Regular Meeting

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[37] SPEAKER_36: Yes, we have member Hill.

[39] Aiden Hill: Here.

[40] SPEAKER_36: Member Grindle. I don't think we heard you, member Grindle. I'll mark you here, but your audio is a little low. Member Martinez? Here. Member Nguyen? Here. And President Hsiang?

[59] Bowen Zhang: Here. Thank you. Thank you. Next approval of agenda. May I get a motion to approve the agenda?

[67] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve the agenda as it is.

[71] Bowen Zhang: Second. Okay, motion made by Member Nguyen, seconded by Member Hill, I believe. And Member Martinez, how do you vote?

[84] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[86] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel?

[88] SPEAKER_48: Yes.

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

[92] SPEAKER_19: Yes.

[95] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries with five ayes. Next item will be our study session. Before we open up the study session, any public comments on the board study session?

[110] SPEAKER_36: Yes, there is. Apologize, one second. Looking at our participants.

[119] Bowen Zhang: I think Carlos is supposed to be. Okay, Carlos.

[127] SPEAKER_36: Give me one. Oh, he's present. Okay.

[129] Bowen Zhang: You may begin.

[132] SPEAKER_22: Good evening Dr. Triplett and school board members. My name is Carlos Zarate. I am a seventh grader at the junior high school. I appreciate you for taking your time to read through the governance handbook. I hope that during this study session you all learn to question and keep your promises to make the district a better place for all students. I hope that each board member visits all schools, not just the ones that their children attend, so that you can all learn and see the inequities in the district. And that when making decisions, please base them on what students need rather than what makes adults happy. As a student from this district, we are the future. So we need you to invest in us, provide us with resources, and an equitable opportunity to succeed. Thank you.

[180] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Carlos. Any other comments? Okay, and we'll open up the study session. So this study session about the Board of Governors Envoy is not We didn't really plan that very far in advance because what we thought was we're going to have a special meeting about the board governance handbook. But there was this spot that's opened up that we don't have any scheduled item for this study session. So we may very well use this one hour to continue iterating on our board governance handbook. And just like last time, if we have remaining items at the end of the meeting, then we will go for a special meeting to finish the business. So Ms. Gutierrez, do you want to share the Google Doc from last time or you want me to open up?

[229] SPEAKER_36: If you have it available, you can share your screen.

[231] Maria Huffer: Okay.

[239] Bowen Zhang: So I think from last time, I think member Martinez and member Wins, I think pretty much have all been addressed. I think the remaining item is requested by Member Grundahl, Member Hill, and I have two more items. So there's one item from me I believe is sort of low-hanging fruit, which is the seating arrangement in the boardrooms. I really think this is not a big deal, but we have some of the issue went back that before that didn't, that the seating arrangement didn't make board member happy because somebody deviated from the traditional protocol. So I just want to, I mean, maybe we don't even need to write it right into the handbook, but I just want to get a gentleman agreement from this seating arrangement, which just traditionally is the board president sits right next to a superintendent and sit between the superintendent and the vice president. And the reason the board president sits right next to the superintendent is to assist on the agenda, the public comment, and many other things. And vice president assists the president. So the board president sits right in between both the superintendent and the vice president. And the remaining three board member, plus the student board member, were sort of from left to right, sit on the other half of the agenda. the dais. So any objection to this arrangement? Yeah, because before we we sort of have some occasion where board president decided to sit in the middle. And then not sure due to any objective reason or some personal issues. Okay, so so I guess that's just a This is the low-hanging fruit, and the remaining three board members, you know, ideally, maybe you sit right at the order of the presidential succession. So that's why, but I mean, the other, the other thing is under, under, Unusual circumstances, I think we're all adults. If there's any issue that need to be resolved, that we can, we have enough flexibility that the other three board members can freely rotate to decide where to sit. So, but just want to get the, get a decision made that board president always sits right next to the superintendent and the vice president sits right next to the president. Okay. So I guess this is low hanging fruit. This is resolved. So I want to go to member.

[396] SPEAKER_36: President Zhang, if I may. Just to get clarity, are we, are we in putting this in the governance handbook, or are you just getting agreement from the board.

[405] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I want to ask for the board, do you think we need to get this into the government temple, I will say probably no because generally speaking, we're all pretty responsible grown up adults. It's just unfortunate before due to the seating arrangement, there are some hiccups and some tension happened among board members. I don't think this, I hope this board will not get into trouble just because certain people don't like to sit at certain positions.

