Regular Meeting

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[32] SPEAKER_46: Yes. President Nguyen? I'm sorry, Member Nguyen?

[39] Diego Torres: Here.

[40] SPEAKER_46: Member Martinez? Here. Member Hill?

[44] SPEAKER_07: Here.

[45] SPEAKER_46: Member Grindle?

[46] SPEAKER_07: Here.

[47] SPEAKER_46: And President Zhang?

[48] SPEAKER_07: Here.

[49] SPEAKER_46: All present, thank you.

[52] Bowen Zhang: Approval of the agenda. May I get a motion to approve the agenda as it is or at any moment?

[58] Aiden Hill: Yeah, I'd like to move that we, um, pull one agenda item. I'd like us to pull, um, agenda item 14.3 appointment of associate superintendent. I don't feel that we have sufficient information about the hiring process or involvement in order to make a decision at this point. So I'd like to request that we pull it.

[79] Bowen Zhang: Any other comments from the board regarding, uh, pulling the, uh, consent agenda, 14.3, the appointment of the assistant superintendent of ad services?

[92] Elisa Martinez: I respectfully disagree. We have a closed session. It's agendized for a closed session where we could have the opportunity to ask questions. I think at that time, if we determine as a board that we don't have enough information, I think we could have a discussion about that. But procedurally, I disagree.

[111] Bowen Zhang: Do we have a second on member Hill's motion? Seeing none, may I get a motion to approve the agenda as it is or make other modifications?

[130] Terrence Grindall: I'll move to approve the agenda.

[132] Elisa Martinez: I'll second.

[134] Bowen Zhang: Motion made by member Grindel, seconded by member Martinez. Member Martinez, how do you vote?

[142] Julienne Sumodobila: Yes.

[144] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel? Yes.

[149] Aiden Hill: Member Hill?

[150] Bowen Zhang: No. Member Nguyen?

[154] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[156] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries for four ayes, with Member Hill dissenting. Before we begin our study session, our graduate profile, any public comments? Any public comments?

[176] SPEAKER_46: Sorry, I apologize. No public comment on the study session.

[181] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so let's kick off the study session.

[187] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you, President Jun, and good evening to all the board members, staff, and community. I'm very excited to be with you this evening. I know we have a lot of important agenda items. We are really excited to do this study session with you about the graduate profile work that's been happening and to engage you, board members, in this process. As you know, I've been, I've been periodically sharing in the superintendent's report about the graduate profile work that's been happening, including our engagements with as many stakeholders as possible. And so this evening is our opportunity to engage with you. This is not a voting item, of course, or anything like that. It's really an opportunity to get input from you around our graduate profile that we are working towards developing, which will then eventually come back to you in the spring for a vote. But given that we hadn't yet engaged the board in the graduate profile work we thought this would be a really exciting opportunity to get your input into the characteristics of a Newark, a unified graduate. So with me tonight, I have a fantastic team, including our coordinator of teacher induction and science instruction, Ms. Leonor Rebosura, and Dr. Jan Hamilton, who is our special education director, and Ashley Acosta, who is our manager of family engagement. So I'm going to turn it over to them. I'm going to be involved in the presentation as well, but turn it over to them to start us off. And Ms. Revasora, do you have the deck to share?

[311] Leonor Rebosura: Yes, I do.

[312] Mark Triplett: Wonderful.

[312] Leonor Rebosura: Getting ready to share.

[325] Mark Triplett: And as Ms. Rebasura is loading the deck, I want to just say that this is going to be a little bit different in terms of a normal special, sorry, a normal study session. We're hoping it's very interactive and giving the board a chance to weigh in in a very interactive way around this topic. So I hope you enjoy it.

[353] SPEAKER_33: So good evening distinguished board members, President as well. We're both honoured and appreciative of your time this evening to look at our graduate profile. It's been an exciting adventure that we've been on and we really want to learn from you characteristics you believe York Unified School District students should have and also the skills they should acquire whilst in our schools. Next slide please. This is the agenda for this evening. Welcome and purpose of norms. I think Lynette Leonor will be going to do some norms. Setting the stage and the design process. Who is a Newark Unified School District graduate? Who are you going to be? And then we have some breakouts, which is the characteristics and skills of a Newark Unified School District graduate. And then we'll be wrapping up and sharing out. We have a very fun activity this evening to get our juices going, so to speak. And for this activity, we're really looking at, it's called a SymTech activity. And the focus really is looking at brainstorming and metaphorically looking at what you think a Newark Unified graduate should look like, as it looks at this picture that we have in front of us. We want to have novel ideas around what a Newark Unified School District looks like, student looks like, and sort of seemingly compare two different points of view, but also looking at the benefits of those points of views and really energising you to look at that. This is a great activity for anyone to use. But to look at this picture currently, and this is a set in stem, we often use set in stems when we're teaching, a graduate of a Newark Unified School District is like, and what would you say is depicted in this picture here, and the reason for that. So we're going to give you one minute to look at that picture. And once again, looking at a graduate of Newark Unified School District is like, you might say, Ferris wheel because of whatever you think that might look like, and because. So we'll give you one minute and you can write it down if you'd like to, but just be ready to share out with the team in 60 seconds. Thank you. And I think that's around about a minute. We'd like to begin the sharing process. Anyone, we can just pop corn out.

[582] Phuong Nguyen: Actually, before you mentioned Ferris wheel, I had written it down. A revolving Ferris wheel constantly adapting to the ups and downs of any situation, whether it be work, career related or life challenges.

[596] SPEAKER_33: Oh, good, thank you.

[599] Terrence Grindall: And I have the teacups because they're happy, spinning, but still grounded.

[608] SPEAKER_33: That's a good one, too. Thank you.

[612] Elisa Martinez: If I may, I'll go next. I also said the Ferris wheel because despite those different positions, you don't lose perspective. And, you know, don't get disoriented and don't lose perspective.

[629] SPEAKER_33: Oh, great. Thank you.

[630] Bowen Zhang: I actually also want to point out a gradual newer USD is like a spinning wheel because my perspective is it is well rounded.

[644] SPEAKER_33: Yeah. Thank you.

[649] Aiden Hill: And my thought is a graduate of Newark USD is like a Super Bowl champion because they get to go to Disneyland after they win the game of life.

[662] SPEAKER_33: Thank you. Thank you for sharing that, that was awesome. So these are the actual purpose and collaboration, the outcome that we're hoping for today in the engagement sessions. We want really to see unique perspectives when we've been doing this work. I think that's really, really important to see, how do we acquire what we need to acquire while we're attending in York Unified School Districts. We really want to make sure that our students thrive, obviously, as graduating students. And we're really looking at those characteristics. And then we're also looking at what skills they need to acquire to have those characteristics. So, at the end of the day, we really want autonomous, obviously, students that are very successful in the greater world. Next slide, please. So we began this joint journey of these engagement sessions in November. It's been a very exciting journey, just listening to students, parents, community members, administration. We had both internal and external community members from the university, junior colleges, ROP, SELPA. They've participated willingly and really enjoyed the process. And we're really looking forward this evening to soliciting your ideas on what you believe Newark Unified School District students should acquire. I think that's gonna really help guide our work and mission and vision for the district and the types of programs that we have moving forward. So thank you. And without further ado, I'll send it off to our wonderful superintendent, Dr. Triplett.

[774] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you, Dr. Hamilton. So this is a picture of a very young Dr. Triplett back in high school with a number of other students. And so this was my, I believe this was my senior year. One of these people is me. I was in high school in New Hampshire in a school called Condell High School. So we wanted to ask if you'd be willing to just indulge me in a quick little guessing game. Which of these people do you think was me or is me? And if you can use, if you have the ability, Ms. Rivasora, do we have the ability to use the heart emoji in this space?

[821] Leonor Rebosura: Yes, it should be on the bar on the top of the screen. Which bar? Annotate. It should be on top of where you say you are screen sharing. It will be under view options maybe.

[838] Bowen Zhang: Actually, I don't really see the annotate.

[840] Phuong Nguyen: So you go to view options, click on the chevron, and then the drop down menu and annotate is underneath it. Right after room ratio, after request remote control.

[851] Mark Triplett: There it is. Thank you, member. So if you wouldn't mind, if you can find the annotate heart emoji and put a heart next to the one that you think is me.

[866] Bowen Zhang: Actually, yeah, I still have some problem with moving around with the heart.

[877] SPEAKER_07: OK.

[881] Bowen Zhang: OK, I think I got it.

[891] Mark Triplett: All right, so we have two votes for the guy in the lower middle. Any other votes?

[906] Terrence Grindall: I have to draw a heart.

[908] Mark Triplett: I can't figure out how to do a heart. There you go. Well, that's impressive, member Grindel. All right. Well, in the interest of keeping this moving, so the folks who picked the guy in the lower middle, the two hard votes, that's correct. So that was me in high school. And I had longer hair than I do today, and hopefully a lot younger looking. The reason I show this is because when I was in high school, my sister went away to college. And I was home with my parents and she was calling me and telling me all these wonderful things that were happening in college. And I was getting jealous and I wanted that kind of freedom and excitement. And I sort of started losing a little bit of interest in school. And there was a teacher, Mr. Mathewson, who happened to lead the newspaper club. And he noticed that about me. He noticed I was sort of not doing as well. And so he approached me and invited me to be a part of the newspaper. And at first I thought, I'm not interested in that. I don't really care about that. But he talked me into it. And he gave me the job of being the op-ed writer. And it really transformed and re-energized me about school. Because suddenly I had the opportunity regularly to be writing these op-eds, to be giving my opinion, trying to convince people of other things, arguing, having people disagree with me, agree. It was incredible. And it really helped me to find my voice. and re-energize me into school. And the reason I share that is because that's what our teachers are doing. They're really helping to motivate our students, to help them to find their passion. And even when the students are feeling really checked out or unmotivated, our teachers do that for them. And so as we are thinking about a graduate profile, just want to keep in mind that Part of it is such an important part is our teachers. And an important part is how do we find those special things in all of our students to really motivate and inspire them to be their very best selves. Can we go to the next slide, please? I see some people are still drawing hearts. Leonor, can we go to the next slide, please? Thank you. So a graduate profile, what is it? We've been using this term. It's a visual representation of the essential skills and habits that define the learning experiences at our schools. And I hear a little bit of an echo. If someone could mute themselves, it's not muted. Thank you. So it's really the North Star. It's what we want our students to be graduating with in terms of skills, habits of mind, competencies. And once we define that, Then we can work our way backwards in terms of what are the seminal events and what are the critical pieces at every grade level that we are gonna need to do in order to support our students to achieve that level of competence when they graduate. And Ms. Gutierrez, I think there's still an echo. If you could just, you can mute.

[1123] SPEAKER_46: I can't hear, but we looked at everybody and they're muted. So we'll keep working on it.

[1127] Mark Triplett: Okay, thank you. So what we've done so far, November, we had a graduate profile kickoff with many, many different stakeholders, students, teachers, principals, community members, business owners, board members, and really launched this initiative. And then in December, we met with particular leaders of different groups that had volunteered to help in this effort. So some parent and community leaders, teachers, principals, and students. And with that, we built out some engagements, one of which is tonight. So in January and March, We've been engaging with different stakeholders around this process. We had town hall meeting with community and parents. We had a PD days with teachers. I think we have another one coming up. We had an engagement with our principals at a principal professional learning, and we've engaged with students in a number of different spaces. And I think we're continuing to do that. And then our plan is that in March, April, Sorry, I'm having trouble seeing the slide a little bit. That after collecting up and engaging with all of these different stakeholders, we'll look at the data and we'll narrow down to what are the characteristics that are being lifted up by these different groups that we can narrow into something concise and then come back and present to the board. And then the board I believe in May, we'll have a chance to re-engage with this and see if this graduate profile is really, is what they think is the best thing moving forward. Can we go to the next slide, please? So really quickly, I wanted to share, just to set the stage a little bit, some data around our graduates. So last year at Newark Memorial and at Bridgepoint, the students were engaged in a survey For this particular question, there was 98 responses, and this was from the seniors of 2020. And the question was, what were the plans for the fall? As you can see, 86.7% said attend college or university. 7.1% said they had other plans. And then a smaller percentage said they had plans to work full-time or attend military or enlist in the military. Next slide, please. Another data set that was collected, 85 students responded. The question was, are you the first-generation college student in your family or not? Are you the first in your family to attend and graduate from college, meaning neither of your parents graduated from college? And you can see here, of the respondents, 64.7 said no, they were not the first generation. But 35.3 said that they were going to be a first-generation college student. And then you can see here, this is additional data. I think there was a larger data set here, which included some other high school groups of seniors. The response rate was 34%. The question was, what are your plans in terms of specifically what college or work are you planning on doing when you graduate? And as you can see, it's a really wide spectrum. So we have students who went on to the State University, to community colleges, to private colleges, both in and out of California, and the University of California system, as well as students who are joining the military, working, and some had other plans. So now I'm gonna turn it over to, I believe Ms. Acosta, who's going to talk a little bit more about, or share with us actually a video to sort of tee up this idea about what are we looking for in a graduate profile?

[1373] SPEAKER_41: Thank you, Dr. Triplett, and good evening. We will be showing a video from Michelle Obama giving advice to students as they are going on after their college completion. What we want you to think about while watching this video is what characteristics do you believe a Newark Unified School District graduate student should hold?

[1401] SPEAKER_10: Do you sometimes find the fear of what could happen is making nothing happen in your life? If so,

[1408] SPEAKER_16: Who are you going to be? And if you'll notice, I'm not asking what are you going to do, but who are you going to be? I'm asking you about how you plan to live your life every day. How are you going to respond when you don't get that job you had your heart set on? For all of you who are going to be teachers, what are you going to do if the students in your class next year just don't respond to your lessons? For all of you going into business, how will you react when your boss gives you a goal that feels way too high? See, these are the moments that define us. Not the day you get the promotion, not the day you win Teacher of the Year, but the times that force you to claw and scratch and fight just to get through the day. The moments when you get knocked down and you're wondering whether it's even worth it to get back up. See, those are the times when you've got to ask yourself, who am I going to be? And I want to be clear, this isn't just some vague platitude about building character. In recent years, we've actually been seeing a growing body of research that shows that skills like resilience and conscientiousness can be just as important to your success as your test scores or even your IQ. For instance, West Point cadets who scored high on things like grit and determination were more likely to complete basic training than those who ranked high on things like class rank, SAT scores, and physical fitness. So what we're seeing is that if you're willing to dig deep, If you're willing to pick yourself up when you fall, if you're willing to work and work until your weaknesses become your strengths, then you'll develop a set of skills that you can mold and apply to any situation you encounter, any job you might have, any crisis you might confront. But you've got to make that choice. And let me just share just a little secret before I end. As someone who has hired and managed hundreds of young people over the course of my career, whether it was during my time as a lawyer, as an administrator at a university, a nonprofit manager, even now as First Lady, I have never once asked someone I was interviewing to explain a test score or a grade in a class. Never. I have never once Made a hire just because someone went to an Ivy League school instead of a state school? Never. What I have looked for is what kind of person you are. Are you a hard worker? Are you reliable? Are you open to other viewpoints? Have you stepped outside of your own self-interest to serve others? Have you found a way to serve our country, whether in uniform or in your community? Again and again, I have seen that those are the qualities that I want on my team, because those are the qualities that move our businesses and schools and our entire country forward. And just understand this, those are the qualities that you all already embody. They're the values you learned from your parents, from the communities you grew up in. And today, more than ever before, that's what the world needs.

[1612] SPEAKER_41: Thank you.

[1614] Bowen Zhang: Before we move on, I think I see a raise of hand from Member Hill. I guess since this is interactive, is there a question or?

[1629] SPEAKER_41: I think you're muted, Member Hill.

[1633] Aiden Hill: Sorry. So it's for the slides that, before the video that Dr. Triplett was presenting. So those were from Newark Memorial, right? From the high school?

[1644] SPEAKER_41: Correct.

[1645] Aiden Hill: Okay. And then, and then, and it was, it was just seniors? That's correct. Okay. And then what, and how many total people are in the senior cohort?

[1658] Mark Triplett: Last year, I don't have that number offhand, but we can get that for you.

[1663] Aiden Hill: Okay, because I think because my sense is right because there's roughly what 2500 kids that go, I don't remember what the exact number is how many kids go to Newark Memorial. Currently approximately 1500 Oh 1500 so see I would just be good to kind of get a context because also, you know, just I guess one of the things that I found is that when you survey. you know, sometimes there's certain people that respond to surveys and others that don't, you know, and, and we want to make sure we get as broad, you know, an input as possible. So, you know, again, I'm just like to see if we can get it, you know, as many as we can, you know, that would be very valuable.

[1696] Mark Triplett: Oh, absolutely. Yes. Yeah. That wasn't meant to be a, um, a, um, fully comprehensive data set, but more just like a snapshot, a picture in time of, of, of the people who responded. And this was, keep in mind, this was during a shelter in place during COVID. And so, yeah, we- Sure. Sure. Okay, thank you. Yeah, thank you, Memoriam.

[1717] SPEAKER_41: So as you can see in front of you are some samples of different graduate profiles other districts have put together. And you can see some of the characteristics that they highlight are being a critical thinker, being a communicator, being an effective listener. These are just some samples and ideally what ours possibly could look like once we complete our graduate profile. data collection. So now we're going to be moving in to the interactive part of our presentation, and Ms. Robocera will take us away.

[1765] Leonor Rebosura: So I hope that you received the copy of this collaborative slide because you're each going to need to actually access it at this time.

[1778] Jodi Croce: All right.

[1779] Mark Triplett: And Ms. Rivasura, where could they find that slide? Is it in?

[1783] Leonor Rebosura: We actually emailed it to them and shared it directly.

[1788] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, Ms. Gutierrez sent us an email. I have access. I think we all have access to this slide. Terrific. Thank you.

[1795] Leonor Rebosura: All right. Does everybody have their slides open? So as you're opening your slides, we're just going to go over the the directions, right? So they're, let me go through, I'm gonna explain it here. All right, so these are actually, the table on the right is a summary of some of the ideas that we gathered through the different engagement sessions, including the kickoff. The table on the left are the 21st century skills that guide most educational institutions right now. What we're actually going to do today will be for you to engage in a collaborative activity. So one of the first thing we're going to do is this is actually going to mimic an activity we would have done if we were in person. This would have been sticky notes that we would have written on to write our ideas. Each person will write their ideas on, each of the squares is actually a digital sticky note, and each of you will choose a color. So maybe I can ask each of you to just call out the color that you would like to work with today. President Tsang?

