodriguez: Sorry I'm late. I've been running crazy. Were you honoring Ms. Raeber? I saw a picture. Yeah. She was my kid's teacher a long time ago. Not super long. She is awesome.

[3972] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. Okay, and so again, just to reiterate, Ms. Gutierrez, there is no public comment on non-agenda items. That is correct. Okay, so with that, we move to item eight, which is the superintendent report.

[3995] SPEAKER_41: I apologize, something happened to my computer and I have to restart the deck here. One second, please. Oh.

[4025] Ray Rodriguez: Let me try it this way. If you keep apologizing, they're going to think we're related.

[4036] Elisa Martinez: No worries. Take your time. I know we're all staring at you, but go ahead and take your time.

[4040] SPEAKER_41: Here we go. I do not know what happened, but I think we're... Unfortunately, I can't see you staring at me because I'm madly searching for my... From my deck. And here it is.

[4068] Mark Triplett: Great, thanks for your patience. So this is the superintendent's report for this evening. I wanted to start with some safety updates and some updates from both the state and the county with regard to school reopening. So many people are probably aware, but worth reiterating here that what was previously the state monitoring list, which when we were put on the state monitoring list, Based on the number of cases in our county, then the governor made a statement that any district or sorry any county that was on the state monitoring list would not be able to start the school year in person and would be in distance learning since then. He has evolved the state monitoring list to now be the California blueprint for a safer economy. So it's, it's the, it's the, the, the next stage in the process around reopening the blueprint measures county risk levels, and it's provide state guidelines for reopening. And so you've probably seen this, but just wanted to reiterate it here. These are the different county risk levels based on the number of cases, new cases, and then also the number of positive tests, the percentage of positive tests that are happening in any given county at any given time. We are currently in the purple color as Alameda County, but it's worth noting that we are relatively close to moving into the red. So we actually are at a point where I believe we're at 4.9% positive tests, which is within the red category. And the last I checked, we were at 7.8 or something around there. in terms of new cases per day, per 100,000 people, which as you can see on here, puts us very, still keeps us in the purple, but puts us very close to being in the red. So the reason I bring this up is because the new guidelines are once a county is in the red for two weeks consecutively, then they're eligible to reopen schools. And so, like I said, we're not there yet, but we are relatively close and I'll share in a little bit some of the things that we're doing to prepare. In the meantime, I also wanted to share out this, which is the current school reopening educational plan for Alameda County. And that is that even though we are still in the purple, that the county has indicated, the county health department and the department of ed has indicated that districts or schools are eligible to apply for a waiver in elementary school in order to go back to school in small groups, even when the county is still in the purple. And so I was going to go through a little bit of what are the requirements around that, and then as well discuss another category that the county has indicated that schools can now do, which is bring students in person in small groups. Of course, there are restrictions and guidelines around these things, and that's what I just wanted to make the board aware of tonight. So the first is for the waiver, and actually I should start by saying that we in Newark Unified School District have made a decision not to apply for the first cycle of waivers. And the reason that we have done that is because we really want to make sure that we are applying for a waiver in conjunction with our labor partners and in collaboration with them. And while we have returned to the negotiating table with NTA, and we are at the negotiating table with CSCA, we're really at the preliminary stages of discussing these different options with the teachers. And so we, of course, would not jump into anything without their collaboration and support. But so what does it take to in terms of the guidelines around elementary waivers and small groups. So number one, the first step and there's five steps, I believe, is does the county need to be off the purple tier and like I said, do not need to be off the purple tier and either in order to either apply for waiver or return in person in very small specific groups. Two is which students could return. For the waiver, it's all elementary grades, TK6. For the small group, it's different specialized student groups of all grades. And so there's guidelines around that. In particular, the state and the county and and districts really want to prioritize groups that are most in need of in-person learning, and that includes groups like special education students, English language learners, or students in other high needs groups. The other three and four criteria or questions are what services may be offered in a waiver and in small groups. And so in a waiver situation, in-person instruction is under very specified conditions that are detailed by the state that I won't get too into this evening. For small groups, It can be in-person child supervision and limited instruction, targeted support services, and facilitation of distance learning for specified subgroups of children and youth. In addition, specialized services determined by the district can include but are not limited to occupational therapy, speech and language, other medical services, behavior services, educational support as a part of a targeted intervention strategy or assessment. And then number four, what agencies must approve a plan before offering a program? So in the case of a waiver, Alameda Public Health Department needs to approve all waivers. But in the case of the small group scenario, no outside agencies need to approve this at this point. But like I said, we would obviously only act in collaboration with our labor partners. And then lastly, what is the maximum size of groups participating in the programming at this point? And this is important to note because early in the pandemic, the target number for small groups returning was 12. And since then, that has been increased slightly to 16 participants. And so we should anticipate not just if we were to begin bringing back small groups, but when we return in a hybrid model, that we actually are now able, according to health guidelines, to have groups as large as 16 in a classroom. that it does include adults at this point. So if you have one adult in the classroom, then you could have 15 students. So those are some of the current guidelines by the county, both County Health Department and the County Office of Education. And just wanted to make you all aware of them. As I said earlier, just to reiterate in terms of an update, We do not intend to apply for a waiver in this first cycle. However, as we go along in our conversations with labor, we would want to consider all parties' interest in applying for future waivers if the need arises. And then what we are doing right now with our labor partners is working on finalizing the hybrid model. So we're back to the negotiating table and discussing that. We're also partnering on any future waivers, like I said, or small group in-person learning. And then lastly, we are going to begin the conversation around the virtual academy model again, so that families who do not feel safe returning, even when the county has determined it is safe to do so, for whatever reason, maybe because of extenuating health circumstances in their own household, that we do have an option, that we will have an option for them to remain in distance learning in a strong academic environment. So that's the update around the county and state guidelines. I did want to give a brief update around enrollment. So last board meeting, I did mention that our enrollment was, we have seen a decrease in our enrollment since the first days of school. And we are loving off but we we are below our projections right now so I think it is important that the board and the community realize that at this point we are approximately 182 students below our projections, so that obviously. in a regular year has implications and could have implications for us just moving forward. So we'll continue to monitor that. We continue to enroll students. But there are some students who have dropped from our roles, have moved, or what have you. And so unfortunately, we have experienced a decline. Just like last time, I did want to continue to elevate this document, the Distance Learning Parent and Student Handbook. We have it translated in both English and Spanish, and it is on our website as well as it's been sent out throughout our district. It's a really valuable resource for families to help support them in terms of how to navigate distance learning. Families have been doing an incredible job in really challenging circumstances, as have staff. And I just want to again applaud our staff, our teachers, our principals, everyone who has been working so diligently and with such patience in the distance learning world. It is definitely, there's lots of technology challenges. It's all very new. But at this point, I have observed, I believe I'm up to 40 different classrooms throughout the district. every single school I've observed online learning in. And I can say I've been struck by just the incredible care of our teachers and also the ingenuity that they've been using in terms of making things work well online. And then, of course, our students and their focus and diligence has just been really inspiring to see. So I'll be continuing to be in classrooms observing with principals. And it's one of the favorite parts to my week. I did want to give an update on our website, because I know that that's a been a pain point, not just for me, but for for community and for everyone. So we have contracted with an organization, a business company, website design company. And we're beginning the process of matriculating all of our information over onto a new platform. which is currently being designed. I'm really excited about it. We really felt like it was important to have the very best. And so this organization that designs websites, they do it across the country for, and actually the nation, for educational organizations, districts, schools, they're really fantastic. And we anticipate to have our website up and running, our new website up and running by January. I will, of course, keep the board informed as that goes along. And then lastly, the last part of my report this evening is I wanted to, number one, highlight that this month is Suicide Prevention Month, a really important thing that is It's being done across the country, but I really wanted to applaud our students and staff who have done immense things around Suicide Prevention Month, really lifting up strategies for how to support each other and the importance of the awareness of the situation. And there's one person in particular One of our fantastic students, her name is Margo Rollins, she's a student at Newark Memorial High School, and she has done just amazing things in support of this awareness, and I happened to hear her reciting a poem that she wrote about suicide prevention. and just about supporting others during hard times. So I asked if she would be willing to come and recite her poem for us tonight, and I'm delighted that I believe that she's here with us now. Ms. Gutierrez, is Ms. Rollins on already?

[4860] SPEAKER_32: She's waiting for us, but if you don't mind, if you could take down your presentation just so we can make it easier to transfer her in, please.

[4868] SPEAKER_41: Absolutely.

[4879] SPEAKER_32: And she's, she's, she's in.

[4882] Mark Triplett: Hey, Miss Rollins. I'm going to turn the floor over to you. So go ahead.

[4890] SPEAKER_31: Okay, so this is a poem I wrote after a third period teacher gave a suicide awareness presentation. Two suicidal thoughts once in my head. I don't need you anymore. I found purpose again. I don't have all the answers. or even a plan, but I have my words and that's worth more than what you thought ever gave. So if you hear my words and they begin to resonate, I hope this is your takeaway. There's more to you than what your thoughts put you out to be. And I hope one day you'll wake up to see purpose, happiness, if anything, just some peace of mind. Please be kind to those around you. You see, each life has value. And if no one has told you, you are worthy. You are worthy, worthy of love, worthy of respect, worthy of being valued for who you are and for who you want to be. Each life has value, and I can't stress this enough. I know things right now are more than tough can even describe. Please come out of the shadows. You don't need to hide. Please let my words be of a guide. If you need an ear to listen, here, I offer mine. A shoulder to cry on, too, I promise you. I hope to build a safe space and to form a bond. And if ever needed, I hope to see you become someone others can lean on. Remember the little things of the world and how the birds chirp. And honestly, for what it's worth, the sun does rise and set each day. So if consistency is what you need to stay, I highly recommend using nature as a way to escape. I may not know for sure, but I can say from experiences, The battles of today don't always come to tomorrow. Tomorrow is always a new day with new choices and new promises. For me, I thank God I wake up with a new thing to say. And from what I've learned, your story can be someone's glimpse of light, someone's change of mind. I know it's easy to give up and to say you're through, but you aren't finished yet. I can promise you. Thank you.

[5034] Elisa Martinez: That's amazing.

[5035] Ray Rodriguez: That was awesome.

[5036] Elisa Martinez: It's amazing.

[5038] Phuong Nguyen: I think making a minute. Wonderful job. It was beautiful.

[5047] Elisa Martinez: Yes, Superintendent, thank you so much for for asking one of our wonderful students to share this. We just don't get enough of this. Ms. Rollins, I really don't know what to say. It really is wonderful and so needed, right? And I was just reflecting personally, there's always different levels. One thinks about suicide prevention, one thinks this extreme situation that someone is living. But your words really resonated with me. We just can feel that way day to day. So thank you so much for sharing your words with us. Thank you.

[5088] SPEAKER_31: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. I think it's an important thing that we should definitely be talking about, especially now because a lot of, there's a lot of bad in the world really. And like a lot of like hopelessness leads to hopeless thoughts. And I think it's important that we open up conversations like this. So that way people know that it's okay to talk about it. It's okay to feel like that way sometimes. And it's okay to get help. Yeah.

[5117] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. If I might share. We've lost a couple of students to suicide over the years. And one was a good friend of my daughter's and a freshman in high school. And it's just so traumatic. And not only is the family affected, the friends, teachers, everybody. And sometimes it just takes someone to hold some person's hand and let them know that there's other, answers and they don't have to do that. So thank you so much. I can't, if I haven't tried for 10 seconds to try to do what you did, I wouldn't do it very well. You did excellent. So I appreciate it.

[5167] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Mr. Member Rodriguez. Member Nguyen or Member Zhang, if either of you would like to comment.

[5177] Phuong Nguyen: Sure, I can go. Ms. Rollins, that was beautiful, well said. Your words really do resonate with all of us and it is so important. But the fact that you yourself are putting yourself out there to lend a hand and open your heart for others and to be there for them, it really touches my heart. I just hope that more students, more community members, humanity in general have the same heart and the same tenacity and will that you do to be inclusive and to really, you know, just be there for a friend or even a stranger. So I commend you. Wonderful job. Well done. Thank you. Thank you.

[5227] Bowen Zhang: Well done. Thank you, Mrs. Miss Rollins and really unusual time that I think this is more important than ever that we openly talk about mental health, we openly talk about suicide prevention, and hopefully you can spread the message even more to more fellow more of your fellow students. Sometimes this just small initiatives, small act of kindness can really dribble through the waves and touch many people than you many more people than you expected.

[5258] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, back to you, Superintendent Triplett.

[5265] Mark Triplett: Oh, the mic has been dropped. That's it. I don't have anything else to report. But Margo, thanks so much. You are a hero. Your words are so eloquent and powerful. And I know we're going to see even more wonderful things from you in the future. So thank you for being with us.

[5284] SPEAKER_31: Thank you for having me again. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[5292] Elisa Martinez: Superintendent, does that conclude your report?

[5296] Mark Triplett: Yes, it does.

[5298] Elisa Martinez: Thank you very much.

[5300] SPEAKER_32: Our student will just be waiting on the attendee list from at this point.

[5306] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And with that, we move to item nine, which is the staff report, Superintendent.

[5314] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Yes, we have two things this evening, President Martinez and board members. The first, I'd like to introduce the servant is folk who you know well from previous meetings, she has been doing her, she and her team, I should say, have been doing an unbelievable job. in putting together this federal program monitoring report, and she's going to explain a lot more about it, but I will say that I was able to take a look at all of the documents that were required to go into this. This is a federal requirement that certain schools and districts are selected to have to report on every year. And this year happens to be our magic special year. And the amount of work, the amount of attention to detail that has had to go into this is just really, really phenomenal. And so I want to just personally applaud Ms. Cervantes-Falk and her team. And with that, I'll turn it over to her to explain what it's all about.

[5379] SPEAKER_36: Good evening, and thank you, President Martinez, Dr. Triplett, executive cabinet members, and board members. Thank you for having me. Like Dr. Triplett said, I'm here to provide you with a quick overview of federal program monitoring, what it is, what does it entail. And I will be coming back once this review is done with the report of how Newark Unified did with that. So really the objective for this presentation is to simply provide you with a general overview of what we call FPM, Federal Program Monitoring, the process, the timeline, the programs that we've been identified for review and where we are in terms of preparation since this review is happening next week. And we also have some time for some questions and answers at the end of the presentation. So to begin, very quickly, in terms of the overview, well, what is it? Why do districts have to go through this process? So really, it's what it is, a federal program monitoring. So in that case, any district, any LEA that is participating in any of the federal programs, Title I, Title II, et cetera, are subject to a review. And the purpose of the review is simply to look and review the LEAs processes and the procedures for implementing the requirements for the program as per either law or administrative regulations. And really they're looking at is the proper use of funds, the services and supports that we are providing to the identified groups, and that if and how they're aligned to the administrative regulations. how it happens. This is kind of interesting, and hopefully it's not as confusing, but like I said, any district in California, as long as they're participating in a federal program, are subject to a review. How they go about that, CDE really identifies counties to be reviewed, and so all of the counties in California are in cohorts, and there's four cohorts, A through D, and those cohorts rotate, and what we call it a rotating cycle, and it's every two years. So Alameda County happens to be in cohort C, and this is a year that cohort C is reviewed. So districts in Alameda County were identified. How those districts are identified, CDE does have a set of criteria that they look at. It has nothing to do with how well or not how well a district is performing. It has nothing to do with you know, any red flags or anything of the sort. It's just a matter of looking at different things in terms of the number of programs, how much funding is being allocated. And in some cases, and I think that's our case, is how long it's been since we've been reviewed. And this is my first year. I'm starting my second year with Newark, but I understand that Newark Unified has been passed on for the last two to three cycles. So we were kind of expecting this coming this year. It's really, in an essence, it could be kind of like they say, a blessing in disguise, because sometimes by going through this review process, you identify some areas where we might be able to enhance our practices or make sure that we have everything in place that we might have missed at some point. There's normally two types of review, what they call an online and an on-site review, and that's where the two cycles come in. So this year, Alameda County was scheduled for an on-site review. Granted, because of COVID and because of the pandemic, on-site is not gonna be able to happen, but they are calling it a telemonitoring review, and so I will explain that a little bit later. Two years from now, it'll be Alameda County's time again, and at that time, any district that has identified two years from now, then that will be an online review. Two years after those two years, whoever's identified would be an on-site review. So it just kind of rotates. And just because a district is identified one cycle doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be identified the second cycle and so forth. We could be lucky to be identified, you know, consecutively, consecutive cycles, and we could also not be so lucky. And then the last thing I want to say about the review is once an LEA is identified, then the CDE also looks at what schools in that particular LEA should also be reviewed. And so for us, there were three schools, Snow Elementary, Newark Junior High, and Newark Memorial High School. So in terms of how it goes or the timeline, the districts that are identified, well, the counties that are identified for review and as well as the districts then are identified and are notified usually in the spring. And in our case, it was in May. So at that point, we received notification from the County Office of Education indicating that CDE has identified us as a school, excuse me, as a district and schools to be reviewed. From then, then we go into what we call phase one of the review. And phase one of the review is where we then receive the list of the programs that we're gonna be reviewed for. And let me tell you, this year, there's a total of 17. We got picked for five. Thank goodness it's not 17. And then we have about 30 days prior, 30 days from, excuse me, before the actual first day of the review for us to collect all the evidence and submit to CDE for preview review or pre-screening. And also because that way, which is the period that we're in right now, is they're providing us some technical support. So they're trying to review as much of our evidence and our processes that we have in place to try and clear them and approve them and say, yes, it's good. So by the time the official review starts, which is phase three, they're here or they're interviewing with people just to clarify any questions that they might have or to also say, OK, well, you this is how you said your process was. Then they interview people to verify that what we indicated or what we submitted is true of what we actually do. And then the last phase is once the review is over, which in our case is going to end next Friday, the 25th, we will get an official what we'll get. We have what we call an exit meeting and we'll get a tentative draft of if there were any findings or how we did in the review. And then once we receive the official results, we have a period of 45 days to rectify or to enhance any of the recommendations or put in place any of the recommendations that they suggested. So that's about the process and the timeline. Moving on, I'm gonna explain or just quickly share with you the five different programs that we've been identified for. So we're gonna be being reviewed for Title I, Title 2, Title 3, and then the last one is Support School and Improvement, also known as a Comprehensive Support and Improvement, which is also a part of Title 1. So again, when you look at these, that's four. Sorry, I missed one. Okay, the last one that we are being reviewed for is UCP, the Uniform Complaint Procedure. And that's just saying, do we have all of the procedures in place and do we have all the systems in place? My apologies, I just realized I left that off my slide. Again, so these are all administrative regulations. These are all requirements from the state and the federal department when it comes to the fundings. So as we move on, what do we do? So in order for us to prepare for this, once we realized which were the programs we were being reviewed for, we established a team. And yes, like Dr. Triplett said, the team has been amazing in terms of supporting us. Because of the five programs, we really are working with the business office, HR, and of course, Ed Services. And we have administrative support as well as staff assistance support with this process. We notified the sites. Most importantly, I think we created a tool and established processes and procedures for how to gather and submit the evidence to CDE because they actually have a platform where they want us to communicate with them and also upload everything to keep everything on record. And then we also created internal deadlines, right, to make sure that we were then on top of things and that we would meet city's deadlines, we created our own internal deadlines. And so I'm very happy to say that we've met so far every deadline we've had. We've submitted a piece of paper for at least every single element that they've asked for. And let me tell you, some of the elements have multiple pieces of paper. And as they review those elements, if they either have a clarifying question or say, this is good, but we need something else, So we've been in communication with them since the beginning of August, really, for that. Our goal is to come to Thursday, September 24th, by 1 o'clock to have submitted everything that they've asked for, and that we end up coming back with sufficient for everything that we've turned in, so that on the 25th, they say thank you very much, and then we look forward to a really nice, pretty final report. And with that, before I go into the actual questions and answers, again, I just want to thank Jessica Saavedra and Laura Johnson, Kim, Jodi Croce, Maggie, Liz from the business department, and in its services, Miranda Dinsmore has been, you know, just a super help and everything. And I've learned that Miranda has been here for many years, so she has a lot of history. And she's been very helpful in terms of when I can't seem to find something or figure something out, she'll say, what about this? And together with everybody, we've just been a really good team. And I'm excited, nervous, and stressed about next week, but at the same time, very excited to see them come. So thank you.