[430] Phuong Nguyen: I'm okay wherever you decide to put us.

[434] Bowen Zhang: Okay.

[435] Elisa Martinez: I don't think it's needed. Yeah.

[436] Bowen Zhang: Yes. I guess since this is a recorded meeting, this is our gentlemen agreement. So this is our record. So no need to put it into the district government temple. Okay, then we'll go to, I think, Member Hill, you have something. I think your next item is the board calendar. Is that what you're saying? Can you elaborate on what you're asking, what you're asking the board calendars?

[462] Aiden Hill: So it was a little while ago, so I don't, but I, what I'm, what I was hoping is that There, there's a lot. I mean, since I'm a former project manager. So that's what kind of drives a lot of my behavior is I just want to see things kind of further out. And so I think that there's some things that we know are going to always happen. And we can just like already put a calendar together and put these things as placeholders there. So everybody knows, you know, a month from now, we're going to talk about the latest financials or whatever it is, so that we would have that. But then, you know, ideally, try to have unless there's some real emergency coming up, at least rather than having 72 hours before things go on the agenda, that we at least have like a week or two so that we can just have an opportunity to research the issue and understand what it is before we come in and start to discuss it.

[524] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think that sort of makes sense. I think For us, so there are two points. I think number one, it will definitely be helpful if we sort of have the big event calendar that we know what are the important votes that we'll be getting, particularly something that happens periodically every year. Second point is, I think as you stay on the board longer and longer, you gain more and more experience, you sort of anticipate many of these. like whether the first interim report, second interim report, the May revised governor's budget, September closing the book. And at the beginning of each school year, there's another procedural vote about, for example, declaring the intra-district transfer fund within the school year. And at the end, you want to pay it back. So that's also sort of a formality vote on the budget for the board. And I guess, For other things that Superintendent, I hope you can chime in on this, besides the procedural on the budget and the annual timeline for the budget development, is there any other things that, besides I guess the school spotlight, any other thing that actually happens on the annual periodic base for the board?

[603] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you, President Jun. There's actually quite a bit that does happen on an annual basis. And we do have the board calendar that we can share with the board. And that'll help to show sort of what's coming up. And then also the board, of course, can weigh in on if there's particular things that the board would like to see at any given time.

[634] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Yeah, I think it will be helpful if you can just share that calendar to every board member so we sort of know what are the big events happening each month for the, I guess, for the school board. I mean, yeah, in addition to budget and LCFF for parents and audit report and I guess it will be tougher for the construction project to be placed onto the calendar because these are really just one of the events for the measure G. But I think it will be helpful that we sort of put that onto the, sort of shared with all the board members. I think that can be a webpage or can be an internal Google Doc. I think those are fine with me.

[677] Mark Triplett: OK, absolutely. And then, of course, there are there are always things that come up unexpected or come up just based on timing rather than the same time every every year. So we'll do our best to put as much onto the calendar that is predictable as possible and then just understand that there's always other things that do come up that we need to address.

[705] Bowen Zhang: Is this fine with you, Member Hill?

[709] Aiden Hill: Yeah, sorry for the delay. I keep keeping my mouse too far away from the mute button. So yeah, no, I think it's good. And also even for kind of the ad hoc things, if there's a way that, if we know that something's gonna, an ad hoc thing is gonna happen a month out, it'd be good to at least get some visibility rather than just finding out a few days before the board meeting. But obviously if there's some, you know, complete surprise or some burning thing that needs to come up. I mean, a short notice is understandable.

[744] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think I think on the thing about instead of not 70, the big item, not 72 hour in advance, I think I'll have a take on that as well. But let's move on to remember Grindel's request and we'll come back to that after this. So remember, do you remember? Do we discuss address everything you asked for or there's any leftover things here?

[769] SPEAKER_49: I think everything I brought forward was taken care of.

[773] Bowen Zhang: OK, OK. Yeah, then I think we can come back to address the thing about, remember he mentioned about 72 hours. So I think the broader discussion is, I believe we used to have something for the board a while back for this newer unified board. Any project or spending item that is going to be over $100,000 or we'll get a background information in the meeting prior to the meeting that we'll be voting on. So I think that's sort of a, whether I, maybe I forgot, this is a tradition from another district or this used to be our tradition, which has any, whether construction project or HVAC something, if the amount is over a hundred thousand prior to the meeting, when we vote on that a hundred thousand plus project, we have a background information where the staff would just be putting out the pdf and the board review that in the meeting. Ask some questions and that's a no action taken. Only minimal discussion and then the next meeting, when we are supposed to vote on that, staff bring back the construction manager and we ask even more questions. Hopefully by that time you have very minimal questions to ask and then we proceed to a vote. So is this something that Superintendent, is this something that is going to be burdensome for the staff or you think this is okay. I'm talking about the spending item over 100,000. I think that this used to be a tradition in New World. I think that that was just sort of gone.