[1870] Bowen Zhang: I will pick the, I guess, the orange one.

[1875] Leonor Rebosura: Member Nguyen? Yellow. Member Martinez? I'll do lavender. Member Hill? Remember Hale?

[1892] Aiden Hill: Sorry, blue.

[1894] Leonor Rebosura: Okay, and that the Smither Grindel with yellow, right?

[1899] Bowen Zhang: No, I think it's the green.

[1901] Leonor Rebosura: Okay, green, light green. Thank you. All right. So first, we picked out the color. Each box is your digital sticky note. You will type one idea per box. On each box, you will write the characteristic you feel an NUSD graduate must have. You may refer back to the previous slide or reflect on Michelle Obama's video. Consider what our students will need to be successful in an ever-changing and dynamic world of the future. We will continue as soon as all of you have typed your ideas in each of your boxes. So you may begin writing and typing on your boxes.

[2106] Phuong Nguyen: I'm done. But for some reason, mine's not showing up all the squares.

[2111] Bowen Zhang: I think there might be a problem on both the last row.

[2118] Leonor Rebosura: Let me see if I can refresh again. And maybe it will show up.

[2130] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, sure.

[2131] Leonor Rebosura: Much better. Thank you. So now that we have written all of our ideas, let's read the ideas silently. What patterns are you noticing? And then how might we sort and reorganize these ideas? You may move the boxes and sort them accordingly. Oops, sorry.

[2163] SPEAKER_36: Let's go back.

[2175] Elisa Martinez: I'm sorry, so do you need us to do something here? I didn't quite understand.

[2182] Leonor Rebosura: You may actually reorganize and categorize your ideas. So if you find patterns or similarities, you can group them up together. Within my own? Within all five of you now. Because what we're going to do next is we're going to try to find the top five ideas from the whole group.

[2203] Mark Triplett: So I believe this is the opportunity, board members, for you to engage with each other and start moving these around as you as a group see fit and trying to see if there's buckets.

[2215] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think, let me first start. I think we can group things. At least I see something is related to the character of a graduate. The other is more hard skill set related. So we can maybe first move some of the things that we think is more character building, like grit, resilient. And some other thing might be more skill level related, like effective communicator, critical thinker or something.

[2246] Leonor Rebosura: And I actually see that in my other screen that this movement that's not showing right now on the screen that's being presented. So let me see what I can do to show you the actual movement of the squares. There you go. I think I'll show this and present this so we can see that they're actually movement and there's movement of the squares. Let's take another maybe three minutes, three to five minutes to reorganize this.

[2290] Mark Triplett: And you all are welcome to talk together as you move these things.

[2305] Phuong Nguyen: We're all shy now. So I definitely see that we all are on the same path in terms of critical thinking and analysis. That's one characteristic. The other one is problem solver or result oriented. Those two are the same pretty much. And then we have effective communicator.

[2336] Bowen Zhang: So after sorting, what will be the next step? Do we put that into the next slide or?

[2343] Leonor Rebosura: So once you could decide your top five, actually Ms. Acosta can be typing up. If you decide that critical thinker is one of the top characteristics, Ms. Acosta can type on the second one so that we can, once we get there, it'll all be there already. So just decide and just announce what your top five would be.

[2367] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think Critical Thinker right now probably has gathered enough for four of the five votes. So that can be in the top five.

[2376] Leonor Rebosura: If everyone agrees and comes to consensus, Isakos is typing it already on the next slide. Yes. Okay. Yes, we agree. Yes. Thank you. What would be our next one?

[2390] Bowen Zhang: Next one is a bit hard to determine. We have so many that received two votes.

[2396] Phuong Nguyen: Well, I think like problem solver and result oriented are similar.

[2404] Terrence Grindall: And I agree.

[2411] Phuong Nguyen: So I think that's like the third, I mean, the second one.

[2416] Leonor Rebosura: Thank you. Problem solver. results oriented.

[2421] Bowen Zhang: Okay.

[2422] Phuong Nguyen: And then we have compassion, empathetic. Yeah, like an empathy.

[2428] Bowen Zhang: I think, yeah, I think we got three votes on the compassion. Yeah, we got compassion and empathy. That's three votes. So I guess compassion should be another top five.

[2439] Leonor Rebosura: Nice. Great.

[2444] Phuong Nguyen: I'm sorry. What was agree or disagree?

[2450] Elisa Martinez: Compassionate and empathetic.

[2453] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, we got three votes on that. That's probably the top five.

[2458] Elisa Martinez: Did we have did we say effective communicator already?

[2461] Phuong Nguyen: And effective communicator I would put along with in there too, but there is only two but I would put that on there.

[2471] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so we got four nailed down already. I think the last one probably will be the more character related, like grit. I think grit and resilience is really, really similar.

[2490] Phuong Nguyen: Yeah, grit, resilience, and determination. I think all three are the same, similar.

[2495] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think all of them belong to the, yeah, I think.

[2499] Phuong Nguyen: I agree.

[2502] Bowen Zhang: I think, yeah, I think that's three votes on, I guess, belong to perseverance.

[2515] Terrence Grindall: My energy is in that category too.

[2517] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. All right.

[2521] Leonor Rebosura: So we have critical thinker problem. The second one would be problem solver, results oriented. The next one's empathetic. The next one's compassion.

[2531] Bowen Zhang: No, no. Empathetic and compassion is the same thing. I think we mentioned this deep. is the, what is that? It's the effective, no.

[2540] Nancy Thomas: Effective communicator, yeah.

[2542] Leonor Rebosura: Yeah, effective communicator. Fourth is effective communicator.

[2545] Bowen Zhang: Sixth one is resilience.

[2547] Leonor Rebosura: Resilient, okay. We're gonna move on to the next slide. So I'd like to just share with you that even the students who participate in the engagement did exactly the same thing. And it was really very interesting to hear from them what they feel would make them successful when they graduate. And so the next slide now is, we're now going to identify the characteristics. We'd like for you to think about what would the skills, what would be the skills related to this characteristics?

[2589] SPEAKER_36: Okay.

[2595] Bowen Zhang: Oh, will be the skills that related to critical thinking or like problem solving?

[2599] Leonor Rebosura: Yes.

[2600] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Analysis. Roughly come up with five skills.

[2608] Leonor Rebosura: You could come up with five or we don't have we don't really have to fill up all the boxes we just left.

[2612] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I guess analysis is stuff for analysis for critical thinking. And I guess independent thinking is also part of the critical thinking.

[2626] Elisa Martinez: Is that what you mean by skills competent, or can you want to give us an example? Or is that what you mean?

[2631] Leonor Rebosura: That's exactly what we mean, yes.

[2648] Elisa Martinez: Okay. Sorry, we should be typing this in, yes?

[2652] Leonor Rebosura: You can type it in or you can just dictate and we can type for you.

[2656] Phuong Nguyen: I thought we were dictating. Sorry.

[2658] Elisa Martinez: Okay.

[2724] Phuong Nguyen: Sorry, go ahead.

[2725] SPEAKER_21: No, no, go ahead. You go, you go.

[2861] SPEAKER_36: oh

[2967] Bowen Zhang: So I think we're pretty much done here.

[2975] Leonor Rebosura: Okay, let me present that. Okay. So this, let's review the final five. Does this table reflect the board's collective ideas? Is there anything missing? I think you probably need to zoom out a little bit. I need to fix the, there you go. So you, everyone will see it. One second.

[3005] Bowen Zhang: Okay. I mean,

[3013] Mark Triplett: And as Ms. Rabasuro is doing that, thank you for engaging in this. What you all just did in public is what we have had all the different stakeholders doing in small groups and breakout rooms. And it's been a really, really interesting and and beneficial activity to observe and participate in. To hear people engaging with different ideas, talking through their rationale behind particular characteristics and what they mean to them has been really, really insightful.

[3055] Leonor Rebosura: The final five. And is there anything else missing, or would we like to add a little bit of anything else? And with that, I think we can move on, if that's okay. Ms. Acosta? Or is this Dr. Hamilton?

[3081] SPEAKER_41: It's actually Dr. Triplett.

[3082] Mark Triplett: Yeah, I was gonna say, I think this one might be me.

[3085] Leonor Rebosura: Yes, Dr. Triplett.

[3087] Mark Triplett: Thank you. All right. And thank you, group, for this. So just to close out, that was super helpful. What we're going to do is we have the same type of data from all of these different groups. So you can see on here, we engaged community and parents on January 12th. Principals, January 21st, secondary teachers on March 1st, you all tonight. We also engaged students yesterday. We had junior high students, and then we had a February 24th engagement of students as well. And then we have one more engagement next week with students. And then we will have done all of these different stakeholder engagements. And then the next step is going to be to synthesize the data analyze it with the team that volunteered at the beginning of the kickoff. Some students, we have teachers, we have principals, et cetera. And they will help to then distill down and narrow it down to, I believe, five characteristics, which then we'll begin to try to build out a visual. that will go with those characteristics, and then also the descriptors that will go with those characteristics, and then bring it back to the board for you all to engage with again. I'm very excited. We have a couple of students who have expressed interest in helping with the visual, so some student artists who are interested in helping us with that, which will be really terrific. And that concludes the activity. Any suggestions or questions from the board as we move forward?

[3193] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill has his hands raised.

[3197] Aiden Hill: Yes. So one, one thing I think would be great is, you know, we've all talked I think in every single board members kind of mission statement or what we kind of believe we've all talked about how we want Newark to be world class. You know, and I oftentimes use the analogy of going to the Super Bowl. And what I think would really help to kind of inform you know, the discussion and maybe compare with what we're pulling together is maybe looking at what has come from really high-performing districts. And maybe they've put together their own profiles or maybe they've had created something similar, but to maybe go and identify some, you know, objectively, you know, very high-performing districts and see what qualities there promoting and then compare it with what we're doing and then see if that makes sense to synthesize some of that.

[3251] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Member Hill.

[3259] Elisa Martinez: I have a question just with regards to the next steps, if you will, thinking about You know, I think it's great to come up with the characteristics and the picture that will be, we'll call our True North. What would be then the next steps to then start thinking through? I know this is going to be a longer process, but the design of the actual curriculum, if you will, that will support this graduate profile, what would that look like? Just timing, effort, just to get a perspective.

[3294] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you, Member Martinez. It's actually, I think about, I know you in particular have really been advocating around strategic planning. And I see this as really sort of like the first step in strategic planning, because once we have our True North, our North Star, then we're building backwards from that. and thinking about what are the things that we already are doing and how do we really articulate the connections across different grade levels and grade spans about those things and where they are, the reason why we're doing them and what they're supposed to be leading towards. And then are there things that we're not doing or not doing well that we really need to strengthen in order to get to that true north. So I think an example would be the social-emotional learning. And a lot of these characteristics that have been articulated really will cause us to really think about how do we infuse the type of teaching and learning into the curriculum across all grade levels that support the social-emotional development of our young people so that they do leave with these kind of characteristics. So I anticipate that one, it's really going to inform our strategic planning. And then two, I think for years to come, then we're really engaging with our teams and our schools around what does then this look like at every grade level until we've been able to map out then a K-12 continuum of these are the seminal things and the critical things both in the classroom and also programmatically and outside the classroom that are going to get us to this point. It's an exciting launching point and it means that we have a lot of work ahead of us to then build out a really comprehensive plan.

[3409] Bowen Zhang: Okay, does that conclude our study session?

[3413] Mark Triplett: It does, yes. Thank you to the team for joining us and for all of this work. As you can see, they've been engaging so many different people, and it's been really exciting and powerful. And then, Board, thank you so much for indulging us in this. It's really, really great to get your input. And then we'll return back later in the spring with a final product to share with you and get you to weigh in one more time on and to hopefully approve.

[3445] Bowen Zhang: Okay, thank you everyone for helping us in this engagement process in the study session. Before we move into the closed session, any public comments for closed session, Mrs. Gutierrez?

[3459] SPEAKER_46: No requests were made.

[3461] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so in closed session, we'll be discussing item 4.2, public employee discipline dismissal release. 4.3, conference with legal negotiator, NTACSEA. 4.4, conference with labor negotiator, employee group NEWMA, unrepresented supervisor and contracted management. 4.5, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation. conference with legal counsel 4.6 anticipated litigation 4.7 conference with labor negotiator unrepresented employee assistant superintendent of education services public employee appointment title assistant superintendent of education services and we'll be back to open session okay i will see you in a little bit thank you thank you board Member Martinez, do you want to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance later on?

[7899] Elisa Martinez: Sure. Sorry, I was on mute.

[7905] SPEAKER_46: President Zhang, whenever you're ready, we may begin.

[7908] Bowen Zhang: OK, let me let me look at. Of course. Member Grindel, can you turn on your camera? I think we're waiting a little bit on Member Grindel. Okay. Okay, welcome back. We're coming back from closed session. Member Martinez has agreed to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Ms. Gutierrez, can you turn on the national banner? Everybody please stand.

[7947] Elisa Martinez: Ready? begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[7974] Bowen Zhang: Next item will be The report of closed session. In closed session regarding conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, the board approved a settlement in case number 2020110510 in the amount of 48,000, motion made by member Nguyen, seconded by member Quindle, and carried unanimously. Let me repeat, in the closed session, item 4.5, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, the board approved a settlement For case number 202011-0510, in the amount of 48,000, motion made by member Nguyen, seconded by member Gündel, and carried unanimously. Next one, student report from Newark Junior High, McGregor, and Memorial High School. Superintendent Triplett.

[8026] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Hsien. And again, good evening to your board members and staff and community. So this evening, we will start with our Newark Junior High School student leaders, Ms. Torres and Ms. Ristow.

[8049] SPEAKER_14: Hi everyone, I'm ASB Vice President Rachel Astew, and today I'm going to give the Junior High School report tonight. During the month of February, Newark Junior High School hosted a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We didn't reach our goal, unfortunately, but we were able to raise $1,350. We also hosted free valentine rams where students can send a fun valentine message to their friends. We got almost 40 requests and we were really excited about getting a chance to participate in the drive-thru portraits. This gave us a chance to get our portrait in the yearbook this year. Speaking of portraits, there will be a makeup day tomorrow afternoon. Students who were not able to make the portrait day last week will be able to drive by between 2 and 4 15 tomorrow afternoon to get their portraits taken. Even if they miss the portrait, students can do a selfie portrait. Mr. Raderker sent an email to students and parents with a link and instructions on how to take selfies. Leadership is currently working on a virtual multicultural rally that will help us host towards the end of the month. We will be sending out information to students this Monday about this great celebration of culture and community pride. I'm also excited to announce the incoming ASB officers for this year at the junior high. Muhammad Lulu will be this year's ASB president, Poorvi Sharma will be this year's vice president, Julia Ricketts will be next year's treasurer, and Jordan Hernandez will be next year's secretary. And that concludes the junior high report. Thank you.

[8132] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Ms. Risto.

[8135] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Mr. Stu and congratulations to the the leadership group for the upcoming school year. President john the next speaker, we have a student leader is from McGregor it's Alexis Blanco Baron. Welcome.

[8161] SPEAKER_42: Good evening Superintendent, Dr. Triplett, board members, and cabinet members. My name is Alexis Blanco-Barron and I'm in ninth grade at Crossroads. I serve on the school site council. On February 1st, we celebrated our second quarter awards. 15 students made honor roll, 10 students were high credit earners, and 24 earned perfect attendance between October, December, and December. 12 were awarded students of the quarter. Ohlone College is hosting monthly workshops for Bridgepoint and Crossroads students. They started on February 16th and will happen every month. We have several new students at Bridgepoint and Crossroads. We hope to welcome more of the fourth quarter Congratulations to BridgePoint for earning your full accreditation. Thank you.

[8213] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Ms. Barron. Superintendent, what about Memorial High School? That will be our student board member, right?

[8222] Mark Triplett: That's right. So please allow me to introduce our own distinguished student board member, Mr. Salemi.

[8230] SPEAKER_08: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Good evening, members of the board, executive cabinet, students, and community members. I'm happy to be here with you all to share what is happening at New Memorial. There will be a PTSA meeting at 6.30pm on March 9. There will be a coffee with the principal on March 30. On Thursday, April 1, there will be a school site council meeting. Cap and gown drive-thru distribution will be held on April 23. NMHS's

[8264] Bowen Zhang: Is the student board member being cut off?

[8269] Mark Triplett: Yes, I'm afraid that looks like he may be frozen.

[8273] SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I'm back. You're back. Yeah. OK, sorry. Anyway, just this homecoming top 20 nominations will be due tomorrow. Top 20 celebration will be on 326. World Court will be selected on 416. Yearbooks are still on sale at yearbookcenter.com. Last month's staff members of the week were Miss Faye, Mr. Goldsmith, Ms. Tung, and Ms. Shea. Thank you for all that you do. We appreciate you. And now to athletics. Newark Memorial Athletics is ramping up and preparing for our first competition in 359 days. Next week, our student athletes will start season one competitions in cross country, girls golf, boys tennis, and end the week with our first football scrimmage. Coach K, along with myself, would like to thank all the coaches and our trainer, Wendell, for working so hard to provide this opportunity for our students. NMHS just had their elections last month, and I'm very excited to share the names of our newly elected leaders for the 2021-2022 school year. For ASB, President Wahab Salimi, Vice President Amber Nolasco-Torres, Secretary Anushka Sirti, Treasurer Jeffrey Augustine, Student Board Representative Estina Resendiz-Ortiz. For the class of 2022, President Ryan Armijo, Vice President Kayla Kawazoe, Secretary Jasvir Bandal, Treasurer Jessica Dang, Historian John Boccaccio. For the class of 2023, President Leslie Hernandez, Vice President Alma Franco-Dominguez, Secretary Joey Lynn Hallal, Treasurer Julian Sanchez, Historian Kamalyn Huang. For the class of 2024, President Isabella San Pedro, Vice President Kaylie Jayapal, Secretary Anjali Prim, Treasurer Miranda Gonzalez, Historian Tricia Plano. and for the incoming class of 2025. President Rachel Ristau, Vice President Guadalupe Castancio, Secretary Grace Valeso, Senator 1, Alyssa Torres, and Senator 2, Darian Wolfe. And a huge congratulations to everyone. I wish them a successful year ahead. And to end my student report, I have invited the newly elected student board member for the next school year to briefly introduce themselves. Please welcome Isayna Resendiz-Ortiz.