[6034] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Mr. Vontes. Board members, any questions?

[6045] Elisa Martinez: No, thank you. I don't have any. Thank you. Thank you.

[6052] Ray Rodriguez: Excellent report.

[6054] SPEAKER_36: Thank you so much.

[6060] SPEAKER_32: Mr. Vontes, I think at this point you could stop sharing your screen.

[6064] SPEAKER_36: Okay, I'm going to be on next. So, okay, but I will.

[6069] Elisa Martinez: Yep. So I'm moving on into item 9.2. It looks like I'm handing it back to you, Superintendent.

[6079] Mark Triplett: Yes, thank you. Fortunately, we're going to see a lot of Ms. Cervantes-Falk this evening. She has a number of things to present. So the next thing that is up on the staff report is LCAP federal addendum. And Ms. Cervantes-Falk is going to discuss this measure.

[6105] SPEAKER_36: Thank you. And thank you for having me again. This is actually timely as well. The federal addendum report is what goes hand in hand with federal program monitoring. The objectives of this presentation is to inform you and provide you with an update of our LCAP federal addendum for 2019-2020. And to do that is I want to be able to maybe just kind of come back and do a quick overview the purpose and the requirements of a federal addendum, what was in our federal addendum for 19-20 in terms of what were the plan services, the implementation, successes and challenges that we had, and then as well, just a brief synopsis, a preview of what we are proposing as modifications for the 2021 plan. So to begin, what is the federal addendum? Last year, June of 2019, at the end of the year, we brought to you the LCAP for 2019-2020, and an addendum to it was added, which was called the LCAP Federal Addendum. That was the first time that that was being required by CDE. And really, this addendum kind of replaced former LEA plans. You might have remembered the program improvement plan, the Title I plan, the Title III accountability plan. So this was an effort for CDE and the federal government to say, how can we merge federal plans and state plans into one? In 1920, we had our LCAP, which really talked about how we were gonna be using our LCFF funds and our Supplemental Concentration Grants. The federal addendum, which is what we adopted last year, is the plan on how we were going to then use our federal funds to comply with and implement the requirements of ESSA. So for us, like I said, well, excuse me, in addition to that is one of the things that we learned is that This is, there is no annual requirement that they be submitted to CDE. They required us to submit it once, which was in 19-20 for approval. So they're not requiring it that we submit it annually. However, they are highly recommended, and going through FPM process, I know that highly recommended means please do this, highly recommend that LEAs really review and evaluate the plan annually. And because we are talking about federal funds, then it only makes sense to be strategic about this and to really look at it every year and strategically plan for the following year when it comes to these federal funds. So to that said, what was in our 2019-2020 LCAP federal addendum? So again, Ours was approved in June of 2019. It was reviewed by ACO because it was the first time that it was being implemented. It was reviewed by ACOE and CDE during the summer. And then they provided all of the districts with recommendations and possible some modifications. And I have to tell you that just about every district had several recommendations and I know because as being one that came to the district and trying to modify and and adjust it I was calling a bunch of people and saying okay how did you do this and so we were all in the same boat learning together but it was finally approved in October and we moved on with implementing the plan. The plan looked like this and again this was This was added to our LCAP. It was a separate document, but it was supposed to be come and approved by the local board together. And what you see on the right of the plan, you'll see the different programs that we were able to apply for. And if we were participating in the programs, then those are the programs that you would see in the plan, actions and services for those programs. Of this list, we participated in all but Title I, Part D. So when you review, if and when you review the plan, because it was 2019 and 2020, you'll see that we have a plan for all of the aspects of Title I, of Title II, of Title III, and Title IV, which, again, of all these this year, were being reviewed for Title I, Title II, and Title III. So just timely, that's how I like to say it. Instead of going through and going through every single section of the plan, what we went ahead and put together was just a chart that outlines the different strategies and services that we had identified for the different programs. And so I'm going to click on that and you'll see a spreadsheet in this item. And in each of those spreadsheets, on the top you'll see we have Title I, Title II, Title III, Title IV. So instead of again outlining all of the activities, I simply put together a chart indicating if this is Title I, this on the left were all of the different, excuse me, were all of the different categories that we were supposed to address when it comes to Title I. In the middle, you're going to see the column that indicates what were the strategies or services that we had identified as implementing or doing or continuing to support that program section. And of course, that we were funding with federal funds. The next two columns you'll see, the first one is we're simply indicating yes, no, do we implement or do we not implement? And then the last column is that we were looking at, do we want to continue to implement? Do we not want to continue? Or are we considering it? And you'll see a similar chart for each of the programs. And the other piece, too, is at the bottom of each chart, you're going to see whether we had any new items that we implemented or any new services that we implemented that they might have not been on the list. But either we came across something and we thought this is a great idea, or also some ideas that we might have for the following year. Now, one of the things that we might be thinking about here is, now let me see if I can go back to my presentation. Yes, I, oh, no, see, sorry. So one of the things that we might be thinking about, why are we showing this piece here? Let's see if it works, yay, oh, good. Or why is it just a yes or a no, instead of a effectiveness rating. Well, this is why I want to say some analysis in terms of our strengths in our areas of challenges here. The strengths, when I looked at this and when I looked at it with the team, is that we had identified a total of 52 activities, strategies, services to implement. And we were able to implement 94% of them. And of the 94%, 10% of those were implemented with some sort of modification. So I feel comfortable to say that we were really on track of implementing 100% of the strategies if we hadn't already implemented them all, and that we were definitely on track of doing a really good job at doing so. The challenges, and this is where I come in, I say why my rating is just a yes or a no. Challenges is the obvious reason is the COVID-19 pandemic and school closure. Because of that, we were unable to assess the program effectiveness for one or two reasons. Either we did not fully implement, we didn't finish the year, And here is the piece that is huge, and it has been a huge awakening as well for all of us. With the suspension of all state and federal assessments, we found ourselves with no data to be able to say how effective something was. That, in an essence, you can say, OK, that is true. But at the same time, what it's done for us is the realization that we need to come up with multiple means of measuring something and not simply relied on state assessments. Because again, right now, we don't know what we're gonna do or how we're starting with our students. We're needing to look at our own ways of assessing their learning loss or their progression. And so as we look at 2020 and 2021, one of the things that I am recommending is that we really look at how that in addition to the strategies that we want to implement, whether they're new, old or continuing, that we also look at how are we going to assess them in addition to some of the requirements or some of the ways that CDE is asking us to assess our plan. So for those reasons, as we look for 2021, some of the things that we're looking at is let's consider all of the actions that were fully implemented in 19-20. Let's look at what we might be able to modify or adapt because of our current condition in distance learning. And also, like I said, identifying multiple means of assessing so that we can actually assess the effectiveness of the strategies. not just whether or not we implement it. And that we don't wait until the end of the school year to do this versus having multiple measures throughout the year. And I know it might be, it's gonna be a challenge because as it is, we're still trying to figure out how we're going to do things in a new setting right now with distance learning. And of course, the last piece, looking at how do we align what we're saying that we want to implement and that we had funds to implement through the federal addendum, how do we align that to our learning continuity plan? Because again, remembering that these are federal funds, these are supposed to supplement and not supplant what we currently have going. So we have a perfect opportunity, a great opportunity right now to look at what's in our learning continuity plan, what is not in our learning continuity plan. Do we still have funds, whether it's learning loss mitigation funds, whether it's unduplicated supplemental concentration grants to use, and if not, how do we then now supplement with our federal funds? So our next steps would be, like I mentioned earlier, really considering what we want to do for 2021, revising the plan for 2021, making sure that, you know, we bring it to our stakeholders, such as our ELACs, our DELACs, our school site councils, etc., and then bring back to you, this body, a new plan in the fall, whether it's October or early November, and then really present what we want to do for 2021. And again, possibly with the fall of 21 as well, with a new plan for you to then approve. And so with that, I want to say thank you.

[6802] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Cervantes-Falk. I'll ask my fellow board members, does anybody have any questions?

[6813] Phuong Nguyen: I don't have a question, but I do have a comment. Yeah, go ahead. Thank you, Ms. Cervantes-Welk. That was a wonderful presentation. I just really like the fact that we stated that we needed to identify multiple means of assessing effectiveness for this coming year. But I would highly recommend to staff that we continue beyond this year to continue to do that. that we shouldn't just rely on the dashboard. That's just one measurement. But moving forward in the future, I think it would be wonderful to have, you know, multiple means of assessing. Thank you.

[6857] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Noted. Thank you, Member Nguyen. Anybody else? Yeah, I actually wanted to comment on that as well. So thank you, Member Nguyen. I think we're aligned in terms of, you know, it takes something like this for us to figure out that, hey, this one source is not always going to be the best, right? It should never be the only source of information. My question was going to specifically be around when we should expect to hear back on some of those potential different strategies or sources of data. I know you mentioned the fall. So are you all thinking November, late October? Just perspective.

[6908] SPEAKER_36: No, perfect. Thank you for asking. Definitely, you know, when I look at the calendar, I would love to shoot for the last board meeting in October, but I know that you probably have one just coming up. So I would say late October, early November, looking also what's gonna come from the FPM review. But yes, so my goal is to have something by the end of October, whether that's making it to our last board meeting in October, I will, you know, look at the calendar, but thank you.

[6941] Ray Rodriguez: I had a question, if you don't mind.

[6943] Elisa Martinez: Oh, not at all. Rodriguez, go ahead.

[6946] Ray Rodriguez: No, thank you, Ms. Avantes-Fonk. You got a big name, so it takes a while to kind of get it out there. But anyway, excellent presentation. Thank you. It just seems like when we're applying for federal funds that you got to jump through hoops over the years. So are there any helps in place where if you're not meeting something where there's assistance available to kind of help you get to where you need to get?

[6980] SPEAKER_36: Yes. And, you know, that's where our county office is really kind of like the mediator, I would say, between CDE and us. And so a lot of the times as I'm looking at something, right, it's, so I always look to them as well as colleagues that are in my field. I think one of the strengths, is that I have been in this position before. So this is like my eighth year in this type of position. I mean, it's my first year with Newark, but I've been a special projects coordinator and director in other districts. So I always think of the spirit of the law, right? What's the intent? And also looking at, yes, I know that this is a lot of hoops, but I always have to remember there's a purpose for that hoop and there's a purpose for, that what some other people say red tape. But like I said, it's always for me being able to go to the county office of that. What's her name? Joanne? I can't think of her last name, but she is a very, very resourceful person that helps. And as much work as it is to be the manager of all these different plans, I actually see how they align and I see how they support each other. Right. So it's a piece where as I'm looking at an application and we're saying, oh, well, we could do this. And I'm usually the one that says, OK, just remember, we'll probably need to do A, B and C and so forth. So but thank you for asking, because, yes, that is huge. And so the county office and also let me say that I have worked at a county office before. I was a coordinator for school support. at a county office for 10 years. So I'm very familiar with what the role and responsibilities of a county office coordinator is, and that is to support our districts in our county. So I always go and say, I need this help. Thank you. Thank you.

[7103] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. It was very, very informative and we look forward to the follow up on this item. Thank you.

[7119] SPEAKER_36: Thank you. Good night.

[7120] Elisa Martinez: OK, and with that, we move to item 10, which is employee organizations and Miss Gutierrez. Let's see, we're going to go in order here. I just wrote myself some notes. NTA, Mr. Bruzy, is he will he be joining?

[7143] SPEAKER_32: Yes, all three organizations are here. So Mr. Abruzzi. Okay, thank you. He's been currently Oh, he's coming in right there. Thank you.

[7158] Elisa Martinez: Hello, welcome. Oh, you're on mute still.

[7163] Sean Abruzzi: Welcome. Yes. Nice to see some of you. It's good to see everyone. Some of you have seen a long time. So NTA always says that all new externs deserve the best. So at Bridgepoint, we had a couple of questions. One was, did the Bridgepoint teachers give consent to teach these class sections of AP in a science without the appropriate credentials? Also has a district followed California Ed Code 44528.3. Also, we'd like to want to know a couple of things about a lead teacher. Teachers last year in USD has had five lead teacher positions, one at the preschool, two at the elementary, one at the junior high, and one at the high school. They had six staff members because of the junior high position was shared. This year, we have three. This year, three of those positions have not been filled. HR states that the MOU prevents giving any teacher extra duty slash extra work. 2.15 says that no extra work will be assigned unless the duties, assignments or positions can be reasonably performed in virtual settings. The teacher positions can be reasonably done in a virtual setting. In fact, many of my fellow teachers experiencing with lead teachers in the past have been done first phone emails and Google meets. Well, it may be so that the lead teacher position can be done virtually. There are no extra duties. There are positions that teachers need to apply for and salaries and a salary is earned. My understanding about the position is that if they are open, they should be filled unless the board has approved them to be frozen or because they have been eliminated. And I could be wrong on this. My knowledge, the board has not done so. If it had, why would HR say that the reason they are not filled, filling the position, is because of the MOU? These lead teaching positions are important for several reasons. Most importantly, the teachers are relied upon to support new teachers. Turnover in special ed in this district has been very significant. Adequate support and training could be a reason why these teachers leave. Lead teacher positions could help with the support. Another thing with lead teachers are great for is communications. Right now in these unprecedented times, communication is key to collaborate. It's important that ed personnels have leaderships that they can go to for questions. Currently all that is falling on the program specialist in the absence of lead teachers, which is a job with a job description is unacceptable that the work of lead teacher is being given to one program specialist, which is separate job with a separate job description. NTA would like to see the job descriptions for every special ed position, director, program specialist, lead teachers. It would be helpful to NTA members who is supporting or who is supposed to do what. So it would help out our members if they know who they need to go to for certain questions. There are so many issues in SPED Ed. They're being stretched out during distance learning. These teachers cannot be, these teachers can't make do with less. If you want this year to go successful, the teachers have to have some bare minimums. A bare minimum would be hiring Sped Ed lead teachers. The district needs to be able to support the program specialists and all Sped Ed NTA members. If the district is going to pay someone to do the job, the district should be looking within the workforce they are already paid. And NTA would like to know how would these questions, how would these decisions today support our students? A very big issue also that is happening right now with our teachers that is going to guess that you know nothing about. So I'm going to look forward to discussing all these issues with you in the future. But these two main issues are some of the things that we are running into as dealing with distance learning is for the reason that we are giving teachers are given and teachers are being required to teach in areas that they don't have credentials in and the waivers aren't being filed. And there's no documentation that says that these teachers sat volunteer to teach these or consented to these positions. Also our special ed teachers are really struggling when the district sat there and did not fill these lead teachers. And these are things that really need to be addressed. And when NTA asks these questions, these questions are not being answered. So hopefully with the board that they can sit there and maybe get some answers to these kinds of questions. But overall, that's all that NTA has to say.

