Special of the Meeting

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[0] Toni Stone: of President Martinez. Here.

[3] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And so with that, we move to item two, which is the approval of the agenda as is. Have a motion and a second.

[16] Bowen Zhang: I move that we approve the agenda as it is.

[19] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Member Zhang moves. Member Nguyen seconds. Can we just do a hand vote? All in favor, please raise your hand. So the motion carries with three ayes. Before we get into the next, the actual item of the business at hand, and I know it's an informational item, and I'll ask if there's a speaker. I just wanted to talk about, we did schedule three meetings, three meetings, three hours for this topic. Right now, there are only three of us. I did make folks aware that I do have a hard stop at eight o'clock. Mr. Hewitt, you thought we could probably finish within two to two and a half hours, so we should be okay. Okay, because we do have some consent agenda items that we need to get through. So I know you will probably walk us through an agenda, but I will kind of try to serve as timekeeper as well.

[81] SPEAKER_10: Good. We have times on every portion of it. So good.

[84] Elisa Martinez: Very good. And so we before we go ahead and get started, then on the new business, I just wanted to confirm this with the others. Do we have a speaker on this item? Yes, we do. On 3.1. Okay.

[95] Toni Stone: Yes.

[96] Penny DeLeon: Mr. Rose, if you could please move Mr. Knoop over.

[103] Cary Knoop: Good evening, everybody. On this hotter than July day.

[108] Elisa Martinez: Good evening.

[110] Cary Knoop: Um, this is wonderful to have the superintendent deliverables scheduled, it's always very important that everybody's crystal clear about what is expected of each other. I hope that the focus on academics will be mentioned, and especially the informing the parents on the progress that the students have. As you, all you board members know, the previous administration rolled back going from four grade levels or four, you know, levels of understanding the material to three, one, two, and three. I would venture that the majority of the parents would like to have some more details about how our kids are doing. So I hope that one of these things that the superintendent will be very proactive in that role. Another thing that I think is essential is to have a good relationship between the unions and the district. Now, obviously, there's conflict of interest. You know, the district has to run a budget. The union is looking at their teachers and staff. But what is most important is trust and openness. Negotiation can be super tough. That's really good. But negotiate fair and open. Customer service I think is another area and I just don't want to harp on it, but you know when people send emails It is just decent to give a reply and if you are not capable to give a reply, you know forward it to somebody who can Last thing is And this is always a thing for superintendents, I think, that most superintendents think that the board is too much involved in their work. And that's often true. But the opposite should be taken care of, too. The superintendent has really no business in board stuff. And we do want to make sure that that's separated. So the boards meeting is the board meeting, where there's minutes or actions. Superintendent is basically not running that show. But he's running pretty much everything else. So that's a few comments I wanted to make. Thanks very much.

[251] Elisa Martinez: Okay, thank you. So with that, we move to the action, or it's actually not an action item, it's a discussion and information session. And this is the determination of the superintendent's objectives. And I'm going to hand this over to Mr. Bill Hewitt. Again, he, just as a reminder, he is with McPherson Jacobson, the firm that we hired in, to help us hire our current superintendent. And if you maybe take a second to just kind of walk through, this is typically a part of the service that comes when we hire you. And so I'm gonna go ahead and hand it over to you and you'll walk us through.

[294] SPEAKER_10: Good, thank you very much, President Martinez. So we, yes, I'll start right there that for those listening in and for the board members that this is, there is no charge for this. This is part, well, no, additional charge. This is part of the services that McPherson and Jacobson provides when you ask us to help you hire a superintendent. We come back two or three months later and we call it off to a good start services. We also check in with the board and with the superintendent during the first year of employment because you have a guarantee that if things don't work out anytime in the first two years that we actually come back and do another search for you for only expenses, pretty much free. If it's virtual, it is no expense. So, but I'm very excited about this work. I really enjoy working with boards on a number of topics beyond superintendent searches. One of them is goal setting. And so tonight if we put the first slide, we can go into that my presentation. Tonight, what we're going to do is we're going to go ahead and take a look at the superintendent's yearly goals and objectives. And the purpose of doing this, of course, is to define the work. It's to define what the work is of the superintendent and the board, and also to become more concrete, specific, and evaluative on progress made. We think it's very important, especially in the first year, That specific goals and objectives are set and that it is communicated to the public about the progress that's been made. And we actually like to encourage you to, you know, get into a cycle of doing this every year as, you know, as you develop your objectives, especially year to year. Okay, let's go to first slide. All right, so let's take a look at what we're going to do tonight. So first of all, I have a short presentation that reviews the purpose and the characteristics of setting goals and objectives. That takes about 20 minutes. I will pretty much run through it and stop a couple of moments, a couple places to see if the board has any comment or questions. Then we go through a process of actually kind of verifying what is in your district. And this may take more than 10 minutes because in talking with your superintendent and president of the board, the board goals are in development. And the superintendent has become aware of that, has some focus areas that take that into effect, take LCAP into effect. So we'll talk about how do we decide and take a look at what goals the board wants to do sort of as an interim almost in this first year. And then we'll talk about superintendent objectives and I'll talk about the difference between goals and objectives during the evening. And that'll take most of the time. That'll take probably over an hour to really decipher that out. I've asked the superintendent to say, what do you see the work as being? However, the important thing about this is the superintendent always offers up, these are the things now I think need to be done, but the board is the one that says, here are the real important things that we wanna focus on. So while you'll hear me use the word focus until you're probably sick of it, but that will be largely what that time period is, is bringing into focus And we'd like you to focus on three to five objectives in the first year you're working with a superintendent. We're not saying that's all the objectives that a superintendent has or will have, but we think there's a good idea to start small and develop from there. We'll talk briefly about the evaluation criteria for those objectives. We will not complete that work. There's not enough time. And we will just give you some time to discuss, okay, This is what the objective is, what are some measures that we might want to use, but we won't fully develop those measures. That really is going to take more work for the superintendent and his or her staff to come back to you for. Then finally, we'll go ahead and we'll close with saying, okay, what occurs next and how does this fall into your evaluative goal and objective cycle during the year? That sounds like a good set of objectives for our agenda tonight. Yes. Okay. All right. And Lisa, if you want to keep me on task. That's great. So let's go ahead and start with the first one about Well, I start with the, that didn't all get on the slide. That's okay. You probably recognize this. These are the five roles. These are the five roles of the board. And I think it's always good to start with what is the role of the board? The role of the board is to set direction, is to establish effective and efficient structures for the school district, is to provide support for the work to be done, is to ensure accountability, and is to act as community leaders. When you set goals and superintendent objectives, you're actually working on all five of these, but you are really working a lot on number one and number four. Those are the two that you're focusing on the most in your role. You're setting direction. What you're really doing tonight is setting direction for the district. In a sense, you are establishing effective and efficient structures for the school district having, you know, this system is very good. You're providing support for the superintendent and staff to get the work done. And you're also acting as community leaders, but the big thing is one in four because You are setting the direction and then you're saying that these are the things we want to hold you accountable for. Accountability sometimes sounds scary. It shouldn't be. Accountability is good feedback. It's feedback about when we're making progress and how we are doing and that's a big role of the board. Okay, next slide. All right, so why do we develop goals and objectives? And I wanna say a short thing about goals and objectives. They're mixed up oftentimes, okay? People use them interchangeably. They really shouldn't be. Goals are what the board sets, objectives are what the board and the superintendent set. Goals are broad statements, okay? They are difficult. They are long-term. They are difficult if not always evaluated. And if they are evaluated, there are multiple measures to them. And they're broad. You know, they have a breadth to them. Objectives are shorter term. They're concrete specific. And they're highly evaluative. They are measurable. So I always want to talk about the difference between goals and objectives because they always get mixed up. In fact, they're used synonymously. They shouldn't be. You've probably heard about SMART goals. SMART goals are really SMART objectives. Everybody misuses that. SMART goals, SMART is an acronym for some characteristics of what a good objective is. Okay. All right. So by setting goals and objectives, you can focus on what's most important. You can provide a unified direction for your team. You achieve more and devote less energy to non-critical tasks. You motivate your staff and boost its overall job satisfaction because things are accomplished and they can point to what we've done, what we said we were gonna do and what we did. That's very satisfactory and very positive for your staff. And you establish institutional effectiveness in the eyes of the public. Okay, next. All right, I'm going to talk a lot about what are three criteria for our objectives. And tonight, I'll challenge you on these. And I have to say that I've taken a lot of the research and looking SMART goals, goal development, both in schools and industry, Deming's work on doing the continuous improvement cycle. And I've windowed it down really into three areas that I think that you should focus on, you should take a look at for criteria on your objectives. And I think it makes it a little easier for board members, and I think it makes it probably a little more effective. First of all, you want to have an objective that has some impact. I like to say it has some purpose, meaningful relationship to the goal. It's part of the goal, it's going to move the goal forward, and it's not just something that is tangent to it or not related to one of the goals. I like to give a, I did a lot of work with school accreditation, and I love the structure that they have. One of the things they have, to make a long story short, one of the things they ask every school to do is to come up with the critical student need, and that becomes the critical objective of what you're going to work on, and a team comes in and looks at it. Well, long story short, I did a very good, I reviewed a very good school, but they had a, back in the day when we gave scores of one to 10, They were seven and they should have been a 10. So we went in wondering, okay, what are they going to say about academics. So they do all this work and they come up with their impactful statement. This is the statements were really impactful. If you didn't write was that they needed to improve their students door. So there's a good example of not setting an objective that's relevant, has impact, and moves the objective forward. Because of course, what they should have done, and we told them and worked with them, is that they needed to improve achievement, especially with their lower socioeconomic kids that they had in their school. So we want to make sure that whatever the objective is, it relates to the goal, and it has impact. The next thing is, it should be something that can be doable, and that sounds like it's self-evident, but I can't tell you how many times I've heard somebody come up with an objective that I said, and how are you going to do that, and who's going to do it? When you think about doable, it should not be so broad and so big that it can't be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time. We do objectives usually on a year basis. Some people do them on a six-month basis, but we usually do them on a year basis. We're looking at something, whatever we're doing, it relates to the goal, it's not the whole goal, it is part of that, and it is something that can be done. that it's possible for us to accomplish it and do it well and point to its completion. Now, do we always complete it? Do we always get it done? No, we don't. That's why we want to look on to see if it's measurable and how well we have done in implementing it or achieving our objective. But the other thing about doable, and we'll get into it in a minute, is you really need to see Is it us that can do it? And I'll talk about that later. And finally, measurable. The objective should be something that you can measure and say, we did it this well or this much. Next. All right, so impact, and I'll run through these. Again, it should support the goal. It should align with your mission, vision, and LCAP. It draws from the super intense past evaluation often. Remember, I use this with boards that are Also not doing things for the first time. They're doing it over and over again. We like you to focus on five high impact objectives, okay? It should be observable and clear or concrete in its description. Shouldn't be something ethereal, like everybody's gonna feel better, okay? I've had some objectives saying that the public will feel really good about their schools. That's our objective. No, that might be close to a goal, but it's not an objective. Okay, it supports the work of the staff, the achievement of the students and the involvement of the board in the community. Okay, so it's so it's right in there for the daily action and work of what's going on in the schools. And it can be something part, it can be something of a multi-year goal or steps, but it should stand on its own year to year. It can be a step in a long range project. And you oftentimes see this in academics. Like I've seen a goal that they're gonna improve math instruction. Well, you can't do 12 grades all at once. Typically, you have to reform you know, the primary grades and then the middle grades, you know, and that's a five-year project sometimes, maybe three or, you know, it's more than that. So that's a good example of saying your objective then is going to be maybe just doing, you know, primary grade mathematics and revising that and implementing it and seeing how effective it is. Okay, next. All right, again, it can be accomplished in a year. It has to be doable. Okay, so it's time relevant, whereas goals aren't. Goals go further. It can be done in six to 12 months. You don't want to have no impossible conditions. The one impossible condition that, well, there's actually two of them and one's mentioned down here. Actually, they're both mentioned. I'll just go into it. One impossible condition is you're depending on somebody else for it to get done. For instance, a union. I've seen some goals saying that we're going to have a settlement that is Zero Cola, something like that. Well, that's really not a very good objective because it's dependent upon, you know, another entity agreeing with you. And it's not something really you have in your bailiwick to be able to accomplish on your own. So it should be something that you don't have to overly depend on another group, an outside agency, or something like that. Secondly, it should be realistic. When you're looking at SMART goals that are in the SMART goals objectives, it stands for realistic. And being realistic means that it should be able to fit in the budget, should have realistic costs, and your budget can afford it. One of the things about being doable, and I want to talk a little bit about this, it might be low-hanging fruit. And what is low-hanging fruit? Low-hanging fruit is something that is out there, that can be done, that has immediate impact, and it's very visible. It's great for a new superintendent and new board to grab onto something that's very visible and can readily be done. It may not be the highest impact thing, but it's got to have some impact as well. I'm going to give you an example. When I was a new superintendent in Dixon, California, They had five schools, three of them had no air conditioning, and they happened to be elementary schools. So what would happen in September, or these days, October, is that in the afternoon, the children would have to be on the floor, lying on the floor to stay cool enough, and very little learning was going on. Teachers would typically read to them in the afternoons. So I had some background in heating and ventilating. And so we couldn't afford to put in all new centralized air conditioning in the schools. We just didn't have the money for that. It was a small district. But I said, you know, I know what we could do. We could get window units and put them above the doors and put a big one in each for each classroom. And we wouldn't get it down to 70 degrees, but we would get the temperature on a hot day, 20 degrees lower than it was outside. So the hottest it would ever be would be 85. And, you know, that would be good enough. So, you know, we suffered through that first fall when I was a superintendent, but then we did that during the winter at low cost. And everybody thought, you know, I was a hero because for decades, they had been not teaching kids very much in September or in May. And now everybody you know, everybody could learn. That was low hanging fruit. That was right there with something we could grab and do and it had impact. Okay, it can be seen as an accomplishment, effective leadership by the board and superintendent. Being doable, you want it to be, you really want us to be able to have it be something you can talk about, something that you can brag a little bit about. Okay, next slide. We're almost, we're getting there. How are we doing on time on the first part? We're close. Okay. We're on time. Oh, hi there, Ray. Good to see you.

