Regular Meeting

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[0] Ray Rodriguez: my office so nobody walks in. Hello.

[5] Elisa Martinez: Hey, hi, member Zhang. We are about to be live here. We're just waiting for a little bit of a delay.

[18] SPEAKER_43: Okay.

[20] Elisa Martinez: I believe we are live on YouTube as well. Good evening and welcome to the Thursday, November 5th, 2020 regular meeting of the Board of Education. Ms. Gutierrez, roll call, please.

[39] SPEAKER_46: Member Zhang?

[41] Bowen Zhang: Here.

[42] SPEAKER_46: Member Nguyen? Here. Member Rodriguez? Here. President Martinez?

[48] Elisa Martinez: Here. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. Just as a reminder, and I do know that we have requests for live comments, just as I'd like to just remind folks that you have two ways of making comments as part of these meetings. One is written comments, and those requests should be emailed to public comment at Newark Unified, and those are due the Wednesday, five o'clock before the meeting. hoping or wanting to make live comments, those same address, public comment at Newark Unified, you would label that as live public comment. And those requests are due by 1 p.m. on the day of the regularly scheduled board meeting. And again, I remind us that as in-person, as with any in-person meetings, the board respects the right of the public To comment on board matters, the content of the messages should be civil and appropriate for a public meeting of a school district governing board. Employees who are defamed by public comment may be entitled to pursue legal action against those who engage in such speech. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and upon request, individuals who require appropriate alternative modification of the agenda or accommodations in order to observe or participate are invited to contact Ms. Gutierrez, our executive assistant at Al Gutierrez at Newark Unified with such request. Okay, and with that, we move to item two, which is the approval of the agenda. May I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as is?

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

[157] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, may I have a second? I second. Member Zhang moves, Member Nguyen seconds. Ms. Gutierrez, will you be using board docs for the vote?

[167] SPEAKER_46: That is correct and the request to vote has been sent.

[172] SPEAKER_43: Thank you.

[186] SPEAKER_46: Just waiting on Member Zhang's vote.

[195] Bowen Zhang: I think when you send, when you sort of send a bulldog, I think my session is expiring, but I click on the button. It looks like it's not going through on your end.

[204] SPEAKER_46: So I relogged in again. If you can give me your vote now, I'll record it. And then if you want to log back, log out and log back in.

[210] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I log off and log back in. I think right now.

[214] Elisa Martinez: Okay. So should we take a manual vote then just for consistency? Sure. Yep. All right. So with member Nguyen. Um.

[225] SPEAKER_43: Your vote. Sorry. Yes. Okay. Member Rodriguez.

[236] Elisa Martinez: Yes. Members young.

[237] SPEAKER_19: Yes.

[238] Elisa Martinez: And my vote is yes as well. So the motion carries. The agenda is approved. Um next item is public And so item 2.3 is we will now recess to closed session. Before we recess, I will remind folks that as stated in the agenda, we will be discussing item 3.1, public employee discipline dismissal release. Item 3.2, conference with labor negotiator employee organizations, NTA and CSCA. 3.3, conference with labor negotiator NEWMA, unrepresented supervisors and contracted management. 3.4, conference with legal counsel regarding existing litigation, and 3.5, conference with legal counsel regarding anticipated litigation. And with that, we adjourn to closed session.

[2884] SPEAKER_52: Hi, I'm Lori Grineer and a veteran.

[2924] SPEAKER_16: Did you just blow it up the backstreet?

[3189] Nancy Thomas: It's good that I have you know.

[3298] SPEAKER_43: As members young on mind does not seen him.

[3306] Elisa Martinez: But another 30 seconds.

[3314] SPEAKER_27: Right.

[3319] SPEAKER_43: Okay, we're ready to go. Are we live? Miss Gutierrez?

[3328] SPEAKER_46: Yes, we are live and Mr. Burke. Perfect. Thank you. Okay, very good.

[3334] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And as we reconvene to open session, President Martinez, one second.

[3342] SPEAKER_46: Mr. Member Rodriguez, if you can please stop sharing your screen. Or Mr. Rose, if you can stop. Thank you. Okay, we're ready to go. Okay, very good.

[3358] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Um, we are now reconvening to open session at 7.01 p.m. And if I could ask us all to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

[3376] SPEAKER_43: We're waiting for the flag image.

[3389] Bowen Zhang: One second.

[3397] SPEAKER_46: Mr. Rose, if you could put the screen image of the flag when you have a second, please.

[3413] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Ready again.

[3418] Phuong Nguyen: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[3432] SPEAKER_05: Thank you.

[3443] Elisa Martinez: Hey, so we moved to, I'm sorry, and Ms. Gutierrez, if we could let the record show that student member Salemi has joined the meeting.

[3455] SPEAKER_43: Hello, student member Salemi, good to see you.

[3460] Elisa Martinez: And so we've moved to item five, which is report on closed sessions, and there was no reportable action was taken during this meeting. And with that, we move to item six, which is the student report. And I will hand this item over to you, Superintendent Triplett.

[3485] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you. Sorry, did you say the student report? Oh, that's right. That's correct. Wonderful. So I believe we have this evening three leaders, student leaders, to report. So we can start with Mr. Salemi.

[3508] SPEAKER_05: Good evening, members of the board, executive cabinet, students, staff, and community members. There's a lot happening at NMHS and I'm happy to have the opportunity to share that with you all. There will be a PTSA meeting at 6.30 p.m. November 10th. November 5th, the school site council will meet at 3.30 p.m. Wednesday, November 11th, there will be no school due to Veterans Day. The NMHS agenda and planners is on sale now for $8. During distance learning, A planner is especially helpful to organize your classes, homework, and asynchronous work. Don't wait to get yours now on the NMHS online store and pick it up from messages to it now. On November 25th, we'll be holding a Wellness Wednesday event, which will be Thanksgiving-themed, and students will share what they're thankful for. This month, the Athletics Committee will be rolling out their new campaign for the month, which will be Holistic Awareness, and I encourage everyone to look to social media for that. By tomorrow, November 6, students must elect whether or not they will take their AP exams. A $40 late fee will be charged if students don't order their exams, if they order their exams after tomorrow. We'll be holding our annual canned food drive, and I encourage every student and family to participate, especially right now with all that is going on. These contributions can go a long way for our families. All canned foods will be collected for the Biola of Light. Center. Donations can be dropped off outside the main office from 9 a.m to 3 p.m and the drive began the 2nd and will end when we'll run through the 20th. NMHS Athletics is hosting a fall gift card drive as a way to support NUSD parents, parent partners and their NUSD families in need. Through November 16th, Newark Memorial Athletics is working in partnership with NUSD parent partners and community members to collect grocery gift cards for NUSD families. When families are required to quarantine, they are not allowed to break quarantine, even for food and essentials. The donated gift cards will be used to support NUSD families under quarantine that can't leave their house to shop for food or purchase essentials. NUSD parent partners will deliver groceries to the family home following safety protocol and for contactless delivery. Also, our staff member appreciation committee has been doing amazing work Every week, students nominate a staff member they'd like to recognize. And I just want to take the time to honor the staff members that were nominated last month, which includes Mrs. Mendoza, Ms. Cervantes, Ms. Bulwark, and Lucio Arcasonio. And Ms. Gutierrez, if you could share your screen, please.

[3671] SPEAKER_46: One second. I will get that ready.

[3699] SPEAKER_05: Thank you. As we begin to talk about potential school reopenings, I know that the district is doing their best to reach out to our community, but I thought that we'd do a little bit more to reach out to our students as much as we should. Last week, I sent out a survey, which over 350 students from our high school took part in, and I would like to share those results with the board now. And I'll be happy to email it to anyone afterward, or if anyone would like to see it. Can you go to the next slide? Sorry. As we can see, just like we saw with the survey that were sent out to our parents, it is very split, and there's no clear choice of what students want. It's 50-50. But I think that we're going to have to accommodate both for the hybrid and distance learning models, which means that we should be doing our best to improve upon the current distance learning model in place now, because many students will probably stay at home until June. But I also think that we need to be doing more education and around giving more clarity about the different plans because many students have been asking different questions and I haven't been able to give them a proper response. Next slide, please. Even though students were split, about half would want to return to in-person. 57 still say that the idea of returning to school makes them scared or anxious, which is something to think about going into this in terms of how our students are feeling and the impact that that could have on performance and mental health adjusting to the different schedules. Next slide, please. And this one was a little concerning for me. A majority of our students say that their mental health has gotten worse, even though this may not be a 60 or 70%. You know, it should be much lower, it should be zero. And I think that we need to think about interventions in a way this mental health epidemic is taking over young kids and teens. And I just wanted to point out that these troubling numbers of mental health issues are not new and did not arise just because of the pandemic. It's has been getting worse for years. And I think it's time that we take a deep, have a deeper conversation about how schools contribute to this issue. Next slide, please. And then over here, you can see that 62% of our students say that they feel that they are receiving some good resources they need, but obviously the note could be lower. Next slide, please. And then this one was good, especially considering that we are in distance learning and they're not seeing people face-to-face. It is still around a third of our students that say that we have been doing poorly. And I think that going forward, we can improve upon that as well. Next slide, please. During distance learning, students haven't been feeling as much in terms of how they can utilize resources such as counselors and teachers and having that access, you know, we give it to them, but how we make that access more better for them to reach out and able to do without having to go through trouble, because it's hard right now. And we want kids to know that these things are there for them. Next slide, please. This is a more concerning figure, obviously, 70% of our students are having a hard time learning during distance learning. So I think that's why we saw such a 50-50 on the wanting to return. And it's important that we do return in person when it is safe to for the students that feel this way. Next slide, please. And this was another surprising one, you know, 50% of our students did feel that school was their safe space when school was in session. So again, going back to what I said last time, it is important that we provide that safe space for our students. Next slide, please. And then this one was also surprising. 15.5% of our students would be stopped from working if they returned to school, which again, I emphasize the point of the two different models and why it would work better if some students stayed home rather than going back in person. And that's why we need to improve on both of the models, because it's going to be important for half of our population, and then the other half will we'll have to work on for the other half. And the last one. And then obviously one third of our students have a high-risk family member in their home. So that would be another reason why they choose to stay home. And the last one, sorry, this wasn't the last one. And do you have some access to some type of health care? 6% of our students say that they don't and 94% say that they do, which is really good. It's good that the number is so low, and then maybe we can think of some ways that we can help that small group of students that may need the help in the future with health care. And that's my student report. Thank you guys.

[4003] Mark Triplett: Thank you, student member Salemi. Really informative. And I did have the the honor of visiting the student leadership class today I'll speak a little bit more on it later on, but getting some in coordination with student members so let me, I was able to speak to a group of leaders about about some of the draft plans that we've been working on. So it's, we definitely want to continue to partner and engage with students and get their insights into the best way to be reopening.

[4039] SPEAKER_43: Absolutely.

[4040] Elisa Martinez: Student member Salema, thank you so much for sharing that information. I think the, you know, you taking that initiative to do that, I'm sure a superintendent, there's a lot of richness of layers of information there. So we look forward to your ongoing discussions and see what recommendations come out of it.

[4058] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. I'd like to get a copy.

[4062] SPEAKER_43: Okay, thank you. Okay, Superintendent, do we have Miss Gutierrez?

[4070] Mark Triplett: Do we have someone this evening from our other high school?

[4075] SPEAKER_46: I am still working on that, but we do have currently our junior high students available.

[4079] Mark Triplett: Great, thank you. So we'll introduce our junior high leaders and then we can look back and see if we have our Bridgepoint leader yet. So I want to introduce our two junior high school leaders who are speaking tonight, Ms. Elisa Torres and Rachel Ristow.

[4117] Elisa Martinez: Hi, welcome.

[4120] Mark Triplett: Good evening. Ms. Ristow, would you like to start or Ms. Torres? It looks like, oh, there's Ms. Torres. Hi, Ms. Torres.

[4127] Phuong Nguyen: Hi, I'll start.

[4128] Mark Triplett: Okay.

[4130] SPEAKER_11: Hello, board members, parents and staff. My name is Rachel Ristow and I am the Newark Junior High School ASB Vice President for this year. And today I'm here to tell you about the future plans that Newark Junior High School leadership class has for the month of November. First off, our Activities Committee, which is ran by Alyssa, has come up with a socially distanced movie night where students and families can come to watch a movie through Zoom. The movies our Activities Committee group chose was The Sandlot. Next, our school has planned to do a socially distanced canned food drive run by the Viola Blythe Foundation. Instead of doing the canned food drive in the classroom, students can drop off the cans at school and there will be a virtual competition to see who can collect the most cans to win the prizes. Lastly, a few of our students from our leadership have been selected to be the judges for a logo design contest. And here's Alyssa with her report.

[4181] SPEAKER_14: Hello staff, board members, and parents. My name is Alyssa Torres and I am NJHS ASB president. I'm going to give you a recap of what happened this October. First off, I would like to start by letting you all know about our weekly quizzes. They have been doing great. We have been having a lot of participation, and if you win, you get a free sweater from your choice from our student store. Second event that I would like to tell you about is our school spirit week. We hosted that event on the week of Halloween so that we could have students wear their costume on the Friday before Halloween, which was a great decision. I saw lots of my peers participating in my classes, And lastly, we're starting to get more photos in for our yearbook, which is a great thing. We started doing games to make students more engaged in participating and send in photos, which worked really well. And that's our student report. And thank you for your time.

[4243] Elisa Martinez: Thank you so much for joining us and sharing. Thank you.

[4250] SPEAKER_46: Dr. Triplett, I did get confirmation that one student from Bridgepoint will be joining, but they're currently not available. If you don't mind, when they become available, could we come back to her?

[4259] Mark Triplett: Absolutely. Is that all right, President Martinez?

[4263] Elisa Martinez: I think we should be OK. We may have to, depending on where, if we're in the middle of something, they may have to wait a little. OK. Very good. OK. So we may, if they do get on the phone, we'll go ahead and just let us know when. So next, we'll move on to the next item for now, which is item seven, which is employee organizations. Do we have representatives from our employee organizations?

[4289] SPEAKER_46: Yes, we have a presentation from NEWMA, Ms. Amanda Gallaher.

[4304] SPEAKER_38: Good evening. Good evening. Good evening members of the board and executive cabinet members. On behalf of NEWMA, we want to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues in NTA and CSCA for their continued work and support during distance learning. NEWMA members continue to build community partnerships throughout the year. Most recently, we have partnered with Kaiser, Tri-City Food Volunteers, and ACWD. In partnership with Kaiser, we provided a drive-through flu clinic for our students and community members, giving over 240 flu shots to our community members. Through our partnership with Tri-City Foods Volunteers, we serve over 150 families in our community the first and third Wednesdays of every month. And ACWD partnered with us to distribute school supplies during lunch at all eight elementary schools. Additionally, we continue to push ourselves in professional development, ensuring we are up to date with best practices and current hotline issues impacting the California education system. Multiple members of NEWMA are attending the AXA Leadership Summit this week to increase our depth of knowledge in multiple areas of equity, including racial equity, equity during distance learning, and equity in disciplinary practices. Other members of NEWMA continue their professional development by attending AXA academies. Our members are everywhere in NUSD. Tonight, we'd like to highlight some unseen members of our NEWMA organization from the business department. Jodi Croce joined the business team in May. She has been an employee and part of the community for many years. Most recently, you have probably seen her supporting the school consolidation committee. Jodi plays an active role in supporting our schools and staff. She brings positivity and warmth to every conversation she is part of. Maggie Tong joined the team in January with several years of experience in school districts and private industry. She oversees the payroll department, bringing the joy of paychecks to every NUSD employee. We love her. She also plays a critical role in supporting human resources with staff processing. Kim Lola is our budget guru. She has been with the district for many years and is also a part of the Newark community. She's the heart of the business office and is your go-to person for budget, purchasing, and basically all things business related. She may be a stickler for the rules, but she's always there to support our school office staff and management teams spend their money. We are proud to have such hardworking, dedicated members in our NEWMA group. We want to end our update with a friendly reminder to the community. Parent-teacher conferences will begin November 12th and continue until November 20th. We look forward to seeing our parents virtually during parent-teacher conferences. As we continue the school year, we want to ensure that we continue to lead with student-focused decisions in mind. We thank you all for your support and dedication to our community.

[4479] Elisa Martinez: Thank you so much for your report.

[4484] SPEAKER_46: President Martinez, we also have representation from CSCA, from Ms. Sue Eustace. Perfect. Thank you.

[4496] SPEAKER_43: Good evening, Ms. Eustace.

[4507] SPEAKER_20: Thank you. There we go. Sorry about that. No worries. Okay. It is with great frustration that I speak to you tonight. Classified watch the Newark school board makes fools out of themselves over and over year after year. We have watched the Newark school boards and past superintendents fight for control at school board meetings. We have watched the Newark School Board spend tons of money on reports, consultants, and projects. Some of those projects never even took place. Classified has tried to stay out of the conflict. We continue to just come to work and do our jobs. We watched how high management positions got large raises year after year. Meanwhile, teachers and classified have had to fight for crumbs. We still continue to fight for a fair wage. Now, let's take a look at the School Consolidation Committee. What a fiasco from beginning to end. You would think that the Newark School Board would want the community parents and employees input and their support, but no, that's not what the school board wanted. They, or we as a committee, had very little say and input. We were told when we questioned with what was going on, that we were the board's committee, and that they would decide how it would be done. They even placed themselves as chair and co-chair, and they hired a consultant who framed it, scored it, and wrote the report.

[4626] SPEAKER_46: Ms. Eustace? Ms. Eustace? We can't hear you, Ms. Eustis.

[4634] SPEAKER_43: Ms. Eustis, can you hear us?

[4636] SPEAKER_20: I'm happy of the reports that we were given, ADIS. And one title was Facilities Condition Assessments, and the other one is District-Wide Facility Master Plan. We paid an exorbitant amount of money for these reports. These reports are full of incorrect numbers, mistakes, errors, and inconsistencies. Many of the items that are on there are part from a wish list from the schools that they asked for at the time the reports were being developed. The report really was written for school bond measure, not for what we were using it for. In fact, I really don't even believe the reports that you have are the final copies. I remember there being an issue about trying to get the final copies. Many of the committee members questioned what was taking place. Complaints fell to dead ears. It changed nothing. All I can say is that if you are a Newark School Board member, you should be ashamed or at least embarrassed. I know that as a Newark resident, I am, and I'm sorry for part that I played in it because I felt that I was there to try to make an honest decision. I wasn't allowed, I don't believe, to do that. I do believe that Newark has to wake up. They have to look at what's really going on. They're gonna have to hold our school board accountable. If they're not doing what we want them to do, it is our responsibilities, because I live in Newark, it is our responsibilities to tell them so. I'm telling you now, I feel that was an embarrassment and it wasn't done in an honest way. And I honestly am embarrassed that I was even part of it. Thank you.

[4756] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Eustis, for your comments. Ms.

[4759] SPEAKER_43: Gutierrez, do we have Anybody from NCA? That's it for them. Okay, thank you very much.

[4769] Elisa Martinez: And no update on the student from McGregor?

[4774] SPEAKER_46: No, no update.

[4776] Elisa Martinez: All right. Very good, we move on to item eight, which is recognitions and celebrations. Superintendent, item 8.1.

[4784] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Martinez. I'm gonna pull up my slides. So I had the honor of lifting up and celebrating three outstanding members of our school community tonight. One, one from our classified staff, one from our administrative staff and one from our teaching staff. So the first person I'd like to celebrate is Mr. Frank Gonzalez. He's a custodian at Lincoln Elementary. I had the pleasure of meeting him on the first day of school. An amazing, amazing person that just ensures the cleanliness, the care, and the warmth of Lincoln. And I did want to read some of the words of Principal Rencat Perez. when she's speaking about him. Every single day Frank is at work, he rolls up his sleeves and ensures that Lincoln is safe and secure. He makes sure that all students and staff are comfortable, have a healthy environment to work in, and makes our school shine. Whether it be disinfecting desks or doorknobs, dealing with rooms that are too hot or too cold, growing grass in the front of our school, or bringing a mean ceviche, to our monthly potlucks. Frank is always there for our Lincoln family. So please join me in celebrating Mr. Frank Gonzalez. The next person I wanted to celebrate is one of our principals, Ms. Julie Calderon. She's the principal at Bridgepoint and Crossroads. Julie is an outstanding leader. She is a recent award winner of of a regional award for her leadership. She's an equity warrior. And when I visit classes with her every other week, just been struck by how she knows every single person's name. She checks in with each kid, each student, and she's created such a warm and caring community of support for our students at Bridgepoint and Crossroads. So please join me in celebrating Ms. Julie Calderon. And last but certainly not least, I wanted to celebrate Miss Brianna Pinomacchi. I had the honor of visiting her class. She's a kindergarten teacher at Snow Elementary. Amazing teacher. When I visited her virtual class, she was building reading strategies using household items. So she had students running around their house, grabbing stuff, bringing it back, figuring out how to spell it. It was really, really fun. And I will say, not only is Miss Pinomachi a former student at SNO, She's a graduate of Newark Memorial High School. Her husband, also a former student at Snow, and I just want to congratulate her and her husband. They just gave birth to a son on Friday. So congratulations to Miss Pinamachi and thank you for all that you do for our students and families. And that's our celebrations tonight of our staff.

