Regular Meeting

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[24] Elisa Martinez: Okay, good evening. We are now live and it is Thursday, November 19th of 2020. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Newark Unified Board of Education. It is 6.30 p.m. And with that, roll call, please, Ms. Gutierrez.

[47] SPEAKER_60: Member Zhang?

[49] Bowen Zhang: Here.

[50] SPEAKER_60: Member Nguyen? Here. Member Rodriguez is absent. Member Martinez? Here.

[60] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And so we move to item two, which is the approval of the agenda. Before we make a motion to approve, does anybody have any requests for modifications to the agenda?

[75] Mark Triplett: Yes, thank you, President Martinez. Good evening, board members, staff and community. We'd like to pull item 11.6, please.

[89] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Any other items? Okay, so can I please have a motion to approve the agenda? Less item 11.6.

[105] Bowen Zhang: I move to approve the agenda, less 11.6.

[108] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. I second.

[113] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Zhang and Member Nguyen. Ms. Gutierrez will be using BoardDocs to vote?

[119] SPEAKER_42: Yes.

[124] SPEAKER_60: The vote has been sent. Just waiting for Member Nguyen's vote to get locked in.

[150] Phuong Nguyen: I apologize. It's asking me to log back in.

[154] Elisa Martinez: Okay, it's okay. We'll give it a minute. If not, we could take a voice vote.

[163] SPEAKER_60: I can record your vote, Member Nguyen, if you'd like. OK. OK. Closing voting. And vote passes.

[181] Elisa Martinez: OK. So the motion carries with three ayes. And I should mention that, given that there are only three of us this evening, all actions must be approved with three unanimous, or with unanimity, with three positive votes. Okay, thank you. And with that, we move to item 2.2, which is public comment and closed session items. Any requests to speak, Ms. Gutierrez? No comments. Okay, thank you. So before we recess to closed session, we will be discussing 3.1 Public Employee Discipline Dismissal Release. 3.2 Conference with Labor Negotiator Organizations, NTA and CSCA. Conference with Labor Negotiator, NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors in Contracted Management. 3.4 is Conference with Legal Counseling, Legal Counsel Regarding Existing Litigation. And 3.5, which is Conference with Legal Counsel Regarding Anticipated Litigation. And with that, we recessed to closed session and we will see you back here shortly. Thank you.

[1865] Bowen Zhang: Are we live yet?

[1870] Elisa Martinez: Paul, we are not live. Actually, I'm not sure.

[1877] Phuong Nguyen: It says we're live on YouTube.

[1879] SPEAKER_60: We are live, and as soon as you're ready to start. OK.

[1885] Elisa Martinez: Do we have superintendent? Yep. I think we've got everyone.

[1892] Penny DeLeon: OK.

[1896] Elisa Martinez: So, welcome. As we reconvene to open session, it is 7.02. And please, Ms. Gutierrez, let the record show that student member Salemi has joined.

[1915] SPEAKER_60: Record noted.

[1916] Elisa Martinez: Okay, very good. And with that, if we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Ms. Gutierrez, do you know if we have the image of the flag? Yes, we do. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to which it stands

[1951] SPEAKER_08: and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[1962] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, Nix, I should pick one person. We're at different rates. I apologize for that. Okay, thank you. And so next item is reporting out on close session actions. And I do have an item to report. It's on item 3.4, which is existing litigation. In closed session, the board approved a settlement in Brazil versus Newark Unified School District, Alameda County Superior Court case number RG17859813. in the amount of $200,000 by a vote of three, three of three with trustees member Zhang, Nguyen and Martinez voting in favor. And no votes opposed given that there's only three of us in attendance today. Thank you. Okay, just before we go ahead and move into the next order of business, I typically just review some of the rules of engagement in terms of how folks can provide public comment. So again, in our landing page of the agenda, it gives you instructions to either submit requests for written comment And that those requests would be due on the Wednesday before the meeting by 5 p.m. And those requests or those statements will not be read out loud, but they will be part of the record and the board will have access to those. For those that would like to request live comments, those requests need to be in by 1 p.m. on the day of the meeting. And again, both of those should be labeled either written public comment or live public comment and and the instructions are on the web page public comment at Newark unified.org is the email you would send that to. And the board there, there is a statement there that we may leverage today. which is the board may exercise its discretion regarding the amount of time for each public comment, depending on the number of comments received on any particular item. As with 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 American with Disabilities Act and upon request individuals who require appropriate alternative modifications of the agenda or accommodations in order to observe or participate in board meetings are invited to contact our executive assistant Ms. Lucia Gutierrez at lgutierrez at newarkunified.org by noon on the Monday preceding the scheduled board meeting. So again, this is all available on our agenda landing page. Okay, thank you for bearing with me there. And so we move to item six, which is employee organizations. Ms. Gutierrez, do we have folks from, okay.

[2182] SPEAKER_60: Yes, Ms. Sue Eustis from CSCA.

[2185] SPEAKER_53: Thank you.

[2194] Elisa Martinez: Welcome Miss Eustis.

[2196] SPEAKER_13: Good evening members of the board and Dr. Triplett and other members of the audience. I have a short report tonight. CSCA in October and November had its elections of officers for the next two years. And so again, I will be the president for the next two years, so you're stuck with me. And my vice president is going to be Maria Huffer. And our new secretary is going to be Sarah Kieser. Our treasurer is Adrian I always mispronounce her name. Notary. And our Sergeant of Arms is Janelle Guzman. Our communication officer that does our newsletter is Angela Lee. And our historian is Pat Doyle. Our chief job steward is Katie Gilroy. We have a full negotiations team, Adrian and Miranda Dunsmore and Maria Huffer, Ed Y. Ingo and Bertha D'Andra. We have three stewards at this point, which is Katie Gilroy, Sarah Kieser and Maria Huffer. And we have two others that possibly are going to be able to come on as stewards once they're trained. So I'm really happy in the idea that we have a full slate of officers, full negotiations team for the next two years. And we're going to be working on our different committees and our events for this next couple of years in the next month or so. That's basically my report tonight, but I would like to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and hope that everybody has a very nice Thanksgiving. I know that it may not be exactly the way we want it, But next year, it'll be better, hopefully. And so we're here. We picked up most of our foods. We're ready to start partying at our house. And there's just three of us, but we're going to have a very good time. And I hope you all do, too. And I especially want to thank Lucia for your extra efforts in getting me to come to the meeting tonight. I really appreciate it. And I apologize. I'll try to become better at answering your emails. But I've been suffering with sinus headaches for the last two days. So anyway, thank you, everybody.

[2359] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Justus, for joining.

[2363] SPEAKER_60: Ms. Gutierrez? We have updates from Pneuma with Catheerine Ingham-Watters.

[2370] Jodi Croce: Okay.

[2379] SPEAKER_25: Good evening, Board President Martinez, Board Trustees, Superintendent Triplett, and Executive Cabinet. As you know, tomorrow is our last instructional day before an entire week off. The excitement of students, teachers, staff, and even administrators, too, is high indeed. The idea of a week off to rest, recharge, and reflect is exactly what we need after this long haul of distance learning. The next week will also be a time of thanksgiving, and our NEWMA team is thankful indeed. Thank you to our students and families for their hard work and dedication through this time of distance learning. To our NTA partners for their magical ways they continue to make learning engaging and inspiring even through those Zoom and Google glitches. To our CSCA partners for supporting the sites and district in countless ways from feeding our students to answering endless phone calls from our parents and families to supporting our teaching staff to keeping our grounds in good form. to our superintendent and board for highlighting the wonderful work our sites and departments do and supporting and promoting our continuous learning. To the Newark and NUSD community, on behalf of our NEWMA members, have a restful and safe Thanksgiving break.

[2475] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Ingham-Watters. We appreciate you and the entire team.

[2481] SPEAKER_60: That's it for updates.

[2484] Maria Huffer: Very good. Thank you.

[2489] Elisa Martinez: And the next item is the school spotlight, Superintendent Triplett.

[2495] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Martinez. And Ms. Gutierrez, if you could let Principal Byrd into the panel, that would be wonderful. So as you all will remember, we are continuing the tradition of doing school spotlights every month. And so we did this month include the calendar of all the spotlights that are going to happen throughout the year. We're very fortunate that this month we are able to spotlight Graham Elementary, which has done such amazing things. And we're really delighted to have Principal Bird here with us to showcase the wonderful work of both her leadership and with all of the staff at Graham Elementary. So without further ado, I'll turn it over to Principal Berger.

[2547] SPEAKER_40: Good evening. Thank you, everyone. Good evening, Newark School Board. I'll just go ahead by sharing my screen. Okay. Hello everyone i'm principal Akilah Byrd and i'm the principal of Graham elementary school, this is my fifth school year of leading Graham and i'm excited tonight to have the opportunity to present about our fabulous school this evening. Let's begin with our school mission. At Graham School, it is our mission to provide students with a safe, respectful, and supportive environment while teaching students to become lifelong learners, thinkers, communicators, and the positive contributors to our society. Distance learning and data. Graham's instructional priorities, if you can see them, you might not be able to, but falls under the Newark Unified School District priorities of student engagement through rigorous standards-based instruction, assessment for learning, and social-emotional learning and wellness. During distance learning, students submit assignments and are assessed in a multitude of ways. Our first example is a Flipgrid submission from Samantha who shares her learning about the election process.

[2650] SPEAKER_53: Hello, my name is Samantha, and the Electoral College is a body of electors established by the United States Constitution. And what I learned about the votes is each candidate has a different opinion. It takes 270 votes for a person to win the presidency. My stand on the question, do you think electoral votes or popular votes should count to when the presidency is neutral?

[2676] SPEAKER_40: I appreciate how she shared that her stance is neutral, letting others know that it's okay to be different and to not always choose a side. Our next sample is a photograph from Thomas Jacob, and he has an illustration about condensation. Condensation is an everyday event, and I appreciate how Jacob has labeled his diagram here to show us how condensation occurs when certain conditions are met. I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate all of our parents and guardians who continue to support learning at home during distance learning. Now join me for a stroll down Memory Lane. The California School Dashboard does not simply represent a color for schools just to be labeled. However, it's an opportunity to celebrate improvement and success. It's an opportunity for us as a school site to talk about system changes and what we are doing to meet the needs of all learners. In 2019, the last school year of standardized testing in the area of English Language Arts, Graham School increased by a massive 25.5 points in just one academic school year, moving from the orange to the yellow. Now when we disaggregate this data, because I know that oftentimes doing that can reveal patterns that can be maxed by only focusing on aggregated data. To our surprise, all four significant subgroups increased in ELA as well. Graham students with disabilities increased 14.6 points. English language learners increased 25.1 points. Hispanic students increased 27.1 points. And our socioeconomically disadvantaged students increased 31 points. Job well done, Graham Cougar Cubs in English language arts. We achieved similar gains in mathematics. On a California school dashboard we started in the orange and we were able to increase in just one academic school year 24 points. Once again, and looking at our data every significant subgroup at Graham may double digit gains in mathematics. Our English language learners increased by 17.7 points. Hispanic students increased 20.3 points. Our socioeconomically disadvantaged students increased 26 points. And our students with disabilities increased a whopping 35.3 points in mathematics. And those are our students with IEPs. Congratulations, scholars, teachers, staff on your hard work and your commitment to academic success. I will be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to share a final data point. At Graham School, we were only 5.9 points away from being in the green in ELA. At Graham School, we were only 6.3 points away from being in the green in mathematics. We have a lot to be proud of as a community of learners. Now moving on to our site instructional priorities. Here we have an assignment submitted by Priscilla, one of our primary students, and she shares about her family with a very beautiful illustration. We have a campus-wide initiative to advance student critical thinking skills through inquiry, problem solving, and reflection through use of the 50-50 talk time strategy in classrooms to increase learning for diverse student assets and needs. We will achieve this by continued implementation of SEAL, which is the Sobrato Early Academic Language Model, the use of Readers and Writers Workshop, use of blended learning, iReady, Epic, Zurn, and Khan Academy, EOD intervention science and PE collaboration, the use of digital platforms, Google Classroom, Flipgrid, Jamboard, Blooms, and Seesaw, and the use of our support staff. Graham funds a full-time intervention teacher and a full-time bilingual aide. Graham assessment for learning. Here we have one of our kindergartners Vanessa, and she's found it out letters in order to make a sentence on her whiteboard from home, and she's actually in class with Miss Paxton. Our campus initiatives are flex time across all grade levels. This is through a professional learning communities model. That's a time where all of our learners are shuffled by ability to receive either additional intervention or an opportunity of challenge. We attribute our tremendous academic gains to our three year implementation of FLEX and one year we were able to have smaller class sizes overall. We collect data over time, focus on feedback, check for understanding and synchronous sessions, make the data useful, which drives our instruction and our priorities. Graham Social-Emotional Learning and Mental Health. Our campus initiative is to advance social-emotional learning school-wide and to prioritize self-care of staff. We have all experienced a great deal of change this calendar year, including things like a pandemic, the effects of systemic racism, and now potential school closure. So we need to take the time to focus on realistic and specific needs. In particular, the social emotional needs relating to increasing the learning and wellbeing of all students and staff alike. We also must check in on students well being and their overall distance learning experience. Some key things we do at Graham. Is the implementation of second step. We are a PV is school we make full use of our cost referral process. We have student social groups, even during distance learning. We have student leadership, even during distance learning. And we've also had school-wide virtual assemblies, hope to have our second one next month. We have class buddies, reading buddies. We are fortunate to have a full-time EBAC mental health clinician, which is through a county grant. And this year we also funded an 80% mental health clinician with our site funds. And we have our annual Unity Day activities, which we are known for. This is a time when we honor our yearly anti-bullying campaign, where we stand together against bullying, united for kindness, inclusion, and acceptance of all. And we use restorative practices, using restorative methods for teaching and conflict resolution. And I actually just want to go back because I skipped something and I don't want to do that, so let me just fix that here. So in the upper right, if you can see, if I'm not over that screen, I want to bring attention to our Unity Day mask, which was funded by our PTA GPS, so we thank them. And our lead custodian, Mrs. Beth Jones, actually designed them with getting the Unity Day and the Cougar Cub pawprint on them. So each student, as well as staff member, received one. In the center photograph at the top there, you see a peace sign. That's our culminating activity from last year. Those are orange ribbons that represent, again, each student on campus and each staff member. And we have one of our moderate severe students actually admiring the peace sign, wearing his orange Unity Day shirt. At the bottom this school year, because our school building is closed, we had to change up what we do. So we use solo cups. And if you have the opportunity to look, each of those solo cups has a name of each of our students and staff members to form unity. What makes Graham special? Some may ask. Well, we have ability-based learning. We have the afterschool Think Together program. We have a Condango preschool on site. We have many GPS activities by our parent volunteers. We host parent workshops to help families with academics like English language arts, reading, mathematics. We have dedicated literacy and art volunteers who come and share their expertise for free with our students year after year. We have student leadership. And of course we have unity at Graham. During virtual learning we have some new things we've implemented after school virtual clubs. Right now we have gaming, music, photography, art, arts and craft, and save the planet because we still have a goal to one day become a green school. So our green team works really hard and we want to try to continue that during distance learning. Here we have one of our Unity Day leaders. So in closing, I would like to share Alex's Flipgrid video. That is one of the videos we played during our virtual assembly.

[3312] SPEAKER_54: Hi, my name is Alex and I am in the fourth grade. Unity Day unites us against bullying, but the rest of the year we can also make decisions to be kind and include others. Right now I do this at home being nice to my little brother. I look forward to being back at Graham School and including a new friend in the game.

[3335] SPEAKER_40: Thank you, Alex. Thank you, everyone. I appreciate the opportunity to share about our fabulous school, the Graham Cougar Cubs.

[3347] Mark Triplett: Thank you so much, Principal Byrd. If I may, President Martinez, I would just like to add that I've had the honor of getting into four different classrooms at Graham. Ms. Irwin's class, Ms. Villo's class, Ms. Canelas-Flem, Salazar's class, and Ms. Clevenger's class. And just the care and the skill and the intention of the teachers at Graham that I've seen is just really outstanding. So I look forward to being in all of the classes there, but I just did want to shout out those four teachers who had the honor of stepping into their classrooms.

[3391] SPEAKER_40: Thank you, Dr. Triplett.

[3394] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Superintendent. Yes, Ms. Bird, thank you so much for really coming and, you know, really bragging about your school. You have a lot to to share and be proud of. So thank you. I know you shared the amazing progress that your students have shown. Obviously, here we are in this condition, so it's hard to see that trajectory, but I'm sure it's happening with a lot of extra special effort and coordinated effort, really, across all of your staff. So thank you so much for bringing that forward. And I'm going to go ahead and open it up for the other board members if they wanted to comment, including our student board member. I know we don't always have student members.

[3447] Phuong Nguyen: Board member Zhang, would you like to go first?

[3449] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I can go first. I really appreciate your efforts. particularly having such a dramatic academic improvement for a Title I school is very, very hard. Behind the scenes, there must be a lot of hard work behind that. And I also I was I was fortunate enough before pandemic to attend the no police day grant I got I got that shirt myself as well. That was given the gram is such a diverse school where we have students come from all walks of life, all nations around the world, like coming here and then so I think I hope you can keep up the anti-bullying culture where everybody, regardless of your background, regardless of where you come from, is treated with respect and dignity. Thank you.

[3503] SPEAKER_40: Thank you, Member Zhang.

[3504] Phuong Nguyen: Member Nguyen? Yes, so I am definitely a proud parent of a Graham student, and I have been very fortunate enough to be a part of the Graham family and be able to work very hard alongside with all the teachers there and also with Principal Bird. So I couldn't compose myself through the presentation. I'm so very proud of all of your guys' accomplishments there at Graham. And I know that initially I've always said this, but I've always had one, When I'm thinking about putting my kids into public school, I had reservations of putting them at Graham initially, but throughout the years, I can honestly say that it is one of the best decisions that I've made is to put my kids into the public school system here in Newark and have the teachers at Graham teach my two daughters. So I have a lot of pride and I'm very proud of the teachers there. Thank you for all the hard work. Thank you. Thank you, Member.

[3575] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you, Member. When Okay. Any other comments? All right. Thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Bird. Thank you, Superintendent Triplet. Okay Miss Gutierrez. We moved to item eight on the agenda item. Public comment on non agenda items. Do we have any Okay, thank you. And with that, we move to Superintendent, your Superintendent report, item 9.1.

[3618] Mark Triplett: Okay, thank you very much, President Martinez. Let's see, let me just tee this up here. One second, sorry. So my I would try to make my superintendent report brief this evening because I know we have a very packed agenda. A couple of things that I wanted to just highlight and lift up some exciting work that's being done. One is around designing our graduate profile. So we had our first meeting, a kickoff. of the graduate profile on this, I believe it was, was it Tuesday? No, it was, yes, I think it was Tuesday. I've lost track of time. And what this is, this was a discussion that was had with the board, as you recall. But it's really the intent is to engage all of the community in defining what it is that we want to have for our students when they graduate. What are the skills and the ways of being and the competencies that we're trying to support our students to achieve? And so really quick, the graduate profile is a visual representation. of the essential skills and habits that define the learning experiences at our schools. And so what we are hoping to do, and I'll explain a little bit about the process that we started and we're going to undertake for the remainder of this year, is we're hoping to define what are the hopes, aspirations, and dreams that our community has for our young people? What are the skills and habits of mind that our children need for success in this rapidly changing and complex world? And what are the implications for the learning experiences we provide in our schools? So we are using some structures that have been created. One is by Battelle for Kids, but there's some other organizations that have created these really effective processes for engaging community and defining what is a graduate profile. So we had our kickoff. It involved, I think, maybe up to 50 different people, homeowners, business owners, board members, teachers, students, both at multiple different grade levels, principals, a whole host of different partners from other organizations. And so what we're going to do next is in December, we're planning on meeting with the folks that were at the kickoff and the people who have expressed interest in helping us with designing this graduate profile and engaging more stakeholders. So then in January, those different design team members, some from the community, some teachers, some administrators, some students, some other district office leaders, are going to hold a series of different engagements, town hall meetings, professional development with teachers, engagement with all of the principal cohort, and things like this, to really hear from the community what is it that we want to have as our North Star for our Newark Unified graduates. And then in March, that design team will come back together with all of that data and all of that input from these different stakeholders, and then start to really hammer out a clear definition, succinct, and hopefully even just a visual that's on one page that articulates the different habits and mind skills and ways of being that we hope to articulate in a graduate profile. So that's a real quick just update on where we are with that. The next thing I wanted to update you all on is around the reopening schools. So we, as you recall, we did have a virtual town hall on October 27th, around 200 people attended. Since then, we had an engagement with student leadership on November 5th. There's about 37 students, really rich conversation and great input. We've been engaging CSCA, NEWMA, NTA in helping to think through what will the reopening of schools look like and how will that be structured to make sure that all students and staff are safe. and also having the opportunity to return to in-person learning if they feel comfortable. And then lastly, we had just on Tuesday another virtual town hall. We had 350 people attend, were able to share the most recent iterations of reopening schedules and phases. But As of yet, we still do not have a date for reopening. And as you all know, with the county entering into the purple tier, we really have to wait and see how things evolve with the virus. The board has been asking for regular updates around enrollment. So just wanted to do that regular periodic update. So you can see we have all of our schools listed. We have the projections that we established as we budgeted for this year. And then you can see the most recent enrollment snapshot from, is today the 19th? So it was two days ago. And honestly, not terribly different from the last snapshot that I showed you. So on the 5th, I believe we had about six students less than we do as of the 17th. So a little tiny positive bump up, but unfortunately we are still under our projections. So that is something that we're continuing to monitor and keep in mind. because obviously we want to be increasing enrollment not decreasing enrollment. And then the last thing I wanted to update the board on is I know we've been having conversations around the structure of the minutes for board meetings. You no doubt see that today in the consent agenda there's the first read of the updated board bylaws. So I just wanted to really quick touch upon it since it'll be in the consent agenda. Some of the, what we've done is we've gone back based on guidance from the board and reviewed the bylaws, particularly around minutes and recordings. What we noticed, and we appreciated community members also lifting this up, is that there's some antiquated language in there from back in a time when there wasn't even online video recordings. So we've updated the language, you'll see it in the consent agenda today, but I just did want to highlight and name. One of the things is adding the, as you know, I am the secretary of the board. And so I'm responsible for the minutes. And so we added designees because obviously I can't do it alone, but have an incredible team that supports, including Ms. Gutierrez. And then there's, we added some or change some language around the how it each on each times minutes, there's a statement of the board's discussion. And then lastly, like I said there's some very old language around. recordings of meetings, so we've edited that to reflect a more contemporary what we do. One of the things we noted in there, and I think was lifted up by a community member, was that it still said that we only held on to recordings of meetings for 60 days, I think it was, and then we got rid of them. Clearly, we don't do that anymore. We keep all of the records and they're all held They're available on YouTube to the public, as well as in board docs. So those are just some of the changes that we're proposing. And again, this is a first read tonight, but I just wanted to make the board aware of some of the rationale behind that. And that concludes my superintendent report for the evening.

[4147] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, superintendent. Okay, so we move to item 10, old business. 10.1 is the areas of focus and the 2021 areas of focus and superintendent objectives. And so the recommended action is that we approve the superintendent objectives for 2021. I'll hand that back to you, Superintendent Triplett.

[4175] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you, President Martinez. So I'll go relatively quickly here, but happy to answer any questions or anything that comes up. So this is, as you recall, there was a session that we had on a Friday special session of the board to discuss the areas of focus for the year, and then in particular, to get guidance from you and direction from you, the board, on the objectives that I should have for this year. And that was a conversation and an engagement facilitated by Mr. Hewitt. I personally got a tremendous amount out of that session. I really appreciated your guidance. And basically what I did is, as directed from you all, is the next step was for me to go back and really hone in on one to two goals in each of the focus areas based on the suggestions that you gave to me. And so that's what I've done here. As you recall, the four focus areas, fiscal vitality, meaningful community engagement and two-way communication, promoting a focus on continual improvement of teaching and learning, and then lastly, exceptional learning environments, including excellent facilities, equipment, and grounds. And so hopefully you see in these articulations of objectives, some of the suggestions that you raised up to me. I really basically just took the notes from that session that you saw me typing in as people were speaking and then just cleaned them up. and made them presentable. But within fiscal vitality, if you recall, identifying appropriate reserves and codifying that in a board resolution and maintaining that over time was one goal, or objective rather. Developing a plan and implementation timeline to eliminate the structural deficit, and then building and implementing a strategy for maintaining and increasing enrollment. And then in the second area, developing an interactive website to inform an engaged community, and in particular, ensuring up-to-date relevant and dynamic content, as well as an online customer service management system. And then in the area of teaching and learning, as we just spoke of prior, the focus is really on creating a graduate profile to identify the skills, knowledge, and proclivities that a Newark Unified School District student will demonstrate upon graduation. And part of that is engaging school staff, families, students, and community leaders in the development of this profile and maintaining a focus within the graduate profile on college and career readiness. And then lastly, within the exceptional learning environments, it was articulated by you, the board, this priority around creating safe, attractive, and inviting learning environments in the parents of schools, and in particular, the effective and efficient and timely Measure G bond implementation. So again, these are the objectives for this year. And tonight, really asking if there's anything that you would like me to change or any questions that you have, and if you feel like this is the right direction and you wish to approve these objectives for the year for me.

[4390] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Superintendent. And I did skip a couple of steps here. And Ms. Gutierrez, Obviously, this is an action item, so I do need a motion and a second to open the discussion on this item.

[4411] Bowen Zhang: So I move to approve the superintendent's objective for 2020 and 2021. Thank you. I second.

[4417] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Nguyen. So I apologize, Dr. Triplett. And Ms. Gutierrez, I didn't ask if there was any public comment on this item. There is one. Okay, thank you. Okay, so now we'll backtrack a little. Thank you for reviewing, Superintendent, the goals and objectives. This is something that, as you mentioned, surfaced out of a earlier meeting some weeks ago, in which the board did give direction on the priorities. Did want to call out that this is just a one-year timeframe just because That's one of the things that we need to do as a board is generate the broader long-term goals and objectives. So just for those that didn't participate or hear about the direction, that's why you're only seeing a relatively limited timeframe and very specific items that we have given you direction to focus on. With that, any questions for Dr. Triplett from the board?