[1330] Elisa Martinez: We have about eight minutes for this session. Yeah, we'll get it. We'll get it. Sorry, Ms. Gutierrez, can you please let the record show that member Gutierrez just joined at 5.27 PM?

[1342] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. So I'm on there, so Mr. Hurt, you're always late. That's what I hear. No, no, I'm always late.

[1350] SPEAKER_10: I'm always late. It's good to see you again. Yeah, good to see you as well. Okay, on measurable, you establish a credibility criteria and expectations. We should be data-driven. In other words, we need targets and results established up front. We should be able to tell what has changed, what's accomplished, what does it look like, how well was it done, what remains, what is the next step? Like I'd said before, it doesn't necessarily mean that when we measure it, that everything's gonna get done, but we will know how much did and what needs to happen next. And these should be part of the superintendent's evaluation. Okay, next step. We'll talk more about that later. Okay, now I'm gonna conclude this section with this notion. We like you to focus. We like you to focus in on actually five objectives. That may seem very restrictive and I'm not saying that later you won't do more objectives, but we'd like you to focus in on five objectives. I want to show you two pictures. Everybody knows, what's that? What is that?

[1426] Ray Rodriguez: That's a beautiful waterfall.

[1428] SPEAKER_10: A waterfall. Which one is it? You should know which one it is. Very close to us. Yosemite, right. So one of the things about Yosemite Falls is it is a very focused sort of stream. It goes over the edge, it's narrow, and it actually stays pretty narrow all the way down. If you've been at the base of it, it falls into a small pool and then runs into the Merced River. So So it is something that is narrow at the top, and it's a little wider at the bottom, but it's a very focused waterfall, and that's part of its beauty. Okay, now let's look at the next one. Okay, here's the opposite. What's this? Anybody know what this is? It's the other side of the country. I'll give you a hint. Niagara. This is Niagara. Niagara is just the opposite. Niagara is a very broad rock plain where water really is spread out a lot. In the background there, that is Horseshoe Falls. There's actually two falls at Niagara, Horseshoe Falls and Niagara Falls. But as you can see, it's very spread out. It comes down, it splashes around, it's chaotic, and it widens out as it goes, especially at the base and the rocks there. So these are two very different waterfalls. And we like to talk about this process and the waterfall effect. Okay, let's go on to the next slide. So I want to caution you on the waterfall effect. The waterfall effect is that when water goes over a waterfall, it can stay focused or it can hit and spread out. It can hit the rock several times and spread out like it does at Niagara. And let's just take a case in point. Suppose you have five goals and you give five objectives to the superintendent for each goal. And the superintendent then has to do an action plan. So the superintendent ends up with four strategies for each objective and each strategy needs an action plan with it. So it has six tactics and maybe five steps for each tactic. You've now told the superintendent this year do 3000 things and do them well. And I can't tell you how many times I've worked with a board where they've spread themselves too thin. and they haven't picked the things that really make a difference. So we want to caution you about keep it focused, keep it down to a few goals, a few objectives for each goal, and don't get it to widen out so much that you're making the job impossible for the superintendent. OK, next. So in closing, this is a group that I've been trained by called Pivot Partners. All of you may have known them as the Bay Area Consortium for School Improvement at one time. And they encourage leaders to bring focus to their work, to do it with intensity and make sure that things are coherent with the goals. And I like people to remember this FIC idea. Focus, focus, focus. Do less objectives, but do them deeper and stronger. And make sure that they really align with the main work of the district. Okay. I think that's it. What do we have next? Anything? We have another slide. That's it. Yep, that's it. Okay. All right. So what I'm going to do now is to go ahead and say, well, the first thing we need to do is to look at the work of the district. So I've asked Mark to go ahead and he's been there for three months now. Mark, you're completing your third month, I think. And he's done some work. I don't know if he shared it with the board. I think maybe you did this week. Is that correct? Yeah?

[1670] Mark Triplett: Yes.

[1671] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, about where he sees the focus of the district where and now these aren't these aren't fully developed goals yet. But he's taken the work you've done with goals and the LCAP and and you know the marching orders that people he's heard from the community and put them into, I think, four areas, if I'm not mistaken. Is that right? So we wanna take, probably is gonna take more than 10 minutes, but we wanna take these and go through them and see if the board concurs that at least in an interim situation, that these are gonna be where we attach objectives, that these four areas would be things that you will attach objectives to, because we've gotta have some board goals that these relate to, or some board areas of focus. Okay, I'll turn it over to you, Mark.

[1722] SPEAKER_13: Great. Thank you, Bill. Good evening, everybody. Great to see you. Thank you for being here. So I'm going to share my screen. And let's see here. I can make this larger. So in the last, sorry, there we go. Yeah, in the last three months, I've done a lot of engaging with community members, with staff, students, teachers, principals, yourselves. And from that, I've done a lot of listening. And from all those engagements, I've identified four areas that I am thinking are the most high leverage focus areas. The first being fiscal vitality and building a culture of fiscal responsibility. The second being meaningful community engagement and communication and restoring trust and building a deep understanding of our collective work. The third, instructional excellence, promoting a focus on continual improvement of teaching and learning. And then the last one I call exceptional learning environments, and that's improving the condition and upkeep of facilities, equipment, and fields. So those are the three draft areas that I would love to get your feedback on and to hear from you. Am I missing anything? Is anything actually not as high a priority as I might be thinking? So is there anything I should start that I haven't? Is there anything I should stop that I already started? And are there things I should continue?

[1835] SPEAKER_10: And what I'd like to have the board discuss now is these are four goal areas. Clearly we haven't written a goal to each of these areas because a goal will state what it is we wanna see in the future sometime when we've met the needs of that area. But they would suffice to write objectives to them, to tie them to them. And in the absence of formalized board goals, we oftentimes with boards say, what is the area of focus that you're asking your superintendent to work on? And then we go from there. So that's what we've got here. We want to spend most of our time not on these. We just want to know if these are right. We don't want to spend most of our time in this because we want to spend most of our time on what the work of the superintendent and staff is going to be during the year. And those are the objectives that will relate to them.

[1902] SPEAKER_13: And if I may, Bill, I don't know if this is the time, but I've also articulated for each of these goal areas. I've articulated some key actions that I've identified and have been doing. And so that seems like that might be valuable for the board to also know. So let me know if I should present that now or later.

[1925] Elisa Martinez: I would say hang, I think, hang on because I think I just want to make sure that there. I think something you just said, Bill is is important. There are areas of focus for 2021. We as a board haven't identified goals, right? So Mark, this is kind of your attempt of, if we look at LCAP, if we look at kind of what we've approved in terms of direction, these are, I was gonna call them themes, but they're areas of focus, not particularly goals. And so, as we move my expectation and help me understand if this is how I would what would I expect to see in goal area one like some action steps would I expect those to be the objectives just given I'm trying to link those back to the descriptions that um that bill gave in terms of the goal and then how we articulate an objective should I jump in there bill or

[1985] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, well, let me make a comment. Yeah, I mean, I think exactly. You exactly have it right, Alisa. These are areas of focus that are substituting or are interim, if you will, for what your goals may be in the future, okay? And I would encourage you to set, part of your work this year is to develop board goals. But in the absence of that, these are the areas that the objectives should relate to. And the objectives will be written To these four areas, you know, you may do one or two for each is what I would recommend and And Mark has also done some work about things he's done, but you know some things too. So we'll take these one at a time and say, what are objectives? We'll have a discussion. What are objectives that we think are important? And which ones meet that, which one or two meet that criteria of, you know, of being, having some impact, some substance to it, being something that we can do. You know, it's not so broad that it can't be done in a year. And we can measure that we're going to be able to tell the public how well we've done with it. So yes, you're right on, Alisa. And what we want to talk about now is, is it acceptable to work off of these four areas? And this is, you know, this is work of the board. This is, you are the strategic masters, if you will, of the, I call it the 30,000 foot in the air view. Well, this is where we are right now. We're talking about, okay, for this coming year, Are these the four major kind of focus areas that we need to work on?

[2090] Elisa Martinez: Any comments from other board members? I don't want to monopolize. I mean, I think I'm not hearing anything. I mean, I think so. I mean, that's typically the things that we're talking about. And again, that is some of the work that we need to do as a board. Our long-term strategic plan, we don't have, but we know we have to, we always talk about, you know, and maybe we should reorder these, if anything. That's my initial reaction is, You know, instructional excellence should be the first thing, you know, engagement and communication. And, you know, this was a big theme when we went out and hired a new leader was rebuilding trust and communication. and then obviously our fiscal solvency and a big conversation that we have had and current is around our facilities and what's our path there forward. So, I mean, as I'm just talking out loud, that's how I'm, and yeah, I think, I don't know that these are big or broad. So I think for me, they sound like the right ones to start with. But any thoughts on the rest of the board? Sorry, member Rodriguez.