[8414] SPEAKER_15: Thank you. Good evening, everyone. My name is Steiner Ortiz, and like I said, I will be next year's student board member. A little bit about me. I'm a current junior at North Memorial High, and I truly have a passion for representing students' voice. I've done that through Mind Wellness Club and the 2P program, where I've created a supportive community in our school, bringing awareness to the well-being of our peers, which I hope to continue on next year. Additionally, I love taking rigorous classes for some reason, however difficult they may be, and pushing myself towards the best that I can do. Therefore, I'm really hoping to do that next year, and I'm excited about the plans. Outside of school, I'm on the water polo and swim team and in various STEM academies. So through my experience, I know the importance of teamwork and taking initiative, which I hope to do next year and much more. Thank you for having me.

[8465] Bowen Zhang: Welcome on board. Welcome on board. Is that it?

[8472] Mark Triplett: Yes. And if you'll allow me, I also want to just welcome Ms. Resendiz-Ortiz. We're very excited that you're going to be joining us. I'm sorry to lose Mr. Salemi for the upcoming year, but it sounds like we're going to be in very good hands with you. So we look forward to working with you, meeting you, and thank you for stepping into this important leadership role.

[8495] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, thank you.

[8496] Bowen Zhang: Okay, is that it for student report? Superintendent Triplett? Yes, President Chen. Okay, thank you. Thank you for the report. Next one, we got employee organization. Ms. Gutierrez, any speakers?

[8515] SPEAKER_46: Yes, we're going to have NEWMA and a TA, and we'll start with a TA, Mr. Sean, Sean Abruzzi. And Mr resume again.

[8533] SPEAKER_39: Thank you very much. Welcome. Today, and he would like some clarification or a couple items that came to our attention. One would be professional development. We would like to know why PDs take time away from teachers working with their struggling students. Another issue that came up to our attention, the LPAC testing, why isn't there consistency at all elementary sites for LPAC testing? Another thing that we wanted to bring to attention or clarification is curriculum. Did the district know that a program or curriculum to be successful, the following needs to happen. Give NTA members time to implement the program or curriculum. Don't bring a curriculum or program in the middle of a school year. Curriculum or programs should be brought in at the beginning of the school year and training for these curriculums should happen during the prior school year before the curriculum is being implemented. And the other thing to make these things successful, give NTN members the support they're asking for to make future programs and curriculum successful. Another thing that came to our attention, we'd like a little bit more clarification, is safety on campus. Taken together after junior high, intake members were not notified that students would be on campus. Who is supervising these students? One intake member noticed a student not wearing a mask. This is nine students on campus. What will happen when there is half the student body on campus? and our last thing that we would like to bring up or clarification on is that textbooks the social science classes at the junior high and high school need new textbooks for most of the general education classes and the next department needs new novels that are more culturally acceptable and how did the district get so far behind on updating these textbooks that teachers are using to teach our students. I want to say thank you and good night and That's it.

[8665] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Mr. Abruzzi. You have a great rest of the night as well. Next speaker.

[8674] SPEAKER_46: The next one is Dr. Wendy Tessignano-Leal.

[8686] Bowen Zhang: Welcome.

[8689] SPEAKER_13: Welcome. Good evening, members of the board and executive cabinet. I'm Dr. Wendy Castaneda-Leal, and I am a member of NEWMA. So today we wanna bring to your attention that it is Women's History Month this month, and women have been long the creative force behind our nation's success, yet their individual's contributions have been largely unrecognized. This month, we want to recognize some of our strong women leaders. So today we wanna highlight Ana Leon, This is her second year at NUSD. She oversees discipline and is also on the school attendance review board chair and overseas registration, which is a big thing that we're working on right now. We will also like to recognize Coach K, our athletic director. She has been at NUSD for 18 years and oversees Newark Memorial Athletic Department students and coaches, as well as serves on the cost team and the PBIS admin at Newark Memorial. Her favorite part of being the athletic director at Newark Memorial is the ability to live out her philosophy of building champions in life through athletics. She loves building relationships and making connections with students, families, and the community, and witnessing student success. We know there are many more women who work at NUSD, and we want to thank everybody for their contribution to the success of our students. Thank you.

[8781] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Dr. Wendy Castaneda-Alio. Any other speaker? Okay, moving on to recognition and celebration, 9.1 staff spotlight, Superintendent Triplett.

[8802] Mark Triplett: Thank you very much, President Chen. Allow me to bring up a slide deck. There we go. So following in our tradition of celebrating our incredible staff, our CSCA staff, our NTA staff, and our NEWMA staff, I wanted to highlight three outstanding individuals this month, starting with Ms. Myra Borgen. She is an English language learner liaison at Kennedy. Ms. Borgen has been at Kennedy over 10 years. She works with English language learners and other students. She supports the reclassification of English learners to be proficient in English. She does a homework club in the afternoon. She works with small groups and one-on-one during the day, supporting students with their math, their reading, and the four domains of ELD, speaking, listening, reading, and writing. So please join me in celebrating and appreciating this outstanding part of our staff. Next I wanted to appreciate a teacher, Miss Melissa Velo, she's a fourth grade teacher at Graham, I've had the honor of being in her class early on in the school year. Miss fellow outstanding teacher really amazing classroom structures. very quick pace to the learning at the same time, creating an incredibly warm and safe environment for all her students. She's an outspoken leader at Graham, a strong advocate for both families and students. So please join me in appreciating Ms. Villo. And last but certainly not least, I wanted to appreciate one of our outstanding principals, Ms. Catheerine Ingham-Watters. You've seen her many times here in the board meetings reporting as the NEWMA president, also the principal of Birch Grove Intermediate. Miss Waters is an outstanding instructional leader. She is raised in Newark. I was going to say born and raised, but I don't know for sure if she was technically born in Newark, but has spent her life dedicated to the students and families of Newark. And this year, she's just been doing amazing things, not just supporting all the NEWMA members, but really supporting her staff as they continue to grow and push their own learning, their own professional development, while also supporting students. So please join me in appreciating Ms. Ingham-Watters. And those are our spotlights for this week. Thank you, President Jeon.

[8994] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Superintendent. Next one is School Spotlight, Snowy Elementary. Superintendent Triplett.

[9001] Mark Triplett: Yes. So we, um, as, as you all know, every month we have, um, we spotlight, uh, certain schools this month is, um, a spotlight, um, on snow elementary. And so joining us tonight is the snow elementary principal, another outstanding principal, Ms. Jessica Tomasini, otherwise known as a jet Tomasini. And, um, she's, uh, she's here to share the amazing things that, uh, that are happening at snow. Welcome.

[9032] SPEAKER_27: Thank you, Dr. Triplett, evening members of the board and the Newark community. I'm so happy to have the opportunity to share with all of you the great things happening at Snow Elementary. Here at Snow, our mission is to prepare our students for a successful life by providing a world-class education that supports all children with a thought-provoking, academically rigorous education within a safe, compassionate, and tolerant school. For those of you not familiar with the images here, this is a much-loved mural that we have at the front of our school, and especially during distance learning, it has served as a great backdrop for families who want to have the opportunity to come on campus to take a picture with their child in front of the mural. I especially saw families out there the first week of school and so I know with our school closing this year this is something that many members of our community have expressed they will miss seeing every morning. As you know our California dashboard data is from 2019 because of the pandemic and We at that time are based on this data had some success to celebrate in terms of our chronic absenteeism and suspension rates. However, we recognize that we have much room for growth in terms of our ELA data and math data. And with that in mind, as a staff, we have many reflective and collaborative conversations. We talk about, you know, what our best practices are that are providing successful opportunities for our students and areas where we can improve our practices. Although distance learning does make it challenging to assess our students' Our teachers are finding ways to continue to support our students and supporting their growth virtually. I had the opportunity to check in with one of our second grade teachers last week as we were wrapping up the second trimester and heard one example of some great growth of one of our second graders. It was a student who when we left back in March as he was a first grader, he was stuck at a level four for his DRA or reading level. And last week he was able to pass a level 18. And so that's reflective of growth of seven levels from the DRA test. And that's just one example of a success story that we're seeing during distance learning. Here we go. These are some of our Blizzard Bear students. We are fortunate to have many parents sending pictures into us as we want to document this final year here at Snow. And so we have two of our teachers, Ms. Maggie Bailon and Helen Azusa, are working on a yearbook for us. Although we originally didn't think we'd have a yearbook this year, in light of the news of the merger, our teachers stepped up and wanted to provide this opportunity for our community to celebrate this final year. And so, as you can see here, our students continue to have a lot of opportunities. such as art. We have teachers who provide material pickup days for work including the supplies for art. We're finding ways to celebrate our students and their successes by giving trimester awards and so you see some pictures here of students who received awards in the first trimester and next week we'll have some students coming to pick up their awards and goodie bag and a book for earning a second trimester award. And the goal by the end of the year is that all of our students will have received a trimester award. We had some fun activities still happening this year. Our PTA hosted a pumpkin Decorating Contest. And so you can see some examples of some of the very creative pumpkins that students took pictures of and sent into our PTA members. You also see pictures of students who are celebrating some, there's a student there celebrating his blizzard bear pride wearing his blizzard bear shirt. We still have Spirit Days. In fact, this week is our Read Across America Spirit Week. And so again, families are sending pictures and you see one student there with her for Crazy Hat Day. She had some antlers on her head. We have an amazing dedicated staff here at Snow Elementary. Our teachers go above and beyond in their support of students. Again, finding ways to not only support our students' growth, but also support them in their struggles. We have teachers who are willing to drop supplies off at students' houses if they're not able to pick them up from the school. And just going above and beyond in their in ways to reach out to students and their parents, providing tech training for parents and daycare providers, and really trying to work collaboratively to support students at home. During distance learning, our teachers are able to continue to provide great learning opportunities. And so on the left here, you see some of our kindergartners had a STEAM activity that they had to solve. They had a problem where this gingerbread man needed to find a way across the river. And so you can see there are some of the creative ways that students used tools at home. to make a bridge and so I saw pictures of students using Legos and blocks and DVDs and books. You can see here a picture of a student who used pillows to make a bridge, popsicle sticks, and then students also could draw a picture of their bridge. We also have on the right there an example of a student who was demonstrating the difference between a high pitch and a low pitch and so again they are having great opportunities to learn technology skills, including our youngest students. I'm so proud of the hard work that they're doing during distance learning. Our teachers are continuing to provide support such as graphic organizers. So at the bottom in the center, you see students writing using a graphic organizer. And we also continue to celebrate a variety of cultures. Last month we were celebrating Black History Month. And so you see there an example of a lesson where some students were focusing on poets and they, at the end of that, were writing, had to write their own poem. And we also have teachers going through SEAL training. And so we're in year two of our training. Our kindergarten and first grade teachers in their second year, our second and third grade teachers are in their first year of training, and so on the bottom right there, that's an example of just one of the lessons that a SEAL teacher was using with her students. And let's see, fingers crossed that the volume works on this, but this one here is an example of a student who was who had to write a chant for their lesson. And we recognize that it's important to continue to help students develop their oral language. And so this student used Seesaw to record himself reading his chant. Let's hope the volume works. All right. Teachers also continue to provide ways for our students to work collaboratively with one another. And so I have some examples here on this page. This was our third grade, oh, sorry. This is an example of some students using Jamboard. They were doing some observations and making some predictions regarding light. So these were our first graders. This is an example of our third graders also using Jamboard. This was an activity where students were in a breakout room together. They were learning about government and on the virtual sticky notes here, you can see they were taking notes about what they were learning and then they took that back into their bigger meeting where they talked about it with their peers and had another graphic organizer where they shared their feedback on and their thoughts. And at the bottom here, Some of our fifth and sixth graders had an assignment around Valentine's Day to make kindness collages. And so I was fortunate to receive the kindness collages from that class. And all of the slides had images that demonstrated kindness. We also had students who were assigned a project, a collaborative project where they worked in a group to identify healthy and unhealthy foods. Again, our students have opportunities for art. And so you can see here, some of our fourth graders had to make a blizzard bear, our mascot. And then at the top, you see an example of an interactive virtual classroom. So this is an example of one teacher's math class, where all of those tools that you see in the background, students can click on those tools and use them to support them in their math. And at Snow, we also are a PBIS school. And so on the right there, you can see this is one example of a virtual check-in, check-out that is being used with some students to support them in their goals of attending more virtual meetings and also completing assignments. Our students and staff have Blizzard Bear Pride. Our PTA recently created this lovely shirt that we are currently selling. So for our snow community, if you haven't already ordered your shirt, our PTA is still accepting orders through March 12th. You can email them with the size, either in youth or adult sizes. And then we, outside of our office on the mailbox, we have the order forms hanging there. You can also leave your cash or checks in an envelope made out to SNOW PTA. There's also an option to use Venmo and that's also on the order form. Our PTA this year is raising funds to support teacher appreciation, to provide SNOW scholarships for all graduating seniors who've attended SNOW. So this is for our seniors at the high school. If they graduated from SNOW, then they can apply for a SNOW scholarship. and our PTA is working with the high school to make sure that that will be in place even after we close so that the all the way up until the students who are graduating in sixth grade this year so they will continue to have that opportunity to apply for the scholarship. They're also raising funds to support with sixth grade promotion to provide other school activities and they're also hoping to be able to give all of our snow students some sort of a keepsake at the end of the school year to commemorate their time here at snow. As I shared earlier this is our spirit week this week for Read Across America week. And I want to take this opportunity to thank those of you who visited our classrooms on Tuesday to read to some of our students. I know Dr. Triplett and some of our board members were able to visit some classrooms. I apologize if not everybody was able to have a slot filled. We also had Mayor Alnagie and so I appreciate the support from the community with a Read Across America day. I want to take this time to thank so many people in our community. Our parents especially they've had to really take on a role that none of them ever thought they would have to take on. And so you know the collaboration that we've had with our parents during distance learning has been great. Although I know not frustration free there you know there we're doing our best to support them and our students. We also have parents participating with our school community through ELAC. DLAC, School Site Council, as LCAP reps, and also as members of our design team for part of the merger process. And so I thank everyone who is willing to take time out of their busy days to support our school. Of course, I want to thank our fabulous staff. They, you know, I'm so blessed and fortunate to work with the staff here and They you know again it's we're like family here and so it's been very special to work with all of them. We also have a partnership with the Newark Optimist Club. This is their third year in supporting us with both a grant and then also any other way that we might need their support. I especially want to thank our liaison with the Optimist Club Judy Takubo who prior to the school closure due to the pandemic she was for the last two years volunteering her time. She's a retired teacher but she was volunteering her time to work with some of our students as an extra support in our classrooms and so that was really a great support for our students before we closed. We also have a partnership with the Toluca Association of North America. This is the second year that they donated backpacks to our school and so We do still have backpacks that we plan to give out to our students. We've been sort of waiting to see when we reopen so that we can try to coordinate it in timing of that. But we do have a plan to distribute those out to students as well as some more school supplies. And so we thank them for their support of our students. And then the Newark community, we've been so many different ways. One example is we have a community member who lives in the neighborhood who chose to remain anonymous, got together with family and friends in December and made a very generous donation of boxes of food. And so we were able to give a number of our families food boxes during the holidays. And it was just a great way to provide support to our families and it was much appreciated. As we close here, I just want to say that it has been my pleasure and it's such an honor to be a part of the SNOW community. For those of you who may not know, I started out here at SNOW as a student teacher in Helena Souza's class, and then had an opportunity to work here for many years as a teacher. I also am a part of the community here as a parent, and it's been just such a joy to be able to be the principal here for the last two years. I'm very hopeful that as we close out the school year, we'll be able to find some special and creative ways to safely celebrate the snow community and celebrate the rich history here with our snow community. So with that, I thank all of you for your time tonight.

[10077] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Principal Tomasini for your presentation. I'll open up for board comment. Student member Salameh, I'll let you go first.

[10087] SPEAKER_08: Thank you so much for coming here and showcasing really the resilience and the love and teamwork that there is at Snow. That was very noticeable throughout your presentation. I love seeing all the progress and we appreciate you.

[10103] Bowen Zhang: Any other board members?

[10108] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Principal Martinez. Thank you for all the work you do.

[10112] Bowen Zhang: Principal Tomasini, I guess.

[10115] Cindy Parks: Thank you.

[10116] Aiden Hill: Sorry, sorry, sorry.

[10117] SPEAKER_27: I knew what you meant.

[10119] Aiden Hill: Member Nguyen.

[10121] Phuong Nguyen: Mrs. Tomasini, I just wanted to say thank you to you and your staff for all the hard work that you guys have been doing at Snow Elementary. And also would like to thank Mr. Bellotto for organizing and scheduling all of our Read Across America to read to your students this week. And I had the pleasure of being in reading to Mrs. Palomino's class and her students were wonderful. They were very fun and very engaging and great listeners, obviously. And they had wonderful questions to ask. And so the community that you have there at Snow is a wonderful community. And there's a lot of love for the students and the families there. So we just want to thank you because you're a big part of that.

[10172] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Any other board members?

[10178] Elisa Martinez: Yes, go ahead. Ms. Tomasini, thank you so much for being here and sharing. I got the opportunity to read as well to your kiddos, and they're great. They had some tough questions for me, actually. So I understand, and all of us do, that this has not only been a tough year because of everything that's going on with regards to the pandemic, but in addition, obviously, this merger and what it means to their beloved school site. So, you know, thank you for really showing that leadership. And I look at you and you've got this just, you know, this clear strength, but you've got this kind of like warmth about you that that's what really your community really needs right now. So thank you so much for everything that you do.

[10235] Bowen Zhang: Hey, Member Guendel.

[10236] Terrence Grindall: Yes, I just want to echo my fellow board members' comments. Thank you very much for the presentation and all the work you do. It really does shine through your presentation, and we really appreciate everything you do. Thank you.