[4489] Phuong Nguyen: I just have one. So Dr. Triplett, just to clarify, under focus area three, promote a focus of continual improvement of teaching and learning. Under bullet point two, maintain focus of college and career readiness grades K through 12. That also encompasses the graduate profile, correct, in terms of like, setting pathways for students to be able to achieve whether or not they want to go to a two year college or a four year college or, or have a career trade focus learning. I just want

[4536] Mark Triplett: Oh, sorry. Yes. Thank you, Member Nguyen. Yeah, exactly. If you notice, the graduate profile is the main bullet there, and then that's meant to be a sub-bullet within the graduate profile itself. Yeah.

[4553] SPEAKER_53: Okay, great. Thank you.

[4557] Bowen Zhang: Just an overall comment on the goal. Unfortunately, in this pandemic environment, Many of these goals cannot really be measured by the end of the school year. For example, before we will have dashboard tests to see whether we're really promoting improvement when it comes to teaching and learning. And I'm not sure whether we're going to have dashboard tests for 2020 and 2021. Even if we have, I wouldn't say the score probably wouldn't objectively reflect the learning and teaching effectiveness of the district. I guess exceptional learning environment, we probably can see the completion of the Measure G bond. Area one might be the only area that we can fully measure by the end of the fiscal and school year, which is fiscal discipline and vitality to see how our budget's doing, what is the multi-year projection moving forward, whether we are well on our path to return to positive qualifications. And yeah, that's just my general comment. So given that at least half of them cannot really be measured this time. So I guess we will be focusing, I will be focusing very heavily on the things that can be measured, which is probably focus area one, physical vitality.

[4645] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you. And just to be clear, the district areas of focus up there are sort of the broad buckets. And then if you recall, Mr. Hewitt really helped to guide us to like really narrow within those big buckets. And that's where the objectives, which I'm just realizing now I should have probably would have been more clear if I had labeled the bullets as objectives, because that's the intention, is that each of the solid black bullets are the measurable objectives within those broad focus areas. So for example, developing an interactive website to inform and engage the community, that's how he helped us to really narrow into something that's concrete. Did that happen at the end of the year, or did it not happen? Likewise, with the graduate profile, were we successful in creating this graduate profile? And then similarly, I guess the last one is a little bit more vague, but that's where the sub-bullet comes in. Was it an effective, efficient, and timely implementation of the remainder of the bond?

[4725] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, and I think that was quite a bit of the conversation, right? Knowing where we were in the year with everything around us and the inability to test from a traditional progress, right? We did focus on if we all recall, giving more tangible deliverables, right? So these are all measurable from that perspective, not from, hey, we're moving from the orange to the green perspective, but here are some very specific deliverables that we believe are the building block to get the traction. So I think that from a measurable, that's how we made those recommendations, so.

[4770] Mark Triplett: And if you all choose to approve these, with your permission, I would love to actually write in objective above each bullet. I appreciate what you were saying, Mr. Chen, Member Chen. It would have been more clear if I had put that in there.

[4787] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, it will help, just so that. Because we had quite a bit of conversation, right, about what's objective, what's the end goal. Yeah, so I think that would be helpful. If I, anybody else have any questions? I just, I had a question, but no.

[4807] Phuong Nguyen: Go ahead, President Martinez.

[4809] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. My follow-up was with regards, I know we touched on it during that initial meeting, Superintendent, which was what's the follow-up process, right? So these are true deliverables. How should we expect to get updates from you on progress?

[4829] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you. I welcome feedback on that or your suggestions. What I was thinking is that within my superintendent's report monthly, I could give you progress on the status of each one of these. I'd be happy to do that. But if you have other ideas as well of ways that I could be giving you periodic updates, I'm happy to do that.

[4854] Bowen Zhang: So I want to chime in when it comes to evaluation. before my time, before all of our three times, three, three of us here time, what happened in the previous, in the previous world, whatever, we tend to have a tradition about evaluating the superintendent in March and April, when we don't have that much data to really measure the effectiveness of the whole year, because in March and April, we don't know the test result. We don't know what's the third interim and the final and audited result on the fiscal year. So I think that model of evaluation is not very effective. I want to move us to still, like before, a biannual performance evaluation where March and April, we can call that a mid-year review because that's right after first interim or possibly after a second interim. And by September, when we have the unaudited result of the entire fiscal year, And when we make the test score, the dashboard score trajectory by September will be made public, not just to the internal staff, but also to the public. Then by September, six months after the mid-year review, that might be the ideal time for us to have the whole year evaluation of the superintendent. So that's one of my goal for a while. I just don't see evaluating the superintendent in March and April. when everything you just gave one, two, three, four, five, and you end up having a lot of satisfactory evaluation of a superintendent with no data to back up the evaluation.

[4948] Elisa Martinez: So, yeah, so I think a couple of things that you're speaking about, member Zhang. So one was just updates on on on these goals and objectives, district goals and objectives that in earnest are the superintendent's goals and objectives. So two things. that with regards to evaluation, we actually, it's in the contract, so I don't think that we wanna go down that path right now, but I think that's something that we did consider, obviously, in terms of trying to correct maybe some of the past practices. But I think with regards to the what will be used to measure, I mean, this is exactly why we're giving a very clear goals and objectives, and that would be the source of the actual, you know, evaluation. Right now we're just talking about how do we make sure we all agreed, right? We gave direction. Hey, these are the things we want you to focus on superintendent and team. How do we make sure we don't get to April and we are surprised to say, Oh my God, we're failing on all of them. Right. Or we're, we're very behind. So we want to make sure we have a path to, to be hearing from you and the team superintendent. Hey, here's what's working well. here's where we might need your support board so that there's no surprises, whether it be March, whether it be, you know, May, really making sure we have that dialogue on an ongoing basis. But, so, member Zhang, we can certainly discuss and review offline some of the timing questions that you have, if that's okay. Okay. Any other questions or comments? So monthly is what I heard, I think. And so I think good. I think that's more frequent is better just given where we are in the year and how much there is to do. So I support that.

[5064] Richelle Piechowski: Terrific.

[5068] Elisa Martinez: Okay. So with that, Ms. Gutierrez, can you please repeat the motion on the table?

[5078] SPEAKER_60: that recommends the board approve the superintendent's objectives for 2020, for the school year 2020-2021 with the motion made by member Zhang and a second by member Nguyen. Voting has been made open and available.

[5092] Elisa Martinez: Okay, so I will first ask student member Salemi to vote.

[5099] SPEAKER_08: Yes.

[5102] SPEAKER_53: Thank you.

[5102] Elisa Martinez: Oops, where am I? Sorry. You're waiting on me, aren't you?

[5111] Phuong Nguyen: I didn't get the pop up for the vote either.

[5114] Elisa Martinez: I don't have it yet, Ms. Gutierrez.

[5120] SPEAKER_60: I just sent it again.

[5127] SPEAKER_53: I didn't get it.

[5128] Elisa Martinez: No, still no.

[5131] SPEAKER_60: Let me try one more time.

[5133] Elisa Martinez: I'm refreshing. No, I don't have it. Am I the only one?

[5146] Phuong Nguyen: I don't either.

[5147] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. Okay, should we take a verbal vote for now?

[5153] SPEAKER_60: Yes, one second. Um, if we can move to gallery view, and, um, and then please take a hand vote. Okay.

[5162] Elisa Martinez: So member when I Yeah, yeah. And student members. So let me had already stated his vote as I remember young

[5173] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[5174] Elisa Martinez: And my vote is yes as well. So the motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much. Thank you, Superintendent.

[5182] Mark Triplett: Thank you. And again, I want to really appreciate the input and the feedback and the direction that you all have given me. It's been super helpful. That Friday special session was really insightful and really helped me to get clear on the direction that you all really want me to take. So thank you again.

[5201] Toni Stone: Thank you.

[5204] Elisa Martinez: Okay, so the next item is the continuation, item 10.2, the School Consolidation Advisory Committee reports a continuation or the item that was brought back from the last first reading of the report. So a couple of things that I wanted to call out here. I'm not sure if everyone that's attending this evening has attended the previous meetings that kind of just give the continuity of why we're here. So I just wanted to take a minute and just review why we're talking about this topic, which is, again, a very difficult topic for all of us. But again, for those of you that are joining for the first time, you may have seen the letter that Superintendent Triplett sent out to all of our community members, all of our parents, families in the school district. And the gist of that is that over the last 10 years, we've seen a significant decline in enrollment in our school district over the last 10 years. And I will have Ms. Dela Cruz or superintendent correct me the actual numbers, but let's just say roughly 30% in the last eight years. So remember that with every student that leaves, the funding leaves with them. So all of a sudden, we've still got that same infrastructure that could house 10,000 students, but we only have funds that come along with about 5,500 students. And that's a lot of what's driving what you keep hearing about, which is the structural deficit, where FCMAT, which is the Financial Crisis Management action team. I may have added assistance team, you know, where they where we've had it. We've had a an audit and, you know, they've identified us as high risk. So there's a lot of reasons why this topic is before us. The county has, you know, we haven't been able to certify our budget as positive because in order to do that, we need to make sure we have a plan not only for current year, but for two years out. And so over the last year and a half, we've been having this conversation about this structural deficit, meaning we just don't have the funds, the ongoing funds to support our current base, cost base rather. So about a little bit over a year ago, the board, we the board gave the direction to staff to bring forward or to consider the closure of two schools. with the assumption that that cost reduction would help us bridge a $1 million gap that we had in that budgeting process. So today is the culmination, if you will, of that year plus process where we've been having this conversation. So I wanted to just share that because again, you know, it, we've received a ton of input from all of you, some very constructive, some not so constructive. But you know, it really isn't a mismanagement of funds, if you will, of course, we could always do better. But it really truly is a funding issue that we have give because of our declining enrollment. So I You know, we hope that you all know that this is an incredibly difficult decision for all of us. We're members of the community. Our kids are part of the district community. And just know that we are committed to making sure that we make the most objective decision for everyone. But we are absolutely, we understand the difficulty that this brings to all of our entire community. So with that, as kind of the preface and backdrop, with regards to how we're gonna handle this item, typically we see a pretty straightforward staff recommendation, which is just like we did right now. Staff recommends that you all approve the objectives. The staff recommendation before us is for the board to identify two schools out of a list of four that the School Consolidation Committee brought forth. So, because we know we have some follow-up information that we asked of staff, and we have quite a bit of public comment, we will forego the calling of the motion before discussion. And once we get through the public comment and discussion, At some point, we will retake a point where I will call for a motion at that point. Hopefully we've all identified the path that we all three could support. So that's from a process perspective. Typically, it's our board policy and the governance handbook talks about our target is to have about 30 minutes per each agenda item. That includes, public comment and discussion. Obviously, Ms. Gutierrez has made me aware here recently that we have about 25 requests, Ms. Gutierrez, for public comment. So what we, I think one of the things we did, we extended 30 minutes, public comment for 30 minutes. For this meeting, we would like to extend the public comment on this particular item for 60 minutes. we'll try to get as many of those comments within that first 60 minutes. Any additional comments that we don't get to, we will have to hear at the end of the meeting, okay? So with that, Ms. Gutierrez, we will go ahead and two things, we are not sure, and so I think I'll read, the members, John, you and I discussed this as being the clerk we, the target is to leave it at three minutes. Member Nguyen, are you okay with that? If we just leave it at three minutes?

[5601] Bowen Zhang: I think it's likely that we'll finish before the 60 minutes mark.

[5605] Phuong Nguyen: Okay. Yes, I'm okay with that.

[5610] Elisa Martinez: Okay. All right. So Ms. Gutierrez, if we'll have the two timers going for the 60 minute durations and then the individual three minute topics.

[5618] SPEAKER_53: Okay.

[5619] SPEAKER_60: President Martinez, before I begin, I did try to look up everybody's names to make sure that whoever requested is there. It's not all names match. So if it's okay with you and the rest of the board, I will be calling the people's names based on the email. And if they are not there, we can allow them to raise their hand so they can identify themselves. Okay, perfect. Okay, very good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. One second. Okay, the first name is, the first, actually, sorry, give me one second, so I can get the timers ready. I apologize. I have the three minutes here. And it would be for Angela. Angela Silvera. And Ms. Silvera. Okay, your time starts now.

[5683] SPEAKER_49: Superintendent and school board members, I am Angela Silvera, a mom of three Lincoln students and the parent group president of Lincoln Elementary for the last five years. Tonight, you make an extremely difficult decision. Parents, children, grandparents, and community members have reached out pleading to keep their school open. I have been one of them. I know you have seen our pals page and have read the amazing comments saying why you should save Lincoln. These comments describe Lincoln by using the words love, Trust, community, family, sense of belonging, success, amazing, and supportive. These words are powerful. Keeping those powerful words in your mind, I throw you my last pitch to keep Lincoln before you vote. On NUSD's mission statement, it mentions academics and achievement in nine different places. Nine, what this says to me is that NUSD cares about displaying that we can compete, that we can be great. And how can we show that? Through test scores. It is not a criteria that should be sloughed off. It is one that should be embraced. Lincoln Elementary School has the highest test scores of all the Newark elementary schools. People move into our area and choose to go to Lincoln over private school because the scores are so great. Lincoln has been recognized by outside organizations for our high academic success. We've won awards for it, in fact. NUSD should show this off with pride. Besides academic success, I know you care about the ADA money we get. But if Lincoln closes, a huge number of the students that currently go to Lincoln will go to private schools, reducing enrollment even more. Many of the parents have told me that without Lincoln, they are out. So the savings you would make by closing Lincoln will actually be a loss because those families can afford not to go to other NUSD schools. But can NUSD afford it? Last, this pandemic has messed with all our children's psychological and sociological well-being. I'm sure that it has messed with yours too. How could it not? But in closing two schools, we'll all be hurting a lot more than that. So to this end, I would ask that you try to move as few students as possible. According to the school closure student impact report, the least number of students that could be effective is 588 by closing Snow Music. Any way that you include Lincoln, the number of students impacted shoots up by minimum of 76 students. That's almost three more full classrooms of students. So I leave you with our Lincoln chant. We are the Leopards, the high achieving Leopards. Everywhere we go, people want to know who we are, so we tell them. Lincoln Elementary, please keep linking. Thank you so much for your time.

[5850] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Silvera.

[5854] SPEAKER_60: Next one is Veronica Medina. Ms. Medina, you may begin.

[5872] Elisa Martinez: You're on mute if you're speaking.

[5880] SPEAKER_60: Mr. Rose, could you unmute Ms. Medina?

[5884] SPEAKER_32: Sorry about that. I was trying to find my speech. OK, sorry about that. Good evening, Dr. Triplett and members of the board. Over the past few months, you've become more familiar with me, and it should be no surprise that I'm advocating for my daughter, a special needs student, and her school music. But more importantly, tonight I address you to plead for every family that will be impacted by the decision, and I ask that you involve families more in moving forward. I realize that your decision is not an easy one, and I also realize that it is important to be financially sound as a district, but the financial status has changed somewhat compared to a year ago when you begin planning to consolidate or close schools, and I'm wondering if it is still necessary to close two schools. I bring this up only because we are in such unprecedented times with the pandemic, and the year is nearly half over, and I wonder if there will be enough time to make a solid plan for transitioning two sites impacting a minimum of 580 students. Time is not on our side here, and we cannot afford to rush the planning of such a big move. I am concerned that all the schools considered for closure tonight house SDC classes. These students in general have more difficulty with transitions. And whichever school is closed, I hope that the needs of special education students are considered and very carefully planned for. The classroom loading for their SDC classes is significantly less than what is in Gen Ed, so planning is crucial to keep these students in an environment where they can thrive in smaller groups and become part of their school community, as well as be able to physically maneuver their way around their new campus safely. Planning that must follow tonight's vote should also consider our English language learners as well. Three of the school candidates for closure tonight have significant EL populations. Will the SEAL training that the primary teachers received continue for mid and upper elementary grades? How do we continue to support the needs of the EL students if the new schools did not participate in SEAL training? Lastly, please plan for transportation. Speaking from my own site, I see a significant number of families walking to school in the rain for lack of cars in the winter. I hope we do not expect these families to extend their walks and trek over a mile in wet and cold weather. Consider, if anything else, I just ask you consider keeping our music school community together, whether that is at our current site or in a new location. It'll minimize the anxiety kids are already facing in today's uncertain world. Allow us to continue our progress as a learning team of staff, teachers, students, and families. Thank you.

[6053] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Ms. Medina.

[6057] SPEAKER_60: Okay, the next one, I apologize if I don't say it correctly. Patinaud?

[6066] SPEAKER_21: That's close enough. Thank you members of the board and Dr. Triplett for hearing my comments tonight. I'll be brief. I'll try to be brief anyway. My name is Mitch Patinaud and my son is in the special day class, first grade class at Music Elementary. And though he's only in the first grade, if music is closed, it will be the second time his academic career has been affected by a school closure since he was also impacted by the Whiteford preschool shutdown a few years back. I am concerned that the closure of music will disrupt his learning, and I'm also concerned that the effects of the closure on students with IEPs, special education students, and English learners has not been adequately considered. Should both music and grand be closed, it will leave us with no elementary school within walking or biking distance of our home. And as I have a visual disability that prevents me from driving, this will present a significant burden on our family, especially my wife, who is the only driver. To be honest, our family has the resources to find a better school situation should we need to, but there are many in our community that do not have that option. And many of those folks are disproportionately affected by the shutdowns proposed. I urge the board and school district to carefully plan to support those most impacted by these closures, especially in vulnerable populations. Thanks again for your time.

[6147] Elisa Martinez: Thank you so much for your comments.

[6154] SPEAKER_60: The next one is Stacy Dewey.

[6161] Carina Plancarte: Hi, can you hear me?

[6165] SPEAKER_51: Yes, you may begin. Hi, my name is Stacy. I'm a mom to a first grader at Music. I want to start by saying that I hope no one is planning on voting Music tonight. I have faith in the board to make the best decision for our community. You paid tens of thousands of dollars for a consultant to do extensive research, and they found that Music should not have been in the top four schools considered for closure. Closing Music won't save Newark money. which is the purpose of consolidating. So I'm not sure how we even made it here. Musick's only issue is our low enrollment, but look at Newark's boundary map. We have the smallest area to cover. Of course, the other schools are full. Their schools are smaller than Musick, but have doubled the boundary size. And the issue of Musick's low enrollment would go away next year if any other school is consolidated. Overnight, you won't be able to make the other schools bigger You can't fix the traffic issues or make their offices larger, but you would be able to fix the only bad thing anyone could find to say about music, which is our low enrollment. What should matter is that music has the largest special needs population and one of the largest populations of low income families. The fact is it does not make financial sense to close music. If you were planning to do so tonight anyway, please think about the equality and inclusiveness that music represents and what you would be voting against. Thank you.

[6259] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. Thank you. The next name I will be asking for a raise of a hand, the Zoom hand, please. It's for Angela Nilo. Perfect. Mr. Rose, do you see the hand raised? Hello, is this Angela Nilo?

[6281] SPEAKER_53: Hello, can you hear me?

[6283] SPEAKER_60: Yes. You may begin. Sorry, Ms.

[6292] SPEAKER_42: Angela.

[6292] SPEAKER_60: Yes, it is. Ms. Angela, can you hear us?

[6300] SPEAKER_33: Here.

[6302] Elisa Martinez: My name is Angela Nilo, and I'm the mother of the... So if you can maybe come back to Miss Angela and let her know we're having some.

[6317] SPEAKER_60: Miss Angela, we're gonna put you back because your audio is cutting in and out and then we'll come back to you. The next person is Juanita Lopez. Mr. Rose, if you could move Juanita Lopez. Thank you very much. And Ms.

[6342] Bowen Zhang: Lopez, you're- In point of order. I actually want to ask that, is that by default, all the speaker, they stop the video or we don't allow them to show the video?

[6357] SPEAKER_60: Member Zhang, that's actually part of our rules. And our rules say that only audio is permissible as we are following the counties, other districts around the area as well. Okay, Ms. Lopez, can you hear us? Yes.

[6371] SPEAKER_64: Okay, you may begin. Okay. So, muy buenas noches, estimado superintendente, triplet, y miembros de la mesa del distrito. Mi nombre es Juanita Lopez y tengo dos niños. Uno de ellos va a music school. y tengo una petición para ustedes de todo corazón. Por favor, no cierren nuestra escuela. Muchos padres de familia no manejamos y no tenemos carro para llevar a nuestros hijos. Me ha tocado ver a madres que llevan a sus hijos, que van por sus hijos a la escuela, lloviendo, fuertes temperaturas. Está muy caliente para ir por sus hijos a la escuela y aún así ellos van por ellos a la escuela. Tenemos niños especiales que necesitan a sus maestros. ¿Qué pasará con ellos? También tenemos muchos niños que necesitan apoyo para aprender inglés en nuestra escuela. Tenemos una maestra de ELD, tenemos la clasificación de Title I, y pagamos a la maestra con esos fondos. Si cierran Mystic School, ¿de qué manera los van a poder apoyar? De todo corazón, piensen con el corazón y no con la cartera. No cierren Music School. También es muy importante que todos nuestros estudiantes se queden junto con sus maestros para que sigan progresando como equipo. Todos somos una familia. Por favor, salven nuestra escuela, Music School. Gracias. [Translated] Okay, you may begin. Okay. So, very good night, esteemed superintendent, triplet, and members of the district table. My name is Juanita Lopez and I have two kids. One of them goes to music school and I have a request for you all heartily. Please don't close our school. Many parents don't drive and we don't have a car to take our kids. It has touched me to see mothers who take their children, who go for their children to school, raining, strong temperatures. It's very hot to go for their kids to school and yet they go for them to school. We have special kids who need their teachers. What will happen to them? We also have many children who need support to learn English in our school. We have an ELD teacher, we have the Title I classification, and we pay the teacher with those funds. If they close Mystic School, how will they be able to support them? All heart, think with your heart and not with your wallet. Don't close Music School. It is also very important for all our students to stay with their teachers to continue making progress as a team. We're all a family. Please save our school, Music School. Thank you. [End] [Translated] Okay, you may begin. Okay. So, very good night, esteemed superintendent, triplet, and members of the district table. My name is Juanita Lopez and I have two kids. One of them goes to music school and I have a request for you all heartily. Please don't close our school. Many parents don't drive and we don't have a car to take our kids. It has touched me to see mothers who take their children, who go for their children to school, raining, strong temperatures. It's very hot to go for their kids to school and yet they go for them to school. We have special kids who need their teachers. What will happen to them? We also have many children who need support to learn English in our school. We have an ELD teacher, we have the Title I classification, and we pay the teacher with those funds. If they close Mystic School, how will they be able to support them? All heart, think with your heart and not with your wallet. Don't close Music School. It is also very important for all our students to stay with their teachers to continue making progress as a team. We're all a family. Please save our school, Music School. Thank you. [Translated] Okay, you may begin. Okay. So, very good night, esteemed superintendent, triplet, and members of the district table. My name is Juanita Lopez and I have two kids. One of them goes to music school and I have a request for you all heartily. Please don't close our school. Many parents don't drive and we don't have a car to take our kids. It has touched me to see mothers who take their children, who go for their children to school, raining, strong temperatures. It's very hot to go for their kids to school and yet they go for them to school. We have special kids who need their teachers. What will happen to them? We also have many children who need support to learn English in our school. We have an ELD teacher, we have the Title I classification, and we pay the teacher with those funds. If they close Mystic School, how will they be able to support them? All heart, think with your heart and not with your wallet. Don't close Music School. It is also very important for all our students to stay with their teachers to continue making progress as a team. We're all a family. Please save our school, Music School. Thank you. [End] [End]

[6462] SPEAKER_63: Gracias, señora López. Gracias. [Translated] Thank you, Mrs. Lopez. Thank you. [End] [Translated] Thank you, Mrs. Lopez. Thank you. [Translated] Thank you, Mrs. Lopez. Thank you. [End] [End]

[6469] SPEAKER_60: Okay, we'll go back to Miss Angela Nilo. And it was the, Mr. Paul, it was the Zoom user. Thank you. Miss Angela, can you hear us? Miss Angela, can you hear us?

[6496] SPEAKER_33: Can you hear me? Yes. I can.

[6500] SPEAKER_60: Yes, you may begin.

[6505] SPEAKER_33: Good evening. My name is Angela Nilo and I'm the mother of a music elementary school student who is also attended and graduated from the preschool program on campus. As a first-time parent, one of my biggest fears was my child starting school. During his first two years at Music Elementary in the preschool program, the teachers and staff made that transition incredibly easy, and we definitely found family there. That only continued when he started kindergarten, and now that he is in first grade. We couldn't imagine a better support system during such an important time, and my heart breaks to think that that support system is at risk. It saddens and angers me that during an already uncertain and stressful time for all of our students, teachers, and families, you are choosing to rush such an important decision that it will affect our whole community. Not to mention, you are rushing this decision without a full board. After watching the consolidation committee meetings, I was dumbfounded to see music elementary school up for recommendation of closure when our lowest score in the data collecting process was for enrollment, a category in which our special needs preschool was not considered, even though they are housed on site and can sometimes add 40 or more additional students to our school. I keep hearing the word equity being thrown around but this whole process has been anything but fair or impartial. Given for closing two schools is that due to the mismanagement of funds by the district itself and the deficit making them unable to meet their financial obligations. Not only does closing music elementary not save the district a lot of money, but closing a school that shares the same property as the district office seems counterproductive. I understand that the district would like to build themselves a new office, but the cost effective thing to do is to keep your current office and work hard towards finding ways to bring money, be it fundraisers or reaching out to businesses and work hard to bring more students to our district. Stop being selfish. Stop thinking of yourself and think about the students, teachers, and families who will be greatly affected by these closures. Thank you.

[6636] Elisa Martinez: Thank you for your comments.

[6638] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. And the next one is Terry Dunn. Terry, you may begin.