[5000] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And I'm really happy that you've started this new tradition. I can't remember the last time we, or before you got here that we did that. So that's wonderful that we do. Next item is school spotlight. I'll hand that back to you again.

[5018] Mark Triplett: Great, so we are continuing the tradition of doing school spotlights every month, but we have more, because we have more schools, we're doubling up this month and doing both the staff spotlight and the student spotlight, or sorry, school spotlight this evening. But normally we'll do the staff spotlight one meeting and then the next meeting do a school spotlight. But tonight, I wanted to introduce the wonderful principal of Birch Grove Primary, Ms. Vicenta Ditto. Is she, Ms. Gutierrez is, oh, there she is. And she's going to present on the amazingness of her school.

[5066] SPEAKER_48: Hello, thank you for having me. Good evening, Board President Martinez, members of the board and cabinet. I am going to share my screen here so that I can do a little bit of bragging on Birch Grove Primary School. All right. So last month, you got to hear from Miss Ingham-Watters, the principal at our sister school, Birch Grove Intermediate. We are the complementary TK to second grade campus. located on Smith Avenue, less than a mile away from BGI. And you'll see some things that are very similar between our two schools, and then some things that are quite different. So our vision and mission stay the same, because we are one campus across two sites. So our Birch Grove vision is to provide a safe, inspiring and innovative learning community. We were able to celebrate all of our BG teachers last year for teacher appreciation by doing some home visits. And one of our staff members even caught me doing my surprise home visit on her ring cam and sent us the picture. And we just wanted to celebrate the amazing staff that we have and that come to work every day, whether that's virtually or in person and dedicate themselves to our over 418 BGP students in 17 homeroom classes this year. A little bit about how we are looking on the dashboard. BGEP has dropped into the yellow for math and for language arts, which is a difficult thing for us to grasp and for us to recognize because we do work so very hard in building those foundational skills in those two subject areas. And with the California dashboard, because we are a primary school, we are only judged by the academic progress of one grade level. So as colleagues that have elementary campuses have that spread across multiple, only our students that were third graders the year after we have them, we matriculate them, are what's used for our data for the academic areas. However, we do have celebrations in the school culture and climate. We are performing in the blue for chronic absenteeism, which is huge for us because we were an ATSI school for chronic absenteeism with our Hispanic population. I'm sorry, our EL population of subgroup students. And we are performing much better in that area. And we've also maintained in discipline and suspension rate. which we know as a school for elementary or for primary, we don't ever want to have to suspend a student. And there have been some cases where it has been extreme and that action has been taken. But we are all working very hard to find alternatives to suspension for our youngest learners. And we look forward to when the California dashboard reflects the work that we've done on that, which we know is in a little bit of a freeze right now, but we're hoping some good news is coming soon. All right. So we are also looking at the same instructional priorities as BGI and as the district. So we have student engagement through rigorous standards-based instruction, assessment for learning and social emotional learning and mental health wellness. And you can see some examples here. We have some writing assignments. We have our young authors and a Zoom class where the students are showing off their spider poetry as they were ramping up for Halloween. And I'm going to dive into these a little bit more as our teachers have been working on these three areas as well. So with student engagement through rigorous standards-based instruction, we pride ourselves in offering hands-on and paper-pencil activities to our students. This is big for us because we know that that is developmentally so appropriate for our primary care or primary age students. So we actually have no contact materials exchanged for TKK and first grade once a week and our second graders every other week so that we can get those activities in the students' hands. We also utilize digital platforms like Seesaw, Class Dojo, Google Suite, and our Adopted Curriculum Readers and Writers Workshop. We have Science PE, and our PE teacher has made some special arrangements so that we can also offer TK movement to our youngest Bulldogs and our social studies weekly. In the images that you can see that I'm sharing, you can see that there are some paper pencil But we also have video and photo assignments being turned in. And if you'll indulge me for just a moment, it's a very short clip, but I want to highlight one of our PE assignments and the amazing coaching that's being done by one of our home school teachers, Gianna's mom.

[5410] SPEAKER_52: Good job.

[5417] Toni Stone: Oh, gotta start over.

[5419] Leonor Rebosura: Okay, balance, okay? Nice and straight. Nice and slow.

[5436] SPEAKER_48: So that was a balance relay using things that they find at home like paper plates to help them shuffle, just an object to balance on their head. And mom is doing a great job as videographer and assistant PE teacher. All right, assessment for learning. So with assessment for learning, We again are usually using digital platforms. Our school, our site council was wonderful enough to approve ESGI, which is a online assessment tool for our TKK classrooms that allow real-time assessments with the kids through the screen. We also have IXL. where our students are able to stay pinpointed with a diagnostic that's only about five questions a week in math and five questions a week in language arts. And it keeps the level for the students so the teachers know exactly what skills to target. The pre and post tests for math, reading, and writing. And then of course, our teachers excel with that reteach and enrichment. And again, some examples that are happening in the classroom with writing assignments With real-time assessments in the classroom, so students were provided whiteboards by some of their teachers so they can flash responses right up on the screen so that the teachers can check for understanding and know when they need to move forward and when they need to reteach. And then some different reporting tools that our teachers are able to use, again, to send individualized assignments back to parents to support and to change their own instructional habits. And finally, we have our social-emotional learning and mental health and wellness. So with this one, we have our SEL competencies. We have our school cost team, which is meeting monthly. We are a PBIS school, and we have that Bulldogs R language from my announcements all the way through classroom instruction. We do character traits of the month, which you can see one of those examples in the bottom corner. And we have regular parent communications. And one of the things that we are trying to honor is things that we would traditionally do in a normal school year. For example, we bring field trips to our TK and kindergarten students. So every year when they're learning about the life cycle of a plant in the fall, we have a wonderful local farmer that comes and sets up a pumpkin patch for us. And the kids get to go around and pick their pumpkin not too long before Halloween. To do that in a socially distanced and safe way while still maintaining that tradition, you can see we changed it a little bit. And our TK and kindergarten teachers are actually delivering them right over to the car. And one of our second grade teachers as well, Ms. Nguyen, she did her own version of trunk or treat when she had materials exchange day and had pumpkins for her class as well. And some of the billboards and bulletin boards that you're seeing in the classroom are just reminding students how much we love them and how important they are to their classroom, even if they're not physically here. So with that, just to review, Birch Grove Primary is Bulldog strong. We did a Zoom staff photo this year showing our Bulldog pride. We invite you to come and visit when it's safe or by appointment. Our office is open. Our little office staff image there. We do have bilingual support in the office now, and we've made some changes to make BGP as warm and inviting for our youngest Bulldogs. Thank you so much for your time this evening.

[5690] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Ditto, for your for bragging on your school and all the wonderful things that are happening there. I just wanted to open it up for any of the board members, if you all wanted to ask any questions or comments.

[5710] Phuong Nguyen: I just wanted to say thank you to your staff and yourself for doing a wonderful job at BGP. member Rodriguez and I have, and also President Martinez have been out and passing out lunches in and around the last couple of months. So we just really appreciate your staff and thank you for all the hard work.

[5739] SPEAKER_48: Thank you. They make me look very good tonight.

[5744] Ray Rodriguez: I too wanted to commend you on what your second year, I think it is, or I'm trying to remember. third year. And, you know, with the transition, not too much prior to you coming to BGP. But I just had, I'm trying to imagine, you know, kindergarten, first and second graders with suspensions, it just doesn't, it doesn't hit. There's so little, but, but I'm sure that, you know, even at that early age, you know, there's some bullying going on sometimes. And And I'm glad that you're right on top of it and to make sure that, you know, even though it might only be one or two students and it might be minor that you take care of it right away. And I appreciate that.

[5795] SPEAKER_48: Thank you. It's never something that's easy. It's always done with a lot of thought and what else can we do and making sure that the students are supported before and after it ever gets to that point. So thank you for that.

[5807] Ray Rodriguez: I appreciate that. Thank you.

[5813] Elisa Martinez: Ms. Ditto, I just wanted to, you know, as to Member Rodriguez, you know, his comment went in a different direction, but I was gonna say, I can't imagine, and I mean, all schools have our little ones, but I mean, that is your specialty, if you will, at the primary, and, you know, really thanking you and the wonderful teachers there. The challenges of engaging and keeping those you know, little ones engaged and, you know, big shout out to all the parents as well, because of course they're contributing in every age group, but this is a big lift for them. So please thank him on behalf of all of us. Thank you so much.

[5852] SPEAKER_48: I will. Thank you very much for the time. Thank you.

[5855] Ray Rodriguez: I have one question. With the distance learning, has there been any challenges that maybe you didn't anticipate that you had to work yourself through?

[5869] SPEAKER_48: Yes. That's quite a list. It's quite a list. And I was told I have a time limit, Mr. Rodriguez.

[5879] Mark Triplett: I thought you were going to say not at all. No.

[5881] SPEAKER_48: Right. I think, you know, with especially a challenge with our youngest learners is we have to walk a fine balance between screen time for learning and screen time to keep the kids busy. And that's a challenge for us. When you come into our physical classrooms, we have wiggle breaks. We have movement around the classroom. It is beautiful chaos when we're talking about young learners. And that changes drastically when there's the barrier of a screen, when there's a barrier of a mask. and you don't have that same warmth and that same relationship building. And hats off again to the teachers of primary students especially, because they are bridging that. In so many of the walkthroughs that I do, I'm seeing the teacher's face and I'm seeing the content. So they are finding a way to balance that in amazing and innovative ways that are still reaching our youngest learners who would much rather be having a snack in front of Spongebob than doing some of the things that our teachers would normally have their undivided attention for. And our teachers are still getting that, which is a beautiful, wonderful and amazing thing. But it is definitely something that none of us ever thought, just like me having the entire board and public in my living room this evening. Welcome to my home. Things that we never thought would happen are not only happening, but we're making it work.

[5988] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. I have two second graders, my two grand, the boys, and I know Miss Palomino over at Snow. And I'm sure you guys, you know, you guys do it also. They break them into small groups sometimes because they really miss their friends. And so they can kind of pick a small group and do other things so they can stay connected. And it's just, it's a beautiful age and I'm happy with what you're doing with them. Thank you.

[6017] SPEAKER_48: Thank you. Yes, outside of content instruction, our teachers are working on a small group and offering things like recess together. And in fact, the need arose. And so I'll be starting a lunch bunch once a week for students that need that socialization outside of the academic area. to support IEP goals, 504 goals, and students that just need that connection again. So again, that SEL competency.

[6041] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Ditto. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you all. OK. Well, have a good evening. Thanks. And superintendent, I think before we move to the next item, Ms. Gutierrez, do we still have our student from Bridgepoint available?

[6062] SPEAKER_46: Yes, she became available. Marilyn Rollins, please. Thank you. Thank you.

[6070] SPEAKER_24: Wait, do I go now?

[6072] Mark Triplett: Yeah, welcome, Ms. Rollins.

[6074] SPEAKER_43: Hi, Ms. Rollins. Hello.

[6077] SPEAKER_24: Oh, wait, let me find it. Okay. Good evening, Superintendent, Dr. Triplett, board members, and cabinet members. I'm Marilyn, and I'm a senior at Bridgepoint High School. Our second quarter is underway. We have welcomed new students from Crossroads and Newark Memorial at Bridgepoint. Our first virtual back to school night was held on Wednesday, September 16th. Our first drive-thru report card pickup was held on Wednesday, October 21st. Bridgepoint will be visited by WASP Monday and Tuesday. We are hoping a successful visit. Crossroads now has a mascot. They are the Cheetahs. Thank you. you.

[6122] Elisa Martinez: Awesome Thank you. Thanks I'm glad to hear you all have a mascot. I think that's awesome. Thank you, Miss Rollins.

[6128] Mark Triplett: Thanks, Miss Rollins.

[6130] SPEAKER_24: No problem. Thank you.

[6134] Elisa Martinez: Okay And with that, we moved to item nine, which is public comment on non agenda items. Miss Gutierrez. Do we With that, then we move to item 10, which is superintendent report. So back to you, Superintendent Triplett.

[6159] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Martinez. Let me tee this up here. Okay, so a couple different announcements and, and communication around some things that have been happening in the district. One is that they we have concluded the fall barbecues, a huge hit 6000 barbecues served and 10 different sites. I think it was a really wonderful event and we really appreciate the child nutrition department for all of the work that they did to put in into that I did have the honor of of having two hamburgers one day. I don't know how I got so lucky to have two, but really delicious and amazing. And wanted to celebrate that we, in September, we served 60,000 lunches, in October, 58,000. So really, really wonderful that we're continuing to be able to provide nutrition to our families and students. And I do wanna give a particular shout out to member Rodriguez and member Nguyen, who I know have been putting in a lot of time participating in the lunch distribution. It's much appreciated by everybody. I wanted to share about our town hall meetings, particularly with regard to reopening. So we held a town hall meeting on October 27th. That was last Tuesday. And I did mention earlier, but just to reiterate, I had the honor of visiting a student leadership class today and talking about reopening. Both those sessions got really, really valuable feedback. from both families and students. At the town hall, we were able to start doing some live in-person polling, and it was very insightful to hear families' concerns and wishes for their children. And then, like I said, today at the student leadership class, the first session of being in that class and talking about reopening, but we all agreed that we want to continue to do that. They had a lot of really good insight. They looked deeply at the different draft schedules for secondary and had some really good suggestions. And then our next virtual town hall regarding reopening will be on November 10 so that's next Tuesday will continue to be this ongoing engagement with the community, as we continue to plan out with our labor partners, the reopening of. of schools. And just to reiterate, as of right now, we do not have any confirmed date for reopening, so we're continuing to do all of the work necessary to prepare, and we hope to have a date to announce in the near future. So we had some requests from some board members regarding enrollment and attendance. So just wanted to take, I've been periodically, as you know, sharing with you our enrollment numbers. So I wanted to share our most recent snapshot of where we are in terms of our enrollment. It's not great news, I will say. But also not unexpected given the pandemic. Our projections, our total projections were 5600. We are currently as of the second, which I believe was what it was that Monday, we were at 5,519 so 81 students below our projections. For the majority of our schools, we are either below or right on projection, as you can see in these comparative columns. The exception being the high school, where we are over by a fair amount. I believe it's 30 students or so. And then another request from the board was wanting to get some updates around attendance. So of course, making the distinction between enrollment, how many students are on our rosters, and then daily attendance and chronic absences. So wanted to give you just a quick snapshot of where we're at. Again, it's a little disconcerting, not surprising given where we are.

[6439] SPEAKER_46: One second, Dr. Triplett. Mr. Rose, if you could put our interpreter back in the interpreter section. Okay. Ms. Hilma, can you? Okay, we are ready. Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Sorry about that.

[6460] Mark Triplett: No problem. So this is a quick snapshot. What you see in here is the totals for the district around chronic absence. So in 2019-20 on the 21st of October, you can see that we had a student count of 5,681 students. That's a, you may see a slight discrepancy between enrollment numbers and student count because this is done as an average across the days all the way until October 21. But as you can see last year, the chronic absent rate was 3.1%. And then this year, you can see the same date that our chronic absent rate is 8.8. So again, not good news. We really want to make sure that we are doing all we can to get every student to be attending in distance learning and logging on. And we recognize that there's a lot of challenges to that from our families, from our students. So I did want to share with you some of the steps that we are taking to address chronic absence and really try to support positive attendance for students. Of course, we have a number of interventions in the classroom. First and foremost, we take attendance every day. Teachers are taking attendance per period. Teachers are using really fantastic student engagement strategies to try to keep students engaged in class, interested in learning. And again, that's more challenging in distance learning, but I'm really proud of the work that our teachers are doing to do that. And then we have designed the structure of the day so that there is small group intervention classes during the day. And that really helps to improve attendance because students that are stuck, confused about materials, those are the students that tend to start to check out. And so when we identify students that are struggling and can have them in smaller groups, it tends to be really effective in terms of improving. their participation and attendance overall. Then of course we're contacting families regularly, identifying students that are struggling, students that are struggling both academically or in terms of attendance. We have cost referrals and our parent partners who are absolutely fantastic are contacting families, identifying barriers and challenges, some doing some home visits or contacting them on the phone and trying to support them with referrals to other services and resources as well as supporting them to help their child to get online. We also, of course, have our daily phone call system, School Messenger, for any absences. We do have our A2A letters up and running. So after three days, total absences unexcused, that is letters sent. And then we have been doing home visits and administrator conferences with families and students that are really struggling to attend. And then, of course, as was mentioned earlier, beginning to plan for in-person, small cohorts. How do we really reach out to those students who are having the greatest challenges online and really figure out how to support them? So that's a quick overview of some of the things or steps that we're taking in this virtual world to try to address some of our attendance challenges. And then lastly, there we go. Lastly, I did want to bring to the board, I wanted to seek a little direction. We did have board minutes that were approved by the board for October 1. And afterwards, we were alerted to the fact by a community member, we really appreciated that, that there was an error in the minutes. As we're moving to the board doc minute structure, We realized that there's a, there's an automatic generation of a sentence that happens on board docs and at first we did not realize that. So the October 1 minutes that were approved, it does include an automatically generated sentence that's not relevant to those minutes. Fortunately, it's, it's not material to the actions of the meeting so it doesn't. It doesn't preclude anything like that, but did want to ask for any sort of guidance from the board, because we could. It's within our purview to just simply delete that sentence from the minutes, and it would not require us to bring them back for a second vote. But that would be really depending on the desires of the board.

[6747] Elisa Martinez: I guess my only question would be when we say it's not material, how do we gauge that? If we've got guidance or there's specific language that identifies that, then I would incline to say, just go ahead and make the correction, but I'd like to know more about that.

[6766] Mark Triplett: Yeah, we've reviewed them with our legal counsel and they've, they've, they've identified that it is non material but I think Miss Gutierrez you could, if you would, you could read the sentence that's in the, it's been in the minutes. Sorry I'm putting you on the spot I didn't actually.

[6783] SPEAKER_46: Yeah, I don't have them in front of me but off the top of my head I believe it says, recommend staff recommends the approval of the personnel report. So then it's within the consent items and it repeats again, staff recommends the approval of the personnel report, staff recommends the approval of the personnel report for each item within consent. So it's not pertinent to those items and it is repeated.

[6807] Mark Triplett: And like I said, now that we're aware of that, and that is part of what happens automatically on board docs, now we're moving forward. We've corrected that for all future minutes, but it did occur for that October 1st minutes.

[6824] Elisa Martinez: Okay. And we do capture the consent item for personnel in the correct section that won't be deleted, correct? Okay, I mean, I'm okay if we've got legal guidance that it's immaterial, if you will. So I'm okay that they don't come back, but I'd like to get, I guess maybe I need to show, see consensus from the rest of the board or different direction. Are you all okay if we just, if staff deletes that line item?

[6861] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I'm okay.

[6865] Mark Triplett: Okay. All right. Terrific. Um, and that is all for, um, superintendent's report this evening.

[6873] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Thank you very much. All right. Um, and with that, we move to, uh, new business. Uh, and first one is 11.1 contract between Let's see, let me bring it up. I'm sorry, I gotta get the language correct. Contract between Imagine Learning and Newark Unified, and the recommended action is that the board approve the Imagine Learning contract. So if I can please get a motion and a second to open discussion on this item.

[6915] Bowen Zhang: I move to approve the contract with Imagine Learning.

[6919] SPEAKER_43: Okay, may I have a second?

[6923] Elisa Martinez: I second. Member Zhang moves. Member Nguyen seconds. Great. And Ms. Gutierrez, do we have any public comment on this item?