[7506] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Mr. Abruzzi.

[7508] Sean Abruzzi: If you have any questions, please ask me.

[7511] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. This is usually just the report, but thank you. Appreciate you sharing. Thank you. Thank you so much. Have a good evening.

[7520] Sean Abruzzi: You too.

[7524] Elisa Martinez: OK, and Ms. Gutierrez, I think CSCA, Ms. Eustis is next, I believe.

[7533] SPEAKER_32: That is correct. We're going to cue her in. Sorry, we cued in the wrong one, I apologize.

[7546] SPEAKER_19: Okay, there we go. CSCA is continuing to work with the district in negotiating a MOU on reopening of schools. We had one on the closing. We're now working on the one of reopening schools. We continue to work basically on a weekly basis striving to take and resolve all the issues that the classified employees have. In fact today we met in our EERC which is Employer employee-employer relations committee. We meet weekly. We've been dealing with any issues that have come up during the EERC if they're not related to negotiations and we've been fairly successful. Each meeting is about an hour long. In September, we're taking and we're going to be doing our 10th CSCA benefit fair. In October is when everybody needs, if they're going to be making any changes in their health care plan, that's when they make them. And so we're going to be having a fair and it's going to be virtual, but it's going to be people will be able to listen to what the different plans have to offer and be able to make a choice that best fits their needs. We also, along with this benefit fair, are going to be having some presentations for us to have some professional growth. And one of the meetings is going to be how we could make meetings more effective. Another one is going to be managing managing strong emotions. So right now with everything that's going on as far as COVID, people are a little uptight. So I think this is going to be very beneficial to our members and help us to do our job. On September 21st, we're going to be having a chapter meeting, so we'll be able to talk to everybody at that time and get their input. And on the September 23rd, we're hoping to do a candidates night. We're working towards it. We think we have it arranged. We'll be calling the candidates and hopefully they can come. We also in September have an executive board meeting which will be a week after our chapter meeting and we will be doing our plans for October. But so far considering everything that's going on with covid and everything, we seem to be still being able to meet the needs of our members and communicating with the district and trying to resolve the issues that we do have. So I would like to thank Jessica and Debbie for being there for the EERC, because it does help. Meeting on a weekly basis does help us resolve a lot of the issues that we run into. And these are difficult times. These are just definitely very difficult. But that's all I have to report. So thank you very much.

[7746] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Eustis. Good to see you. Thank you. OK. Ms. Gutierrez, is Ingham-Watters for?

[7758] SPEAKER_32: Yes, she is here. Yeah, thank you. She's being queued in right now.

[7770] SPEAKER_11: Good evening, members of the board and executive cabinet and the Newark community. We want to take this opportunity to thank our teachers, classified and support staff for a very supportive transition and continuation of support for distance learning. Some of the highlights we have had these past several weeks are the following. back to school night. What else can we say but wow! We are so grateful for the support from our community members as we explore a new norm of holding school-wide events. We want to thank our teachers, support staff, translators, board members who attended, and of course our parents for helping us make these events a success. Newark teacher induction has officially began its activities under the leadership of NEWMA member Leonor Rebosura. Four orientation sessions were scheduled in late August and September. All 21 teacher candidates, 16 mentors, and four site administrators attended. The top topics candidates have expressed for their individual learning plans might focus on for this year are effective instructional strategies for online teaching, technology skills, how to find evidence of and for learning, how to lead inquiry-based learning in science through Zoom or Google Meets. It will be a most interesting year of exploration and investigation into a teacher's practice once again. When asked how they felt about starting year two of induction, the continuing participants replied, excited, ready, curious. Definitely a sign we are off to a great start. If you'd like more information about the Newark Induction Program, please go to induction.newarkunified.org. We also want to thank Athletic Director and NEWMA member Coach K for initiating the tech drive-through help session for families that hopefully will start on this Saturday, pending air quality. Also appreciations go to our IT team of four people, under the leadership of Paul Rose, including David, Aaron, and Barbie for responding to over 100 tickets a day to support all of our technical and technology needs. As we continue the school year, we want to ensure that we continue to lead with student focus, decisions in mind. We thank you all for your support and dedication to our community.

[7942] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Ingham-Watters. Thank you. Okay. All right. With that, we move to item 11, which is a public hearing. And today our public hearing 11.1 is on the learning continuity and attendance plan. So with that, I open I don't have a gavel, but I'll open the public hearing. Ms. Gutierrez, do we have any requests for comment or questions?

[7977] SPEAKER_32: No requests for comment.

[7981] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Well, with that, we close this public hearing and move to item 12, which is old business and 12.1. It's a labor cost to install electronic

[7996] Mark Triplett: locks superintendent triplet thank you president martinez so i'm going to turn it over to miss dela cruz to explain a little bit more about the this item, but I will say we are bringing this back because there was a bit of a miss there in terms of ensuring that we have approval to fund the labor cost in addition to the equipment cost of the locks. So I'll turn it over to Ms. Dela Cruz to explain.

[8032] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Yeah, so back in August of 2019, the board approved the purchase of electronic locks to upgrade all of the locks at the schools. And the total amount that was included in the dollar that was approved was $641,000. And it did not include the labor. So at that time, the intent was to have these locks installed by our own district staff. And it was mentioned in the background, however, there was a slight oversight in not including the dollar amount. And so we're coming back tonight to get the labor costs formally approved by the board. It's estimated at $85,000, which is $34,000 less than what we were getting coded by an outside contractor. So the recommendation tonight is to approve the district staff labor costs for the $85,000, which is part of the Measure G bond projects.

[8106] Elisa Martinez: Sorry. So this is an action item here. So can I get a motion and a second to open discussion here on this item?

[8118] Ray Rodriguez: So move.

[8120] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. Member Nguyen, is that a second? Sorry. Thank you. Any questions for Ms.dela Cruz?

[8142] Bowen Zhang: I mean, I guess just one comment. I mean, this is actually just using the Measure G to reimburse the half your salary of two of our CSCA members, right?

[8156] Marie dela Cruz: I don't know that reimburse. It's not a reimbursement. They're being paid outside of their regular work to install the locks out of Measure G. OK.

[8171] Elisa Martinez: I have no other questions. I have a question, and it's regarding the fiscal impact or the item under budgeted, which is yes. And my question is, we're saying it's budgeted, but we didn't get approval. So are you saying it's budgeted in current year? How are we counting it as budgeted because it didn't get approved in in the first place, because it is, I believe, over time, right? So can you help us understand that?

[8208] Marie dela Cruz: So when the board approved it back in August, the assumption was the approval was for both the labor and the materials. So the budget for this year does cover the labor, because we had thought that it was part of the approval that happened back in August. when we went back to review it again, we saw that that amount only included materials, but we did put it in our 2021 budget. So if you look at our 2021 budget for the bond, we did allocate a budget of about $60,000 for classified staff, including benefits, because they actually already started the work last year and last year, we had paid $28,000 to date. So we're hoping that it will be less than $85,000 altogether.

[8269] Elisa Martinez: OK, so we're approving the $28,000 retroactive and then the $65,000 for this current year budget.

[8279] Marie dela Cruz: Correct. Yes. So technically, yes. We're looking at. 19-20 what's already been done and then 20-21 what's left to be done.

[8292] Elisa Martinez: Got it. Okay. Any other questions?

[8299] Bowen Zhang: Just one thing because Mrs.dela Cruz mentioned this is overtime pay. So are these our regular workers? Because look, they're in charge of lots, right?

[8315] Marie dela Cruz: There's one that's a regular employee and another who was a previous employee who works as a sub.

[8326] Bowen Zhang: So are these regular people in charge of the lock?

[8330] Marie dela Cruz: Yes. They normally do the locks. Yes.

[8334] Bowen Zhang: So what is the reason that they do this overtime instead of in their regular time?

[8338] Marie dela Cruz: The bond doesn't allow us to pay our staff to do bond work. as part of their regular work.

[8347] Bowen Zhang: Okay, I see. Yeah.

[8349] Elisa Martinez: Okay, thanks for clarifying that. That's a good question. Okay, any other comments? If not, Miss Gutierrez, can you please repeat the motion?

[8366] SPEAKER_32: The current motion is staff recommends approval of district staff labor costs to install electronic locks as part of the Measure G bond projects. And the motion was made by Member Rodriguez and second by Member Nguyen. Thank you.

[8383] Elisa Martinez: And Student Member Salami, how do you vote?

[8387] SPEAKER_18: Yes.

[8388] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Member Nguyen? Yes. Member Rodriguez?

[8394] Ray Rodriguez: Yes.

[8395] Elisa Martinez: Member Zhang?

[8396] Ray Rodriguez: Yes.

[8398] Elisa Martinez: And my vote is yes as well. So the motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Dela Cruz. Thank you, President Martinez. Okay, and with that, we move to item, to new business, which is first item 13.1, Black Lives Matter in our Classroom, Resolution 2020-21.009. Um and see I um let me I'm trying to get my rhythm here again in terms of motion in a second so I will ask for a uh motion in a second to uh open the discussion on this item.

[8446] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve um item 13.1. I second that motion.

[8455] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, members. And with that, I will hand it over to Dr. Triplett for a review of the item.

[8463] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Martinez. So I believe we're going to take one moment, if you all could bear with me, because we have some guest speakers that will be speaking on this item. Is that correct, Ms. Gutierrez?

[8479] SPEAKER_32: Yes, as you speak, they are going to be moved on to the panelists right now. And then when you are ready, Dr. Triplett, you will cue each individual to speak. Great, thank you.

[8495] Mark Triplett: All right, it's wonderful to see folks coming on. So thank you for entertaining this resolution.

[8503] SPEAKER_41: I wanted to, I'm sorry, and I think we need to have, mics are on, mute everybody.

[8512] SPEAKER_32: Just a reminder for everybody to please have your microphones muted until Dr. Triplett asks you to unmute.

[8519] Mark Triplett: Thank you. So I'm really excited and I think it's really important that we are introducing this resolution tonight and we invited both students and staff to come and stand in solidarity around this resolution. The recent murders of African Americans across our country has continued to highlight the systemic racism and oppression of people of color that has existed for centuries and in fact existed even before we were a nation. And each of us plays a role in that. And just standing by and trying to cause no harm is insufficient, because as members of this society, we're all complicit in this injustice, if we do nothing. So what has kept me hopeful during these difficult times is the youth that have stood up and led the way around this injustice and took a stand, and they're taking stands against the racism. That's the real change in our society that needs to happen. And the youth of Newark are a shining example of this effort. Since the start of school, a group of student leaders have been drafting this resolution in conjunction with staff and myself. And we're presenting it because all of us as a community need to commit to standing up against racism. And I will say, becoming an anti-racist is not something that happens in one single act. It's a lifetime of work. And I personally want to declare my commitment to that lifetime work of becoming an anti-racist. And I will say that it is uncomfortable work. It's emotional, and it's even scary. I think we as a community need to commit to all of us looking at our own biases, looking at our role in this racist system that we exist in, and really working to change that. Tonight, I think, is a really important step. This resolution is a declaration and a stand against racism and a stand in solidarity against the atrocious acts that have occurred. So what we're going to do is we have some adult speakers who are going to speak to this. And because of the time, we're limiting each person to one minute. We have three adult speakers, and then we have three student speakers, but you can see on your screens that we also have many, many students and adults who really wanted to come and stand in solidarity in support of this resolution. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to a dear colleague and a fighter for justice, Principal Olivia Rangel.

[8704] Vicenta Ditto: Good evening, Board President Martinez, board members, Superintendent Triplett, and Newark Unified community. I am proud to be here tonight as the instructional leader of Newark Memorial High School. I am in support of this Black Lives Matter resolution this evening, not just because of what transpired in recent events, but to combat systemic racism and discrimination we know has existed for a very long time. As former U.S. Representative John Lewis stated, I was inspired to get in trouble, but good trouble. Good trouble is simple. When you see something that is not right, not fair, or not just, you have a moral obligation, mission, and mandate to speak up and to speak out. It is part of the price you have to pay not just to free yourself, but to free and liberate others," end quote. I make a promise to get into good trouble. Along the way, I will make mistakes and I will fall. But in the process, I vow to make space for the voices of our students of color, teachers of color, and administrators of color. This is my commitment as I support this resolution this evening. Thank you.

[8771] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Principal Rangel. The next speaker is our new fantastic music teacher at Newark Memorial, Mr. Patrick Harris.

[8782] SPEAKER_07: Good evening, Board, President Martinez, Board members, Superintendent Dr. Triplett, and the Newark community. It is an honor and privilege to show support for the Black Lives Matter resolution. Black Lives Matter go beyond what we see and hear in the media. This is a time where we should come together to have a dialogue about the injustices and discrimination toward Black Americans. The dialogue goes back to the days of Martin Luther King, who led peaceful protests to no avail. And here we are, about 56 years later, still trying to address the same dialogue. Even in 2020, as a Black man in this country, and like many Black Americans, we continue to have experiences in in and out of our chosen professions where we have a constant reminder of our race. This tells me that this dialogue is still needed. Though it may be a small step, it is the right step in the right direction. I give a tremendous amount of support for this resolution, and it's now to take these steps together. Thank you.

[8843] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Mr. Harris. The next speaker is our wonderful principal at the junior high, Ms. Risha Krishna.

[8854] SPEAKER_27: Good evening, board members, Superintendent Triplett and Newark community. I'm excited to join the Newark Unified School District team. Being new to this district, I see and appreciate the diversity of my students, their families, and the district leadership community. This is something that I can see, but more importantly, feel. Clearly, to me, it's a district that acknowledges and recognizes the inherent value of various backgrounds. This representation allows our students to see themselves mirrored in the leaders and educators in our schools. Tonight's resolution is our vision of the work ahead and ultimately the work we will all benefit from as a community. This plan assures our schools are making an intentional and conscientious effort to promote a greater understanding among our student populations, our community, to create a more caring and just society. And what a fortuitous day to do it on Constitution Day, to acknowledge that equity truly needs to be recognized. Thank you.

[8928] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Principal Krishna. We now have three fantastic student speakers. The first I'll introduce is Miss Nathalia Johnson-Martinez.

[8939] SPEAKER_37: Hi. I'd like to say hi to all of the Newark board members and Newark community in general. As a Black and Mexican student at Newark Memorial High School, I think that is important that we are taking a small step to the resolution of everything that's going on. I feel like it has really just shaken everyone up and has honestly made it a lot harder for Black students in general and colored students to be going to school because everyone nowadays thinks that they're just speaking their mind more clearly now and you can just really see who people are. So I completely support this motion in showing everyone that everyone is equal and we shall be treated equally. The color of our skin does not define who we are. It's just a small part of us.

[9002] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Ms. Johnson-Martinez. The next student speaker is Ms.

[9006] SPEAKER_41: Amber Nolasco-Torres.

[9011] SPEAKER_20: Hi, everyone. My name is Amber Nolasco-Torres, and I'm a junior at NMHS. I'm here to express my support for the Black Lives Matter resolution. As every person on the Zoom call knows, we live in a community that is rich in both diversity and culture. This is something that I have always taken pride in while living here. What I don't take pride in is knowing that my Black peers fall victim to the oppressive systems which disadvantages them. For example, in NUSD, they are the most suspended and most chronically absent ethnic group. I believe this resolution is an essential part of our journey towards reaching racial equity, not only in our community, but in this country. I believe every student in this community, regardless of ethnicity, deserves to obtain a quality education. As we all know, education in our modern society is essential to reaching a better quality of life. Denying certain students this quality education is denying them opportunity. If passed, the BLM resolution would mark the beginning of growth at Newark Unified School District in our journey towards racial equity. Thank you.

[9077] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Ms. Nolasco-Torres. And next we have another student, Ms. Tamia Davis.

[9088] SPEAKER_39: Hello, everyone. So I'm here on behalf of the African-American students at Newark. And I came because I just feel like this resolution is very important for the African-American community in Newark.

[9106] SPEAKER_38: Because with this, it shows that you guys are in support and that we have a system that actually supports us in a school district that we can go to and lean to when there's trouble, especially because everything that's going on in the community around us, we should feel like it's a safe space and safe place in the classroom and during school. And I feel like this is really going to help us and it's going to make it a safe place and safe space for everyone. So I just want to say I'm in full support of this.

[9140] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Ms. Davis. Those are all of the speakers, but there is one other very important person that I wanted to introduce that you all already know. He's one of the authors of the resolution, and that's student board member Mr. Salami.

[9161] SPEAKER_18: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. I'm happy that we have all come together to recognize that there is a problem, not only in this district, but in our country when it comes to systemic racism. And I'm so happy that we are all here today to take a strong stance against institutional and systemic racism. I'm honored to be here in support of this Black Lives Matter resolution. Unfortunately, it's sad that so many issues that arise today in our society are tied back to the race and how we look. No one should be disrespected or denied basic human dignity because of their skin color. No student should have to experience a flawed educational system that oppresses and doesn't allow for a student to succeed. I love that I live in such a diverse community, but I think we should be asking ourselves what it really means to embrace that diversity. And this resolution is a form of embracing that diversity. As a district, we need to make sure we are not contributing to the unjust parts of our society. And I think that this is a step in that direction. Lastly, I'm very happy that we have engaged the students of this district and to every You deserve to be heard, to be uplifted, to be celebrated, to be loved, to be supported. You have a right to speak up. You have a right to want to change the broken systems around you. You have a right to learn in a classroom without oppressive systems holding you down. So please don't stay quiet and demand change in every place where you see injustice. Thank you.