[6648] SPEAKER_46: Good evening, Superintendent Triplett and members of the board. I'm Terry Dunn, the prior principal of Graham Elementary School. I appreciate the challenging decisions before you tonight. May they be for the deepest benefit of all Newark students. I want to talk about the positive possibilities that are present tonight. Given our economic challenges, it's easy to approach this moment focused on deficits, but the surprise is this is a time of opportunity. opportunity to build a healthy school system, opportunity to bring school communities together, opportunity to be responsible and resilient with positive planning. This is not just work to chop dollars. This is work to build a better community. This is work of the heart. May yours be open as you weigh the choices before you tonight. And there are so many choices. For some of them, you can only say it may save dollars, but it doesn't make sense. The committee did a lot of hard work using a particular lens, a scale which measured difficulties and deficits more than strengths and success. Graham Elementary is not just a collection of buildings and a list of expenses. It's a living, healthy community. It's appropriate that tonight's school spotlight was on Graham. There's so much to celebrate and there's so much to build on for the benefit of everybody. Graham has years of improving test scores, years of growing parent involvement, years of honoring the many cultures of Newark, years of hard, successful work by skilled, loving teachers and classified staff. Now is the time to build from strength. A healthy school community can better welcome and integrate another school community. I've read the different studies and reports. As a former math and science teacher, I can read the data. Our challenge tonight demands that we also read beyond the data and reflect on the truth with a positive lens. Instead of thinking of a school as underutilized, we could recognize that it has great capacity. Graham has incredible physical capacity, it has rich emotional capacity, and it has proven academic capacity. A central goal tonight should be to keep kids and families in school communities together. If Graham's closed, its students will have to be separated and scattered to multiple schools. We can look at current enrollment or even better, the numbers for the future in 2025. Either way, Graham has the capacity to integrate and welcome all the students from any one of its four closest neighbors, any of them.

[6804] SPEAKER_60: 30 seconds.

[6805] SPEAKER_46: Let's keep kids together. Graham's gift are part of the good news you've been looking for tonight. I appreciate your consideration. Thank you very much.

[6816] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Mr. Dunn.

[6818] SPEAKER_60: The next one is, and I'm going to be looking for a raise of hand, the zoom hand, Aaliyah Ibarra. Once again, a raise of hand from Aaliyah Ibarra. Going once, going twice, last one, Aaliyah Ibarra. Okay, moving on to the next speaker, Tara White. Mr. Paul, do you see the name Tara White?

[6853] Bowen Zhang: There was a raise of hand.

[6854] SPEAKER_60: Yeah, right there. Okay, thank you. Tara, one second. Okay, thank you. Tara, it looks like you froze.

[6884] SPEAKER_50: By certain convictions or a common affiliation. Family is what the community of music Family is what the community of music means to each other. Family is what the music community is. Music Elementary is the building that our family calls home and a place where we all feel safe. To quote my fifth grade student Nicholas, music cannot be closed because it is not just a school. We are a family under one building who work together and learn together. We shouldn't have to break up our music family. We want you to keep our home open so we can welcome others in our community into our family and show them our Leopard Pride. We know that tonight you may choose to close and sell our family home, but we insist, if you move us, the move to our new home has room for our entire family to stay together. Through following the school consolidation committee meetings, we learned that diversity is an important factor to the board when considering school closures. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word diversity can be defined as the condition of having or being composed of different elements. Music is the truest model of a diverse family. Music serves a diverse needs of a total of 99 IEPs, which will increase as children with special needs turn three. And we're required to provide services if they're found eligible for special education.

[6972] SPEAKER_60: Tara, your audio cut out.

[6981] SPEAKER_50: the fourth grade mild, moderate SDC class, one second through, and as well as the whites, Hispanics, Asians, and blacks in our general education classes. Despite the physical, academic, emotional, linguistic, and socioeconomic differences that our music families come from, we still come together every day as one. Please keep our diverse family together. Thank you.

[7005] SPEAKER_60: Thank you, Ms. White. Thank you. The next one, I need to raise of hands from Brittany. Goodino Alfaro. Thank you. Mr. Rose, do you see the raise of hands? Brittany, you may begin.

[7024] SPEAKER_55: Can you hear me?

[7027] SPEAKER_60: Yes, you may begin.

[7028] SPEAKER_55: Okay. Good evening board members. I would like to tell you that music is one of our family homes and our community. Our community needs music to stay because not only music has different people, it's also where people come together to become as one big family. As I heard Miss White, it's true that everything she has said is powerful and not only so beautiful, but as long as we can have music, we are stuck together as a family. For example, children that are different like other children, they come together as one to become a big old family. And that's why music is so important. Music is important to others too.

[7080] SPEAKER_60: As... Brittany, your audio cut out.

[7098] SPEAKER_55: community. Music is one of the places where family comes first. Thank you.

[7111] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker is Melissa Villo. Melissa, you may begin.

[7125] SPEAKER_31: Board members, Dr. Triplett, and members of the community. My name is Melissa Villo, and I'm a teacher at Graham. If financial obligations must be met and there is pressure to submit a budget plan, the numbers must be considered, correct? Why then, based on the SCAC's report, is Graham even considered? I know the immediate response to that would be to look at the CDE rubric, but even there, stated clearly on page 35, criteria five and 13 list Graham as the third most expensive, facilities-wise, and third highest net savings. Tonight, you must vote on two schools. That numbers-wise should help relieve the district of those financial obligations. If Graham is third on the list, the question is why us? Another number to consider, 728. Page 104 of the report shows that this number reflects that we have the second highest capacity available to operate, and yet we are at the top of the list to be considered for closure. Again, why Graham? Dr. Triplett, you are new to Newark, and by virtue of that, you are not aware of how Graham is all too familiar with numbers and how they have affected and hurt us year after year. Ask how many copies per month the Graham teacher is allotted for her class, despite being a Title I school. You will understand. Ask about the number of combo classes we have taken in over the years, while others are spared. You will understand. Surprisingly, the numbers presented in this report are actually working to our advantage, despite how they are presented. Anyone who reads through it will be made aware of the capacity we can offer students and staff and how we are not at the top of your expenditure concerns. As one board member mentioned at the last meeting, we are truly set to receive. I urge everyone listening tonight, if you or should you hear Graham's name mentioned in the final vote, Please remember that there was a promise made to you that they would meet financial obligations. Graham does not need to close in order to fulfill that promise. I trust that the board now knows that too. Thank you.

[7258] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. The next one is Paula Klebinger. Hello. Yes, you may begin.

[7271] SPEAKER_30: Hello, members of the board, Dr. Triplett and staff. Graham and music should be taken off the list for closure because of several reasons. Number one, if Graham were to close, the students would be split up into three different schools. That is ridiculous considering that Graham has enough space to take all of the students of Snow. Let me emphasize all the students of Snow, keeping the wonderful community together that we heard so much about during the public comments at the SCAC meeting. Number two, music has the Whiteford preschool students. When they were moved, a large amount of money was needed to make the new site ADA compliant for those special needs little learners. Why would the district close music and have to spend all that money again? It does not make sense with all the money problems the district already has. That leads me to my last point. Point number three, the condition of Snow Elementary. I'm going to borrow the words of Cindy Parks in her September 24th letter, to the SCAC, wing three of the snow campus has floors that are leaning so that quote, literally a ball that was when placed on the floor will roll from one end to the room to the other. Does Graham have problems with the foundation that could cost the district over $1 million to fix? No, it does not. Isn't closing schools supposed to reduce the deficit? How is it that the SCAC report has snow snow's long-term needs three million dollars less than graham or music graham has no such problem in its building foundation and i don't think music does either again to quote sydney parks who in the same letter also stated with an estimated one million dollar price tag but no current funding source how are you going to pay for it if there's no current funding source if you keep snow Will that help with the district money problems? No, it will not. In closing, my numbers do not lie. Graham has the capacity to bring over the wonderful community of scholars from Snow, every single one of them. Money that has already been spent to make Music ADA compliant for the Whiteford Preschool students should not be spent again. And lastly, Graham and Music do not need over $1 million to fix a leaning foundation. Every teacher has written on their email, all Newark students deserve the best. This board has to decide how will your decisions today support all of Newark students, every single one. Thank you.

[7426] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. If I may ask everybody on watching Zoom, please put down the hands as it will create confusion when we are calling out the names. Thank you. The next one is Amber Nolasco-Torres. Amber, you may begin.

[7444] SPEAKER_22: Hello, everyone. My name is Amber Nolasco-Torres, and I'm a junior at Newark Memorial High School. I've lived in Newark my entire life, and I've been a part of this district for my entire educational journey thus far. The closing of a school seems like we are trying to stay afloat on a ship that is sinking rather than fixing the leak that is causing the boat to sink. What I mean by this is that the closure was due to a lack of enrollment and the lack of enrollment was due to a variety of issues within our schools that are overlooked. We might stay afloat for a little while longer with these closures, but the boat is still sinking and we need to work towards a long-term solution. We need to invest in our students because I know my community has so much more potential, but a lot of the things I've experienced personally make me believe that the people in charge are skeptical of this potential. During my freshman year when I signed up for Human Geography, I waited with my peers outside of the classroom on the first day of school for a teacher that I would see for the rest of the school year. That teacher didn't show up and they wouldn't for the rest of the school year. We were given a teacher a few days into the school year. She left and we were giving a new substitute teacher every month or week till the end of the school year. There were no there was no structure to the class and we were expected to accept the standard of education. Unfortunately my story isn't unique and many of my peers share similar experiences. In my biology class freshman year, my teacher asked if we could donate so she could purchase supplies for experiments. At the time, I didn't think much of the situation. But reflecting on it now, my teacher asked a classroom of students from various socioeconomic backgrounds if we could donate money so that we could learn. Students that could possibly come from a household living paycheck by paycheck. When she bought materials with the donations, it took months to get delivered to her because there was an extensive process for donations. Why weren't the materials already in the classroom or available for us to use? During my sophomore year in my Algebra II class, there weren't enough graphing calculators for every student to check out from the book room. Keep in mind, these calculators cost $100 or even more. So my teacher kept teaching the class and only taught some students how to use a graphing calculator. During the second semester, a teacher was finally able to order some for the class, but the students that didn't have one in the beginning of the school year were already at a disadvantage. I wish getting the materials we need to learn didn't have to be an investment, but rather a necessity. Unfortunately, that's the reality. Maybe if we had the supplies we needed, we could learn better. And test scores would go up, and students would feel confident in their fundamental courses to take AP classes later on. I want to share my experience because I don't want any other student to have to go through these situations. The recent resolutions that have been passed have given me hope that things are changing. But I'm tired of settling for my education. and practically being told that me and my peers aren't worth the investment, because I am and so is every other student within the Newark Unified School District. Thank you for listening.

[7633] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. The next one is Terrence Grindle. Terrence, you may begin.

[7643] Terrence Grindall: Thank you. I'm Terence Grindahl. I'm a trustee elect. I wanted to say good evening and thank you for the chance to speak to you. The consolidation of schools is a momentous decision, a decision that should be made with all relevant information. While I understand the urgency of this decision, I believe that this decision can be postponed until December without significantly impacting planning for next year. I would appreciate it if you would consider postponing this decision until December. Thank you very much.

[7680] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. Thank you. The next one, if I can please have a raise of hand for Rizwana Islam. Rizwana Islam. Mr. Paul, please get ready to mute. Is this Rizwana? Mr. Rose, please mute. Thank you. I'm sorry, we didn't get clarity on this one, and the hand was raised before I said the name, so I don't want to risk it. I will call the name again later. All Zoom hands, please go down. The next one is Martha Santiago.

[7733] SPEAKER_63: Buenas noches. Mi nombre es Marta Santiago. Soy la presidenta del comité de ILAC. Estoy hablando a nombre de todos los papás de los aprendiz de inglés que deberían de conciliar, que salven gran. Yo voy a dar un pequeño testimonio como padre que camino bajo la lluvia llevando mis hijos a la escuela. Sufrimos mucho. Había momentos que yo lloraba. pero el apoyo que han tenido mis hijos en la escuela. Mi hija, la mayor, está en la universidad porque tenemos muy buenos maestros en nuestra escuela. Hay adversidad y cada uno de los maestros trabajan con nuestros hijos. Como padre voluntario de la escuela Grant, yo sé que tenemos la capacidad para 630 estudiantes Y la escuela gran está abierta para recibir a otros estudiantes con los brazos abiertos. Los salones están equipados porque tuvimos un tour en la escuela y por eso sé que gran merece que lo salven. Muchas gracias. [Translated] Good night. My name is Marta Santiago. I'm the president of the ILAC committee. I'm speaking in the name of all the parents of the English apprentices who should be reconciled, who save great. I'm going to give a little testimony as a father who walks in the rain taking my children to school. We suffered a lot. There were times I cried. but the support my children have had in school. My oldest daughter is in college because we have very good teachers in our school. There is adversity and each teacher works with our children. As a volunteer parent of Grant School, I know we have capacity for 630 students And the big school is open to receive other students with open arms. The rooms are equipped because we had a tour at school and that's why I know that great deserves to be saved. Thank you very much. [End] [Translated] Good night. My name is Marta Santiago. I'm the president of the ILAC committee. I'm speaking in the name of all the parents of the English apprentices who should be reconciled, who save great. I'm going to give a little testimony as a father who walks in the rain taking my children to school. We suffered a lot. There were times I cried. but the support my children have had in school. My oldest daughter is in college because we have very good teachers in our school. There is adversity and each teacher works with our children. As a volunteer parent of Grant School, I know we have capacity for 630 students And the big school is open to receive other students with open arms. The rooms are equipped because we had a tour at school and that's why I know that great deserves to be saved. Thank you very much. [Translated] Good night. My name is Marta Santiago. I'm the president of the ILAC committee. I'm speaking in the name of all the parents of the English apprentices who should be reconciled, who save great. I'm going to give a little testimony as a father who walks in the rain taking my children to school. We suffered a lot. There were times I cried. but the support my children have had in school. My oldest daughter is in college because we have very good teachers in our school. There is adversity and each teacher works with our children. As a volunteer parent of Grant School, I know we have capacity for 630 students And the big school is open to receive other students with open arms. The rooms are equipped because we had a tour at school and that's why I know that great deserves to be saved. Thank you very much. [End] [End]

[7813] Elisa Martinez: Gracias. [Translated] Thank you. [End] [Translated] Thank you. [Translated] Thank you. [End] [End]

[7814] SPEAKER_60: Gracias. The next one is Maggie Carcamo.

[7829] SPEAKER_39: Good evening members of the Newark School Board. I'm coming before you today to speak on the urgent matter of the school closures, specifically Graham Elementary. I want you all to know that I'm worried. I'm worried about the effects this will have on the many, many children that depend on this school. I'm worried that on top of a horrible pandemic that has already greatly altered their lives, now you want to close in a school that has been like a second home to many of the kids that attend, causing further anguish to children whose best interests should be on all of our minds. I'm worried that because Graham has a predominantly Hispanic community, you're using this point to close down our school. I'm worried about what message this sends to not only our students, but our city as a whole, that this is okay. I'm worried because my kindergartner and second grader, who are 50% Hispanic and 50% Asian, will see that their school is being judged for the 50% Hispanic side. I'm worried that because the school is mostly Hispanic, these kids who need help first are the ones who are thought about last. I'm worried because although I don't presume to be an expert, the numbers I have seen concerning Graham are better than most schools, so I wonder why it was chosen to even close. I'm worried because you say Graham being in a central location is another reason you want to close Yet I think it's actually a great school to maintain open because it's in a central location. I'm worried because Graham had no real representation in the consolidation meetings because these last two weeks are the first I've heard about it and I assure you, if we've heard about it sooner, one of us here who are making sure to have our voices heard would have been there. And finally, I'm worried because although we understand some schools have to close due to money issues, which is another subject for another day, we've come up with solutions that keep schools, teachers, students, staff together, yet we don't hear any of those solutions being talked about. So yes, members of the board, I'm here because, before you all, because I'm worried. I'm worried for Graham Elementary School. Last, I want to say that as a family, we at Graham have all gone to bat for this school. Ms. Bird and the teachers have rallied for Graham and are at third base. The parents who have publicly spoken and written letters and made phone calls are at second base. And the kids from the kindergartners to the sixth graders who have all made posters and rallied are at first base. We just need one more at bat to help us get that home run. So who's going to bat for us? Please, members of the board, one of you guys help us save Graham School. Thank you.

[7980] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. The next one is Aiden Hill. Mr. Hill, you may speak.

[7989] SPEAKER_18: Great, thank you very much. Just let me get my notes here. Okay, hello everyone. My name is Aiden Hill, and I am one of the newly elected members of the board. I attended the last school board meeting, and I would like to thank President Martinez, Member Rodriguez, Member Zhang, and Member Nguyen, as well as Dr. Triplett for their warm welcome to the board. I look forward to working with all of you. The reason I asked to speak at tonight's meeting is to request that the board delay making a decision on school consolidation and closure until the newly elected board members have been seated. While I appreciate all the hard work that the committee has done and the urgency in making a decision on this, I hope we don't make a hasty decision that we might later regret. The stakes are too big and the impacts to our students and finances, both now and in the future, are too great. I can personally commit that if we can delay a decision until late December, early January, I will put in the necessary time to help make a quality decision on an expedited basis. If a vote for this agenda item cannot be delayed, however, I would urge you to vote no on the current proposal that is coming from the committee so that we could give, hopefully, a new board a chance to weigh in on this once in a decade, hopefully, decision. So thank you in advance for considering my request.

[8084] SPEAKER_60: Thank you, Aiden. The next person is Loretta McCarthy. Loretta, you may speak. Mr. Rose, if you... Okay.

[8107] SPEAKER_36: Thank you. Good evening. My name is Loretta McCarthy. I'm a teacher at Graham. I've been a teacher at Graham Elementary since 1998. The district has talked about school closures before, and I can definitely see the need to reduce the numbers for our schools. When I first started at Graham, we had over 630 students on our campus. We now have less than 380. I understand the problem. Many of our schools are much smaller populations than they did 10 or even five years ago. The teachers and parents have been very outspoken about the process that was used to decide which schools would be considered for closure. There's been little transparency, and it appears to have been a process

[8159] SPEAKER_60: Loretta, your audio is out, if you can continue.

[8166] SPEAKER_36: And be part of the process. It should be done carefully, thoughtfully, and with the best interests of students' well-being first. I've heard more than once that Graham should be closed because it's centrally located. Being centrally located is one of the best reasons to keep Graham open. Don't we want schools to be central part of the community, a place where students and families can walk to, a place where many surrounding neighborhoods can come together? Another reason I've heard to justify closing Graham is that it's one of the largest schools in terms of square footage. All I can think of is if we're going to put more students and staff on a campus, don't you think we should have the most space possible? If one of the district goals is to increase enrollment, why would we want to have all schools filled to capacity? Finally, I've heard that the office space at Graham is too small. The office was big enough when I started here 24 years ago. Then we had an office manager, an attendance clerk, a copy clerk, a principal, and a vice principal. No one has asked anyone that's worked in our office staff, parents, or teachers if our school office is too small. Finally, if you choose to go to Graham, our students are going to be dispersed to three different schools. There's not one school that Graham population could all move to. However, there is room at Graham to take all populations. Please consider all comments that you hear this past few weeks and tonight before you make your decision. Thank you.

[8266] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. The next one is Nick. Nick Vasquez. Nick, you may begin.

[8282] SPEAKER_29: Can you hear me?

[8284] SPEAKER_60: Yes, you may begin.

[8286] SPEAKER_29: As a parent of a student who currently attends school, I strongly disagree that closing any of our schools is the solution to the ongoing problem that Newark Unified has faced for many years. As a district, you should be focusing on the students and their best interest. The district is putting financial gains over the education of the children. The district has repeatedly proven that our concerns don't matter by trying to push this through during this COVID-19 pandemic. The children and teachers shouldn't be paying for this financial burden. Why would the district want to close a school that spends the least amount of money for maintenance, has a robust pre-K and special needs program with ADA compliant classrooms, restrooms, playgrounds, as well as has the capacity to take in additional students without using portables? By closing music, you will be spending an exorbitant amount of money to retrofit another school in addition to the school's expenses. Is this worth the price that the children and teachers will have to bear? I ask you please reconsider this as we all know that closing schools is not a long-term fix for this ongoing issue. Thank you.

[8392] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. The next one, Nguyen Cung. Nguyen Cung. Once again, Nguyen Cung. OK. The next one is Sabrina Dalton. You may begin.

[8412] SPEAKER_10: Good evening. My name is Sabrina Dalton. I have three children who currently attend music elementary school. My oldest is 11 and has been going to music since kindergarten. My middle son is nine and my youngest is five. Music has been an amazing school for my children. They helped me get my middle son an IEP plan and set him up with speech. By looking at the facts about music, they are not the lowest in test scores. This school does not cost the most amount of money and are a very diverse school. We have support in place for our language learners with an ELD teacher and trained primary staff. We have adaptable play equipment for preschool and upper elementary which serves our special ed population. We are able to host specialists like OT, APE, and speech for our population of 60 mild to severe special needs day classes and our RSP kids. The district already invested in new heating cooling systems, so we are less of a maintenance cost with fewer updates needed. These children have been through a lot of changes in just a year and do not need more changes. I am also not only a parent, but an educator. Educators are in their jobs to help children. Do not separate these children from their classmates and teachers where they can call home. For some children, this is a safe place. The drive-around protest shows we are a family at Music Elementary. In conclusion, please do not shut down Music Elementary, if not just for the families, but for these amazing, amazing children. Thank you. Thank you.

[8516] SPEAKER_60: The next one is Carlos Zarate. You may begin.

[8527] SPEAKER_37: Good evening, Dr. Triplett and school board members. My name is Carlos Zarate and I'm a seventh grader at the Newark Junior High School and a Graham School graduate. I want to ask you to please keep Graham School open. Instead of closing Graham, you can join schools and keep communities together. As a Cougar Cub at Graham, my third grade brother and our community will welcome students from any school with open arms. Please don't interrupt our lives in a time that's already so hard for me and my family. Thank you.

[8571] SPEAKER_60: Thank you, Carlos. The next one, Karen Martinez, if you can please raise your hand. Karen Martinez, I see you, but I see two Karen Martinez. Karen Guadalupe Martinez. Okay, you may speak.

[8595] SPEAKER_62: Karen Guadalupe Martinez. Buenas noches. Buenas noches. Soy madre de un niño que está en Kinder, en Music. Tal vez voy a hablar de lo que escribí, o voy a agregar unas cosas. No me gustaría que cerraran ninguna escuela. Yo estoy en contra de cerrar las escuelas. Y no porque mi hijo ven music, estoy pidiendo favor nada más de music. Estoy pidiendo a favor de todas las escuelas, porque todos los niños tienen derecho a asistir a la escuela. Y no me parece justo de que unos niños se queden sin su escuela y sin sus maestros. Por los maestros también estoy pidiendo porque van a despedir muchos maestros y a fin de cuentas después van a decir, oh, no hay maestros ya cuando quieren contratar nuevamente, que fue lo que pasó anteriormente. Y también porque Después se quejan de que hay mucho vandalismo, pero ahorita no están pensando en la ubicación de los niños. En una junta anteriormente, dijeron que Music se debería de cerrar porque era una de las escuelas más viejas. Yo digo que no tiene nada que ver una escuela que sea vieja, que sea nueva. En otra también en esa misma dijeron que porque muchas de sus casas se les iban a devaluar. Ese es el problema que está habiendo ahorita, de que dicen que no tienen tantos niños en las escuelas. Pónganse a pensar de que mucha gente se ha movido, tal vez hasta de estado, por lo mismo que aquí en el área es todo muy caro, y no se mueve la gente nada más porque quieren, sino porque necesidad. Ahora, hay niños, como dicen también, que vienen los padres caminando, tal vez porque no sepan manejar, no tienen un cargo en que moverse. Habían dicho que tal vez moverlos en VAS. Si están diciendo de los presupuestos, el VAS lo va a aportar el distrito y de dónde van a sacar el dinero. Es lo mismo. Al cerrar las escuelas, tienen que sacar más fondos para poder llevar a esos niños a otras escuelas. Puse otras cosas que también Next person is Maria Ibarra, and this is our last speaker. Maria, you may begin. [Translated] Karen Guadalupe Martinez. Good night. Good night. I'm the mother of a child in Kinder, in Music. Maybe I'll talk about what I wrote, or I'll add some things. I wouldn't like them to close any school. I'm against closing the schools. And not because my son sees music, I'm asking for anything more music. I'm asking for all schools, because all children have the right to attend school. And I don't think it's fair for some kids to stay without their school and without their teachers. By the teachers I'm also asking because they're going to fire many teachers and then they're going to say, oh, there's no teachers when they want to hire again, that's what happened before. And also because after they complain that there is a lot of vandalism, but now they are not thinking about the location of the children. On a board earlier, they said Music should close because it was one of the oldest schools. I say it has nothing to do with a school that is old, that is new. In another one they also said that because many of their houses were to be devalued. That's the problem that they're having right now, that they say they don't have so many children in schools. Just think that a lot of people have moved, maybe even state, so that here in the area is all very expensive, and people don't move because they want, but because they need to. Now, there are kids, as they say, that parents come walking, maybe because they don't know how to handle, they don't have a charge to move on. They said maybe they'd move them in VAS. If you're saying about the budgets, the VAS is going to bring you the district and where you're going to get the money. It's the same. By closing the schools, they have to raise more funds so they can take those children to other schools. I put other things that also Next person is Maria Ibarra, and this is our last speaker. Maria, you may begin. [End] [Translated] Karen Guadalupe Martinez. Good night. Good night. I'm the mother of a child in Kinder, in Music. Maybe I'll talk about what I wrote, or I'll add some things. I wouldn't like them to close any school. I'm against closing the schools. And not because my son sees music, I'm asking for anything more music. I'm asking for all schools, because all children have the right to attend school. And I don't think it's fair for some kids to stay without their school and without their teachers. By the teachers I'm also asking because they're going to fire many teachers and then they're going to say, oh, there's no teachers when they want to hire again, that's what happened before. And also because after they complain that there is a lot of vandalism, but now they are not thinking about the location of the children. On a board earlier, they said Music should close because it was one of the oldest schools. I say it has nothing to do with a school that is old, that is new. In another one they also said that because many of their houses were to be devalued. That's the problem that they're having right now, that they say they don't have so many children in schools. Just think that a lot of people have moved, maybe even state, so that here in the area is all very expensive, and people don't move because they want, but because they need to. Now, there are kids, as they say, that parents come walking, maybe because they don't know how to handle, they don't have a charge to move on. They said maybe they'd move them in VAS. If you're saying about the budgets, the VAS is going to bring you the district and where you're going to get the money. It's the same. By closing the schools, they have to raise more funds so they can take those children to other schools. I put other things that also Next person is Maria Ibarra, and this is our last speaker. Maria, you may begin. [Translated] Karen Guadalupe Martinez. Good night. Good night. I'm the mother of a child in Kinder, in Music. Maybe I'll talk about what I wrote, or I'll add some things. I wouldn't like them to close any school. I'm against closing the schools. And not because my son sees music, I'm asking for anything more music. I'm asking for all schools, because all children have the right to attend school. And I don't think it's fair for some kids to stay without their school and without their teachers. By the teachers I'm also asking because they're going to fire many teachers and then they're going to say, oh, there's no teachers when they want to hire again, that's what happened before. And also because after they complain that there is a lot of vandalism, but now they are not thinking about the location of the children. On a board earlier, they said Music should close because it was one of the oldest schools. I say it has nothing to do with a school that is old, that is new. In another one they also said that because many of their houses were to be devalued. That's the problem that they're having right now, that they say they don't have so many children in schools. Just think that a lot of people have moved, maybe even state, so that here in the area is all very expensive, and people don't move because they want, but because they need to. Now, there are kids, as they say, that parents come walking, maybe because they don't know how to handle, they don't have a charge to move on. They said maybe they'd move them in VAS. If you're saying about the budgets, the VAS is going to bring you the district and where you're going to get the money. It's the same. By closing the schools, they have to raise more funds so they can take those children to other schools. I put other things that also Next person is Maria Ibarra, and this is our last speaker. Maria, you may begin. [End] [End]

[8764] SPEAKER_09: Thank you. Good evening to all that are present and thank you for the chance to speak today. I know that the decision you have to make today will not be easy. May you use your heart and knowledge to make the best decision for our kids. I have an idea that you might consider. Many parents have peacefully protested, marched, and done what they thought would change your minds. So here goes. What if you paired each elementary school with another like the BG schools and made one of them a K-4 and the second a 5-8. You could save your million dollars by closing the junior high too instead of the elementary schools. Kids could walk to their schools for a longer time. I don't want to close any schools by the way, but I know that this is how you plan on solving our situation. I know it is an idea that isn't common, but other districts that have had that system have great scores at their schools. Maybe our whole system needs a change and a little more integration between our city's areas. Plus at that age kids need a lot of mental health support and if you can give that at each site they might have a better chance of getting help in a smaller setting versus at the junior high. Doing something like this would keep all our elementary schools open and if you ever needed to change things back and reopen the junior high because of so many kids coming in then you can. The junior high could have another use as well. After this pandemic many students might not have the means they might have had before of the pandemic to go to college? What if the junior high was converted into a vocational type school that makes money for the district? It could be another source of income. I don't want to be in this position ever again, but our district isn't retaining the new students that are coming into our city. I wish we could have had a chance to explore other ideas instead of cutting to closures. You may argue that there were many chances, but this is a point, or what is the point if only a small percentage of people knew about them? In my humble opinion, this is something that our district needs to work at changing. people need to be aware of all that happens. Also, if the idea of school closures is to save $500,000 per school, Closing snow and even music won't be enough savings. If you keep even one employee from each, then you will be under the 500,000. Lastly, I want to congratulate all the parents and schools that came together peacefully without the need to throw dirt at each other or at another school in union to try and save our schools. This was about all our kids, not some being more important than others. I have lived here my whole life and have never seen such unity from Newark. Also, please keep in mind the many parents who wrote in to say they don't have cars and keep in mind all the families that will be crying this evening because of your decision. Please be equitable and remember that many of our kids at the schools that are on the chopping block are low-income families or Latino families who are always getting hit with so many decisions all around. By the way, please don't close snow. Snow is worth it and has always been worth it to save. We are such an amazing family of staff and students who are overlooked many times. And by the way, the third wing classroom issue is being fixed and poses no threats to anyone. Go Blizzard Bears. Thank you so much for your time.