[6935] SPEAKER_46: No, President Martinez.

[6937] Elisa Martinez: Very good. OK.

[6941] SPEAKER_43: Superintendent, who will be giving an overview of this item?

[6946] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Yeah, I'll start and then I would like to introduce the Director of Special Education, Ms. Hamilton. I will start by saying, you most likely noticed on here, this is a significant cost. It is a program and a contract that provides much higher level of service for our students with special needs. And because of the cost, we definitely did a lot of engaging with different stakeholders around making sure that this was really something that teachers, administrators felt like would be of service to our students with special needs. And Ms. Hamilton will speak more about it, but I will say, I think we really want to continue to do better by our students with special needs. And I really believe that this program, or programs really, because it's multiple, there's multiple components, offers that much higher level of support and service that will really help to get our students with special needs. I'll turn it over to Director Hamilton.

[7014] SPEAKER_19: Dr. Hamilton, I should say. Good evening. Good evening. Distinguished Board President Martinez, distinguished board members, and Superintendent Dr. Triplett, it's a real pleasure to present to you this evening our Imagine Learning program. And I think we have a PowerPoint that's coming up directly. that I was presenting.

[7043] SPEAKER_46: Sorry, I'll take care of that. Give me one second.

[7048] SPEAKER_19: Thank you, Lucia.

[7072] SPEAKER_46: Okay, Dr. Hamilton, it's ready to go.

[7078] SPEAKER_19: Thank you. So it's a real pleasure once again and a wonderful opportunity to present to you the Imagine Learning program that we need to teach to our teachers, our families and our students. The Imagine Learning program provides a digital literacy, language and mathematics education program for our special education students. to support learning among students with disabilities. Imagine Learning provides instruction that aligns with high leverage outcomes for our students. The rationale for adopting Imagine Learning, teachers have been doing amazing work with a variety of different programs in our classrooms during distance learning. But they're not standardized nor systematic. Teachers have requested intervention supports for their students. Parents likewise have also expressed concern with a number of programs they are accessing. The Imagine Learning program will mitigate this concern by providing a core intervention program to support students with special needs. Additionally, the district has been identified as needing to address disproportionality, target a review in English language arts and math. This program is intended to address the needs of students to support their academic success. Additionally, Imagine Learning and Literacy is focused at K3 program. When students have mastered literacy skills, basic skills, they then progress on to a reading intense program. The program includes assessments, foundational literacy, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency and reading comprehension. The program caters both for special education and special education English language learners in supporting their individual unique needs. Personalized instruction relates research and content standards, actionable data to guide instruction and support our students' academic performance are integral pieces of this program. Multiple languages support students, particularly during distance learning is a very big advantage and a wonderful resource for both our students and their families alike. Next slide. Thank you, Lucia. Process for selecting the Imagine Learning Intervention Program. We held several meetings with representatives from Imagine Learning with both elementary and secondary teachers and site administrators. The teachers were very positive and supportive of adopting and the majority have supported adopting the program. Additionally, Ongai is also viewed as a very positive aspect of the program. Additionally, this program will serve approximately 526 of our special education students, right from kindergarten through to a high school level in language arts and through to sixth grade in math, and in high school as well. Next slide, please. Thank you. Imagine Language and Literacy Reading. The program provides a personal literacy and language skills. Imagine Language and Literacy prepares students to read grade-level text, and that's what we want. We want students to access general education programs in grade-level text. The program also provides personalized learning pathways to deliver direct instruction in all five areas of reading, with additional practice and instruction as needed. Teachers can create custom playlists of activities based on identified instructional needs. Additionally, the program engages students and builds confidence, driving their academic success. Next slide, please. Thank you, Lucia. Imagine Math. Imagine Math develops early math skills through personalised instruction, tailored approach to teach critical foundation skills in a fun storybook environment, scaffolds up to grade level content while engaging young learners in new challenges. Benchmark results automatically inform learning pathways to ensure each student receives the grade level content they are ready for and prerequisite lessons where they need levelling up. Scaffold supports are carefully calibrated to the validity of student performance to ensure conceptual understanding. Additionally, Imagine Math differentiates learners to support students and their skill level. The program has online support, a tutor that can help students while they're doing their homework at home if they're having difficulty with a math concept. It's also provided in multiple languages to support students and families alike. Thank you. Next slide, please. And finally, partnership and professional development. This is a very key piece to implementing any type of program is really the professional development and the ongoing support is a really integral piece to make sure that The program is implemented with fidelity that teachers and families alike get the support they need with what this program is. So administrators and teachers professional learning will take place. Imaginary learning kickoff of training. Deeper dive and implementation of support. Ongoing support. Bi-weekly office hours. Focus on implementation support. Quarterly updates. Building level data reviews with principal and case manager. Parent overview and ongoing support, monthly questions and answers sessions, and a parental portal for Imagine Math. And that is the end of my presentation. Thank you.

[7450] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Dr. Hamilton. We'll open it up for any questions from my fellow board members.

[7457] SPEAKER_43: I know I have a question, but I'll let any of you kind of one first.

[7463] Phuong Nguyen: Hi, Dr. Hamilton. This is member Nguyen. I just wanted to confirm that this was for a three-year plan, a three-year contract?

[7477] SPEAKER_19: Yes, that's correct. Yes.

[7481] Phuong Nguyen: And there are benchmarks that are set in the program to monitor and track student performance, correct?

[7490] SPEAKER_19: Yes, and I think that's a really excellent question. Thank you for asking it. That is one of the most beneficial pieces to this program, that it is very much data based. And, you know, on a daily basis, we can actually see where students are. and so can their families and their teachers to see exactly how students are doing. But there are certain integral pieces. Initially, when the program will be adopted, all students will be assessed as to see where they are, and then they'll be monitored as they move forward. And so there's several, there's three formal data points at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year and the end of the year that will also be reported out. Additionally, their Lexar levels of where they are with their reading will also be reported out and the evaluation checklist to see how students are going as we perform. Additionally, I think as a district, we will also be looking at other measures of how students are going, not just with the Imagine Learning program. We'll be also looking at our iReady goals, their IEP goals. Additionally, their report cards, how they're doing on that end. Our dashboard data is really, really important as well. And also, how much students will access general education program. I think that's really the foundation of putting a program like this in place, trying to support students in the least restrictive environment and providing that access for general education is really the foundation of it. Thank you for your question. Thank you.

[7586] Elisa Martinez: Thank you.

[7587] SPEAKER_43: Any other questions for Dr. Hamilton?

[7594] Elisa Martinez: I'll ask mine. So mine actually was very similar with regards to the the baselining. But even I think prior to that, just calling out that this is a three-year contract, the funding source is our CARES grant, if you will. So it's one-time funding. And hence, it's so important to think about a couple of things. One is, how do we know that this new program is going to work and meet the needs of our students? I think that's really important because I would expect that three years from now, staff will be coming back for, hey, this is going great. How are we going to fund it? So I think it's really important that we have that objective data that helps make that decision really easy for us. And that says, yep, this is absolutely delivering the results that we expected for our kids. So that was really important that you shared the setting of the baselines. The second question that I have is, eventually is the thought that this will replace other programs or this is in addition to all the other programs that are out there to support special education?

[7678] SPEAKER_19: I think that's a really excellent question and thank you for asking it. At this time, and particularly with our distance learning, it's a wonderful opportunity for our students to be engaged in a program like this, number one. I think after our three years is up, obviously, we're going to have to assess it on a year-by-year basis. And I think our ultimate goal is for students to be provided with the skills, both in language arts and in math, to access general education programs. So, looking at the big picture of where we are in special education, where we are in the district, is looking at multi-tier systems of support universal design for learning. How do students access general education more than they are currently? And that's an area of focus for the state as well, that least restrictive environment, and how do we do that? And this is part of this program is trying to support that. And when we get to the three year end, I think we'll always need some type of reading program. I have no doubt in my mind that we will do that. And I think that we really need to seek a kindergarten. The research is very clear. Students should be fluent at first grade. A special education struggle on that end. So I think, to be very honest, I think we will have to continue some type of reading program. Whether or not it's imagined learning is really up to the data and what that does and how our students are doing. I would envision over the period of three years, we wouldn't have as many students in an intensive program like this. I think our goal is ultimately to try and support that inclusive practices where they get content teachers and get that rigorous instruction. And I think that's the ultimate goal of our district and where we're moving to.

[7790] Elisa Martinez: Thank you.

[7792] SPEAKER_19: You're very welcome.

[7794] Elisa Martinez: Any other questions or comments from the board?

[7797] Phuong Nguyen: Actually, I do have one additional question. Going back to the funding source. So the first year, it is coming out of the CARES, Federal CARES Act Fund. But for the second and third year, it's coming out of the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund. Can, and they're both, I just want to be clear, are they both one time funding sources?

[7821] SPEAKER_19: I believe so, yes.

[7825] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, that would be true. Member Nguyen, it's all one time.

[7828] Phuong Nguyen: And then can you just for our community members explain the difference between the two, Ms.dela Cruz?

[7836] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, well, the main difference right now is really the deadline to spend. There's one pot of money that needs to be spent by December 30th, 2020, and that will cover our first year. And then the second and the third year are not due until September 2022. So that's how we're able to cover the other two years.

[7861] Phuong Nguyen: Great, thank you.

[7868] Elisa Martinez: All right, if there are no other questions or comments, I would like Ms. Gutierrez, if you can please repeat the motion on the table, please.

[7881] SPEAKER_46: staff recommends the board approve the Imagine Learning contract with a motion from Member Zhang and a second from Member Nguyen. And I have open voting. Okay.

[7891] Elisa Martinez: And so first we will ask our student member Salemi to vote. And can you use board docs again? I'm sorry, I don't recall. Yes, you can.

[7901] SPEAKER_46: Okay, very good. Thank you. Do you want a verbal announcement of his vote?

[7908] SPEAKER_43: Yes, please.

[7910] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[7913] SPEAKER_46: Okay. I'm just waiting for President Martinez and Member Jean. Thank you. And it passes unanimously.

[7946] SPEAKER_19: Great. Thank you so much.

[7949] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Dr. Hamilton, for your explanation and the thorough explanation as part of the agenda. So thank you.

[7957] SPEAKER_19: Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

[7962] Elisa Martinez: Okay. And with that, we move to item 11.2, which is the consolidation advisory committee report. This is a discussion item, informational item. We will not be taking action today. We will not be voting. So I just wanted to make that clear. And before, meaning we'll go, I believe we do have the public comment, but before we go there, I just wanted to take, a minute, 30 seconds to just kind of set context. You know, why are we having this item on the agenda? And it's been about a year. So a couple of us been on the board have for about two years. This has been an ongoing conversation around the opportunity or the need to potentially close or consolidate schools. Why is that? Why are we having that conversation? Nobody wants to do that. Nobody here that's on this virtual dais is in any way can say we are in favor of. But the genesis where we started with this conversation was a budget shortfall. I think many of us, all of us in Newark, we're aware that our enrollment has continued to decline over the years. Certainly this is a trend that's been there for about 10 years. since 2008, that decline has accelerated. So it's been an ongoing issue that we have a structural deficit, meaning we are not getting enough revenue to support our cost structure. And so last year, again, these conversations have been going on, but as I was looking back at my notes, in earnest, this board, gave direction to staff back in, I believe, October of last year to form a committee to identify possibility of, the bogey was $1 million. The target of savings is $1 million. We identified the board that we needed to understand what the opportunity, what the cost savings was if we closed. a couple of campuses, given that our enrollment was so low relative to our overall system capacity. So I just wanted to kind of just set the context as to why we're even talking about a consolidation committee report, just reminding that this has been about a year in discussion. And at the end of the day, we as a district, we as a governing board, have identified and have committed to the county that we will eliminate the structural issues in our budget. And in order for us to do that, we absolutely have to come up with at least a million dollars in cost reduction. So I just wanted to give that background because this is not an easy conversation for any of us, but just wanted you all to know that. I know that there are some, we recently in the last month, we've had a couple of meetings with regards to that. So I'll come up with the dates. I know that I had them here written down, but for any of you that are interested in really understanding the conversations around the budget, we'll share those dates and you can go ahead and find the links on our website. Okay. And so with that, Ms. Gutierrez, I understand that we have, a significant number of requests for comment. How many do we have?

[8204] SPEAKER_46: I want to say roughly about 17.

[8207] Elisa Martinez: OK. So typically, per our board governance handbook and protocols, each agenda item gets about 30 minutes. Obviously, this is a very important topic. We've been all receiving a lot of input, a lot of via email. and we wanna make sure we hear folks. So I was going to look for consensus from the rest of the board that we actually hear all 17 or so comments prior to the board entering into discussion. Can I just get a consensus from the board that we're okay with that?

[8246] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[8247] Elisa Martinez: Okay, very good. So Ms. Gutierrez, if you can go ahead and just call them up in order.

[8257] SPEAKER_46: Okay, Mr. Rose will be helping me with this, but the first one on the list is Arlette Hakome.

[8274] SPEAKER_13: Yes, it's Hakome. Hakome.

[8277] SPEAKER_43: Welcome, Ms. Hakome.

[8279] SPEAKER_13: Thank you. Do I get to begin?

[8283] Elisa Martinez: Oh, sorry. Thank you. And I should I should state that, you know, that we our guideline is through everybody gets three minutes. And so, Miss Gutierrez will be timing and we will ask you to stop at three minutes if if you're if your conversation still happening. Okay.

[8302] SPEAKER_43: Thank you.

[8304] SPEAKER_13: Okay, thank you so much. My name is Arlette. I am a UC Berkeley grad. I'm an alumni of Newark schools and I currently have a nephew at Schilling. I just found out about this conversation about the closing and consolidation of schools, which is appalling to me that our community isn't aware that this is happening. But to give some context on where I stand, years have gone by in my years living in Newark. It was really clear that there was a big mismanagement from the district in regards to our public funds for the school and lack of outreach for major decisions such as this. So after so many years of mismanagement, we have landed in this dilemma, where you're considering closures and consolidation of schools, but it's a shame that you want to sacrifice schools in Newark to supposedly fix the issues you have. It seems you are more interested in selling our kids education than investing in it. One of the factors used to evaluate which schools might be closed seem to be their level of diversity. The top choices, top choices is have high percentages of Latinx students, and that seems to justify closing these schools because black diversity. However, these students are what make Newark diverse. It's a shame to make this the reason to close specific schools, and this contributes to systemic racism, closing the school specifically will cause issues to access by adding barriers in areas such as transportation. If students from lower income or underserved community backgrounds are expected to travel farther while affluent students get to have a school at walking distance, you tell me, how is this education equitable? This just adds an extra hoop for parents. Don't let your lack of analysis and true commitment to equity lead you to continue perpetuating inequality amongst the seeds of our future, which are these children. At the same time, I have heard comments that potentially there might be a new elementary school Somewhere in the area three near cherry and Stevenson, and to hear this is really disappointing. How can you use a deficit as reasoning to close schools, but there seems to be a consideration for a new school in an up and coming, more affluent area, which if we really want to be honest, this is in support of gentrification. This is already a rough time with the pandemic, with essential workers having to work hard while their kids are home, maybe with not as much support as maybe other families. We don't need the added stress of school closures for these students. I hope you decide to reconsider this process and change your plan so it benefits the students who need it the most, not so that it benefits your interests and your pockets. Thank you.

[8489] Cindy Parks: Good.

[8492] SPEAKER_43: Okay, next speaker.

[8497] SPEAKER_46: Mr. Rose, if you could please move Cindy Parks.

[8503] Cindy Parks: Good evening. Last month, the FICMAC representative told you the code used to transfer money from Fund 17 wasn't an inter-fund borrowing code. It was simply a transfer code, meaning the money does not have to be repaid. Your financial picture is different from the approved budget. You are now working with an increase in revenue. plus cost savings due to the pandemic, with reduced utility, special ed transportation, and professional services, to name a few. Your commitment to cut $1 million was based on your previous budget forecast. With all the stress staff, students, and parents are suffering with due to the COVID-19, I would advocate for closing only one school in the fall of 2021. Then in the spring of 2021, the district could begin planning the academic program and facility usage to transition Newark Junior High into Newark Middle School in August, 2022. This will allow time to plan the transition and convince the sixth grade staff and parents the middle school model is a very effective academic option. If the sixth graders move to Newark Middle School and there isn't an increase in enrollment, the district can then opt to close a second elementary site. Thank you very much. I hope you consider this.

[8594] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Parks.

[8599] SPEAKER_46: Mr. Rose, if you can please move Veronica Medina.

[8608] SPEAKER_32: Good evening Dr. Triplett and members of the board. My name is Veronica Medina and I'm the mother of a student with special needs who graduated from our preschool program and is currently a student in the special day class at music. I was part of the school consolidation advisory committee and it was not a fun process but the work was important. I was hoping this would be a fair process, and if the data showed that my daughter's school was the best candidate for closure, I could understand even if I did not like the results, but that is not how it ended. In fact, according to the scores and rankings used by the consultant, music ranked fifth highest. There were four other schools who ranked higher and were better candidates for closure or consolidation. If the data were viewed objectively, then there would be no problem. But the schools were selected for recommendation in a very chaotic and error-ridden vote. In fact, I had to correct my own vote. Music was selected by five members of the committee as the second school to be recommended for closure. Five members from a committee of 13 chose to recommend music as their choice. Why? Closing music does not save as much money. Even though we are the oldest building, our five-year deferred maintenance costs is significantly lower than other sites. Our lowest score in the data collecting process comes from enrollment. This enrollment does not include the special needs preschool, which is housed at our site. The preschool enrollment grows throughout the year and can top 40 or more little bodies in our classrooms. Even when the demographic consultant accounted for preschool classrooms in the capacity calculation, he did not account for the rooms occupied by specialists such as occupational therapy, speech, and APE. Those serve our student population of nearly 100 kids that have IEPs. In your welcome statement last week at the meeting, Dr. Triplett, you mentioned equity, but where is the equity in this recommendation? We are a Title I school with a large population of English language learners. Nearly one-third of our students receive special education services, Our tiniest learners, the preschoolers, are not counted in our population, and we are not easy to move without spending more money to be in compliance with ADA needs for our students. The closest schools to us are among the most crowded in the district, and this would cause students without motor transportation to cross train tracks and busy streets, further burdening our most in need families. This is not equity. When the data does not rank us as the top school to close, why are we allowing the subjective vote of five members to disenfranchise our students and their families? We ask you, Dr. Triplett and the school board members to be objective and think critically, finding solutions in this difficult process, but music must stay. Thank you.

[8783] SPEAKER_43: Thank you, Ms. Medina. Ms.

[8786] SPEAKER_46: Gutierrez. Next speaker is Noelle Deut.

[8796] Jodi Croce: Good evening.

[8799] SPEAKER_09: I'm the mother of two students who attended Lincoln Elementary in the 90s. I am currently a special education aide at Lincoln, and I'm the grandmother of a currently enrolled Lincoln student. Lincoln is the diamond in the rough. For several years it had the lowest enrollment, Therefore, wound up being the overflow school, which I believe has propelled it into the successfully diverse site, it is today. Over the years the eclectic group of dedicated staff and parents have lifted Lincoln from the elementary site with the lowest enrollment. to a much desired attendance area with the fourth most enrolled students. As many of you know, my husband Tony spent many years working in real estate. Clients would specifically request to see homes within the Lincoln area due to test scores and great school rating, thus boosting the district's enrollment numbers. Please allow Lincoln to continue to thrive. Thank you.

[8866] SPEAKER_43: Thank you, Ms. Doot.

[8872] SPEAKER_46: Next one is Joan Davis.

[8880] SPEAKER_15: Good evening to the board and families of Newark. What a sad day for the learning community of Graham Elementary to discover a recommendation of a possible school closure. The weighted measured Numbered studies and collected data do not fully reveal the consequences of closing a school like Graham. A school like Graham, one can ask. Graham is a community beyond the numbers. Diverse, committed, composed of dedicated families whose children are striving to learn. A school with an enormous heart. A school like Graham is made smaller by what it has to offer. a supportive staff with a staunch commitment to teaching and educating their students as well as themselves. A curriculum that includes ability-based learning, flex, SEAL-trained teachers, the best pedagogy, and ability to remain flexible. Continuing to teach at a high standard, knowing the school might close, means devoted educators. Beyond the weighted measures, a preschool, Kodango, attached to the school that strives to make the transition to K through six as seamless as possible. Beyond the numbers studies, a much needed childcare option, Think Together, that provides a safe environment in which learners can complete homework and help one another while their parents are at work. Beyond the data, parent and family volunteers willing to teach, donate, and help in our office, classrooms, makerspace, and the library. I came here just eight years ago thinking this would be a short stop. The outward appearance was pedestrian to me. Once inside the gate, though, a teeming community full of teachers and families awaited. What a treat. Please allow others to experience the same. an experience that is way beyond the numbers, weighted measures, and data. Thank you for your consideration.