[9250] Mark Triplett: Thank you, board member Salemi. With that, I will turn it over to you, President Martinez, but I do just want to thank all of the folks that came here tonight. People are also watching at home. I just look at all of these faces on the screen and I just, I'm struck with the power of all of these people. And the work ahead is going to be really hard, but I can see from this group that we're committed to it. And so we're going to make it happen. So I'll turn it over to you. Thank you.

[9281] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent and student members Alemi and the whole group that's assembled here in staff and students. It's just so inspiring. It's hard to follow everything you guys have said, but we will try. Before I say anything, I will open up to other board members. Are there any questions or comments that you have for staff and students?

[9312] Ray Rodriguez: I have some, if you don't mind. You know, being a grandparent of African-American grandchildren, and especially my 20-year-old that's in college, and the struggles that she went through when she was in junior high school, where they made fun of her skin color. And at that very delicate age, all the stuff that her and her girlfriends had to go through, because they were being made fun of. And it took a strong administrator at the time to kind of, you know, stress the fact that we do have anti-bullying and it made such a big difference in her life. And to this day, you know, she she's grown so much because of that. I'd like to see this resolution in partnership with the city, also with the community college. I think it's something that should go beyond Newark Unified School District. And we've done that in the past where the city and the schools have come up with same resolutions, especially when it becomes against hate. So that's my end. I want to applaud the students for doing this. It's kind of difficult to put yourself out there. a new music teacher over at the high school. So glad to see you. I haven't had a chance to meet you. And I heard you're awesome. And it just, it really, you know, hits my heart to see all this going on. And I appreciate this very much. Thank you.

[9417] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. Member, sorry, Member Nguyen, were you? Sure, I can.

[9428] Phuong Nguyen: Although it is very hard, like you said, President Martinez, to follow each and every one of you all, I am extremely proud of our students who are so empowered to use their voices and really put it out there in support of inclusion, in support of their peers, and very proud of our community and our teachers and our administrative leaders for supporting the students in this effort and in this resolution for Black Lives Matters. It is extremely important for all of us not to, I'm sorry, it is very important for all of us to not just accept that we live in a diverse community, like student board member Salemi had said, but really actually embrace it and really hold true to what that diversity means and the power of it, and really make sure that we all lift each other up. So I am so proud of all of you. Thank you. Have a good day.

[9501] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Amber Nguyen.

[9515] Bowen Zhang: I think this new generation is truly living, I think all of us are living in a pretty unique time. I think for a period of time, we really think we sort of live in a post-racial America, until one day we realize, even on the federal level, a black man needs to release his birth certificate to get a job, and a white man doesn't even need to release his tax return to get the same job. So that really just make us all think like we're not necessarily living in a post-racial America, not really. So particularly the things happening this year, whatever the unequal kid, unequal suffering that we see under a pandemic where a certain group are hit much harder than other groups. And what are the social, economic, and educational inequity that we've seen ever since the lockdown? and obviously the unrest in the countries is really the combination of 1968, 1930, and 1920 all together in one year. So hopefully, I'm happy to see the younger generation are much more sensitive to other groups' welfare and suffering. And hopefully, you can live up to the moment just like your previous generation live up to the moment in 1920, 1932, and 1968.

[9603] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, member Zheng. Sorry, my dog was having an issue there, so I had to go on mute. Again, just thank you so much. I was thinking about your words, student members, so let me... I've lived in Newark, I didn't go to school here in Newark, but I've lived in Newark for over 25 years. And one of the things I always tell everybody about is just, you know, that we're a mix of everybody. Right. And it's and it's so cool. And it's got so much diversity. But, you know, even when we started this conversation a couple of months ago, we started to talk about how this is a difficult conversation to have because we all get comfortable in our lanes. Right. Even though we're multicultural, multicolors, whatever, however you want to label us here in Newark. And maybe those of us who are older, and maybe that's who I'm speaking to and for, is that we tend to stay in our lanes. And frankly, it's my kids who are younger and are really challenging some of my statements that I would never think are inappropriate, offensive, insensitive. So, you know, to see all of your faces, of course, I love to see staff, but just, you know, your young faces and that courage and that, you know, you don't have to speak loudly, but you speak with such conviction and such force. It's just so inspiring. And, you know, one of the things we were talking with this resolution as we'll read it going forward, assuming we all approve, is, you know, making sure that our words aren't empty, that there is a plan there, that it's meaningful, and that we are committing as a district not just to say it, right, but to do something. So anyway, you guys are just giving me chills and I'm really looking forward to continuing the work. Member Rodriguez, you made the suggestion, maybe it's beyond just our district. So we'll definitely look for opportunities there, but for now, let's make sure we deliver to all of you and our kids that are coming up. So thank you so much for everything that you've brought to us. Let's see, and with that, coming back to the formality of it all, if there are no other questions or comments, I'd like to ask Ms. Gutierrez to repeat the motion on the table, please.

[9776] SPEAKER_32: Yes. Staff recommends that the Board of Education adopt resolution number 2020-21, .009 Black Lives Matter in Classrooms. Motion made by Member Nguyen and seconded by Student Member Salemi.

[9797] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And with that, Student Board Member Salemi, how do you vote?

[9803] SPEAKER_18: Yes.

[9804] Elisa Martinez: Member Jung?

[9805] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[9807] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez?

[9812] Ray Rodriguez: Yes, yes.

[9814] Elisa Martinez: Remember when? Yes. And my vote is yes as well. So the resolution passes unanimously. Oh, this? And it is it is tradition in such important resolutions that we actually read this out loud together as a board and staff. So if If I can ask student members, can somebody project the resolution or do we have it in front of us?

[9850] Ray Rodriguez: I'm looking at it.

[9852] SPEAKER_32: If you guys want to start reading while you start reading, did you want did you want the did you want me to put it on the screen?

[9859] Elisa Martinez: I just want to make sure all the board members and staff have it in front of them so we can read it. And if everybody's got it, we could just have just go around and have everyone read more board members do you have it in front of you that way we can keep everybody's face on the screen oh if not miss gutierrez just um share it i will do that thank you thank you and we will start if i can ask you to start student members other me

[9896] SPEAKER_18: Across the country, a national movement and uprising is taking place to speak out. Oh, excuse me, let me say the resolution whereas. Resolution whereas, across the country, a national movement and uprising is taking place to speak out against the injustices and racism that Black people face in America. Institutional and systemic racism continues to hold back Black people in America from succeeding. Institutional racism also takes place in our schools, across the country, including schools at Newark Unified School District, and?

[9931] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen?

[9934] Phuong Nguyen: Whereas protests have arisen in many cities across the United States in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and numerous other Black Americans, and?

[9950] Elisa Martinez: You'll read the next one as well, Member Nguyen?

[9952] Phuong Nguyen: Sure. Whereas the killing, discrimination, and harassment against Black people who identify with the LGBTQ plus community is wrong, unacceptable, and a compromise of human and civil rights. And?

[9970] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez, can you read the next three?

[9974] Ray Rodriguez: Yes, ma'am. Whereas discrimination caused by a race such as a lower quality education has no right in America, And whereas, according to that data at Newark Unified School District black or African American students were the most suspended ethnic group in the district. And whereas only 70.8% of black or African American students graduated in Newark Unified School District.

[10004] Elisa Martinez: Members, John. Next. Go ahead.

[10008] Bowen Zhang: And whereas the ethnic group with the highest number of chronically absent students in NUSD are Black and African American students at 15.7%, and whereas UNCF reports that African American students are less likely to be college ready, in fact, 61% of ACT-tested Black students in the 2015 high school graduating class met none of the four ACT college readiness benchmarks, nearly twice the 31% rate for all students. and whereas Black and African American students at NUSD are underperforming at an alarming rate.

[10044] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Superintendent Triplett, can you read the next two?

[10049] Mark Triplett: Therefore, be it resolved, NUSD commits to taking the following action steps to address systemic and institutional racism. Be it further resolved, NUSD declares every second Friday of February as Black Lives Matter in Newark Day. This day will be a district-wide day show of support to African American students, families, and staff members. On this day, the district encourages activities that teach about and celebrate the lives of Black people on all school campuses. For example, schools should hold assemblies and forums that educate students on race.

[10089] Elisa Martinez: Let's see, Ms. Saavedra, can you read the next two, please?

[10096] SPEAKER_30: Be it further resolved, NUSD Curriculum Council will work to create and adopt curriculum that teaches students about race in an honest way. For example, the district will collaborate with school sites to incorporate ethics studies courses and curriculum in classrooms. Be it further resolved, NUSD will work with school sites to provide implicit bias training to all teachers and staff. This will include conversations around racism and microaggressions. In the further result, NUSD encourages each school site to set aside time to hold activities and conversations in classrooms that teach and celebrate about the many different cultures, races, and ethnicities in Newark.

[10148] Elisa Martinez: Ms. Dela Cruz, can you read the next three as well?

[10152] Marie dela Cruz: Be it further resolved that NUSD will work with district administrators, leaders, students, staff, and community to create justice, equality, and equity for Black students through a review and correction of disciplinary systems and resources to better support Black students. Did I skip one?

[10173] Phuong Nguyen: Mm-hmm.

[10174] Marie dela Cruz: Be it further resolved NUSD will teach students about how to be an anti-racist. It will educate students about the history and background of racial slurs. This will be done by incorporating it into our positive behavior and intervention system. Be it further resolved, NUSD will encourage a conversation among the community about bias and racism in our classrooms, schools, community, and country. School administrators will meet with students in order to create and participate in this conversation.

[10212] Elisa Martinez: Escutierrez, can you read the next three please?

[10218] SPEAKER_32: NUSD will work with educators, school teachers, and the community to locate other forms of racial inequity in the district. The district will regularly collect data regarding ethnicity and commits to using this data for the purposes of solving problems in areas that still have racial disparity. Be it further resolved that the board will be more cautious of historical events, culture, and ethnicity when naming and creating structures. NUSD commits to addressing any symbol of racism. Be it further resolved that NUSD will locate and address biases, practices, policies, that perpetuate injustice, inequity, and inequality in our schools. NUSD will also identify barriers caused by race that negatively impact this governing board, negatively impact learning. This governing board will work to close gaps caused by race in the Newark School District.

[10281] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And if that's okay, I'll read the last paragraph here, which is, be it further resolved, NUSD will create an equity task force that will work to identify problems caused by race in our schools and how we can solve them, resolve them. This task force will work to create actionable measures that school sites and the board can act upon. passed and adopted by the Governing Board of Newark Unified School District on the 17th day of September, 2020. And the vote was unanimous. Thank you so much. Can I clap?

[10328] Maria Huffer: Thank you.

[10331] SPEAKER_32: Thank you, everyone. And President Martinez, if you could just give us a minute, we'll be moving back. Everybody.

[10341] Mark Triplett: Thank you, everybody.

[10374] SPEAKER_32: I'd like to note that a student member, Salome, took a big breath of relief and happiness, would it look like?

[10383] SPEAKER_18: Yes, I did.

[10392] Phuong Nguyen: Great job, student board members, Salome.

[10396] SPEAKER_18: Thank you to everyone.

[10412] Ray Rodriguez: I think that's the longest resolution I've ever seen that we have approved. And the best, in my opinion.

[10421] SPEAKER_18: And can I add, this is the second meeting that we've read one aloud, so we're doing some good things.

[10427] Ray Rodriguez: That's great.

[10429] Elisa Martinez: Putting us to work, student member. All right. Thanks again, and I know this is a ton of work, and City Member Salemi, you were a great champion of this, so thanks again. And so with that, we move to item 13.2, the Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan, and this is an information item. Superintendent Triplett.

[10456] Mark Triplett: Thank you very much, President Martinez. So I'm gonna ask for our Coordinator of Special Projects, Ms. Cervantes-Falk, to return. She's going to be speaking about this Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan, which has really been a unique situation for this year, where given the pandemic and all of the financial challenges, that the state has provided additional funding for us to try to really address some of the learning loss of our students and really try to mitigate that. And so I'll turn it over to her to speak more about our plan thus far.

[10504] SPEAKER_36: Thank you, Dr. Turglit. This will be the last time today, so bear with me. So the purpose of today, or the purpose of this presentation, is really to provide our board with an overview of the Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan, which we are all referencing as LCP, Learning Continuity Plan, so that we don't confuse it with LCAP. And we really want to focus on the following items. The alignment of our LCAP goals as we were planning for the LCAP goals with the LCP focus areas. And we want to show how they both aligned. We also want to show how we took meaningful, we gathered and we had meaningful stakeholder engagement and input as the state allowed us to we're going to take into account whatever input we were. We had gathered in the spring as we were in preparation for the new year before the pandemic, and then also finish up by giving you a quick overview of what is in our LCP with respect to action services and, um, also an estimated. Budget and again. We'll As we were finishing up the year before, so pre-COVID, our PAC and our DELAC and our stakeholders were being engaged in different events in efforts to come up with our new goals and our new actions and services for a new three-year plan of the LCAP. At the time, we were looking at the 2020 to 2023 LCAP. We had actually solidified that we wanted to have three focus areas in the new LCAP. And those three focus areas, as you'll see on the left column here, were around student achievement, pupil outcomes, around engagement in school climate, and around conditions of learning. And so everything that we were discussing, we were focusing on how do we improve these three areas with services for our students. Pandemic came. everything shifted, and so now we were tasked with a new plan, a new charge, which is the Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan. And this plan had specifically sections that involved distance learning programs, learning loss, the mental health and social emotional well-being of students, staff, and families, pupil and family engagement and outreach, school nutrition, access to devices, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So what we're trying to show right here with this slide is how the new focus areas in our LCP do align with our LCAP goals. So once we were able to see that and notice that this was important for us because as we move to think about, okay, our stakeholder engagement we saw that with the alignment, some of the ideas and priorities that we had looked at and identified as we were planning for the new year pre-COVID pandemic, those ideas still held true. And not only that, some of them were even reinforced and were even heightened in terms of what needed to be addressed for this new year. So for the new plan, the LCP, in terms of the engagement or the input that we gathered, what you'll see is that we compiled and we went back and we looked at all of the input we got that we obtained from our DLACs and our LCAP PAC meetings throughout the year. And more specifically, when we met with them in, I wrote here May, but it really was April, May as we were closing the year in the pandemic. we had a learning continued in attendance plan survey. That was in August. And then to really compile both of the information that we had from the spring and that we were on September 3rd. And at those meetings where they're able to put all of the ideas that came across together into a line and solidify the plan. This is an example of how we saw the alignment. So what you see in this chart is this is a chart that identifies the top priorities that both our DELAC and our PAC had decided on or determined were key services and actions for the 2021 school year. And again, like I mentioned, this is what we had started talking about in the spring, and then as a pandemic hit and we went into distance learning, they still looked at this and said, these are important. So under student achievement, you'll see five bullet items, you know, and they're pretty much just kind of grouping categories, but from ideas like continuing with iReady for math and reading comprehension, to making sure that we had extra math and ELA tutoring across grade levels, not just in elementary, to outdoor education and makerspace. and engagement in school climate. As you notice, the first bullet right here really was technology workshops for parents. And this was, again, pre-pandemic suggestions. The utilization of different modes of communication and platforms and how do we communicate with parents in different modalities. And then also mental health support for all students. then under conditions of learning, again, they were talking about, you know, additional support for students with the after-school programs, and huge was the whole digital curriculum, Chromebooks, and hotspots, and, again, professional development. So as we looked at these ideas and these priorities, again, as you can see, we saw they fit nicely with what we're currently, you know, going through. at no surprise as we looked at the surveys over the summer and in specifically or in particularly the LCP survey, these were our key findings. The survey had three main sections. One of the sections talked about learning loss and parents, community members, staff, students, they were all invited to participate in the survey. And if you see under the learning loss, strategies, what they were asked was, you know, which of the followings would be your preferred method of support, or not preferred, excuse me, which of the followings you think would be an effective support system? And we also gave them the opportunity to pick as many as they could, or as many as they liked. And then, of course, we also gave them an opportunity to give us input as to whether there were other strategies that we did not have here in place. What's very interesting for me to see is that tutoring, whether it was one-to-one, small group, or teacher meeting with individual students, if you look at these results, the percentages are extremely close, 50%, 49%, 46%. And even online tutoring on a self-paced mode, we still had a third of the people participating saying that was important. And it was also interesting to see that when we gave them the opportunity to provide other means of support, only 4% of them did give other means of support. So for us, the big takeaway is that they're still wanting and we're still in need of some sort of tutoring with our kiddos. For mental health, this was also a big aha. The, what we were asking here was what were some of the needs that they saw, whether it was with staff, with parents, with students. And once again, if you look at these percentages, the survey of the people that participated, all of these percentages are super close. PD for teachers on self-care and supporting students, ongoing support for teachers, workshops for parents on self-care and supporting their child at home. social emotional curriculum, you know, information on community resources. Again, I was just blown away by how close all of these choices were to each other. And the last strategy or the last section in the survey is we were asking you know, in the case that a child was either not participating or not engaging in his learning, whether it was via the distance, the synchronous or the asynchronous, we were asking what do you think would be the best, like the first choice of intervention, the second choice of intervention, the third choice of intervention, and so forth. And so this one was a little bit different. I wasn't able to say give you percentages, but of the different choices that we provided, and by the way, we had over a thousand people participate. I'll show the numbers in the next slide. But of the people that participated, 536 of them really said that the first tier of intervention could be something where there was a phone call from the teacher, the administrator, and the parent coming together and saying, okay, what is happening? Why is this child? not participating or not engaging. As the second choice, it was interesting for me to see that again, 366 of the people participating indicated that having different options for students to complete and submit their work was critical and 366 of them said that really that was probably better a first choice than a second choice. But then 344 of them said it was probably a second choice more than a first choice. At either rate, when I look at these two together, is we have 700 or so parents saying, this is key. So whatever it is that we're doing, we still need to consider multiple means of ways that a student can turn in work in order to get credit or be accounted for participating. And then, of course, we talked about a family school contract. But the other piece, too, that I found interesting is that we did give a choice of a home visit, and 476 of the families who participated, I mean, excuse me, of the people who participated in the survey indicated that this was a good strategy. However, again, they thought it was a good strategy as a fourth tier of intervention. So in looking at that, just to give you a quick view here, for our LCAP survey, for the English version, we had a total of over 1,000 participants. 63 of the people that participated were parents and guardians, 27% were students, and thank you to our student board member for helping with this as well. And let's see, 6% were classified staff. We also did a push with our Spanish-speaking community. And before we got the support, before I reached out to our parent partners, we had less than 50 families participating. And with the support of our parent partners and our student support services department, we increased that number to 86 families and of this group, 98% of them were parents or guardians and 2% were students. So again, I felt comfortable having a good broad representation and actually that we had a lot of families and parents participate in the survey. So moving forward, how did we use this information and what did you see or what will you see in our plan? So in our 2021 LCP, the actions and services, we focused on the following areas. We focused on continuity of learning, in-person instruction offering. So we were looking at if and when we come in and are able to provide in-person instruction, what are some of the strategies that we might do there? We focused on distance learning programs. What are some of the things that we can do to ensure that we are providing high quality and rigorous instruction for our students as well as providing them with the access. We focused on pupil learning loss. What is it that we're going to do? How we're going to assess it? What are we going to do to support it so that we can either support those who have experienced learning loss already due to the school closure and the pandemic in the spring, as well as possibly supporting students who might experience learning loss because we are continuing in the same situation. And then the last section that we focus on, even though it's under additional related focus areas, we noted that each one of them is actually a big area in itself, one of them being the mental health and social emotional well-being of our students, our parents, our teachers, again, pupil family engagement, and also school nutrition. So what you see, which again, I did not list all of the actions and services because as you see, the plan was attached. But what you'll see a quick synopsis of that is that when we're looking at the first section of the in-person offering, we really focused on actions and services around program offerings, assessments, platforms, curriculums, and technology upgrades. Because we're finding that if and when we come back, there's probably a lot that needs to be done. to be able that we are ready for our students. And so we've budgeted approximately $250,000 within those services. The next focus area, as I mentioned earlier, was distance learning. And in this section, you'll find actions and services that are addressing the access to devices, as well as internet. students with unique needs. And this one right here is for budgeting a The next section is in pupil learning loss. In this one, we focused on measuring and supporting learning loss due to the pandemic. So what are some of the strategies or programs, services that we can implement? Supporting learning loss and English language arts, English language development, and math. This is one of the specific and required focus areas from the state. And then, of course, additional supports for specific subgroups like our SPED, English learners, students in our foster care system experiencing homelessness, you know, or low-income students. And we have half a million dollars approximately budgeted for that section. And then the last section that was the additional services around mental health, people engagement, and school nutrition, we have almost another million dollars budgeted in that section as well. So when you look at all of that in total, the four different categories, we're looking at a totaled budgeted expense of $4.2 million. And I believe that Marie can probably speak a little bit more about this part, but I just wanted to give you a roundabout figure of what we have so far in our plan. So with that, That's a quick overview of what's in our LCP for 2021. And at this point, I say we will entertain questions and answers if you have any.