[10249] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I want to echo other board members' comments as well. And particularly, Member Guendel and I both belong to the Optimist Club. We had a very healthy relationship with Snow Elementary. And in addition, two days ago, I also got a chance to read third grade and fourth grade class in Snow Elementary. And your kids asked me a lot of interesting questions. My professional background in particular, they asked me how I went through the Asia SARS pandemic in 2003 under four months of lockdown. That was a lot of interesting discussion asking me because I was just two or three years older than them in 2003. So interesting discussion, definitely. OK, thank you for the presentation. And we'll move on to the next item, which is public comment on non-agenda items. Ms. Gutierrez, any public speakers?

[10305] SPEAKER_46: Yes, we do have, I believe, three speakers. And Mr. Rose, if you could please allow Cheryl Goguen, please.

[10319] SPEAKER_22: Hello, can you hear me OK?

[10320] Bowen Zhang: Yes, welcome.

[10322] SPEAKER_22: Hi. Good evening members of the board and those listening at home. As many you know I'm frustrated with the constant changes in the district and how they are impacting students. Most recently the decision to not offer kindergarten at music next year or in English only kindergarten at Schilling. The district has since reached out to let me know that they are re-evaluating the kindergarten situation at Schilling and will give a final decision once I see enrollment numbers. I'm hopeful that things will work out favorably. This however brings up my main concern. Communication. I should not have learned about the possible changes to Schilling's kindergarten offering through another parent. This news should have been announced by the district prior to registration opening. Dual language instruction is a great asset to the district, but there's still going to be lots of families in the Schilling boundary that for one reason or another need an English only class. Boundaries haven't been redrawn, so where are those kids going? Those questions should have been asked and answered before decisions were made and before priority registration opened last month. As for music not offering kindergarten, it's an understandable change since the school is closing at the end of the next year. Still, the changes to the kindergarten offering at music were not announced publicly by the district. The only people who knew were the few that attended a meeting last month on the matter or those that have heard through word of mouth. It was only this week that the information to be found on music's dojo page via YouTube recap of the February 18th meeting. Don't you think the families in the music elementary boundary who have kindergarten aged children should have known about this change before the opening of priority registration? And I'd like to add, especially those who have children already in the district and we're hoping to have, you know, their younger siblings attend the same school. It certainly seems logical enough to me to have given that information earlier. When you choose to send your child to school, you expect to know where they will be attending, at least for a few years. Please do not keep people in the dark. Provide this information for the benefit of families who are in the district already and those looking to move here. There's a few new neighborhoods in our district and I myself live in one of them and I can tell you that many of my neighbors have concerns about the district and are choosing to send their children to private school or are moving out of their community when their young children get to be school aged. A lack of transparency does nothing to give potential new families confidence in our public school system. On a related matter, I wish to condemn the censoring that has happened in the district social media page recently. Some comments were made by parents who had concerns about the return to in-person instruction. These comments were deleted by the district, which, at least as far as I understand, is illegal since the school districts are a part of local government and it is against First Amendment rights for federal, state, or local government to censor the internet. Parents have a voice and we need to be heard. When you call the district's office, you're now prompted to give your name so that they know who's calling even before they pick up. I worry that screening phone calls is another way to evade responding to parents' concerns. I should not need to write a letter and circulate it through the district in order to have my concerns heard and responded in a timely fashion. Please do better for the families and children in Newark. Be transparent, communicate clearly, and through official channels. Thank you.

[10506] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Ms. Cogan. Next speaker, please.

[10521] SPEAKER_46: Sorry, I had to stop sharing so I can unmute. OK, the next speaker we have is Nancy Thomas. Nancy, you may begin.

[10532] Bowen Zhang: Welcome. Nancy, you're on mute. I think you're still on mute.

[10546] Nancy Thomas: OK, can you start the clock again? OK. Okay, thanks for the opportunity to speak to you this evening. Have any of you joined the Facebook group called, you know, you're from Newark if dot dot dot? Well, if not, I suggest you check it out. A recent post shows a 1970 newspaper clip announcing Principal Irv Herd's retirement. One comment said, quote, he was a good man. He really should have expelled me. But he gave me a break. Great respect. Many longtime Newark residents have fond memories of our schools and their principals and their teachers. I remember the excitement when the city celebrated its 50th birthday. Jan Crocker and I published a booklet that shows a timeline of 150 years of educating Newark children, and it has photos of our schools and the people after which they were named. We recently updated it, and we will share copies with you. Speaking of the city celebrating its history, examples include the naming of Shirley Sisk Grove and the Sue Johnson Park after longtime city council members. Newark mayors Dave Smith and Al Nagy will have the new Civic Center and the library buildings named after them. I believe a community meeting room in the library is slated to be named in honor of Jean Ficklin, a beloved Newark retired teacher who has led an annual Martin Luther King remembrance celebration at the First Presbyterian Church. While the city's rich history continues to be celebrated, we seem to be moving away from celebrating the rich history of our Newark schools. Schools named after district and city leaders James Bunker and Louis Malani were renamed following the Bunker-Malani merger. Parents have been told that Graham School will be renamed following the closure of Snow School and its merger with Graham. Snow is named for Henry Snow, one of Newark's most famous citizens. He founded the Snow Museum of Natural Sciences in Oakland, and now the Oakland Museum, which is now the Oakland Museum. Graham School is named after James Graham, who designed and produced the Wedgwood stoves here in town. I hope the district will retain Graham's name, or at least combine the two names to Graham Snow School. as the district did when it merged Newark High School with Memorial High School and renamed the school Newark Memorial High School. School names are not the only changes in the wind. I understand there is a move to homogenize and rebrand our schools by standardizing individual school colors. Please, please do not let decisions like this happen without your input and the input of the community. Let's celebrate the district's history and culture. Let's not diminish it. Thank you.

[10717] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Mrs. Thomas. Next speaker.

[10725] SPEAKER_46: Thank you. And the next speaker, sorry, next speaker is Eric Tam.

[10738] Bowen Zhang: You're on mute. Mr. Tam, you can begin.

[10742] SPEAKER_20: Hi, hello. Hello, my name is Eric Tam and I live in the Bayshore community in Newark. Our homeschool is Schilling Elementary. Thank you for this opportunity to speak today at the Education Board meeting and thank Dr. Triplett for visiting us back in October of 2020. I wanted to start sharing a personal story. Back in the fall of 2019, there were five Bayshore families that had children in the Schilling Kindergarten class. We all met at the meet and greet event with Dr. Wendy. Unfortunately, within a few weeks of the school, the first family pulled their child from NUSD. By the end of the kindergarten, two more families pulled their children from NUSD. Today, only 40% of that cohort is still in NUSD from Bayshore. Why am I sharing this with the members today? NUSD has an enrollment problem, as stated by this group on previous board meetings. The Bayside Development Area, also known as the Dumbarton Transit Oriental Development, is one of the largest new home constructions in Newark, and one of the best opportunities for NUSD to bring in much-needed young families. There have been many stories shared about this board and superintendent in various media channels. However, the straw that broke my back to speak out was that the Bayshore families were thrown into chaos and confusion this past week. This week, the Bayshore families found out that their children might not have a kindergarten to go to in the upcoming fall of 2021. We found out there would be a dual immersion kinder program, but only based on passing a language interview. We also found out that music will also not be offering a kindergarten due to closure decision of this group. So Bayshore's homeschool and next available school would not be available to us. And as a latest update, it depends on the numbers. Regardless, did we find out from an official communication from the district or the schools? No, it was a Bayshore mom warning other parents. Why were parents not notified earlier about the impact of music closure and the decision to offer a dual immersion kindergarten program at Schilling without an English only option? I do not know whose role it is to make sure this doesn't happen, but pretty sure texting principals late at night about rumors isn't really the best way to find out. The Bayshore's families love the teachers and principals that have taught their children. However, we're losing trust in this group. Can NUSD afford to lose all the young families from our communities? I hope this group will take concrete steps by proactively sending out transparent communication, take accountability of their decisions, and address rumors and confusion head on. Thank you.

[10888] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Mr. Tan. Is that it, Ms. Gutierrez?

[10897] SPEAKER_46: That is it for this agenda item, but I just wanted to give you the heads up, President, that we do have a speaker for the next item. OK.

[10907] Bowen Zhang: So. Before we move on to the next item, superintendent report, I guess we have one speaker, so let's welcome the speaker.

[10918] SPEAKER_46: Yes, the speaker is Juan Carlos Zarate.

[10928] Bowen Zhang: You're on mute, okay, thank you. You may begin, welcome.

[10934] SPEAKER_26: Thank you. Good evening board members and Dr. Triplett. My name is Carlos Zarate. I am a seventh grader at the junior high and a former Graham school student. I'm here to speak on behalf of the students of Snow and Graham. I want to address item 11.1, superintendent's report. I have been listening to board meetings and attending town halls where Dr. Triplett has shared a timeline for the merger of Graham and Snow. Many of my fellow friends are worried because to this date, their teachers have not been informed what grade they are going to teach next year or what they should expect when they return to school. That is if we are returning this year. To this day, our community doesn't know who the principal will be. I am worried that issues like these will cause additional mental and emotional stress to students, which includes my little brother. Board members, I urge you to be more involved in this process and listen to the community and staff who are affected by this. Thank you.

[10994] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Carlos. Superintendent Triplett, I'll give the floor to you.

[11002] Mark Triplett: All right. Thank you, President Chung, and thank you to all the public commenters as well. We'll start my superintendent report. All right, so this is the superintendent report for March 4th. I'd like to talk to the board about number one, some updates essentially around our equity initiative, enrollment, merger update, and then reopening and COVID-19. First, I'll start with our equity initiative and give a brief update. We had our secondary teacher professional development day on March 1st, and it was very well attended. Large focus on our SEL curriculum that was just adopted by the board. So there was a significant training around character strong. And then as well, we had a really inspirational keynote speaker, Dee Lanier, who spoke about social justice and equity in teaching and really got everybody very engaged in his session. He also did a session later on during the day, like a workshop session as well. In terms of enrollment, I wanted to give the regular update here. So you see that this on the far right is the most recent snapshot of our enrollment as of yesterday. And you can see that our total for yesterday, we were at 4, excuse me, 5,497 students, a slight dip of four students from when last reported last month. And you can see if you just match up the numbers where we've actually gained a few students in some schools and then also lost a few students in some other ones. So always trying to keep an eye on this, even though for the upcoming year, we will not be held, we'll be held harmless in terms of enrollment. It clearly is gonna have an impact the following year. And so we need to make sure that we're continuing to think about how we not just no longer lose enrollment, but also how we strive to increase enrollment. I've shared this with the board in the last couple of sessions, but just wanted to go over where we are in the registration process. And there are some minor changes, well, some modifications Number one, if you recall, we opened up the dual language immersion application process on February 8th. We've had significant interest on the part of the community, not just around Schilling, but throughout the whole city. We've made a decision to leave open the application process for the dual language, because we want to make sure that we continue to engage all of the community in the option of applying. I would like to take the opportunity here to speak a little bit about some rumors that have been spreading around no English kindergarten or first grade at Schilling for this upcoming year. We do plan on having a kinder and first grade English program at Schilling for the upcoming school year. So I just want to put that to rest. The numbers clearly indicate that there is an interest in both dual immersion and the English cohort. So that will be the case. And we'll continue to welcome students into either one of those programs. Also, just want to remind everyone that the TK programs are district-wide, regardless of what school they're in. And so all of those are English. They're not dual language. So you see we have the priority window is closing next week. And after that, we will take stock of the enrollment to date. We'll make sure that everyone who has registered has the options that they've registered for. And that will give us a sense then of what spaces are still available and make sure that we are we are properly staffed across the district. And then that enrollment process will open back up on March 22nd and then we will continue to to place parents and families as they as they register. But the priority window is really what we are encouraging everyone to register for because that ensures that people are getting their first choice. In terms of our engagements with community about registration. So this is a list I showed you last time of all the different engagements that have occurred around enrollment, answering questions. These engagements have been really well attended. We've had both English and Spanish. And then just wanted to highlight that we continue to have engagements around registration and next year. So upcoming on March 8th is a follow up to their registration meeting last week. So this is a high school course selection question and answer session that they're gonna hold. And then we also have ParentVUE registration workshops on March 5th, that's tomorrow, and next week, and then also on the 24th. Shifting, whoops, excuse me, shifting gears a little bit to the merger. I wanna give you a regular update on the merger that we do every board meeting now. We've been moving along with our action items that I shared with you at a previous board meeting. So these are the February actions that have been completed. We have been meeting regularly with the design team. All of the work of the design team is then published and the meeting notes are published after every session in both English and Spanish. It's posted on the board, excuse me, posted on our website, as well as shared via email with both staff and communities of both Snow and Graham. We were able to finalize the design budget that the board had a chance to look at at a previous session. We have confirmed our after school programming at the Merge School. We began in last week to engage the design team around the school naming process. And then we will continue to do that in the upcoming months. And we'll be happy to share that with the board as well. We did begin student recruitment. The updated boundaries and boundary maps have been done for the Snow Graham area. We did hold meetings with staff regarding staffing process that was teachers and we had an initial tech walkthrough at the Graham. And then we've done some preliminary classroom utilization work and that's going to continue in the following month, so these in March, our tasks from the from our Gantt chart so. We continue with our design team meetings. We've divided into work groups in the design team. One work group focused on mission and vision of the school, one work group focused on the instructional model, and one work group focused on school culture. And we will also begin working on the site plan. this month, and then of course, engage the school site council and the ELACs also in the site planning process. We're gonna begin joint staff meetings this month, and that's per request of the staff at both the schools. Continue the community naming process. We will begin the leadership selection process this month. We'll be meeting with non-teaching staff about staffing. finalizing, communicate the class utilization, and then finalize our facilities improvement list, develop specifications for moving, and then also determine furniture needs for the upcoming school year. So shifting gears a little bit to reopening. So as you recall, these are the programs that we currently have running, including athletics, cadango, at two sites and Think Together, we now have operating at both Schilling and the junior high school. And then in development, we'll continue to develop a learning hub model and as well as laying plans for an additional Think Together program and childcare, which we anticipate opening at eight schools once the county is in the red tier and it's been 10 days. Continuing about the reopening, we did have a town hall meeting on the 22nd of February regarding the reopening. It was extremely well attended. Over 500 people attended the meeting. We then had the same meeting in Spanish this week. Over 125 people attended. And then we're planning our next meeting around reopening on March 9th. and that'll be in both English and Spanish. And at that meeting, we will share out the results to date around the commitment form that we sent out to families. We have over 2,300 respondents to the commitment form thus far. And so we wanna feedback, share out the results of that commitment form to the community. I'll just give you a little preview. Right now it is looking like the community voice thus far is around 50-50. in terms of families who want to return to in-person learning and families who want to stay in distance learning. And that's significant because the way that we've structured and designed our phase one of our reopening is exactly for that purpose, that if we have 50% of our students wanting to return and 50% still wanting to stay in distance learning, then our phase one structure is well set up to do that. In terms of COVID-19, so as you all know, vaccines have been, vaccinations have been moving forward. We are in phase 1B, which includes educators and childcare workers. The next two days, today and tomorrow, the federal government has, in coordination with the state, has created an educator days at the Collins Open Coliseum. So that means they've set aside these days for educators to be vaccinated. And they asked us to share out all of our staff and be able to give to staff the codes for the ability to be vaccinated. So that's happening, that happened today and tomorrow. And then we anticipate more days like that in the future. And then in addition, we are in the process of working with some other partners that this has occurred in other districts as well. some pharmacies, some healthcare providers who are very interested in supporting us with with vaccinations of our staff. And then of course we continuing with COVID-19 testing our next date for BCH to be testing on our facilities is March 26. And oops, I think there was, oh, and then lastly, just wanna express, it's already been mentioned this evening, but the excitement around Read Across America Day, I had the pleasure of going to Graham Elementary in the morning for an assembly, just fantastic energy, really, really wonderful. And then also had the pleasure of going to Ms. Sosa's class at Snow and reading to those students, and then also Mr. Kaye's class at Kennedy, and it was wonderful. And I just wanna thank the board members who also were able to to do that at different school sites. And that is the superintendent report for this evening.

[11788] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Student member Salemi, any questions and comments?

[11794] SPEAKER_08: I just want to thank Dr. Triplett for his very detailed report, as always, and his and his staff's work around opening childcare when it's safe enough to do so, because we know how important that is.

[11806] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Member Hill?

[11810] Aiden Hill: Yeah, I had three questions for Dr. Triplett. So first question is on dual language immersion. So, or actually first two. So how many kids have we enrolled so far in DLA, DLI, and also by grade level? So do you know that off the top of your head?

[11831] Mark Triplett: I'm sorry, I don't have those numbers off the top of my head, but I can say the dual language is going to be strictly in kindergarten and first grade for this upcoming year. And I believe we have approximately, at this point, around 26 to 30 students enrolled in the kindergarten already. And approximately the same amount in the first grade, but I don't have the exact numbers off the top of my head. I'm sorry.

[11857] Aiden Hill: Okay. And then do you know how many of those are from Newark and then how many are transfer in

[11864] Mark Triplett: I don't know how many are transferred in. No, I do know that we have both families from the Schilling area and then also families from the larger Newark area, but I'm not sure about transfers from out of the out of the city.

[11881] Aiden Hill: OK, I mean, if you at some point, if if you could find that out, that would be great. And then the last question was on the snow gram update. One of the bullet items was about the budget, and you said that the budget had been finalized, and I just wanted to confirm, was that the budget that we had reviewed all together, you know, a few weeks ago, or have there been some updates, changes to that?

[11907] Mark Triplett: Right, no, yeah, that's that's the that budget that you that you reviewed. We didn't, we haven't made any moves in terms of the optional items on there just to be clear so the, the board didn't vote on those that I think that the board express interest in those but before we move forward with any of that we would bring that back for a board vote. And that budget is, it's really the merger budget, but it's not the school site budget for the upcoming year. Those have not been finalized yet, but we do anticipate those coming out in the next month, month and a half. Okay, great.

[11940] Aiden Hill: Thank you. Sure.

[11941] Bowen Zhang: Other questions on the board members.

[11946] Terrence Grindall: This is Superintendent Triplett. I'm assuming that good news about Schilling having an English language program is going to get out to the community down in Bay Shores and other parts of that enrollment area?

[11962] Mark Triplett: Yes, so we have been communicating that, but our plan, I spoke to the principal, I believe it was today actually, about a plan of actually having some engagements with the Bayshore community. We have met with them in the fall. And so this is a perfect timing to move back and have a town hall with that community so that we can answer any questions and concerns.