[9022] SPEAKER_43: Thank you, Ms. Davis.

[9027] SPEAKER_46: Ms. Gutierrez? Okay, the next one is Alexi Rubio. However, we are looking on the attendee list and do not see the name Alexi Rubio.

[9039] Elisa Martinez: Okay, Alexi Rubio, if, okay.

[9046] SPEAKER_46: What we could do, if you give me three seconds, if there is an Alexi Rubio, they could raise their hand as an attendee. Okay.

[9058] Elisa Martinez: I don't see anybody raise, wait.

[9063] SPEAKER_43: That is correct, you can go to the next.

[9068] Elisa Martinez: All right, let's go on to the next name on the list, please.

[9077] SPEAKER_46: The next one is Roy Pollack.

[9081] SPEAKER_16: Hello, members of the board. My name is Roy Pollack. Obviously, like most people, this is a truly unfortunate situation. I'm glad that people love their school so much and would all like to see none close. If we do, if we must close schools, I would ask the board to please consider the effects on Newark's ranking on third party sites like great schools.com because fairly or not, that is sites that people use to make decisions when they move, whether to enroll their kids, how much to pay for a house. If we close the best performing schools in Newark, We drive down property values, which takes more money away from the school. People with young kids may choose to move to Union City or Fremont instead, which will drive down enrollment and further starve the schools of money. And finally, people may move in who never even try what the schools have to offer and send their kids to private school. And once again, the district will continue to be in a situation where we're building houses, we're building industry, and yet our elementary school enrollment is dropping. So please take that into consideration and don't enter us into a death spiral of declining enrollment. Thank you.

[9152] SPEAKER_43: Thank you, Mr. Pollack.

[9155] SPEAKER_46: Thank you. The next one is Ramon Medina.

[9167] SPEAKER_43: Hello, Mr. Medina.

[9169] Elisa Martinez: Hello. Yep, we can hear you now.

[9173] SPEAKER_35: Good evening, Superintendent Triplett, executive staff, and members of the board. My name is Ramon Medina. I'm a father of a special needs student at music and dedicated active father for all kids in this district. We started at WIFER and dealt with the closure a couple years ago, believing that the district leadership and the board had the best intentions for our kids and teachers. Being a husband of a former teacher, I understand the challenges they face with the limited resources and uphill battle they fight every day to support a marginalized group by our own educational system. Escaping a corrupted socialist system and coming to this country as a child, coming to a system that believes if individuals work hard, they will earn economic and social rewards that are just and fair, the American dream. Unfortunately, what this forgets to mention is that the color of your skin matters, where you live matters, how you look matters, what languages, language you speak at home matters, where you school, where school you go to matters, who your parents are matter, who believes in you matters. Music Elementary has been working hard in improving performance in chronic absences, lowering suspension rate, improving English language arts and math scores. We're doing this with a population of 62.2% social economically disadvantaged, 41% English learners, and with a nearly 100 IEPs, which is the largest number of IEPs in all elementary schools in this district. Our dedicated parent groups are consistently working hard to support our teacher and administration. Our kids are learning the power of working with such a dynamic, dedicated, diverse, and inclusive community. Music Elementary is ready to change the pattern of parents moving from our district due to the decisions made in the past by school board members. Today, you have the opportunity to truly acknowledge that you have the responsibility and the choice to be transparent, objective, and ensure that all of our kids matter, and not just those who live in higher cost neighborhoods in Newark. create a process to overcome the injustice of directly and indirectly placing a selective few who voted in the School Consolidation Advisory Committee to close Music Elementary. Even when our school did not meet the criteria that was selected to qualify as a top candidate for closure? Did you not like the fact that after years of talking about music being one of the schools that needs to close, there was no data to support your claim? You had to change the rules to make sure music got in the top two schools to close. For what? To get a new district office and give out new furniture like you did in the last mergers of schools? By the way, that move was only to play with the California dashboard data and put a patch in the root cause of the actual problems this district has been facing because of the leadership of past board members. Shoot, you even elected a place to place one of the board members. Thank you, Mr. Medina. And a friendly alternative member that can ensure your agenda of closing meetings.

[9364] SPEAKER_46: OK, the next one is Nicole Isant.

[9373] SPEAKER_43: Hello, can you hear me. Yes, we can hear you.

[9377] Nicole Izant: Thanks. Okay, you can press the timer. Okay. Hi board meeting attendees. My name is Nicole eyes and I have been a longtime Newark resident. I attended Milani Elementary School, Newark Junior High, Newark Memorial, and like the first speaker, I also went to UC Berkeley for my undergrad. And then luckily enough, I'm back in Newark and my daughter is now a sixth grader at BGI, which was formerly known as Milani. So I'd like to start off after this intro with reminding the people that are on this call today that we actually have a successful consolidation example in the district already. In the past we used to have Bunker and Malani. Malani had kind of the same profile that I think we see with Music and Graham and the district proposed some sort of consolidation thing and we merged Bunker and Malani and now we have a split school. My daughter's school is now extremely far. It's impossible for her to walk there. It's 2.8 miles from where we live. We don't live in the fancy new homes for anybody on the call listening, but we made it work. And the benefit of that, of pooling resources and working together and just moving forward, even though it wasn't the first choice, otherwise my child would have been at Bunker for six years or seven years, just saying for those of you that remember, and it's fine. We came together as a community, we made it work. It sucked when it happened, but we moved forward as a community and now all the kids are happy. So I just want to share that as an example and parents, whatever happens whenever school gets closed, you can get through it. It does work out after the growing pains, just make sure you know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Okay, there's that. And then I want to go on a couple other points. I want to express my gratitude to all of the members that were spending so much time and showed up and did the work. You were tasked with attending seven long meetings, reviewing a ton of documentation, lots of presentations, and then you were tasked with digesting and reviewing the data you were provided, making comments, challenging questions, challenging the data, And in the end, you had to come to a really challenging and emotional emotional because it was a closure recommendation and a very difficult decision to make a recommendation to the board. So my sincere thank you to all of the parents and community members that had to do that. I know it wasn't easy and I really appreciate you doing the time. Then my second point here is according to the notes, and I actually attended all the meetings virtually and read all the minutes. One of the 14 committee members actually missed six of seven meetings and only showed up at the last one to vote on the recommendations. And another committee member missed, I believe, four meetings leading up to the final meeting and also showed up to vote. So I just want to say, if the notes are incorrect, I get it. But I also want to say that if it's true that that person had chronic absences or those two people did, you really let the committee down and the community down because two other alternates could have been put on that committee that actually cared and showed up and did the work. So I just want to express- Thank you, Ms. Asante.

[9568] SPEAKER_43: Okay, next speaker, Ms. Gutierrez.

[9571] SPEAKER_46: Next one is Giovanni.

[9575] Ray Rodriguez: Could I say something? Is it possible to let them know when there's maybe 20 seconds left so that, or 30 seconds?

[9585] SPEAKER_46: That is possible, but I am also interrupting them. So you tell me if that's okay.

[9589] Ray Rodriguez: It just allows them to kind of finish up and without being cut off.

[9594] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, maybe give them, if you can, Ms. Gutierrez at 30 seconds, if they're still speaking. Okay. Thank you, member Rodriguez.

[9605] SPEAKER_21: in my life?

[9606] SPEAKER_46: You are live.

[9606] SPEAKER_21: Okay. All right. Good evening board members, staff, parents. I'm a parent of a Graham student and I just wanted to speak on the potential closure. I think we can all agree that the welfare of the children is first and foremost And given this unprecedented time in history, parents, teachers, and students are all feeling the stress and pressures of our new normal. Everyone is doing an incredible job adjusting to the situation. Pointing fingers on how we got to this point is not going to help. We're here. We need to find the best solution that offers the least impact to the children. If Graham were to close, then the children would be split amongst different schools. Children split from classmates they've gone to school with their entire life makes it even more difficult when they return to school. From what I understand, Graham is capable of absorbing another school that it makes the most sense to keep Graham open. Graham is centrally located and is within walking distance to Newark Junior High. Many children at Graham are picked up by their siblings from Newark Junior High, I personally don't want to see any school close. It is the job of the board and the committee to act in the best interest of the children. I hope that the board will take this into consideration. In closing, while it's tragic to close any school, I hope the board will look into new ways to increase enrollment so we're not having the same discussion a few years from now. Thank you.

[9704] Elisa Martinez: Thank you so much, Gutierrez.

[9707] SPEAKER_46: The next one is Kathy Robinson. Ms. Robinson, you are live.

[9716] SPEAKER_27: Yes, you are live. Thank you. Dear board members, while SDAC did not recommend Schilling foreclosure, I do understand it was one of the top three scored foreclosure based on your scoring matrix. I'm a parent of two Schilling graduates and one currently enrolled there. I'm a Caucasian mom of three African American young men and there is no other elementary school that I would choose for my boys. Being able to be part of the existing demographic at Schilling has taught my children that anyone can succeed. The values and goals implemented by the teachers and administration have told my boys that they matter, that black lives matter. given the current systemic racial issues that have been in existence since the beginning of time and more affluent in the past years. My children are faced with the fear that walking down the street may cause them to be stopped by the police, harassed by people or flat out disregarded as young men because of the color of their skin. You as the board on September 17th adopted resolution number 2020.21-009 to address multiple avenues of systemic racism and provide training and education surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. It mentions providing an avenue to provide forums, education, training, and time allocated to teach our children about all cultures and ethnicities. This resolution is contradictory to the criteria that you put into the scoring matrix for school closure, which gave higher points to schools with less racial diversity. Since Schilling has 73% Latino students, they were given the highest rating. This is backward if you ask me. Schilling has given my Brown children a sense of dignity, pride, and a close place to be able to walk to school in the neighborhood that they live in with the students that look and live like them. There is no division because of socioeconomic status at Schilling among students or teachers, and everyone is treated like they matter. In closing, I ask that you do what matters. Vote not based on the matrix of the board-driven calculation, scoring of superficial items like school size, diversity, or age of the building, but one that considers the impact that closing Schilling will have on the majority of students and their families that attend there. Make a vote that considers the affluent programs, progress showing has made in meeting educational goals and hardworking parents that sometimes are unable to see their children off to school or even be at home with them for dinner because they have to work two jobs to survive in the area. Can you imagine living like this and hoping your child makes it to school if they were to have to walk to a school out of their neighborhood, far away from home? Make a vote based on the many teachers and staff that have been there for a significant amount of time, working hard to improve the baseline of state driven test scores that so many times make other parents enroll their children elsewhere because of a number driven from unfair standards. The scores are in no way a reflection or compromise of education. Make a vote that matters in the same way you pass the resolution surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. Thank you.

[9890] SPEAKER_46: Thank you. The next one is Carlos Zarate.

[9899] SPEAKER_28: Good evening school board members and Dr. Triplett. My name is Carlos Zarate. I'm a seventh grader at the junior high school and a Graham school graduate. Dr. Triplett, you talk about equity, but how is it fair to close down a low income school that was not equally represented at the school consolidation committee? How is it fair to consider diversity when that is what makes Graham school so special? How is it fair to say Graham is not a desirable school. How is it fair to say Graham is not a safe school because the cafeteria is near the street. How is it fair to say the district did not translate the school consolidation advisory committee report if my community is predominantly Spanish-speaking. How is it fair that the district's final scoring comparison is not translated if my community is predominantly Spanish-speaking. How is it fair that the district has not provided a space for Graham's parents students and staff to dispute the false information given at the school consolidation committee meeting. How is it fair for Graham to be the top recommendation of the committee when we have the most improved test scores in the district. I want answers. Closing Graham would not be an equitable decision. Please be fair. Keep Graham open. Thank you.

[9988] SPEAKER_43: Thank you.

[9991] SPEAKER_46: The next one is Pooja Singh.

[9998] SPEAKER_06: Thank you. My biggest concern for today is not just the closing of Graham and Music, but the lack of communication towards the parents of students attending these schools and the lack of communication towards our community in general. Transparency is a district core value, but it was not practiced while making this decision. Though the closing is only a possibility, I have quite a few questions and concerns. Why were the parents of students attending the schools not properly informed of this decision? Why weren't their opinions taken into account while making this decision? The Zoom meeting on Monday with Principal Bird was not enough to inform parents and get feedback. Informing the community and trying to get feedback during election week is incredibly irresponsible, as most people are focused on the elections right now. Many parents most likely did not have enough time to attend the Zoom session with Principal Byrd, nor draft responses or questions for this particular board meeting. I myself had just found out about this two days ago. The information about the closing was not posted in a timely manner. If I'm not wrong, wasn't the agenda only updated a couple of days ago? Withholding and or not updating information can allow for misinformation and miscommunication. I have one last request that is tied to my concerns. Please update the NUSD website in a more timely manner, make information more accessible and easier to read through, communicate better with the community, and make your actions and reasons behind them more transparent. I hope you may offer thoughtful answers and do not avoid or deflect our community's questions and concerns, which I have noticed is an ongoing pattern for quite a while now. All right, I am done. Thank you again for letting me comment.

[10101] Elisa Martinez: Thank you for sharing your comments. Ms. Gutierrez?

[10106] SPEAKER_46: The next one is Veronica Kimes.

[10113] SPEAKER_51: Hello, everyone. I'm a parent of a Graham Elementary School student, and I'd like to address the criteria system that's being used for the school closure. It's subjective, has incorrect information, and the weighting is problematic. For criteria two, it's in violation of California's Proposition 209, which prohibits any state institution to give preferential treatment based on ethnicity and race. Rating a school by ethnic diversity percentage falls into this category. Additionally, it's not a metric the school or the community has control over. So it's an unfair and biased criteria. The criteria for three and four, you rate the schools on capacity and relative distance. This is also bias favoring smaller schools based on the exterior of the suburb. We urge you to consider student welfare instead of thinking of physical inanimate factors. GRAM school can absorb another school's students and teachers entirely, giving both schools, communities, the ability to stay together. Teachers are retained, class sizes are maintained, and the students would be able to keep their friends, teachers, and community. For criteria 10 and 11, this lists school programs, but Title I is not mentioned in the report. As a Title I school, GRAM should be ranked lower in this criteria, breaking up GRAM students puts the funding and the students who need it in jeopardy. If Graham students are broken up into three different schools, there's no guarantee that any of these other schools will receive a title one status. Graham also supports programs for students and the community members outside of the school setting. These are also not taken into consideration in the report. Criteria eight is ranked just as highly as other criteria, but isn't a consideration, there isn't a consideration to actually fix the items in question. For Graham, it's having too small an administrative office. This is an easy to fix item by converting existing facilities that the school already has. Criteria 12 rates safety, but it doesn't consider how easy it is to be fixed. It also states that there are railroad tracks affecting students but the railroad tracks are at least five city blocks away, approximately a mile from the school and behind residential housing and yards. There's no safety concerns and they're not anywhere near school grounds. Criteria 13 addresses the cost savings. How did we get to this point where you're taking cost savings but not doing it logically? It's more logical to take a smaller school that has more cost savings instead of a larger school of less cost savings that has the potential to support double the students. The cost savings goes down by keeping Graham and closing a higher savings school. Please reconsider and reassess your criteria to be fair, objective and logical and apply accurate information to this criteria. Thank you.

[10295] SPEAKER_43: Thank you, Ms. Kimes.

[10298] SPEAKER_46: The next one is Prashant Mishra, but we don't see them on the list. So we'll go to Tara White.

[10317] SPEAKER_30: Good evening, Dr. Triplett and members of the board. I'm writing you tonight to remind you that you must not vote for school closures based on test scores. Children are not test scores. Music children are not test scores. They are my family. Our teachers are fabulous at all of our school sites. The fact is some schools have a population of students that are not socioeconomically challenged as other sites such as music. It is Newark unified that must create equity across all of our schools. Our parents care just as much as parents at other sites. You should not based on the criteria, sorry, excuse me, you should vote based on the criteria and equity or not close schools at all. I must remind you that six schools are going to save more money than music. Four schools had higher weighted scores than music. Six schools have higher maintenance costs than music elementary school. Music leopards will rise and roar wherever we end up. But we ask that even if you cannot keep us within our four walls of music, the music campus, please keep our students and teachers and staff all together because together we are music. We have recently merged with Whitebird Preschool. We are an inclusive school. We have the diversity with different learners, with different bodies, different modes of speaking, different bodies, different forms of breathing. We even have two French masters as a part of our school body who come every week or every other week for reading with kids, Eamon and Azara. Music is my home. Music is my family. Please hear the music leopards rise and roar. Thank you.

[10438] SPEAKER_43: Thank you, Miss White.

[10440] SPEAKER_46: That's all the public speakers, President Martinez.

[10444] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Well, thanks. Thank you for everyone who who submitted their request. It is important that we hear from you. And so this, again, as we enter this discussion, the superintendent, the actual report will be presented by our consultant, Ms. Briana Garcia, but I'll hand this topic over to you.

[10471] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Martinez, and I appreciated your, your summary at the beginning actually took all the words right out of my mouth so I'm not going to have a lot to say. But I do want to appreciate the sentiments of all of the speakers thus far and everyone who has emailed and spoken up. It's so important that families, students, teachers, staff are engaged in this process, and I know it's extremely painful, but really, really important to hear everyone's voices And then I also want to just appreciate the folks that I heard lifting up equity, because I do think that as a district, we must continue to really make decisions based on equity it's so important. And so I appreciate those that that sentiment as well. In a moment, I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Garcia, who is from Student Services. She was the facilitator of the process with the School Consolidation Advisory Committee, and she's going to present the work that the advisory committee did and also the report that was generated from that work. And I think it is really valuable that we're having this opportunity to share the report because I did hear in some of the public comment that there's some confusion, there's some misunderstanding of some of the criteria and some of the different things that were discussed. So I look forward to Ms. Garcia being able to share that. And without further ado, I'll turn it over to you, Ms. Garcia.

[10578] Elisa Martinez: Actually, and before you begin, Ms. Garcia, welcome and good evening. Just from a procedure perspective, I was just going to ask board members if we can please write down your questions as Ms. Garcia is presenting, we can get through her summary, and then we can go through and ask our questions, just to make sure everybody gets an opportunity to hear the report. Okay, and with that, Ms. Garcia, I'll hand it over to you.