[11540] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Cervantes-Falk. And I'm sorry, Ms. Gutierrez, I neglected to ask, were there any public comments on this item? No public comment. OK, thank you. Sorry about that. OK. And with that, I will open it up to questions. This is an informational item. We are not voting on this, so we did not need a motion and a second. So any questions for Ms.

[11567] SPEAKER_18: Cervantes-Folk? Sorry. Not a question, just a comment. I looked over the plan. I think it covers a lot of the really important things, and Ms. Cervantes-Folk did an amazing job on it. She pointed it out too, in the earlier slides, how like the stark, very close the numbers were in terms of the tutoring and the support for mental health. And I think that's a really important thing to note because I know this plan is a guiding thing for one of the many things that guide the district and the board. It's on that, especially right now, but always, you know, mental health and it's, especially the culture that we set because that also dictates how so that's it really.

[11621] SPEAKER_36: Thank you.

[11626] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. I have a question. If I'm not preempting any of my fellow board members. It is a question regarding so so thank you for that. And I know we've got a lot of you know, we've taken a quick look or I have, you know, there's a lot of detail. And so I think this is this is a really good summary. So I really appreciate all the work that went into developing this for us. A question to actually maybe to Miss Dela Cruz. This is the LCP this this goes along with the funds for to support learning continuity. So there's a lot of activity here. But I also understand there's some do we have some deadlines by December to spend the funds? So is it, what does that mean in essence, that anything we're gonna need for distance learning or pupil loss that we would have to allocate the money or do we actually have to spend the money and go buy whatever we need to go buy by December? How does that work?

[11693] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, so in terms of the learning loss mitigation funds, we do have until December 30th, of this year, 2020, to spend. So of this $4.2 million, it's $3.8 million. And our interpretation right now is that as long as we have these funds encumbered as of December 30, then that meets the requirement. That's our understanding at this time.

[11733] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you for that. Any other questions or comments for Ms. Cervantes-Folk? I see everybody. Okay, so I think we're done. We're good. I know that we have some this will come back for for approval for the to the board on the next week or so. So or to next week or two. So if there are no other questions, we will we will meet again on this item.

[11769] SPEAKER_36: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good night. Good night.

[11779] Elisa Martinez: Okay, so we move to item 13.3, which is the award of paving contract and the. This is an action item, correct? We're voting on a contract on this one. OK, do we have any public comment on this item?

[11799] SPEAKER_32: No public comment.

[11802] Elisa Martinez: OK, thank you and so. Sorry I was trying to. where I have the actual verbiage, the language here. My system froze, I apologize.

[11827] SPEAKER_32: President Martinez, do you want me to read the recommendation?

[11831] Elisa Martinez: Yes, please. Yes, please do that. Or the actual recommended action. Yes, thank you.

[11837] SPEAKER_32: Staff recommends the authorization to award the paving contract to Tri-Valley Excavating and related construction management fees to RGM RGM Kramer as presented.

[11852] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. May I have a motion and a second to open discussion, please?

[11860] Ray Rodriguez: I'll make the motion.

[11862] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. I'll second. Member Nguyen, thank you. All right and so would this be I'll hand this to Superintendent Triplett.

[11874] Mark Triplett: Thank you President Martinez. So I believe we have Mr. Caputo here to speak on this and and I think Ms.dela Cruz will want to say a few words as well. but I did just want to preface by saying we're really bringing this this to you really because there are I want to just recognize right off the bat that there are trade-offs in this decision. There are downsides which either way that the board chooses to vote on this because of the situation that we're in with the school consolidation process. We just want to acknowledge that a downside to approving the paving contract would be that it would be possible that we would be paving a property that may not have a school next year. And that definitely could be construed as using funds in a way that wouldn't be maximizing them. The flip side of that is that the board has charged us with really utilizing these grant dollars, these dollars, and using them expeditiously. And I know that that that has been a concern of the board and the community that funds have not been not been spent in an expeditious manner. There is, so it's a trade-off. The other thing is if we wait, and I think Mr. Caputo will explain this a little bit more, we could pause and wait until the consolidation process plays itself out. However, the drawback of that is we would not be able to start the paving during the winter due to weather. And so we would really have to wait all the way until the spring until weather improves. And Mr. Caputo can confirm, but I believe it would result in us having to go back to the drawing table in the contract process. So I just wanted to preface by saying we're really asking for guidance here and trying to be really transparent about the trade-offs either way. Ms. Dela Cruz, did you want to say anything else?

[12010] Marie dela Cruz: I just would like to add and talk about the background. This is just a continuation of the last board meeting where the board had given us authority to review the bids that we received. and Mr. Caputo and his team have gone through the bids and this is where we're making a recommendation to award it contractor. And we have done our best to try and expedite a lot of these projects. We really got a good bid by, I believe that the bid was over $100,000 less than we had originally estimated. And these projects include the junior high school and Lincoln, McGregor, Music, Kennedy, Schilling, Snow, and the district office. So the total amount that is being presented tonight includes the base bid that we had received, which is $442,000. And then on top of that are the allowances for the contract itself, as well as the construction management fees. With that background, I do have Mr. Ralph Caputo here to add a little bit more in terms of what the scope of work involves. And it does include a lot of major repairs to mitigate safety concerns, as well as areas that have been in need of repairs for a very long time. So Mr. Caputo, if you're there, is there anything else?

[12140] SPEAKER_14: Good evening, President Martinez, Superintendent Triplett, trustees, community, and CBO Marie De La Cruz. I am pleased at the opportunity to continue discussion on this item. As has been conveyed, we received very competitive bids on September 2nd. At the board meeting on September 3rd, we read the bids. We've discussed the projects. But at that juncture in the public bid process, there's a short period of time where the parent low bidder, well, first of all, our team has a responsibility to vet out all the documentation and make sure that all the documents are in order, that work has been accomplished. the parent low bidder had an opportunity to review his bid and determine whether he made a mathematical or clerical error. We do not forgive a bid if it's an error in judgment, but only if they've made an honest mistake. And it's also a period of time for other bidders to review the low bidder's documentation and address any concerns or structure a bid protest. Contractor appears to be good with his bid, is looking forward to award and commencement. None of the other bidders had raised a concern. Again, as Ms. Delacruz conveyed, the bids are very positive. They follow up exactly the scope of work that was in the district's priority list. The work at the various schools range from 36,000 to 60,000 at the junior high school. McGregor is at 50, but most of the work is within the 39 to 49 range per site. These are not extensive repairs if the district does determine to consolidate if it happens to be one of the subject campuses. It's also a long-term investment, not knowing what the district's purview would be on what to do with the site. There are certain, you know, responsibilities the district has to maintain its properties. For instance, if you have A site that you may surplus but it has leaky roofs, continuing failure of those roof systems can damage the whole building and it's an investment that you lose inherently over time. To some degree, the pavement can be looked at very similarly. And I know we talked about the scope of the work at the last meeting where there were some concerns whether we talk seal coat, is it just beautification, and that's not necessarily the case. If you have ever had to replace your roof in your house, you realize that the shingles on your roof really aren't what stops water, it's the asphalt substrate or tar paper underneath it. The shingles just protect it from the sunlight. In an asphalt condition, usually, and I know in school construction that I've been involved in for 40 years, I work in a lot of districts that simply don't have the funds to maintain their asphalt parking lots. And it's usually one of the items that is not as important as educational programs and, you know, safe and sound school environments. But to some degree, it is an investment in your total properties. And with an asphalt project, the asphalt, whenever you do new asphalt in a commercial or school parking lot or blacktop area, the recommendation is to do seal coats every five to seven years. And if you don't, then not only the surface condition, but then the underlying soils and aggregate base rock sections also deteriorate. So this is really preventative maintenance in those small areas that we are doing seal coating. and it's really buying you time to where other funds can come into play to do more significant work or not have to worry about these areas for another five to ten years. So there is a value there to the work that's being done because as you've seen in the areas that have major failures, they are unsafe, they are tripping hazards, there's loose gravel that You know, not only creates puddling when cars go by with pedestrians, it's loose gravel that can get turned up in a tire and damage a car, hit a pedestrian. But moreover, the protective maintenance components of this project are to stop continued deterioration that in another two to five years would cost you significantly more to remove not only the surface but the full section of six to eight inches of aggregate base as well. Um, so the action items that we are bringing forward tonight are to approve the base bid amount of, um, 464, I'm sorry here, 442.105. We are also, when we do work for schools, we try and provide full project budgets. So you're not just approving the contract for construction and then another agenda contract for CM services, architectural services, DSA fees. It's our way of tracking the cost of an entire project. We also break it out where there's multiple sites by each site for budget purposes. So what we are asking the board to consider tonight is approval of the base bid for 442-105 In addition to applying a contingency of $50,000 for potential unforeseen conditions, we have a testing engineer that's necessary to provide QA and QC in any type of concrete or asphalt work. They test the compaction to make sure that the work is being done properly with instruments. They go out to the batch plants. They test the asphalt products and the temperatures at the plant and at the site before they're placed. And they also inspect the entire operation and test routinely. We have a proposal of $36,000, T&M not to exceed. We've budgeted $40,000. We've provided some advertising costs in the local papers and trade journals. We have a budget of $2,500 for that. Our scope of work was not only the management of this, but there is no architecture or engineer involved in this. We've developed and put out the bid specifications entirely. So you're not paying a separate architect fee, which is usually 10 to 15% of the contract amount of the contractor. So approximately 35 grand, 40 grand. And we have a small allowance of 5000 just in case we need to bring in extra signage barricades. So we're asking the board to approve a total budget. 594,605. The district allocated 500,000. So to that point in footnote, I'd like to add that there is a $25,000 allowance in the base bid. We have a $50,000 contingency that may or may not be spent or only partially spent. In addition, there's a component of the district office that is priced out by the low bidder at $39,187 that is being paid out of a separate fund. And then our fees were also kind of line item out in the measure G. There was a arbitrary allocation of $200,000. So in essence, some of the contingencies, the district office, our work, and the allowance are well beyond the $94,000. That's above the $500,000 that's allocated. So in that perspective, this has been tailored and is being recommended and falls within the district's budget of $500,000 because of the pertinent work and supplemental funding. And with that, I'll open it up to any questions. I will add that, before I do that, I'm sorry, that there is an ad alternate, and this would be for Lincoln School. Lincoln is a front parking lot and drop-off approach. There's some sharp turns, there's some large deteriorated areas, and there's other patching involved as well. But there's an area between some of the major areas that we're doing skin patching and anticipating a favorable bid market. We did list this as an ad alternate. It's bid competitively. It'd be very prudent to award it, but it's not necessary. It won't mean that you're spending good money after bad. It'll mean that we're going to do less work in some areas that will buy you time and allow you to focus some of your other funds to other priorities. So that one is clearly optional. And unless Dr. Triplett or Ms. Dela Cruz has a recommendation or opinion on that, we're indicating that that is at the board's discretion. The other two, we are recommending approval on.

[12754] Mark Triplett: Thank you, and thank you, Mr. Caputo. And if I may, we did discuss this add-on, and we recommend approval of that as well. But of course, it's up to the board's discretion.

[12770] Elisa Martinez: Questions from board members or student member?

[12774] Bowen Zhang: Anybody? So I asked the question yesterday, but didn't get the answer regarding Looking at the page, you see there's this column, revised budget, August 20th, 2020. On the item about under fund 40, capital outlay, the Russian fund, the paving district office, $65,812. That item was not approved by the board in August 20th. It wasn't there in August 20th. So I just want to ask what happened that this item just suddenly added to the August 20th approved item. Sort of out of blue.

[12814] Marie dela Cruz: Member Zhang, which item, I'm sorry, were you referring to?

[12820] Bowen Zhang: Fund 40, Capital Outlay Ration Fund, Paving District Office, $65,812. Oh, OK.

[12829] Marie dela Cruz: So yes. No, that was not part of the bond project. This was a project that we had added for cost efficiency. and it's not part of the bond project. It's something that we're recommending for approval out of the Fund 40 capital outlay reserves.

[12853] Bowen Zhang: Okay, because on August 20th, when the board really voted on this, under the Fund 40 capital outlay ration fund, there was no such item go pay district office.

[12864] Marie dela Cruz: No, it's on here now. That's why it's here because we have revised it. So if you look at the attachment, it's dated September 17th because we've updated it. Because you remember we said that anytime we bring a recommendation forward and if it's going to change the budget, then we would give you a revised budget. And that's what the attachment shows.

[12890] SPEAKER_14: OK. And I will just add, too, at the time that that item was added to the budget that Ms.dela Cruz presented, the $65,000 was our estimate for that work. The actual bid came in more competitive, and that item is at $39,000. 187. So it's less than what we had estimated it at. So it does show that it does add to the efficiency by adding it to the scope rather than bidding it as a separate project.

[12928] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, so as an update, Originally, the preliminary estimate by RGM was $65,000. But the bid actually came in at $39,000. So it's actually less than we had anticipated.

[12943] SPEAKER_14: It was just yesterday that we got the bid breakdown from the contractor. So we're able to clarify that tonight.