[2166] Ray Rodriguez: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. No, no, no, go ahead. You know, when we hired the superintendent, then his evaluation started right away. And I'm sure you're working on it, President Martinez. But when I look at these, these are his goals. When we do the evaluation, then the board is gonna be able to chime in on what their goals are and how those goals fit in with the superintendent's goals. Because of the culture we have right now with school closure and everything, having physical viability, I think it, in my opinion, it's gotta be at the top right now. And then the, instructional excellence would go below that. And so it would still be the four. I'm good. But to me, if he's identified four, then to me, four equals one. because he's working on all four of them at the same time. So it isn't like he's working on the physical part and the other part is not being done. I think on a weekly basis, he's probably doing all four. And that's why we hired him, because in spite of the fact that men are not multitasking, that they don't do multitasking very well, we're asking him to multitask. And so I think this is great. The, the thing that I, that I like is, um, um, is how does this fit in to the governance where, where it would be board superintendent goals. And so when we do the board goals or when those, those are done, then everything is meshed in. But at the same time, um, if we're going to be holding him accountable, it's going to have to be in my opinion on what on these four and, um, um, and, I know, Superintendent Triplett, you've already done a lot of work and I heard from somebody that you were trying to leave and somebody stopped you and said you couldn't do it. You cannot leave us right now because you have to finish these goals. Not true, not trying to leave. Okay, good. So I like these. And my question would be, how do you take your goals after you share them with the board and then share them with your staff and your principals and to make sure that they understand that these are the goals that you have as a superintendent for the district?

[2329] Elisa Martinez: And Bill, I think just to keep us on task, I think that that's part of the conversation. Right now, I think the question is, do these feel, do these, you know, to the rest of, so member Zhang, member Nguyen, are these the themes, the areas of focus, do these we'll get into those next level weeds.

[2350] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, I wanted to say to Ray, hold that question because that's the that on the agenda. And we went over the agenda before he got here. So he did. Okay, that's true. That on the agenda is the last thing we'll talk about where do we go from here? And, and how does this roll into the work of the staff, the work of the board and the evaluation of the superintendent?

[2373] Elisa Martinez: So, yeah, any comments from members young remember when

[2380] Phuong Nguyen: I looked over these four focus areas and I am in agreement that these are four really good starting points in terms of to build objectives on and goals. So yes, maybe we just need to prioritize which ones we feel are the top priority and then down the list. But the other thing that I would like to add I guess, especially in our current environment, is really, if we do continue, or depending on if we decide to reopen schools or whatever, something along the lines of evaluating distance learning, because that could be a model moving forward in the future that is another option for us to be able to expand and for student learning.

[2445] SPEAKER_10: I appreciate that comment and I think I've done about five of these this year because I've done five searches and every one of the boards has had that as an objective under instructional excellence. Almost every board has instructional excellence as it as a goal. And every single one of them has had distance learning as a superintendent objective. We all know it's a lot of the work that's going on right now. So that's a very valid point. And I would say that when you get into what the objectives for this year are, evaluating distance learning or having an objective with virtual education is going to come up very high. To set it as a goal, it's probably not broad enough in and of itself to be a goal, but that's up to the board.

[2500] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Member Zhang, do you have any questions or comments? No.

[2507] Ray Rodriguez: Okay. I have a question of Mr. Yurt. If these goals are the superintendent's goals, as a board, if we begin to change them, Is that really what we're supposed to do as a board? These are his goals. So if we begin to look at them and change them, then it kind of takes away from it unless we talk about our goals. Yeah.

[2535] Elisa Martinez: So let's clarify that. That's because, again, I think that that's part of the intro that you missed, Ray, because this is He's just proposed, it's called superintendent's proposed goals, but these are the district goals, the board goals.

[2552] SPEAKER_10: I would change that word superintendent to district proposed areas of focus. They're not really goals yet, but the superintendent doesn't really set the goals that are his. That's what the board's job is. The board does that. The superintendent does have objectives that he has to accomplish each year. So it's a great question. Ray's asking from all the experience he's had. But these really are district proposed areas of focus or future possible future goals, something like that. And then the objectives that we set down there are those are the things that you know, our superintendent related and changed from year to year. But these, once, I would say that you probably are going to want to, during the course of the year, take these four and sit down and formalize them into, are these the goals we want for five years, three years, whatever you do, but goals tend to be three to five year time periods, some are even longer.

[2613] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. Thank you for clarifying. Oh, go ahead.

[2616] SPEAKER_13: Oh, I was just gonna say, this is a working document, so I'm changing it in real time, and we can always change it.

[2624] Elisa Martinez: Okay, so this was, I think that this section, Bill, and just kind of from a timekeeping perspective, that was just kind of alignment to the goals, and I think we're moving now to the next section.

[2637] SPEAKER_10: Right, right, which will take us most of the time. So we now need to look at the work of the superintendent, staff, and the district. Now, this gets down to the tactical part. You know, the board is strategic. You set the goals. The work, the objective work is more focused on what the superintendent leads and does. But the board has interplay with that. So what we like to do is to say to the superintendent, what's your recommendation for the work that needs to happen? What objectives need to happen? And boards are very helpful in prioritizing and also seeing if anything was missed. But what I'd like to do now is take each one of these Mark has done a little bit of work. You all have a lot of experience. We'll take these one at a time and we'll just talk through what would be some objectives that we could do and then what's the most important one as we have. It will probably be self-evident. I would say limit yourself to one, if you have to, two for each goal area. I will really push you not to have more than five or six in your first year. So let's start with the first, let's start wherever you wanna start.

[2717] SPEAKER_13: Should I put it back up, Bill?

[2719] SPEAKER_14: Yep. All right.

[2724] SPEAKER_13: So, and would it be helpful to talk through sort of what I've called leadership actions, but which are not necessarily, I think, objectives, but are connected to objectives. Would that be helpful to just walk through those?

[2740] SPEAKER_10: Yep, let me say something about objectives, okay? And in any objective, I probably ought to have this as a slide, you want to say who is doing what and it will result in, okay? So there's the who, the what, and the result in any objective that you do. So when we write these objectives, I'm going to be asking you, okay, who does this? What is it that you're expecting to be done? And how does it affect, what does it affect? Okay, because the effect is very important because that's what you're gonna evaluate really is the effect. So it's who, what and the effect is gonna be the elements of any objective that you do. But let's talk conceptually first here, go ahead.

[2789] SPEAKER_13: OK. And feel free to stop me if I'm not on the right track here. So for this first one, what I identified under fiscal vitality as sort of an action is, first and foremost, thinking about the FCMAT report and the action steps that were articulated in there that are necessary in order to ensure our fiscal vitality. And so that's what I put here. The purpose being to ensure positive certification from the County Office of Education by maintaining a balanced budget, and I think that's the key part, through 2023-24 as required by the California Department of Ed. And then I named just a couple bullets in there of things that, some things already done and some things that are a work in progress. One being that we have reviewed all the findings from the FCMAT report and we've identified actions taken and actions planned. And then two, and this was, this happened last night, board study session on October 15th to occur to review the key findings and necessary actions to address a few critical things around the structural deficit. And so there, I bulleted district enrollment, inter-fund borrowing, and establishing appropriate reserves for fiscal vitality. So that was one thinking. And then the second one for Under Fiscal Vitality was ensuring ongoing revenues to fund both new and ongoing expenditures. And so some of the ways to do that, in my mind, pursuing grant opportunities at the corporate, state, and federal level, which we've already started to do, deepening partnerships with local foundations, philanthropic organizations, and industry partners. And that's something that we're working on as well. And then build a strategy for increasing enrollment. So those strike me as key areas to increase revenue. And then the flip side of fiscal vitality being how do we ensure proper spending and responsibility.

[2920] SPEAKER_10: I want to say that the superintendent is going to have plans for the year that have that are more complete and have more objectives and have more things to do. But the board's job is to say, okay, from our perspective, we think these are really highly impactful and we want you to focus on them because we are going to evaluate you on them. You can't evaluate him on every single thing he does in every area. But you all together can say here are the, we used to call them power standards when we were talking about curriculum. These are sort of like the power objectives. So I'm going to push you a little bit right now. And I'm going to start with the one that I think is a little easier. And that's the second one there. So what is the power revenue source? Is there one there that rises above the others of having greater impact? and will solve the problem of not having revenue. You wanna raise revenue, that's a good objective, but what is the what? What is the what? What is the thing that is really gonna make a difference on that?

[2989] SPEAKER_13: Yeah, and I would say the third bullet, enrollment is the really strongest, most vital.

[2996] SPEAKER_10: Yeah. So one of the candidates, in my opinion, one of the candidates, just one of the candidates for an objective under this fiscal viability is to say that we will build and maybe do some implementation to build and implement. We wanna have some impact, a strategy for increasing student enrollment. And the question is, you know, who is going to do that and what will the effect be? So who is going to do that is largely, you know, is largely the administration. in these cases, I mean, unless you're going to get, you know, the community involved in recruiting kids or marketing or something like that. But so who is going to do that? And the effect, you know, the effect is, the effect is either to maintain enrollment for next year or to increase it. So, so that is, you know, that's measurable, right? Right. The effect is you want more kids. And so that ought to be written into your objective, is that you want to, it's a power standard or it's a power objective to increase student enrollment by putting together strategies and maybe marketing plans, I've heard that before, in order to either maintain or increase enrollment. I don't know what your situation, have you been losing every year?

[3097] SPEAKER_13: We have had, yes, declining enrollment over many years.

[3100] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, so a first step might be to hold your enrollment, right? It might be, and especially in a COVID-19 year. So that's how that objective would look in that area.

[3116] SPEAKER_13: Great. Thank you. And I'm just going to use this as a note-taking also for it.

[3120] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, and that's usually where we end up. Because, Mark, in the end, the board's going to tell you which ones are the most important ones. And then you just need to know, you need to have the who, the what, and the effect of each one. And then you can write the objective and you can write the measurable when you come back to them formally. Now you will bring this back for approval at a future board meeting, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want action on this board, it's not just talk. Okay?

[3151] SPEAKER_13: Do the board members want to chime in about this first one at all?

[3158] SPEAKER_10: Well, it's not the only objective. You had another one, and the board may have another one, too. We just fleshed out, and then we'll talk about which one's the most important, which one or two are the most important.

[3170] Elisa Martinez: No, this, for me, it was really helpful because, you know, as we've gone through training, it's been really, we tend to hear this descriptors of goals and objectives kind of just at a very high level. So, you know, kind of forcing us to go through one, you know, let's pick one. And what does that look like? And what should it contain? So yeah, because I think we've got to be careful that, you know, some of these other the pursuit grant opportunities, deep partnership, though, you know, they're kind of They're almost, you know, they're lofty. They're lofty. So we're going to have to put, if we want to keep them, if we truly believe that's an important lever for us right now, then we're going to have to put some framework around it to say, and we think we're going to get X, right.