[11991] Terrence Grindall: Thank you.

[11994] Bowen Zhang: So I got a question. Does the board need to vote on the new name for the Merced Elementary School?

[12000] Mark Triplett: Yes, yes, it does. So I can speak more to the process. I could give you the full process at a future board meeting. But essentially, what we've done is drafted a process, which we've then run by the design team. And when I say process, I mean how the criteria will be built for what makes a good name. And that's not on our part, but that's really on the design team's part, the team made up of parents, teachers and school leaders from both schools. They're gonna help build the criteria. And then there's a process of them engaging almost like in a, like a call for names, if you will, where students, teachers, families, community members can submit ideas for a new name. And then from there, the design team will look at all those names, cull them down, to a certain amount and then put them out for back out to the community for the community to vote on on the very best names and then those that whatever the community votes on will be brought back to the design team design team will do a final vetting process and then they'll bring that to the board so that the board is able to ultimately make a decision on the school name.

[12082] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so I hope the board can also have some input when it comes to what kind of name the board want to see in the Merge Elementary School, because I'm pretty sure some board member might have some ideas about the naming of the school.

[12095] Mark Triplett: Terrific. If the board would like, we could build that into a future board meeting, the board weighing in on the criteria.

[12104] Bowen Zhang: Yeah. Does any other board member think this is a good idea, that we also provide input on the naming of the new school? Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah, that's all my question. Any other questions on the board?

[12118] Phuong Nguyen: I do have one. Okay. Superintendent Triplett, could you please explain the process for the new leadership selection process for the merger?

[12135] Mark Triplett: Yeah, we haven't finalized that yet, so we haven't communicated that to anybody. It's not final, but I'd be happy to communicate that to you when we have completed it. Our intention is to do that this month.

[12148] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, thank you.

[12151] Bowen Zhang: Okay, thank you, Superintendent, for the update. Moving on next, old business, governance handbook updates. So this is a thing regarding, this is about the board itself, updating its governance handbook. And we had the study session two weeks ago to discuss this. And obviously there are other items that we didn't have time to discuss that will probably be reserved for future special meetings. So we'll be discussing the remaining items. Today's items are all the things that we agreed upon two weeks ago. And I do want to apologize why last time I was talking about the criteria for the president rotation list I sent out to miss criteria when it comes to this I said in the same, you have to remember I like at the same time the one that one you know regular election is, is being having seniority over the one in the specially elected person when I when I said that I was, I was talking about, if you're electing a regular four year election that's considered a regular election if you're electing a two year election I still consider that a special elections so when I'm in that I'm in the member window was elected in a special election, even though the timing happened on the same election. So due to that, I think, uh, if I define the, that's the way I define the regular and the special election that I talked about two weeks ago on our governor's humble member, he'll should have seniority over member Grinnell because member Grinnell was elected in a two year special election. So, uh, does this sound okay to the rest of the board?

[12243] Aiden Hill: That's what I understood. We agreed to.

[12244] Bowen Zhang: Yeah. I, because I wasn't talking about a specially scheduled election. I was talking about. election that elected to less than two year term, which, yeah.

[12253] Terrence Grindall: Yeah, that's what I understand. But we may want to make the language match that because what what instead of saying special election, you should say a full term versus less than a full term.

[12265] Bowen Zhang: So the reason I use that is I was sparring the Georgia runoff Senate election because we call that one special election, one regular election. And the regular term winner is the senior senator right now from Georgia. And the two-term one is the junior senator. OK, so I guess if the board understand that correctly, then I guess the only correction on the handbook is Member Grundahl will have lower seniority than Member Hill. So Member Hill will be the president in 2023. So that's the only correction I want to change. And I guess we agreed upon on these things two weeks ago. Any other discussion on Member Hill?

[12304] Aiden Hill: Yeah, so I just wanted to confirm that the document that was posted out there, that where we saw the highlights, that those were the changes. And so that's where we're approving. But anything else, there wasn't any change to the language. Is that correct?

[12320] Bowen Zhang: Correct. And then we'll have a special election going forward. OK, perfect. To schedule the remaining items. So these are the ones we agreed upon two weeks ago. OK, perfect. Thank you. Any other discussions? If not, I will call for a motion. I will move to adopt, I will move to update the board governance handbook. May I get a second?

[12346] Aiden Hill: I second.

[12346] Bowen Zhang: Okay, moved by myself, seconded by member Hill. Student member Salami, how do you vote? Yes. Member Martinez?

[12359] Julienne Sumodobila: Yes.

[12363] Bowen Zhang: Member Guendon? Yes. Member Hill? Yes.

[12368] Phuong Nguyen: Member Nguyen? Yes.

[12370] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously. The board governance handbook has been updated as of now. Thank you, everyone. We'll have a special meeting going forward to resolve the remaining issues. Moving on, 13.1, new business, 13.1, 2020 to 21, second interim budget report. Superintendent Triplett.

[12394] Mark Triplett: Thank you, members, John. So we're pleased to present our second interim report. This is a product of a significant amount of work on the on the part of Miss Dela Cruz and her team. And there's you'll you'll see in there and you'll hear from Miss Dela Cruz. There is there's good news. And then there's also things that we very much need to stay attentive to and and be aware of in the out years. So I will turn it over to Miss Dela Cruz.

[12423] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Good evening, President Zhang and board members. I'm going to share my screen here. Does everybody see that? OK, I'm pleased to present to you our second interim financial report this evening. Whoops. And just to review, the second interim report covers the period from July 1st through January 31st of each year. If you recall, the first interim was through October 31st. And this report is submitted to the Alameda County Office of Education, and it's required to be submitted by March 15th. It includes a multi-year projection for the current year and the two subsequent years. So the report covers the 2021 through 22-23. And it provides an update of our financial status since I presented the first interim report. And as part of this report, the board has to certify whether the report is positive, qualified, or negative. Positive certification means that the district will be able to meet its financial obligations in the current year and the two subsequent years. Qualified certification means that the district may not be able to make its financial obligations either in the current year or in the two subsequent years. And a negative certification means that the district will not be able to make its financial obligations for the remainder of the current year or the subsequent year. So first of all, reviewing our enrollment and our ADA. Historically, for the last, at least in the last 10 years, We've been experiencing a decline in our enrollment. Enrollment and ADA is directly tied to our funding. Unfortunately, the trend continues this year. Our enrollment as of the February CALPADS certification was 5,503 students, which is 128 less than our enrollment last year, which was 5,631. And our ADA, which is our average daily attendance, historically has been about 97% of enrollment. So when you look at this chart, that's what that gap is. So the blue line is our enrollment, and then the red line is the actual attendance rate, so the average daily attendance of our students. Some of the major changes since first interim in revenues has included a 296,000 increase in our local control funding formula, which is in the supplemental and concentration funds. I did include it here. It was based on our efforts through the more than a meal campaign where we were able to capture more of our unduplicated pupil counts and in our free and reduced meal programs. This is still pending final certification in June, but it is included in the revenues as a second interim. And there's also an increase in federal funds, which includes prior year reimbursements for the medical administrative program. We didn't think we were going to get any more, but there's still some audits and reimbursement claims that they're going through. So we have 48,000 more since first interim. And then in the restricted program, we have about 346,000 more in local grants that we didn't include in our first interim. So we have a first five. grant and the electric buses. We got a donation from Fremont Bank, as well as a differentiated assistance program. In terms of our expenditures, some of the major changes since our first interim report includes about $728,000 in savings in salaries from unfilled, certificated, and classified vacancies and some offsets that we were able to get from the learning loss mitigation funds, the one-time monies. So as of January 31st, this is a reflection of the savings from unfilled positions. And then on the benefit side, there's 467,000 related to the salaries, as well as some reduction in our other post-employment benefit rates and our workers' compensation rates. There was an increase in other operating costs and services of about $688,000, which includes some one-time legal expenses. So in summary, in terms of our restricted funds, We have about 55.3 million in revenues as a second interim and expenditures of 45.7 million. So revenues less the expenditures is 9.6 million. But then we also contribute to our special ed program as well as a required routine restricted maintenance program of 9.1 million. So our net increase and decrease in fund balance as a second interim is actually 541,000 as compared to the deficit that we were projecting at first interim of 254,000. How that impacts our fund balance and our reserves. We had a beginning fund balance of $6,169,000. And when you add the increase of the $541,000, we are projecting an ending fund balance of $6,710,000. And of that ending fund balance, we do have a nonspendable designation of $100,000. I did put the $296,000. As a carryover because we probably will not be able to budget that amount based on the more than a meal campaign because we're still waiting for certification in june So that leaves us with a reserve Of six million three hundred and fourteen thousand which represents nine percent of our total expenditures So that's an improvement of uh, one percentage point because at first interim we were projecting an eight percent reserve And yeah, the 8% was 5,815,000 at first interim. And then in our multi-year projections, the assumptions include cost of living adjustment in 21-22 of 3.84% and 1.28% in 22-23. If you recall, at first interim, we did not have a cost of living adjustment in our assumptions. Because at that time, that was the assumption that was given to us by the state. And so that's a major change in our assumptions. And then enrollment, we included a 1% decline from this year into the two out years based on our historical trend. At first interim, we were just kind of looking at a flat enrollment. So even though I think our enrollment rate has declined at a much deeper rate, 1% at this time is what we have put in our assumption. So the way that impacts our ADA, if you take 97%, of our enrollment, our projected enrollment. That's where you get our projected ADA of the 5,285 for 21-22 and 5,233 for 22-33. That represents 97% of the projected enrollment. But what is funded in terms of ADA, the state has given us a hold harmless for this year which is actually based on last year's ADA, the 5,482, and also next year. So our ADA will be the same next year, the 5,482, which is based on the 1920 ADA. But in the following year, it will be the 5,285. So that's where we're gonna have a significant change in our funding. The lottery pretty much stays the same, and we did receive one-time CARES Act money this year, so that will not be included in next year's budget. However, we are expecting to receive another round of the emergency fund, what's called the ESSER funds of 1.8 million. And in 2022-23, At this time, we are not expecting any one-time monies. And then on the expenditure side, the STRS and the PERS rates continue to go up from 16% this year for STRS to 18% in 22-23. I mean in STRS and then PERS going from 20% to 26% in 22-23. We have our step and column increases. This is an automatic increase on the salary schedule. for certificated, it's about 1.65% in the next couple of years. And then for classified, it's about 0.92%. There's also on top of that, a salary increase that we had settled with our NTA as well as our CSCA members, 1% this year. And then there's a 2.5% next year, which is the effective rate will be done in two stages. The 1% will be applied July 1st, 2021. And then the one and a half will be applied in February 1st, 2022. There's health and welfare benefits for CSCA estimated at 2% increase a year. And then the estimated savings from our school consolidations next year, the 561 represents one school And then the following year, the 1 million represents the two schools. And when we get the revenues on the one-time CARES Act, we also budget the expense side. So that amount is the same, the 4.2 and the 1.8 for next year. And then this year, we do have one-time legal expenses of 497,000. And then we included savings from the solar project, which is, Estimated to be completed around fall of 21-22. So the savings are included for the following year, 145,000. So how that impacts our multi-year projection, in the 21-22 school year, you will see that we're projected to end in a surplus of about 1.5% to 6 million at 1.3 million. But in the following year, because of the dip in ADA, again, we see a deficit of 819,000. Our fund balance and our reserves will increase next year to 7.9 million. and that represents 15% of our reserve for economic uncertainties. But in the following year, because of the deficit, it will decrease our ending fund balance down to about 7.1, 7.2 million, which is 14% of total expenditures. And again, in looking at our reserves specifically, um, from the general fund, as well as in fund 17, this year, we will end with a 12% reserve combined between the two funds. And then in, uh, the two out years in 21, 22 were projected to have a 15%. And then down to 14% in 22, 23. Our goal is to build our reserves to 17%, which is about $11.5 million based on expenditures of $68 million. So based on this projection, by the second year out, we'll be up $2 million shy of reaching that goal. We have other funds such as adult ed, child development, our cafeteria fund. We have that special reserve for emergency purposes. Our building fund, which is our measure G, and then the capital facilities, which is the developer fees, fund 25. And then fund 40, the special reserve for capital outlay, which is also known as the Russian fund. And then the bond interest and redemption fund and our self-insurance fund. So total combined, all these funds, the ending fund balance is about 51.7 million. So what lies ahead? We are expecting to hear from the governor again in May, where he normally presents any revisions to his January proposal that will come out sometime around May 10th. And then we're already starting as soon as I completed the second interim report. Now we're on to the 21-22 proposed budget that will be presented in June. And then our plan to increase reserves to 17% will be presented to the board at a future board meeting. So in summary, based on our current year projections, we will end up with a surplus of about 541,000. Our multi-year projection shows us a balanced budget and a surplus in 21-22, but again, a deficit in 22-23 of about 819,000. And that's with the assumption of the 3.84% COLA and the 1.8% for the two out years. So we are able to meet our minimum 3% Our reserve is actually much higher than that. So at this point, staff does recommend a positive certification for our second interim financial report.

[13451] Bowen Zhang: Thank you for the presentations. Are there any public comments on this?

[13461] SPEAKER_46: No public comments.

[13462] Bowen Zhang: Okay, then I'll bring back to the board. Student Member Salami, any questions and comments? Okay, I'll open up for the rest of the board. Member Hill.

[13477] Aiden Hill: So thank you, Ms. Teva Cruz, for the very thorough work. It's greatly appreciated. A few questions, and this actually comes from your more detailed report. So on page 31, There was a line item for professional consulting services for $621,000. I wanted to get maybe a little an increase in that, and I wanted to get a little bit more detail around that. And then on page 34, there were increases in certificated and classified. I wanted to get a little more picture on that. And then you'd mentioned the one time legal fees of 497 K, but then I was noticing in your multi year projections that we're like expecting zero or at least we're project we're projecting zero. And I'm just curious, you know, if, if, if that's a realistic assumption, just if we looked at kind of past history. So, and I can repeat any of those questions if, if need be.

[13540] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, I'm sorry, Mr. Hill. For some reason, I didn't hear the first part of your questions and comments. I heard the latter part about the legal fees.

[13552] Aiden Hill: Okay, no problem. So, so if you could give a little bit more detail this is from your, your more detailed report. So on page 31 there is a line item that talks about professional consulting services and it's it's indicating that there was an increase in roughly 621,000 dollars and I'd like to get a little bit more detail on that and then on page 34 an increase in certificated and classified spending and wanted to get a little bit more detail on that and then the legal fees you know the question is we saw the 497 one time is it realistic to assume going forward in the multi-year project projections that we're going to have zero there or should we even though it won't look great, should we project something there just to be more realistic and not be surprised?

[13604] Bowen Zhang: I think the professional sort of, that's a decrease, not an increase, if I'm not wrong, if I read it correctly. Ms.

[13610] Aiden Hill: de la Cruz?

[13612] Marie dela Cruz: I'm trying to look at the book, because I think you're referring to the book, right?

[13616] Aiden Hill: Yes.

[13617] Marie dela Cruz: Okay, so page 31. I mean, if, is this something that you'd like me to address tonight?

[13629] Aiden Hill: Well, yeah, I mean, if you can, if it's more complicated, you know, maybe we could have a follow up or maybe you could provide more detail, but just would like to get a sense. It seems like we're spending a lot more in professional consulting services. And so we'd want to get a kind of a better understanding of where that spend is going.

[13650] Mark Triplett: If it's OK, member Hill, if we can do a little looking into that and then sure.

[13656] Aiden Hill: Yeah, that and then also on page 34 the certificated and classified spending. There's increases there if we could get a little bit more detail. And then just the last one, which I'm hoping that maybe you can answer, you know, because it's a higher level, is we've got one-time legal fees of 497 this year, but multi-year projection, we're saying zero. Is that a realistic forecast, or should we maybe put a placeholder in there, even though it might make the numbers look worse? But if it's something that we realistically think from a prior trend is occurring, that we should put a placeholder for that.

[13696] Marie dela Cruz: In terms of the legal fees, these are actually one-time legal fees and referring to settlements, which isn't really a trend. This year was unusual in that we did have a couple of legal expenses based on some settlements we had to resolve. And so I I understand what you're saying, but there really isn't a historical trend. This year was really unusual.

[13728] Aiden Hill: OK, I understand. OK, thank you.

[13732] Marie dela Cruz: And then I will look into those other questions you have specifically and get back to you.

[13740] Aiden Hill: But thank you for all your work.

[13742] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Any other questions?

[13749] Elisa Martinez: I have a question, if I may. President Young. Thank you. Ms.dela Cruz, do we have any updates or any rumblings out there about special ed funding? Again, you did share the over $9 million in transfers from the general fund. You went through and told us how, explained to everyone how we're funded. But at the end of all of that, then we take over $9 million and transfer it out to routine maintenance and special ed. But I also, in the interim report, it's about 80% of those $9 million, about $7 million is going to special ed, meaning the whole underfunded issue. And so, I mean, a huge, huge drain on the general fund. Any sense of what the federal government is saying about funding?

[13813] Marie dela Cruz: Unfortunately, our special ed program has continued to be insufficiently funded. And I mean, the only thing I'm hearing is because the president, the first lady has some interest in providing more funding for special ed that we might see something, but nothing for sure yet. And I know the state has tried to make improvements and they have, but it hasn't been that significant, unfortunately, to provide all the funding that we need. And yes, of that 9 million that we contribute, 7 million of that is for our special education program. And then the 2 million is the routine restricted maintenance, which is based on 3% of our total expenditures. And that's also a requirement.

[13868] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. I was just curious if there was any news of some potential additional funding on that front. Thank you.

[13875] Mark Triplett: Yeah, if I could add, it's long overdue on the part of the federal government to be adequately funding special ed programs. And it is, unfortunately, typical and standard of all districts to be utilizing general purpose dollars or other dollars to be augmenting the special ed fund. So we hope that we see a change in that in the future.

[13917] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill?

[13919] Aiden Hill: Sorry, I promise, last question. So Ms. Delacruz, one other question, or the last question for me. So I know that the governor has now been in the process, and I don't know if it's even been passed yet or not, or if it's still, you know, it's close to being passing, but they're trying to provide incentives for us to return to school. And if we meet those incentives, I understand that there are potentially healthy financial rewards for doing that. Do we have any, have we started to do any analysis around that? And do you have any insights you can share on that?