[866] Mark Triplett: Okay. I'm not aware of the past, and maybe Ms. Stella Cruz can speak a little bit to that, but it sounds like the suggestion is to almost do like a first reading of anything that is over $100,000, which we can do our best to try to accommodate.

[886] Bowen Zhang: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, this is not like exact science, right? Sometimes things do come up that we have an emergency deadline that we didn't get a chance to, but hopefully we strive for anything that's above $100,000 that we got a little bit more information beforehand, before the meeting. So we have, we'll have like two weeks in advance, minimum two weeks in advance.

[912] Mark Triplett: Ms. Delacruz, did you want to weigh in on that?

[917] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, sure, Dr. Triplett. So yeah, that must have been before my time as well, the 100,000 threshold in terms of getting information ahead to the board before it actually goes in for a recommendation. But we can certainly make every effort to do that. Normally, for example, like construction projects, we would present to you the plan what the estimated construction budget would look like before we would actually present the contract being recommended for approval. And that's what we've been doing, not even knowing that there was a threshold. So yes, we can certainly make every effort to introduce the idea or the project or the potential proposed contracts to the board before it actually goes in for recommendation.

[975] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Yeah, that was definitely before your time. That's before my time as well. Okay. Member Heo, I saw you raise your hand.

[986] Aiden Hill: Yeah. And then, you know, again, kind of to your point about, you know, whether we call it a gentleman's agreement or, you know, just sort of an informal kind of agreement. You know, there may be some things that really aren't governed by a dollar amount but that maybe are important and that we want to have deliberation in advance. Like the school naming issue that's on the agenda today, and it's great that we're actually having a discussion about this. We're not voting on anything. I think it's going to be partly a judgment call, but if we can have the spirit to say, for big items like this, whether they have a dollar impact or they have an impact on our community that we try to have some type of, as Dr. Tripp was describing, first reading or discussion before we do any kind of voting. I think that would be great.

[1040] Bowen Zhang: Okay. I remember there's... Okay. So I think that's the item out there. Any other item remaining on your playbook? Because the next one I'm going to bring up is probably going to be spent will there might be some go for it yeah so i think i have one remaining i think this might generate quite a spear on this which is the public comments the deadline for public comments i think this probably only applied in the zone session because i think we do have that a clear guideline when we're in physical setting the boardroom which is during the virtual event right now, what is the deadline for public to submit comment for an individual item to be spoken about? So, Ms. Medeiros, can you remind me what is the current guideline, the cutoff time for public to submit comments?

[1097] SPEAKER_36: Yes. Currently, for written comments to be submitted, they need to be sent to the email publiccomment at newyorkunified.org by the day before the meeting, by 5 p.m. And then Live comment has to be requested on the date of the meeting by 1 p.m.

[1118] Bowen Zhang: I see, I see. OK, so so for the live comment during the Zoom meeting, that's four hours in advance and written comment is submitted 24 hours in advance. OK. So written comment generally serves the purpose of being incorporated in the meeting, in the meeting minutes, right? Because it's not really spoken out during the live session.

[1142] SPEAKER_36: No. So what ends up happening with, we, well, before what would end up happening is that the written comments would be submitted in the minutes. And then that's why they, and they were not sent to the board because they were submitted for the record. Just recently, we had this conversation where we ended up changing it to the, the written comments were sent to the board before the meeting so they could read them and take them into consideration. And then there would be similar to the notification on the minutes to all the other ones where there would be notice of the name of the person who made the comment and then the topic, a statement on the topic.

[1194] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, that's on the minutes, right?

[1196] SPEAKER_36: Correct, that's what the minutes reflect.

[1198] Bowen Zhang: And, but, but since we don't really, we don't really read out their, their comments during the live session. So, so, so there were comments just part of the record keeping and put into the minutes, right?

[1209] SPEAKER_36: The written comments get sent to the board for you guys to consider prior to the meeting?