[8942] SPEAKER_60: Thank you. And that concludes all the speakers.

[8945] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Right under an hour. Okay, so thank you for everyone who wrote in today. And I know sometimes it's not easy to share. you know, some comments live. So we really appreciate hearing from all of you. Okay. So with that, you know, Superintendent Triplett, coming from the last meeting, there were some questions that the that the board had asked, but some follow up questions. So I will pass this item to you and and you'll include whoever else from staff that you need to.

[8985] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you, President Martinez. And thank you to all of the community members that just spoke. Really appreciate hearing from everybody. So we clearly have a very difficult decision ahead of us. The recommendation of the district is that the board select from the four schools that were recommended by the School Consolidation Advisory Committee. And also recommendation that we've heard the term equity be used tonight by community members and want to just emphasize how important I think that that is in in making these decisions that we minimize the impact on students who have been traditionally underserved. So while none of us want to consolidate or close schools, we know that this decision is necessary given the ongoing structural deficit that we have. And this process has included the analysis and review of literally hundreds and hundreds of pages of data information reports on the part of the advisory committee and the school board. I want to appreciate both those bodies for all of the attention, seriousness that they have done to really to come to some conclusions. None of us take this lightly, but whatever outcome we have, we wanna just emphasize how important it will be for all of us as a community to come together and to support the students and families that are most impacted. So I'm going to turn it over to Miss Dela Cruz, who's going to present the information that the board requested in the last meeting, and then she's going to present most of it. I'm going to then do a short presentation on the part that the board requested around ideas and possibilities for the second part of the recommendation from the committee, which was to consider moving the sixth grade to the junior high. So I'll be speaking a little bit about what are some of the possibilities in that move. But first, Ms. Dela Cruz.

[9123] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Good evening, Board President Martinez and board members. Ms. Gutierrez, is Ms. Garcia here? Before I get started, you're muted.

[9140] SPEAKER_60: Sorry about that. Yes, Mr. Rose is moving her right. She's there now.

[9144] Marie dela Cruz: Okay, thank you. So I'm gonna share my screen. If you recall at the last board meeting, we had some requests for information from our board members. So I would like to share with you information and the responses that we have put together. Most of the information is based on existing data and information that was shared with the School Consolidation Advisory Committee. So one of the questions was, for each of the schools, at a minimum, for the four broadest recommendations, can we clearly identify what is deferred maintenance versus other capital nice-to-haves and Also, can you give examples of items that fall into the deferred maintenance category? So the data that we presented to the School Consolidation Advisory Committee came from the Facilities Master Plan. It included long-term needs and deferred maintenance and signature projects. The deferred maintenance items are included in that column under long-term needs. So if you think about samples of deferred maintenance, they include HVAC repairs, plumbing repairs, roofing repairs, and painting. So the other part has to do with nice-to-haves. So what are some nice-to-haves? So the long-term needs, that column also includes that number where you see a column for modernization, renovation, new construction, and nice-to-haves. And again, this comes from our facilities master plan. And some of the examples that were in the master plan for nice-to-haves, like modernization and renovation, was to renovate and relocate an existing parking lot, renovate existing play fields, getting new flexible furniture, constructing a new shade structure for a lunch area and renovate an existing library. So those are some examples of those nice-to-haves. And the signature projects, that last column, which is separate from long-term needs, are also nice-to-haves. And some of those examples were to transform an exterior area into landscaped outdoor learning environments, creating new maker spaces with flexible furniture, street side beautification, and addition of entry plaza with seating at front of the school, and transforming an existing building to create small learning communities. Another request was, can you give the cost per pupil, assuming a fully loaded school? So for example, if you were to load Graham or Snow at its maximum recommended enrollment for each campus, what does it do to the cost per pupil? And is it relatively easy to see the costs of direct, direct costs being the teachers, because they're directly involved in the instruction of our students, and then the indirect costs, which is support and operating expenses cost per pupil. So if you take Graham, for example, the total capacity of Graham is 728. And if you compare that to the current enrollment of 363, you get a multiplier. So when you take that multiplier and multiply it by the current direct costs, you would have a direct cost at full capacity of about 3.8, 3.9 million. So then you add the indirect cost to that. So the total cost is be estimated at full capacity to almost four and a half million. So that would bring your cost per pupil at full capacity at 6,156 per pupil. As compared with the current enrollment at 363 students, your cost per pupil is 7,016 per pupil. So there's a difference of $860 per pupil. So as you can see, the more students you have at the school, the more efficient you become. And you have a savings just based on the students that are currently enrolled of an additional $312,180 based on this scenario. And again, for illustration purposes only, because we do have Graham having total capacity at 728. So this example would show Graham currently with the 363 students at 7,016 per pupil, and then Snow separately. These are the costs as they are now as separate schools. at 7,166 per pupil. And so if you were to combine Graham and Snow and move them to Graham, combine them together, you would have a total enrollment of 670, which is about 92% utilization. So it's almost at capacity. And so when you take the Graham's unrestricted budget of two and a half million, And you add the budget, the direct costs, because you would only bring over the direct costs from snow, which includes the teachers, the books, and the supplies. It's about $1.7 million. You add those two together, you get $4.2 million. So it brings your cost per pupil down to $6,332, which is lower than the average when they were separate and gives you cost savings of $752 per student, which is about 503,000. Another question was, would we have space at BGP to house the special ed preschool? So when we look at BGP, they have excess capacity of 119 seats. There are four classrooms currently for special ed preschool. at music. And when you calculate the loading for the excess capacity at BGP at 24, that gives you five extra classrooms. So yes, you would have space at BGP. Another possible location is Schilling. And do they have space for special ed preschool? Again, with the number of class classrooms needed at four, You have the excess capacity at Schilling at 335. You load those at 24. You have an extra 14 classrooms. So yes, that would be another location that would also be able to house the SPED preschool. Another question or request was to provide an update on the current facilities projects that have been completed and what were the costs associated to them for each site, what funding sources, if any of these projects were related to deferred maintenance, and if yes, what budget did that come out of? Was it the bond or was it the maintenance and operations budget? So the most recent project that, the most recent project that we've had were the paving projects. So we've had improvements over at Kennedy and Lincoln music, shilling, and snow. So all of these paving projects were funded by the Measure G bond, and they were all part of the Deferred Maintenance Plan. Another project right now has to do with Snow Elementary. So we have currently spent about $25,000 to investigate the possible settlement issue of the Building Wing 3, So we've had soils and civil engineering tests currently in progress. And depending on the results of these tests, our estimated cost for repairs could be anywhere from $300,000 to $700,000. A question, which campuses have been our ADA compliant and equipped to serve moderate severe special day classes and other special day class students? Which ones have place structures that are ADA compliant that have bathrooms to accommodate special day students for diapering and do any of them have sensory rooms? Well, we are required as a school district to accommodate all students with disabilities. Title II of the ADA requires that we do not discriminate against any student with a disability. We do have sensory rooms that are set up at school sites by related service providers, such as occupational therapists. So when we look at the estimated net savings, there was some question around what was included in the net savings. So in the net savings, our estimate, there's staffing that's not based on enrollment. So all of our elementary schools, regardless of how many students are enrolled at the schools, have a principal, an office manager, an office clerk, a senior custodian, a custodian, and a library aide. So if a school were to close, these positions would represent potential cost savings. And the average cost of salaries and benefits for non-teaching positions at elementary schools is about $465,000. So that's the majority of your savings there. And then we have facilities and operating costs that are fixed costs that are not based on enrollment. It's based on the facility and the utilities such as gas, water, electricity, sewage, pest control, any equipment leases and maintenance and system monitoring costs. Those are all the fixed costs that are not based on enrollment. And when we considered the savings, we didn't consider the teachers and books and supplies. And the following positions may follow the students because, for example, campus monitors may need more if you have an increase in enrollment and bilingual aid, depending on the student demographics, English learner liaison or an ASL translation, for example. This is a sample of a detailed line item budget for utilities and other operating expenditures. And as you can see for this particular school, because this is specific to a school, If this school were to close, there would potentially be a cost savings of about $98,000 in operating costs. However, we do also recognize that a line item such as conference for $3,000 and then possibly graphic arts for 500 could follow the students. So in this case, maybe the savings would be reduced to 94,000. So this bar chart is a summary of the estimated savings by school. The gray shade is the utilities and other expenses. The orange is the cost of benefits for those positions we talked about that are not based on enrollment, and then the salaries. That's all I have. If there are any questions or comments.

[9942] Bowen Zhang: I do have a question.

[9942] Elisa Martinez: Hang on, actually, so sorry. I'm sorry, I was just a little, I would like, because I know we're gonna get into quite a bit of conversation, so I was gonna maybe ask student member Salemi if he's got any questions or comments.

[9960] SPEAKER_08: No, not on this presentation.

[9963] Elisa Martinez: Okay, very good. Thank you. Go ahead and version.

[9967] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, can we go back to the slide when we when you show the fully loaded ground from snow and, and, and, and, and the direct cost of the saving on the record that 400 something. Yes, yes.

[9982] Marie dela Cruz: This one.

[9983] Bowen Zhang: Yeah. So,

[9986] Marie dela Cruz: The total savings based on this scenario is 503,000.

[9991] Bowen Zhang: So my question is, when you say fully low snow in the ground, obviously snow is gone. So we all know snow has this saving. I mean, every school has this saving, give you close. If you use the saving from closing snow and compare to this saving, is this a double saving or this is some overlap between them?

[10017] Marie dela Cruz: It would be, you mean, it would be the same. So you close snow or you combine snow with gram, the savings would be the same.

[10029] Bowen Zhang: Oh, so they're both, okay, I see, I see.

[10031] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah.

[10035] Bowen Zhang: Well, but I would assume if you're in this, you know, completely load one swing to another, you achieve the maximum economical scale at Graham. I think the saving will probably be bigger in this scenario if you split one school three way to the other school, right? So in that case, I don't think these savings are the same.

[10059] Marie dela Cruz: Well, you would have more efficiency. Yes, there would be additional savings on the students that are currently at Graham because now you've reduced your cost per pupil. So overall, you become more efficient and your cost per pupil will go down. So you could recognize that savings based on savings of 752 students, for example. Now your cost per pupil at 6,000 for those 670 students is an additional savings.

[10094] Phuong Nguyen: It's an additional saving over time, Member Hsuang.

[10098] Bowen Zhang: Can you repeat that? Which part is the additional saving over time?

[10102] Marie dela Cruz: Well, if you look at the difference in the cost per pupil, the more efficient you become, you're saving your cost per pupil. Because right now, you're paying about $7,000 per pupil.

[10114] Elisa Martinez: It is incremental. It is incremental to your point over time. And to your other comment around maximum, you know, use of the benefit of economies of scale, right? Because now you've got that larger cost base, and you're really going to load it in.

[10135] Bowen Zhang: I'm just a little bit curious to realize that the case where you completely load snow into ground, the saving in that ground completely equal to the saving of closing snow. Yeah. It almost felt like when the committee come out with this snow number, which on this report is on the 400 pages report is exactly $503,949. Almost felt like they already know that this is not a three-way split or something.

[10170] Marie dela Cruz: That's why I put here, it's illustration purposes only. So the savings at snow,

[10176] Bowen Zhang: is would be the same because if you're bringing snow yeah i wouldn't i wouldn't think that a split will produce the same not the same amount of net saving that i completely merger right a complete merger will probably save more money than a three-way split that that's what i thought maybe you can tell me actually regardless how you split the savings the same

[10199] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, the savings would be the same regardless of how you split because if you close snow and you divide those students by three schools, you still have the savings from snow. The only thing that it will do is it will impact your cost per pupil, obviously, because you're dividing it by three schools. So you're not maximizing that efficiency and your utilization rate.

[10224] Mark Triplett: And I just add so are you it arguably the larger the school capacity is if then if it's if it's loaded to capacity or close to capacity, then that that cost per pupil decreases at a greater rate than a school that has a lower full capacity.

[10247] SPEAKER_16: Simply by economies of scale.

[10253] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Anything else, Member Zhang?

[10258] Bowen Zhang: For this presentation, no.

[10259] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Member Nguyen?

[10265] Phuong Nguyen: I just had a quick question in regards to all the SDC and ADA compliant. So right now, I know that there are specific ADA or we have special accommodations for schools at our sites that have SDC students, but if we do move them around and have to move them around, we will incur additional costs to be able to set up additional accommodations for the SDC students, correct?

[10303] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, there is a potential for that.

[10306] SPEAKER_53: Okay, thank you.

[10310] Elisa Martinez: Do we have a perspective on, I mean, that's been mentioned a couple of times that there was some investment already made. Do we have a perspective on, are we talking tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands in terms of capital, which is different, right? Then we'll call ongoing expenses. So do we have an estimate of what we might have to expend?

[10337] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, just based on what happened when Whiteford moved to music, we looked at the costs of moving the preschools over. There were some modifications both inside the classroom and outside by adding doors to restrooms and additional fencing and playground equipment. So there's, for the costs, associated with Whiteford, it's about 40,000 to 100,000, depending on what happens. So if you were to move the playground to somewhere else, it would be less than buying a new playground, because a new playground over there, I believe was about 40. And then the modifications were also around 40,000. So that costs about 80,000. So depending on what's available at the school sites, then the cost could either be anywhere from 40 to maybe 100,000. And that would not come from general fund. We do have facilities improvement monies that we would use that for. So it would not come from general fund.

[10412] Mark Triplett: And the example that Ms. Dela Cruz is using is specifically the preschool, the district's preschool that's currently at music. If we're talking about other SDC programs, that the cost would be reduced because we wouldn't be moving a playground that's particularly suited to preschool. So for example, if we're talking about a fourth grade SDC class or whatever, that wouldn't require the playground move.

[10458] Elisa Martinez: Is this basically the only document that you were going to review with us today?

[10463] Marie dela Cruz: Yes. The next one is Dr. Triplett.

[10466] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Before we move on, I believe you're going to review the middle school proposal. Member Zhang, Member Nguyen, any other questions regarding the data?

[10480] Aiden Hill: No.

[10483] SPEAKER_53: No, I think we're okay.

[10485] SPEAKER_60: Okay. And President Martinez, if I may, before we transition, just wanted to do a time check for you.

[10492] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Oh, so have we been at half hour? We're getting very, very close. Okay. A few more minutes. Right. And sorry, I should have said that up front. Again, when I kind of did my initial spiel where we did an hour of public comment, typically the whole section of discussion is about 30 minutes. before we call for a motion. So obviously we need to get through this next section and then we'll have a bit more discussion and we'll get ready to call for a motion. Thank you for that. Superintendent.

[10526] Mark Triplett: Okay, very good. Thank you. I will share my screen here. All right, so as I mentioned earlier, if you recall, the school board asked for me to come with some ideas and possibilities for how a transition of the sixth grade classes at all of the elementaries to the junior high could look. So I want to preface this by saying this is not a plan and this is not a proposal. A plan or a proposal would require considerable amount of engagement and we would really want to engage the communities both at the elementary schools and the staff at those schools as well as the staff and community at the junior high. But having been someone who has spent a considerable amount of time in middle school and leading middle schools, I'm happy to share some of the different possibilities and benefits that could come from a sixth grade transition to the junior high. So I'll just start with this idea. Junior highs used to be a majority of our 6, 8, or 7 to 9 configurations used to be junior highs. And in 1971, across the country, only 23% of grades 6 through 8 were middle schools. By 2000, 69% of grades six through eight were in were in middle school, so there was a transition that happened. And many, many schools shifted to many, many junior high shifted to middle. Just in terms of in our area, so in neighboring districts, these numbers here represent the number of six, eight configurations that are middle schools. So in New Haven, both schools of this configuration are middle. In Fremont, only three of them are middle schools. The other three are still junior highs. In Hayward, all five of their schools are middle. San Lorenzo, all three, and Pleasanton, all three are middle schools, just to give a little context to our neighbors. So the purpose of this is really to lift up the possibilities for a transition of sixth graders to junior high to make a middle school and to highlight the things that we should be considering when creating this transition plan. And so why a shift to middle school. So, grade six to eight configurations create some really great opportunities opportunities to build stronger school culture, because you have three years versus two opportunities for better support to better support the socio emotional development of adolescence. opportunities to increase elective and exploratory opportunities for students that might not be possible in the elementary, sixth grade, and opportunities to strengthen the transition to high school, college, and career. Some of the things that we would probably want to consider is that a sixth grade transition could, we would really probably want to create a sixth grade, what I call a house or a family. And so, given the amount of sixth graders that we have, we probably have about three houses or families at the the middle school. And what those are is students with the same teachers, students in a cohort model, so they still travel together from class to class. It would be more flexibility in scheduling than we currently have. Like I said before, there'd be a lot of elective opportunities that might not be possible just mathematically in a in elementary sixth grade. I would recommend we would have an advisory period for these sixth grade classes. And then we'd really want to articulate a pathway to high school and to college starting from sixth grade. Some of the facilities and orientation considerations. One, I would recommend that we have some sort of what I would call an early start program, and that would be that the sixth graders could come back to or come to school about a week earlier than everybody else. and get oriented to the school, meet all their teachers, learn about the insides and outsides of the school. And in doing so, when the sixth grade on the first day of school, when the sixth graders show up, it wouldn't be this shock in this new place and feeling like the smallest ones and not knowing where things were. They would have already been on the campus for a week having learned all about their new school. I would recommend we have a sixth grade wing so an area of the school that is just where all the sixth grade classes are. It should really should be a separate lunch and recess for sixth graders. I know we already have some really great peer mentor programs and so we want to have probably an eighth grade peer mentor program for the sixth graders. And then really important to note is that the current teachers of sixth grade in elementary school, we'd really want to have them come with the students from the elementary to be the teachers of sixth grade in the new middle school. So a middle school sixth grade would really be what we call multiple subject teachers, the same credentialing that the teachers have in elementary. And so they would be able to teach multiple subjects. So for example, one teacher might be able to teach English and history to the same group of students and a different teacher could teach math and science to that same group of students. And in doing so, we create sort of a trajectory for the students where they're leaving elementary having one, basically one content teacher. They enter sixth grade and then have two teachers for core content. And then in seventh grade, maybe we could continue with the model that we currently have in eighth grade, where the students would have multiple teachers. And in doing so, we create this really nice transition to high school, where they start to have different students, different peers in every classroom, and different teachers in every class subject area. The other really nice thing that this could do is create some really great cross-content collaboration with the teacher teams in sixth grade. So it would allow teacher teams that teach different subject areas to have the same planning period, for example, and really be thinking from a student-centered approach, thinking about how they're supporting the students in their cohort, not just academically, but also socioemotionally. We could have then a schedule where there's targeted intervention classes for students. There's opportunities for looping, which means that teachers could go from being the sixth grade teachers and follow the students in the seventh grade, and then the seventh grade teachers could loop back down to sixth grade. So there's lots of really interesting possibilities there. And then, like I said earlier, with a family or a house, then the teams, the teacher teams could really plan family events, cohort events and activities and assemblies together for their group of their small learning community of students. So that's a brief overview. Like I said before, if the board decides that this is a direction that we want to go in, then we really want to get started on some deep planning. And that would not happen without the work of a design team that would need to involve staff at both the junior high and elementary schools. I will say one other thing before turning back over to you, President Martinez, is that this transition, I highly recommend it. I think it could be really powerful and a real support to students. I would say that I think we should be judicious about if we are consolidating and closing schools, consolidating or closing schools this year, that we might think about having a year of planning in order to then also do the transition of these sixth graders. To have both things happening simultaneously in this spring might be a little bit too much. And so we might wanna spread those two things out. Any questions or comments?

[11075] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I just wanna make a quick- Go ahead, Member Zheng. I think the interesting one was, When I was in the middle school, obviously not in this country, we always have, my group, we have six families. And then within that family, you with 40 plus other students, you always get the same, take the same class together. You see each other seven, eight hours every day. where in addition to your math and whatever literature or science teacher you got another sort of one of your last year will be so or your English teacher will be assigned as sort of the master teacher for your family and just like you said the teacher will be with us for the entire experience of the middle school not like once we switch where we got new teachers just surprised that the American system It's not really implementing that because I think that really is the stable cohort where you develop the emotional support, you build a deep personal connection with your friends and with your teacher, and you have the three-year stability to really prepare yourself to a much more competitive and much more rigorous environment, which is the high school that brings you to college. Yeah, so I'm glad that we're considering this option.

[11149] SPEAKER_16: Thank you, Member Chen.

[11150] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. members. Thank you. Member. When do you have any questions?

[11156] Phuong Nguyen: No I'm also in agreement with members wrong. And, um. Superintendent triplet on this recommendation. I think that, um. That it would be beneficial to students and prepare them for high school better.

[11174] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely that's been long in the making, and I know this has been a conversation many years ago, so I think that we're really excited that you're bringing something concrete, and obviously the experience that you bring with regards to middle schools, Superintendent, I think is a great advantage. So thanks also for sharing your perspective on timing, because I think that there's definitely general, I don't know what the intent to promote this, but I think it's good for us to get a sense of what's the right timing to make this transition. So I think that thank you for sharing that. Since members to let me. I'm sorry. I didn't ask you. Did you have any questions or comments?

[11225] SPEAKER_08: No, but I appreciate Dr Triplett's very rough. Look at where you might be for many students.

[11241] Mark Triplett: Thank you. I neglected to say, President Martinez, I think the board is aware of this, but just for the public, that this is a cost neutral. There's no savings, and there's no additional cost per se, although there might be some minimal cost to this kind of transition. But this isn't a cost saving measure. This was brought up by the advisory committee as an additional recommendation.

[11271] Elisa Martinez: Yep, thank you for clarifying that. Okay, so watching the clock and Ms. Gutierrez, thank you for paying me that we've been on the topic here. So first, a couple of things just in terms of order. We're gonna have to extend the meeting. It's 20 to 10 here. So we've got still quite a bit of new business to cover. And so I'll ask for an extension, and then I would like to maybe just have just a few more minutes of maybe a couple of comments or questions, maybe another five to 10 minutes, and then I will be calling for a motion. Okay. So first, I would like to request or ask for a motion to extend the meeting. Let's see an additional two hours.

[11331] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, that's the rule for do we have a rule that says the school board meeting shouldn't pass the midnight?

[11341] Elisa Martinez: So we researched that today because we've we've heard that, but we can't we weren't able to find it in in board policy. We did inquire. So there is no written law. you know, guidelines to our knowledge.

[11357] Bowen Zhang: So I move to extend the meeting to midnight.

[11360] SPEAKER_53: Okay. A second.

[11362] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Nguyen. And I will call for a hand vote. Student Member Salemi, how do you vote?

[11372] SPEAKER_08: Yes.

[11373] Elisa Martinez: Member Zhang?

[11374] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[11375] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen? Yes. And my vote is yes as well. So motion carries. The meeting is extended to midnight. Hopefully we will be done a little sooner than that. Okay, so thank you. A lot of information obviously presented not, well, some of it tonight as a follow-up, but obviously we've received quite a bit of information over the weeks and certainly in the last meeting. So are there some additional clarifying questions with regard to other data that we didn't review today that any of you have for staff? Okay. Well, with that, then, if there are no other further questions, I will call for a motion if someone is ready to make a motion.