[3219] SPEAKER_10: And you're going to have to say, are we going to do those instead of, okay. All right, I wanna emphasize that, right? This is a new superintendent, you're a new board, you can only do so much you guys, right? And you wanna do it really well, especially in the first year. So pick the high impact things and do them really well. And then you'll find that you'll get into a rhythm on this and you'll do more and more. But at this stage, you wanna say, well, let's not say we're not gonna do any, those other things will happen. But let's really focus on holding our enrollment for this year. I think Newark would be, wouldn't it be grand if you had the same number of kids next year after COVID, because you had made a major effort in doing that. And you could stand up to the community and say, we were losing 200 kids a year. And even in a COVID year, we held all of our enrollment. Or we gained. That's a good objective. There's a there are other ones there, though, too. And I'm sure the board's got some thoughts, too, about other objectives. So what else? Anything else?

[3294] SPEAKER_13: Do you want me to stay within the fiscal vitality bill right now? Yeah.

[3297] SPEAKER_10: Should I move? Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna do one at a time and get them done. So let's talk about this FCMAT report. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it is perfunctory or whether there's something dire in there that is really gonna have huge impact on the budget. Yeah, you don't wanna have a goal that says you're just gonna implement the report though, because that's too broad and you're gonna do, you probably have to do parts of it right away. And so tell us more.

[3335] SPEAKER_13: Okay, the I mean, I think the big thing in the report is about the structural deficit. And so addressing that, although that I don't know if that's necessarily accomplishable in its entirety in in one year, although that's that's definitely what we're we're striving for.

[3358] SPEAKER_10: Mm hmm. So who would, who on your, now remember, you don't do all of this, you have a staff. So who is going to handle this? Probably the CBO, right?

[3372] SPEAKER_13: That's right.

[3373] SPEAKER_10: Yeah. So if you had an objective, the who is going to be the CBO and business department, okay? And what does FCMAT ask, what is the what that they're asking? Are they asking you to come up with a plan to eliminate the structural deficit? Yes. So that's the what, right? Who is going to be the CBO business offices? The what is develop a plan and implementation timeline, right? Probably it isn't all done right away for eliminating the structural deficit, right? And what is the result going to be?

[3419] Mark Triplett: A positive budget.

[3422] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, positive certification, right? Resulting in a positive certification. Is that realistic in one year?

[3433] Phuong Nguyen: No, but the detailed part, like defining interfund borrowing and establishing appropriate reserves is part of it.

[3445] SPEAKER_14: OK? Yeah.

[3448] Elisa Martinez: I think it can be, I think, with regards to the result of a positive certification, I think that plan and the implementation timeline and the ability, we don't have to execute, remember, when we certify, but there has to be a clear path for us to get, for us to the board, for the board to agree. So I think it is doable to get a positive certification in one year. Yeah, okay.

[3476] SPEAKER_10: All right. I'm just asking. I don't know. I don't. I'm not there. And I'm not as aware because I just want to make sure that it's doable. Right. Right. This is clearly impactful. Right. There's just no doubt about having positive certification as opposed to being negative or What's the middle one?

[3495] Elisa Martinez: Qualified. Qualified. You know, that has a lot of impact.

[3501] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, it hurts your credibility if you're not positive. And it also is going to have an effect on kids because, you know, eventually you may I've just did Vallejo City School District and they have to spend three and a half million dollars a year paying the state back for 15, 20 years, a long time. So, yeah, you know, you know, yeah, that's a big impact. Okay. All right. It kind of sounds like you have two big objectives here, frankly. Right. So do you want to prioritize those two? Or do you want to keep those two? Or do you want to wait and see?

[3539] SPEAKER_13: I would say that they are definitely interconnected and both very worthy. But I appreciate what you're saying, Bill, about not trying to have too many objectives.

[3555] SPEAKER_10: Yeah. As you look at the goal areas, Ray, I think it was Ray, said that fiscal was number one. In my scanning of your environment, I thought that it was, from what I was hearing from folks, that credibility with the community was big, and academics was important, always is. But it seemed like fiscal was very significant, that that was a big worry of the district, that it seems to be over, arching on all the problems that you have. So maybe you have two objectives in fiscal year, you know, maybe that's where you put two objectives. What do you think, Board? It's your call. You're the strategic folks. Remember, if you have two objectives there, they're going to be more focused there. What do you think, Ray? Oh, Ray's not with me.

[3625] Phuong Nguyen: He's on mute. I personally.

[3631] Ray Rodriguez: I'm sorry.

[3632] Phuong Nguyen: Oh, go ahead, Ray.

[3633] Ray Rodriguez: No, I don't really think of them as two. To me, it's one ongoing, because in order to stabilize the declining enrollment, then we need to pursue the other things. even if you level out, you know, pursuing grant opportunities, deepen partnership with local, to me, that's all part of the, of one. And, but if you want to list them as two, I'm fine with it, you know, but it's, it's all one big one. And, you know, and in order to, you know, stabilize the district, and If you do that, then the community sees that because if we're closing schools and the community sees that we're still deficit spending and stuff, it's just not gonna look good. There has to be a reason for us to close schools and save a million dollars. And so the other stuff has to go with it so that everybody knows that, you know, what the end game is, you know? So I like both of them. If you want to put them at Stu, that's fine. But to me, they're interacting.

[3707] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, a lot of times objectives are because they relate to the same goal, right? Both of these relate to fiscal viability. But are they the two big ticket items that are gonna get you there?

[3720] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. I'm sorry, remember when you were gonna say something?

[3726] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I was just gonna say that I think that it is also multi-year objectives, not just, you know, single objective here. I mean, our goal every year is to either hold enrollment or increase it. I mean, that is related to how funding for school is. And that is also in relation to us being able to have positive certification moving forward. So.

[3754] SPEAKER_10: Yeah. So I want to you brought up a good point. Sometimes objectives appear over and over again. That's OK. But because they're either not completed or because they're so important, they still have high importance, okay? But remember, we're asking what is the superintendent going to do this year? And we're gonna comment on how well that was done when we evaluate the superintendent. And we do that because it's high impact, it's doable and it's measurable. So you brought up a really good point though, that these happen every year. Yeah, but maybe, right? Probably, but maybe you'll accomplish this after a year or two so well that something else will take its place as a priority objective, okay? Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, I think you got two. I think you got two, honestly, I really do. I think it's a big important area. You've got four goal areas, we want you to stay to five, and so I think you got two. Let's go on to the next area.

[3821] SPEAKER_13: All right, terrific. Oh, there's a bullet left off there. I think that's OK. I think it's this. Yeah, yeah, it's the same. All right, so the second goal area was meaningful community engagement and two-way communication. And so what I listed here was these are four strategies or actions that I have been taking to strengthen community engagement and two-way communication. Probably don't need to go too deep into each one, but I'll let you all take a look.

[3858] Elisa Martinez: Superintendent, when I first looked at this series of just actions, the first question was from maybe, I'm not sure if I was thinking in the term objective, but I was thinking about what are we trying to solve with all this series of actions? But I think it kind of brings us back to what is it that you said, Bill? What are we, what are- What is the what? What is the what? What is the what?

[3889] SPEAKER_10: What is the objective here, okay? So the goal is to have engagement with the community, meaningful engagement with the community. And meaningful is not just a word to throw out there. When you're talking about you wanna engage the community, there are a lot of ways to engage the community. You can just go and listen to the complaints. Meaningful engagement with the community usually has the connotation of saying that there's a dialogue about critical issues, about how to solve them, and a participation in a process to make change. So that's my initial reaction is that the goal is what is an impactful way to work with the community so they're really partners with you in moving the district forward on a number of fronts. So it's probably not meet and greet, right? It's probably not meet and greet. That's not, not to say that's not important. That should be part of what the superintendent does. And you'll evaluate him in, we'll talk about his evaluation later, but part of your evaluation will be how well has he worked with the community in general. And meet and greet's important in that. But if the goal really to bring the community on board to be part of the process of moving decisions forward What would that look like? What would that objective be? I want to give you an example of one that I did. It doesn't have to be the one that you do. So two of the three districts I was superintendent of, I went in and they had budget problems, big budget problems. And the first thing that I did was to set up a budget advisory committee that was made up of staff and community leaders. And we worked. Oh, I'll tell you, man, we, we met, we, we didn't just start when, you know, in January, we started in October, and we worked the budget, we went through everything. And the thing that was great about that, and there were a couple board members on that committee And what was great about that is that by the time we had to make the hard decisions, okay, about next year's budget, we had people, we had ambassadors out in the community, we had teachers that were part of the union that said, hey, we got to do these things, you know, and we have mashed out a whole bunch of things. And it didn't mean that they usurped my responsibility as a superintendent. There were a couple of times I said to the board, this is what the committee says, this is what I say. I'm recommending you do what I'm saying, but you're the boss, so you choose. But it was great for the board because they had the community engaged with them. Their stakeholders were given meaningful dialogue with the district. So when I read the goal area and then, Mark, and when I read the action steps, I actually saw a little bit of disconnect in my own mind. Not to say that those things aren't important, but most, let's go back to your activities here.

[4080] SPEAKER_13: Okay, and can I say, before I scroll down there, part of what I articulated up here about this is maybe more towards the, I don't know, the objective, I guess, restoring trust and building a deep understanding of our collective work. I think the challenge is how do you measure trust, like the restoration of trust? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, anyway, here to there, I mean.

[4104] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, yeah.

[4109] Elisa Martinez: Thoughts or comments from other board members on this one? You guys can stop me. I didn't hear anyone, so I'll start. Sorry, were you going to say number one?

[4128] Phuong Nguyen: No, I said I can follow.

[4130] Elisa Martinez: Okay. So just the meaningful community engagement. So I thank you for the example again, Bill. You know, one of the things I know we struggled, certainly when I was on the board, and I had this perception of this lack of intent to communicate as a parent. Then I'm on the board and now I see that there's a bunch of avenue, but a bunch of tactical things like the things that we see here in front of us, tactical things to go engage. But if it's not two-way, if we're not getting that meaningful then, you know, there's still this perception that we're not doing enough. So coming back to your point, superintendent, how do we measure that? So maybe it's something coming back to the impact, right? It's what we're doing something and what do we expect to get for it? Because I think, again, going down the tactical path, if we don't have that two-way engagement, it still is a bunch of things we're doing. And it's hard to say, okay, how are we going to report back what really happened here?

[4202] SPEAKER_10: I want to give you a couple of ideas on this, because one of them is kind of embedded in what Mark has reported. You know, we just watched town halls with two politicians. And I think one of them was pretty meaningful. because of the, I'm biased probably with, you know, who I'm going to vote for for president. But as I looked at the two of them, I watched both of them. As I looked at the two of them, I thought that one was structured more where it was a dialogue. And then I noticed that the candidate hung around and I think he hung around for another hour afterwards and kept the dialogue going. It seemed to me that that had more substance and more meaning to it and more genuine trust building than the other one, which was sort of very defensive and blustery and, you know, and kind of back in your face sort of stuff. The town halls kind of do get to what Mark is talking about. The other thought I had is that you've got some big community issues, I think, that you have to deal with this year, I think, right? Don't you? Are you consolidating schools? That's a big one, you know? And largely, this goal will be judged when you do that. The community will say, did they really listen to us? And you won't satisfy everybody. But if a majority of the people say, well, they had to do tough stuff, I may not agree with it, but they really did have a dialogue with us. So there's a couple of directions to go, I think. You can do it centered on a problem. which would be probably useful for you as a board, honestly. Or you can do it as a process that you want to see implemented permanently, like town halls, you know. I think those are the two different avenues that you could go in this objective. It's a really good goal, you guys, and I would agree with you, it's an important goal. Okay I'll be quiet and let you work it out.