[10605] SPEAKER_29: Thank you. Good evening, Superintendent Triplett and board members. It's a pleasure to be here this evening. I'm going to take some time to share with you an overview of the process that the School Consolidation Advisory Committee went through as it was making its recommendation to the board and deliberating all of the data. As various people through public comment mentioned, there was a lot of information that was put before the committee for them to absorb and walk through in order for them to make hopefully a recommendation that is supported by the data that was provided and that the board can then use not only their recommendation, but all of the data that was gathered throughout that process as you make your decision regarding which schools to close and or consolidate in order to help the school district be able to reach its goals. And so I'm going to share my screen. All right. So my name is Brianna Garcia. I'm with School Services of California and the district asked me to facilitate this process and help the district walk through the process and with the committee as it made its recommendation to the school board. So I want to start with just a quick background and overview. I think that you as board members and staff know this information, but for the benefit of the community. I just wanted to note that Newark is serving approximately 6,000 students. It's a little less than 6,000, especially this year, but approximately 6,000 students. You have eight elementary schools, a junior high school, a comprehensive high school, a continuation school, and you're also running an independent study program, adult education programs, and preschool programs. So you are offering a comprehensive actually transitional kindergarten through 12th grade and post-12th grade education for your community and your families. As part of the 2019-20 budget process, the district found itself deficit spending and found itself in a situation where effectively it is spending more money than it is bringing in to the district, and a large part of that being because of the declining enrollment that the district has experienced. That results in less money per student being provided to the district from the state. And for districts across California, it's a little more difficult. It's not as easy to adjust expenses in order to be commensurate all the time with that reduced revenue that's coming from school districts. And so we end up in this situation where you are deficit spending. Based on the budget that was provided to the Alameda County Office of Education, which is required to approve a school district's budget, the district was required to implement ongoing expenditure reductions for both this school year, 2020-21, and for the following year, 21-22, in order to make sure that the district's fiscal house effectively was in order and that it could continue to meet its financial obligations and then educate students into the future. part of those ongoing expenditures was a commitment of the district to reduce about a million dollars in expenditures based on the closure and or consolidation of existing school sites. This number is based off approximately five hundred thousand dollars per school site and that's how when the charge was put before the committee how the decision was made that it should be approximately two schools that would close in order to reach that million dollar threshold. So the board went through a process. Board member Martinez talked about earlier in her summation about the fact that the board has been talking about this for about a year. So in December of last year, almost a year ago today, The board approved the formation of the School Consolidation Advisory Committee with the idea of including the community in the conversation as to the need for school closure and consolidation and so that their voice would be heard as to which schools to consider for closure or consolidation. The board determined at a subsequent meeting that same month that two of the board members would be part of that committee and they would act as chair and vice chair. It was made clear through the process of the consolidation committee that the chair and vice chair, their main contribution to the process was really to ensure that the process move forward and to provide answers to questions as they arose, but they were not voting members of this committee. And so that was part of the conversation that was held. In March of this year, after a process that the school staff went through, to select committee members. The board actually appointed the remaining 13 committee members to that committee. And in April of this year, the board approved the committee's charge and established certain meeting dates. Those meeting dates, as you can imagine, it's been quite a year. And with COVID and all of the other decisions that had to be made, those meeting dates were pushed a little bit. But we did start the committee meetings in August. There were a total of seven meetings, as someone noted. The first one really was an organizational meeting with the idea of introducing the committee to the process, how it would be moving forward and providing an overview of the type of information that they were going to be receiving over the next several meetings. The next four meetings were really the ones that were data intensive. We had district consultants and district staff presenting information about the demographic information for the district, the analysis about the capacity, the condition of facilities and cost to make repairs, and information about the educational program and the fiscal implications of closure and the fiscal house of the district. And in a future slide, I'll show you what those points were that were presented to the committee, but we wanted to give you an overview here. The last two meetings really were where the committee had to start getting down to making those tough decisions. In meeting six, they considered additional criteria that might be considered as part of the committee. And they also looked at the recommendation for some alternative programs that, again, I will talk about. And then in the last meeting, our final meeting a week ago, is where they actually sat down to deliberate and take a vote as to what schools to recommend to the school board for possible consideration. They were also provided a draft copy of the report that you have received as part of the meeting packet this evening for review and comment and provided authority to have the document or the report completed in order to be able to present it to the board this evening. So I want to talk a little bit about the criteria that was used and how the scoring was developed. I'll start off with the scoring because, as all of you who have looked at that scoring matrix noticed, there are two scores that are listed for each one of the criteria. there was a relative score that was based primarily on yes or no answers. The idea there was to determine whether or not a school, that criteria applied to that school or did not apply. And the numeric value, whether it was a one or a two in most instances, rotated for yes or no. And the idea really was that the higher the score the school received, the higher it would be on the list for potential consideration by the committee for recommendation to the board for school closure. The second set of criteria were a weighted score. It was given that the relative score was scores of one or two. There was a high likelihood that some of the schools would tie, that they would get the same exact score. And we wanted to make sure that there was the ability for the committee to provide some differentiation between each one of those schools, to provide a little bit more detail as they were making their consideration. And so the weighted score, what that did for each, for a number of the criteria, but not all of them, provided a rank order score dependent on the existing criteria. And again, the idea being the higher the score for that particular criteria, and then in totality, the higher on the potential list of likely closures that school would be. And so looking at these two scores is how the committee tried to handle this more objective portion of the criteria as we were moving forward. So this slide shows you in the four categories what the criteria were that the committee looked at. The California Department of Education on its website includes information on the types of criteria and considerations that school districts should think about when they are proposing potential school closures. And it gives you topics regarding the capacity of the school sites, the age and the condition of the facilities, the educational components, the fiscal implications, et cetera. And so based on that information, I, as the consultant hired by the district, developed some proposed criteria for the committee to consider and went over the criteria with them at the first meeting. And again, at the second, we provided the opportunity for the committee to ask questions about the criteria and to determine if there were any criteria that they wanted to remove from the list. At that point, they didn't add criteria. We felt it was important that they heard all of the data that was going to be presented, and then at the end of the process, they were offered the opportunity to consider additional criteria that they felt was important to include as part of the overall scoring criteria. That said, I'll just go over these quickly. For demographics and capacity, we did look at four things. We looked at the school enrollment and whether that enrollment was low and projected to remain low. The idea with that really was that a school that has lower enrollment is not operating as efficiently as a school that has higher enrollment. And if the enrollment showed that it was going to continue to be low, when you were looking at projected enrollment, that was something that was important and that should be considered when you were looking at this in totality as to what schools might be higher on that list for closure. The second criteria was demographic diverse population based on the unduplicated pupil percentage. I noticed that there were a lot of questions about this during the public comment period, and I do want to make clear that this criteria wasn't meant to penalize schools that were had a high percentage of students that are considered under the unduplicated pupil percentage. Those are students that are English learners, foster youth, or that are eligible for free and reduced price meals. The idea with this range of 40% to 60% is that I think we've all read studies, we've all heard on the news that more diverse schools provide better outcomes for students. And the most diverse school would be one that is equal in the number of students from different backgrounds, from different ethnicities, socioeconomics, et cetera. And so that's where that range of 40, 60% was. This ideal, which obviously no school is perfect, or no school has the perfect amount of mix or diversity, but 50% if everything is all being equal, and then moving further and further away from that 50% is a less diverse school. Yes, it might have more students that are English learners or socioeconomically disadvantage, but it is congregating more of those types of students in an environment which is technically a less diverse school. And so that was the thought process behind that criteria. The third criteria was excess classroom capacity. Again, with this thought that a school that had more capacity meant that it was operating inefficiently because it had less students at the site. And higher operating costs for less for smaller student body. And lastly, the proximity of schools with the capacity to accommodate incoming students. The idea there was looking at the three nearest schools to the potential school foreclosure. And do those schools have sufficient capacity to accommodate students should that close? So if you close a school, you don't want students to have to travel another, you know, five miles in order to be able to go to school. You want to make it as convenient as possible. And so we wanted to look at the three nearest schools and did they have sufficient capacity to accommodate those students if one school closed? The second group of criteria we looked at were facilities, and it's important to look at the age of the facilities for various reasons. There's always conversations about the educational program that's provided to students and teachers, and all of that is important, but where students learn also matters. And if you have facilities that are not as well maintained, facilities that on the fiscal side are going to cost the district more to maintain or bring up to a level that is fair and decent for students, those are ones that should be considered for potential closure and be higher on that list. And so we looked at the condition of the facilities under Criteria 5, and we based that condition on the cost of the facility's needs with the idea that the more work that needed to be done on that campus, the more expensive that work was, probably the condition of that school was not as good as others that needed less work completed on that campus. Criteria six was looking at the modernization, construction, or other projects that have already been completed on the campuses with the idea that if you just spent, for example, $3 million providing technology upgrades on that campus. That would not be the campus, if you're looking at two campuses equally, that you would want to close, given you had just put in a $2 million investment on that school site. Criteria seven, we looked at unique facilities. The idea was, were there any facilities on that campus that, if that campus closed, could not be readily replicated at another school site? I'm going to use an exaggerated example. You don't have this case. But if you had a school that had an Olympic-sized swimming pool and it was the only school within the district that had an Olympic-sized swimming pool, that would not be the school that would be number one on the list to close because you would lose potentially that facility. And we do, I do want to point out that it's readily replicatable because there are some of your school sites that have some unique facilities, which we looked at, but some of them could be easily replicated at another school site. I mean, there are others, for example, softball fields, et cetera, that even if that site were closed, the district could still continue to use those facilities in the interim. And so we thought that was important to point out. On criteria number eight, support spaces, we not only wanted to make sure that the school had enough space to house the students in current and projected enrollment, but that the support facilities, the multi-purpose room, the cafeterias, etc., were also sufficient to house those. Obviously, you can increase capacity of those support spaces, but those cost dollars to do so. And so again, this is just one of the considerations as part of this. And lastly, for facilities, we looked at environmental factors and if there were any that would impede the ability of the future use of that campus. If there was an earthquake fault running straight down the middle of a campus and you can never rebuild it, that would be one that would be higher on the list for closure because there's less likely that you can reuse that facility in the future. For the criteria of educational student support services, we looked at two criteria. There was a district-wide programs would need to be relocated and district-wide programs could be relocated. So if there were district-wide programs on a campus, we wanted to take that into consideration because, again, that district-wide program would need to be moved. And we also wanted to make sure that if there was one, could that program be used, making sure that there wasn't something special or specific about that campus, that if that campus closed, that program could not be repurposed elsewhere. I will note that there was a criteria that was proposed to the committee in this category with regards to looking at the California schools dashboard. and the performance indicators that have been set by the state that school districts look at and keep track of as they are moving forward with their students. But that was voted on by the committee and the committee voted to remove that criteria from consideration. And that's why you don't see that when they're, but it is noted in the report with the notes that it was removed by the committee as one of the criteria. Lastly, under business services and community impacts, we looked at two criteria. It was safety concerns regarding traffic and safe routes to school. If the school was closed, if a school was closed and the students had to go to another school, were there any safety concerns in the students getting from school A to school B? And then lastly, we looked at the net savings if the school site was closed. And that one is important because as we said, or as I mentioned, when I started this presentation, that was one of the driving factors for the school, for the district meeting to close schools. You do have declining enrollment and have had it for some time. And that declining enrollment has impacted the fiscal ability of the district to maintain its programs. And so the ability of the district to be able to close those two school sites and be able to absorb those savings would allow it A, be fiscally neutral and not deficit spend and be able to then put its resources, the remaining dollars, to those remaining school sites and for those students and not spend money on those other operational costs that aren't going back directly into the classroom and for those students. So I just wanted to share with you some of the data that was presented. You have the report and so all of that information is there in great detail. But to give you some high-level overviews, we looked at current and projected enrollment. I will note, as was mentioned by a public comment and one of our committee members, we did exclude the preschool students from that count on both the enrollment side and on the capacity side. We understand that that program is on that campus. And it is a program for special education students. And if that campus were to close, the school district will have to relocate that program. And it is aware of that obligation. And we didn't want to have those student counts as a plus or a minus, because that's a program that is not going anywhere, regardless of which school site has to close. So excluding those preschool students, right now you're looking at in elementary school, TK through six, approximately 3000 students. And in 2526, which is the projection that the district's demographer had gotten to so far for the next five to six year range, that number is expected to increase by approximately 300 students to 3224. We also, as I noted with one of the criteria, the demographer provided information about that unduplicated pupil percentage for each school site. Under capacity, again, looking at just elementary school sites, and we were looking at what that capacity would be in 2526, though it's the same as it is now. The district, if you're looking at both portable and permanent classroom facilities, they have approximately 5,000 seats. for the students that are there. And if you exclude the portable classrooms, which was a lively conversation that we had during the committee meeting, the number drops down and you're looking at about 4,388 classrooms without those portables. It's important to note that the committee felt strongly and had conversations about placing students in portable classrooms. and whether that was something that the board should or should not do. But we do need to count that in the total district capacity as the board is making its determination as to how it wants to use its facilities in the future. A lot of those portable buildings are being used for other programs, for storage, and other uses. And so we did want to provide that information there for you. We will note that portable classrooms that were in poor condition or those that house child care were not included in those numbers. Because again, we don't want to put students in inferior classrooms. And if they were in poor condition, that's not where you want to locate students. Based on that information and the enrollment information, the district in 2526, which is again the out year for the projection, is going to have almost 2,000 excess seats for its students. That means it can fit more students than it actually has coming in. And that number, again, drops a bit to 1,164 if you don't count those portable classrooms. On average, the utilization rate, which is the percentage of the capacity used at a given school site, is 65.7%. Normally, you're looking When you're looking at efficiencies, you really want a utilization rate of about 80 to 90% when you're looking at a school site. You don't want to max it out at 100 or more and not give kids room, staff room to be able to use those other classes for other uses and programs, et cetera. But you also want a sufficient amount of capacity in order to make it an efficient school site. Under facilities, as I mentioned, we looked at basic facility data, including the conditions here, It was built acreage, cost of modernization projects and construction projects, including deferred maintenance, which has to happen at many school sites. And those costs have completed and are an encumbered project. So projects that are, have been, the district has noted and set aside funds to actually complete, but might not already be completed. Miscellaneous, we looked at again, unique and special programs. those environmental factors that might affect school sites, support facilities, other school uses. While it wasn't part of the criteria, it was important for the committee to understand all of the various types of uses and programs that were offered at school sites and those safety concerns. As I mentioned, the committee voted to strike the California School Dashboard criteria from the criteria matrix, but that information was provided to them because we felt it was important and the committee requested, they wanted that information to know for how the schools were performing on that California school dashboard that has been developed by the state board for all school districts across California. We looked at educational support services, all of the services that were common across all school sites, the offerings that were unique at specific school sites and also district-wide programs. And lastly, the fiscal considerations. The chief business officer, Ms. Dela Cruz, provided information on the district's budget, the current unrestricted budget for each school site. If the school site were to be closed, the cost that would remain because you're still going to have teachers that are going to have to move with those students. And so those are costs that are going to remain even if you close the school site, for example, and the possible maximum net savings. The savings that were noted in the report were assuming that you're keeping the teachers, but other costs would be saved. And we know that that is not realistic. When you're going to be moving students, some of the other staff that are at the school sites, at the closed school sites, you're going to have to move some of the expenses for copying books, materials, et cetera, are going to remain. And so that has to be taken into consideration when the board when staff looks at what the actual true savings are for the district, but we wanted to provide what those total maximum savings could be. So with all of that information and looking at it, the committee took two votes at its last meeting. The first meeting was to recommend four school sites to the school board for potential closure. I will note that this is something that I recommended to the committee. because we know that as a school board, you're not only gonna look at all that data that the committee provided, but you also have other broader considerations that you have to take as part of your decision. And so we wanted, or I wanted, I felt that it would be important for the committee to recommend a broader group of schools in order to provide that flexibility as the board is making its determination and considering all of the factors that a board at your level has to look at when you're making these larger decisions that are going to impact your school community. That said, the committee did want to also take a vote on their top two schools and wanted it to be clear to the board which schools it felt ranked higher on that list of four. And so that is what's designated by the one and two. The number one choice that was voted upon was Graham Elementary School and the second was Music Elementary School. And so again, we provide this recommendation to the board as these are the schools that as the board is looking at which schools for potential closure, these were the schools that the committee recommended based on all the data that it received and considered and the top two school that it ranked higher on that list. The one other item that we asked the committee to consider was additional programmatic considerations that weren't about potentially necessarily school closure, but other things that the district might look at as it's making decisions about the academic and academic programs at the school sites. So there were three that were placed in front of the committee. It was the thought of moving all of the sixth graders from the elementary school sites to the Newark Junior High School to create a middle school campus. The second was the potential consolidation of Birch Grove Primary and Birch Grove Intermediate into one TK through sixth school. And the last one was the potential closure of the McGregor campus, which would require moving the adult education bridge point and crossroads schools to another school site and the one that seemed the most pertinent or obvious at the time was to the Newark Memorial High School. For the consolidation of Birch Grove Primary and Birch Grove Intermediate and for the closure of McGregor, we had a robust conversation with committee members providing what they felt were the pros and cons for those potential ones. And when the recommendation was put forward to them and asked for a motion and a second, there were no motions or second to move forward with those. And so the committee has no recommendations for the board with regards to the consolidation of Birch Grove Primary and Birch Grove Intermediate or the closure of McGregor. Some could argue that the silence of the motion and a second is that they would not recommend those, but there was not a motion taken on those two items. The one that there was a motion taken was on the move to moving the sixth graders from the elementary school campuses to the junior high school campus. And the committee did vote and as recommended to the board as part of its recommendations and located within the report, that it consider moving those sixth graders and creating a middle school campus. And just for the board's information and the community's information, just a quick overview. Their Newark Junior High School has a total capacity of about 1,366 students. That includes the portable classrooms. The projected enrollment of Newark Junior High School in 25-26 is 849 students. So there is going to be an available capacity of 517 seats at that campus, which is a utilization rate of 62.2%. As I mentioned, Utilization rate in the 60s or even 70s is pretty low for running an efficient campus. There will be approximately 428 students. That's what the enrollment projections provided by School Works noted in 25-26. 428 students in sixth grade that would need to move from the elementary schools to the Newark Junior High's campus. So there is sufficient capacity, 517 seats. to house all 428 projected students. And that actually raises the utilization rate or would raise the utilization rate should the board move forward with this plan to about 93.5% on that campus. And so I just wanted to provide that information. Again, it's included within the report. But since this was a recommendation of the committee, I felt it was important to present that to the board and for the community to see that information as well. And so with that, I am available to answer any questions, and I will stop sharing unless somebody wants me to keep this up, because there might be questions on specific slides.

[12538] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Garcia. That was very helpful. And for those of us who had been attending all the meetings, I think it's a good refresher. But for many, it was the first time they were hearing and getting a little bit more information on those criteria. I would like to, I know that we probably all have questions, but I would like to give student member Salemi his first opportunity because it is getting late and you know, it's a school night. So I'll, you know, and then we'll try to go in order here for questions. So student member Salemi, do you have questions for not only Ms. Garcia, but also staff?

[12581] SPEAKER_05: I have a comment, but I'll ask the question first. I guess, we're talking about equity and stuff around that premise, but looking at some of the, like the papers and stuff from previous meetings, the early ones, especially, we like to break down the schools into pros and cons. And I think there was a lot of deficit thinking going into that, like what school has, doesn't have this or doesn't have that. So we just want to go and aim and eliminate that school. And that doesn't really fit into that conversation of equity. It's just, okay, we're going to eliminate this school, and then the problem is going to go away. And that if we continue with that type of thinking, I think it, it hurts us in the end, because then we're not trying to create all of our schools and thinking, okay, what can we do to support our schools to make them more appealing in the future, instead of just saying, let's just get rid of all the things that we don't want? Or I don't know. So that didn't really make sense to me, if we're having that conversation around equity.

[12645] SPEAKER_43: Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Student member Salemi?

[12653] SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I can make my general comment then. And I know that I'm newer to the board. I just joined this school year. So I haven't had that chance to articulate my full view on this. So just take a minute. And as some may suspect, I I don't support shutting down our schools and I'm not being oblivious to like the facts presented. And I say that with the knowledge that yes, I realized that we have declining enrollment and that we have budget issues and fiscal goals that we need to meet in the next school year. And I think it's important for me to note that I don't hold the views of parents or community members or even staff at our schools. I hold the view of students and this is not necessarily targeted to this board. But in the past, even when I was smaller than I am now, Like so many tough decisions that needed to be made always came back and hurt the students at the end of the day. And that's what shouldn't be happening. We shouldn't feel the negative effects of miscalculations and mishandlings made on the administrative side. And that's why this just seems like yet another consequence that students have to feel, even though they had no part in why we are here in the first place. And also besides being a student member, I think it's unfortunate that a choice needs to be made during a pandemic where unfortunately with schools goes jobs and in a time where the job market isn't doing so well, you know, it doesn't sit right with me. We need to be creative and this isn't the right time. Having said that now, we are here and it's going to happen and I'm more interested in having a conversation of how we're going to ensure the students that are already hurting don't hurt more, that parts of our community that are already struggling don't struggle more, And we can't be selfish, and I say that to the people here, but the people watching as well. And I want to ensure whatever decision that will be made is one that is made with equity in mind. So I think that we need to be looking at students whose parents are working all day and have two jobs maybe, and their small kids are going to have to walk a mile or a couple miles alone, can't afford tutors, or English is their second language. We haven't been doing that in the past to the best of our ability, and that's why this is such an important opportunity to begin to do so. to make a decision of what school will be affected considering some of the things I mentioned. And there are valid concerns on either side of this issue. That's why I don't think you're either against this or for this. As a student member, sure, I don't agree with what's going to have to happen. But now that we're here, let's do it in the best way possible. Let's keep in mind the students who are going to feel the negative impact of this more than another group of students may feel. And I just hope that we can reach out to our families students that will potentially be affected, because I don't think we're doing that enough as well. And so we don't forget about those people. And I'm told that, you know, we're going to get more resources to students because of this. And it's unfortunate that this needs to happen for that to happen. So it is for that reason, I'm trying to see the better things that may come out of this for students. Hopefully, this is the end of a pattern of everything coming back and hurting our students again and again, in terms of the negative part that will come out of this. I'm hopeful that we can Students who are already struggling don't feel the gravity of this. Besides my ultimate view, which will be supportive, then we can make a choice where students won't be left in a worse place than they are now in the school chosen. And I hope that's the choice that is made. And I can add that during further discussion if it comes up.