[11438] Bowen Zhang: Well, I want to ask, I mean, what would be the nature of this motion? I can move to start opening up the discussion for... Yes.

[11446] Elisa Martinez: Sorry. Yes. So let me clarify that. That's right. Because that's basically the cycle that we would follow, right? So we would now be opening the, we would have a very specific motion to discuss. So if you recall the actual recommendation or the motion is, sorry, let me get it here. Staff recommends that the board identify the two schools for closure or consolidation from the list. and also, and move all sixth graders to the newer junior high. So, but basically what we're doing is now we're tightening that first part of the statement, which is the recommendation to the two particular schools, plus the recommendation to move sixth graders to the junior high. And so we would, with the motion, we open discussion, have any other clarifying, you know, why this makes sense, And then we will ask for the final vote.

[11509] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so I'll move to start the discussion about closing two schools.

[11516] SPEAKER_60: If I may, or do you want to provide the clarity?

[11520] Elisa Martinez: No, sorry. So that was where we started. So the motion that I'm looking for is, are we ready to bring, well, what that's why are there other questions that you all need clarified? Because at this point, I would like a motion to propose the two schools that we are going to discuss foreclosure plus the move of the sixth graders to the junior high.

[11552] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think this is I think I wouldn't want to comment. I think this is maybe the weakness of all motion first and discussion second, because I don't think we actually discussed which school we want to close. And then we just start suddenly start making a motion.

[11567] Elisa Martinez: Well, I think that's why there's been so much opportunity. There is still opportunity for questions, I think, at some point, right? We need to share what's on our mind, right? Here's what we're thinking. And the best way to do that is through a motion. And so, you know, for example, I can actually make the motion if nobody else is ready to make a motion, we can start. Remember, that doesn't mean that there's a final motion, right?

[11600] Bowen Zhang: You can start the motion.

[11602] Elisa Martinez: Okay, if anybody else would like to make a motion?

[11607] Phuong Nguyen: I will make a motion. Okay. I move that we merge Snow and Graham to the Graham campus for the 2022 school year and move the sixth graders to the junior high starting the 2022-23 school year. And we wait to consolidate music until the 2022-23 school year.

[11630] SPEAKER_60: If I may, if I may, if I may interrupt, sorry. Member Nguyen, if you don't mind just repeating it, I will be writing this.

[11639] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, so that we can open up for discussion. I would like to move that we merge Snow and Graham to the Graham campus for the 21-22 school year, move the sixth graders to the junior high starting the 22-23 school year, and wait until the 22-23 school year to consolidate music.

[11667] Bowen Zhang: Okay, I can second that.

[11671] Elisa Martinez: All right, so member Nguyen moves, member Zhang seconds. And so we can go ahead and open for discussion. Any clarifying questions?

[11683] Bowen Zhang: OK, can I just, I don't really have any clarifying question. I can just go ahead and state my position. Sure. Yeah, so so obviously, I'm not the one sitting on the school consolidation committee. So I do want to thank everybody that's involved in this community. It's, it's tough work. It's very stressful. And it's, it's difficult. It's difficult work. And there are there are three places in America that you don't say good to see you when you see the other person. Number one, it's obviously a funeral. You don't say that in a funeral. Number two, at a hospital. Number three, you don't say that at a school consolidation committee. So these are very, very, very, and just like going to a hospital, the reason we go through this we attend this school consolidation committee is because we have problem to fix. Just like we go to hospital, we need to have some checkup and we need to have some painful operation and surgery. Same ideas applies here because we've been having this structural deficit now for the past two years, long before all of our three got on the board. So this should have been, ideally, this should have been done 10 years ago. One school should probably be closed 10 years ago. The other one probably should be closed five or six years ago. But like I said, we got a handover. The box stopped at us and we got a handover. So and I appreciate the two member elect talking about they want, they also want to chime in. So So ideally, I mean, if all three today can reach a conclusion, then obviously that's three votes, that's a majority, then done deal today. But I do want to ask the superintendent, because I am a bit surprised that the two member elect really want to be part of the decision making process. I guess they're shooting for December 17th. I guess that's the meeting they wanted to, I mean, if they're saying the second meeting of December, that will be December 17th, I believe. So I want to ask, is there any financial impact or planning impact if we wait until December 17th? That's for superintendent.

[11826] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I will say that, and I'll have a miss Delacruz answer to about some of the financial impacts, but we, this is a very urgent, because we need to get started on staffing enrollment projections budgeting. and all of those things, those need to happen right away. We should already, in January, be fully, full steam ahead for next year in that planning. The other challenges is around our first interim budget report, and I'll let Ms. Dela Cruz talk a little bit more about that.

[11868] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, I remember saying, regarding first interim, right now, as you all know, we're working on presenting that report at the next December 3rd board meeting. And in that first interim is our multi-year projection. And the assumption is that we are saving a million dollars by closing two schools. So in order for me to complete my multi-year projection, I need to have those assumptions. And if we do not take a vote tonight, then I'm really not sure what to assume. And the multi-year projection is really contingent upon the decision tonight.

[11908] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so I got you. If that's the case, then I First, I appreciate the two members of LAC wanting really to chime in. But given that they probably don't have to, they will have a really long period of ramping up these things. And when we're going through this process, they were not really part of this process. And I guess my intention is just, let's see if we can reach a unanimous consent today. And uh, yeah, we really let's say throwing this I mean if we really delay this I think these two people to chime in I mean, obviously we all know this is Politically very unpopular for anyone to make this decision I wouldn't say if we delay this to the next floor. I wouldn't say we're throwing the tool under the bus But I think it will be unfair for these two because these two don't have enough information or they are not part of this process And then they're sharing the blame with us on this. Like I said, this is not something that This is something that any elected official wants to avoid. And this is not something that's popular that everyone wants to try. So my intention is that let's try to have a consensus today. And if we couldn't reach a consensus, if we really have some sharp differences, then I guess we can let the two new board members.

[11983] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely, Member Zhang. And at the end of the day, I think it's, thank you, Ms. Dela Cruz and Superintendent Triplett. We've been making a lot of folks uncomfortable with this time. We've been pushing our school consolidation committee, go, go, go, because we knew we had that first interim. So I, too, recognize and applaud the interest of the two trustee-elects. But this is a process that's been going on. And the more we delay, first of all, it risks the process. But again, it's unfair that we've been putting everyone else through this tight timeline. So, agree, let's try to get to the conversation to see what are some points of where we may not agree so that we can hopefully move to resolution. Thank you for your comments, Member Chen.

[12040] Bowen Zhang: I appreciate the two trying to share the blame with us, but as your incoming president, I try not to share this blame with you too.

[12048] Vicenta Ditto: Okay. Thank you, Member Chen.

[12050] Bowen Zhang: I want to start with the criteria I'm looking at for closing two schools. So the top thing, obviously, the committee went through as an observer. I see the committee went through the scoring criteria. You have unweighted score and weighted score in this. And the unweighted score is sort of the objective data. The weighted score is the model you build on that data to try to really differentiate between schools. And just like any model, you have pros and cons, you have strengths and weakness. So if you ask me, I will be comfortable looking at both sets of data, the both raw data and the weighted data. Obviously, the way that has its own strengths, because it weighs certain things. And obviously, the weakness, I want to point out about the model, which is the weighted score is that for certain criteria you assign a score of one and certain schools get eight but that doesn't mean that on that criteria that that's the school that gets the score of a is eight times more reasonable or eight times more suitable to be closure so so in a certain way it exaggerates the difference between two schools so so so and then sometimes that seven point difference between one and eight can prove to be insurmountable if you look at our scoring criteria so that's my first first standard I'm going to be looking at, so I will be looking at both. I'll take into consideration of both the raw score and the weighted score. Second thing, just like many of the public comments, I will try to keep the cohorts together. I think that's one of our priority. We keep the cohorts together. We try not to do a two-way split, and we definitely should try to avoid three-way split over KS, because I think that's just emotionally too traumatic. And number three, my priority will be to minimize the number of students that will need to cross additional major traffic lines and additional major railroads. Hopefully, whatever how we configure the school, there are not that many people. We minimize the people that need to cross additional traffic that they don't have to do it before this. And number four, obviously, as any district, I want to allow the maximum flexibility when it comes to accommodating for future growth, because you have certain parts of the district that you happen to have future growth, and we run out of room. That is not really something I want to see. So maximum flexibility, that will be another priority. So, but so now. Okay, now probably will take me three to five minutes to talk about a school that I want to look at so big just based on looking at the raw score and and the way to score, if you look at the top one the top two in the raw score that's. you have a three-way tie, which is Snow, Grand, and BGI. And if you look at the weighted score, you got one top one is Grand, and then you have a two-way tie, which is, I believe, Kennedy and Schilling. So let me just start on the first, the draw score, which is Snow and Grand and BGI. So if you look at Snow and Grand, they are separated by Cedar, which is between Haley and Newport Boulevard. and that part of cedar is actually not as I will say not as traffic as the Cedar between Newark Boulevard and Thornton Boulevard. So I will consider Snow and Grand, given they are the two closest peer within our entire district. I'll definitely be interested in closing one of the two schools because they are within a 0.7 mile distance. And given Cedar, like I said, Cedar, you have stops. It's not a major traffic line. You don't need to cross the railroad. So I think, like I said, I'm leaning toward closing one of them, but not both, obviously not both. So if you look at the, if you look at, like I said, keeping the cohorts together, I think, I don't think it's possible to load the entire ground into snow. But it's definitely possible as the illustration shows, to load the entire snow into ground. So we keep the entire cohort of snow together. And it's still within a walking distance from snow to ground. And obviously snow has that foundation issue as well. So, and still also happens to be, I mean, not when it comes to enrollment, by looking at capacity, that is the smallest school in the district. So that sort of doesn't fit into the flexibility, the criteria I set up priority, because we do need to consider the possibility of future growth. I mean, you gotta give your zone. So loading snow in the ground will be my, I mean, I'm leaning toward loading snow in the ground. So snow will be gone and ground will be probably pretty full. And at least 92% utility rate or utilization rate that where the previous presentation show. And then down the list will be BGI, but I will come back to BGI later. So for the way this where you got ground Kennedy and Schilling So Grant obviously is here to say, we already talked about Grant. So then the two-way tie in the second place is Kennedy and Schilling. So the problem, we go back to keeping the cohort together is for both Schilling and Kennedy, the two of the three closest schools to these two schools are Snow and Grant, which Snow is gone, Grant is back. So I don't think it's not even physically possible to draw the map. Where are you going to send Kennedy kids to? They obviously couldn't be fully loaded into music or fully loaded into grand. And you might need to draw some really interesting gerrymander map to send Kennedy to Schilling or Lincoln. And obviously Schilling face the same problem. And not only that, Schilling has the flexibility that we want to keep to accommodate future growth. from the Bayside development, which can potentially have up to 2,500 families. So I guess Schilling and Kennedy, these two are off the table. So I also see the recommended list of the two other schools in the top four is Lincoln and Music. For me, personally, by looking at the score, these two are not that high on the list. So I will be less hesitant to look at these two schools. And then they sort of face the same cohort problem. Like you probably need to three-way split these kids in order to do that. So that brings me back actually to BGI. So I respectfully disagree with the committee's decision to not spending a lot of time looking to the merger of the two BGs But so my opinion, my opinion about BGI is that for number one, I want to talk about the location. So I question the long term viability of the location of the BGI because that is located at a cul-de-sac. And you are right next to a railway and right next to the MOTR. which in the morning is a traffic nightmare. I personally drove around BGI just a couple of days ago. You drove into the drop-off. When you get out, you see a right turn only. You can't turn left. You right turn, you turn right, you drive all the way toward the railroad track. And then at the end of the cul-de-sac, you make a U-turn and come back to get out of the bridge. And that alone to say, certain residents south of Maori whether you live in which part of South of Maori, you'll need to cross Maori and Central to go to BGI. Some of that will be crossing Cedar, Maori and Central. Some of that will be crossing Cherry, Maori and Central. Not sure whether this is really a good idea to go to our elementary school.

[12535] Elisa Martinez: Member John, can I ask you just to emulate, let's kind of wrap it up so we can get other conversation.

[12542] Bowen Zhang: Go ahead. So if you ask me what will be the second school for me to close, I will consider redrawing the boundary of the BGs and taking out 200 kids from the BGs to go to music and then keep the rest of the cohorts together. That will be my idea. And speaking of flexibility, let's say if one day BGP is packed and you have more people coming in, I mean, the flexibility is you got a piece of land on the Area 3 right next to Stevenson. So that's the flexibility out there. If you happen to have a BGP. So my idea will be partially splitting BGI and keeping most of the cohort together and loading snow completely into the land.

[12588] Elisa Martinez: OK, thank you. Member Salemi. I meant to start with you earlier. Apologize for that. Do you have any questions or comments?

[12601] SPEAKER_08: Firstly, I think I appreciate members focus and to make sure that we keep cohorts together. I think that is important if the board chooses to decide that we'll go forward with the plan. I am predicting that I'll probably be dissenting in a vote compared to the rest of the board. And I think it's important to share why. Firstly, I don't think that we are doing everything we could be doing to try to avoid making this decision. And I understand that we are deep in the hole. However, I don't think it makes sense to have this on the table if we never tried to make our schools more appealing in the first place, if we never talked about having a comprehensive outreach plan to get higher enrollment. The solution to declining enrollment is to figure out how to increase that enrollment, not to shut down our schools. We never have long time solutions in the district. And now if we did that first and we still were on the same path, I think most people would be more open to this conversation. And I agree that the financial situation is dire and tough decisions are inevitable. Yet to consider this during the pandemic as a student member, thinking about how students are already feeling so stressed when adding another stress of, oh, well, now your school is closing too, you know, it doesn't sell well with me. I was thinking a little bit about the process. And I think that we should acknowledge that there was room for improvement. Many students and parents did not know this conversation was even happening. You know, we could have, why didn't we send something out to each parent? When these conversations began, we were in person, had the ability to send things out to our kids. And I was thinking about this more and more and came to realize this doesn't mean that, oh, now we're saving a million dollars and that's going to be funneled toward the students. And I think that's a kind of a, false narrative to push out. This million dollars in savings is where it only keeps us afloat. It only helps to make ends meet, not necessarily money that will be going directly towards us. Equity is another important thing. And I feel like we have not tried our best to ensure that was a factor. Why is it that, you know, a school is more likely to be shut down because it didn't have something another school did? There have been other mistakes that have led to this deficit, which have nothing to do with enrollment. And I think the failure for us to own up to that, it's a mistake. And we're not protecting the community from the negative impacts of those past things that have happened. And this is a pattern that hurts students for a role that they didn't have any, they had no role in this to begin with. Considering all of these things and the pandemic on top of that, I would agree with not going straight to two schools and maybe finding a compromise right now. The only way we get more enrollment is if we put everything we have to build up each of our school sites, you know, improving upon what's already there and being more innovative and working with our community. Each school has a unique culture and students have relationship with their administrators and teachers and schools are important tools for our parents and they provide so much for them. So again, I think I'm just speaking. for the students that are able to be here today and speak for themselves. And it always seems like the communities that are already disenfranchised are getting hit the hardest over and over again. Shutting down schools in heavily minority areas of our city does not work to fight against these social structures that disadvantages our communities. It only contributes to it. And I would say just lastly, this initial comment, numbers don't mean anything. Numbers are just numbers. We need to stop labeling our kids and punishing them for underperforming. Instead, I think, let's figure out what our schools need truly. Let's talk to our students, let's talk to our teachers and our parents and empower those who can't advocate for themselves. That is the only way I think that we get to a long-term solution in this district.

[12851] Bowen Zhang: You know, I... Thank you, thank you.

[12853] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, Member Zhang, I'm going to interrupt you because we need to all get a chance. But first, I wanted to comment, City Member Salemi, I think, you know, you're always very wise with with your comments. And it is because you know, I think those of us really in on the screen here, at most have two years on the board. And absolutely, we are tired of not having a conversation about what we're doing to improve the situation for our kids. We're always trying to just get out from underwater. Right. So Absolutely. I mean, I, you know, sometimes I'm not as soft with my statements, but I am very passionate about this. This doesn't feel good by any means, right? But therefore we do need to look at comprehensively what is the best thing for the broader group. So before, member Zhang, you, member, when you made the motion, so I wanted to kind of weigh in, I think before maybe we give you back the floor, your thought process. You know, member Zhang, as you know, I'm a BGI parent. And so I absolutely know about the nightmare that that physical location is, but we can't make a decision based on that. Absolutely agree with you with regards to minimizing the impact on the cohort. And when you're speaking about the BGs, you're speaking about a cohort of over 900 students, right? and also just geographic boundaries. Those are the only two schools that serve a significant portion of our population. So, you know, I will say I strongly disagree with your proposal for those reasons. I think absolutely if some other condition where we had a different school in that site that could accommodate that, absolutely. I think it's a horrible location, absolutely. But I think practically speaking, It's not something that we could bring across without impacting, once again, 900, because that's really the design of that school. By design, it's a cohort of 900 students, or over 900. Why do I support, I think, most of Member Nguyen's motion, which is, we'll talk a little bit about timing. I too think, I think that the, Member Salemi, you know, we do need to pay attention to numbers, unfortunately, for now, right, with regards to finances. And I think that really taking Graham and making it the most efficient with its vast capacity versus some of the other sites absolutely makes sense to bring in one of our smallest campuses, which is Snow, And given the proximity, I think it's absolutely makes the most sense. Why do I also support where I've also landed on music? A couple of things, if you look at the demographic study, not only is it our lowest enrolled, it's flat, slightly declined. So it's a very small number and it's flat for this next five to six years, right? So talking about, once again, minimum impact to cohort, you know, I do, at first, I think when I heard member Nguyen talk about the delay in the process, you know, in my mind, I still have the urgency of we still need to meet our fiscal obligations, but I do understand that, you know, I won't say that there's the easy answer with snow to ground, it's nothing as easy, it's very complex and a lot of impact, looking at that secondary site of music, which is low to hundreds, right? We can't look at the preschool population, SEC, because that's a district wide program. So that's not a fair apples to apples to other schools. So if we look at those 200 enrolled if we think about now the pairing of the move to the sixth graders, now that number of the impact to that cohort becomes even smaller. And so I think that we're able to potentially move that cohort, because we've heard of the communities and we would do everything possible to minimize the number of splits. So I think if we look at it from a practical implementation perspective, I absolutely support the motion that Member Nguyen brought forth. That Member Nguyen, we'll loop back to you and maybe you can help us kind of what guided you to that motion as well.

[13159] Phuong Nguyen: So after looking at all the data and also the additional information in regards to cost per pupil, it definitely made sense to me in terms of efficiency that Graham is one of our larger campuses. And I did have a hard time with that Graham was being considered because of the capacity that it had to be able to house a whole entire cohort of students from another school. So therefore, I know that you guys without any bias, because that is what I was looking at. If snow had the same capacity, a larger campus than Graham, which is my home school, I would honestly say that I would have Graham move to snow. But it is the reverse where Graham has the capacity to be able to take in all the students at snow with the least impact. And that is the most important to me. And then with that being said, I figured that was reasonable to be able to make the transition for next school year. And then with the addition, with the additional consideration for the sixth graders moving to junior high, I also felt strongly that yes, we did need to make this move, but we need really good planning in order to do that. So that's why I asked that we consider or the motion is to move the sixth graders to the junior high beginning the 2022-23 school year, which allows the superintendent and staff to be able to plan accordingly. And I know that I came to the conclusion that it was, that we would have to consolidate our closed music only because I could not take, even though maybe in my thought process, I would have chosen Lincoln to be the move to Schilling, but considering all of the housing that is being built back there in the Bayshore area, with also our last meeting with being on the liaison committee with the city of Newark, I realized that that was not feasible because of COVID. we would not have the capacity at Schilling to be able to house all the students, the incoming students moving forward. So Lincoln was off the table for me. So that left music on the list. And with consideration of moving the sixth graders to the junior high, the next school year, it just made sense that we would really, really plan and look at how we consolidate and merge music with another school with the least impact to the students there and keeping the majority of the cohorts there together. So I was trying to be really thoughtful in my thought process and it is difficult. And you can tell in my voice, but this is something that I think that would be the best outcome for all the students in regards to the situation that we're in right now.

[13369] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Nguyen. And thank you for also highlighting the other scenario with Lincoln being on the list as well. And same thing, Member Zhang, I think that's your kind of, you know that area well, and that's one of the key, from a demographic study, one of the only areas that is projected to grow. So Lincoln is very close in proximity, so for many reasons it might seem logical, but we do need to, in the spirit of really preparing and really going after capturing more of the children that are coming with these new developments, we do need to make sure that that part of the city has the capacity to receive. So thank you for calling that out, Member Nguyen. I failed to share my thought on that as well. Any other questions? Obviously, Member Zhang, you shared your thoughts on BGI. Knowing a bit about that area, I wanted to go ahead and share that perspective as well. So any other questions or comments?

[13455] Bowen Zhang: Remember, we, I think, first, I want to comment on a member, a student member of Salamis, what he said, I appreciate what he said. And we are looking at the long term solutions to the root problem of our district. And, you know, if you go to, if somebody is going to an emergency room, you first stop the bleeding, then you fix the organs. This district, in many ways, is in an emergency room. And we first fix a sign, which is the bleeding, and then we go check the internal organ to see what is wrong. We do surgeries later, and then we develop a healthier lifestyle. That's how we fix a patient. And the same idea, we fix a business. And the same idea, we fix a district. This board inherited, I will say this board, been here less than two years ago, inherited a mess. We inherited a very tough situation. The easiest thing for us to do is to say, this is the problem of the next war. But I don't think several weeks ago, 10,000 plus people elected me to this position, just they want to hear me say, this is a problem of the next war. The box stopped at us, pretty much. So that's my response to your comment. I do appreciate your comment and suggestion. Coming back to our dispute when it comes to BGI and music, So if you look at like, I think one of the committee members, Mrs. Rachel Bloom said it the best. She said this shouldn't be a, for her, it's not an emotional issue. It is what it is. So if we come back to the scoring criteria, and obviously the unweighted score, BGI came out on top. And if you look at a weighted score, obviously BGI has 24 points, which is pretty low. But remember, that is the condition of considering all eight schools possibly to be closed. So I will be really interested to see what will be the head-to-head matchup between Mills and BGI, considering we're only narrowed down to these two schools where ground is full and snow is gone. So we can just briefly look at that. And then let's say your music really comes on top, then we can fix the cohort problem. I'm willing to compromise and just get it done today.

[13610] Elisa Martinez: I have two concerns with that. One is that following the SCAC, the School Consolidation Advisory Committee process, very clearly, the numbers are a place, a place for the committee to form an opinion, which they brought. They brought us four sites. The other thing is that I don't think it makes sense to just go to school. The whole point of weighing is that you're looking at the district as a whole and the impact to the as a district. So I can't see where you can look at in isolation, and just go in and go head to head that that work has been done from that perspective, because you can't just look at these two, you know, the whatever, two-mile radius, you've got to look at the whole impact. And that's what the consolidation committee did. I just don't think that that analysis is relevant.

[13663] Bowen Zhang: When I say looking at the headline matchup when I go through all the scoring, I'm not talking about look at a two-mile radius. I'm still looking at this entire scoring. It's just instead of somebody got a two and the others will get a seven, this time you're going to get a one and the others will get a two. And then we need to take into consideration the fact that snow is gone and ground is full.

[13684] Elisa Martinez: Okay, member Zhang, but let's tackle the, I'm sorry, let's tackle the, this was a suggestion. So I pose to you the consideration, right? Because to me, frankly, and I'm sorry for interrupting, it's not even a consideration that we should take, that we should spend a ton of time on. I specifically mentioned we are affecting a cohort of over 900 students. What is your rebuttal to that? Because I think you can't look at the students in isolation.

[13716] Bowen Zhang: If you really look at it, you are affecting a cohort of 250 people. Because the other 600 plus, they stay within, if we merge them back to BGP, they will be renamed James Bunker. The 500 people.

[13730] Elisa Martinez: Oh, sorry. You want to re-merge. Sorry. OK.

[13732] Bowen Zhang: No, the 500 people literally stay the same. You have 120 people right now at BGP at sixth grade. They'll be going to the middle school. The cohort that will be splitting up from the rest of the people will be around 250 kids. It's not like 900 kids. So, but like I said, I do want to hear the cohort split. I mean, how are we going to split the people and music? Because if this is just one or two way split, I'm fine with that. But yeah, we ended up having a split. I think we all agree that the cohort together, I mean, we try to keep the cohort together.

[13766] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely. I think we all want to make sure we do that, right? And obviously this is the the work of the superintendent and you know superintendent if you wanted to weigh in but I suspect absolutely that that we would want to limit the the split having said that we you know if some parents want to choose to go to a different school that should be their prerogative as well but what your any thoughts um superintendent

[13796] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you, President Martinez. I do think that it's important to, we did hear a number of comments this evening about being able to travel as a cohort. And at the same time, I think that the best way to honor that sentiment and some of the voices that we might not have heard this evening is to give the, prioritize the families of a school like that with choice. And so if we can give every family the opportunity to choose where they want to go, and maybe we wouldn't necessarily just numerically be able to get everybody's first choice, but if we had families listing out their top three choices, for example, and then we did one by one meeting with each family individually and really making sure that they're being supported and prioritized, That's what I would recommend. And it may be that in the end that results in families moving as a cohort, but at least then we would have been given families the opportunity to do what they feel is best for their child and their family.

[13877] Elisa Martinez: All right.

[13878] Bowen Zhang: Um, and I mean with the okay, so I also realize the motion is to close the second school, right? Right at the time when we move to the middle school, right? So so so that means we will have a one-time one-time deficit of half a million in the year calendar year 2021 to 2022 So so so uh, I would like the Our cbo to weigh in on that.

[13904] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. Thank you for that. I wanted to ask the same question. Thank you

[13911] Marie dela Cruz: Yes. I have thought about that scenario. So basically, what it will do is we we have a couple of choices. So we have to either identify alternative reductions, or use one time reserves for this particular reason. Those are really the options that we have. And for me, Um, I mean, that's a decision again that the board will have to make and have some discussion about, but the $500,000 will need to come from somewhere, whether it's from reserves or additional reductions or savings.

[13960] Elisa Martinez: So, um, remember when, if we were to support the delay of the second school, I mean, we would have to evaluate that. Go ahead. Sorry, go ahead. No, no, no, go. Just because we have to put it out there, right, that we'll have to.