[4350] Phuong Nguyen: So I know that the superintendent is working on re-evaluating the website and part of that meaningful communication is building in ways for the community to be able to interact with the district by reporting issues and us collecting collecting the data from there and being responsive back. So I don't know how far along we are on that and if that was something that you would consider putting on as part of the goal, as an objective.

[4393] SPEAKER_13: Yeah, thank you member when we, I think, yeah, I, I struggled a little bit, because I think it does go here and and but then I also I ended up putting it down here so just scroll down here in terms of because it's upkeep of facilities, equipment, and fields. But I'm hearing you. And so in terms of technology upgrades, I included website customer service management system, which is what you're referring to, assessment platforms, and resource management tool. But just in hearing you talk, I think it probably is better suited up here.

[4436] Phuong Nguyen: Because that is a direct impact, we do ask families to go to the district website to look up information, and that's where we update our information. So that's how I look at it as an objective, I guess, but I could be wrong.

[4459] Elisa Martinez: Would the objective be more than, I like that. Remember when the objective would be more than to, to improve the ease of access or two-way engagement, you know, because, you know, he can come up with the how will be in your website, but the what we're trying to do is we're trying to facilitate access. I mean, I'm trying to come back to the objective, the what is it that we're trying to do.

[4491] SPEAKER_13: I mean, I wonder if I may have the I did write some purposes in some of these. And while this is not the website, this is a hotline number that we've instituted, but maybe, you know, address concerns and to direct and direct the support in a timely fashion to families and students. I mean, I think the same once we get the website up and we get that system running that a very similar purpose.

[4521] Mark Triplett: Possibly.

[4524] Elisa Martinez: Okay, so thinking maybe to improve concerns and direct support in a timely fashion, Bill, would the objective then include by implementing a comprehensive customer, whatever you called it, Mark, by implementing a comprehensive or customer blah, blah, blah, I forget what you had it.

[4550] SPEAKER_13: Customer service management.

[4552] Elisa Martinez: Platform or management system, something like that. Maybe that's the objective.

[4558] SPEAKER_10: Could be. If that is the thing that has impact on this goal and it's something that can be done, certainly something can be done. And you probably could measure it by the amount it's successfully used. It certainly could be.

[4579] Elisa Martinez: Member Zhang and Member Rodriguez, what do you all think from that particular objective? If we were to say we're trying to get improved access and responsiveness and by implementing this platform, do we think that that could be impactful?

[4598] Bowen Zhang: Is there any additional staff resources that we need for this hotline number?

[4606] SPEAKER_13: For the management system and the website, we've already contracted the organization. So we wouldn't need additional resources. We just need to build it all out and create the system and then implement it.

[4628] SPEAKER_10: So I want to ask a couple of questions about this because I can kind of see a real positive thing. So, is this low-hanging fruit? This is something that's pretty easy to do, Mark, and you can put it out there for the community and say, we really wanna be able to address your concerns, and so we've done this, and we want you to use it, and we're gonna measure how successful it is, we're gonna pay attention to it. That's kind of a low-hanging fruit item, in my vernacular. Because if you're trying to improve your, what's your goal again? If you're trying to have meaningful engagement, certainly it happens through community issues and problems. And if this is a new channel that's going to be effectively used, it could be low hanging fruit that you publicize and you use a lot. On the other hand, it could just be a window dressing. So that's why I'm pushing you a little bit about what is this? What is the what here? Is the what just a call number that people call, and then sometimes it gets shuttled out to other places? Because if so, that's not of high impact. But is it something where, like you say, there's going to be a lot of topics discussed here? I mean, we live in a tech world, right? And information is going to go out, people are going to be able to give you feedback, and that feedback, something's going to be done with that feedback, that could could really be a very strong objective.

[4724] SPEAKER_13: Yeah. And just to be clear, the hotline is what currently exists. We instituted it already. But what I think Member Nguyen was suggesting, which I think is a really good idea, is the customer service management system online. Yeah. There's the ability to collect much more data and be much more immediate.

[4745] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. I like that one. I really like that.

[4748] SPEAKER_10: I do too. All right, so let's focus on that, okay? So who's gonna do that, Mark? Who will you give the charge to do that?

[4758] SPEAKER_13: Currently, Ms. Gutierrez is helping, or she's sort of leading on the website construction. But we will need support of all the different departments and school sites as well.

[4775] SPEAKER_10: Yeah. So, so it centers on, um, your administrative assistant, uh, uh, uh, being the leader for this and with support, uh, from, uh, really from all administration, right. Site and district departments. That's right. And the, what is that you're going to, um, put, put to tell me what the, what is you tell me?

[4798] SPEAKER_14: Um, we will, um,

[4806] SPEAKER_13: We're going to create a new website or websites because it'll include all the school's websites as well and then as part of that we are going to institute a customer service management system on the website which will take requests, concerns from community and families, and then we'll be able to collect data on response time and on efficacy of the system and whether or not the requests are handled.

[4845] SPEAKER_10: And I think you've told me what the result is just now, right? That will be the result, right? You'll be able to tell whether concerns have been handled. Isn't that the result? I think that's the result, right? That's the primary result, correct?

[4863] SPEAKER_14: Yeah.

[4864] SPEAKER_10: Okay. Okay. You got an objective there. You've got a good objective. Yeah. That's what's so great about this. You know, you get in here and you get a meeting of the minds with the board and the superintendent. You say, hey, this is a big one. This is a big one. This will make a difference.

[4880] SPEAKER_13: Okay. Okay. When were you going to say something?

[4884] Phuong Nguyen: No, I just, I just want to say that, yes, if we do implement this system, I think it will, you know, improve the two way communication between the district and the families. And then it gives them access to ease of use. If they can't call in to get a live person, at least this way, somebody will be directed, you know, the tickets or the customer service work orders are generated and also dispersed, you know, to to the individuals that will handle the ticket. And then the ticketing system will be able to capture the response time. And all those are measurable data that the superintendent can report to the board about. And then it shows us being responsive as a district.

[4940] SPEAKER_10: All right, let's move on. Time is of the essence. Let's move on to the next goal area. Do you have all the elements there, Mark, that we discussed? Yes, yep. Thank you. You've got the who, the what, and what would the result be?

[4954] SPEAKER_13: I believe so, yep. OK, this next one, this is a big one. And are you able to explain?

[4961] Ray Rodriguez: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. Oh, yeah, go ahead. No, no, no, I just wanted to ask something on the prior goal. wouldn't part of it be expectations? For instance, if we're assuming that we have 2,500 families that live in that, you know, a part of our school community, looking at two kids per household, and we have 233 calls, that's less than 10%. So there's gotta be expectations on anything that we do. When we have a town hall meeting, Do we expect people to call us back? Or what interaction are we expecting? That's the thing. Not just having a town hall or having a little get together. What are our expectations? And then make sure that the website also is an avenue that we use to interact with people. And not everybody goes to a town hall meeting, but people are always on our website. So the more the website can tell our story, the better off we are, in my opinion.

[5034] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, and I think that Ray brings up a good point about when we get to the criteria for assessing is what happens when the complaint gets there. I see that Fang has a Has a comment on that is what, what happens and what the follow up is. And that's going to be the, the evaluation criteria, isn't it?

[5059] Phuong Nguyen: Exactly. Yeah. Yes.

[5063] SPEAKER_10: Yep. Okay. Okay. What's next.

[5068] SPEAKER_13: All right. So like I was saying, this is a big one, teaching and learning, promote a focus of continual improvement of teaching and learning and arguably one of the most important goals or reasons why we're here at all. So the leadership actions that I've articulated here is I've been engaged in classrooms, classroom visits with the principal and other staff, had an opportunity to observe classrooms throughout the district on a regular basis. And then here I articulate two different leadership and growth and development plans, one for administrators and one for teachers, and the different aspects of those. But with the idea that we grow and support our teachers and our principals in their own practice, then we are going to improve teaching and learning overall. And then this last piece is more around the development of different programmatic areas. And so this is a work in progress as well. But really thinking about, in some ways it's connected to, many ways it's connected to the earlier goal. through meaningful community and staff engagement, develop a graduate profile and a vision to achieve equitable outcomes for our students. These are some of the ways that we're currently thinking about doing so.

[5160] SPEAKER_10: You're doing that, yeah. What's the area of focus?

[5165] SPEAKER_13: Sorry, my daughter's helping me with the lighting here. Go ahead.

[5171] SPEAKER_10: What's the area of focus?

[5174] SPEAKER_13: It's promote a focus on continual improvement of teaching and learning. Uh huh.

[5179] SPEAKER_10: Okay, so If the area of focus truly is improving teaching and learning, then that centers a lot on professional work of teachers and administrators, primarily, right? I'm not saying it doesn't include aides and other classroom support people, but it's primarily your instructional leaders and your teachers. So if that truly is the goal, then it seems to me that the one that focuses the most on it is your paragraphs there on professional development, right?

[5224] SPEAKER_14: That's right.

[5225] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. I have a different perspective. All right. Just because as you go through all the bullets and I really liked actually the last one because it and I know that member when I think you you've brought this up quite a bit and I believe unless I'm making it up you know really kind of working through that graduate profile what are those lanes that we're really trying to identify and develop for our kids, because I think if we do that, right, then the plans for professional development and what, you know, program development, you know, now will be in line to support whatever these profiles and these programs we are saying are, you know, the cornerstones of who we are as a district. So I actually saw that one as the most important one first. That was my perspective.

[5281] SPEAKER_10: Very important. The question is, and you know what? In coming into the district and examining the district, I can't tell you how many times people said we've really got to up our programs to compete with the systems around us. And you know, it is true. You know, you've got Fremont on one side of you and New Haven on the other side of you. And now what's to the north of you?

[5303] SPEAKER_14: Both those.

[5310] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, Hayward and what? Was there no one? No, New Haven and Fremont. New Haven and Fremont. And Fremont. New Haven, yeah. But you know, New Haven and Fremont are very, very proactive and proud of their student programs. And they sell those, you know? Exactly. They sell those. Yeah. Exactly. So it's a good point, Alisa, is the most important thing in this area, professional development? Not that one's not important or the other, But what's the impact one? What's the one of immediate impact? It might be programmatic.

[5347] SPEAKER_13: Can I just say one challenge, I think, with some of these programmatic pieces is they are long-term. We won't be able to accomplish any of these in their entirety within one year. So that's one challenge.

[5362] SPEAKER_10: So you have to find out what it is you can do in a year, right? What is it that is doable?

[5369] Phuong Nguyen: I think one that is doable is establishing the graduate profile and path development. We, in training, one of the instructors had mentioned that, you know, it was so, it wasn't a hard one to implement because Once they identified the tracks that they wanted to set and set achievement goals for those and then help the students by just giving them an extra maybe cord or identifying them as a high achiever or identifying them in that specific group that it really empowered the students to be able to say, hey, I wanted to select this path to move forward because they wanted to get that certification. So some sort of extra certification for students to be able to achieve.

[5431] SPEAKER_10: And might that also set the stage for more program development in the future? Because like Mark has said, You know, developing these programs is not a one year gig. I mean, it's having done that in high schools, especially, you know, it takes two to five years to put those sorts of things in place so So I, I kind of like the direction that you all are going is, is, you know, setting this student profile so that they have goals, certain goals set and they know that the, you know, path towards their graduation and what they're going to experience. I'm, I'm assuming that that's, I don't, I don't know an awful lot about it, but I'm assuming that's part of it.