[12863] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, student member Salemi. Always very important to hear what you bring from our student body. So thank you. Member Zhang, do you have some questions for staff or Ms. Garcia?

[12879] Bowen Zhang: I have one small question and some general comment, but I think we can take turns. So I think my question is actually for Dr. Triplett. I think I mentioned this to you regarding the also some of the some of the members of the community also mentioned about the UPP. I think we got concentration fund as a whole district 20% I mean 50% of the base grant about the 55% right. So I guess my question I just want to confirm if that's the case then shuffling around students or social engineering student into a certain school will not change the fact the number of concentrated funds we get if we keep the same student within the same district. Is that right?

[12923] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Member Jun. I'm going to defer to Ms.dela Cruz to answer that question. But I do want to say that I appreciated Ms. Garcia lifting up the point that the UPP is not based on ethnicity or race. And I know that was mentioned in the comments as a misunderstanding. So it's something I just want to make sure that the public does understand. Ms. Delacruz, do you wanna speak to member Zhen's question?

[12955] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, sure, Dr. Triplett. I apologize though, I got disconnected on the first part of your question. What I heard was about the concentration funds and how will that affect our district funding?

[12970] Bowen Zhang: Oh no, my question is, we got a concentration fund at a district level, not on a specific school site, right?

[12978] Marie dela Cruz: Correct, yes.

[12979] Bowen Zhang: That means let's say we have less than 55% of UPP. We don't get any concentration fund, right?

[12986] Marie dela Cruz: Right. Yes, we have to be above 55% district wide. It's not based on any particular school.

[12993] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, that means regarding if you are overall as a district below 55, then regardless how much shuffling or social engineering you do to shuffle around the student in different specific school site, you will not get your concentration fund, right? Correct. Yes. So yeah, because there is this misconception, even before I have a little bit of thinking about you got concentration fund, based on a particular school site, not on the entire district. So if you're a social engineering student, you can manufacture several Title I school sites and you'll get the money. That just turned out not to be true.

[13029] Marie dela Cruz: Right, no, it's based on the district-wide percentage.

[13034] Bowen Zhang: Okay, okay, yeah, that's my question. I actually have a general comment, but we can take turns, given this is going to be a pretty long process.

[13043] Elisa Martinez: So I think a couple of things. I think that that's a good point. We do have Ms. Garcia here to answer questions regarding the report, because that's really kind of what we're discussing here. So thank you for that. If the comment is general and not with regards to that, I appreciate that we will hold that. So with that, member Rodriguez, do you have any questions for Ms. Garcia or district staff regarding the information in the report?

[13072] SPEAKER_46: President Martinez, if I may, I'm just looking at the time. Do you wanna extend before?

[13078] Elisa Martinez: Yes, let's extend to 11 o'clock if I can get a motion in a second to ideally we're done before then, but I'm hoping that 11 should be enough.

[13088] Ray Rodriguez: I'll make a motion that we extend to 11 o'clock.

[13091] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. May I have a second? Okay. And can we just get a verbal approval

[13099] SPEAKER_46: So member Salemi. President Martinez, sorry, I did not see who the second was.

[13104] SPEAKER_43: I'm sorry. Member Nguyen, yes? Yes, I can second. I'm sorry, did I just... I think it was member Zhang, but it's okay.

[13115] Elisa Martinez: Okay. I'm sorry. Sorry, that's right. That was member Rodriguez-Mu, member Zhang seconded. Sorry, I apologize. Okay, so I moved right into the vote to extend to 11 o'clock. Student member Salemi, how do you vote?

[13134] SPEAKER_05: Yes.

[13135] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen? Yes. Member Rodriguez?

[13139] Marie dela Cruz: Yes.

[13140] Elisa Martinez: And member Zhang?

[13142] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[13143] Elisa Martinez: And my vote is yes as well. So we extend the meeting to 11. Okay. So again, member Rodriguez, do you have any questions regarding the report?

[13159] Ray Rodriguez: Miss Brianna with school services, I appreciate her helping us work through this process, very difficult process. Something that if I was with school services, I wouldn't want to do, I would try to pick something else to do. I think she's done a great job of explaining the report. And I realized that a lot of this is the state has their so-called things that they recommend when you're looking at school closure or the setup of the committee, et cetera. But the diversity piece, regardless of what the state says and how you break it down, in my opinion, it shouldn't be in there. You're basically saying to a school district that if you take 100 kids and you move them to another school and switch kids, that'll make that school more diverse. And we should be applauding when a school has, you know, over 50% and parents do not want to move their kids because of the wonderful things that are happening in the school. Now, the problem we've had over the years is we haven't gone out the way we should and talked to our community and the people that are taking their kids to private school about how wonderful our schools are. And I'm going to be exiting pretty soon. And I talked to Dr. Triplett. And I'd like to set up a committee to keep our schools open instead of closure. Dr. Triplett has gone out. But getting back to Ms. Brianna, again, thank you and thank the whole committee for their time. But it is a committee. advisory. And Ms. Brianna, it's advisory, which means that the board ultimately has to make the decision. And you have recommendations. I appreciate you going through it, but it is advisory. And even though we asked for you to identify four schools, we can talk about all the eight schools. That's what the board is supposed to do. And look at the whole district and what based on our research, what we feel that would help us with the deficit that we have. So again, I want to thank you and I don't have anything else for her, but once she leaves, I would like to say something.

[13321] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Thank you, Member Rodriguez. Member Nguyen.

[13324] Phuong Nguyen: Hi. Thank you, Ms. Garcia, for being here tonight and for presenting. I have one question. Are there an inherent bias in the criteria used for scoring?

[13341] SPEAKER_29: Do you feel? I don't believe there's an inherent bias. Again, I based it off the items that the California Department of Education noted are important to look at. And I felt that I worked hard as I was proposing the criteria for the committee to look at ones that we're looking at factors that would be objective across all school sites, because I think it's important that the criteria be objective so that it's not simply, you know, whoever's favorite or least favorite school pops up on the list.

[13381] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. And then the one other question for staff. I know that we have been having projects at the sites and Is there a possibility for us to be able to, for the board to be able to get a list of the costs and the work that has been completed in the last couple of months, please?

[13410] Mark Triplett: Certainly. I just want to make sure I'm understanding what you're saying, Member Nguyen. Do you mean any projects that have been completed that wouldn't already be reflected in some earlier report that's been completed in the last couple months, you said?

[13428] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, that's correct.

[13429] Mark Triplett: Okay, like facilities projects?

[13431] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, facilities projects that have been completed for us to evaluate in terms of the information. I know that work has been done. I know that we haven't been able to convey that information in the advisory committee, so I'm asking staff to provide that information to the board for evaluation during this consideration.

[13455] Mark Triplett: Okay, thank you. I think we can do that. Ms. Stella Cruz, do you see any problem with being able to do that?

[13465] Marie dela Cruz: No, not at all, Dr. Triplett and Member Nguyen. What I hear you saying is that any current projects that were not in the report is what you're looking for. So right now, I mean, most of it is related to the bond projects, but that's pretty much what you're looking for, correct?

[13487] Phuong Nguyen: And that- That's correct.

[13490] Marie dela Cruz: I just wanted to- Yeah, and that's something that we can put together. Okay, great. Thank you. Yeah, not a problem.

[13498] Ray Rodriguez: I have something else, unless you remember, I mean, President Martinez- Yes.

[13503] Elisa Martinez: I actually do have questions. Do you have a question or a comment? If I could ask you to hold on.

[13508] Ray Rodriguez: Go ahead. No, it's a question based on the report. Ms. Garcia, in the report, you state that in 24-25, we're going to increase, if I read it right, elementary school kids by 200. Is that correct?

[13530] SPEAKER_29: I'm going to scroll down to that page. So total students, it looks like you're going up, yes, approximately 200 students.

[13543] Ray Rodriguez: Okay. Now, I don't know where you got those figures from, but in my opinion, they're totally false. We've had people come in through school services in the past over the years and I'm trying to find out where she got the figure.

[13563] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Okay. That may be, that's the right question. Cause I think that's the, and that should go to, um, to our, our staff. Um, yeah.

[13570] Mark Triplett: So, um, so those were, those are just, um, projections. Those are not there. There's, you know, there's no way of knowing if that's actually going to happen. And thus far, um, based on the demographers projections, uh, they haven't come true. So we can do everything we can to try to make that a reality. But those are based on housing construction, based on what the demographer was aware of that is being built or has already been built. But again, we haven't met thus far since that demographer, we have not met those targets.

[13608] Ray Rodriguez: You haven't been here very long, Dr. Triplett, but we've had those before. And it's just, you know, unless the reason is because of the pandemic, we're going to have all these kids in five years.

[13619] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez, let me remind you that our, our, our, our enrollment over the last 10 years has accelerated. We've lost over 30, over 30%. so right now all we can do is trust that are the experts that we've hired which is a professional demographer um you know so unless we've got real data to challenge those numbers those are the safe assumptions that we must use in an objective process i beg to disagree but they're false and and what we've been told that in the past and um that's why we merged the the two bgi schools because we were told we were going to increase and we didn't and never rodriguez okay so oh sorry it's false okay we don't know that we don't know that i just want to be there's a lot of folks watching and we don't know that it's false and i think we've got to be responsible board members and just um you know if you have an opinion about it if you think you're gonna grow 200 kids in four years you're gonna have issues okay we do i'm gonna have Superintendent Triplett, yes.

[13692] Mark Triplett: If I may, and I appreciate what you're saying, Member Rodriguez. I think that we cannot count on those numbers. I absolutely agree with you. The reason that those numbers were used in this report and in the analysis is to see if best case If it did happen, would we have enough space in our schools if we had consolidated some schools? So it was basically like if we completely headed out of the park in terms of enrollment, then would we still have space? Because what we don't want to do is close schools and then come to find out that we had tons of kids coming. I totally appreciate what you're saying.

[13735] Ray Rodriguez: And we've lost over a thousand kids in the last 10 to 12 years. So there's plenty of space in all our schools.

[13743] Elisa Martinez: All right. So I will take my turn at my questions. Student member Salemi has a question regarding the data. Okay.

[13750] SPEAKER_05: Yeah. Just because it was mentioned in the presentation about the potentially making the junior high and middle school, would that save the district any money and how much?

[13763] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Member Salemi. So that would not, that is not a cost savings move. The only thing, so it was recommended and I actually support this recommendation that to have a 6-8 middle school rather than a 7-8 junior high actually creates an opportunity for a culture to be built as a 6-8. It opens up a lot of really good opportunities for kids, but there's no savings in terms of cost in doing that. The one thing that it does also provide is an opportunity to create more space in the elementary schools. because you're moving all the sixth graders, and therefore then you have more space. So if you were to consolidate some of the elementary schools, you would still have enough space, sufficient space, even for growth because of that.

[13821] SPEAKER_05: Okay, thank you.

[13823] SPEAKER_43: Thank you, Student Member Salami.

[13827] Elisa Martinez: One thing I did want to, one of my first questions is just more procedurally, because I think, not I think, I've heard it in public comment, but also via emails that certain schools did not have representation on the committee. And I just wanted to ask staff and Ms. Garcia, just so that, setting the record straight, was every school represented? Did every school have somebody on the committee?

[13857] Mark Triplett: That's correct. And Ms. Gutierrez might be the best person to comment on that, because she's very aware of the selection process. But yeah, there were parents represented from every school on the committee. Ms. Gutierrez, did you want to add anything to that?

[13876] SPEAKER_46: I mean, unless there's a specific question. But otherwise, I think you answered it, Dr. Triplett. There was definitely representation from each school.

[13883] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, and I think, you know, of course, the intent is that we we try to get it's we always want to try to communicate. I know we never do enough. And we're always looking for better ways. But you know, creating that network and representation within the committee. That was one of the intents of making sure there was a voice for every school. I just wanted to make sure that folks knew that. Um, you know, I really take, um, so Miss Brianna and staff, thank you very much for the report. This is a lot of information. Thank you so much to the committee members, because this isn't easy, and there's never enough time, and ideally there's more information. But I think to repeat, you know, Member Rodriguez's point, this is an advisory committee, and so they bring forward their recommendations. But at the end of the day, we as a board need to really try to weigh out what are the things we need to consider? Not only just what was in the grid, if you will, in those dimensions, but I think about one of our public speakers talked about, we've already moved our district-wide preschool special ed program. And so here we are thinking about moving it again. you know, that strikes me as, did we think it through? Did we have a strategy when we made these decisions, right? Because somebody also talked about, don't just look at the numbers. You gotta look at the broader picture. And that's what our job is as a board, right? And so with that, I have a question regarding, I don't think it could be answered today, but I would like a follow-up. As I look at the enrollment numbers, and as I think about the actual projections from our demographer, you know, which schools really are trending to stay low and over the next five to six years are looking flat. And one of those that comes to the surface is music. Not the only one, but one of them. We know that we have a very important program, special ed program there. And so the question is, what might we do that? What are the requirements? So that's one of my questions. What are the requirements to support our pre-K special ed kids? And the other thing was very present to me during Ms. Ditto's presentation is we have a school that focuses on primary primary age children. Is there a strategy where we might think about finding and housing our kids that with special needs of that age group, for example, at the primary campus? So that was something. And so that's an ask. I don't know. It's just a question that we would have to make sure we would have the facilities to support them in the way that they need to be supported. So that would be an ask. I know that one of the areas in the report, and I can't recall, Ms. Garcia, I don't know if you have it, but there was a lot of discussion on the efficiency. And I think you called it out on the loading, if you will, the cost efficiency of a school. I know, for example, that Graham ranks really high at the inefficiency side because enrollment is low relative to capacity. But what I also know, and those of us, you know, all of us who either run a business or, or understand just, you know, how, how to make an investment we'll call more efficient or more cost effective is you put more students in that structure. Right. So as I think about Graham housing, gabbing that capacity there, Look, all our campuses are wonderful and special. But as I think about Graham, it's set to receive and it's set to become a more cost effective model because we are talking about making sure that's effective. So so it's we have to think about it that way. We can't just think of it in abstract that we that that it's you know, that we should penalize it for not having, you know, because it happens to be around two other very closely co-located schools. So I think I would like to understand then the assumption, if we go to the target load of any school, I'm not sure if it's 80, 90%, what does that efficiency ratio show for a larger school like like Graham, because I think our smaller campuses, we're only going to cap out at 400 or 500. So I think the efficiency there is going to be limited. So those are a couple of things I'd like to understand. I think the distance you've already, there is a page on the report around distance. And I know, Ms. Garcia, that It wasn't the most scientific and you were very honest, you said, I just mapped them location to location. But superintendent, I think this is an important piece as we think about if our children needed to travel, at least the schools that we're looking at, can we get more precise information with regards to distance between some of those target campuses? For example, Lincoln and Snow to Graham, each of them.

[14241] SPEAKER_29: Music. Page 13, Board President Martinez.

[14245] Elisa Martinez: Okay, thank you. Maybe music to Kennedy. I'm looking at the map here. Maybe to Kennedy and then obviously to the, is birch groves. I know it's not, I'm not sure which one is, it's not to scale. So just getting a sense of what those real travel distances would be, because those are the things we'd have to think through. What else? I too also had a, too also, I had a question regarding The deferred maintenance, and that's on page 152. So I think there was some questions around what's truly deferred, true maintenance needs versus nice to haves, right?

[14300] SPEAKER_43: Is that the page that captures that?

[14304] SPEAKER_29: Yes, it shows the slide that was part of the presentation.

[14308] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, so maybe this is more for Ms.dela Cruz. But just for clarification purposes, Ms.dela Cruz, and if it's not right this second, if this is someone we could get answered, which are truly the deferred maintenance costs. There's a couple of different numbers on page 152. There are slides 13 and slide 14 from the presentation, from like, I think from the meeting presentation. So that is something that I'd like to get clarity. I hope that the other board members agree that that's something that we want to understand for each site.

[14353] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I would be in agreement with that. And also, is it possible to also include the deferred maintenance for the projects that are also coming out of the facilities from the MOT budget also? instead of just bond or bond projects.

[14382] Elisa Martinez: And we probably would want to see those differentiated.

[14384] Phuong Nguyen: Yeah, we want to see the differentiation, please. Thank you.

[14393] Elisa Martinez: I'm sorry, that was my that was going to be my that was my last question, I think, for now, I also I did I did also just very quickly I at the beginning of the meeting, I said that there's a couple of really important meetings that we had not two or three months ago. for our community to maybe go back and revisit the conversations we had around why, where we are in this discussion and the cost saving and the cost reduction requirements. And it's the meeting of October the 15th, there was a special study session and also September the 3rd, where the FCMAT group came and actually read the report. I think those are, if you actually have the time, and can go revisit those. I think those would be helpful. And then maybe you absolutely would love to hear some questions regarding those. Okay, so these are my questions. Member Nguyen, did you have something to, I know you asked me if I was done.

[14458] Phuong Nguyen: I will let Member Rodriguez ask his question and then I will ask mine. Okay, go ahead Member Rodriguez.

[14466] Ray Rodriguez: No, I had a question of staff about the savings. Ms. Brianna doesn't, you know, that would be more for Ms. Dela Cruz. And then in the spirit of transparency, we say consolidation and it gets a little confusing. I mean, we're talking about closure, school closure. And I know we keep saying consolidation, but it gets a little confusing to some people. And I mean, we're gonna be voting at some point on closing a couple of schools. And it's important that we're open about it and that people know, not saying that we haven't been, I think we have, but consolidation is mentioned a lot. And I think it's important that the community know that we're closing down two schools, or we're gonna recommend to close down two schools. I do have a question about the savings that was sent to the county when we did our budget. Do you want me to ask that now or I can ask?

[14529] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, absolutely. This is, yeah, this is regarding the report. So I believe, please ask your question.

[14534] Ray Rodriguez: And so this is for Ms. Delacruz. I just needed a breakdown because, and I know a lot of the stuff we do, you know, we get from the state and they tell us how much we would save by, by, um, you know, closing down a school. I disagree with the figures, but I wanted to see if Ms. Delacruz can break that 500,000 down. I think everybody knows that a principal, if you're looking at 150, 200,000 with benefits, and then you have staff. And so how do you get from 250,000, and I know there's some savings in electric, up to 500,000? That's my question.

[14572] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Should we answer that now?

[14575] Ray Rodriguez: You can answer that later. It's up to Ms. Delacour.

[14580] Elisa Martinez: Well, I know Ms. Dela Cruz, I know it's a slide in the report. So I'm not sure if you wanted to pull up that report or if you just wanted to speak to it or refer member Rodriguez to the page and you can maybe speak to that.

[14597] Marie dela Cruz: I don't know the exact page right now. Maybe Brianna, as I'm talking, you can look it up. But what we did, Mr. Rodriguez, was we took the unrestricted budget of each of the schools and looked at the expenses that would go with the students, namely the teachers and books and supplies, and didn't count that as part of the savings. And then everything else, including classified support salaries and their benefits and operating costs would fall in the savings. So just looking at the average salaries and benefits, it's about $465,000 right there. And then, On top of that, if you look at the different operating costs for the elementary schools would be more than 500,000. So the 500,000 is really what we felt was not the total maximum possible, but it's the average of what we project we could save.

[14663] Mark Triplett: I believe it's page 20. Page 20.