[13981] Phuong Nguyen: No, and I think that considering with everything that's going on, I think that it is something that we need to really consider because it is the most least impact to students. it will give us the ability to be able to make a better decision on how to facilitate the consolidation of music. When the sixth graders move to the junior high, that opens up space at Graham and at Kennedy to be able to absorb the majority of the cohorts. If whether we move the majority of the SDC students over to Graham, that can alleviate some of the issue and then the rest of the students will be able to go to Kennedy. I believe that that can happen. I know that we are looking at maybe removing some of the portables. And if we do put modulars in there, I think it is a good investment in order to be able to do and make those kinds of adjustments. And we really need to be thoughtful and think things through. And with the savings that we had this prior year, in terms of the actuals from the budget, the one year delay on one of the schools is not something that I feel something that I feel that we can do and that we can figure out a way to mitigate the extension of the timeline. I 100% do not have confidence in the fact that we will be able to close two schools by the next school year and try to facilitate all of this movement. I do not feel confident that we will be able to execute that. And this at least gives us an opportunity to maybe reevaluate and maybe our finances will change. The possibility of our financial situation might change. And we should, you know, like student member Salemi said, you know, be proactive this next year in thinking of ways on how to be able to bring in additional students and increase our enrollment. But not only that, we have to remember that Nationally, we are underfunded here in California per student. We get about a little bit over $10,000 per student. That is under the national average, which is 12,000. And if you are back East, if you're lucky to be back East in New Jersey or in Newark, they're funding students at $15,000 per student and or higher. And we don't have that luxury. Even though we are the fifth largest economy, we don't have that luxury. So what do we need to do? We need our parents who are here tonight watching us on YouTube. We need to advocate for our students statewide and also nationwide. Our underserved students, our special ed students are really underserved. Our district alone has to pay $7 million out of the general fund to fund special education. And that is not okay. you know, where is the state in helping, you know, mitigate some of these causes? Where is the federal government? We haven't had that. So we do need to voice and we need to advocate for our students more than ever. And so that they can succeed. And so that our students can have proper materials and proper teachings in our school districts. So, and for all those reasons, I am you know, sad that we have to be here considering this, but student member Salemi, we are trying really hard to make changes moving forward and I hope that you know that. And I know that this is very hard and this is not something that we want to do at all, but we have to make this decision, this unfortunate, hard decision because it has landed on our laps and we would not be the proper leaders that we are if we did not address it um and keep it moving forward because if we if we weren't if we did if we weren't diligent about it then we would be in a worse place later on five years down the road and i'm not okay with that you know i'm not okay with you guys not being the best i'm not okay with that thank you member um when amia absolutely oh student member salemi

[14258] SPEAKER_08: Just because it goes back to what member one was saying, I think that if the board does decide to go forward with what they're going to, with this position, that we should make a commitment that in conjunction with staff and the board, that the board will put forth a plan, you know, in a future meeting for long-term solutions to build trust and, you know, where are we spending that money? How are we going to spend that money to our kids? Because, you know, it's proven that, you know, our scores it will create a better environment if we do those things, which I know that is why we are here in the first place, because we want to get to that place. And I just think it's we can't just say that, you know, we're going to shut down schools because of money issues and declining enrollment, then not put forth a plan to our community that involves these more long term solutions. How do we make sure that in two years, five years, 10 years that we are not here again? So I'd like to see that and focus on something like that, because it is in everyone's best interest And I think it isn't enough to just list certain things as our aspirations. I really want to see what we're going to do going forward to involve everybody. Because like we see here today, there's many people who feel that they have been left out and I think they have a valid, you know, they have their concerns are valid.

[14342] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely. Absolutely, and thank you, Sue, Member Salami. I really wanted to echo something that Member Zhang spoke about earlier in your ask, which is, we're trying to get a lot of things done that probably should have been done a long time ago. And one of the things that we as a board, whether we're talking this we or other we, it's we as a board, what we don't have is a strategic plan. we don't have a here's our three to five year plan so that you and everybody in the community has that clarity of vision. And so that when the superintendent or district and the schools are doing X, Y, Z, that there is a place to point in here's why it's happening. We don't have that. So no wonder, right? Some of the feedback that came back when we were in doing the hire of superintendent was we're a collection of schools. right? We're not a, we're not one district. And so that if you just hear that feedback, you know, kind of tells you that we are, we have a very fundamental problem. And at the end of the day, it's the board that helps give that direction. So we are fully accountable for making sure that that happens. And unfortunately, that hasn't happened. And but here we are, and we've got two new newly elected, and we're going to absolutely commit to doing that. I do want to come back to the funding issue, Member Nguyen. So thank you so much for sharing, you know, at the end of the day, that is the key issue is funding. And so it's always going to be a tug of war here for the funds and how far can we make them stretch. But with that, you mentioned very specifically, or you referenced, we'll call these one-time funds that we've had because of COVID. And I wanted to ask you, Ms.dela Cruz, if, because I think to your point, you said either we're going to spend from our reserves or we're going to deficit spend. I think deficit spend is probably not something we can do if we're going to try, we're trying to get into a positive rating for our first interim, right? So at the end of the day, we are at a high risk status right now. So if we, What is the implication if we take funds from, we'll call the reserves, I mean, if anything, that just, it slows down our ability to what we said we wanted to do, which is increase our reserves. Is there any other negative thing that we need to be aware of?

[14507] Marie dela Cruz: Well, we need to be aware that this is a one-time solution, so it doesn't solve the ongoing issue of our structural deficit. So it only delays the process because it'll just exacerbate our situation in the following years. So we have to make that up somehow. So it will increase our deficit spending for next year, which in turn will end up dipping into our fund balance. So because we were able to save money last year, we will be able to maintain that 3% minimum But at the same time, it doesn't get us to that 17% that we're trying to build. So that's really what it's about. We just have to keep in mind that it's a temporary solution to a long-term problem.

[14564] Elisa Martinez: Absolutely. And I think what we said last time is we recognize we're not gonna get to 17% overnight. So I think it really is just, because I think that the decision we would have to make as a board is do we want to go ahead and dip into the reserve or actually call for some additional temporary cuts into next year so that we don't deficit spend, right? Because somehow we need to plug that hole because again, I keep thinking about the fact that we need to get this budget approved by the county and they've been putting, they've been very, very vocal about the fact that we've been saying we're gonna do this, we've been saying we're gonna do this, and here we are, right? So now there's a potential delay. I just wanna make sure that we believe, we, you staff, believe that we can come up with a solution that's a stopgap, really, for the next year, and can still get us to approval from the county.

[14624] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, so I think what you'll have to do is commit to, just like the other resolutions, to identify those areas that we need to save. It's just like what we did last year. So if we're looking at, we're gonna be deficit spending, we have to commit to resolving that deficit. And that's what we did last year. And so we'll have to go through that same process. Um, including, you know, possible study session and looking at what what we could do in order to to resolve those deficits in the next two years.

[14674] Bowen Zhang: All right. I thought the deficit is really just just the 2021 to 2022, the half a million additional deficit, because assuming the second school will be closed by fall 2022, then in the year 2022, 2023, it was based on our original plan about two school being gone. So it really is a one time half a million deficit for the next year.

[14700] Marie dela Cruz: Yes. Yes. And no, member Zhang, remember our multi-year already shows a deficit.

[14708] Bowen Zhang: That's an additional one-time half a million deficit for the next fiscal year. Assuming the second school will be closed, the second school will be closed by fall 2022. So the projection for 2022 and to 2023 fiscal year remain the same. It's just the projection for the 2021 to 2022 year will add another half a million deficit, adding up to 700,000 deficit. Conservative.

[14736] Marie dela Cruz: That's assuming that the economy remains the same. Because remember, we're already experiencing a cut in our cost of living adjustment, where we had initially projected that we were going to receive some sort of cost of a living adjustment, which now we are not. So that's assuming the economy doesn't get any worse. And also, our enrollment. Remember, our enrollment right now is below projection. So that already is going to impact our multi-year in the first interim.

[14767] Bowen Zhang: The ADA you need to use the exemption from the state legislature is you got to use the ADA. Well, I guess last year all the way to 2022 to 2023 is weird.

[14778] Marie dela Cruz: So only to next year, but not not to the twenty to twenty three. OK, the hold harmless. It will only hold us until twenty one, twenty two, not the following year.

[14792] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so I guess when we need the real ADA to be accounted for the funding for the LCFF, that's year 2022-2023, which, like I said, based on our schedule, two schools will already be closed by 2022-2023. So it still stands that it's a one-time half a million deficit increase for the next fiscal year, I guess.

[14817] Elisa Martinez: And I, sorry, to weigh in, you're right. I think you're both are right, because it is just the half year, it's the half of the savings for that first year. However, we've been in the hole, right? Because we were supposed to have already closed a school. I think that's your point, Ms. Dela Cruz, is that we're already carrying a deficit with relation to the closure of schools. So I think, but at the end of the day, I think this is where we need to, as a board, say, you know, given, remember when, you know, some of the consideration and why you proposed the motion that you did, and the consideration of trying to minimize the impact on music and the smaller cohort, that we would want more implementation time. At the end of the day, that's now the trade-off that we're talking about. So if we're saying, Um, yes, I think that makes sense. Operationally Superintendent, then I think it is. The question would be for, um, for for staff to bring back some potential things for us to look at to bridge that gap.

[14886] Mark Triplett: Yeah, we certainly could do that. We, um, then Yeah, that's absolutely what we could.

[14891] Bowen Zhang: Yes. So I want to add on. I think member wing. She's that she doesn't have the confidence. I think that's primarily due to our current staff never had the experience of closing a school because we haven't been closing a school for the past 20, 30 years. So it's not really about the competence of the staff, it's just this is unknown territory for all of us. So rather than may just close one school, learn some lessons and then improve the process when we're closing the second school. because the last thing I want is, I mean, this is already a painful and difficult things to do. The last thing I want is when we're going through the painful closure, we got a completely, completely botched process that just further, further, further alienate the people in our district.

[14940] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. Thank you, Member Zhang for that. That is exactly what I meant.

[14944] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. So it's 1040. I think we've We've had quite a bit of discussion. I would like to call for the vote and kind of see where we land.

[14959] Bowen Zhang: Can I make a comment? Since that the second school will be closed, I mean, right now we decided it will be delayed. I think, you know, I want to be honest. Tonight, I'm not comfortable voting for the second school. So I will hope that, you know, I hate that the two newcomers will decide, but your tool, I mean the tool kernel might think that I have a bad idea when I'm trying to touch VGI. I really don't think it's really that. I think my idea does have some merit. I hope that I hate to say that. Maybe the two other new members, they might want to weigh in. As long as you have a third member saying, we agree, this is a bad idea to touch BGI. We're just going to close Music. Then I can swallow this. I can vote with the rest of the board because I do think this should be a 5-0 vote. It shouldn't be a divided vote because we're all in this together. We share blame. We share credit. We share blame. I'm not going to, like I said, vote no and then throw the rest of the board under the bus. But to be honest, like I said, without, I mean, I do think that idea has some merit. And I still don't see a clear picture about splitting the cohort. Because I am I'm afraid because by looking at the data, Kennedy, Kennedy only has like 100 100 capacity there. So you obviously couldn't. Yeah, I hear you.

[15039] Elisa Martinez: But let's let's come back. Let's come back to your original ask, which is the timing. Right. And And that's why, again, let's have some more conversation because I'm gonna put the pressure back on you because again, you keep referencing cohorts, but you're not acknowledging the impact that you're having on the 900 and something that are part of one school that happens to be on two sites, by the way, that serves a significant chunk. So I hear you and I absolutely believe that you think that there is merit I'm just challenging you that I don't think the time is right now, because by your own arguments, you're impacting, right? And let's talk, if your main concern is the minimizing of the placement of the, you know, less than 200 students from music, right? because you haven't made an argument around the boundaries. You haven't made, that makes, frankly, that makes sense to be able to cover anything past, you know, what's that part, the south part of- I'm looking at the demographic study.

[15121] Bowen Zhang: I think if you move the boundary to central, you move the boundary to central rather than right now, sort of a little bit gerrymandered that you have I mean, if you move, if you look at demographics that you move the boundary to central and then everything's also central can fit into bunker, which is bunker has 576 capacity, everything's also central is around 500 to 520 students. So, yeah, that's the data I looked at.

[15158] Mark Triplett: President Martinez, could I offer up one thing I think I heard from from members is that and members on you saying that if we can, if we could guarantee a one or two way split of the music. Yes, student that you view on board, just looking at the numbers and considering the fact that in the following year we won't have a sixth grade that requires that split I think we can identify two schools I think one. would be difficult, but I think two is definitely feasible. And I wonder if maybe we would want to build into the current motion this idea of ensuring that there's a maximum of a two-way split. Is that something that would resonate with you?

[15212] Bowen Zhang: So the two-way split, I hope, is not you're talking about splitting into BGI. Because if you split into BGI, by definition, you are splitting into BGP. So that's a three-way split in certain ways. Do you agree with that or not? Anything that gets spilled into the BGI-BGP boundary is, by definition, into two schools.

[15236] Mark Triplett: Yeah, no, I'm not talking about those two together. But I do see that, just at a quick glance, that BGP has approximately 160 potential seats. And then if we thought about another school, like just throwing it out there, Kennedy has a potential 130 seats, but I think there's other schools that are similarly have additional seats. We're really only looking for, we don't have the sixth grade at music, we're really only looking for about 120 or a little bit less of a cohort, right?

[15281] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so there are roughly, I believe, like 35 sixth graders in the middle. You eliminate 35, and that's roughly 255 to 260 students. And adding 100 to Kennedy, I mean, obviously, I'm not sure whether you should add 100 to Kennedy, because Kennedy only have 100 capacity. So adding 100 to Kennedy, Kennedy is fully packed, just no more students. So yeah, so that 200 minus the sixth grader, the 200, whatever 255 or 250 kids. Yeah, that's the problem. That's the challenge.

[15314] Marie dela Cruz: Remember, Zang, remember, if you move sixth graders, it's going to open capacity at all the elementaries. Correct. So it's going to increase capacity at Kennedy as well.

[15325] Mark Triplett: OK. Yeah. Or other schools. I mean, I think. Right. Not that only. Remember when? Sorry.

[15332] Bowen Zhang: I know. Yeah, go ahead. Kennedy has roughly 50 students on the sixth floor.

[15338] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, member Nguyen. Sorry, member Zhang.

[15341] Bowen Zhang: So if you put the 50- Member Zhang, hang on one second.

[15345] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen, go ahead. Sorry, she's been trying to say something.

[15348] Phuong Nguyen: Oh, sorry. No, I wouldn't be opposed to us considering BGI in the future. If you are considering, if the board is considering making adjustments to build out that area and eliminating that school if we are maybe a couple years down the road deciding if we're going to build an area three. But with that being said right now in the capacity and being able to consider the closure in that two areas, those are the two schools in south of Newark that house a lot of students right now. So even if you make that consideration to be, you can't close BGI and snow together for next school year. You would still have to take the consideration that it would be a year out to plan because you would have to move the boundaries. But I really think that it is something that we should talk about in terms of building out the district and for future students and for future allocation, but I don't necessarily think that it is something that we should consider now.

[15434] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Member Nguyen. And sorry, maybe another couple of questions, comments.

[15447] SPEAKER_16: So if I may, President Martinez? Yes.

[15449] Mark Triplett: I think to Member Nguyen's point, if at a later date the board were to decide to basically move BGI to a new site in Area 3, that would be an interesting consideration, but it would be cost neutral or even, I mean, savings neutral. or even obviously the cost of building a new building. So it seems like that would be in addition to rather than as one of the two school closures.

[15486] Elisa Martinez: And the time frame is not, to your point, is not immediate. Um, member Zhang. I hope that you know with we've been able to sway you, um, you know, just get way and maybe, um, to Superintendent triplets. Question or maybe suggestion. Um, was that if if we amend the motion to state that we are going to limit. The get more comfort with the motion, Member Zhang?

[15529] Phuong Nguyen: And I just did the math. I mean, at Kennedy, if those sixth graders are moved, Kennedy's capacity would be at 348. I mean, sorry, with the sixth graders being moved, there would be about 384 students at Kennedy, and they have a capacity of 534, which leaves about 186 available. to be able to move the majority of the cohorts from music to Kennedy, if we were to be able to do that. And then reconsider the SDC students, moving them to possibly Graham or the kinder program to BGP, because they have the capacity there and they had they also already have playgrounds and availability to be able to house that population.

[15594] Bowen Zhang: So it will be possibly be half of them going to Kennedy, the other half of them will be going to Grant.

[15603] Elisa Martinez: Well, I think member Nguyen said for the, I mean, let's assume everybody, you know, there would be almost a full capacity to absorb most of the students, Again, I think, and we saw some comments come through, right, that there are some families that would rather go to Graham, right? So we can't also make that decision for them that, you're all going Kennedy, because if some folks want to go to Graham, we should give them that opportunity. I think offering up to your point, the minimum number of split points, I think that, I think that's what you're after. And I think that's what we would be able to do with with Kennedy and or Graham if that's what they chose.

[15650] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I mean, if they choose to go to Grant, oh, I guess Grant will probably remain a Title I school, right? Because one of the other thing is, I don't think we'll reduce the number of Title I students we serve, and I certainly don't want, since we're not gonna reduce the number of Title I students we serve, I certainly initially don't want to reduce the number of Title I schools. So given, if music is really gone, then you lose one Title I school. Hopefully, Graham will remain title one school. So Graham and Schilling will be the two remaining title one school in the district, I guess. So, so, so, so, so let me, let me summarize this, I, you know, this is actually kind of hard for me to swallow, because by looking at the data, I really feel like the BGI thing is a thing that's worth discussing, at least worth discussion, because the committee didn't really spend that much time thinking about it. It just straight voted on that and that's it. And if you can, if like, I mean, let me finish. If the assumption is, if some music school I mean, some music going to Kennedy, given that that's a high performance school that their grade will, I mean, their performance will improve. And let's say you have to get the cohort that you have the cohort going to grant, they will remain title one school. And given grant data, such a fantastic job in the past two or three years, improving the score. I mean, ultimately it's, it's, it's about the kids and it's about academic performance. Then, then I can't swallow this. And, but this will really be painful for me. I mean, I am not a very emotional person, but I never thought that this time that I actually do have a special connection, emotional connection with, with music. I, I mean.

[15768] Elisa Martinez: Nendor Zhang and absolutely. And we all have emotional connections, but unfortunately we don't have the luxury of making emotional decisions. Right. So, so, so. And I just wanted to push back on the fact that the... Special needs kids need music. Absolutely. And we have our special need kids across our district and we should be committed to serving their needs wherever building that they're in. And the other thing I might to push back is, I don't think it's fair to say that the school advisory committee did not discuss you know, just the ratings, of course, that they discussed, and they actually had conversations as to why some sites might just not make sense, even though they landed with certain points. So I just want to do, because this has been a difficult process for everybody. I absolutely, absolutely get it. But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, it is this painful decision, and we all have connections to all the sites. You know, remember when you and I walk each and every single site, right, to ascertain, you know that it's families, and you see the little kids, and you see their little paintings, and these are real people that we're impacting, right? But I think at the end of the day, you know, we need to make the most objective decision. So I know this is very, very difficult for you, so I do appreciate that, but I just wanted to say that I think that, in fairness, there was quite a bit of discussion from the advisory committee.

[15877] Bowen Zhang: I guess we can go to a final vote.

[15883] Elisa Martinez: Okay.

[15885] Carina Plancarte: Would you like me to amend my motion?

[15888] Elisa Martinez: Yes, so Ms. Gutierrez, what would be the guidance here if the amendment would be, would she pull it back and restate or?

[15898] SPEAKER_59: What's the amendment?

[15902] Phuong Nguyen: Go ahead, go ahead, President Martinez.

[15906] Elisa Martinez: I think that, and member Zhang, you can correct me or a superintendent, but the amendment would be that it would be, would be in the second year and the target would be to minimize, to target one maximum of two schools where the cohort would be split.

[15929] SPEAKER_59: So with that in mind, you have two options.

[15933] SPEAKER_60: You can leave the motion as is, with instructions provided to staff, or if you wanted to amend the motion, then you could as well.

[15946] Elisa Martinez: Member Zhang, do you have a preference? Would you rather it be part of the motion or would you rather it be part of instruction to staff?

[15954] Bowen Zhang: I think that's make it part of the motion.

[15956] SPEAKER_59: OK. So in in this case, you know, just to formalize it, then members on withdrawals, a second member when amends her motion.

[15972] Elisa Martinez: So, member, when can you try to amend, add that component to your motion?

[15979] Phuong Nguyen: Sure. Member Zhang has to withdraw his.

[15984] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I'll withdraw.

[15986] Phuong Nguyen: Okay. And I will amend my motion. I move that we merge Snow and Graham to the Graham campus for the 21-22 school year. Move the sixth graders to the junior high starting the 22-23 school year. and wait until the 22-23 school year to consolidate music and make sure that the cohorts or the split between the cohorts is between one and two schools.

[16024] Elisa Martinez: Ms. Gutierrez, did you capture that? Okay. Okay, may I have a second?

[16034] Bowen Zhang: I'll second that.

[16037] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Member Nguyen moves, Member Zhang seconds. And student member Salemi, how do you vote?

[16050] SPEAKER_08: Just before I give my vote, I just wanted to make sure I think it's important to know I'm representing the concern of students. And unfortunately, it just seems like getting the short end of the stick. Again, I understand that the board looks at this difficult decision with good intent. And I'm not here to point fingers. And I hope it did not seem that I hope it didn't seem that way. I truly appreciate all the hard work from everyone. But with me being a student member, and everything that I mentioned earlier and have been mentioning, as a student representative, I need to ensure I'm amplifying their voice and thinking of them and so many families that are going to be affected. And it is for that reason I vote no.

[16089] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, Student Member Salemi. Member Zhang?

[16094] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[16095] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen? Yes. And my vote is yes as well. So the motion carries. Thank you. they're very difficult decision and to student members. So let me point there's a lot of impact. So happening now, and, you know, I'm sure superintendent triplet much more to come in terms of communication. And so folks know, you know, kind of what will be the next steps. This is definitely something We always learn and we continue to hear, hey, we can always do better at communication. So we will definitely work on a strategy to make, to over-communicate if that's possible. Okay, thank you. Also student members, so let me just, it's 11 o'clock. You're welcome to step away if it's a school night. So we won't hold that against you. I'll leave it to you. Okay.

[16156] SPEAKER_08: Thank you guys. Have a good night.

[16158] Elisa Martinez: Thank you so much.

[16160] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Mr Salami.

[16163] Elisa Martinez: Okay, thank you for the difficult, um, the thorough discussion. And with that we have new business. We have approximately one hour to get through. Um, new business. Um, so the very first one. Superintendent is the change order. Is that where I'm at? Yes, that's correct. Yes. The change order for the paving project. Let's see, the staff recommends that the board approve the change order for the paving project as presented. May I have a motion and a second, please? I think member Nguyen is moving. I move to approve. I'll second. Okay, and any public comment on this item, Ms. Gutierrez? None. Okay. And so, Superintendent Triplett.

[16229] SPEAKER_16: Thank you. And Ms.dela Cruz, do we have Mr. Caputo here this evening? Are we?

[16237] SPEAKER_59: Yes, Mr. Rose, if you could please move Mr. Ralph Caputo.

[16242] Marie dela Cruz: And also, Mr. Bazaar, is he here too? Jalil Bazaar? Ralph, did Jalil come with you?

[16255] SPEAKER_44: Yes, he is. He is in standby.

[16259] SPEAKER_59: OK, he's being moved over now. There he is.

[16264] Mark Triplett: So I believe we'll have Mr. Baziar and Mr. Caputo explain, but we were able to have savings, I believe, in the contract and the work of paving. And so there are some additional areas that would really benefit from a change order and some repaving. And so I'll turn it over to them to discuss the details of that.

[16294] SPEAKER_44: Good evening, members of the board, Dr. Triplett, and community. Before you is the change order for the paving project. I would like to first review the September 17 board action, where we sought approval of the paving bid. In that action item, we had a contingency budget of $50,000. And so the item in front of you really closes out the initial paving project with the savings of about $25,000. And so The add item for work that was identified as a safety priority at the high school that's written in the board action item is $47,000. So the net change order is approximately half of that. So the project will be completed under the budget that was approved in September with your approval tonight. including extra work that was identified at the high school. In the board package items, there's an itemized list of some miscellaneous items under the base contract, a combination of ads and deducts. We can go over them individually or respond to any questions. But the sum total of this is as we were completing the work, The district identified two other areas, a small project at JFK for, excuse me here as I juggle my paperwork, for approximately $3,760. And then work at the high school for some additional paving repairs for 47,000 that neither one were identified under the original scope of work. But again, they can be added and still be under the budget approved by the board in September. If there are any questions, Jalil can speak more specifically to each item and area that we were talking about, if members have any questions when they reviewed the board packet.

[16435] Elisa Martinez: Any questions, Member Zhang? Member Nguyen? My only question was, and you spoke to it, was, you know, I suppose, why wasn't this included as part of the initial? So is this a Just wasn't we weren't aware that this was an issue.

[16455] SPEAKER_44: Was brought to us by the director of maintenance and operations.

[16461] Elisa Martinez: After after the. OK, well, these. So the net the net is at the 24th. The 24,000 OK. OK, if there are no other questions or comments. Miss Gutierrez, can you please repeat the motion?

[16483] SPEAKER_59: Staff recommends that the board approve the change order for the Pavey project as presented. Motion made by Member Nguyen and second by Member Martinez.

[16494] Elisa Martinez: Okay, and are we voting on board docs or hand vote? Hand vote?

[16499] SPEAKER_60: Oh, we can do board docs.

[16500] SPEAKER_59: Are you guys ready? Okay, I will.

[16503] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, I know earlier it wasn't working, so.

[16506] SPEAKER_59: I sent the votes over.

[16514] SPEAKER_53: Okay.

[16515] Maria Huffer: Give me one second.

[16522] SPEAKER_59: Perfect. Okay. Close voting. Showing my screen. Motion carries with three ayes.

[16533] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Caputo and Mr. Bazar and Ms.dela Cruz. or sorry if I mispronounce your name.

[16546] SPEAKER_16: Okay. Thank you both.