[5477] SPEAKER_13: Yes, that's right. Designing a graduate profile would be sort of identifying what do we want our students to graduate from high school with and being, like what are the habits of mind and what is the knowledge and the skills and And we're being and then from there we can we can backwards map how that looks at every like in order to get there. What are the different points along right kindergarten to 12th grade.

[5513] SPEAKER_10: Let's develop that a little bit, then who Mark is going to be responsible for that.

[5519] SPEAKER_13: That would be the Education Services Department and the different leaders therein, but definitely in partnership with teachers, principals, community, and students.

[5534] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, so you'd want to name that, okay, in your objective, okay? You want to name who is going to do the work. And what is it they're gonna do? They're actually going to develop a graduate profile and you might have some, and a vision to achieve equitable outcomes. You actually have two things there, right? So what would be the language that you would describe the what?

[5566] SPEAKER_14: Is this?

[5573] SPEAKER_10: I think it's a little ethereal in my mind right now.

[5579] SPEAKER_13: Well, it's maybe create a graduate profile. I mean, it's a concrete thing that we could create an articulation.

[5589] SPEAKER_10: Yeah. The second part is more ethereal and a vision to achieve equitable outcomes. So that's a nice phrase, but what does it mean? What does it look like? What is it in concrete terms that you want to accomplish with that this year? I'm foggy on that. I think I get the profile, but I'm foggy on what is a vision to achieve equitable outcomes?

[5612] Phuong Nguyen: So I think, sorry, can I contribute? So I really think that we do have, we can center on maybe three different programs, you know, building a two types of college track, meaning for students who want to complete work to go to a junior college, and then there are students who want to go to four-year university or Ivy League or whatever, right? And then the other track would be centering around really career-oriented tasks, working with mission ROP, and having them have certification right after for graduation.

[5663] SPEAKER_10: And so is the notion here that you develop standards and competencies that your graduate has depending on which direction they want to go? It's largely a secondary thing.

[5682] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, largely a secondary thing for right now, but also, I mean, for the K through eighth, yes, I would try and focus on, you know, really having really strong TK and K program so that we can really retain and hold all of our students and then, you know, and strong junior high curriculum also. But yes, for this part of the graduate profile, it would just really be on the secondary track, but we could definitely start this at the junior high level.

[5721] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. Clarification for superintendent, when we talk about the graduate profile, and I think you alluded to it, if we have those profiles or those paths, I mean, that does trickle back, right? It helps to form I'm sure there's a technical academia type term that says, you know, it helps to form the programs in the early years.

[5747] SPEAKER_13: Is that that's that's what we that's what we had in mind yeah so that uh if we see the end goal the student graduating with certain things then um what what what do we what are we striving for in kindergarten in second grade and in fifth grade so I actually think it is possible to um both both think about these career paths that remember when mentioned and also backwards map all the way to the beginning of a student's career with us.

[5780] SPEAKER_10: So this one is sometimes your evaluative criteria is, you know, is not a number, is not a score, is not how many kids did you hold on to. It's a product. And this one's going to be more of a product, I think. I think that this is going to be a completion goal, and you're going to produce a product. Because what is the result? What is this going to result in? Remember, with an objective, it's who's going to do it, what is it they're going to do, and what is the result? How does it affect kids and student learning? What's the result?

[5819] Phuong Nguyen: I think a higher graduation rate, and competency, and I don't know what else.

[5832] Bowen Zhang: I mean, if you're talking about just the general academic performance, because we're in this category of academic performance, is that right? The Goal 3, right? Yeah. So for me, a very simple measurable is, are we better than New Haven? So if you look at the county staff, we're fifth to the bottom. New Haven is sixth to the bottom. And we're literally in the same tier. We're very close to each other. I mean, if you look at objectively, if we can match up to New Haven or perform on the same level, that's a small improvement. We're not talking about a giant leap forward. If we perform on par with New Haven, because we do have similar demographics, and they are always slightly above us. So if you look at New Haven, I do think that because sometimes you might see a higher graduation rate or like higher tax score because the standard, statewide standard got lower. So I want to be able to compare vertically and horizontally. And if you want to compare yourself horizontally, you want to remove the bias or say certain state make it easier for people to pass. Then we should compare ourselves to New Haven.

[5910] SPEAKER_10: Right. Yeah. New Haven's very comparable school district, I think.

[5913] SPEAKER_13: Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate your competitive, healthy, competitive spirit.

[5918] Elisa Martinez: So, yeah. Sorry. And I think, though, so, yes, when we're looking at, you know, making sure we're retaining and we're competitive as a district. But if we think about Coming back to the objective and that goal that we're trying to feed. If it is around starting to really develop those programs and the professional, I forget what you called it, the professional development and the teaching and learning. It really then our metrics really should focus on, you know, for me the result is now you've got this, and I don't want to leave it squishy but but I know that this first output is that framework. And, and that really that's that's the result because that then. Is the foundation for all the other work. This is, I mean, this is a piece of the broad right then is really is going to shape the longer term professional development program development. So anyway, yeah.

[5985] SPEAKER_10: So I want to talk now, I mean, we're, we've done a pretty good job of doing these criteria for assessment already with the other two. I usually wait till the end, but we're, time is moving on. There are front end and back end assessments to change to goals and objectives. Usually the back end objectives happen later. And you mentioned graduation rate. Your graduation rate isn't gonna be affected really the first year you do this, right? This isn't gonna have any effect on the number of graduates this year. In five years, it probably will if done right, correct? So that's a back-end assessment, if you will. A front-end assessment oftentimes is a quantity rather than qualitative assessment. In other words, did we build this many widgets? Did we put new programs in place? And your case here is, did we actually put down a profile and put our kids through what their profile should look like and where they maybe are? I may be not speaking with an awful lot of knowledge here on this, but this is going to be more of a quantitative assessment, you know, how many kids were put up against the profile, or how many, or what profile did we develop? Mark, help me on this.

[6082] SPEAKER_13: But I think that's it. Did we have at the end, did we engage all stakeholders? And did we create an articulation of the profile?

[6091] SPEAKER_10: And so that's a front end assessment. And this is a more than one year deal, right? If you're going to do all of these parts of this, including those programs above it, right? I mean, the programs above it are going to be an outcome of some of these things. Because if a number of kids say, you know, what I really want to go into is rocketry and robotics, then you're going to have to develop some program down the road. That, you know, you're going to have this in your goal area for quite a few years. And rightly so. I mean, you have to, you, In looking at your district, it came up a lot that we don't have the program that our neighboring districts do to hold kids in secondary schools, and we lose them. All these things kind of roll over together. And so we've got to start someplace, and this is the place to start, is what's the graduate profile, and then move it into program. I think you guys hit on the right one.

[6148] Ray Rodriguez: Can I interject for a second? A few years back, we had a marine biology program at the high school, which was drawing kids from, or high school students from private schools because of that particular program. And so, you know, when you get to the secondary level, especially at the high school, a lot of it is program driven where You know, let's say you have eighth graders that are graduating or exiting from, let's say, Catholic schools, and they're looking at what high school do I want to attend, you know, now that I'm going to be going into the ninth grade. And a lot of them are looking at Newark. They would rather go to Newark Memorial and not have to pay anything rather than go to Moreau and have to pay, you know, $20,000 a year or whatever. A lot of it is program driven. Now, we had a goal a few years back of having 50% of our kids be at G so that they can attend, they would qualify to attend any UC and staff at that time had it at around 25 to 30 percent so the goal was to get to 50 percent to so that our kids all our kids would have a to g where they they'd be qualified to go to any university so um i don't know if that's still something that you know um the board would like to engage in but it's it's more than just getting our kids you know, to graduate is, you know, how do we get them to where they can be successful at the next level? And that's always a biggie. And we had pretty good, what do you call it, success with having a committee, having engagement with the high school leadership kids. And I'm sure Superintendent Triplett would be doing that. And naturally when you engage your teachers and your staff at secondary level, you would need to have a partner naturally with the unions and everything so that they understand what it is we're trying to do. And so I love all these things. you know, I want our kids to be able to be successful when they go to a UC. And sharing stories of kids, our kids that have gone to college and are very successful, sometimes it's very important to share that so that our kids know that kids that have graduated from Newark are just as successful as kids that graduated from Mission San Jose High School or from Logan High School. And I personally think they are. And I've had my kids all graduate. And our kids are as good, if not better, than our neighboring schools. That's just my opinion.

[6339] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely. Absolutely. So, Bill, just watching the clock, maybe another 10 or so minutes in the last goal.

[6352] SPEAKER_10: Yep, I think we got this one. Mark, I think you got plenty of information there. So, all right, let's go into this next one about facilities. So, Mark, I'll turn it back over to you. What, we're gonna shorten this one a little bit because I'm gonna ask you, so you have exceptional learning environment, improve the condition. What are the big, what's the, if you, so often these are viewed by the community and the board is very engaged in it. What are the big ticket items that you're looking at that really, really are gonna make a difference in teaching and learning for kids?

[6390] SPEAKER_13: for facilities? Well, these are the big ticket items currently on the docket, but there's a larger list of priorities that have been articulated by the board and fall within the facilities plan.

[6410] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, I mean I think I think that from my limited knowledge that the thing that came up over and over again was that we need to say to the public that we're using their money wisely and that what and what we're doing is making a difference. with bond money and you've got some bond money left that I mean, and you're gonna be probably at some point floating another bond in the future. So it's so critical to be able to show that you're using money wisely and it's making a difference. Is that right?

[6447] Mark Triplett: That's correct.

[6448] SPEAKER_10: Yeah. Board members, is that what you're hearing?

[6452] Ray Rodriguez: I think that Having our schools look good and beautifying our schools as we've been trying to do and using money wisely. to the kids that we have or the parents that we have already in the schools, it just makes them proud of the fact that their school looks good. And then also to, you know, parents that are, or people that are looking to come to our schools, it's not just about, you know, your test scores and, you know. Right, the environment. You know, it's a plus when our schools look nice and, And then people will, you know, go in and see what wonderful things are happening inside the school with teaching and learning. But, you know, this is good. I like using our money wisely and beautifying schools.

[6510] SPEAKER_10: So because of time, we're probably not gonna be able to get everything done here, but the who, if you have an objective that really focuses in on the bond and what the money's being used for, it seems to me that that's the big ticket item in this area, at least from my experience. And you put it number one up there. Not that technology isn't important. In fact, technology might be part of the bond. And managing your facilities isn't important, those things are. But if I was a board member, I would be saying, hey, you know, I think we're going to have to float another bond in a couple of years. And we've really got to show what we're using money for and we're using it wisely. So who is the person or staff or department Mark, that's responsible for putting together these and getting the word out and publicizing the effect of what they've done.

[6564] SPEAKER_13: Who does that? That's the MOT department, I would say, the key players. And then I think the business office.

[6574] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, OK. Good. All right. So, this is an objective where they're going to be named as the people that are doing the doing. And the what on this?

[6583] SPEAKER_13: What is what? Can I say we do also have a project manager that's like a contractor that's key.

[6591] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, that's key too. And so, what is it that if you were to have an impact Again, we want to have an impact on this, an impact on your school district using the funds. What would that impact be? What is the what on this? Isn't it going to be just what Ray said? It's going to be the beautification of schools and classrooms? I mean, it's on the inside too, of course.