[1214] Bowen Zhang: Correct. Correct. Yes. Yes. And so I'm not, I'm not saying that I prefer the other way, but I have, I have been watching others, some other districts for meeting on the Zoom. So there is this one neighboring district where when they take the live comment during the Zoom session is, when they reach that item, they look at who's in the participant list and see who raised their hand. And then they cap the comments into 30 minutes. So if you have 30 people want to make comment, that's one minute each. You have 10 people, then it's three minutes each. If you have one person, just three minutes. And obviously that will create some difficulty when it comes to managing the time and managing the participants. because you have a lot of ad hoc people, or you have a lot of people that want to comment haphazardly. They never thought about commenting before, but heard something right before a meeting or something. So obviously, there's drawback for that. But I sort of feel like that way, it's more likely for the audience and have more public participation. What does the rest of board think? Or maybe we think that the 1 p.m. timeline is too early, too late?

[1295] Elisa Martinez: I guess my reaction would be, you know, what's the problem we're fixing? You know, do we have a current problem with the current procedure?

[1304] Bowen Zhang: Well, I don't think there is a problem. Just the reason I'm raising this is it is I won't say odd, it is unusual for a disarray tool. Like I said, this is only applying to Zoom sessions. We have a clear guideline when we go back to the boardroom. It's just kind of odd that for us we have a 24-hour deadline and a four-hour cutoff before each session.

[1330] Elisa Martinez: I know for the written one, you know, I honestly don't worry.

[1334] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think the written one is fine. I think the written one is fine.

[1337] Elisa Martinez: I know that we are not an outlier with regards to a timeline. And I know this is because obviously prior to your tenure, as we were kind of coming on board, we did look at some of what other districts were complaining. So that's why I said, is there a problem? I think part of the benefit of even, and if you're trying to, I think the objective was trying to mimic as much as possible, the in live meetings, where there is the discipline of submitting the comment card prior to start of the meeting. That's what's printed on the on the actual sheet. And I think it's good from in the context of, you know, and speaking from experience, as you come in, as you start to engage in these meetings, it's good to come into the meeting and get have context. Without that, there is the risk of you kind of just drop in just for that and you don't have the context of other parts of the meeting. So, you know, unless there's a problem, I would, like I said, just because we looked at it at other and we are not an outlier. I'm comfortable with the current method, but that's me.

[1408] Bowen Zhang: Oh, I think I think the one I have, I I want to talk about is that 1 p.m. thing. So obviously if you're going back to physical boardroom, you can't have that 1 p.m. thing anymore, right? It's just people show up. I think in the physical setting, we have a limit that at the beginning of the 7 p.m. open session, you have to submit your comment. You can't submit your comment five minutes before the item. Let's say you were on 13.1 and then you want to make a comment 13.2, you can't submit that anymore. you need to submit at the beginning of the month. I think the advantage of that one, you sort of know the flow of the, you sort of know how much time you're gonna have and how much comments you have. But I think for me, for the live comment, I think as long as you submit before 4 p.m., that's fine. I think that one, or is there any technical difficulty about we have to push at 1 p.m. that far in advance? Because from a board president perspective,

[1464] Elisa Martinez: as long as at the beginning of 7 p.m i know who will be speaking on which item let's say one if i may interrupt because i i know that there is a reason and i i'm looking at at at the the square there for for miss uh gutierrez from to your answer your question about the technical i i don't know what it is um i know that there is a coordination issue with with it in terms of promoting speakers so I'll let, if you don't mind, if maybe we get that feedback and then kind of, you know, what's the closest we can get it to start a meeting, maybe that's something we could do. Ms. Gutierrez?

[1502] SPEAKER_36: Yeah, so on a process aspect for me is that I receive these notification of these comments, and then I have to send out the link. So when it's one or two people, it's really not a problem. Um, if it's a, if it's a hot or hot topic meeting, we can have, um, 50, uh, people. There's no way that I'm going to be able to send everything out within an hour and still prep and get everything ready for the meeting. So, uh, for me on, on a process aspect, this time does work great because it allows for me to make sure that all the comments are submitted. Um, there are sometimes questions from, from the people who requested comments. So, um, I requested to speak. So in order to address those. and get the links out promptly and with instructions. So that's my process. So far the one o'clock has been working well.

[1555] Bowen Zhang: Okay. So you're talking about sending out links. What are the links that you're sending out?