[16549] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And with that, we move to item 11.2, which is the purchase of global plasma solutions for our HVAC system. So staff recommends that the board approve the purchase of the plasma solution needlepoint bipolar ionization units as presented. May I have a motion and a second, please?

[16574] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve 11.2 purchase of global plasma solution. Needle point by Pope. Bipolar. Okay, never mind. Just 11.2.

[16586] Bowen Zhang: Second it.

[16587] Elisa Martinez: Thank you, members on number one moves and version seconds. Superintendent who will be presenting this item.

[16596] Mark Triplett: Yeah, I believe we have a presenter here that is going to speak to this item. I will say that this is a really exciting opportunity, I think, for us to try to address some of the concerns around air quality, and particularly in relationship to COVID-19, but also in terms of other airborne issues around like smoke inhalation due to forest fires and just general bacteria. This is some really amazing technology that has been developed and our presenter will speak more about it, but I think it really could give a lot of peace of mind to our staff, our students, and our families with relationship to really improving air quality. And I will say the cost is not insignificant, but we really feel like this is really money well spent, because it's about the safety and the health of our students and staff. And so with that, I'll turn it over to Ms. Sederman, who can speak more about this technology.

[16675] SPEAKER_41: All right. I will try to keep it brief. And feel free to interrupt me if you have any questions, because I know you guys have been at it for a bit. Um, excuse me, first focus on anything specifically Marie or based on what you've seen in the past?

[16688] Marie dela Cruz: No, no, I just wanted to ask them to bring Mr. Caputo back because he was actually part of this as well. Before you get started.

[16698] SPEAKER_59: Sounds good. Mr. Rose, could you please bring back Mr. Thank you.

[16704] Marie dela Cruz: Okay, go ahead.

[16707] SPEAKER_41: Okay, no problem. So the technology that I'm going to go over is something that we would incorporate into your existing HVAC systems. So it's a device that can be simply installed to help mitigate viruses, mold, and also deal with smoke and odor concerns as well. So ionization is something that has been around for a long period of time. So this company, Global Plasma Solutions, has really finite their technology to what they call bipolar needlepoint ionization. And the reason why the needlepoint is so important is they figured out how to do ionization of no harmful byproducts. So let me just pull up a couple of things here. So needlepoint bipolar ionization deals with several different things. One, first of all, is particle reduction. When these devices produce ions, they charge the particles in the air, making them larger, so that way they can be captured by your filters downstream. So if you look at some of the ASHRAE reopening guidelines for schools, they have recommended using ionization, especially for systems that don't have the capability of increasing the filter, capacity from MIRV8 to MIRV13 or higher to using this technology because it doesn't add any additional static pressure concerns to the system. So it charges these particles that are small in the air, making them larger so your filters can do a better job of capturing those particles. It also reduces odors in the air. So it breaks those things down so we can no longer smell them. That's one of the reasons why we've seen this technology used especially for smoke concerns in our area. So we have fire seasons every year, we've had several school districts install these, and it's really mitigated any smoke odors in their facilities. So not only are you going to be able to deal with viruses with this ionization technology, but there's the long term of being able to deal with the odor concerns from our smoke seasons that we have. And it deals with pathogens and virus concerns. They've This company in particular has also focused on energy savings in the past because since it's installed in your HVAC systems, it also helps keep your cooling coils very clean. So it keeps the fan running at optimum energy without adding any additional static pressure to the system. So they like to remember those things by using this acronym of POPE. So particles, odors, pathogens, and energy as the benefits for the technology. Ions are things that are naturally occurring. So if you look at where you breathe the cleanest air, up in the mountains, near the ocean, you'll see very high ion concentrations. It's only when you get into more toxic environments like cities, where you see the ion concentrations going down. So if you were to go take an ion meter and put it in a near waterfall, you would see ion concentrations in the five thousands or higher. in the cities is when you start to see those ions being degraded and much lower. So what we're trying to do with this technology is basically duplicate those clean air situations by artificially producing ions in the occupied space. So how does it work? So what we do is we have these carbon fiber needles on these devices. We've applied power to them. and it produces the ions into the space. So ions are basically charged hydrogen and oxygen ions. Sometimes it's also revered to as plasma. One of the concerns, because ionization has been around since like the early 1900s, is harmful byproducts. One of the ways that GPS has been able to deal with that is they operate on what is called an electron voltage potential less than 11.8. The reason why that's important is one of the, in the past, the harmful byproducts of ionization is ozone. And the way you produce ozone is by breaking down oxygen. If you look at this chart, oxygen has an electron voltage potential of 12. So since we operate lower than that with this technology, we do not break down oxygen. So we do not have ozone as a harmful byproduct. GPS has done even more to certify this. So there is a UL certification certifying this technology as an ozone-free technology, stating that it produces less than five parts per billion. So this is the certification that you would be looking for for ionization technology that is ozone-free, which is UL 2998. ASHRAE ventilation guidelines also references this guideline that you need to have this certification in order to be used as an air the same device. So GPS has a certification on their devices, and it's backed up and supported by ASHRAE's reopening guidelines for schools. There's an older UL standard, and that's what this is referencing here. So you'll see some of the older technologies that might possibly have this UL 867 certification. But as you can see here, it's not as stringent as the most current guidelines that have been released in 2019. This just pulls up this ASHRAE 62 ventilation guideline here, where it specifically states that air cleaning devices shall be listed and labeled in accordance to UL 2998. Just to remind everybody, this is not new. So there's a lot of different papers where ASHRAE has actually looked at ionization in the early 1960s as a solution. So this is something that's not new. It's just been finite. perfected so that way we're not, there is no concerns of any harmful byproducts from this technology. The older technology was this bulb type technology. Over here is what is the device that is what we're using now. And I actually have one here, which is what you would probably be using in your HVAC systems. So this is the device, very small and simple and easy to install. We provide it with these magnets. which allow it to attach to basically any fan wall housing of any of your HVAC systems. It's simply powered and turned on, and that's it. One of the reasons why I just want to show it as an example is to show how easily it's installed, so that way the facilities people can actually look at these devices. The other key component to look at these devices as well is there's a self-cleaning feature. Since these little carbon fiber needles, which is what produces the ions right here at the top of the device, are charged, particulate can possibly accumulate on top, lowering the ion production, which we want to keep it as highest. These little bristles basically brush off any particulate to keep them nice and clean, keeping your ion concentration at the highest that it can be. So it makes it a maintenance-free device as well. So that's the other thing to look at if you're looking at comparable devices. This one is actually going to be a maintenance free device. Okay. So how does it deal with the VOCs and things that we don't want to be breathing? So to show you, this is a, an ammonia molecule. It goes through the plasma field, which we're creating with this device and breaks that brings things down into less harmful byproducts, hydrogen, nitrogen, for example. The hydrogen will conglomerate with oxygen in the air, producing water vapor, not anything that's gonna add any humidity to your space. It's pretty negligible, but it's just to show you that these are things that are naturally occurring, that we're okay with breathing much better than ammonia. Especially with fire season, we've seen a lot of schools do some IAQ testing and seeing a lot of the by-product, one of the big by-products from the fire seasons that we have is formaldehyde. So now we can actually deal with the formaldehyde in the air, break it down through the plasma field and carbon dioxide and water vapor is the by-product. Particulate, which I, oh, this is the viruses here. So how does it deal with viruses? So viruses are typically either an RNA or DNA structure. So in order to make them inert, you have to break apart that RNA or DNA structure. The way ionization does that is the ions create hydroxyls in the air robbing the virus of its hydrogen and basically making it inert. So it breaks apart that RNA DNA chain. So it can, it can basically be killed for all intents and purposes. So this kind of shows it here, the virus in order to be alive and to survive as it has that hydrogen. So if we rob it, we break that bond and we make it inert so it can be captured by your filters. Other thing it deals with is mold. So this is a very simple test, but it's just to show you how, in the simplest terms, how it deals with things. So we have water and bread in a container. On the right-hand side, no ionization. The left-hand side, we have ionization. And you can see on the right-hand side here how mold actually grows because of the water vapor in this container, where if we had the ionization, the mold doesn't grow. This is one of the ways that we can actually keep the coils that could possibly, we don't have to deal with it so much in our environment, but in very humid climates where they possibly have mold or growth on their cooling coils in their HVAC systems, having ionization actually lowers the maintenance cost even in their HVAC systems because it keeps that mold from growing in those devices. Particulates, so you are able to actually increase the effectiveness of your filters by using ionization. When you produce the ions in the air, it charges the particles in the air, making them larger so your filters can do a better job at capturing. So we have a couple of different test data that we can show you, but there has been some lab testing and some site testing to show a MIRV8 filter with ionization actually has a capture rate closer to a MIRV13 filter. The other thing to really think about too is When we're talking about virus mitigation, if you can make these smaller particles larger so they can be moved to your filters and captured, reducing the particulate in your air also reduces the pathway on which viruses can travel on. So particle reduction in your space using ionization is a big deal when you're trying to deal with COVID or any sort of other virus mitigation. Comparing to other technologies such as UVC, UV, you have to, the light has to come directly in contact with virus or mold or bacteria in order to kill it or make it inert. When you are producing ions, they're moving into the occupied space and dealing with things in the occupied space, not just the cooling coil in your HVAC system. Not so much safety concerns. You know, we definitely, you don't want to be exposed directly to any sort of UV in the space. and it deals with odors and particulates and other things that UV will net. This is the slide I was looking for. So there's been some test data to show here, and this is looking specifically at the percentage of SARS virus specifically, and the different MERV ratings of different filters. So what we've seen in most schools, and especially some of the older schools that have lower efficiency filters, they're normally around a MERV 8 specifically. So if you can look here, this is the capture rate of a MERV-8 filter with nothing but the filter itself. So you have a capture rate of about 11%. If we add ionization to that system, you have a capture rate much higher at an 84%, which is closer going back to this column here in between a MERV-13 or a MERV-15 filter. So it can really do a great job of improving that effectiveness. This is just to go and to show how the effectiveness of UV and the maintenance costs. Looking at the device I showed you, we're not talking about a device that needs to be maintained. There's a little LED on it to show that it's functioning. We worked with several school districts to get them ion counters so they can actually measure the ions to make sure that they're getting the effectiveness in their space as a verification. And there is a dry contact as well if it needs to be wired back to a BMS to show that there's actually production of ions. PCU technologies is something else that's being pushed heavily right now too, but you have to look at possibly other harmful byproducts such as titanium dioxide, which has found to be possibly the new asbestos. It's a possible human carcinogen And it's really important to go back to that standard UL 2998. It needs to be listed in accordance to that to be recommended by ASHRAE as an air cleaning device. And test results. So I have sent over to the school district or to Ralph and his team actually a lot of different test data that GPS has done, they haven't done rather, their products have been tested by third party companies to show their effectiveness on a lot of different viruses. So neurovirus, Legionella disease, and they have actually tested on COVID-19 as well. GPS has been around since the early 2000s. They've done a lot of work with the aviation industry. So with the help of them, they were able to actually test ionization on COVID-19, which is that SARS-CoV-2 at the bottom of the screen. basically had a 20 by 20 large chamber test, that's the way you have to do a virus test, and sprayed the virus into the air, put ions into the space, the specimen, it was tested all over different surfaces. They were trying to duplicate like a conference room setting on different, either a tabletop, they also tested on leather and fabrics, And it found that COVID-19 was killed within 30 minutes to a 99.4% kill rate. So they have tested their ionization product directly on our most biggest concern today.

[17656] Elisa Martinez: Perfect. Thank you. And I'm just watching the clock. We still have a few items.

[17661] Megan McMillan: No, you're good.

[17661] Elisa Martinez: This is actually super, super interesting. It has been a long day, but most importantly, It's because we just need to get through some other items. So I'm not sure how many more slides you've got.

[17672] SPEAKER_41: That kind of covers it, honestly. And then I would rather you guys ask questions anyway, if there's any concerns. But that kind of covers the topic. OK, perfect.

[17681] Elisa Martinez: I did want to make sure that the board had a few minutes to ask questions. And then Mr. Caputo is on as well. So thank you so much. You're welcome. I'll open it up for questions. Again, just watching the clock. Miss, uh, member. Sorry. I'm calling you, Mr Member Zhang or member when any questions.

[17706] Phuong Nguyen: I don't have any.

[17707] Bowen Zhang: No, I don't have either. Yeah.

[17710] Elisa Martinez: No, I mean, I think this is, um, you know, just really, really helpful data. Just I listened in today into the, um The Alameda County, um, uh, Office of Education and Public Health. And it was interesting because there was quite a bit of talk about how really at the end of the day, the data shows that it's really the filtration system much more so than the surfaces that have proven to be effective in protecting against COVID. So the more robust our filtration systems, that's much more significant. They said, you know, they're not changing the You know, one is more important than the other, but that's just kind of the lot of the conversation. So this is really helpful. I did have a question with regard and this is more to staff. I know that you are bringing forth a request for a certain number of units to to pilot, and then there's the remaining. So is the intent that you would be bringing, after how much time of testing or piloting would you expect that you would be bringing back the recommendation one way or the other for the remaining systems?

[17782] SPEAKER_16: Yeah, thank you. Ms.dela Cruz, do you want to respond to that?

[17787] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, so our intent is to provide these units to all of our systems. And right now with the initial purchase, we'll be able to determine what the installation will look like and how they'll work in the classrooms. And we have to find what they call a piggyback. or possibly do an emergency resolution in order for us to buy the other units and we are hoping we can do that within the next month or so.

[17831] SPEAKER_44: Yes, the primary purpose for bifurcating this is that the district has certain procurement restrictions and this one falls under the district's ability to purchase up to $95,200, I believe. It's also based on, you know, everybody's demanding these and so the companies are trying to mass produce them. So we're looking to take stock under the current procurement limit for what we can get right now, particularly for the first group of school openings. The one consideration I'll add to the discussion is that the district I mean, among and having watched some of your board meetings and listen to the board and communities concerns about how to improve safety and precautions as you reopen schools. You know, the district has been replacing filters, as was alluded to earlier. A lot of the new systems in the district are capable of using filters. However, we have an awful lot of HVAC units. that can't handle the MIRV-13 filters and most of those are only being replaced with MIRV-8s. The other overriding consideration is that filters, even HEPA filters, don't kill the virus. Depending on the type of filters, they can only collect it. So this improves the ability to collect and will also kill the virus. So it's an added precautionary measure.

[17937] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Thank you. That helps to understand because if it seems like it works and we want it, why are we getting it in two installments? So that helps.

[17948] SPEAKER_44: Yeah, we're gonna have to come back with an emergency provision or some other way in order to legally purchase the balance of these.

[17960] Elisa Martinez: Okay, very good. If there are no other questions, I will ask Ms. Gutierrez to repeat the motion on the table, please.

[17973] SPEAKER_59: That recommends that the board approve the purchase of Global Plasma Solutions Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization Unit for the HVAC systems as presented. Motion made by Member Nguyen and second by Member Zhang.

[17995] Elisa Martinez: Okay, and if you can please open up voting, please.

[18003] SPEAKER_59: You should be receiving the notice now.

[18006] Elisa Martinez: Yes, thank you.

[18021] SPEAKER_59: President Martinez, just waiting for your vote to come in.

[18023] Elisa Martinez: Oh, sorry. I thought I hit yay.

[18029] SPEAKER_59: Okay, I got it. I have a close voting. Three yeas, motion carries.

[18046] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank thanks, everyone. Very informative. Sorry. Your energy levels a little low, but we are very excited to for you guys to bring this forward. Thank you very much.

[18058] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you. Thanks, Nicole. Thanks for Okay.

[18063] Elisa Martinez: All right. And with that, we move to item 11.3, which is, um, separate the redesign group contract as proposed to upgrade and replace a district network and servers as presented. May I get a motion and a second, please?

[18088] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve 11.3, district data center hardware upgrade and replacement.

[18094] Bowen Zhang: I second it.

[18095] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Member Nguyen moves, Member Zhang seconds. Who's speaking to this one?

[18104] Mark Triplett: Hi, I present from Argentina. I am we do have a presenter. However, I'm wondering if what would be best is the presenter, we can bring a presenter on the panel, but really maybe just start with any questions. I just I know that there's a This is time sensitive to 12 o'clock. So yeah, it might be the best way to go.

[18127] Elisa Martinez: I think that's true, because I'm not sure. Obviously, this information has been made available to us. So I know that I have a relatively basic question, but I will ask Member Nguyen and Member Zhang if they've got any questions with regards to the proposal.

[18144] Bowen Zhang: Oh, I just got a comment. I understand this is the federal CARES money, but I think we had a discussion about moving the storage and server to the public cloud. I don't know what the progress on that because eventually, I mean, hosting our in-house server and storage is a very expensive operation. I guess moving to the public cloud is the cost-efficient way eventually.

[18174] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Members. Um Mr Rose. Do you want to speak to that?

[18178] SPEAKER_16: Or, um, are we bringing our presenter in as well?

[18182] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, that's what I was going to ask.

[18184] SPEAKER_35: So chooses.

[18185] Marie dela Cruz: Is he still here?

[18186] SPEAKER_35: Um, I think he is. Yes, he is.

[18190] Elisa Martinez: Well, while they're doing that member, Uh, when did you have

[18204] Phuong Nguyen: It said that the district needs to upgrade its network and servers to accommodate distance learning requirements. So my question is, and I was looking through the specs. So this is a hypervisor system that you guys are purchasing mainly to migrate servers. And then the two Dell switches that are part of the purchase in order to accommodate the nodes that are purchased for the hypervisor. So is there any intent in upgrading the district's network at all?

[18244] SPEAKER_35: I guess that part of it was a little bit of a misnomer. The network part will not be upgraded is my understanding. I did a little research that the network was actually upgraded back in the summer of 2018. as part of the Wi-Fi upgrade, Measure G Bond. So the switches, the networking part, that was actually upgraded two years ago. We're looking specifically to upgrade the server and the SAN part of our data center.

[18271] Phuong Nguyen: OK. So my next question is, so there is a plan to be migrating from your previous systems over to the hypervisors. And also, is there redundancy? And that part, and my biggest concern is where is the replication going? And then also, are you guys having a proper backup system or snapshotting of these VMs moving forward?

[18303] SPEAKER_35: Yes, and I think Mr. Sen, and I'm probably mispronouncing his name here, Mr. Sen Nario. Can probably speak a little more to the redundancy part of the hypervisor device, but we do have the which packs up software wise our server environment and there is some redundancy and backup built into the hypervisor device itself. So we're really trying to cover our bases in two or three different ways here.

[18326] SPEAKER_56: Okay. Yeah, yeah, and this is Phil Stagenario from the Redesign Group. Good evening, everybody. I can, yeah, I can comment just on the actual platform itself, which is the Dell Technologies VxRail is fully redundant, inclusive of the networking switches that are included as a part of the solution. Do you want me to pull up the presentation and talk through the design? Or I guess I could just say at a high level, the platform consists of four nodes. Data on the platform is in a mirrored configuration. So you can lose any node in the cluster and still maintain the same level performance and data availability to the applications.

[18377] Bowen Zhang: Are these four nodes hosted in your own server, your own space, or is hosted on a public cloud?

[18384] Phuong Nguyen: No, it's on-prem.

[18386] Bowen Zhang: That's also OK. It's on-prem. OK.

[18388] SPEAKER_56: Yep. Yeah, and there's full redundancy up and down the system, and then additional high availability to allow for maintenance events without any sort of interruption to the district's applications and workloads.

[18404] Bowen Zhang: So when you say full redundancy, are you talking about they're both active, they're all active nodes together, or you have standby node in case one is failing?

[18414] SPEAKER_56: Yeah, so the data is, yeah, there's four nodes. It's set up in, it sounds like you have some technical background, so I'll go into some technical terms, but The cluster is set up in a RAID 5 configuration, which allows for three nodes and a standby node, essentially. The way the system works is that all of the nodes can perform in a cluster, but you can lose any one node and still maintain full functionality. And then the configuration actually has an additional level of high availability. So CPU, memory, and storage, you have enough to lose a node and still make sure you have full performance, essentially.

[18465] Phuong Nguyen: But is there backup for if you lose a VM? I mean, is there a snapshotting capability if you lose a VM to be able to bring up that server that is being hosted on there?

[18478] SPEAKER_56: Yeah, so there is snapshot technology within the system. And from a storage capacity standpoint, there's enough growth. You're basically going to be about 50% full on day one. So you could do multiple snapshots. But Paul also has his own backup infrastructure that's currently set up to do daily backups, weekly backups, monthly backups. And so that aspect of the data protection is already covered external to what we're looking at in this proposal.

[18514] Elisa Martinez: OK. Thank you so much. I mean, obviously, I don't have any questions. I think you guys have a lot of the, I mean, I would call it this redundancy, which is a lot of what you all, I think, remember when in very technical, sorry, very technical, because we, yeah, we have scale computing at our work.

[18539] Phuong Nguyen: So I'm, you know, this is just a different hardware, but it's similar capabilities.

[18547] Elisa Martinez: So, excellent. Okay, so if there are no more questions, I'm going to ask member, I'm sorry, Ms. Gutierrez to repeat the motion, please.

[18563] SPEAKER_59: Motion is that staff recommends that the board approve the redesigned group contract as proposed to upgrade and replace the district network and servers as presented. Motion made by member Nguyen and second by member Zhang.

[18580] Elisa Martinez: Very good. Thank you. If you could send us the vote.

[18601] SPEAKER_59: President Martinez, there seems to be a delay on your vote.

[18604] Elisa Martinez: I sent it. It's a it's a yay. So. Okay, one second.

[18608] SPEAKER_59: Thank you. And. Motion carries with three years.

[18617] Elisa Martinez: Thank you.

[18619] Phuong Nguyen: Thanks so much, but members wrong is correct. We should if moving forward after this, we should be looking at a cloud based solution.

[18629] Elisa Martinez: Well, that's hopefully part of our guidance as we Thank you so much. Thank you all. Thank you. All right. So moving right along with 20 19 minutes to go and I and I we have looked at whether some of these could be pulled and brought back, but many of these are time sensitive is my understanding because of the the cares funding and allocation. All right, the next item is the purchase of student Chromebooks, and staff recommends that the board approve the purchase of an additional 440 student Chromebooks from Firefly Computers as presented. May I have a motion and a second?

[18679] SPEAKER_53: I move to approve.

[18682] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. I second it.

[18684] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen moves, Member Zhang seconds. And with this one, again, maybe for expediency's sake, again, the information has been provided. Member Zhang or Member Wen, do you have any questions with regards to this additional purchase?

[18702] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think I might miss the first time we purchased this, because it feels like we're buying the Chromebook from the middleman, not really just from the seller. Because Firefly computer, this is not a factory. I mean, is that a middleman that we're hiring to buy these Chromebooks?

[18725] SPEAKER_16: Ms. Delacruz or Mr. Rose, do you want to respond?

[18731] SPEAKER_35: They are what they call a VAR, a verified reseller that we have purchased our devices from in the past.

[18739] Bowen Zhang: OK, I see.

[18742] Elisa Martinez: Is this who we, to Member Zhang's question, is this who we did the big purchase from or not? Or through them as well?

[18750] SPEAKER_35: Yes, we purchased. Okay. So it's the same on that. These are just additional ones.

[18755] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. Okay. And I know that, you know, we bought quite a bit, quite a few and, you know, and we know we've got quite a bit in circulation. Just in general, general question is, are we, Does every student have their own Chromebook or are we still, or some families are still sharing? Do we know that?

[18779] SPEAKER_35: Every family that's requested one has checked one out. Some are using their own personal devices. This is mainly the first purchase was to replace approximately 1800 devices that were past end of life are actually going to replace ones that are coming up in this June that are end of life.

[18801] Phuong Nguyen: All right, any other questions? I know I mentioned this before, but I just want to reiterate the need to asset tag the Chromebooks. So I hope that we do have the ability to track them and then have them brought back in so that we can make those adjustments.

[18825] SPEAKER_35: Yeah, and we have been asset tagging them.

[18827] Phuong Nguyen: OK, perfect. Thank you.

[18832] Elisa Martinez: Okay, thank you. Ms. Gutierrez, can you please repeat the motion on the table?

[18842] SPEAKER_60: Yes, and, sorry, staff recommends that the board approve the purchase of 440 student Chromebooks from Firefly Computers as presented, and motion by Member Nguyen, second by Member Leong.

[18862] Elisa Martinez: Very good, if you can send us the vote request. Hopefully you got my vote. If not, it's a yay. And Miss Gutierrez, we understand. We all had little kids, so no worries.

[18899] Maria Huffer: Motion carries.

[18901] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rose and Ms.dela Cruz for bringing this forward. 11.5 is Newark Memorial High School floor finish. Staff recommends that the board approve the purchase of floor finish. So this is from Clean Smart Solutions for the new floors at Newark Memorial High School as presented. May I have a motion and a second, please?

[18929] Bowen Zhang: I move to approve the purchase of floor finish from Clean Smart Solution for the new floors at Newark Memorial High.

[18937] SPEAKER_53: Thank you, member John.

[18940] Elisa Martinez: Number one seconds. Okay, um, any questions for staff on this one? This one I think was really pretty, pretty self explanatory. Um, I don't have any. Okay. I don't have any either members on No. All right. So, um, Miss Gutierrez, the motion on the table.

[18968] SPEAKER_59: Motion is that staff recommends that the board approve the purchase of floor finish from Clean Smart Solutions for the new floors at Newark Memorial High School as presented. Motion by Member Zhang and second by Member Nguyen.

[18982] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Okay. Did you get my vote?

[18997] SPEAKER_60: No, sorry.

[18999] Elisa Martinez: That's so weird. Yep.

[19002] SPEAKER_59: Okay. Motion carries with three days. Thank you.

[19012] Elisa Martinez: Okay, and so I 11.6 was pulled. So we move to consent agenda personnel items may have emotion in a second to approve 12.1.

[19027] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve 12.1 personnel report.

[19031] Bowen Zhang: I second it.

[19032] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen moves, Member Zhang seconds. You can send the vote, Ms. Gutierrez.

[19041] SPEAKER_59: Vote's been opened.

[19049] Elisa Martinez: If you haven't gotten mine, it's a yay.

[19053] SPEAKER_60: Okay, and Member Zhang, haven't got yours either?

[19058] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[19059] SPEAKER_59: Okay. Got it. Voting passes unanimously. Three days.

[19070] Elisa Martinez: The next item is, uh, consent agenda. Non 13.4 with its warrant report and 13.5 board bylaw. I don't want to pull the board bylaw, but I may have to just because I have one small request on it. So if I can maybe ask for a motion and a second to approve 13.1 through 13.4.