[13959] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, what I do know is they, I don't know if it's passed yet, but there is a bill that they're trying to get through in terms of reopening plan. And it could mean some substantial dollars for the district if we take that opportunity. But we have not at this time done too much analysis because it's still out there. But we certainly will continue to look at that and kind of monitor the progress of that.

[13995] Mark Triplett: Great. I believe that was passed this week. And so I think the county and then some of our agencies that support with these kind of things are crunching those numbers. And then we'll have some... stronger ideas about what are the implications. I do know that they come with a lot of strengths and a lot of requirements. And so we'll see what comes out of it. And if it's possible, we absolutely, not to chase the dollars, but really to get our kids back in person as quick as possible. We definitely wanna pursue that.

[14040] Terrence Grindall: Yeah, I just wanted to thank you, Ms. Dela Cruz, for this excellent report and the work you're doing to keep us in the black. So thank you very much.

[14048] Julienne Sumodobila: Thank you.

[14050] Bowen Zhang: OK, so I want to make a comment. So I've been sitting on the board for more than two years. I've been through multiple, almost seven or eight interim report, I think. this interim report is probably the least surprising and the most predictable report that I went through over the past two years. And I think when it comes to budget, we really don't want big surprise. So I want to commend the team for the great work that I think more certainty is always better than last minute surprise in the budget. So that's my comment. And as you go through this process more and more, you got more and more familiar with these things. That's from my perspective. And if I don't see any other questions or comments, I will entertain a motion to issue the positive certification for the second interim report. May I get a motion?

[14108] Phuong Nguyen: I'll move.

[14111] Bowen Zhang: I'll move by Member Nguyen.

[14113] Elisa Martinez: I'll second.

[14115] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Martinez. Student Member Salami, how do you vote?

[14121] SPEAKER_07: Yes.

[14123] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez?

[14126] Julienne Sumodobila: Yes.

[14129] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen? I think she's muted, but she said yes. Yes. My vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Ms. Dela Cruz and your team. Thank you. Moving on to the next item. Resolution 2020.21-022 to commit to budget balancing solution for the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year. Superintendent Triplett.

[14165] Mark Triplett: Thank you members and presidents john excuse me um so this uh this resolution is similar to one that um the board passed um regarding a previous um the previous budget it really is a commitment on the part of the board to recognize that uh that in the out years there is a risk of um structural deficit and that we are committed um and the board is committed to addressing it And it's particularly helpful when submitting budgets to the county. The county really wants to see that level of commitment from the board. So I'll turn it over to Ms. Delacruz to speak more on this matter.

[14206] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, thank you, Dr. Triplett. You pretty much covered it. We want to make sure that the board continues to be committed in addressing our structural deficit. As you can see in the second out year, we are projecting 819,000. This is much better than the first interim of 3 million, but we do still have the deficit that we would need to commit to addressing.

[14236] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Ms. Gutierrez, any public comments on this?

[14242] SPEAKER_46: We do have one comment requested from Carlos Zarate.

[14251] Bowen Zhang: Welcome.

[14254] SPEAKER_26: Thank you. Good evening once again, board members and Dr. Triplett. If the board is continuing to work on reducing the deficits, why are we wasting money on changing the name of the school? Why aren't we investing on a mural when you can look for a grant? Even though these are small expenditures, they add up. I think this money would be better spent on providing resources to students. I hope that as you look at reducing the deficit, you always keep students in mind. Now that I am at the junior high, I see how I have been cheated. I know for a fact that I did not have the same types of classes, programs, electives, and or highly qualified teachers as other students had in their elementary schools. Equity means that everyone should have the access to good programs and excellent teachers. So don't eliminate programs that have made students succeed. Thank you.

[14312] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Any other speakers? Okay. I'll bring this back to the board for discussion. Student members, I want you to go first. Okay. Any other comments from other board members? Member Hill?

[14334] Aiden Hill: Since I'm new to this, just, you know, would appreciate an education. So who actually drafts these resolutions? Where do they come from? Staff drafts resolutions. OK. And then this is coming from directives from the county?

[14360] Mark Triplett: This resolution in particular is not a directive from the county, but the county is interested in seeing the board commitment to addressing any structural deficit as they review budgets and make decisions around certification. OK. Ms. Dela Cruz, did you want to add to that? And can we take down the timer, please?

[14387] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, so the resolution is a way for us to show the county that we are committed to addressing our deficits. And they do have that as part of their message when they give us the guidelines for preparing our second interim report in that we have to recognize when we do have deficits in the two out years that we address them and that we make the board aware and get the board's commitment to address any deficits in the two out years.

[14426] Bowen Zhang: Okay, thank you. Yeah, so I also want to chime in on this. I want to thank the fiscal prudence of our team because this is really we're looking ahead for more than a year because I think the regular timeline is When it comes to this December, when we have the first interim report for the fiscal year 2021 to 2022, we'll have a clearer picture about what will be the cut we need to make for the out year, which is 2022 to 2023. Next year at this time, maybe a little bit earlier, next February, in 11 months, before the second interim next year, the board will need to take actions and vote on cuts. By that time, we might have a number smaller than this. We might have a number bigger than this. But I think historically, we want to project conservatively. So when it comes to first interim, you might see a number substantially smaller than this. And then when it comes to next February, you might have an updated number that we need to work on. But this is sort of a placeholder. This is just making sure the board is well aware of and is planning ahead of this by more than a year. So that's my understanding for this.

[14499] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, because we are working on our budget already for next year. And then you're going to be looking at another two out years. So with every report, whether it's the first, second interim or the budget, the actual or the new budget, we have to update our assumptions and address any structural deficits that are included in those reports.

[14528] Bowen Zhang: And there is actually another key timeline that we didn't talk about in the before item was obviously February and May, you're going to have a governor's budget. June, you have an update on the new multi-year projection. And come September, that's the time we actually close our book officially for 2020 to 2021 fiscal year. September, we'll see the unaudited result of the full year fiscal financials. At that point, we'll have the exact picture about what is the deficit or surplus, the scale of our surplus for this current year. And then hopefully at that point, we'll have an even clearer picture when it comes to multi-year projections. followed by the December 1st internal report. So there will be at least another three data points that we'll see before we vote on the budget balancings act come maybe next February, I would say. Member Grindel.

[14584] Phuong Nguyen: You're on mute.

[14586] Terrence Grindall: Thank you. I'm supportive of making this commitment so that we make it clear that we intend to stay living within our means. However, I just want to make a comment that I do hope we keep our nose to the grindstone about finding ways to increase revenue so that we don't have this kind of problem in the future. But I'm certainly supportive of this commitment that we'll do what we need to do to stay fiscally sound. So thank you.

[14618] Bowen Zhang: Seeing no other questions, may I entertain a motion?

[14625] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve the resolution.

[14629] Bowen Zhang: Moved by Member Nguyen.

[14632] Elisa Martinez: I'll second.

[14633] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Martinez. Student Member Salami, how do you vote?

[14638] SPEAKER_07: Yes.

[14640] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez?

[14642] Julienne Sumodobila: Yes.

[14644] Bowen Zhang: Member Guendel? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[14650] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[14651] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously. I don't think we need to read out this resolution, right?

[14661] Marie dela Cruz: No, it's not that kind of resolution.

[14664] Bowen Zhang: OK. Moving on to the next item, 13.3, resolution number 2020.21-020, eliminate vacant certificate positions. Superintendent Triplett.

[14675] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Jhun. So I'll have Mr. Martinez speak to this. This is as it relates to positions for the upcoming school year, and I'll turn it over to Mr. Martinez.

[14688] SPEAKER_31: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. These are positions that are no longer necessary due to decline in enrollment district-wide. And this is simply removing these positions from the books as they're no longer needed obviously don't need to be filled.

[14709] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Ms. Gutierrez, any public comments? Okay. Board discussion. Student member Salemi, do you have any questions?

[14720] SPEAKER_07: My question is if these positions were needed the following year based off of enrollment numbers, would these be reinstated or are these eliminations permanent?

[14731] SPEAKER_31: Good question. And that would be the good news. If the district were to grow and we needed additional staff, then yes, we would bring back a position to house those students wherever that that might be. Yes.

[14746] Bowen Zhang: Other questions on the board? Seeing none.

[14754] Phuong Nguyen: Actually, I have a question.

[14757] Bowen Zhang: Okay, go ahead.

[14758] Phuong Nguyen: So are these current positions currently unfilled, and then we're eliminating them? Or are there some positions that are currently filled, but we are losing them to attrition and eliminating them?

[14782] SPEAKER_31: OK, so positions are being eliminated because right now, you know, there's a decline in enrollment for next year. Also related to this is the, uh, uh, for example, in some of our classes at the secondary level where we just don't have the attendance, we may have a program going on, but we don't have the attendance. Uh, so we can consolidate those positions, uh, and, uh, make sure that we're fiscally responsible by making sure we're not overstaffed.

[14814] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you.

[14819] Bowen Zhang: Seeing no other questions, I will entertain a motion. I will move to approve resolution number 2020.21-020 to permanently eliminate 5.4 FTE or vacant certificated position. May I get a second?

[14838] Terrence Grindall: Second.

[14840] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Grindel. Student member Salami, how do you vote? Yes. Member Martinez?

[14849] Julienne Sumodobila: Yes.

[14850] Bowen Zhang: Member Grundell? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[14856] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[14856] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Martinez. Moving on to Consent Calendar. May I get a motion to approve Consent Calendar personnel items? Or anybody want to pull any item for discussion? Okay, any public comment on these items?

[14886] SPEAKER_46: Okay, so- Yes, we do have public comment on two public, sorry, one public comment on 14.3.

[14896] Phuong Nguyen: And also member Hill had his hand raised.

[14899] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so let's first approve 14.2 personnel report. May I get a motion to approve 14.2 personnel report?

[14906] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve personnel report

[14910] Bowen Zhang: Oh, second. Moved by member Nguyen, seconded by member Grundahl. Member Martinez, how do you vote?

[14919] Cindy Parks: Yes.

[14921] Bowen Zhang: Member Grundahl?

[14922] Terrence Grindall: Yes.

[14924] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[14927] SPEAKER_15: Yes.

[14928] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Did the board turn off the voting screen? I didn't see the voting on 14.2 personnel report.

[14941] SPEAKER_46: It's on, it's, you should be, do you see it?

[14943] Bowen Zhang: I just, my vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously. 14.3 is the item being pulled, public employee appointment, assistant superintendent of education services. Since this is consent calendar, Ms. Gutierrez, any public comment on this?

[14968] SPEAKER_46: Yes, President Zhang, I have Carlos Zarate.

[14977] Bowen Zhang: Welcome back. You're on mute. You're still on mute.

[14987] SPEAKER_26: Thank you. I am currently a student at the junior high and I have been a student in this district since kindergarten. I'm disappointed that we're considering recruiting someone from outside the district who lacks the experience and familiarity needed to deal with our diverse population and tiny district. I think we should develop our own leaders by making sure some of our great principals and directors apply for the role. We need leaders from our own community who are comfortable working with our diverse community and already have an insight about what students in NUSD need in order to thrive. Thank you.

[15025] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Any other public comments? Seeing none, I will bring it back to board discussion since this is a poll. Any board comments on this item? Member Hill, I saw you raise your hand moments ago. You got any comments on this item?

[15052] Aiden Hill: I'll save my comments for when we're talking about new agenda items. I see.

[15057] Bowen Zhang: Okay. If not, may I entertain a motion to ratify the personnel, to ratify the appointment of Assistant Superintendent of Health Services

[15076] Terrence Grindall: I would move to ratify the appointment of Assistant Superintendent of Ed Services.

[15081] Bowen Zhang: Moved by Member Grundahl.

[15084] Elisa Martinez: I second.

[15085] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Martinez. Member Martinez, how do you vote?

[15093] Mark Triplett: Yes. Ms. Gutierrez, do I need to say anything before we have a vote?

[15100] SPEAKER_46: Yes, Superintendent. It's already open for voting, but in the meantime, If you could just do the terms of the contract, please.

[15109] Mark Triplett: Certainly. So, um, this contract is for, um, uh, commencing March 23rd, 2021 and terminating June 30th, 2023. Um, and the, um, the, the terms are, uh, it's, it is $189,183. Okay.

[15132] Bowen Zhang: And I believe after the vote, you will introduce the candidate to get on the panel and talk about, introduce herself to the community, right?

[15140] Mark Triplett: Yes, depending on the vote.

[15142] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Member Martinez, how do you vote?

[15147] Cindy Parks: Yes.

[15148] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel? Yes. Member Hill?

[15153] Aiden Hill: No.

[15155] Phuong Nguyen: Member Nguyen? Yes.

[15158] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries with four ayes and member Hill voted no. And you mind if you explain your no vote or you can save later on the non-agenda, whatever the agenda at the end of the meeting.

[15175] Aiden Hill: Um, yeah, my, my vote doesn't have anything to do with the candidate, um, themselves. It has to do with the process for the selection of the candidate. And I don't think that we've been afforded sufficient, um, time and, um, involvement and oversight, um, as is our fiduciary responsibility as board members.

[15196] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Superintendent Triplett, uh, should we bring in, uh, I guess assistant superintendent, uh, Nicole Pierce-Davis.

[15207] Mark Triplett: Yes, thank you, President Jhun. I'm really delighted to introduce you to Miss Pierce. Miss Gutierrez, can we have her join us?

[15221] SPEAKER_46: Yes, Mr. Rose, can you please make Miss Pierce a panelist? Welcome, Miss Pierce.

[15231] Mark Triplett: So it is my pleasure to introduce Nicole Pierce. She has extensive experience working as an administrator in elementary, middle, and high school levels, as well as experience as both a site principal and a director. In elementary, she led the transition from open court curriculum to Common Core state standards aligned instruction. She's focusing on balanced literacy, math routines, and academic discourse, which resulted in 20% increase over three years in the number of students making one to three year plus years of reading growth within one year. In her middle school, she was recognized for outstanding academic improvement on SBAC measures. She had 7.5% increase in mathematics overall, 13.5 point increase in distance. from standard in English language, and 15.5 point increase in African-American student academic achievement, and 13.2 increased in mathematics. And finally, within two years of leaving high school, she increased the graduation rate, A through G course completion by 21%. She is an incredible leader. We're really excited for her to be joining our community and our district. And with that, I'd love to turn it over to Miss Pierce.

[15320] SPEAKER_29: Thank you so much, Dr. Triplett. Oh, did I interrupt anyone?

[15325] Bowen Zhang: No, I just said welcome.

[15327] SPEAKER_29: Thank you so much. I am so humbled and so appreciative of this opportunity. I'm extremely excited to get started and I really hope, Carlos, I have want to make sure that I speak directly to him having heard him prior and say, you know, I hope to prove to you all that the stakeholders involved in this decision made the right one. Not because of my resume, but because of really the values and the work ethic that and really education is my passion. Thinking back to the video that you shared at the study session at the beginning with Michelle Obama, right so it's not about the Ivy League, but it is about the work ethic and the passion for the work. That being said, I did happen to go to Stanford. And that's really where my passion for education was fostered. As I examined structures, systems, and innovations to really improve outcomes for students, and specifically equitable outcomes for students. And I am Bay Area homegrown. I grew up in Livermore. I did go to Stanford for school. And then I did much of my career in Oakland, California, and now Newark. So I'm excited to join. In my time at Oakland, I was a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and director. I really did believe that you can't understand that job until you've lived it. I think most principals would agree that it's the daily work of whether you're in the classroom or monitoring a school site or working in central office, really having the experience in those positions makes it a lot easier to understand what what folks are telling you and the feedback they're giving. So in my work, I know it's getting late, so I can talk about this forever, but I really do that my guiding principles are around equity and excellence and holding that with me wherever I go. And as I was interviewing for this position and researching Newark, I found that that was core values of Newark Unified School District. And I couldn't help but smile at the matching of values and Understanding sort of the value of what it means to be in a small district, really being able to get to know your, your teachers and your students and value that perspective so in looking at some of the past board meetings online. I really am excited to build share and expand our collective. experience with things like social justice, school mergers, academic language development, multi-tiered systems of support, college and career readiness, and really culturally sustaining pedagogy, which I can tell you guys have put a lot of energy in, and I'm just excited to join the team. So thank you so much. I'm looking forward to getting to know each and every one of you much more. And thank you.

[15494] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Welcome. Any comments from the other board members?

[15501] Phuong Nguyen: I just wanted to welcome Miss Pierce and I'm excited for you to be on board with us and help build, build our students and with rigor and and enthusiasm. So thank you. Welcome. Welcome aboard.

[15523] Terrence Grindall: Thank you. Yes, I want to echo those comments. Just want to welcome you to to Newark and I can already sense your energy and love of the work. So we really look forward to working with you and achieving great things. Thank you.

[15540] Aiden Hill: Member Hill. Welcome Ms. Pierce. Yes, I would echo member Grindel's comments as well as member Nguyen's that yeah, we can see the passion and we need passion. So welcome. Thank you.

[15555] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez.

[15556] Elisa Martinez: Yes. Welcome, Miss Pierce. I'm going to try not to hold the fact that you went to Stanford against you. I'm a Cal Bear. But we're very excited to have you. Absolutely could feel the passion and the commitment you have to helping our kids excel. So I'm very excited to see the work that you'll do with the rest of the team. Thank you.

[15588] Bowen Zhang: Also welcome on board and just like Member Martinez, I'm also a Cal Bear. So I guess we just wouldn't talk to each other on the big game day. Other than that, we're cool. So this is a very important position and the position has been vacant for almost six months. I've been talking ever since the superintendent got on board. I've been talking to him during our weekly one-on-one. telling how important this position is. And that was make sure you hire the right person, take your time, we take your time, even if the position was vacant for two or three months, you need to make sure you hire the right person. And frankly, this is probably the biggest hire, the first big hire of the superintendent in his tenure. So we as a board definitely have looking at your resume, I actually checked out your LinkedIn as well. Looking at your resume, we definitely have high expectations for you, and our kids deserve the best. Welcome on board.

[15647] SPEAKER_29: Thank you.

[15650] Bowen Zhang: Okay, moving on to the next agenda item, consent calendar non-personnel items. Ms. Gutierrez, any public comment on any of the items? Ms. Gutierrez, any public comment on any of the consent calendar items?