[6619] SPEAKER_13: Exactly. Yeah. And that's why I tried to frame this goal. You know, we could easily just say facilities, but the purpose of really excellent facilities is that it can be an exceptional learning environment. It's a learning environment. And that includes the outdoors. It includes the indoors. It includes classrooms and other parts of the... So the what is that

[6648] SPEAKER_10: the learning environment and the appearance of schools are gonna be noticeably more attractive and inviting. Really, that's the what, yeah.

[6659] Elisa Martinez: Can I add, and Mark, you can tell me if it's like, oh, it's already too broad, but I think just not only because of COVID, but I think the word safety. it's gonna be really important. That's another dimension that I would look at the owners of the project to say, here's my checklist and here's how we're meeting those, you know, the living environment, the safety and the blah, blah, blah.

[6685] SPEAKER_10: Yeah. And the result is, you know, so what's the result? What's the result in, Mark? Don't let me do all the doing here. What's the result gonna be? Board members. Increased enrollment.

[6700] SPEAKER_13: I think that's true, yeah.

[6704] SPEAKER_10: It's going to result in higher enrollment?

[6706] Phuong Nguyen: A possibility, yes.

[6708] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, yeah, good. That's a good point, absolutely.

[6714] SPEAKER_10: Any other results?

[6718] SPEAKER_13: I also think improved academic, there's academic results as well.

[6723] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, that's going to be a hard one to assess, to tie. You know, I think one of the results is, though, that your community views the school in a more positive light. And that's a hard one to assess as well. But I do think that's a result because kids talk about the newness of their school and the community. OK. All right. I'm going to cut us off there because we're actually almost at two hours, maybe in five. We started a little bit after six. But we like to talk a little bit about the assessment criteria or what criteria you're going to use to see how you've accomplished these. In each one of these, we've said what the result is, okay? Each one of these, we've said what the result is. And each result should tie to a metric. And we've named some of them as we're going on. I don't think we really need to run through them again. A lot of that is staff work, but Ford, when this comes back to you, what you should see is these focus areas, possible future goals. You can call them primary objectives. You got five of them now, two for the fiscal and one for each of the others. And then also, what's the metric? What is the assessment criteria to know that you've made progress? And I'm going to roll right into now then what happens from here. So what should happen from here is that this should come back from the board. You should take formal action on it. And you should get updates during the year. on these objectives, on these primary objectives. Not the only thing that you get updates on, but your job is to monitor and to hold accountable. And these are the things that you and the superintendent have said, you know, are the impact high, you know, high priority objectives that we wanna work on during the year. So there should be updates, you know, maybe some marks, some updates in your Friday communication, Uh, maybe occasionally, uh, you know, uh, progress report given to a board is a board, uh, a short or even, you know, medium term board, uh, um, information, uh, item. And then when you come to your evaluation of the superintendent, and I've shared an evaluation form with Mark. You probably haven't shared that with the board, have you Mark? No, I haven't. Yeah, and we won't do it right now. You can do it if you wish to later. I'm happy to do it anytime. Yeah, we really recommend that a superintendent be half evaluated on rubrics that every superintendent work revolves around. you know, what's his relationship with the teachers? How is the district being managed fiscally and what HR practices are in play that seem to be effective, including hiring and firing? All of those things that both, remember, you have one employee, so you're not only evaluating the superintendent, you're evaluating the whole district when you evaluate the superintendent. Sorry, Mark, but that's the truth.

[6922] Sean Abruzzi: What I signed up for.

[6923] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, that's what you signed up for. And he is responsible for all elements of the school district. So, so there's those things we say that half of this evaluation should be based on that. And then half of this evaluation should be really held to how well were these objectives accomplished. And it doesn't mean that every one of those objectives has to be perfectly and fully accomplished. That's not realistic. But there should be progress made on them because that's the work you've said is impactful and is important to your areas or goals that you wanna see progress made over time. And that that then should occur sometime at the end of the year or during the summer, certainly before the beginning of the school year so that the superintendent then can build his next set of objectives and recommendations to you for the year's work. This is a cycle, if you will, of continuous improvement. At the beginning of the year, goals should be set. We set objectives. We go ahead and implement plans and give you updates. We assess how those are doing, and then the board gives feedback or accountability on what was accomplished and what still needs to be accomplished based on the data that's come back to you. Then you start that cycle again. From that, I think you might have noticed in the presentation that you actually set your objectives based on your last evaluation of the superintendent. It's a system of progress that continues to go around. I encourage, one last thing and then I'll close here. I encourage boards to do a mid-year check on all of the goals, for them all to sit down in a collaborative fashion and say, how are we doing on the progress of moving forward? Because if you wait till the end of the year, it's too late. And there's always a good rationale for some mid-course corrections, if you will. Okay, that's kind of, yay, we did it within two hours at least. Can I interject real quick if you don't mind? Yeah, absolutely. I was gonna open it up for any questions or comments.

[7054] Ray Rodriguez: Well, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. But whether it's the present board or the board that's gonna be in December, the five board members, one of the most important thing in my opinion, We can be a board that gives the superintendent or shares the goals and sits back and waits for the superintendent. You know, see how he's doing and and just or we can be a governance team, which is, which is what we need to be, in my opinion, if if the community sees a team. and the support that the board members have of the superintendent, when he goes out to engage the community, it shouldn't be by himself. If he's OK with it when he visits classroom, if there's board members that have the time to go with him, so that everybody sees that there's a team and the board is 100% supporting the superintendent, it just makes everything so much easier, in my opinion.

[7112] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, I agree with you, Ray, completely. I mean, this is a team. It's teamwork. different roles, but you're on the management team together. And, and yeah, and that was one of the statements at the very beginning. That's the support thing that the board does that that you've really talked to how a board supports the work of the school district. Any other comments, questions?

[7136] Elisa Martinez: I just have a clarification question in terms of what to expect when, you know, in terms of bringing these for approval, you know, actually to be the official goals. Would we, so right now we talked about giving some more clarity to the objectives. Should we expect to see some of your how-tos, or is it just the objective and the measurable?

[7163] SPEAKER_10: I think Mark should, I've seen it a lot of different ways, but I think that it is helpful to see some of the how-tos under the objective, because under each of these objectives, the superintendent's gonna have a little action plan, right, really, that says how are we gonna implement these and how are we gonna get this going, and then he's gonna work with his staff on each of those. So what do you think on that, Mark?

[7187] SPEAKER_13: Yeah, that's kind of how I look at the leadership actions. Those are like the strategies or the things, right? And so yeah, happy to articulate that in a plan.

[7198] Elisa Martinez: That would be, that would be helpful. I know that that is out of our realm of control. That is, that's what that's your space. So I think it's important that we recognize that. But it was more of a question if we would expect to see that. And that just gives us insight into how you and your team are thinking about going and achieving. We can't tell you no, I don't like that. And it's important that we as a board recognize that so that we don't try to micromanage the process at that point. But if we can get visibility, it would be great. That's my opinion.

[7229] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, that's a good point, Alisa. Kind of the rule of thumb with a board role, superintendent role and staff role. I mean, we have to remember too, his staff now will have a different, a role that's a little different than his. That the more specific things get, the further it gets away from you. Yes. The more global, It is. It really should get away from the doers. It works both ways. Yeah.

[7256] Diego Torres: Great. All right.

[7259] SPEAKER_13: Could I add one thing, Bill? I just wanted to make the board aware, because I don't think I've articulated this yet. But we are in the process of doing goal setting with not just our principals, but all of our district office staff right now. And what I've done, because we had to do it You know, we were just conscious of time. So I did include my four areas, and I told them that they were subject to change depending on what the board determined in this session. But I did include those as part of their goal setting. So what I said is they are able to set their goals based on standards and the criteria, but I wanted to make sure that each one of their goals, they were able to align it to one of my priorities. Yeah yeah so then there you see like a cascading of goals which I think is really important in terms of alignment and coherence of the work.

[7311] Elisa Martinez: Yeah absolutely and I know that's one of the things that we learned in in training and um and and you know we heard over and over um that you know as a board we really need that long-term strategic view of what we're you know so that we're not making it up as we go every year And so I just wanted to touch on that, because Ray, you alluded to, hey, come December, there's going to be a five-member board, and whomever is on the board. And that's one of the reasons we landed on, let's do this one year, without having that broader picture. But that is absolutely one of the things that will be right on the docket, is to create that long-term plan with a new team. Having said that, I think it's important, just again from training, is let's just say we go do this in January, making it up hypothetically. And we come up with some different perspective. We also can't just come in and just change the superintendent goals, right? So I think it's important that when this does come back to us, we are committing to this is the goals for this year. We as a board will continue to develop that long-term plan. Again, I just thought that was, I think, really valuable because part of the training is when we don't, boards who don't get things done based on the training is when direction is changing or we don't have it written down like what we're trying to do here. So just wanted to say that because I think hopefully several of us on this screen will still be here in December. So that's part of the work to do.

[7417] SPEAKER_10: I wanna say I've really enjoyed working with all of you. It's a very pleasurable experience to have helped you find a superintendent and now to help you set your direction a little bit. I always will think very kindly of Newark and I'll watch and see what happens in the future too.

[7436] Ray Rodriguez: Well, it seems over the years that every four or five years we're looking for a new superintendent and I already talked to Dr. Triplett that it's got to be at least 10 of that a whole bunch. That's right, that's right.

[7449] SPEAKER_13: Sounds good to me.

[7452] Elisa Martinez: All right, well thank you so much for your guidance. Any additional questions for Bill before we let let him go, if you will. And we'll have to circle give you or Superintendent, we'll wait to hear from you. You know, would we expect to get this back to us in the next meeting or two? So we can certainly have some conversation offline about that. And then Bill, you know, again, thank you so much. This has been really, really helpful. And we do have more work to come. So you'll never know. We may reach out to you again soon.

[7485] SPEAKER_10: Yeah, as I've mentioned to a few of you, I work with a lot of different boards on many different projects. So some I do. And I think you mentioned strategic planning. That's one I don't do.

[7498] Ray Rodriguez: But I do almost everything. I have a question for Bill real quick. We expect you to come back when you're newborn and do some training for free, if that's OK, around January. No.

[7512] SPEAKER_10: No free training. I'd love to come back and do free training, but not for free. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Bill. Thanks very much. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Bill. Appreciate it. Bye. Thank you, Bill. Take care.

[7523] Phuong Nguyen: Have a good night.

[7524] Ray Rodriguez: Take care. Thank you much. Take care.

[7528] Abbey Keirns: OK.

[7529] Elisa Martinez: That was a good conversation, team. I thought that was really. How are you feeling about it, Superintendent?

[7537] SPEAKER_13: Terrific. I really appreciated you all's input. It's super helpful. And yeah, I'm looking forward to now going back and hammering out a little bit more specifics based on what you've articulated. So thank you very much.

[7553] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. OK, so moving right along, we do have another order of business, and that's the Item four, which is the consent agenda on non-personnel items. And Ms. Gutierrez, I believe we have a speaker on one of the items. It's on item 4.7. Okay, so if we can go ahead and pull 4.7, and I would entertain a motion to approve 4.1 through 4.6. I move that we approve 4.1 to 4.6. I have a second. I seconded. Okay, so Member Zhang moves and I second. Okay, and Ms. Gutierrez, should we just do a hand vote or were you gonna?

[7615] Toni Stone: If you give me just a few seconds, I'll fill in the motion, and I can send it through vote if everybody's connected to BoardDocs.

[7621] Elisa Martinez: Is everybody logged in to BoardDocs?