[19111] Bowen Zhang: Okay, I move to approve 13.1 to 13.4.

[19118] Elisa Martinez: I second. Okay, and if you want to send us the vote.

[19135] SPEAKER_59: Did you receive it? I sent it. Yes, I received it. Waiting for members on member Martinez.

[19148] Elisa Martinez: Okay, mine is a Yeah, I did send it already.

[19151] SPEAKER_59: And they just came in. And unanimous for 13.1 to 13.4.

[19158] Elisa Martinez: Okay, thank you. With regards to the the board bylaw, it's it's actually a relatively simple request. I think it's, I was trying to open it. I'm sorry, I don't have it open, but Ms. Gutierrez, it's the last line that references that meetings are available online, and it just has the statement online. Could we be more specific and say are available at, you know, whether it's our YouTube channel or on our website so that we're more specific? That would be my ask. So I would recommend that we approve with that small modification.

[19210] SPEAKER_59: That change can be made? Yes.

[19213] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. And, oh, sorry. In regards to that line also, it just says recordings of a meeting are public records. Can we rephrase that a little bit?

[19233] Bowen Zhang: Actually, can we bring this back to the next meeting? I don't think we have enough time. We still have, I do want to go through this meeting, but we have the individual board committee report and the request. There's nine minutes left in this meeting.

[19248] Elisa Martinez: Yes. And by the way, members young, we've also been researching the, you know, we've been operating once again on the we could only extend once because that's the way I know that we've always done it, but we still can't find it in writing. So we may be we get we can. So from from or urgency, if you will, will it affect? I mean, obviously, Ms. Gutierrez, it'll delay your ability to bring back, to become current with the minutes, but are we okay to bring back for a second reading?

[19283] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, we can do that.

[19287] Elisa Martinez: Very good. Thank you. Thank you, Member Jung. Okay, so that was the last item. So with that, we go to item 14, which is committee reports and or, and I don't know that we have it. Oh, sorry, there was a committee meeting. So if some of you would like to give an update.

[19310] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so we attended a city liaison meeting. I mean, from our side, we talk about school consolidation and reopening plan from the city side. They did talk about the cross guard, the cross car for our kids. And more importantly, we got a update for, oh, there's this newer camp, newer camp program. More and more, we got an update about the current ongoing development in the Bayshore side, which can be up to $2,500. I think we still, right now, the one that's being approved and building is in progress, 700 to 800 of them. There is also roughly 300 to 350 apartment rentals that will be installed in Newport Mall. And all of that will be rentals. And there will be four-story apartment. And with the potential to go up to 1,600, this actually was being proposed two or three years ago. But it started getting momentum because the developer has submitted the first phase for approval. This will be the Newport Mall Village. And obviously, uh, Century Village will be up to 381 single-family homes. So, so that's, I think, on the both ends of our town, we'll see some, hopefully we'll see some new enrollment.

[19393] Elisa Martinez: Yes, that's great news. Thank you for sharing. Uh, was that the only committee meeting I think that we participated in?

[19404] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, that's the current. Thank you.

[19406] Elisa Martinez: Anything you'd like to add, Member Nguyen?

[19408] Phuong Nguyen: No, they also covered, the city also covered the COVID rates and how it was impacting our Latino community. And so that, and then they also had a committee that was supplying the community with PPE and education throughout our community in regards to COVID. So I thought that was that was great work that they were doing.

[19440] SPEAKER_42: Thank you.

[19443] Elisa Martinez: Okay, and with that, we move to committee requests. So member Nguyen, we'll start with you. And we have six minutes for this plus the superintendent.

[19460] Phuong Nguyen: I don't have any requests. My main request is that we bring back study sessions again. in regards to how we love classrooms and our combo classes. But that's pretty much it. And I just wanna wish, I know that the last few weeks have been heart-wrenching for a lot of our families here in the district, especially having to, our decision tonight on school consolidation. And I just wanted to reach out and tell the families that it is difficult and we are, in unprecedented times with the pandemic, but we do have to make this unfortunate decision at this time. And we are not the only district that had to make this decision. Cupertino had to do it also. And it's been very difficult. And I know that we're heading into the holidays, and I just want to wish everybody the decision is made, and I hope that people can really come to terms with it, but the holidays are upon us and I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday, Thanksgiving break a week to just relax and enjoy with their families, especially the teachers in our district and our staff. I know that you guys have worked tremendously hard with distance learning and also went above and beyond for all the families here. So please take the time off and really enjoy your family and hug your loved ones. And that's it.

[19557] Elisa Martinez: Thank you so much, Member Wen. Member Chen?

[19561] Bowen Zhang: So, number one, I do provide counseling for the impacted kids by tonight's decision, so hopefully we do it starting tomorrow. Number two, it's been eight months since we have the audit committee meetings. I think the audit result from last year came out three, four months already, so I wonder when we're going to have another audit committee meeting because I'm the chair of that committee.

[19587] Elisa Martinez: Ken, so if Ms.dela Cruz or superintendent, if you can please provide an update on when the next one, yeah.

[19596] Mark Triplett: Yeah, we'll provide an update on that.

[19598] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, anything else, member Zhang?

[19602] Bowen Zhang: Obviously, we're back to the purple tier. So I do hope we can communicate to the parents that we are not reopening right now. and we have Thanksgiving weekends coming up although this will this time will be quite different I hope people avoid big gathering and possibly change your plan for this year I mean this is an unusual year and stay at home and stay safe.

[19628] Elisa Martinez: Thank you member Zhang. I just wanted to say I mean we again with three minutes but incredibly difficult times that we're going through You do have our commitment that we will work, obviously, through superintendent and staff to make this process as painless as possible. We know it's impactful, but we will do our very best to limit any disruptions. And just watching the clock, I will turn it over to you. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, by the way, everyone. And with that, I turn it to you, Superintendent Triplett, for concluding remarks.

[19665] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Martinez. And thank you to the staff and board members for engaging in this very, very difficult process and decision. I know that there's a lot of healing that needs to happen. And we really do need to now make sure that we are coming together to support the students and families who will be impacted the most by this, but really all the students and families. So I just want to personally make a deep commitment to doing that. And again, just appreciate everyone for engaging in this very, very challenging decision. And I hope from this that better things are to come. So I wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving. And again, thank you to everyone.

[19723] Elisa Martinez: Thank you so much again. Yes, thank you for everyone. Thanks for staying up staff and Miss Guevara for the translation services, Miss Gutierrez for obviously keeping us on track as much as you possibly can. So much appreciated. And with that, I do, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. I move to adjourn.

[19743] Bowen Zhang: I second it.

[19745] Elisa Martinez: Member Nguyen moves, Member Zhang seconds. Can we just do a hand vote? All in favor, aye. Ms. Gutierrez, your vote is unanimous. The motion carries. Meeting is adjourned, 11.59 p.m. Have a good evening, everyone.

[19760] SPEAKER_16: Thank you. Happy birthday to Ms.dela Cruz in one minute.

[19766] Phuong Nguyen: Happy early, happy early birthday. 30 seconds. Champagne.

[19769] Bowen Zhang: All right, everybody. Thank you. Happy birthday.

[19771] Jodi Croce: Birthday now.

[19773] Marie dela Cruz: Bye. Bye.

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, Procedural

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
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                     Procedural

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)

Paul Bretz v. Newark Unified School District, Keenan Claim No. 569505

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. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

6.1 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.

7. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

7.1 School Spotlight: Graham Elementary

Type                     Information

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 Board Mtg_ 2020-21 School Spotlights.pdf (45 KB) Graham Spotlight 20-21 NUSD Presentation Principal Byrd.pdf (6,690 KB)

8. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

8.1 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

9. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

9.1 Superintendent Report

Type                     Information

Information provided by the Superintendent, Dr. Triplett

File Attachments Supt Report 11.19.20.pdf (905 KB)

10. OLD BUSINESS

10.1 2020-21 Areas of Focus and the Superintendent's Objectives

Type                     Action
Recommended              Staff recommends that the Board approve the Superintendent's Objectives for 2020-21
Action

Purpose:

To approve the Superintendent's Objectives for the 2020-21 school year.

Background:

On Oct. 16, 2020 the Board held a special meeting which was facilitated by William Huyett from McPhearson & Jacobson as part of their services for the superintendent search. During this meeting the board provided guidance to assist with the development of the Superintendent's Objectives for the 2020-21 school year based on specific areas of focus. Input was provided through various community engagements, and specific instruction from the board.

As requested by the board, the superintendent is bringing back the finalized objectives for approval. The board is being asked to review and approve the attached Superintendent's Objectives for the school year of 2020-21.

File Attachments Superintendent's Objectives 2020-21.pdf (306 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends that the Board approve the Superintendent's Objectives for 2020-21

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

10.2 School Consolidation Advisory Committee Report

Type                     Action

Preferred Date           Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date            Nov 19, 2020

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board identify two schools for closure from the School
Action                   Consolidation Advisory Committee's recommended list of four schools (Graham, Lincoln,
                         Musick, Snow), and move all grade six students to the Newark Junior High School.

Goals                        MISSION: The Newark Unified School District will inspire and educate all students to
                             achieve their full potential and be responsible, respectful, and productive citizens.
                             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: The Board of Education received the School Consolidation Advisory Committee Report on November 5, 2020, with the purpose of taking 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 2018-19 and 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. Enrollment as of October 14, 2020 (CALPADS report 1.1) was 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. The Committee, after considering the data and results of the ranking based on the criteria, is providing the Board a recommendation of the top four schools that could be considered for closure. The top four schools recommended are: Graham, Lincoln, Musick and Snow Elementary Schools. This allows the Board the opportunity to review all the data shared with the Committee in addition to other broader considerations when making its final selection, while still recognizing the Committee's recommendation.

As part of the work of the Committee, it was also asked to consider moving grade 6 students to the Newark Junior High School (NJHS). Several committee members advocated for moving the grade 6 students to the junior high to create a better grade span configuration, better prepare students for high school and allow them to take advantage of college and career programs geared toward grades 6-12. As a result, the Committee voted to recommend that the Board consider moving all grade 6 students from the elementary schools to NJHS to form a grade 6-8 middle school.

Ms. Brianna Garcia, Director, Management Consulting Services, School Services of California, served as the facilitator for the Committee meetings and presented the Committee report at the November 5, 2020 Board meeting.

File Attachments Newark USD - School Consolidation Advisory Committee Report_Final_11-05-20-a.pdf (9,982 KB) 11-19-20 Board Meeting .pdf (633 KB) Newark Junior High to Middle School Considerations.pdf (716 KB)

Motion & Voting Amended Motion: Merge Snow and Graham onto the Graham campus for the 21/22 school year, and move all the 6th graders for the 22/23 school year, and consolidate Musick for the 22/23 school year with the split of the Musick cohort be between two schools

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

11. NEW BUSINESS Subject 11.1 Change Order - Paving Project

11.1 Change Order - Paving Project

Type                      Action

Preferred Date            Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date             Nov 19, 2020

Fiscal Impact             Yes

Dollar Amount             $24,524.25

Budgeted                  Yes

Budget Source             Fund 21 Measure G Bond

Recommended               Staff recommends the Board approve the change order for the paving project as
Action                    presented.

Purpose: To approve the change order for the paving project to mitigate safety and ADA issues at Newark Memorial High School, MacGregor, Lincoln, Schilling, and Kennedy.

Background: The Board approved the contract with Tri-Valley Excavating for the Paving Project on September 17, 2020.

The change order is for work located at Newark Memorial High School, MacGregor, Schilling, Lincoln, and Kennedy to address ADA and safety issues including the following. The original contract included a $25,000 credit allowance which will be used towards this change order. Please see details attached. 1. Cost in the amount of $47,009.00 is for paving repair in front of the cafeteria at NMHS where tree roots have caused the asphalt concrete to heave significantly causing tripping hazard (See below picture). This cost also include for removal and replacement of the deteriorated asphalt concrete at the ramp leading to the bleachers at the football field. The existing asphalt has a very rough texture that makes it hard for someone on a wheelchair to go up the ramp. 2. Cost in the amount of 3,760.00 is for the installation of four (4 ea. Bollards) at John F. Kennedy Elementary School. These bollards have to be installed per direction from the Fire Department to protect an existing Fire Department Connection (FDC). The FDC is near the parking lot curb and prone to getting hit by cars or kids running into it.

File Attachments Change Order 01- Tri Valley Excavating- 2020 Paving Project.pdf (1,822 KB) NMHS paving change order_map of both areas.pdf (67 KB) Closeup of change order near parking lot at NMHS.pdf (88 KB) Closeup of change order by bleachers.pdf (213 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board approve the change order for the paving project as presented.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Elisa Martinez.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen
Not Present at Vote: Wahhab Salemi

11.2 Purchase of Global Plasma Solutions Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization units for HVAC systems

Type                      Action

Preferred Date            Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date             Nov 19, 2020

Fiscal Impact             Yes

Dollar Amount             $88,679.00

Budgeted                  Yes

Budget Source             CARES Act/ Learning Loss Mitigation Funds

Recommended               Staff recommends the Board approve the purchase of Global Plasma Solutions
Action                    Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization units for HVAC systems as presented.

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

Purpose: Purchase of Global Plasma Solutions (GPS) FC24-AC Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization (NPBI) Devices, not to exceed $95,200, pursuant to the current CUPCCAA guidelines and annual procurement limit.

Background: As an integral part of the District's readiness planning to reopen in-school learning activities under the current COVID- 19 pandemic, and better protect students and staff, the District has been actively evaluating additional COVID-19 precautionary and mitigation measures.

The District is acquiring Merv 13 filters for use where applicable, however, older HVAC units can only accommodate Merv 8 or 9 filters. While enhanced filtration and air purifiers are helpful, filters alone do not kill the virus. Harvard and other universities and agencies are recommending further measures such as ionization, in addition to increasing outdoor air intake and circulation, and further measures to help mitigate the spread, improve containment, and kill the virus.

Upon research in conjunction with McCracken Woodman, mechanical engineers, RGMK, the District's CM firm, and in consultation with other districts and industry manufacture representatives, staff is recommending purchase of the Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization Devices, by Global Plasma Solutions (GPS).

The GPS's NPBI devices are small, have no pressure drop, a very low electrical demand, and are relatively low in cost, compared to other technology ($554.24 each, including tax and freight). The devices are self-cleaning, maintenance free, and can be easily installed in ductwork downstream of the filters in standard roof mounted package air conditioning units, which is primarily the type of equipment on the Newark USD campuses. The device is proven effective to kill pathogens (bacteria, viruses, mold), neutralize odors (such as VOCs) and allergens, and is also effective in removing particulates in a smoky environment, such as during fire season. The devices will be paid out of the CARES Act Learning Loss Mitigation Funds.

The district estimates that a total of approximately 500 units will be needed for all the HVAC systems. An initial purchase of 160 units for about $89,000 will be purchased as a pilot. Another 340 units will subsequently be ordered for about $189,000. The funding source will be the CARES Act funds. A representative from Norman S. Wright Corporation will be presenting information to the Board at the November 19, 2020 meeting.

Action: Approve initial purchase of approximately 160 each Global Plasma Solutions (GPS) FC24-AC Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization (NPBI) Devices based on the attached quote from Norman S. Wright Corporation, cost not to exceed $95,200. Note: Actual count may vary. A larger model is available for approximately $35 more and a few of the larger models may be applicable based on the size of the equipment. Upon approval, the manufacturer representative, from Norman S. Wright Corporation, will confirm the prioritized units to determine the exact model needed.

File Attachments GPS-FC24-AC Product Data Sheet.pdf (301 KB) GPS NSW NPBI Quote FC-24AC - Newark 160 units.pdf (854 KB) GPS NPBI Presentation 11-19-20.pdf (4,088 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board approve the purchase of Global Plasma Solutions Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization units for HVAC systems as presented.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Bowen Zhang.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen
Not Present at Vote: Wahhab Salemi

11.3 District Data Center Hardware Upgrade and Replacement

Type                     Action

Preferred Date           Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date            Nov 19, 2020

Fiscal Impact            Yes

Dollar Amount            $170,989.00

Budgeted                 Yes

Budget Source            CARES Act / Learning Loss Mitigation Funds

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board approve the [RE]Design Group Contract as proposed to
Action                   upgrade and replace the district network and servers as presented.

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: The Dell Power Edge Servers and Tegile Storage System in the district's Data Center are currently beyond their warranty and need to be upgraded and replaced. The Information Technology Department is requesting Board approval to purchase a Dell EMC (4) Node VxRail E560F Cluster, which is an all-in-one replacement product that comes with a service agreement, from The [RE]Design Group.

Background: The District needs to upgrade its network and servers to accommodate distance learning requirements. The equipment we have now is not adequate to support all the features that are needed for the distance learning environment. The Data Center is the heart of the district's network and if it were to go down, the district would not be able to provide network support needed for students and staff for distance learning. The current Dell Power Edge Servers were purchased in 2016 and currently the District has no warranty coverage if the servers were to fail. The Tegile Storage System was purchased May 2012. Recently the IT Director reached out to Tegile to verify the district's warranty. Tegile stated the HAxx hardware was at EOSL (end of service life) on 5/31/2020 and there will not be any hardware or software support going forward. Currently, if the system were to fail, the district has no recourse for support/repair/replacement in a timely manner.

The proposal from The [RE]Design Group is recommending an all-in-one unit, the Dell EMC (4) Node VxRail E560F Cluster, to replace the servers and storage system. A representative from the [RE]Design Group will be presenting the proposal information at the November 19, 2020 Board meeting.

The project will be paid out of the CARES Act/Learning Loss Mitigation Funds (LLMF). CDE guidance of use of LLMF specify funds can be used to provide connectivity for the provision of in-classroom or distance learning. Purchases qualifying for CRF must be completed by December 30, 2020. The [RE]Design Group is able to offer a CMAS (California Multiple Award Schedule) contract which allows the district to "piggyback" and not have to go out for formal bidding. This will expedite the process and ensure that the district meets the federal deadline for spending the LLMF.

File Attachments [RE]DESIGN - Newark USD - Infrastruture Refresh - Quote - 11.2.2020.pdf (2,072 KB) Data Center Project Proposal Presentation.pdf (594 KB) CMAS C3-70A.pdf (383 KB) CMAS C3-70B.pdf (383 KB) CMAS C3-70C.pdf (382 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board approve the [RE]Design Group Contract as proposed to upgrade and replace the district network and servers as presented.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Bowen Zhang.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen
Not Present at Vote: Wahhab Salemi

11.4 Purchase of Student Chromebooks

Type                     Action

Preferred Date           Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date            Nov 19, 2020

Fiscal Impact            Yes
Dollar Amount            $124,933.00

Budgeted                 Yes

Budget Source            CARES Act/Learning Loss Mitigation Funds

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board approve the purchase of 440 student Chromebooks from
Action                   FireFly Computers as presented.

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.
                             1a. Student Achievement

Purpose: To obtain Board approval for the purchase of 440 Chromebooks, with educational upgrade licenses, to support student needs for distance learning. The new Chromebooks will be replacing equipment that is no longer usable.

Background: The board approved the purchase of 1,800 student chromebooks on July 21, 2020. The district needs to purchase additional chromebooks to replace chromebooks that are near their "end of life" and to ensure that each student has access to a device for distance learning. The chromebooks will be purchased with the CARES Act/Learning Loss Mitigation funds through the same purchasing contract as the previous order.

The district will be upgrading its current Destiny database system to track and inventory the Chromebooks.

Per Governor Newsom, all school districts within Alameda County opened the school year with Distance Learning. In order to ensure all students have access to working technology we are presenting this request to purchase additional Chromebooks. After review, we have noted that many devices are at what is termed "end of life" meaning that the device is not working to the capacity needed for students and staff to access instruction and work.

Reasoning behind replacing EOL devices for students: No new security patches No new feature/OS updates End of Life devices will not meet the minimum supported OS for state testing (Caaspp periodically updates the minimum supported operating system needed for SBAC testing)

File Attachments FireFly Quote for 440 Chromebooks.pdf (87 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board approve the purchase of 440 student Chromebooks from FireFly Computers as presented.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Bowen Zhang.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen
Not Present at Vote: Wahhab Salemi

11.5 Newark Memorial High School Floor Finish

Type                     Action
Preferred Date            Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date             Nov 19, 2020

Fiscal Impact             Yes

Dollar Amount             $7,277.28

Budgeted                  Yes

Budget Source             Measure G Bond

Recommended               Staff recommends the Board approve the purchase of floor finish from CleanSmart
Action                    Solutions for the new floors at Newark Memorial High School as presented.

Purpose: The Maintenance Operations & Transportation (MOT) Department needs to apply the finish on the new flooring that was installed at Newark Memorial High School.

Background: On August 6, 2020, the Board approved the Flooring Project at Newark Memorial High School as part of the Measure G Bond projects. The district's MOT staff will be cleaning and sealing all the new vinyl tile floors to complete the flooring project.

The attached quote is for floor finish products from CleanSmart solutions for the amount $7,277.28 including tax.

File Attachments CleanSmart Solution Quote Finish for High School New Flooring.pdf (428 KB) New floor and finish High School.jpg (346 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board approve the purchase of floor finish from CleanSmart Solutions for the new floors at Newark Memorial High School as presented.

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen
Not Present at Vote: Wahhab Salemi

11.6 Online Tutoring Services for Grades 9-12 with Paper Education Company

Type                      Action

Preferred Date            Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date             Nov 19, 2020

Fiscal Impact             Yes

Dollar Amount             $77,500.00
Budgeted                  Yes

Budget Source             CARES Act / Learning Loss Mitigation Funds

Recommended               Staff recommends the Board approve the contract with Paper Education Company for
Action                    online tutoring services for students in grades 9-12 as presented.

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
                             3a. Parent and Community Engagement and Communication

Purpose: To provide online tutoring services for students in grades 9-12 to help mitigate learning loss related to COVID-19 school closures.

Background: The Paper Education Company provides students and teachers with unlimited access to an online platform with educators, in order to obtain tutoring services in connection with their courses. Students have access to the platform and educators 24 hours / 7 days per week.

Student interactions are visible in whole, or in part, to administrators and teachers. Paper Education Company does not share student interactions, or personal information to third parties.

The tutoring service will be paid out of the federal CARES Act/Learning Loss Mitigation Funds (LLMF), which was authorized by the 2020�21 budget package, in order to support pupil academic achievement and mitigate learning loss related to COVID-19 school closures.

File Attachments CA Student Data Privacy Agreement__ Paper Education Co.pdf (413 KB) Paper Education Company Inc_SERVICE AGREEMENT_(Grades 9-12).pdf (482 KB) Paper Education Company Pricing Quote 11_04_2020.pdf (87 KB)

12. CONSENT AGENDA - PERSONNEL ITEMS

12.1 Personnel Report

Type                      Action (Consent)

Preferred Date            Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date             Nov 19, 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 11-19-20.pdf (409 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board approve the personnel report as presented.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Bowen Zhang.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen
Not Present at Vote: Wahhab Salemi

13. CONSENT AGENDA - NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS

13.1 Law Firm of Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo Agreement for Professional Services 2020-2021

Type                     Action

Preferred Date           Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date            Dec 03, 2020

Fiscal Impact            Yes

Budgeted                 Yes

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board approve the Agreement for Professional Services with the
Action                   Law Firm of Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Rudd & Romo for 2020-2021

Purpose: Staff recommends the Board approve the Agreement for Professional Services with the Law Firm of Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Rudd & Romo (AALRR) for 2020-2021.

Background: The District desires to retain and engage the Law Firm of AALRR to perform legal and, upon request, non-legal consultant services on the District's behalf.

File Attachments Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo Legal Services Agreement_2020-2021.pdf (96 KB)

Motion & Voting Approve 13.1-13.4

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Elisa Martinez. Final Resolution: Motion Carries Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen Not Present at Vote: Wahhab Salemi

13.2 Law Firm of Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost, LLP Agreement for Professional Services 2020-2021

Type                      Action

Preferred Date            Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date             Dec 03, 2020

Fiscal Impact             Yes

Budgeted                  Yes

Recommended               Staff recommends the Board approve the Agreement for Professional Services with the
Action                    Law Firm of Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost, LLP for 2020-2021

Purpose: Staff recommends the Board approve the Agreement for Professional Services with the Law Firm of Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost, LLP for 2020-2021.

Background: The District desires to retain and engage the Law Firm of Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost, LLP to perform legal and, upon request, non-legal consultant services on the District's behalf.

File Attachments Fagen Friedman & Fulfrost, LLP_Agreement_2020-21.pdf (184 KB)

13.3 Monthly Financial Reports - July 2020, August 2020, September 2020

Type                      Action

Fiscal Impact             No

Recommended               Staff recommends the Board approve the monthly financial reports, as presented.
Action

Goals                        2a. Safe, Secure and Healthy Learning Environments

Purpose: The purpose is for the Board to review and approve the district's budget information as of July 2020, August 2020 and September 2020.

Background: These reports show, by Fund, the year-to-date status of the district's budget including Revenues, Expenditures and Fund Balance.

For some months, these Monthly Financial Reports will be presented to the Board as a stand-alone agenda item. For other months, the budget information will be incorporated in the standard reports such as the First and Second Interim Financial Reports.

File Attachments July 2020 Monthly Financial Report_All Funds.pdf (88 KB) August 2020 Monthly Financial Report_All Funds.pdf (88 KB) Sept 2020 Monthly Financial Report_All Funds.pdf (89 KB)

13.4 Warrant Report for October 2020

Type                     Action

Preferred Date           Nov 19, 2020

Absolute Date            Nov 19, 2020

Fiscal Impact            No

Budgeted                 No

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

Goals                        2a. Safe, Secure and Healthy Learning Environments

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

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

File Attachments Warrant Report October 2020_signed.pdf (373 KB)

13.5 Board Bylaw 9324 (First Reading)

Type                     Action

Recommended              Staff recommends the Board of Education approve the Board Bylaw 9324 as presented
Action                   with recommended revisions.

Purpose: To update the Board Bylaw 9324 regarding the minutes and recordings.

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 9324 Board Bylaws - Minutes and Recordings.pdf (70 KB)

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 Subject 16.1 Adjournment

16.1 Adjournment

Type                     Action, Procedural

Recommended              It is recommended that the board adjourn the meeting.
Action

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

Motion & Voting It is recommended that the board adjourn the meeting.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Bowen Zhang.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen
Not Present at Vote: Wahhab Salemi

No minutes available.