[14668] Ray Rodriguez: Based on my own research, it was closer to 400,000. One of the things that's not being addressed, like what happened when we had the merger of the BGI schools, where we lost between 10 to 20 parents from Bunker, the old Bunker school. And every time you lose 10 kids, that's $100,000. So when you're looking at savings, the fact that you might lose kids for whatever reason, never seems to be part of the whole thing that we discuss. And when you close a school, you a lot of times you are going to lose kids and it's and maybe that's one of the reasons why we're here and we should have been here let's say 10 years ago because the prior administration didn't push for closing down a school because they felt that we would lose enough kids and the savings wouldn't be as much and and then we were told that we were going to gain kids from the construction and and we haven't gained any kids. So I might disagree with you, but even if you take 300,000 times two schools, that's $600,000. And if we don't close down the schools, where do you get that money from? We have to find a way to bring kids into our school from private schools. That's the only way I can see falling short of cutting programs and doing other stuff. And it's just sad that we're to this point, it's something that other administrations could have done but they decided not to because it's it's what you do when you have no other choice and that's where we're at so so thank you thank that's all i have thank you thank you member Rodriguez member when did you have something i'm sorry

[14780] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. I know that, you know, in the advisory committee, we didn't really discuss a whole lot of or go into detail in regards to our SDC students. And I just wanted to ask if we could get information on the campuses and sites that are that have current facilities to be able to you know serve moderate and severe SDC students and if we have playgrounds that are ADA compliant in at which sites and are there special consideration at any of the sites if they have special needs or if they have special restrooms or private, you know, restrooms and sensory rooms or anything that's specially related to, you know, any of our SDC students and at which campuses are they most compliant.

[14847] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, member Nguyen. Any other questions?

[14852] Bowen Zhang: I have some comments on the report. When I heard you say general comment, I'm actually talking about comment specific, general comment on the report. So speaking of following up President Martinez remark regarding the capacity, I understand we have this ranking weighted score from one to eight about whatever the total capacity. No, I mean the saving, the saving of closing one school. So my point is, I will actually think, obviously total savings is a good indicator, but I will think a better indicator will be savings per capita or savings per capacity. For example, if you have two schools, A and B, Let's say closing A will save half a million, closing B will save $600,000. But what if school B has double the capacity of school A? Does that still make sense for you to close school B just because it saves an extra $100,000? So I think a better indicator of saving might be saving per capacity. So that's actually related to what President Martinez's previous remark regarding if you're in business, you know the economy at a low scale. How do you achieve the economy so you pack, you are in a certain way consolidating your resources. Because regardless how big your school is, the biggest school needs one office manager, the smallest school also needs one office manager. But The biggest school you achieve the communal scale. So I will water see score based on savings closing down school based on savings per capacity. So that's one comment. The other comment I had about this criteria. Number three, I believe is the capacity of the three closest schools, if this school is closed. So when you rank that one, you are actually based on the assumption that the other schools, three schools that's closest to this current school is still there. What happened is, when you were deciding the second school you're going to close, one of the schools might be gone in your three closest schools. So I don't know whether this is an ask or not, or request. So I would really want to see what will be that criteria three, the closest three schools for each campus, assuming each one of us is gone. What I mean is you have a elementary school, right? Let's say if, let's say the first one, school eight gone. What would be that score for school from number two to number eight? If school two is gone, what would be the score from one to eight? Because you couldn't possibly have two schools really close to each other. Let's say they're both high on the list and then you're closing the first one and still assuming the second one has that high score on that three cup capacity, right? Because the first one is gone, the closest school to this school is gone. So that score level quite out, that will alter the score quite a bit on that criteria for the second school. So that's, that's another comment I have. That's the two biggest comment I have on that report. Because you are talking about closing two schools, right? Not closing one. If you just close one school, you don't have that concern anymore.

[15039] Elisa Martinez: So So that wasn't asked, is that?

[15042] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, because I do think that let's say when we reach a conclusion that there's one consensus we're going to close. After closing that one consensus, any school within that proximity will be affected on that score. You cannot assume that school is there anymore when you score the closest three schools.

[15061] Elisa Martinez: A couple of different scenarios, yeah. Yeah, OK. So is that clear, Superintendent Triplett, in terms of what the ask is?

[15070] Mark Triplett: Yeah, members, you want us to actually create that score based on the potential closing of each school and then what would be the... So what I'm asking is just on that, I think it's criteria three, right?

[15090] Bowen Zhang: Okay, well, yeah, criteria three you got a, you got a, a by a matrix on the first column is the first, the first column is when you school is when each one of the school is closing will be that score on the other remaining seven so that's a by a matrix, a by a square, square matrix. Yeah, because I want to, because I wasn't when we discussed, there's like, there's a chance that we have a consensus that we want to close. And then I don't know, the hard, the hard thing is what it will be the second one. And if you're picking a second one condition on that specific course, will that your score will be different when it comes to closing with when it comes to evaluate the three closest school, right?

[15132] Mark Triplett: Yeah, yeah, thank you. That makes sense.

[15137] Elisa Martinez: Okay, any other? Thank you. Thank you, members. Any other questions or comments regarding the report?

[15149] Phuong Nguyen: I just really wanted to thank the committee members who participated and worked really hard. in trying to digest all of this information in such a short time. I know that this is a very hard topic of discussion, but one that is necessary for us as a district to consider. And I just wanted to appreciate all of the committee members who took time out to really do all of the work. And it was very much, It was very much appreciated. Thank you.

[15193] SPEAKER_43: Absolutely.

[15196] Bowen Zhang: OK. Yeah, if anybody can take turn.

[15202] Elisa Martinez: I was just going to ask if there was any other any other comments.

[15206] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I do. So I want to first respond to member Rodriguez's suggestion on the committee on increasing enrollment and the fact that previous admission didn't do that much. I think the current administration with the leadership of Dr. Chiu, I think we're doing a fantastic job. Let me tell you, before, because we are hosting, we hosted several virtual town halls with the potential parents in the new development way before the pandemic. I actually personally knock on doors in those communities. community. I visited these communities. So I bumped into several HOA president leaders in the Bayshore developments. And so far, we host at least two or three virtual town hall meeting with these potential parents who will answer their questions to try to welcome them to our district. So we need to keep doing what we're doing, right. So I want to thank Dr. Triplett for your hard work and your leadership and your initiative on that. So second thing, the general comment I want to make is regarding enrollment. So we've heard so many email and comment from the public saying, oh, you have so many developments, how could you have declining enrollment? So here's the deal. If you really visit these development, whether it's Bayshore, Timber, Prima or Central Village, you will be surprised by the number of homes that are occupied by a single man or woman without children without spouse. You will be surprised by that. How did I know that? Because I knock on their doors. That's how I knew that. Number two, Because of the cost of living in this city, yes, we might have increasing population, but we might not have increasing kids. Because for each single man or woman in their late 20s or early 30s that move into our district, the cost of living might make a family of five kids leaving this district. So that's why we got declining enrollment in elementary school, even though we have additional development coming in into the city. So that's my general comment to answer some of the- I agree 100%.

[15325] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely, Member Zhang. And besides your informal canvassing of the community, that was part of the demographic report. Again, that is available as well, where I think there was some assumptions on what's called, I know that there's a capture rate and there's a couple of terms, but the yield rate, right, of how many, children are actually, we'll call yielding from new developments. And so those, we've not been close to those initial projections are a lot lower. So that very much tracks with what member Zhang walked, unfortunately found in, you know, as he informally canvassed folks. So, you know, this isn't, unfortunately, this is not a problem that came up, you know, you know, last year, this is something that's been happening, a big trend that's been happening in our in our community. And at the end of the day, you know, you know, we could say could have should have what have other things we should have had more time, we should have made these decisions. Then to the day the buck stops with the board. Right. And this is the this is a difficult conversation we're having. And, and please continue to, you know, ask questions, because This is what gets us thinking about, hey, what else should we be asking? Because at the end of the day, we need to make the most objective decision for our kids. One of the things that, you know, I'm both myself and member Zhang are parents of kids currently in the district.

[15423] Bowen Zhang: No, member, not me.

[15425] Elisa Martinez: I'm sorry, member. Remember when, what did I say? Our parents of, not member Zhang, of kids in the district. And, you know, so we all, I think when you come into the board, you have certain expectations of things that should be easy to fix, but then we really discover that we have to get through these difficult conversations and decisions. We both went through training. where we were told that high-functioning districts, therefore high-functioning boards, are spending at minimum of 60% talking about student achievement, improving programs. What are we doing to improve programs, Board Member Salemi? What are we doing to bring more to our kids? and low and those who don't do that, right, are not seeing the progress. Since I've been on the board and since I started to pay attention, for us, our metric is, it's flipped on its head. All our conversations are about how we're going to get out from under this structural deficit, right? And I remember for those parents that from Birch Grove or now Birch Grove, but we had to have those meetings and we had more meetings and more reductions. And I thought, oh, my God, when does this conversation about reduction end? Right. And so part of that is, you know, we have to make the big, broad decisions in a strategic manner, not I think member when you said it, not to stop the bleeding right now, but rather, how are we thinking about our district and what our kids need? so that we can actually start having those conversations. So I just, I know sometimes I don't share, you know, kind of my personal struggle with how I'm, you know, as a parent, as a citizen of Newark, this is really hard for all of us. But at the end of the day, if I look at student members, let me, cause I'm looking at you right there. If I look at our, we look at our kids crossing the street normally, that's who we, need to be thinking about. It's all about every single one of them. Absolutely. So please, please, as you hear our conversations, as you go and revisit some meetings and revisit the report, please keep the questions coming to us because we have a lot more to turn through, of course, before we get to that decision. So I just wanted to kind of just weigh in on that. Any other I don't remember any other comments or questions. We're at 1025. With regards to the report, Ms. Garcia, I think we're good. I think we could let you go. Thank you so much. Thank you for your support.

[15607] SPEAKER_29: My pleasure. Have a good evening.

[15610] Penny DeLeon: Thank you.

[15610] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Ms. Garcia. We really appreciate you.

[15613] SPEAKER_43: Thank you, Ms.

[15614] Marie dela Cruz: Garcia. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Garcia.

[15620] Elisa Martinez: All right, so with that, I'd like to move to item 12, which is consent agenda personnel items, the personnel report.

[15634] Mark Triplett: Yes, thank you. And I'll turn this over to Miss Saavedra to walk us through this.

[15644] SPEAKER_48: I believe it's just, it's the PAL report for, we recommend that the board approves.

[15650] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely, yeah, sorry about that, yeah. Getting caught up here on my screen. Okay, may I have a motion and a second to approve the personnel report as is?

[15662] Ray Rodriguez: I'll make the motion. I second it.

[15665] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez moves, Member Zhang seconds.

[15669] SPEAKER_43: Let's see if we can, there we go.

[15698] SPEAKER_46: I'm waiting on member Rodriguez and member and member when, um, if you'd like, we can take a verbal vote.

[15704] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Member Rodriguez.

[15706] SPEAKER_46: I got Mr. I got member Rodriguez.

[15708] Phuong Nguyen: Remember when I did not get it? Um, I did not get, uh, Okay, verbal.

[15714] Elisa Martinez: Can we do a verbal? How do you vote? Member? When? Yes. Okay. Were you going to pull up the results, Ms. Gutierrez? Okay.

[15731] Ray Rodriguez: I can't believe I found it, so I can vote.

[15739] SPEAKER_46: Motion passes. Okay.

[15742] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thanks so much. And next we have item... 13, consent agenda. Can I get a motion and a second to?

[15759] SPEAKER_46: Member, I'm sorry, President Martinez, we do have a speaker for the last item.

[15765] SPEAKER_43: I think it's a 0.6. 13.6, not 13.7? 13.6, 13.6. Okay, very good.

[15773] Elisa Martinez: So we'll pull that item. May I have a motion and a second to approve 13.1, through 13.7, less 13.6.

[15785] Bowen Zhang: Make the motion. I second it.

[15788] Elisa Martinez: Member Rodriguez moves. Member Jiang seconds.

[15794] SPEAKER_46: If you don't mind, if we can take a verbal vote for this one.

[15797] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Student member Salemi, how do you vote?

[15801] Aiden Hill: Yes.

[15803] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Member Nguyen? Yes. Member Rodriguez?

[15808] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[15809] Elisa Martinez: And Member Jiang?

[15810] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[15812] Elisa Martinez: And my vote is yes as well. So vote is unanimous for items 13.1 to 13.5 and 13.7. So we have a speaker for 13.6.

[15822] SPEAKER_46: That is correct. And member Rose. I mean, sorry, Mr Rose, if you could please move Miss Parks.

[15836] Cindy Parks: Good evening. The October 15 minutes do not list all items on the agenda. Item number three says study session. Then it skips to item 3.2 public comment on closed session items. There's no mention of the session topic, which was the FCMAC study session. And it doesn't even mention that John Von Flew from FCMAC was making the presentation. On item 9.1, public comment on non-agenda items, it lists the speakers, but does not list the topic to comply with board bylaw 9324. Once again, I'd like to point out, not only are the speaker topics supposed to be included according to your board bylaw, but it also states that the minutes shall include a brief summary of the board's discussion. It is your prerogative to change your board bylaw, but currently this is your written procedure, as I've mentioned before. Finally, it is a transparency to tell your computer your community if they want to know what took place at a meeting. Other than votes. That's all that's showing in your your minutes and that if they want to know what's happening, they need to go look at the video. I don't know of another legislative body who conducts business in this fashion. I respectfully request that you do not approve these minutes until the changes are made, especially concerning the skipping of item 3.1 on your agenda minutes. Thank you.

[15942] SPEAKER_43: Sorry about that.

[15945] Elisa Martinez: I just realized my kids were still up, so sorry. Okay, so thank you. Thank you, Ms. Parks. Any questions or comments from the board on this item?

[15963] Bowen Zhang: Can you comment on that?

[15971] Mark Triplett: Yeah, I would have to go back and look and review those. I don't want to comment without going back and reviewing it and making sure that we have completed all of that.

[15984] SPEAKER_43: So we can definitely... Go ahead, Member Nguyen.

[15991] Phuong Nguyen: So we are pulling that item from the agenda tonight, correct? And it will be brought back after review?

[15999] Elisa Martinez: I think that's our, we need to give that recommendation. Yeah.

[16003] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. Okay. I recommend that we pull item 13.6.

[16009] Bowen Zhang: I don't think we vote on that.

[16012] Ray Rodriguez: No, no.

[16014] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Yeah, we don't, yeah, we don't, yeah, it would just kind of be giving, that's why I was seeking comment. So, and I agree with you, I think, I think that, you know, there's some, there are some, some things that are, I think we're okay with, but I believe, given that it was the study session, we should probably go back and we list that as a specific item.

[16042] Ray Rodriguez: In my opinion, I think staff should be pulling it, because the other ones have put it on. But either way is fine.

[16048] Elisa Martinez: So we're recommending that staff pull it. I think that's what we're trying to get to. You're absolutely right. Staff should be pulling the item.

[16055] Mark Triplett: Great. We can pull it. OK. We'll review and we'll bring it back.

[16060] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely. Okay, great. Thank you so much.

[16065] SPEAKER_30: Okay.

[16070] Elisa Martinez: All right. And with that, we go to item 14, which is Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief, and we'll go ahead and get started with you, Student Member Salemi.

[16084] SPEAKER_05: Not much, just that Dr. Triplett and I are working on a lot of different things, and we hope to share that with you all in the future.

[16094] Elisa Martinez: Thank you so much. Member Zhang?

[16100] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I just want to make a general comment on the second wave potentially coming. I mean, we're adding 100,000 new infections every day, losing 1,000-plus Americans every day. California seems to be doing better than relative to the other states, probably because we had an unusually warm October. And the same thing cannot be said about November, December and beyond. So I just hope everybody can stay vigilant, avoid gathering with big crowd and wearing a mask. I know it can be tiring. I know in the holiday season you feel festive, but still reduce your outdoor activity. Definitely avoid crowd, wearing your mask, maintain proper social distancing. So that's number one I want to talk about. Number two is that as the next president of the school board, I will I will reach out to President Martinez in the next couple of weeks to ensure our transition will be as smooth as possible. And President Martinez can count on my full cooperation during this transition process. And I will also be reaching out to Member Wing in the next couple of weeks to make sure that as the next Vice President, Member Wing will be, our team will be ready on day one, come December. And I want to thank Mrs. Amanda Shigoya and Mrs. Christine Clinton for putting themselves out there during the election. It is not easy to be a candidate, particularly during the middle of the pandemic. And I want to congratulate Member-Elect Terence Guendel and Member-Elect Aiden Hill for winning the election and running a strong campaigns that resonated with thousands of people in our community. I will be reaching to both of you as well in the next couple of weeks to make sure we hit the ground running come December. I cannot be, as the next president of the school board, I cannot be more excited to welcome both of you to the board. Thank you.

[16229] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, member Zhang. Member Rodriguez.

[16233] Ray Rodriguez: Thank you. Am I on mute? No. I'll be having my last ROP meeting in a couple of weeks. And if SELPA has a meeting, that'd be my last one. But it's been a long journey. And in spite of all the challenges and the hard work, because what we do as board members is volunteer. I mean, we get a little stipend that doesn't get us anywhere, but we do it for the kids. And moving forward in everything that you do, if you push back a little bit and think about the kids and focus on kids, then you can't go wrong. There's going to be decisions that we make that are going to upset a lot of people. You know, it's difficult, but it's what the people that elected us in this position, that they want us to step up. So getting back to the committee, Ms. Waters being on the committee as principal of BGI Intermediate, I probably wouldn't have done it if I was in her place because they're going to be discussing your school and you still stepped up. I am so proud of her and I thank her so much for doing that. But as far as the future, the next meeting, because our community keeps saying that they weren't kept abreast of what was going on, even though Mrs. Thomas talked about closing Lincoln 10 years ago, and the administration decided not to do it. Still, because of that, my hope is that the next meeting, we make it more information just like we did this one, and then have the actual vote during the first meeting in December when you're going to have a full board. Something as important as closing a school that we've never done before should be decided by five board members, not four, in my opinion. And you got excellent people coming on. Congratulations to Bowen and Fong and Terrence and Mr. Hill and everybody that ran. You know, President Martinez, when you ran, that you put yourself out there and you hope that people receive you and they understand why you want to be on the board. And so my hope is that you put the actual voting to the first meeting in December. And I'm always going to be available to all of you, not Not to tell you what to do, but to be somebody that you can, you know, count on to when you're not understanding something or when you're frustrated, you just want somebody to talk to as a board member. I'm always going to be there. And you finally got a superintendent that's willing to get out there and try to get some more kids to switch from private school to public school. And hopefully that's something that he and I will continue to do together. difficult times, but that's when people would put that thing forward. And that creates strong growth, in my opinion, as board members. So anyway, I didn't mean to go that far, because I do have another board meeting in a couple of weeks. But I am so proud of the people that ran for board and very proud. the new people that are going to be on the board. It's going to be a great team. And you guys are just going to be awesome. That's all I have. Thank you.

[16476] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. Member Nguyen.

[16485] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you to Ms. Christine Clinton and Ms. Amanda Chacoya for running a running a very well campaign. It was definitely a learning experience for all of us. And I think that we all ran a positive campaign. And I just wanted to say also, welcome to the elected members, Mr. Terrence Grandel and Mr. Aiden Hill. And this month, I also attended the junior high PTA and they are doing wonderful things there at the junior high and they are very supportive of the staff and teachers there and they last month purchased Pear Deck for the teachers there and Pear Deck is an application that is interactive for check-ins with the students and they are able to design questions to engage students while they're learning in class. So I thought that was wonderful that they bought a site license for the junior high. So I just wanted to commend the parents at the junior high PTSA. And then lastly, I also attended the Coffee with the Principal there at the junior high. And Ms. Risha is getting, support from staff and also from the PTA parent members there for sure. And then on October 9th I was able to go to Kennedy for their art show drive-thru and they also had for each of the classes they had art displays and also the way that they fundraise is they auction off a piece of art that are representing each of the class grade levels. So I was lucky enough to win one of the auction pieces from Mrs. Chavez's kindergarten class. And it is behind me right here. So I'm very proud of the piece. This is from the kindergarten class. So they did a wonderful job. And I'm just excited that Ms. Christine and Ms. Laura there have provided the students there with an amazing opportunity to be able to express themselves in different types of art media there. So really appreciative of all of their work and wanted to thank them for that. That's it.