[7627] Phuong Nguyen: I am.

[7628] Ray Rodriguez: I'm not.

[7631] Elisa Martinez: We could just do a verbal, if that's OK, Ms. Gutierrez? OK. All in favor, please raise your hands for ayes. OK. Three ayes. Uh, any nays? And one no from Member Rodriguez.

[7652] Ray Rodriguez: No, no, I'm not a no. I just took me a long time to raise my hand.

[7657] Elisa Martinez: Oh, sorry. Okay, so four eyes again? Okay, so four eyes. So motion carries unanimously. So if we can go ahead and bring our speaker in for item 4.7, please.

[7677] Nancy Thomas: Mr. Rose, if you can let Mr. Carino open, please.

[7683] Cary Knoop: Yes, good evening. Before you approve the last remaining minutes, I do want to note that on the 15 consent agenda, the line staff recommends the board approve the personnel report as presented is erroneously copied to all the, minutes that were in that list. So I'm sure you can move to approve and with the understanding that that will be updated to get the minutes up to date. I understand why you want to approve this now. There's, you know, minutes are very important legal documents. And so I do hope that you approve kind of sort of legally without prejudice, that we do bring back the normal procedures again. I think for probably two decades, there was never a problem at Newark Unified with Minutes. There was always a little bit of narrative, never a problem. And I think we're trying to solve a problem for something that's not a problem. We try to create a solution for something that's not a problem. We make it worse. It's an impulsive change. And I'm sure that the community is not happy with this. This is absurd, the way the minutes are written now. So again, I hope that this will come back and that You know, we don't destroy what we have because in the last six months, we have undone board practices that have been here for years. And in six months, a lot of these things are destroyed. To give you just one example, public speaking on non-agenda items in special meetings was always there. It's not required. But if we have the attitude that we only want to do what's required and just break traditions, it's just very sad. So hopefully these minutes come back in a normal way after this one. Thanks.

[7815] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Mr. Noot, for sharing your opinions. Ms. Gutierrez, was there clarity in terms of what the proposed amendment was or some error in there? Okay, I was just looking, I don't see it with regard to personnel items. Okay, so with that, I would entertain a motion to approve item 4.7. Motion.

[7847] Bowen Zhang: I move to approve item 4.7.

[7851] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, member Zhang. Second. Member Nguyen seconds. And again, Liz, if we could do a hand vote, all in favor, please raise your hand. Okay, four ayes, so the motion carries unanimously. Thank you. And we do have, we did put in Board of Education, just announcements and requests. I know we just kind of rushed through it last night. We were kind of running out of time. So we just kind of maybe quickly round Robin. Do you have anything, member Nguyen?

[7889] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, we do have a liaison meeting with the city of Newark on Monday, October 19th. I believe, forgot the time already. 5.30 to 7.30. Thank you.

[7911] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Anything else? Okay. Member Rodriguez.

[7919] Ray Rodriguez: Any comments? Member Jeanne invited me to that to the liaison meeting and I mean I appreciate that a whole bunch and I personally would rather wait until this pandemic is over so I can come visit some of the meetings and thank the people for the years of support. So I'm kind of in a holding pattern right now until until we actually have regular meetings in front of people, as opposed to doing virtual. I'm not a big fan of virtual meetings, as everybody knows, but it's something we need to do. So as far as requests, the item of increasing our reserves, I really would want to see and I just want to make it clear that from the superintendent that that we have a plan to get from A to B and I like having higher reserves but I really need to see a plan so that I feel more comfortable I just want to make sure that our kids or the programs that we have are not sacrificed or hurt because of going to Ohio reserve. So, so the getting a plan would be something that I really appreciate. Um, and, um, other than that is, uh, um, going with the superintendent whenever possible, um, or being with him when, when he interacts with, uh, with students, um, as board members is so important. Uh, board meetings are so. boring sometimes and long-winded and being able to get the great things of visiting schools and seeing kids, especially with the hybrid model, when that comes in, it's so important. And hopefully the board will be included in all those things, which I know superintendent Tripp is gonna do. And that's all I have. And are we having a meeting on voting day? Do we have a meeting then? I apologize.

[8049] Elisa Martinez: November 5th. Oops, sorry.

[8053] Ray Rodriguez: So, are we having a meeting?

[8056] Bowen Zhang: No, you forgot the meeting is on Thursday, not Tuesday anymore.

[8059] Ray Rodriguez: Oh, that's right. That's President Martinez. That's what she did the first day she was on the board. Okay. I'm good. I'm good. Thank you.

[8073] Elisa Martinez: Thank you very much. Rodriguez. Nembrosian?

[8077] Bowen Zhang: Nothing from me.

[8079] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you, sir. Um, again, I just wanted to thank everyone for their inputs. I really found today's meeting just just really informative, kind of in terms of where we all stand and our thoughts. And I'm really excited, really excited that we're starting to put some some some rails on our path forward. So that was really exciting. With regards to just announcements, we do have our next consolidation meeting next week, next Thursday. So again, a lot of difficult work that's happening. So I encourage anyone who's interested to hear how the progress is going and the next steps to join next Thursday. And thank you so much. And with that, I hand it over to you, Superintendent, for any concluding comments, remarks.

[8131] SPEAKER_13: Thanks, President Martinez. Just a real appreciation for everyone for this engagement. This really feels like support. And it's really what we strive to do with all of our staff as well. And so it's wonderful to be on the receiving end of that because we really try to support everyone's professional growth and in service of being a better district. And that's what this session really felt like. I also just was struck by, it's something we all know, but it's really wonderful to experience it, is just the power and importance of collaboration. And that one person can have some ideas, but then when there's a group that then collaborates on it and sort of that collective mindset, it just makes everything so much richer. So thank you all for the support and your thoughts tonight.

[8187] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, and thank you for the prep work that you did. I think it really helped us get a lot further along, so much appreciated. Okay, and with that, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

[8199] Ray Rodriguez: Move to adjourn. Second.

[8202] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez moves, member Zhang seconds, and can I get a hand vote, please, all in favor? Okay. Four ayes, motion carries unanimously, and so we adjourn 7.22 p.m. Thanks so much, everyone.

[8218] SPEAKER_13: Have a good night. Have a good weekend.

[8220] Elisa Martinez: Have a good weekend.

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

1.1 Roll Call

Type                     Procedural

Members of the public who seek to address the Board of Education regarding the NUSD Study Session Items on the agenda please click on the link below for Public Comment information:

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

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

Motion & Voting It is recommended that the agenda for this Board of Education meeting be approved.

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen

3. NEW BUSINESS

3.1 Determination of the Superintendent's Objectives

Type                     Discussion, Information

Purpose:

As part of the package services provided by McPhearson & Jacobson, the board with engage in the process to determine the Superintendent's objectives for 2020-21 with the guidance of William Huyett.

Background:

The Board will discuss the district's areas of focus and the superintendent's objectives for the 2020-21 school year. In addition, criteria for assessing progress on these objectives will be considered and discussed. It is anticipated that direction will be given to the superintendent to bring an action item to the Board at a future regular meeting. Adequate progress on these objectives will be included as part of the superintendent's evaluation.

4. CONSENT AGENDA - NON-PERSONNEL

4.1 Minutes of the June 18, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type                     Action (Consent), Minutes

Recommended              Staff recommends approving the minutes of the June 18, 2020 Regular Meeting of the
Action                   Board of Education

Minutes                  View Minutes for Jun 18, 2020 - Regular Board Meeting

Purpose: For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background: The attached minutes are reflective of the June 18, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. Exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Motion & Voting Recommendation is to approve items 4.1 - 4.6

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Elisa Martinez.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

Staff recommends approving the minutes of the October 1, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

4.2 Minutes of the June 24, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type                     Action (Consent), Minutes

Recommended              Staff recommends approving the minutes of the June 24, 2020 Regular Meeting of the
Action                   Board of Education

Minutes                  View Minutes for Jun 24, 2020 - Special Board Meeting

Purpose: For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background: The attached minutes are reflective of the June 24, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. Exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Motion & Voting Recommendation is to approve items 4.1 - 4.6

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Elisa Martinez.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

Staff recommends approving the minutes of the October 1, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

4.3 Minutes of the July 14, 2020 Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type                     Action (Consent), Minutes
Recommended              Staff recommends approving the minutes of the July 14, 2020 Special Meeting of the
Action                   Board of Education

Minutes                  View Minutes for Jul 14, 2020 - Special Board Meeting

Purpose: For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background: The attached minutes are reflective of the July 14, 2020 Special Meeting of the Board of Education. Exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Motion & Voting Recommendation is to approve items 4.1 - 4.6

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Elisa Martinez.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

Staff recommends approving the minutes of the October 1, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

4.4 Minutes of the July 21, 2020 Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type                     Action (Consent), Minutes

Recommended              Staff recommends approving the minutes of the July 21, 2020 Special Meeting of the
Action                   Board of Education

Minutes                  View Minutes for Jul 21, 2020 - Special Board Meeting

Purpose: For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background: The attached minutes are reflective of the July 21, 2020 Special Meeting of the Board of Education. Exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Motion & Voting Recommendation is to approve items 4.1 - 4.6

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Elisa Martinez.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

Staff recommends approving the minutes of the October 1, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

4.5 Minutes of the September 17, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type                     Action (Consent), Minutes

Recommended              Staff recommends approving the Minutes of the September 17, 2020 Regular Meeting of
Action                   the Board of Education

Minutes                  View Minutes for Sep 17, 2020 - Regular Board Meeting

Purpose: For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background: The attached minutes are reflective of the Sept. 17, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. Exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Motion & Voting Recommendation is to approve items 4.1 - 4.6

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Elisa Martinez.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

Staff recommends approving the minutes of the October 1, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

4.6 Minutes of the September 22, 2020 Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type                     Action (Consent), Minutes

Recommended              Staff recommends approving the Minutes of the September 22, 2020 Special Meeting of
Action                   the Board of Education

Minutes                  View Minutes for Sep 22, 2020 - Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Purpose: For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background: The attached minutes are reflective of the Sept. 22, 2020 Special Meeting of the Board of Education. Exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Motion & Voting Recommendation is to approve items 4.1 - 4.6

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Elisa Martinez.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

Staff recommends approving the minutes of the October 1, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

4.7 Minutes of the October 1, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type                     Action (Consent), Minutes

Recommended              Staff recommends approving the minutes of the October 1, 2020 Regular Meeting of the
Action                   Board of Education

Minutes                  View Minutes for Oct 1, 2020 - Regular Board Meeting

Purpose: For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background: The attached minutes are reflective of the Oct. 1, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. Exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Motion & Voting Recommendation is to approve items 4.1 - 4.6

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Elisa Martinez.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

Staff recommends approving the minutes of the October 1, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

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

5.1 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 Advisory Committee - Member Martinez & Member Nguyen Godbe - Member Martinez & ______ Communication Committee - Member ______ & Member Nguyen Governance Handbook - Member Martinez & Member Zhang

5.2 Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief and Discussion

                         DEBRIEF AND DISCUSSION

Type                     Information

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

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

                         FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS

Type                     Information

7. ADJOURNMENT

7.1 Adjournment

Type                     Action, Procedural

Recommended              Recommendation to adjourn this meeting.
Action

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.

Motion & Voting Recommendation to adjourn this meeting at 7:22pm

Motion by Ray J Rodriguez, second by Bowen Zhang.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Ray J Rodriguez

No minutes available.