[1561] SPEAKER_36: The Zoom link. The Zoom link is not a public, this is not a public link. The meeting is viewed by Zoom. and you get the link if you need translation or if you are gonna make a public comment.

[1578] Terrence Grindall: I see what you're saying. Yeah. I prefer the method where if someone raises their hand at the meeting, regardless of whether they've given previous comment, I prefer that. This is not an issue I'm gonna die on, but I do believe that is a more transparent way of doing things and allows someone who hears an issue that's important to them to raise their ideas. I know that that's not the way we've structured it now, but I would prefer if we would move to a process where everybody has a Zoom link and then they can raise their hands and the board and the president can call it. That's my preference.

[1618] Bowen Zhang: You know, I will say this is something new I just learned. I thought any public can get onto this Zoom meeting, but apparently it is not.

[1627] SPEAKER_36: So the The meeting is available to the public on YouTube. Yeah, that's where that's where the most of the of the community views the meeting. These these all these zoom accounts have capacities, whereas I used to not have a capacity limit.

[1646] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think maybe the other district I'm talking about maybe they don't have that capacity issue so they got 100 200 people on something which literally is a public is a board meeting in public, just like the boardroom like anybody can get in and yeah that because based on what member Grinnell is describing for that we even if we're going through the mode of who raises the hand that we let him talk, the person needs to first request to comment on a specific item to be on the Zoom to begin with. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to raise the hand at all, right?

[1681] Terrence Grindall: Right, that's what we would need to go to a Zoom, a higher capacity Zoom and where the public could simply join the Zoom meeting. That's what That's what many cities and school districts do. It's not universal, as Member Martinez indicated. There are others that do it different ways, but we are unusual in requiring someone to let us know by 1.30 if they want to comment.

[1712] SPEAKER_36: If I may, President DeLong, in regards to process and where this came about, there were other districts that were following the same process. And throughout time, they may have changed the process. But we were not unique to this process when it was originally created.

[1730] Terrence Grindall: Yeah. I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. But I think the state of the art is to go with the pure Zoom now.

[1739] Bowen Zhang: Pengfei Xue, Jr. : Yeah, I will say, I, you know, this is something I learned new. I didn't know before today that the public actually need to request a link to get on to this meeting because this is probably not the case for Pengfei Xue, Jr. : For for other district of a parent, not a district. I'm like, not a districts that I've been watching some of the zoom meetings. Yeah, and Pengfei Xue, Jr. : I want comments from other board members.

[1769] Phuong Nguyen: I'm okay if we decide to move into what Member Grindel had proposed. But yes, I think it's just a matter of when we first started out, this is how we started and we have not changed any processes or procedures. But if we are if we want to move in that direction, I'm open to that. Or I'm also open for us to be able to continue this current process, too, if it works well for everyone.

[1803] Bowen Zhang: So for me, from a board president perspective, I definitely see the challenge about letting people just raise their hand when the item is being called. But I definitely see that if, in a physical setting, you submit your comment by 7 PM, and then right now we go back to 1 PM, I mean, the reason, the challenge I see about raising the hands is, if let's say, at the beginning of the meeting, I know how many comments there will be, let's say if there's one item that's very interesting to students, and you have a lot of public comment, and that item, let's say, turned out to be 13.5, the board can, I mean, the board president can ask the board member for the discretion about moving that item from 13.5 to 13.5 to be first to discuss, because that's the one that has the most public comments. And you want the public speaker to speak first. And if students want to speak, they go home first. They go to sleep early. I can see that. I mean, that's obviously something if we allow them to raise their hand at heart during a meal, that wouldn't be able to manage. You lose that kind of management advantage over there. But the reason I'm raising that is the 1 PM thing seems to be a bit for me.

[1876] Elisa Martinez: Ms. Gutierrez, if, President Zhang, if I may, you know, can we, can, so let me step back. So Member Rundle, you know, I think, you know, yes, we could do it. Others are doing it that way. I come back to, we're spending time on, you know, do we have a problem, you know, with the current condition after a year later? You know, if we feel that this is like alienated folks, then yeah, we should look at fixing it. But let's let's to to to President Zhang's point, though, you know, I would ask you, Miss Gutierrez, is if one seems too early, like, hey, we're making some people get busy and kind of out of mind that the meeting is going to be starting. Could we increase the time, the cutoff time to two hours prior to the meeting? three o'clock, you know, does that?

[1934] SPEAKER_36: I would say probably no more than three. I think at that point, it's going to be juggling too much of getting things ready for the meeting and making sure that everybody gets the link out.