[12951] Elisa Martinez: OK. Anyone else? I'm gonna repeat, I think that the question that I asked during the bidding process, and which is, it is a difficult, it's not that difficult the way you broke it down, Mr. Caputo, in terms of, look, we're looking at spending anywhere between 39 and 50K per school. That's not a significant number. I think what does complicate is just the consolidation movement that we have now. And so one of the questions I'd asked, is you know how much of these or which ones of these are really safety related. I totally get the preventative maintenance and actually I'm a huge and firm believer that we should be doing that and I don't know when the last time we did that we did a sealant coat for any of our campuses so be curious if we actually have an answer for that. But so definitely a firm believer from a timing perspective, that's really kind of what I'm after. Because I heard you very clearly say for, of course we'd like to pave Lincoln, but if we, but if it's an optional for now, you know, can that wait? And then again, as we go through the list of some of these other elementaries, which of those are truly safety related items versus Yeah, you know, I'd like to get the substructure, you know, protected, but can it wait, you know, six months, nine months? So and I know that there's inefficiency in starting the process, but, you know, this money can go to something else in the short term. So that's the clarity that I'm trying to get the clarity.

[13059] SPEAKER_14: So the areas themselves have varying work. And it's basically the section and what makes that entire area work. To take parts of it out don't necessarily work in your favor in that regard. The specific areas of each site, unfortunately, my chief estimator who put all this together is not on the call tonight. So I don't have the boots on the ground knowledge of those particulars with respect to each site, but these are both safety related and just work that would be the minimum necessary. You know, a lot of times engineers will look at it and say it just needs to be all replaced. We tried to find that balance because we knew you had competing priorities. So really this work where we are talking about major potholes in some of the other areas It is a bit contiguous. There's also concrete work in this. There's re-striping, there's some curbs. We're addressing some ADA issues in differing elevations. So it's all really mixed in each of these areas together. I know that probably doesn't answer all of your questions, but it's hard to dissect it under the parameters you're looking for, unfortunately.

[13165] Phuong Nguyen: You're on mute, President Martinez.

[13168] Elisa Martinez: Sorry. I was just asking for any other questions or comments. Thank you for answering. To be frank, it wasn't as helpful. My basic question still lies.

[13184] SPEAKER_14: It could be next year or the year after, because these are areas that are continuing to fail.

[13189] Phuong Nguyen: Yeah. I just have a comment. I know that, unfortunately, timing is bad. But I've had the opportunity to walk those campuses in the last two weeks. And I've seen pretty much how it could affect. And I think it does well in line with the fact that there are major safety issues at all the campuses in terms of the paving that is required. And although we are in consideration for consolidation, I still think that it is necessary for us to go ahead and approve the work that needs to be done. Because even though those campuses, if we have to consolidate, they still are open and available in the front for community members to be walking by and it could be a trip hazard or anything like that. And so for me, I think it is worth the investment to go ahead and do the work at all the campuses.

[13274] Elisa Martinez: Okay, any other comments? If not, I'm going to go ahead and ask Ms. Gutierrez to repeat the motion before us.

[13287] SPEAKER_32: Currently, the staff recommends the authorization to award the paving contract to Tri-Valley Excavating and related construction management fees to RGM RGM Kramer as presented. The motion was made One second. The motion was made by Member Rodriguez and second by Member Nguyen.

[13311] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Student Member Salami, how do you vote? Yes. Member Zhang?

[13319] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[13320] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez?

[13322] Ray Rodriguez: Yes.

[13324] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen? Yes. And my vote is yes as well. So thank you. Thank you for bringing this forward. And Member Nguyen, thank you for articulating. I think, you know, really what we're all trying to balance and at the end of the day, they still are schools in our community. So, you know, we still got to protect our or take care of our property. So thank you. Thank you for getting us good prices, Mr. Caputo. So hopefully, you know, that those numbers don't grow. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. Actually, I think you're going to stay on for the next item. But I am watching the clock. We're at 9.42 here. And we don't have a ton of items. But if you can ask, maybe just extend for an hour just to be safe. It can be done before then. It will.

[13387] Bowen Zhang: I think we probably should extend for 30 minutes just to motivate us to really

[13394] Elisa Martinez: better than just prolonged work. Okay. Okay, I will rush us through. No, I'm just kidding. Hopefully we'll stay to 30. So the motion is for 30 minutes. Can I get a second?

[13415] Phuong Nguyen: Student board members to let me come on. I see that smile.

[13419] SPEAKER_18: I second that motion.

[13420] Elisa Martinez: Okay, thank you. All right, and let's take a vote. City Member Salemi?

[13426] SPEAKER_18: Yes.

[13428] Elisa Martinez: And Member Zhang? Yes. Member Rodriguez?

[13431] Ray Rodriguez: Yes, but I can't stay past 10, so I'll be exiting hopefully after this item.

[13437] Elisa Martinez: We will get it done before 10 then. Member Nguyen? Yes. And my vote is yes, though I really wanted an hour, Member Zhang. We should be fine by 1030. Okay. Item 13.4, which is HVAC mechanical engineering consultant superintendent

[13467] Mark Triplett: President Martinez, I'll try to speak quickly. So, I do, I just want to say that, while we have had some reviews of our HVAC systems in the past. This is the we're coming forward to you with a request. request to do some additional evaluation of the systems. And just to be totally honest, initially when I heard that this would be a plan, I was a little frustrated. And I thought, we've already done all this work and spent money on evaluating our systems in the past. Why would we do it? Let's get going. But I've come to understand that in order to really do the right work, With the HVAC systems, it does still require some additional evaluation. And so I think this is important. And as we've heard in these meetings from both community and from the board, the HVAC system really needs to be a priority right now. So we do want to do it right. And so with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Caputo. Unless, Ms.dela Cruz, you wanted to add anything?

[13538] Marie dela Cruz: No. Nothing to add. Thank you, Mr. Caputo.

[13542] SPEAKER_14: Yes, thank you very much. I understand, believe me, that the district has had a previous CM firm, architects and engineers involved. They've done a measurable amount of work and a significant amount of inventory and analysis. The typical rule of thumb is that mechanical systems tend to last 15, some experts will tell you 20 years. And at that juncture, they either start to fail, Or there are new systems that are much more economical. And even though you may have a little bit more longevity, they're typically recommended to replace because of new and more efficient systems. The fact is, is mechanical systems are expensive. And when the district doesn't have adequate funds for them and they start to fail, they become emergencies. They're going to fail when you are in the coldest of weather or the hottest of weather. And when you don't have funds, it's an impact one by one after another on your general fund. So we have reviewed and believe me, we've been cross examined a few times by Dr. Triplett, by Ms. Delacruz and Susan as well. We've already done these assessments. A lot of condition assessments are done at a higher level, but in fact, you guys have provided us a lot of valuable information. Every unit has been tagged, every unit has, we have model numbers, we have dates that they were installed. But simply put, to expedite this action item, essentially your previous work tells you that you need $17 million and we've only allocated $3.3 million. And it's nothing that we can go forward with right now with the bid document. There will still be additional architectural engineering fees later on to bring these projects forward where we require architectural and engineering services. for DSA approval. The work that we're looking at for some additional expertise is to evaluate what are the district's highest priorities, where are these eminently going to fail, what can be repaired so that we can buy some time so the district can look at other funding sources, or down two, three, four years, consider a local bond to address all your other priority needs in growing issues. In addition, with any mechanical project, we have to look at the structures. Most of these are roof-mounted. New systems tend to weigh more. DSA could require structural upgrades. The curbs that are wood could be deteriorated. Some of them may be reused. We also have to evaluate energy management systems. The reports that you have received in the past ask you to update certain systems, but there's not a lot of specificity there. We also have to look at the mechanical, both gas piping, condensate lines, and electrical work because with new units, those requirements change and some of the old electrical and plumbing may need to be replaced. So what we're really looking for here is a more in-depth analysis, taking it down from 20,000 feet to ground level and coming back to you with prioritizations and recommendations. In that respect, we will also look for air filtration alternatives to address COVID concerns. Some of those are fairly simple. Some are more complicated. Economizers and other types of other systems. We may find a wing that you have rooftop units now, but there may be a better approach with a different system that's more cost effective than replacing them like for like. And that's the work that we're talking about. It's really to boil this down to see what we can do within your priority, buy you time, and just try and make your dollars go the best they can, or even come back and say, you know what, we really need $5 million, not 3.3. So we really need that work in order to get to the next step of prioritization and bring back to you.

[13807] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And in my rush to try to gain some time, I skipped a couple of steps. I didn't ask Ms. Gutierrez if we had any public comment on this item. Comment. OK, thank you. And I should have asked for my motion a second to open the topic up for discussion. So thank you. both to Superintendent Triplett and Mr. Caputo for sharing your thoughts and for the background. But I will ask for a motion and a second to open discussion on this item.

[13844] Phuong Nguyen: I move.

[13846] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. I second. Member Zhang, I second. Okay. All right. Thank you. Questions for Mr. Caputo or anybody else there.

[13859] Phuong Nguyen: Do you have a question? Go ahead. No, go ahead. No, I don't have a question. Gosh, I mean, this one's hard for me because it's $52,000 for an assessment of all the campuses again, and I feel like, I just need us to remember this moment because moving forward on items like this specifically, when we go out for evaluations on facilities and making sure that, you know, we are asking for the right assessments, because obviously we didn't do that previously. And understandably, I mean, that was, you know, seven years ago in 2013. But I just feel like now that we have to redo the assessment in order to prioritize when that assessment should have been done and we should already have a prioritization list made ready for Mr. Caputo and his team to be able to start assessing and manage these projects. But here we are again. So just a comment.

[13945] Elisa Martinez: yeah my comment slash question is along those lines say again I'm sure we all had that 50k what can I just buy something with the 50k right but you know as you read through the the the history or the background and and you mentioned something Mr. Caputo you know the last time this was done in 2013 so I think it is it's a question of making sure that we are getting the right type of assessment, but then moving on it, right? Because if we, maybe we got the right, some of the right information, but we sat on it for, you know, seven years, it's no longer relevant, right? So I think it's the, you know, it's twofold. It's making sure we actually have a plan and we execute. That's been one of the biggest things that we hear from our community is we've got this money, why are we sitting on it? Why haven't we spent it, right? So I think that, I think it's something that we need to do, you know, based on what you explained. And I think what the fact that our plan is seven years old. So question, because I know you mentioned, you know, back in back in 2013, it was the price tag was 17 million. Obviously, we've done some things. So would we expect out of this new evaluation to say, okay, here it is moment in time 2020. Here's really what you've got to do. I know you only have 3.3. So here's our priorities and here's what's left. Is that what we would expect to see?

[14041] SPEAKER_14: Yes, in fact, I don't want to discount the work that you guys have done and paid for. I think it was done right. I think it was very valuable. When you do an assessment for a large local bond or for state funding, you typically do a high level assessment to show what your overall needs are. Usually those assessments are recognized um in in the trades or school districts that do a lot of work that um you know an assessment isn't always done in one bond measure or with state funds it's usually a master plan that may take multiple years and multiple bonds in order to accomplish. And, you know, one thing I will say is I have talked to the engineer and he knows how budget conscious we are. And he has taken to heart the work that has been done. He's not going to do a new evaluation. We're just looking at updating it. The valuation was done in 2013, but the district has done work since. Some of that has been updated, but it's still the work that You know, I mean, I guess another way to look at this is we could come with full architectural services that would include this as a component, but we feel like we need to ferret it down and it's more of a prioritization with the limited funds we have, the fact that your next opportunity for a local bond, depending on the economy and state programs for supplemental funding are probably two to four years away. So what we have to do is look at where can you best spend your dollars and buy time four or five years down the road. Even if the district had a November bond, you wouldn't have funded it until springtime. You would take about a year of design and DSA approvals And then bid and construction, you're still looking another two years out. You did a fair amount of work, and I think 2014 through 16, that is understood. And so it's really just taking it down a notch so that when we go out and look for architectural and engineering services, we're not recreating the wheel. We're giving them a specific target of where the priorities are. So I think in the long run, you'll find cost efficiency in this approach. And I will add that the engineer, unfortunately, went on vacation and is just back today. He did acknowledge as he's running away on vacation for a week that, you know, some of the last information we forwarded him is valuable and he will be as cost efficient as he can. and helping us work with administration to deeper dive and help, you know, prioritize what is best for how we can best spend the funding.

[14227] Ray Rodriguez: You know, it's kind of frustrating, not to interrupt, hopefully. Hopefully you were done. Over the years, you get consultant after consultant, and it seems like they just, you know, it's frustrating sometimes. My hope is that we get an individual that can look at everything and make recommendations on how to maximize, you know, with the money we have, and maybe give us some tips. And I realize that in order to probably finish a big project, you probably have to go out for another bond. But there's other things and there might be money out there and a good consultant might know where you might be able to get, you know, little monies in order to, you know, double what you want to do. So it's frustrating, but HVAC is so important and for our kids and our staff and everything. And hopefully, you know, whoever comes in can really, evaluate everything and show us where we can really, you know, improve on what we've tried to do so far up to this point.

[14307] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. Okay, if there are no other questions, I will ask Ms. Gutierrez to repeat the motion, please.

[14326] SPEAKER_32: President Martinez. And the current motion is that staff recommends approval to authorize expenditure not to exceed $52,000 to McCracken Woodman, a mechanical engineering firm to assist the district to further analyze existing HVAC equipment and prioritization options. Motion made by member, Motion made by Member Nguyen, second by Member Zhang.

[14363] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Student Member Salemi, how do you vote?

[14368] SPEAKER_18: Yes.

[14369] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Member Nguyen? Yes. Member Zhang?

[14374] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[14375] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez? Yes. And my vote is yes as well. So the motion carries unanimously and let's hope we get a good solid plan from this. Thank you.

[14387] Ray Rodriguez: Not to interrupt, but I'm going to have to exit. I did have a request, but I'll call you next week, President Martinez, and discuss an item that I would like to consider putting on the next agenda.

[14401] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely.

[14402] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. You guys are awesome. And hopefully, the rest of the meeting, you can get done before 1030.

[14409] Elisa Martinez: Very good. Thank you. Student members, I mean, we know it's a school night, so if you need to drop off, you're welcome to do that. We're almost done, but I will definitely leave it to you, okay?

[14425] Diego Torres: Thank you. Okay.

[14429] Elisa Martinez: All right. Thank you, thank you, Superintendent and Ms.dela Cruz. Item 14 is the consent agenda personnel items. public comment on this. May may have a motion in a second to approve items. 14 point. Um, sorry, Miss any any public comment on this, Miss Public comment. Thank you. Um and may have a motion a second to approve items. 14.1 through 14.2. I All right. And, uh, Members young. How do you vote?

[14478] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[14479] Elisa Martinez: Remember when? Yes. My vote is yes as well. So, um, item consent agenda. Personnel items is approved. Thank you. We moved to item 15, which is consent agenda. Non personnel items may have a motion in a second. I'm sorry. Any any public comments? I'll have the write myself a note here. Any may have a motion a second to approve items 15.1 through 15.5.

[14510] Bowen Zhang: I move to approve 15.1 for the group 15.5.

[14515] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. I have a second. I second. Thank you. Member Zhang moves. Member Nguyen seconds. Student member Salemi, how do you vote?

[14528] SPEAKER_18: Yes.

[14530] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Member Zhang?

[14531] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[14532] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen? Yes. And my vote is yes as well. So motion passes unanimously. Thank you. And with that, we move to items item 16, which is Board of Education Committee reports, announcements, requests and item 16.1 is committee reports. And so obviously member Rodriguez just dumped off. Normally he'll give one on ROP. Anything with regards to city liaison, audit committee?

[14574] Phuong Nguyen: No, we haven't had a meeting. Okay.

[14577] Elisa Martinez: For either of those. For either. Okay. Um, just very quickly for governance handbook members young and I had just a initial meeting just to align on the sources, but we don't really have an updated document to bring as of yet, but we are working on it. And the certainly last but not least is the consolidation committee update. and I will ask Superintendent Triplett to update please and Member Nguyen and I can add if there's anything else.

[14613] Mark Triplett: Thank you President Martinez. I'll try to be brief. So the consolidation committee has had its second meeting last, sorry, on Tuesday. And at that meeting, there was the review of the capacity enrollment data and using a criteria, the subcommittee ranked the schools according to that criteria as it related to capacity enrollment. The next meeting will be next week, and the committee will be looking at facilities data and using that to do the same ranking on the criteria. And then there will be two more sets of data, one educational and student service data, and then lastly, financial and transportation data that will be held in, there'll be a meeting where the committee looks at that data and then utilizes that to rank on this criteria. The criteria is public and so it can be seen by anybody who's interested. I will say the last part that we really want to be sure we're emphasizing is that the committee, once they've looked at all of of that data and done that ranking, their role is not really done yet because probably the most important part is then to the discussion that comes out of the analysis of the data. And that committee will be having a really deep and thorough discussion before they make recommendations to this board around school consolidations.

[14707] SPEAKER_41: Did I miss anything, President Martinez, member Nguyen?

[14713] SPEAKER_36: Yes, actually.

[14716] Phuong Nguyen: Sorry. We had our second meeting on the 10th and we had demographics data presented in that committee meeting. And then last Tuesday, the 15th. was it the 15th? Now I'm losing my date. But anyways, yes, so we've had two meetings in between the last board meeting. But yes, and, and Superintendent Triplett did cover the information that was presented in the in our third meeting. So we are getting ready for our fourth meeting. Coming up.

[14761] Ray Rodriguez: Correct.