[16657] Elisa Martinez: Unmute. Thank you, member Nguyen. Thank you for that. So yes, I'm excited to know who my team is in a few weeks. It's fantastic. Congratulations to you both here and obviously to our Mr. Hill and Mr. Grindel. So look forward to meeting them. I don't know them, so I'm excited to get to know them and get to the work of the work. So anyway, excited for that. I did wanna come back to one of the recommendations that was included from the consolidation committee which is around the middle school, us exploring the, moving to more of a middle school concept. So, and I don't know, superintendent, what the right ask is, but it would be great to get your initial perspective on what a plan might look like. Is this a six month plan? Is it a two year plan? What are some of the things, you know, is it too much to ask to see something maybe in two weeks? you know, where we can kind of say, hey, yay or nay, we like what you're saying, what you're thinking here, because I think it's important that we start to, you know, really give ourselves that lead time to do this right. So can I, is that okay if I get consensus from the board? Is that a fair ask? And superintendent, is that something that you could bring to us maybe as a draft in two weeks?

[16754] Ray Rodriguez: I'll give consensus. 10 years ago, we asked two different superintendents to put this together and it was never done. And I know Dr. Triplett is going to make it happen. I think it's a good move. And thank you. He's going to make it happen quick.

[16771] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely. And it wouldn't be the comprehensive plan. It's great. You know, it can't in two weeks, but just to give us, and at least we can start to formulate that direction to, to, to superintendents, to member Rodriguez's point. we at least start to now get that vision going.

[16787] Ray Rodriguez: He's going to get it done, I know it.

[16789] Mark Triplett: Wow. It will definitely be a very rough outline in two weeks, but I can definitely bring something in to show.

[16799] SPEAKER_43: OK, that would be great.

[16801] Phuong Nguyen: Sorry, and I just have one more request. I know that a while back, I had asked questions in regards to the combo class and class structure in general for all of the elementary schools and how they are, how they are populated. So I was wondering if we would be able to get back to that and have a study session on that soon. I don't want us to forget about it. Thank you.

[16832] Elisa Martinez: I agree, agree. And I think that would be, I know that we've talked about a couple of study sessions that we need to kind of get back on, and I think that would be a great topic. Thank you. My follow-up request is revisiting of the board policy on minutes. It's been on our conversation now for a few meetings, and I know that in this as we move to try to use board docs and a lot of its functionality, we are trying to, you know, really bring our minute structure into some standard, but looks like we may have some some misalignment there in board policy. So if I could ask, you know, superintendent, maybe you and Ms. Gutierrez, and we, you know, a couple of us maybe certainly reach out and get our perspective and maybe try to bring forward a policy with some revisions so we can kind of really get some alignment around that. Is that fair?

[16893] SPEAKER_52: Sure. Okay.

[16896] Elisa Martinez: Okay. And then I know just watching the clock again, just thank you. Thank you for to you and your staff, Dr. Triplett, because I know we've all been acknowledging this is really difficult on our community, on our children, and on us even. But at the end of the day, you all are doing a ton of work to get us the information. Is it perfect? No, not all the time. We get that. But thank you for all the effort that you and the team are putting forward. to give us as much information as possible. And then, sorry, one more thank you. Again, thank you for everybody that has, our emails are inundated, but thank you, because we need to hear your thoughts and your concerns. I wanna say this in Espanol. Porque hemos recibido muchos correos electrónicos, donde ustedes nos están presentando sus preocupaciones, So thank you so much. I just wanted to, because we've gotten a lot of Spanish speakers, that submitted and I just wanted to speak to them directly because absolutely we are listening and we will be thinking about every single one of our children.

[16995] Phuong Nguyen: Okay. Oh, sorry. I have one last comment. You brought up a very good point. I just really wanted to also say thank you to the teachers who have scanned in handwritten letters for families who do not know how to submit electronically Um, that is very much appreciated. And we do want to hear everyone's voices and it is so important. Thank you. Sure.

[17021] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely. Okay. And I think we're, um, at superintendents concluding remarks.

[17031] Mark Triplett: Well, thank you, everybody. I know we're going to have a couple more sessions to celebrate Member Rodriguez, but I do want to be the first to start by just appreciating your incredible service, Member Rodriguez, over such a long period of time, and I look forward to the celebrating happening. Some people have birthdays that they like to stretch out over a couple weeks, so I figure we can stretch out your your celebration for maybe even a month, if we can get away with it.

[17063] Ray Rodriguez: I was Mr. Salimi's age when I started, by the way.

[17071] Mark Triplett: I really appreciate Member Nguyen and Member Martinez for your work on the advisory committee. I know it was really hard and donating or giving time to be in board meetings is in and of itself such a such a major gift to the community and being on that Advisory Committee is basically like double time, it's like creating a twice twice as amount amount of time and dedication and really, really hard work so thank you for that, and as well, just to all of the committee members. the CSCA leadership, NTA, NEWMA, business owners, landowners, really, really hard, hard work. And everybody on the committee treated it so seriously, and really with the gravity that it deserves. And I know it's, we're not there yet, but It shows the dedication of so many people to try to really rectify our financial situation and get us on a path to much greater success and greater enrollment. So thank you for that. And those are my concluding comments.

[17153] Ray Rodriguez: Can I thank Phuong and Elisa for Chairing, the board is, we asked you to chair and co-chair the committee, and I know both of you took a lot of heat because of it, and I think you handled yourself professionally and made sure the committee did what it was supposed to do, and I appreciate that. Thank you.

[17181] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Rodriguez. And thank you, Superintendent Triplett, for your comments. Okay, and with that, item 16 adjournment, I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

[17193] Bowen Zhang: I move to adjourn the meeting.

[17196] Ray Rodriguez: Second.

[17197] Elisa Martinez: Member Zhang moves, member Rodriguez seconds, and let's get a verbal. City member Salemi?

[17205] SPEAKER_05: Yes.

[17206] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen?

[17208] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, but student member, board member Salemi, you need to like get in there next time. Okay. You are so wise beyond your years, but don't let us take advantage of you.

[17221] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. On the motions and seconds.

[17225] SPEAKER_43: Okay. Have a good night. All right. I'm ready to go. Rodriguez. Yes. Okay. Did I ask you members young already?

[17235] Elisa Martinez: Yes. And my vote is a yes, so motion passes unanimously. So we adjourn at 1053. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful evening.

[17245] Chery Villa: Goodnight. Goodnight, everyone.

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

1.1 Roll Call

Type                     Procedural

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

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

2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

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

2.1 Approval of Agenda

Type                     Action

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

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, Ray J Rodriguez
Not Present at Vote: Wahhab Salemi

2.2 Public Comment on Closed Session Item

Type                     Procedural

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

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

2.3 Recess to Closed Session

Type

3. CLOSED SESSION

3.1 Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/ Release (GC54957)

Type                     Procedural

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

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



Type                     Procedural

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

Employee Organizations: NTA and CSEA

Subject                  3.3 Conference with Labor Negotiator (GC 54957.6) NEWMA, Unrepresented




Type                     Procedural

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

Employee Organizations: NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors & Contracted Management

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

Type                     Procedural

Cases:

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

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

Type                     Procedural

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

4. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

4.1 Pledge of Allegiance

Type                     Procedural

5. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS

5.1 Report of Closed Session Actions

Type                     Procedural

6. STUDENT REPORT

6.1 Student Report from Newark Junior High School, MacGregor and Newark Memorial High School

Type                     Information

A. Newark Junior High School - Alyssa Torres & Rachel Ristau

B. MacGregor - Marilyn Rollins

C. Newark Memorial High School - Wahhab Salemi

7. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

7.1 Employee Organizations

Type                     Information

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

8. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

8.1 Staff Spotlight

Type                     Information

Purpose: To recognize the wonderful accomplishments from our NUSD Team

8.2 School Spotlight: Birch Grove Primary

Type                     Information

Goals                        3a. Parent and Community Engagement and Communication
                             1a. Student Achievement

Purpose: The School Spotlight gives the Board of Education and the public and opportunity to hear from each school with highlights of their achievements and initiatives.

File Attachments BGP School Spotlight 11.5.2020.pdf (7,464 KB)

9. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

9.1 Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

Type                     Information

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

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

10. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT Subject 10.1 Superintendent Report

10.1 Superintendent Report

Type                     Information

File Attachments Supt Report 11.5.20.pdf (1,321 KB)

11. NEW BUSINESS

11.1 Contract between Imagine Learning and Newark USD

Type                     Action

Preferred Date           Nov 05, 2020

Absolute Date            Nov 05, 2020

Fiscal Impact            Yes

Dollar Amount            $305,050.20

Budgeted                 Yes

Budget Source            Federal CARES Act Funds

Recommended              The staff recommends the Board approve the Imagine Learning Contract.
Action

Goals                         1a. Student Achievement

Purpose: Imagine Learning intervention program will provide digital literacy, language, and mathematics education programming to our special education students. To support learning among students with disabilities, Imagine Learning provides instruction that aligns with high leverage practices identified by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) (2017). Specifically, the Imagine Learning program is systematically designed to enable students to acquire foundational literacy, language, and mathematics skills necessary for academic success. Throughout the Imagine Learning programming, new skills are taught explicitly with guided practice and immediate, instructional feedback based on student responses. Scaffolding supports new learning and opportunities for the mastering of knowledge and skills which are embedded throughout the program.

The Imagine Learning Language intervention program promotes rigorous and equitable development of language that accelerates learning across all subjects, transforming students into stronger and more confident learners. The program builds foundational skills through personalized instruction. With a personalized approach to teaching foundational literacy and language skills, Imagine Language & Literacy prepares students to read grade-level texts. The program provides personalized learning pathways to deliver direct instruction in all five areas of reading, with additional practice and instruction as needed. Teachers can even create custom playlists of activities based on identified instructional needs. Likewise, Imagine Math develops early math skills through personalized instruction. With a tailored approach to teaching critical foundational skills in a fun, storybook environment. Imagine Math K-2 scaffolds up to grade level content while engaging young learners in new challenges. Benchmark results automatically inform learning pathways to ensure each student receives the grade level content they are ready for, and pre-requisite lessons where they need leveling up. Scaffold supports are carefully calibrated to the validity of student performance to ensure conceptual mastery. Rigorous, spiral instructional content re-introduces already learned concepts with increasing complexity to reinforce previous understanding. Imagine math differentiates for every single learner. As students work toward algebraic readiness, Imagine Math grade 3 through to the secondary level supports students with rigorous personalized instruction, strategic scaffolding, and unlimited on-demand access to certified, bilingual Live Teachers in real time. All learners start their learning journey with grade level content and receive precursor lessons based on diagnostic outcomes to effectively level up prerequisite skills. A triple-tiered scaffold system includes various "Math Help" modalities PLUS one-on-one, on-demand instruction by bilingual Live Teachers via chat and two-way interactive whiteboard--when students need it most. Multiple representations in each lesson make math more meaningful for more learners and help deepen every students' conceptual understanding.

Background: Special education students require individualized academic instruction per their IEP. The district currently does not have a systematic Tier 2 & Tier 3 intervention program to support special education students' academic needs. Moreover, the district does not have a systematic differentiated intervention program that provides ongoing data driven progress monitoring to assess students' academic performance. Teachers throughout the district have adopted a variety of online resources to support their students' needs based on access to programs. As a result, there are a multiple online programs being utilized to serve our special education students. This has and continues to be both overwhelming for staff, students, and families alike. It is anticipated with the adoption of the Imagine Learning program, this problem will be curtailed by providing students, teachers, and families with one platform to access an online intervention program. To support learning now and in the future, the Imagine Learning program has the capacity to be implemented virtually, hybrid model (both virtual and in person instruction)and as well as all in person instruction. Furthermore, the program provides access to multiple languages which will prove to be extremely beneficial to many families supporting their child's learning at the home. Fiscal Impact: Imagine Learning intervention program licenses with digital literacy, language, and mathematics education programming will serve special education students from kindergarten through sixth grade. Additionally, Imagine Learning Math will provide math intervention to both junior high school and high school students through to geometry. The total cost of the Imagine Learning multi year contract is $305,050.20. The Imagine Learning contract will span over 3 consecutive years with a yearly contract amount of $101,683.40. This school year Federal CARES Act Funds will be utilized. The 2 proceeding years, Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds will be the funding source. The total contract cost has been reduced from $335,220.00 to $305,050.20 with a savings of $30,169.80 to the District.

File Attachments Newark Contract QT171755.pdf (59 KB)

Motion & Voting The staff recommends the Board approve the Imagine Learning Contract.

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

11.2 School Consolidation Advisory Committee Report

Type                        Action, Discussion, Information, Reports

Preferred Date              Nov 05, 2020
Absolute Date             Nov 19, 2020

Fiscal Impact             No

Recommended               Staff recommends the Board receive the School Consolidation Advisory Committee
Action                    Report.

Goals                        MISSION: The Newark Unified School District will inspire and educate all students to
                             achieve their full potential and be responsible, respectful, and productive citizens.
                             VISION: The Newark Unified School District, in partnership with the community, will
                             be a model of world-class education that develops the unique abilities of every
                             student.
                             1a. Student Achievement
                             2a. Safe, Secure and Healthy Learning Environments
                             3a. Parent and Community Engagement and Communication

Purpose: To receive and review the School Consolidation Advisory Committee Report to the Board of Education and the recommendations contained therein and take action at the next regular board meeting scheduled for November 19, 2020.

Background: At the December 19, 2019 meeting, the board discussed the following: Assign Board Members to the committee Purpose of the committee Structure and process of selecting committee members Meeting facilitator Approximate timeline Possible dates for meetings Proposed timeline The Board assigned Member Gutierrez and Member Nguyen as chairs to the committee. The board subsequently assigned Member Martinez to the committee after Member Gutierrez resigned from the board. The Board approved the formation of a School Consolidation Advisory at their December 5, 2019 meeting.

The district's 2019-20 First and Second Interim Financial Reports received a "qualified" certification. A "qualified" certification means the district may not be able to meet its financial obligations in the current fiscal year or in the next two subsequent fiscal years. As part of the budget balancing solutions, the board approved resolutions 2158 and 2061 committing to $6,018,000 in budget reductions for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years which included school closures and consolidations. It was estimated that school closures and consolidations would provide $1,000,000 in budget reductions and savings. The district has been declining in enrollment for over 10 years, since 2009-10 when enrollment was 6,920. Current enrollment is 5,465, a decline of 1,455 students or 21% since 2009-10. The majority of the district's funding is tied to enrollment. The decline has led to a budget imbalance and consistent deficit spending.

Convened at the request of the Board, the School Consolidation Advisory Committee (Committee) held a series of public meetings between August and October 2020 to study and recommend schools for closure and consolidation, based on data and established criteria. Over the course of seven meetings, the Committee received and discussed information from architects, demographers and District staff.

Ms. Brianna Garcia, Director, Management Consulting Services, School Services of California, served as the facilitator for the Committee meetings. She will be presenting the report at the November 5, 2020 board meeting.

File Attachments Newark USD Board Presentation (11-05-20).pdf (8,760 KB) Newark USD - School Consolidation Advisory Committee Report_Final_11-05-20-a.pdf (9,982 KB)

12. CONSENT AGENDA - PERSONNEL ITEMS Subject 12.1 Personnel Report

12.1 Personnel Report

Type                     Action (Consent)

Preferred Date           Nov 05, 2020

Absolute Date            Nov 05, 2020

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

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

File Attachments HR PAL 11-06-20.pdf (364 KB)

Motion & Voting The staff recommends the Board approve the Imagine Learning Contract.

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

13. CONSENT AGENDA - NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS

13.1 2020-2021 Youth and Family Opportunity Initiative - Newark Unified School District

Type                     Action (Consent)

Preferred Date           Nov 05, 2020

Absolute Date            Nov 05, 2020

Fiscal Impact            No

Budgeted                 No

Recommended              Staff Recommends the Board Ratify 2020-2021 Youth and Family Opportunity Initiative.
Action

Purpose: The countywide Youth and Family Opportunity (YFO) Initiative strengthens the capacity of "anchor" community-based organizations to provide a continuum of integrated, high quality, and accessible school-linked health and wellness supports to youth and families. Background: The initiative is based on evidence that there is a critical link between children's healthy development and educational attainment, ultimately impacting long term health outcomes. In addition, supports must be provided across a broad continuum and embedded within schools and neighborhoods, inclusive of families, and responsive to the individualized needs of each young person. Research indicates that youth who are surrounded by a variety of supports and opportunities such as those provided by the YFO Initiative, strengthen their protective factors, encounter less risk, and ultimately show evidence of higher rates of successful transitions into adulthood. YFO partners are situated in the County's areas of highest need per social determinants of health (e.g. high levels of poverty and violence, limited access to quality schools, healthy food, and stable housing) in order to interrupt cycles of inequity and create schools and communities that support all young people to succeed and thrive. The Term of this Amendment shall be from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. The compensation payable to the district will be $114,794 for the term of this Agreement.

File Attachments Executed Newark USD YFO FY 20-21 (2).pdf (914 KB)

Motion & Voting The staff recommends the Board approve the Imagine Learning Contract.

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

13.2 Lozano Smith Attorneys at Law - Agreement for Professional Services 2020-2021

Type                     Action (Consent)

Fiscal Impact            Yes

Budgeted                 Yes

Recommended              Staff requests the Board of Education approve the Agreement for Professional Services
Action                   for Lozano Smith Attorneys at Law for 2020-2021

Purpose: To renew the service agreement with Lozano Smith Attorneys at Law for legal services in the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

Background: Lozano Smith has served as the District's legal counsel for 21 years. They have provided NUSD with legal counsel in a wide variety of areas, including general legal services, business and contract services, construction advice and litigation, developer fees, litigation, procurement, and governance.

File Attachments LozanoSmith 20-21 Agreement.pdf (229 KB)

Motion & Voting The staff recommends the Board approve the Imagine Learning Contract.

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

13.3 McArthur & Levin, LLP Attorneys at Law - Agreement for Professional Services 2020-2021

Type                     Action (Consent)

Fiscal Impact            Yes

Budgeted                 Yes

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board of Education approve the Agreement for Professional
Action                   Services for McArthur & Levin, LLP Attorneys as Law for 2020-2021

Purpose: To renew the service agreement with McArthur & Levin, LLP Attorneys at Law for legal services in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. There are no changes to the existing billing ranges.

Background: McArthur & Levin has been providing legal services for the district on special education matters.

File Attachments McArthur & Levin_5-26-20 Proposed Contract.pdf (582 KB)

Motion & Voting The staff recommends the Board approve the Imagine Learning Contract.

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

13.4 Dora Dome Law - Agreement for Professional Services 2020-2021

Type                     Action (Consent)

Fiscal Impact            Yes

Budgeted                 Yes

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board of Education approve the Agreement for Professional
Action                   Services for Dora Dome Law for 2020-2021

Purpose: To renew the service agreement with Dora Dome Law for legal services in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. There are no changes to the existing billing ranges. Background: Dora Dome Law has been providing legal services for the district on student and special education matters.

File Attachments DoraDomeL Partially Executed Fee Agreement 2020.21.pdf (856 KB)

Motion & Voting The staff recommends the Board approve the Imagine Learning Contract.

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

13.5 Board Bylaw 9320 (First Reading)

Type                     Action

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board of Education approve the bylaw as presented with
Action                   recommended revisions.

Purpose: To update the Board Bylaw to reflect an approved change in the date of the Board of Education meetings.

Background: This is the first reading for the attached Board Policy. The administration has reviewed this document for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice.

If any revisions are recommended, the document will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading.

File Attachments Newark USD _ BB 9320 Board Bylaws - Meetings and Notices (110520).pdf (104 KB)

13.6 Minutes of the October 15, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type                     Action (Consent), Minutes

Recommended              Staff recommends approving the minutes of the October 15, 2020 Regular Meeting of
Action                   the Board of Education

Minutes                  View Minutes for Oct 15, 2020 - Regular Board Meeting

Purpose: For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background: The attached minutes are reflective of the Oct. 15, 2020 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. Exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Motion & Voting The staff recommends the Board approve the Imagine Learning Contract.

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

13.7 Minutes of the October 16, 2020 Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type                     Action (Consent), Minutes

Recommended              Staff recommends approving the minutes of the October 16, 2020 Special Meeting of the
Action                   Board of Education

Minutes                  View Minutes for Oct 16, 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 Oct. 16, 2020 Special Meeting of the Board of Education. Exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Motion & Voting The staff recommends the Board approve the Imagine Learning Contract.

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

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

14.1 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

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

                         DEBRIEF AND DISCUSSION

Type                     Information

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

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

                         FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS

Type                     Information

16. ADJOURNMENT

16.1 Adjournment

Type                     Action, Procedural

Recommended              It is recommended that this meeting be adjourned.
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 It is recommended that this meeting be adjourned.

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

No minutes available.