[1946] Bowen Zhang: OK, so, you know, another point before, Dr. Shriver, you want to try another point I want to make is there is a current California assembly bill that's going to make this remote option permanent even after the pandemic. So eventually we might need to deal with this. because after a pandemic, they said you need to have a permanent remote option for people tuning remotely. So this, at that point, we might need to come back to visit this because in the physical sound, when we go back to the boardroom, everybody can submit a comment by 7 p.m. And sound like you were saying for certain group of folks, they have to do it by 1 p.m. That's how we're gonna create some, that's how we're gonna raise some eyeballs there. Okay, Dr. Triplett.

[1990] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you, President. I just wanted to just lift up one other issue. And that is, I think, many districts have faced the issue of zoom bombers, both in classrooms and in other meetings. And so, um, the the having having the public be able to access the meeting on YouTube is a layer of protection against Zoom bombing. And then people who of course want to make public comment, they can, but it just, it adds a little bit of a layer because if someone raises their hand, so if everyone has the link and anybody, anytime just raises their hands, then we are opening ourselves up to some of those issues. And if we're okay with that, if the board's okay with it, that's fine. But I just wanted to make sure the board was aware that we as a district have definitely experienced this issue in classes and in other areas. And we've had to take measures to protect students and families from this. And I think we've done a really good job of doing that. But this would sort of lower that filter a little bit.

[2062] SPEAKER_36: And if I may add to that, just on a technical aspect of it, board members, as you may see, sometimes when we add a speaker and you see their image, it's because they have an older version of Zoom. And part of the instructions when they get this is to have the latest version of Zoom in order to be able to just hear the audio. If they do not have the latest version of Zoom, that's when you guys end up seeing their video and then our IT team in the background is trying to make sure that we get that taken care of. So just on the technical aspect.

[2098] Bowen Zhang: I see. Member Hill.

[2102] Aiden Hill: To echo Dr. Triplett's comments. So as a teacher, I have been the victim at times of Zoom bombing. So it is a real thing. And so, yeah, so we obviously have to consider security. And then as Ms. Gutierrez is also, I mean, I understand the logistical challenges that you potentially face. So I think we just have to figure out what's the right balance. And you guys know better than I do. So I'll defer to others on this topic.

[2130] Bowen Zhang: OK. So I guess right now we don't have a set conclusion, but we're looking to that whether this can be moved a little bit forward to, let's say, 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. And eventually, if, let's say, that California bill becomes law, where the remote option becomes permanent, then we'll need to revisit this. Yeah.

[2153] Phuong Nguyen: I would I would be okay in agreement with that, because right now, in terms of organization and time and processing for our staff to be able to Have everybody on the call. It's there's no reason for us to fix it if you don't necessarily have to. So I think revisiting it once there, you know, definite need or action that needs to be taken.

[2176] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Okay, there's one remaining item I think requested by Member Hill. That's with regard to the vice president in agenda setting. I think he was referring to going back to a very old practice 10 years ago where every agenda setting is the president, the vice president. There's no rotation for the second board member. So I want to hear thoughts from the rest of the board. So my opinion about this is I'm not sure how much I can see if the vice president sits with the president in every agenda setting, that would be a great learning experience for the vice president to take over the next year. At the same time, this can be a burden on the vice president because in many ways, you are pretty much devoting as much time to this year as the president. So you'll have two years straight of devoting a lot more extra time into the duty of being a board member.

[2239] Phuong Nguyen: I personally like it the way it is right now where we're rotating. I think that it's really important for all the board members to be a part of agenda setting at some point in time throughout the whole year. And not only that, but I think it's just a good way for all of us to be able to engage in a rotation instead of the full responsibility being on the president and the vice president.

[2273] Elisa Martinez: I guess, I wasn't sure that I had any strong feelings one way or the other, but hopefully we don't go through the, total turnover that we did in the last year and a half or two. So I like it that it was all of us because we all had had an opportunity to have gone there. Had it just been the two individuals, the board would have been with zero experience in the process of, and as it was, we were all learning as we go. One other reason that I like it that it's being rotated through is that know, we don't get an opportunity to interact with each other very much, and certainly with the city president. So that I think is an opportunity for the president and the rest of the like one at a time, of course, to engage and kind of kind of get a sense of how we're thinking or how we think about issues. So it's a good learning opportunity from that perspective. I'm not sure you know what the gain is if we just go back to the one individual. So I think my preference would be to keep it as is too. But willing to definitely hear other arguments.