[15672] SPEAKER_46: Yes, we do have a comment on 15.4.

[15678] Bowen Zhang: 15.4, okay. May I get a motion to approve 15.2 through 15.5, except 15.4? Oh, Member Hill, is there any other? Sorry, yeah, I have some questions about 15.2. Okay, so we'll pull 15.2. So I will move to approve 15.3 and 15.5.

[15687] Aiden Hill: I'll second that. Seconded by Member Grundell.

[15702] Bowen Zhang: Student member Salami, how do you vote? Yes. Member Martinez?

[15708] Julienne Sumodobila: Yes.

[15710] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel? Yes.

[15713] Aiden Hill: Member Hill? Yes.

[15715] Bowen Zhang: Member Nguyen?

[15717] SPEAKER_15: Yes.

[15718] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously for 15.3 and 15.5. Did everybody get a BoardDoc notification? I didn't see that.

[15731] SPEAKER_46: I did not get it, no. I don't know President Zhang. I was in the middle of typing the motion and so I did not send it out. So I can send it out now or I can clock it in later on in the minutes. I can record it later on in the minutes. Or I can send it out now.

[15753] Phuong Nguyen: Just put it in later in the minute. It's fine. I'm going to make the decision for him. Thank you.

[15760] Terrence Grindall: I concur with your making the decision for him.

[15774] Bowen Zhang: So should we open up the board again?

[15779] Phuong Nguyen: No, she's going to put it in the minutes. We already made the decision. OK. But so yes, we can discuss 15.2. Yeah, so 15.2.

[15790] Bowen Zhang: I guess superintendent, you want to, any remark you want to do on 15.2?

[15799] Mark Triplett: Sure. Thank you. So, um, this, uh, this agenda item, um, we can have miss Dela Cruz speak more to it, but essentially it is, um, the child care service fees. We're intending to maintain the same fee level that has been prior. Given the pandemic and given the financial situation with our families, we thought that it appropriate to not be raising the child care fees for families at this time. But Ms. Delacruz, feel free to add in there.

[15840] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, we actually have Ms. Sanchez here in case we have any further questions or you need more detailed responses. So basically what we're proposing is maintaining the same fees for 21-22, the same as this year, because since essentially we didn't really have any, or for most of the year anyway, didn't have any childcare. We didn't think that it was necessary to increase the fees for next year.

[15877] Aiden Hill: Member Hill? Yes, so I guess directed to Ms.dela Cruz. So just want to make sure that we understand the fiscal impact of the decision. Can you comment on that?

[15890] Marie dela Cruz: In terms of the revenue?

[15893] Aiden Hill: Yeah, so we're not increasing revenue, but is expense going up?

[15899] Marie dela Cruz: The expense in terms of our staff will go up incrementally in terms of salaries and benefits, but they do have reserves and they've been able to stay in the black for the last few years. And if Nydia, if you have any other comments related to that, you can feel free to add, or Ms. Sanchez, sorry.

[15926] SPEAKER_21: Good morning members of the board and Dr. Friple and thank you Ms. Marie. So I just want to let you know that we didn't use our increased pay for 2020-2021 because we have been closed. So based on the pandemic situation and based on our parents' income and some of them they lost their jobs So I think that only for 2021-22, we should meet the same rate because the situation has been very difficult. And then the following year, we are going to ask the board to approve 3% increase for the next five years.

[15979] SPEAKER_36: OK.

[15980] Aiden Hill: So, yeah, sorry. So Ms.dela Cruz, I'm just, I just want to get an understanding because I understand the proposal, but so, so, so revenue is staying flat right now. We're going to increase it a year out, but, um, but what's going to happen to expense?

[15996] Marie dela Cruz: The expense in terms of the salaries will go up slightly because of the increases in, um, the benefit rates as well as any step in salary.

[16008] Aiden Hill: Do you have a number? I mean, just kind of ballpark.

[16015] Marie dela Cruz: Ballpark, not at this time. I mean, I'm just looking at their current numbers. Because right now we're projected to end the year with a balanced budget of 28. So if expenses go up, 2%, it might be another 100, maybe 20,000, but not anything significant.

[16051] Aiden Hill: OK. All right.

[16051] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. And I guess this is actually the increasing in salary is incorporated in our multi-year projection in our budget, right?

[16061] Marie dela Cruz: It is, but the child development is the fund 12. So I didn't cover it in a general fund multi-year. We're not required to do a multi-year for the childcare fund.

[16074] Bowen Zhang: Any other public comments? Oh, I'm sorry. Any other board comments? If not, I'll move to approve the new, I'll move to approve the 2021 to 2022 child care fees as presented. May I get a motion? May I get a second? I'll second. Moved by myself, seconded by member Nguyen. Student member Salemi, how do you vote? Yes. Member Martinez?

[16107] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[16108] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel?

[16109] SPEAKER_31: Yes.

[16110] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen? Yes. My vote is as well. Motion carries unanimously. Moving on to the next item, 15.4, minutes of the February 18, 2021 regular meetings of the Board of Education. I believe we have a public comment.

[16135] Phuong Nguyen: Ms. Gutierrez?

[16136] SPEAKER_46: President Zhang, we do have a request for public comment. However, the person is not on Zoom.

[16145] SPEAKER_36: OK.

[16148] Bowen Zhang: Since this is pulled because of public comment, given there's no more discussion, I will move to approve the minutes. May I get a second?

[16161] Phuong Nguyen: I'll second.

[16162] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Nguyen. Student Member Salami, how do you vote?

[16167] Guadalupe Lopez: Yes.

[16168] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez?

[16171] Julienne Sumodobila: Yes.

[16172] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel?

[16174] Terrence Grindall: Yes.

[16175] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[16178] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[16179] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, everyone. Moving on to Board of Education Committee reports. Member Martinez, any update on Mission Valley ROP?

[16196] Elisa Martinez: No, not since the last one.

[16198] Bowen Zhang: Nothing from SELPA either. Any update from the Liaison Committee? No, not from me. I believe nothing from EBICS as well, right? Member Martinez, nothing from EBICTS, right?

[16213] Nancy Thomas: No.

[16214] Bowen Zhang: Audit Committee report? No.

[16217] Phuong Nguyen: No.

[16218] Bowen Zhang: And anything from bond parcel? I believe it's none, right? Right. Board of Education request student member Salemi.

[16229] SPEAKER_08: No request.

[16231] SPEAKER_36: Member Martinez?

[16238] Elisa Martinez: Just a last, was it last week? I had listened in on the parent night for the high school. So I know that there was some issues with regards to the link working. And so I'm just curious if we can get a report on how many folks, how many families actually participated and if there's a need to maybe redo Um, that, um, that session, I think it's just really important, especially right now as, um, you know, teachers have, or families haven't had a chance to interact with the school and everything that entails in the last year. So I think it would be great if we can just, um, just get an update on that superintendent.

[16288] Mark Triplett: Absolutely. Member Martinez would be happy to do that. Just for everybody's sake, we have put out the recording of the event, so it's available to everybody. And then also, there is the event that's going to be happening this upcoming week that I mentioned in my superintendent report. But we can find out exactly how many families attended and go from there.

[16313] Bowen Zhang: OK. Member Gwindel?

[16316] Terrence Grindall: Nothing today. Member Hill?

[16320] Aiden Hill: Yeah, I have two requests. So one is related to basically the hiring process for, you know, senior level positions that the board has to approve. And, you know, it's my opinion that you know, in our last situation that we didn't have enough involvement, and that if we're expected to approve, that we really need to be providing informed consent. And so we need to have earlier involvement. I mean, the first time we heard about, you know, the details of this was 72 hours ago, and I don't think that's sufficient time to make an informed decision. But actually, but let me back up a second. I'm sorry. I just want to set a, or, I guess set the stage here. So one thing that I think is important to know is I know that the board has had a tradition as we come to the end of our session to put together requests for an agenda items and the past norm has been that the board members vote on that. I've actually consulted with our CSBA consultant, Deb, about this practice. And my understanding is that per Ed Code, it is a requirement that any agenda item that a board member requests must be put on the agenda and it must be done so in an expeditious manner. And there is no requirement that other board members support that. And if we need to get Deb to provide more details, we need to provide ed code, I'm happy to help facilitate that. per her instructions and guidance, once it gets agendized and once the meeting happens, the board can decide whether they're gonna keep that agenda item or not, or they're gonna pull it. But I would like to request going forward that as we put agenda items out there, that they get agendized and then we vote on it as a board during the actual meeting. So my first request is that we have an agenda item to revisit our hiring process where we the board actually have to approve senior level hires. So that's request number one. And request number two is I know that it's we've had a good intention as we've rolled out the implicit bias training. But I think that from some of the things that have kind of materialized over the past couple of weeks, you know, there's there's been a lot of division. And I think at a time when we can't really afford to have division. And I think that we've also heard that there's, there's so many things going on, right, there's so many balls in the air. And so I think that it I'd like to put on it on the agenda, a request that we we temporarily suspend this program, we can talk about it, and maybe revisit it during the summer, and figure out a better way to kind of implement it. So that we can have the proper focus and we can maintain, you know, the proper outcomes and that we don't have it become a distraction. And so those are my two requests for future agenda items.

[16523] Bowen Zhang: Okay, member. I did hear some of the echo about if an individual board member requests an item, then that item can be placed onto the board agenda and it will be up to the board to decide whether to consider that or pull that. So I asked superintendent, I think, let me repeat the two requests from board member Hill. One is the process for hiring senior people, whether the board can be placed on the second round of the final interview, which we've done that before when we were hiring the secondary high school principals. the board is observer and they also participate in the interview. And then I myself participate in one of that and sort of give advice, but ultimately it's still the superintendent's job to call whether you want to hire them. Member Martinez and myself, we both participate in the interview process of a high school principal. I think if any board member wants to be part of that, I think this is a good practice that we can resume that. Second one is the implicit training, I guess. I think that one we, that I, I think we can discuss further, you know what I mean? Because I didn't quite get the concern you have, whether you think that's just two devices or certain thing you think is too far away or go too far.

[16597] Aiden Hill: Yeah, in my understanding, there's been a grievance filed. OK, I see.

[16601] Bowen Zhang: OK. Member.

[16604] Elisa Martinez: President Zhang, if I may, just to just to back up again, I know we've talked about this and I think we just want to be careful with regards to the hiring process. Um, you know, it was we were invited by the previous superintendent to participate, but we want to make sure we stay in our lane because we've gotten in trouble before. And so there is a board policy that specifically speaks about the responsibility of hiring. Um, and I have it. I could send it to you. I can send it or give it to, um, um, Ms. Gutierrez to share. But it's very specific. that it's the superintendent who will identify the process. So if the superintendent chooses to invite us or it includes us, that is the superintendent's prerogative. So we want to make sure because just because it's done in the past or somebody else had it done in the past, make obligate the superintendent. So I think I just want to be careful there because I don't want it there to be the sense that there was any impropriety in the way the process was led.

[16681] SPEAKER_21: Right.

[16682] Elisa Martinez: So I think I just want to just want to call that out. And I'm not. Yeah, it's I recommend I'm sorry to all of us because we're here and we could speak to other and I don't have to email everyone board policy. Forty two eleven. Please review it. because I think that's really important just to just remind us of the role that we have as the board members versus the superintendent, and that's all I'll say.

[16708] Aiden Hill: Yeah, and I'm not indicating that there's been any impropriety, but what I am asking for is that a board policy is established by the board, and we're the board, and I think that we should have a discussion about this, and I think it should be a good, deep discussion.

[16725] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Member Nguyen? I don't have any... I'll come back to you, Member Grindel, after we went through. Okay.

[16732] Phuong Nguyen: I don't have any requests at this time, but I want to echo what Member Martinez had said previously. Thank you.

[16743] Bowen Zhang: Okay. So I do have a request. A little bit of history. I want the district to bring back the scaling, grading scale when it comes to K-6 in natural science, mathematics, and reading. A little bit of a history. In March 2019, two years ago, exactly on this day, the board approved 5-0, a grading scale of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 for our elementary kids in critical subject matter like mathematics, reading, natural science. However, after the board approved a 5-0 on the scale of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, meaning 5 is the highest, 4 is the second best, there's a pilot program being implemented for the year 2019 to 2020 without the board approval, changing that to a scale of one, two, three. In that scheme, a score of 75% on math class will be given a score of three, which is the highest score. So there's not that much difference. So if you get 75% on math class, and you got 99% on the math class, you get the same grade, three out of three. So Last time I checked, this pilot program continued to this year. So I would want the board to bring this item that we bring back to the board. Either the board permanently adopt the pilot program grading only on a scale of one, two, three on critical subjects in elementary school, or we honor the board vote in March, 2019, go back to one, two, three, four, five grading scale starting next school year. So I discussed this briefly with the superintendent last week, so I hope that certainly within the next two months the board can revisit it because this is really the board voted on the board give direction on a five zero vote grading scale one, two, three, four, five. And that's not being implemented right now. So that's my request. Superintendent, are you okay with this request?

[16857] Mark Triplett: Yes, thank you.

[16858] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Member Gundong.

[16861] Terrence Grindall: Yeah, I just wanted to comment on Mr. Hill's request to review the process. And while I think I agree with Member Martinez that the superintendent ought to be where the buck stops when it comes to hiring, I also don't think there's any problem. In fact, it's beneficial for us to have that discussion.

[16884] Bowen Zhang: OK, moving on to So I just want to come back to my role. So did the board, I think, I didn't remember when, I remember, remember when was that? I remember Martinez, you were there voting with me on one, two, three, four, five, grading five, zero. And I hope the board remember this because this happened two years ago. For the new board member, you can check out the board meeting March, 2019. We voted five, zero for a grading scale of one, two, three, four, five. And currently it's only one, two, three.

[16911] Phuong Nguyen: I wasn't there for the voting, President Zhang, but I do agree with you. I do have issues with the one, two, three scale.

[16919] Bowen Zhang: I think we either, yeah, we either get another vote to honor the previous board vote two years ago, or we permanently adopt this pilot program of one, two, three. So that was my request. Okay, moving on to next board education recognition and announcements. Member Salami.

[16939] SPEAKER_08: I just wanted to thank all the students, staff, teachers, and everyone here for all the hard work that they do. And I want to welcome Ms. Pierce. And I look forward to working with you. And welcome to Newark.

[16953] Bowen Zhang: OK. Member Martinez? Member Martinez?

[16960] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, are we at recognitions? Zoe? I was trying to kill a mosquito. That's right. I apologize for that. Um, you know, I think obviously continued, um, thanks to everyone in honored in our in our district staff teachers. Um, you know, um, our support staff, our central office staff in particular this this meeting to Miss Della Cruz and her team. Um, I mean, I think that was like, um, President Young talked about you know, we've only been here a couple years, but it feels like we're talking and discussing interim reports every so often. And this really was the quote unquote easiest vote, not only because the numbers were good, but just easy to understand. And even to the degree of us approving that resolution and what it means, which is the intent to make the difficult decisions ahead of time. And with no surprises, right? I mean, President Zhang, the first couple of several months of our tenure was us making these really difficult decisions with big numbers and everyone's saying, what the heck is going on? And, you know, putting this forward, Ms. Dela Cruz, in such a capable, easy to digest manner really makes our job a little easier. So thank you and your team for the report and all the work.

[17058] Bowen Zhang: Okay, Member Gündel.

[17061] Terrence Grindall: Yes, I had the pleasure of reading to three classes at Kennedy, and Ms. Chavez and Ms. Piscicchiere, Pisa Chino, second kindergarten and fourth grade classes. It was a great pleasure. Although the fourth grade class actually asked for an encore. I had to read a second book. So that was the highlight. But the main point is there is being in those classes makes you appreciate the teachers, the work they're doing in these difficult times. And I have the strongest respect for what the teachers are doing and what the kids are going through. They're all working hard at it. So just wanted to express my appreciation for the whole district staff and the students.

[17114] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Member Hill.

[17117] Aiden Hill: Yeah, I want to echo my fellow board members and definitely, you know, we can see that staff is working very hard in unprecedented times. And so thank you, Ms.dela Cruz. I know it's, you know, a lot of work. And then also thank you, Mr. Martinez, for, you know, your really, you know, very thorough involvement in, you know, the hiring, you know, key hiring processes, but also in labor negotiations. And so can see that you're also really firing on all cylinders. So thank you very much.

[17146] Bowen Zhang: Okay, member win.

[17150] Phuong Nguyen: I too would like to echo all the other board members in terms of the wonderful work that our staff is doing under these unprecedented times. And also, I had a wonderful time reading to the students in Ms. Palomino's class, Snow, and Ms. Chavez's class at Kennedy. I had the kindergarten class, and I believe it was at Kennedy, and then the second grade class that Ms. at snow and the students were well behaved and they were so fun and engaging and it's, you know, To have them in a classroom and interacting is one thing, but to have them engaging and listening and interacting with their teacher and with us and participating and watching them have the curiosity and wanting to learn, it brings another level to how How important it is to me, in particular, you know, to want to work really hard for them and for and for the teachers in the district. And then, on the last note, I just want to remind families out there that, yes, the district we haven't always been perfect in our communication to families, but we are working on it and we're continuing to try to improve. And if there are information that is going around that you have questions about, please, you know, please direct your questions to a district office so that you can get the informed information that that you are in need of instead of relying on secondhand information or rumors that are going around in the district. So I encourage you all to reach out to the district office if you are in need of clarification for any additional information. And yes, we're trying to really work hard on improving our communication. So please hang in there with us and we're trying to do our best. Thank you.

[17277] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. So obviously I also want to echo other board members comment and I want to commend Mrs. Delacruz's team for this wonderful second interim report. I think I didn't express myself very well. So I think member Martinez expressed better than me. So this is probably the most relieved, if not elated, interim report that I've experienced in the past two years. And two days ago, just like other board members, I also read for Snow Elementary third and fourth grade combo class. And the story I read was Dr. Su's, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? And it was a fun experience, just like I said, during the school spotlight. And another thing I want to acknowledge is, I want to acknowledge our community member, Jim Ficklin. So she was, Jim is one of the, early African-American residents of our city of Newark. And she is certainly the first African-American teacher of Newark Unified School District. And today I want to wish her a happy 90th birthday. Happy birthday, Jim.