[14763] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you. That's true. Thank you. And we hadn't updated on that meeting. I just wanted to add very briefly that, you know, those there are difficult meetings. I mean, you know, really, those these initial meetings are really for information for folks to just get information where no one's asking. We're not ready in any or they're not ready or in a position to make a recommendation, just information. But, you know, it's heavy. It's a heavy topic. You know, and I, as a board member, have been asked several times, you know, are you for closing schools? Are you, you know, are you support closing schools? I just don't think that that's the right question, right? It's the, of course not, right? My kid's school is up there. So it's an emotional decision for everybody, no matter how objective we're trying to make this process. And I just wanted to say that out loud because it's a really difficult thing for all of us. But I really applaud the parents and the folks that are at the table that aren't in as many conversations as we all have to have and really appreciate them, their time and their sincere effort to understand what is the data and what's that decision that they're trying to arrive to. Anyway, thank you for the updates. I think they were on point, but just wanted to kind of acknowledge how difficult this process is. Thank you. OK, so I think that was the last on the committee reports. Item is 16.2, Board of Education Announcements Request. I'm going to go ahead and go to you, student members. So let me first, in case you wanted to jump off, go ahead.

[14873] SPEAKER_18: Just to be really quick, I just want to congratulate everybody at the district in here. We're a little bit over a month with school being done. And I think we have a great group of people here. You know, so many of the questions, there's so many questions that I have in my head, but they get asked first right away. So, you know, just thank you to everybody here and thank you, Superintendent Triplett. I didn't say it earlier, but for bringing in Margaret, it was a great addition to your report. Thank you guys. Good night.

[14902] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Good night. And I was going to call you student member win.

[14912] Phuong Nguyen: Member win. Oh, thank you. I still look beautiful. No, I just had a wonderful last two weeks. Got to spend a lot of time with our nutrition team and passing out lunches at the different school sites with member Rodriguez and then also being able to attend so many virtual back to school night sessions. That is the definite upside of this whole distance learning thing and remote learning and remote meetings is that we can pop in and be a part of, you know, be a part of all of the classes and then also just to experience the different back to school nights with the different sites and the different teachers and being able to experience their students and how well they are adjusting. And just wanted to say a big shout out to Miss Denise Wynn. She had 100% participation in her class and that's awesome. and she's doing a wonderful job.

[14992] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Member Zheng?

[14997] Bowen Zhang: So I was happy to participate in the back to school night for both BGP and BGI. And for BGP, I happened to drop into, I think, Mrs. Jenny Chang's session about second grade math at BGP. And the interesting thing about it, they talk about how to do addition and subtraction for second grade math. And it looks like they got more and more innovative methods about doing addition. Because what we learned on the second grade is you do the vertical form, you add the digits together, and you plus one to the next digit. I think they got some. In addition to the vertical form, they have some whatever compensate form and whatever like compensate or component form. There are five or six different ways to do addition, to do double digit, triple digit addition. That's all I think. That's fine. And I do have a request as a board member. You know, we talk about our budget situation quite a bit, but I think there's one thing that one big component I want to bring in for us to know the overall challenge and bigger picture of our budgetary problem. That is, what are we going to decide on the formula we borrow from the fund 17? Does the board ever have a resolution that's saying that we have to pay back the entire formula back to the Russian fund? Or are we paying back a fraction of that fund? Or are we not paying any money back to the Russian fund? If there is a resolution or if there is a plan, what will be the timeline? What is our plan? If there's no resolution, maybe we should bring back and let this board decide. How are we going to proceed with that formula? Or what is the expectation from the company Figma regarding that formula? Because that potential formula and paying back to the fund 17, that can have a big impact on our budgetary situation. Let's see if I got the other two board members to not hassle. I do hope that we can bring this back to the board meeting as soon as possible. So we really, let's just clear it out. Are we paying back, or no plan to pay back, or don't need to pay back?

[15126] Phuong Nguyen: I think that's a great question, Member Zhang. And I would absolutely support that. And also, I do have a request before I interrupt President Martinez. I do would like to request or ask that either board member Zhang and President Martinez, if you both would like to join me and help distribute lunches for the next month while member Rodriguez will be out. Thank you. Thank you.

[15167] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen and Member Zhang. So yes, lots of really good stuff. A lot of back to school activity. It is different. And I think every school's done the best they can to really just make sure that there's those connection points. So I think that that's been really great. Today, I'm wearing my Mexican shirt. This is a really important couple of days To let for Latin America, a good eight to 10 countries, including Mexico and some in Central and South America celebrate their Independence Day, either on the 15th or on the 16th. And this is really the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month. So, you know, I think it's just, again, so much richness, we saw it in the in the tiles of our zoom today. So just wanted to celebrate that and so that we were all aware of these are really important moments for a good segment of our community. You know, I don't even know how to, I'm trying to find the words, Superintendent Trimplet, when you mentioned 182 students below where we are, where we were in terms of our budget projection, it's a huge number when you multiply it by as round up to 10K, you know, per child from a budget impact. So I think, you know, it's a broader maybe brush not only to member Zhang's question, maybe it's a, you know, it's a little bit more of a comprehensive view that the borrowing item is one line item, but it's also the huge potential impact of this significant declining of our projected enrollment. I think we need to understand that. as soon as possible. I'd love to understand if we think about the segment, are we most impacted in elementary, at a junior high, at a high school level? I think that would be great if we could get that visibility. So I hope that my fellow board members agree that that's part of the view that we'd need to see, to see the complete picture, if you will. And then finally, I do have a request, and member, when you mentioned this, we've walked all of the campuses in the last several weeks, and this is something that I'd asked for, and there was an update given last year with regards to MOT, which is what is the process that is being utilized to understand what are all the needs that are being highlighted at a school level to the MO districts group, if you will, how are we tracking progress against those? And I'd like to not just get a verbal, I'd like to see the system to be fully transparent. And I think both of you were already on the board last year when we saw and it was just a bunch of a huge list with a bun with with lots of items saying in progress. For how long, when will it be done? You know, I think it's important that we understand, again, are we ahead? Are we behind? What do we need to get caught up? Is it a funding? Is it a man resource? What is it? So that's those are I know, I'm throwing a lot of questions that you superintendent, superintendent, not quite sure you know, that I have clarity in terms of what it needs to look like. But I would hope, member Nguyen, you and I again saw those, and member Zhang, you've been at our campuses too, so I hope you support that, you know, that we'd like to see that as well.

[15412] Phuong Nguyen: My main concern is that issues at facilities are not getting addressed, and that employees or staff is discouraged to open work orders. So my thing is, I would really like to see a report that has open work orders on a monthly basis and the amount of closed work orders, what is open, what is closed, and the duration of the open ticket.

[15456] Elisa Martinez: Okay, and with that, we will bring it back to you, item 17.1, your concluding remarks, Superintendent Tirplett.

[15467] Mark Triplett: Great, thank you all for those, for lifting up those requests, and I was taking notes, because we'll definitely follow up on those items, and we'll work with you to figure out the best way to present that information to you. I know it's late, so I don't want to hold us too long, but I do want to just give a shout out to Member Nguyen and Member Rodriguez for the unbelievable amount of support they're giving to the lunches every day. Every day we, myself and Ms. Gutierrez, get a text of like, hey, where can we go today? We want to help. It's really tremendous. And then just the number, the volume of lunches that you both have been distributing, it's really amazing. So thank you so much for putting in all that time. It really reflects your care and your love for the community. And then I did want to also just give another shout out to student member Salemi and just his amazing leadership in driving the work that we saw tonight and the resolution that we saw tonight. It's just, it just leaves me so hopeful to see all of these young people involved in this kind of thing. So. It's awesome.

[15548] Phuong Nguyen: And no, I do not get the thanks. The thanks goes to the staff. They are working so hard. Member Rodriguez and I just have so much fun, and that's the highlight of my days, especially the last couple of weeks. It's a definite respite to be able to go out and enjoy some fun time with our staff. So it's much appreciated. Their work is much appreciated.

[15572] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. OK. And with that, we move to adjournment. May I have a motion and a second to adjourn, please?

[15585] Bowen Zhang: I move to adjourn the meeting. Thank you.

[15589] Elisa Martinez: I second. Thank you. And Member Zhang, how do you vote? Yes. Member Nguyen? Yes. Okay. And my vote is yes, as well. Thank you so much. A great meeting. Thanks for all of your efforts. All staff and Superintendent Triplett, Ms. Gutierrez, thank you for keeping us in line. And everyone have a good night. Have a good night.

[15614] SPEAKER_41: Thanks, everybody.

[15615] Marie dela Cruz: Good night, everybody. Good night, everyone.

1. Live Comments: Join with an Internet connected device (tablet, computer, phone, etc.)

1.1 Roll Call

Type                     Procedural

Please see click the link below for Public Comment information on Non-Agenda Items and Agenda items.

http://go.boarddocs.com/ca/nusd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BN8PNC6402C1

2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

2. Live Comments: Join with an Internet connected device (tablet, computer, phone, etc.)

2.1 Approval of Agenda

Type                     Action

Recommended              It is recommended that the agenda for this Board of Education meeting be approved.
Action

Purpose: For the Board to Accept the agenda as is or make modifications, and accept the agenda with the requested modifications.

3. CLOSED SESSION

3.1 Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/ Release (GC54957)

Type                      Procedural

Information provided by the Executive Director of Human Resources, Jessica Saavedra

3.2 Conference with Labor Negotiator Employee Organizations: NTA & CSEA (GC54957.6)

Type

Agency Negotiator: Jessica Saavedra, Executive Director of Human Resources Greg Dannis Esq., Dannis, Woliver, Kelly, Attoreys at Law

Employee Organizations: NTA and CSEA

3.3 Conference with Labor Negotiator (GC 54957.6) NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors & Contracted Management

Type

Agency Negotiators: Jessica Saavedra, Executive Director of Human Resources Dr. Mark Triplett, Superintendent Ingrid A. Meyers Esq., Dannis, Woliver, Kelly, Attorneys at Law

Employee Organizations: NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors & Contracted Management

3.4 Conference with Legal Counsel regarding Existing Litigation (GC 54956.9(d)(1))

Type

Cases:

1. CSEA & Marcus Allen v. NUSD, Keenan Claim #587220

2. Brazil vs Newark Unified School District (Alameda County Superior Court Case#RG17859813)

3.5 Conference with Legal Counsel Regarding Anticipated Litigation (GC 54956.9(d)(2))

Type

Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 54956.9: one case

4. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS

4.1 Report of Closed Session Actions

Type                     Action

Purpose:

The Board President will report what actions, if any, were taken during closed session.

5. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

5.1 Pledge of Allegiance

Type                     Procedural

6. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS Subject 6.1 Staff Spotlight

6.1 Staff Spotlight

Type                     Information

Purpose:

The superintendent takes a moment to recognize the wonderful accomplishments from our NUSD Team

7. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

7.1 Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

Type                     Information

Please see click the link below for Public Comment information on Non-Agenda Items and Agenda items.

http://go.boarddocs.com/ca/nusd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BN8PNC6402C1

8. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

8.1 Superintendent Report

Type                     Information

File Attachments Supt Report 9.17.20.pdf (2,455 KB)

9. STAFF REPORT

9.1 Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) - Purpose and Process Presentation

Type                     Information
Goals                            1a. Student Achievement

Purpose:

The purpose of the presentation is to provide an overview of the Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) Review Process and Timeline.

Background:

California Department of Education (CDE) is required by law to monitor the implementation of any or all categorical programs that are operated by Local Control Educational Agencies (LEAs) have developed and maintain programs that meet the minimum fiscal and programmatic requirements per the federal and state guidelines. Local Educational Agencies are selected for an on- line or on-site review as per the Cycle Schedule by School Year which demonstrates a four-year cycle.

NUSD has been identified as one of several districts in the county of Alameda to participate in an "on-site" FPM review for this school year. The review will take place over a period of four days, September 22nd - 25th. Below is the list of the programs and the sites that will be reviewed during this visit.

Programs For Review: Compensatory Education (CE) - Title I Supporting Effective Instruction (SEI) - Title II English Learner (EL) - Title III Supporting School Improvement (SSI) - Title I Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP)

Participating Sites By Program:

               Site / Program                            CE          SEI          EL          SSI          UCP

District X X X X X

H. A. Snow Elementary X X X

Newark Junior High School X

Newark Memorial High School X X

Additional information can be found on the CDE website under Compliance Monitoring.

Compliance Monitoring - General Information: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/cr/

LEA Selection Criteria: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/cr/selectioncriteria1112.asp

File Attachments NUSD Federal Program Monitoring (FPM)_Board Presentation_9.17.2020.pdf (277 KB)

9.2 2019-2020 LCAP Federal Addendum - Program Evaluation and Next Steps

Type                      Information

Goals                        1a. Student Achievement

Purpose:

The purpose of this presentation is to provide the Board with a progress report on the 2019-2020 LCAP Federal Addendum and proposed changes/modification for the 2020-21 plan.

Background:

The LCAP Federal Addendum is a requirement for Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) applying for Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) funding. Its purpose is to supplement the LCAP in order to ensure that LEAs meet the requirements and provisions of the ESSA. Per the CDE, ESSA funding should be strategically considered and planned for on a yearly basis. Thus, it is also their recommendation that LEAs review and update their LCAP Federal Addendum annually along with their LCAP. The CDE does not require that updated addendums be submitted to them. However, they do recommend that the local board be presented with annual progress reports and approve updated plans.

Additional provisions and recommendations can be found at the CDE website in the LCAP Federal Addendum webpage:

https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lc/addendumguidance.asp

2019-2020 Federal Addendum_Approved_June2019

2019-2020 Federal Addendum - Implementation of Services Update

File Attachments NUSD 2019-20 Federal Addendum Report_Board Presentation_9.17.2020.pdf (420 KB)

10. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

10.1 Employee Organizations

Type                      Information

At regular Board meetings, a single spokesperson of each recognized employee organization (NTA, CSEA, NEWMA) may make a brief presentation. Items are limited to those that are informational.

11. PUBLIC HEARINGS

11.1 Public Hearing on Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan

Type                      Discussion, Information
Goals                        1a. Student Achievement
                             2a. Safe, Secure and Healthy Learning Environments
                             3a. Parent and Community Engagement and Communication

Purpose:

To present the 2020-2021 Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan (LCP) to the public and Newark Unified School District Board of Education, and for the Board to conduct a Public Hearing.

Background:

The Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan (Learning Continuity Plan) is a key part of the overall budget package for K-12 that seeks to address funding stability for schools while providing information at the local educational agency (LEA) level for how student learning continuity will be addressed during the COVID-19 crisis in the 2020�21 school year. The provisions for the plan were approved by the Governor and Legislature in June in SB 98 and can be found in EC Section 43509.

The Learning Continuity Plan is intended to balance the needs of all stakeholders, including educators, parents, students and community members, while both streamlining engagement and condensing several pre-existing plans. In particular, it was important to combine (1) the intent behind Executive Order N-56-20, published in April 2020,which envisioned an off cycle Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) due December 15th, and (2) the ongoing need for LEAs to formally plan to return to school in the midst of the uncertainty and of COVID-19, without requiring two plans. The Learning Continuity Plan replaces the LCAP for the 2020�21 school year.

The Learning Continuity Plan adoption timeline of September 30, 2020 is intended to ensure the Learning Continuity Plan is completed in the beginning of the 2020�21 school year. Additionally, the timeline is intended to allow for communication of decisions that will guide how instruction will occur during the 2020�21 school year. This includes in-person instruction, according to health guidance, and distance learning, while providing critical opportunities for stakeholder engagement.

The Learning Continuity Plan template memorializes the planning process already underway for the 2020�21 school year and includes descriptions of the following: addressing gaps in learning; conducting meaningful stakeholder engagement; maintaining transparency; addressing the needs of unduplicated pupils, students with unique needs, and students experiencing homelessness; providing access to necessary devices and connectivity for distance learning; providing resources and supports to address student and staff mental health and social emotional well-being; and continuing to provide school meals for students.

File Attachments Draft LCP.pdf (1,959 KB)

12. OLD BUSINESS

12.1 Labor Cost to Install Electronic Locks

Type                     Action

Preferred Date           Sep 17, 2020

Fiscal Impact            Yes

Dollar Amount            $85,000.00

Budgeted                 Yes

Budget Source            Bond Measure G Fund 21
Recommended              Staff recommends approval of district staff labor cost to install electronic locks as part of
Action                   the Measure G bond projects.

Purpose: To approve the cost of district labor to install Board approved electronic locks at all sites districtwide.

Background: The purchase of (666) electronic locks was approved by the Board on August 1, 2019 for an amount of $641,339.05 as part of the Measure G bond projects. The labor and installation was included in the background information on the agenda item but the cost was not included in the "Dollar Amount" approved. The estimated cost of installation by district staff should not exceed $85,000 (based on 1,000 hours each for two district maintenance staff employees) which is a savings of $34,000 compared to an outside contractor. The estimate from the outside contractor was $119,214. The electronic locks are being upgraded for school safety and security as part of the Measure G Bond projects. The total cost of the project including installation will be $726,339.05.

13. NEW BUSINESS

13.1 Black Lives Matter in Classroom, Resolution 2020-21.009

Type                     Action

Fiscal Impact            No

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board of Education adopt Resolution No. 2020-21.009, Black
Action                   Lives Matter in Classrooms

Purpose: To adopt Resolution No.2020-21.009, Black Lives Matter in Classrooms as an important commitment to addressing the systemic racism against Black people that permeates all aspects of our society, including our education system.