[2344] Bowen Zhang: Member Grundell?

[2346] Terrence Grindall: I agree with Member Martinez. The way it is now has more benefits. Thank you.

[2355] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill?

[2357] Aiden Hill: Yeah, the only reason I was proposing this is you know, because my sense was that the VP position, right, is the president in training. And so just really giving the VP, you know, a lot of good exposure so that they, when they get into the president position, they can really, you know, just jump right in. But it's not, you know, an issue that I think is, I mean, it's not a critical issue to me. It's a suggestion. So if other people feel that the, the benefits of the current system outweigh this change back, that's fine with me.

[2394] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so one advantage about the current rotation is last year I was, before being president, I was only VP for like a couple months. So if we had that straight that just VP always set the agenda, I wouldn't get that much exposure to the agenda setting. So even by going to the VP with remaining months left for the year, knowing I might become the next president, I think that prior exposure to the agenda setting is enough to set me up this year to take over as president. Imagine if we go through the VP setting all the time with president, and then if there's any vacancy left, and then the third person in line has, let's say, two weeks to be the VP and then become president without prior exposure, that's probably not a very good preparation to be present. So okay now I guess we'll just keep the current rotation and I believe that's all the items raised by the board member and we have I guess we still have 15 minutes left and if nothing else from a superintendent or superintendent Triplett

[2454] Mark Triplett: Yeah, just when we're ready to close, President, if maybe we can just go back over and just make sure that staff is clear on which things you're saying, the board is saying that we should bring back for a vote, or if there's anything that we should bring back to revise in the handbook, that'd be great.

[2476] Bowen Zhang: I think today the key thing is that the change we want to make is that $100,000 item thing and the board calendar thing. I'm not sure whether we really need to write this into the governance handbook because this has a lot to do with staff. So it's not strictly about within board, right? So that's a lot of thing we talk about today is sort of gentleman agreement, which is, which is put on the record. So, so I guess, as long as I think most people will, will, will follow this gentleman, not, not everything needs to be written into law for people to follow. So, so I, I don't see other things that need to bring back to, for a vote, unless other board members think there are items that, that need to be brought back for a board vote.

[2529] Aiden Hill: Well, I mean, I do think that we, you know, um, we're talking about the importance of a calendar. Um, and so I do think that that's something that should be kind of a part of our, our norms. Um, and, uh, the details around how we do that, you know, I don't think we necessarily have to be, you know, super, super, super explicit, but I think it's important to establish that as kind of a norm.

[2554] Bowen Zhang: Okay, I think we can, then we can just add one item into our governance handbook. Board receive a board calendar indicating the, specifying the periodic annual events for the board. So from the superintendent. Or let's say all board members should have access to a board calendar that specifies the annual events for the board of education. I think other than that, I think everything else should be fine.

[2586] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you for that. Ms. Gutierrez, do you feel you have enough to go on there?

[2595] SPEAKER_36: I think I do want some clarity. What I'm understanding right now is within part of the norms, member Hill, I will be adding the process of including the governance handbook. However, what I am understanding is that there will be Sorry, go ahead.

[2612] Mark Triplett: The calendar, not the handbook.

[2615] SPEAKER_36: The governance calendar. I apologize. The governance calendar. However, there will be no other changes that would be made to the governance handbook. Is that correct? Board President.

[2630] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think that's fine. That's just the only one item. And what do we agree on? In addition, what do we agree on when it comes to the public comment submission deadline? Did we say we'll keep 1 p.m. as it is, or we're saying trying to move to 3 p.m. or something?

[2647] SPEAKER_36: I think I understand we're going to keep it as is and then revisit it later on if any on legislature. I guess one question that I would have as For the governance handbook, I cannot really make any changes without the board approving it. There are some grammatical errors in this book that I did not make that I need to rectify, which I would need to bring forward, demonstrate, highlight that these changes need to be made. I guess my question is, did you, the board, give me that

[2682] Bowen Zhang: privilege to make those changes, bring it forth highlight for the grammatical mistake and some of the alignment issue. And also there's another issue about leadership rotation. This is 2021. Now the 2020 I think on that one, the 2020 shows I'm the president. So I'm actually present starting in 2021. Okay, there's a timeline timeline here on that. Yeah.