[17347] Phuong Nguyen: Happy birthday.

[17348] Bowen Zhang: And with that, that's all my recognition. Superintendent is your concluding remarks.

[17357] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Jeon and board members, really appreciate all of your comments and thoughts. And I just conclude with, I'm now rethinking how successful I thought my reading was after member Grindel says he got a standing ovation and a request for another read. That didn't happen to me. So I think I need to practice more. But really wanna appreciate everyone, particularly our teachers right now. This is really stressful times and they continue to be there every day for our students and just give so much love and care and gentle pushes to our students every day. So a shout out to all of them and thank you.

[17409] Bowen Zhang: Okay, thank you. I move to adjourn the meeting. May I get a second?

[17415] Phuong Nguyen: I second.

[17416] Bowen Zhang: All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say no. Seeing none, motion carries unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 9.52. Thank you, everyone. Have a great night.

[17430] Vicenta Ditto: Thank you. Bye, everyone.

[17432] Terrence Grindall: Night, everyone.

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Type Information, Procedural In accordance with the Governor's Executive Order N-29-20, Board meetings will be held "virtually" until further notice. These meetings will be accessible to the public by internet or telephone. No physical meeting place will be provided.

Meetings will live-streamed on the NUSD YouTube on the internet. Public comment opportunities will be available through the virtual meeting. Please see the public comment instructions provided here.

As always, we encourage you to contact the entire Board by email at "board@newarkunified.org." This address goes directly to the Board members, who check their emails frequently.

Roll Call

Type Procedural Board Members:

President Bowen Zhang Member Phuong Nguyen Member Elisa Martinez Member Terrence Grindall Member Aiden Hill

Student Board Member: Member Wahhab Salemi

2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

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

Approval of Agenda

Type Action

Recommended Recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the agenda for this meeting. Action Purpose:

Members of the Board may request that the agenda be approved as presented or amended.

Motion & Voting Recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the agenda for this meeting.

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

3. STUDY SESSION

Public Comment on Board Study Session Items

Type Procedural Purpose:

To provide a space for the community to make a comment on the Board Study Session.

Background:

Please see the link below for Public Comment information.

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

NUSD Graduate Profile

Type Information Purpose:

We invite The Board of Education to participate in a ground-breaking initiative in Newark, the development of a Graduate Profile!

Background:

A Graduate Profile is a visual representation that shows the characteristics of a graduating student from a school district. At this session, the Board members will collaboratively select their choice of five important characteristics of a Newark graduate. These ideas will be analyzed amongst all the other ideas collected from other groups: parents, community, students, teachers, and principals. The goal is to develop a clear vision of how our community prepares its students to be successful adults in the 21st century and autonomous individuals with multiple options of career, college readiness, and beyond. Together, we hope to create a framework that rethinks, revises, and redesigns NUSD educational programs. This endeavor will help us best prepare our students to meaningfully compete and contribute in the 21st Century. Join us for an hour of interactive collaboration and let your voices be heard!

File Attachments For BOE_ NUSD Graduate Profile Engagement Sessions.030421.pdf (4,273 KB)

4. CLOSED SESSION

Public Comment on Closed Session Item

Type Procedural Purpose:

To provide a space for the community to make a comment on Closed Session Items.

Background:

Please see the link below for Public Comment information.

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

Public Employee Discipline/Dismissal/ Release (GC54957)

Type Action, Procedural Information will be provided by the Superintendent and Interim Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources.

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

Type Action, Procedural Information will be provided by the agency negotiator, Interim Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources. Assistance from legal firm Dannis, Woliver, Kelley, Attorneys at Law may be provided.

The employee organizations include NTA & CSEA.

Conference with Labor Negotiator (GC54957.6(a)): Employee Group - NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors & Contracted Management

Type Action, Procedural Information will be provided by the agency negotiator, Interim Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, and the Superintendent. Assistance from legal firm Dannis, Woliver, Kelley, Attorneys at Law may be provided.

The employee organizations include NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors, and Contracted Management

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

Type Action, Procedural Cases to be discussed:

OAH Case No. 2020110510

Conference with Legal Counsel - Anticipated Litigation (GC 54956.9(d)(4))

Type Action, Procedural Information will be provided regarding:

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

Conference with Labor Negotiator (GC54957.6(a)): Unrepresented Employee - Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services

Type Information, Procedural Information will be provided by the Interim Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, and the Superintendent.

Public Employee Appointment (GC 54957(b)(1)) Title: Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services

Type Information, Procedural Information will be provided by the Interim Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, and the Superintendent.

Recess to Closed Session

Type Procedural Purpose:

The Board will recess to Closed Session, and reconvene to Open Session on or about 7pm.

5. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

Pledge of Allegiance

Type Procedural

6. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS

Report of Closed Session Actions

Type Action, Procedural Purpose:

If available, a report of closed session will be provided by the Board President.

7. STUDENT REPORT

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

Type Information Purpose:

At regular Board meetings, a spokesperson of each secondary school may make a brief presentation.

Discussion items may include updates, celebrations, and upcoming events.

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

2. MacGregor - Alexis Blanco-Barron

3. Newark Memorial High School - Wahhab Salemi

8. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

Employee Organizations

Type Information Purpose:

At regular Board meetings, a single spokesperson of each recognized employee organization (NTA, CSEA, NEWMA) may make a brief presentation.

Background:

Discussion items are limited to updates, celebrations, and upcoming events.

1. NTA: Sean Abruzzi

2. CSEA: Sue Eustice

3. NEWMA: Cathreene Ingham-Watters

9. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

Staff Spotlight

Type Information Purpose:

To recognize the wonderful accomplishments of our NUSD Team.

Background:

The presentation will be provided by the Superintendent.

School Spotlight: Snow Elementary

Type Information Purpose:

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

Background:

The presentation will be provided by the Snow Elementary Principal, Jessica Tommasini

File Attachments Board Mtg_ 2020-21 School Spotlights.pdf (45 KB) Snow Spotlight Presentation 2020-2021.pdf (18,555 KB)

10. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

Type Procedural Purpose:

To provide a space for the community to make a comment on non-agenda items.

Background:

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

11. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

Superintendent Report

Type Information Purpose:

The superintendent will provide the Board with district information, updates, news, or anything in the jurisdiction of the board or the superintendent.

Background:

Information provided by the Superintendent

12. OLD BUSINESS

Governance Handbook Updates

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board approved the updates to the Governance Handbook. Action Purpose:

The Board is asked to review the Governance Handbook with the changes suggested by them.

Background:

The Board held a study session on February 18, 2021, to discuss and propose changes to the current Governance Handbook. Those suggested changes have been implemented, and more changes will continue to come forward for the Board's approval as changes are requested by the Board. The Governance Handbook will demonstrate a "Revised Date" as changes come forward and are approved by the Board.

File Attachments REVISED 030421 - Governance Handbook_20-1217.pdf (234 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board approved the updates to the Governance Handbook.

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

13. NEW BUSINESS

2020-21 Second Interim Budget Report

Type Action

Absolute Date Mar 04, 2021

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended Staff recommends the Board certify the 2020-21 Second Interim Budget Report with a Action Positive certification.

Goals 2. Establish financial stability and fiscal solvency in order to drive continuous improvement.

Purpose:

The purpose of the Interim Report is to advise administrators, the Board of Trustees, the public, and other interested agencies of the District's current financial condition at periodic intervals during the fiscal year.

Background:

The Second Interim Budget Report compares the General Fund and other funds' anticipated revenues and expenditures with the current operating budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year, along with actual receipts and expenditures as of January 31, 2021. At each interim reporting period, the District must certify whether the District will be able to meet its financial obligations for the current and subsequent two years.

The current year budget is used as the base year and multi-year projections are made based on a number of factors and assumptions for the coming two years. The primary drivers of the budget are the State's fiscal health and District student enrollment and attendance.

The multi-year projection indicates the District can issue a POSITIVE certification as the District will be able to meet its obligations for the current fiscal year and two subsequent fiscal years.

File Attachments Full Book 2nd Interim.pdf (4,822 KB) Board Presentation 3-4-21_2nd interim 20-21.pdf (1,345 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board certify the 2020-21 Second Interim Budget Report with a Positive certification.

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

Resolution 2020.21-022 to Commit to Budget Balancing Solutions for the 2022-23 Fiscal Year

Type Action

Recommended Staff recommends the Board adopt Resolution 2020.21-022 to commit to budget balancing Action solutions for the 2022-23 fiscal year. Purpose:

To address the deficit projected in the 2020-21 Second Interim Financial Report and to commit to continue to resolve the district's structural budget deficit.

Background: The Board and staff continue to work together to solve the district's structural budget deficit.

    On October 17, 2019, the Board approved Resolution #2158 committing to $1,850,000, and $668,000, in expenditure
    reductions for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 fiscal years respectively.
    The District filed a Qualified certification of its 2019-20 First Interim and Second Interim Financial Reports.
    The Board held a study session on February 20, 2020 to discuss additional budget balancing solutions and subsequently
    approved Resolution #2061 on March 5, 2020, committing to additional budget reductions of $2,500,000 in 2020-21
    and $1,000,000 in 2021-22.
    On December 3, 2020, based on the First Interim Report, the Board approved Resolution 2020.21-014 committing to
    $742,000, and $3,200,000, in expenditure reductions for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 fiscal years respectively.

File Attachments Resolution 2020.21-022 Budget Balancing Solutions.pdf (12 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board adopt Resolution 2020.21-022 to commit to budget balancing solutions for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

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

Resolution No. 2020.21-020 - Eliminate Vacant Certificated Positions

Type Action

Absolute Date Mar 04, 2021

Recommended Staff recommends the Board approve Resolution No. 2020.21-020 to permanently eliminate Action 5.4 FTE of vacant certificated positions as of July 1, 2021. Purpose:

The resolution will identify certificated positions which will not be filled in the 2021-22 school year.

Background:

As sites have reviewed their staffing for the next year and looked at projected enrollment, they determined that these positions will be eliminated from the general fund budget and will not be filled in the 2021-2022 school year. This reduction has been identified through natural attrition, vacancies, retirements, and program needs. This is a reduction of proposed vacancies, not a layoff. This will result in an estimated cost savings of $540,000. This reduction is in line with the goal of reducing and eliminating the district's structural deficit.

File Attachments Res. No. 2020.21-020 Elimination of Vacant Certificated Positions.pdf (8 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board approve Resolution No. 2020.21-020 to permanently eliminate 5.4 FTE of vacant certificated positions as of July 1, 2021.

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

14. CONSENT AGENDA - PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

Recommended Staff recommends that the following personnel agenda items be approved under one Action consented vote. Items to be approved: _________. Purpose:

This is specifically a placeholder, and will only be used if multiple agenda items are approved under a consented vote.

Background:

Items within Consent Agenda are considered routine and will be approved, adopted, or ratified by a single motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items; however, any item may be removed from the Consent Agenda upon the request of any member of the Board and acted upon separately.

Personnel Report

Type Action

Absolute Date Mar 04, 2021

Recommended Staff recommends the Board ratify 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 03-04-21.1.pdf (416 KB)

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

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Terrence Grindall.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Terrence Grindall, Aiden Hill
Abstain: Wahhab Salemi

Public Employee Appointment (GC 54957(b)(1)) Title: Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services

Type Action

Absolute Date Mar 04, 2021

Recommended Staff recommends the Board ratify and approve the agreement for the appointment of Action Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services. Purpose:

The purpose of this item is for the Board of Education to ratify and approve the appointment of Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services.

File Attachments Assistant Superintendent Contract 03.2021-signed.pdf (269 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board ratify and approve the agreement for the appointment of Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services.

Motion by Terrence Grindall, second by Elisa Martinez.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Terrence Grindall
Nay: Aiden Hill
Abstain: Wahhab Salemi

15. CONSENT AGENDA - NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

Recommended Staff recommends that the following agenda items be approved under one consented vote. Action Items to be approved: _________. Purpose:

This is specifically a placeholder, and will only be used if multiple agenda items are approved under a consented vote.

Background:

Items within Consent Agenda are considered routine and will be approved, adopted, or ratified by a single motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items; however, any item may be removed from the Consent Agenda upon the request of any member of the Board and acted upon separately.

Motion & Voting Staff recommends that the following agenda items be approved under one consented vote. Items to be approved: 15.3 and 15.4.

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

2021-2022 Child Care Fees

Type Action

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended Staff recommends the Board approve the 2021-2022 Child Care fees as presented. Action Purpose: To maintain the fee schedule for all Child Care services for 2021-2022 at the same rate as 2020-2021.

Background:

On March 15, 2016, the Board approved a five-year fee schedule with an annual increase of 3%. On March 7, 2017, the Board approved an annual increase of 3% for Kindergarten Early Release and Drop-in programs, making all Child Care services increase at the same annual rate.

The Child Care Department would like to keep the approved 2020-2021 rate during the 2021-2022 school year. Due to the pandemic, Child Care did not apply the 2020-2021 rate to enrollment contracts because sites have been closed since March 2020. Newark Unified School District wants to support Newark families who are facing unemployment and difficult income problems during this year.

Child Care Services In 2021-2022 Child Care will be provided at five (5) campuses (Birch Grove Primary, Birch Grove Intermediate, Kennedy, Lincoln, and Musick) which includes both mornings and after-school care services. Morning care is from 7:00 to 8:00/8:20 a.m. and afternoons from 2:32/2:47 p.m. to 6:00/6:15 p.m. Friday afternoons from 1:05/1:20 p.m. to 6:00/6:15 p.m (subject to change with early release day).

Kindergarten Early Release includes after-school services for the first 18 days of school during the beginning of the year assessment. This is available to contracted families as an additional fee and to non-contracted Kindergarten families as a one-time contract.

Pre-Paid Drop-In Service provides non-contracted parents with emergency Child Care needs during the school year. This service is not to exceed twice a month and is charged at an hourly rate.

Proposed Child Care Fee Schedule

     Scheduled Weekly Hours                    2020/2021                2021/2022
            Up to 6 Hours                          $175                        $175
            6.5 - 12 Hours                         $350                        $350
           12.5 - 18 Hours                         $575                        $575
           18.5 - 24 Hours                         $700                        $700

Proposed Kindergarten Early Release and Pre-Paid Drop-In Service Fees

$248 flat fee per Kindergarten student for early release days (offered as an additional fee to currently contracted families or as a one-time contract for non-contracted families) Pre-Paid Drop-In minimum fee $78.00 for 10 hours or $156.00 for 20 hours that can be used through the last day of school ($10.00 administrative fee added to this service)

                  NOTE: All fees are per child, there is no sibling discount

Before the end of the 2021-2022 school year, a new five-year fee schedule will be presented to the Board.

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board approve the 2021-2022 Child Care fees as presented.

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

Minutes of the January 7, 2021 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended Staff recommends the Board approve the minutes of the January 7, 2021, Regular Meeting Action of the Board of Education Purpose:

For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background:

The attached minutes are reflective of the January 7, 2021, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Minutes of the February 18, 2021 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended Staff recommends the Board approve the minutes of the February 18, 2021, Regular Action Meeting of the Board of Education

Minutes View Minutes for Feb 18, 2021 - Regular Meeting of the Board of Education Purpose:

For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background:

The attached minutes are reflective of the February 18, 2021, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board approve the minutes of the February 18, 2021, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.


Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Elisa Martinez, Bowen Zhang, Phuong Nguyen, Terrence Grindall, Aiden Hill, Wahhab Salemi

Minutes of the February 24, 2021 Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended Staff recommends the Board approve the minutes of the February 24, 2021, Special Action Meeting of the Board of Education Purpose:

For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background:

The attached minutes are reflective of the February 24, 2021, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. The exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

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

Board of Education Committee Reports

                       DEBRIEF, AND DISCUSSION

Type Information Purpose:

The board committee members will give any updates, if available, of the committees they are members of.

Background:

Mission Valley ROP - Elisa Martinez SELPA - Bowen Zhang Newark - NUSD Liaison Committee - Phuong Nguyen & Terrence Grindall Newark Teacher Induction Advisory Council (Formally EBBIC) - Elisa Martinez Audit Committee - Phuong Nguyen & Aiden Hill Bond/Parcel Tax - Elisa Martinez & Terrence Grindall

Board of Education Requests

                       DEBRIEF, AND DISCUSSION

Type Information

Purpose:

This is an opportunity for Board members to suggest items for placement on future agendas, and to review requests.

Background:

Governance Team Handbook

Authority is collective, not individual: The only authority to direct action rests with the Board when seated at a regular or special Board meeting. Outside this meeting, there is no authority. A majority vote of the Board provides direction to the Superintendent. Board members will not undermine the ability of staff to carry out Board direction.

Bring up new ideas/decide to move new ideas forward:

The Board will be open to having "brainstorming" discussions about any idea that a Board member may feel merits exploratory consideration. "New Ideas" are defined as any proposal brought forward by a Board member, at his or her own initiative or at the request of a constituent, which has not previously been discussed during a Board meeting. Board members will first notify the Board President and/or the Superintendent of their interest in bringing forward a new idea. The preliminary discussion of a new idea will not require staff research time. Initially, staff will be expected to respond to new ideas based on current knowledge. Only a majority of the Board may direct the Superintendent to conduct research regarding the exploration of a new idea. The Superintendent will decide on the delegation of assignments to other District staff. The new idea will be agendized for discussion only. The Board will decide if the new idea should be further developed and studied by staff. A Board majority will decide if staff time should be invested in the "fleshing out" of new ideas. Individual Board members, in the course of interactions with constituents, will be careful not to make or imply a commitment of the full Board to explore or proceed with implementing new ideas.

Board of Education Recognitions and Announcements

                       DEBRIEF, AND DISCUSSION

Type Information Purpose:

This is an opportunity for Board members to acknowledge or recognize specific programs, activities, or personnel.

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

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

                       FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS

Type Information

Purpose:

This is an opportunity for the Superintendent to make any concluding comments, updates, agenda requests, or provide information of future meetings.

18. ADJOURNMENT

PLACEHOLDER - Extend Meeting

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board extend the meeting to ____PM Action Purpose:

This is a placeholder, only to be used if the Board adds a motion to extend the meeting.

Adjournment

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that this meeting be adjourned. Action Purpose:

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.

This action will conclude the meeting.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that this meeting be adjourned at 9:42 pm.

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

No minutes available.