Background: Across the country, a national movement is taking place to speak out against the injustices and racism that Black people face in America. Institutional and systemic racism continue to hold back Black people in America from succeeding. Institutional racism also takes place in our schools across the country. NUSD students and staff have come together to express solidarity with this movement, and to commit to taking action to address this issue in our district, our schools, and our classrooms.

File Attachments Black Lives Matter Resolution No 2020-21.009.pdf (56 KB)

13.2 Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan

Type                     Information

Goals                        1a. Student Achievement
                             2a. Safe, Secure and Healthy Learning Environments

Purpose:

The purpose of the presentation is to provide an overview and to conduct a Public Hearing of the 2020-2021 Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan (LCP) which includes a Tentative Proposed Budget. The final draft of the plan will be submitted for approval at the Special Board Meeting on (date to be determined). The LCP must be approved and submitted to Alameda County Office of Education by September 30, 2020.

Background:

The Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan (Learning Continuity Plan) is a key part of the overall budget package for K-12 that seeks to address funding stability for schools while providing information at the local educational agency (LEA) level for how student learning continuity will be addressed during the COVID-19 crisis in the 2020�21 school year. The provisions for the plan were approved by the Governor and Legislature in June in SB 98 and can be found in EC Section 43509.

The Learning Continuity Plan is intended to balance the needs of all stakeholders, including educators, parents, students and community members, while both streamlining engagement and condensing several pre-existing plans. In particular, it was important to combine (1) the intent behind Executive Order N-56-20, published in April 2020,which envisioned an off cycle Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) due December 15th, and (2) the ongoing need for LEAs to formally plan to return to school in the midst of the uncertainty and of COVID-19, without requiring two plans. The Learning Continuity Plan replaces the LCAP for the 2020�21 school year.

The Learning Continuity Plan adoption timeline of September 30, 2020 is intended to ensure the Learning Continuity Plan is completed in the beginning of the 2020�21 school year. Additionally, the timeline is intended to allow for communication of decisions that will guide how instruction will occur during the 2020�21 school year. This includes in-person instruction, according to health guidance, and distance learning, while providing critical opportunities for stakeholder engagement.

The Learning Continuity Plan template memorializes the planning process already underway for the 2020�21 school year and includes descriptions of the following: addressing gaps in learning; conducting meaningful stakeholder engagement; maintaining transparency; addressing the needs of unduplicated pupils, students with unique needs, and students experiencing homelessness; providing access to necessary devices and connectivity for distance learning; providing resources and supports to address student and staff mental health and social emotional well-being; and continuing to provide school meals for students.

File Attachments Draft LCP.pdf (1,959 KB) NUSD 2020-21 LCP_Board Presentation_9.17.2020.pdf (350 KB)

13.3 Award of Paving Contract

Type                     Action

Preferred Date           Sep 17, 2020

Fiscal Impact            Yes

Dollar Amount            $660,493.00

Budgeted                 Yes

Budget Source            Measure G Bond and Fund 40
Recommended                  Staff recommends authorization to award the paving contract to Tri-Valley Excavating
Action                       and related construction management fees to RGM Kramer as presented.

Purpose: To award the contract and management fees for the paving project as part of the Measure G bond projects.

Background: The Board approved a list of Measure G priority projects on February 20, 2020 There's approximately $7,800,000 remaining in Measure G funds The Board asked staff to review facilities needs and get input on priorities from Principals The Superintendent and CBO met with the Principals on February 12, 2020 to gather input The estimate reflects estimates of the cost of the projects by the District's construction manager and is subject to change depending on actual bids/quotes received As part of the District's Measure G Priority List, staff had duly advertised and released for competitive public bid remedial paving work at NJHS (Newark Junior High School), Lincoln, MacGregor, Musick, Kennedy, Schilling, Snow and the District Office. Work at the District Office is being funded by Fund 40 and the scope has been added to the project for cost efficiency. The scope involves major paving repairs to address failing pavement and subsurface conditions to prolonging the need for more extensive corrective repairs if not attended to and mitigates safety concerns in the path of travel and other pavement areas identified in the District's priority list. A Notice to Bidders was advertised in the Argus Newspaper on August 14, 2020 and was placed in the following industry plan rooms: Bay Area Builder's Exchange, San Francisco Builder's Exchange, Dodge McGraw Data and the Construction Bidboard on August 11, 2020. It was also posted to the District's website and the construction manager reached out to several prospective bidders. Mandatory Prebid conferences were held on August 18th and 20th. Ten (10) potential bidders expressed interest in submitting bids.

On September 2, 2020, six (6) bids were received, and results were announced at the September 3, 2020 board meeting. The Board authorized District Administration and staff to complete vetting of paving bids received on September 2nd and bring back for award at the September 17, 2020 board meeting. The lowest base bid was $442,105 which is $151,103 below the cost estimate.

This action item is: (1) to authorize staff to award the contract to the lowest, responsive, responsible bidder, Tri Valley Excavating, Sunol, CA in the Base Bid amount of $442,105.00; and (2) consider award of Additive Bid Alternate 1 � Additional remedial paving at Lincoln Elementary School in the amount of $65,888.00; and (3) Authorize the total project budget including soft costs and contingency allowances and authorize district administration to execute contracts and expenditures Not to Exceed $660,493, as follows:

Base Bid Scope $442,105 Tri-Valley Excavating Contingency $ 50,000 Allowance (Unforeseen Conditions) Testing $ 40,000 Ninyo & Moore (Compaction and asphalt testing and special inspection Allowance (Not to Exceed) Advertising $ 2,500 Allowance Design/CM Fees $ 55,000 RGM Kramer Not to Exceed General Conditions $ 5,000 Allowance for misc utility location, barricades and signage Base Project Cost $594,605 Additive Alternate: $ 65,888 Optional Total Budget: $660,493

The bid specifications stipulated completion within forty (40) calendar days and anticipated a schedule as follows to achieve completion in optimum weather conditions: Description Due Dates Bid Opening September 2, 2020* Award Contract September 18, 2020* Commence Work September 28, 2020* Duration of Project 40 Calendar Days

*Scheduled date, subject to change at the District's discretion

File Attachments Paving bid summary 9-2-20.pdf (31 KB) Priorities Projects Measure G Updated Feb 2020_rev9-17-20.pdf (33 KB) NUSD - 2020 Paving Estimate - Revision per Addendum 1R3.pdf (93 KB)

13.4 HVAC Mechanical Engineering Consultant

Type                          Action

Preferred Date                Sep 17, 2020

Absolute Date                 Sep 17, 2020

Fiscal Impact                 Yes

Dollar Amount                 $52,000.00

Budgeted                      Yes

Budget Source                 Fund 21 Measure G

Recommended                   Staff recommends approval to authorize expenditure not to exceed $52,000.00 to
Action                        McCracken Woodman, a Mechanical Engineering Firm to assist the District to further
                              analyze existing HVAC equipment and prioritization options.

Goals                            1a. Student Achievement

Purpose: Further District's goals to Repair/Replace ailing heating and ventilation systems district wide.

Background: The Board approved a list of Measure G priority projects on February 20, 2020 There's approximately $7,800,000 remaining in Measure G funds The Board asked staff to review facilities needs and get input on priorities from Principals The Superintendent and CBO met with the Principals on February 12, 2020 to gather input The estimate reflects estimates of the cost of the projects by the District's construction manager and is subject to change depending on actual bids/quotes received As part of the District's Measure G Priority List, staff and the District's PM (Project Management) consultants have been reviewing heating and ventilation systems across the district. Staff needs to engage expert analysis to help prioritize systems for repair or replacement, together with associated upgrades to energy management control systems, plumbing and electrical infrastructure, (COVID-19) air filtration options and appurtenant structural curb mounting and flashing upgrades.

District campuses have a variety of mechanical heating and cooling systems of various ages and conditions, mostly roof mounted. Many systems are 14 years old or older and, considering system longevity is generally around 15 -20 years, are approaching or operating beyond their useful life.

The district has completed some replacement systems and produced a report in 2013 which is now 7 years old and depicts some specific but also generalized conditions and various replacement options, involving not only mechanical but notes energy management system upgrades, electrical, plumbing and roofing conditions. The report recommends further investigation and decisions as to options and variables. The 2013 Report notes Total Cost of $17M, Code Driven scope @ $1.5M and Recommended Scope of $15.5M in 2013 dollars. The District has allocated $3.3M.

Accordingly, we need to update the assessment, inspect current conditions and determine the highest priorities, update cost estimates and prioritize needs. We also intend to look at filtration options to address COVID-19 concerns. File Attachments 2020.08.27 Newark USD-HVAC Evaluation.pdf (97 KB)

14. CONSENT AGENDA - PERSONNEL ITEMS

14.1 California State University East Bay Agreement for Student Teacher Interns

Type                     Action (Consent)

Preferred Date           Sep 17, 2020

Absolute Date            Sep 17, 2020

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board of Education approve the student teacher intern agreement
Action                   with California State University East Bay.

Purpose

The purpose of this item is for the Board of Education to approve the agreement for student teacher interns commencing on August 1, 2020 and ending July 31, 2023 between California State University East Bay and Newark Unified School District.

Background

The District works closely with local institutes of higher education (IHE) and supports student teacher interns. Agreements between Newark Unified School District and a university must be in place before an intern can be placed at a school site in the District.

Teachers, school psychologists, and counselors in training do fieldwork in our schools and are supervised by the administrators who volunteer to provide supervision and training.

Student teacher interns are able to learn, practice teaching, and fine-tune their craft under the direct supervision of a master teacher. The opportunity to student teach in the District benefits both the student and the District.

As vacancies become available in the district, it is invaluable to have the opportunity to observe directly new teachers who may be eligible to interview for vacancies and observe how well they fit into the culture of Newark.

File Attachments CSUEB Intern MOU.pdf (254 KB)

14.2 Personnel Report

Type                     Action (Consent)

Preferred Date           Sep 17, 2020
Absolute Date              Sep 17, 2020

Recommended                Staff recommends the Board approve the personnel report as presented.
Action

This report includes employment, retirements, reassignments and terminations for both certificated and classified employees. Specific actions can be made known at the conclusion of the meeting.

File Attachments HR PAL 09-17-20.pdf (398 KB)

15. CONSENT AGENDA - NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS

15.1 Consolidated Application and Reporting System 2019-2020 Spring Data Collection

Type                       Action (Consent)

Preferred Date             Sep 17, 2020

Absolute Date              Sep 17, 2020

Fiscal Impact              No

Budgeted                   No

Recommended                Staff recommends ratification of the Consolidated Application and Reporting System
Action                     (CARS), 2019-20 Spring Data Collection.

Goals                         2a. Safe, Secure and Healthy Learning Environments

Purpose: The purpose of this item is to provide the California Department of Education with the information needed to fund a wide variety of federal and state programs that bring supplementary funding into the school district.

Background: The Consolidated Application and Reporting System (CARS) -- formerly known as Consolidated Application or "Con App" for short -- is the state's mechanism for both funding of identified state and federal categorical programs and required reporting for many of them. It provides the entitlement amounts of these programs as well as required considerations for expenditures.

Each year, the programs included in the CARS change based on federal/state mandates and different methods of gaining or disseminating information. This is the 2019-20 Spring Data Collection.

CARS brings funds into the school district for a variety of programs including Title I, Title II, and Title III.

Each of the identified programs has specified guidelines or requirements for their expenditure. All titled programs are federally funded. Title I, Part A dollars are used to support the increased achievement of at-risk students, primarily in reading and math. (We currently have seven schools receiving these funds.) Title II, Part A (Teacher Quality) monies are used to support teacher evaluation, as well as teacher professional development. Title III English Learner and Immigrant are used to support our English language learners.

File Attachments Con App Spring 2019-20.pdf (1,031 KB)

15.2 Addendum To Agreement with Jackie Melcher, Behavioral Health Clinician

Type                      Action (Consent)

Preferred Date            Sep 17, 2020

Fiscal Impact             Yes

Dollar Amount             $64,000.00

Budgeted                  Yes

Budget Source             Title 1

Recommended               Staff recommends the Board ratify the addendum to the agreement with Jackie Melcher,
Action                    Behavioral Health Clinician, for services at Schilling Elementary School.

Purpose: To correct the hourly compensation rate and amend the contract with Jackie Melcher, Behavioral Health Clinician, previously approved by the Board on August 20, 2020.

Background: This is an addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Behavior Health Clinician, Jackie Melcher. The original MOU and Addendum are attached. The addendum corrects the hourly compensation rate from $51.78 to $65.00 per hour without increasing the Financial Provisions that Schilling Elementary School will contribute an amount not to exceed $64,000.00.

The MOU provides Schilling Elementary School students an onsite Behavioral Health Clinician who will support Tier I and Tier II needs. The clinician will also support the implementation of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) and work at the school four (4) days a week.

File Attachments Jackie Melcher_contract for Schilling_2020-21_Addendum_unsigned.pdf (39 KB) Jackie Melcher_contract for Schilling_2020-21_unsigned.pdf (393 KB)

15.3 Addendum to Agreement with Mark Bishop, Mental Health Clinician

Type                      Action (Consent)

Preferred Date            Sep 17, 2020

Fiscal Impact             Yes

Dollar Amount             $74,000.00

Budgeted                  Yes
Budget Source            LCFF

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board ratify the addendum to the agreement with Mark Bishop,
Action                   Mental Health Clinician for Newark Memorial High School.

Goals                        MISSION: The Newark Unified School District will inspire and educate all students to
                             achieve their full potential and be responsible, respectful, and productive citizens.

Purpose: To add the fingerprinting requirement and amend the agreement with Mark Bishop, Mental Health Clinician, previously approved by the Board on August 6, 2020.

Background: This is an addendum for Mental Health Clinician, Mark Bishop. The original Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and addendum are attached. The addendum to the MOU adds fingerprinting to the roles and responsibilities of Mental Health Clinician (MHC), Mark Bishop.

This addendum does not have a fiscal impact to the original MOU. Mr. Mark Bishop serves as a Mental Health Clinician supporting the students at Newark Memorial High School. This contract is for his continued service and work for the 2020-2021 school year.

File Attachments Mark Bishop-NUSD Agreement 2020-21_Addendum.pdf (81 KB) Mark Bishop-NUSD Agreement 2020-21_fully executed.pdf (642 KB)

15.4 Resolution No. 2020.21-007 Gann Limit

Type                     Action

Preferred Date           Sep 17, 2020

Fiscal Impact            No

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board adopt Resolution No. 2020.21-007 for the 2019-20 and
Action                   2020-21 Gann Limit.

Purpose: The purpose of this item is for the Board to approve Resolution No. 2020.21-007, adopting the 2019-20 and 2020-21 Gann Limit.

Background: Each year local jurisdictions in the State of California must determine that certain appropriations and revenues are within the guidelines set forth in Article XII, Section B of the State Constitution commonly known as the Gann Amendments (Proposition 4, 1979). These calculations are based upon expenditures in the base year of 1978-79. The provisions of that Article establish maximum appropriation limitations for public agencies, including school districts. Newark Unified School District must establish a revised Gann limit for the 2019-20 fiscal year and a projected Gann limit for the 2020-21 fiscal year in accordance with the provisions of Article XIIB and applicable statutory law

File Attachments Gann Limit_Resolution No. 2020.21-007 plus calculations (SACS Form GANN).pdf (112 KB)

15.5 Warrant Report for August 2020

Type                     Action (Consent)

Preferred Date           Sep 17, 2020

Fiscal Impact            No

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board approve the Warrant Report as presented.
Action

Goals                        2a. Safe, Secure and Healthy Learning Environments

Purpose: The purpose of this item is to present warrants made from District funds for August 2020.

Background: The warrant registers represent a complete listing of all payments made from District funds for a month. Because Newark Unified School District is a fiscally dependent District, each warrant must pass through two separate audits; first by the District's Fiscal Services department, and second by the County Office of Education. No warrant can be paid until such time as it is examined and approved by the County Office of Education.

File Attachments Warrant Report_2020 August.pdf (2,231 KB)

16. BOARD OF EDUCATION - COMMITTEE REPORTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, REQUESTS, DEBRIEF AND DISCUSSION

16.1 Board of Education Committee Reports

                         DEBRIEF AND DISCUSSION

Type                     Information

The board committee members will give any updates from the following committees:

Mission Valley ROP -Member Rodriguez & President Martinez SELPA - Member Rodriguez & President Martinez City/School Liaison - Member Nguyen & Member Zhang East Bay Induction - Member Rodriguez & _____ Audit Committee - Member Nguyen & Member Zhang School Consolidation Committee - Member Martinez & Member Nguyen Godbe - Member Martinez & ______ Communication Committee - Member ______ & Member Nguyen Governance Handbook - Member Martinez & Member Zhang

16.2 Board of Education Announcements, Requests, Debrief, and Discussion

                         DEBRIEF AND DISCUSSION

Type                     Information

17. SUPERINTENDENT'S CONCLUDING COMMENTS, UPDATES FOR THE BOARD AND FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS

17.1 Superintendent's Concluding Comments, Updates for the Board, and Future Agenda Requests

                         FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS

Type                     Information

18. ADJOURNMENT

18.1 Adjournment

Type                     Procedural

No items will be considered after 10:00 p.m., unless it is determined by a majority of the Board to extend to a specific time. The meeting shall be extended no more than once.

No minutes available.