[2707] Terrence Grindall: Are there anything wrong with bringing it back on consent just for formal approval of the board? Would that cause us any problems?

[2714] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think given this is a board annual organization, I think it's just bring it back for the next board meeting. And we have a specific section for that. It's called annual organization of the board or something.

[2724] SPEAKER_36: And that's only, sorry, president, that's only once a year.

[2728] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, or like that's the old business for the board. And then we vote on that. Yeah, I think that's my expectation for the next board meeting.

[2739] Elisa Martinez: Agree, I wouldn't want, yeah, don't bring it to us and highlight all the different periods. I mean, we would expect, you know, you will do the final draft, I think, and submit that for approval would be the thought. Yeah.

[2753] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so with that, I think that's the close of our study session and we will be recessing to a closed session and In the closed session, we will be talking about public employee discipline dismissal release. Item 4.3, conference with labor negotiator, employee organization, NTA and CSCA. 4.4, conference with labor negotiator, employee group, NEWMA. Conference with legal counsel, existing litigation. Conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation. I will come back to open session at around 7 p.m. And Ms. Gutierrez, any public comments on our closed session items? Seeing none, so I will see you see the board member in closed session around 6, 10 minutes break, and we'll come back at 7 PM. OK, Five ayes. Thank you. Thank you.

[2806] SPEAKER_41: Thank you.

[7711] Bowen Zhang: Student Board Member Salemi, how are you?

[7716] SPEAKER_14: I'm doing good. How are you?

[7718] Bowen Zhang: I think we're live. Let's see how we have everybody there.

[7731] Mark Triplett: Good evening, Member Salemi.

[7736] SPEAKER_14: Hello, Dr. Triplett.

[7771] Bowen Zhang: waiting for member Grindel. And Mrs. Dela Cruz.

[7780] SPEAKER_48: Sorry, I was here.

[7784] Bowen Zhang: Okay, we're back to open session, Pledge of Allegiance. So Ms. Gutierrez, can you turn on the banner? Okay, everybody, please stand. 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. Thank you, everyone. Next one, report of closed session actions. No reportable action has been taken in the closed session. Next one, employee organizations. Ms. Gutierrez, any speakers for the employee organizations?

[7836] SPEAKER_36: Yes, President Hsiang, we'll start with the NTA organization. Mr. Sean Ruzzi.

[7851] Bowen Zhang: Welcome. You can begin.

[7853] SPEAKER_31: Thank you. And the rest of the school board and table like some clarification a few items. When we be the merger of snow in Graham. Please give NTA members the one on one conversations with HR they were promised to them by the district. Allow the NTA members to have a choice of a voluntary transfer if they want it. Another one that we're coming up to is LPAC testing. Why aren't all elementary sites in the district following a consistent LPAC testing plan? How LPAC testing is administered is not consistent at all elementary sites. Site funds are used to pay for an LPAC coordinator. Why aren't these positions funded through LCAP? And we're gonna go a little bit more detail about that, which is, When these LPAC coordinators are funded through CPSA means coordinators can't move to a different site to help the LPAC testing. If the LPAC coordinator was funded through LCAP would mean that these coordinators could move to different sites to help with LPAC testing. HVAC units. One of the things we have a couple of concerns with that one. The districts have these verb nines and ionization filters. However, if the HVAC system doesn't work, it won't matter which filters we have. We need her reader person to come out and measure the leakage on every single vent in the schools. Her reader measures the leakage of the HVAC system in the vent to see if the air flow is safe. There should be zero leakage. However, there are standards set by Cal OSHA that may allow for a minimum leakage. But if the leakage exceeds the standard, it is deemed not safe in the room or building should not be occupied. Her rating measures the air flow efficiency, which ties into air, the quality of air, the air exchange equals air movement that if it doesn't meet her reader standards, it is unsafe. There's a second part of this as well. The indoor air quality, known as IAQ. So even if the herd radar numbers come back good, the air quality needs to be tested. An example of this would be if the airflow passes the herd readers, but if the vents are full of asbestos, the IAQ will obviously not passed because the airflow is bad. This is an extreme case, we're not saying that that is happening because the school system is under the state and not the city, the IAQ and the herd raters are much more strict. NTA is requesting these herd testing readings from the district. Last We did get new ventilation systems put in at the high school, and I believe district-wide about three or four years ago. However, the district bought a system that has been disconnected. This has made it hard, and in some cases, impossible to find replacement parts. In order to repair these systems at one site, the district has been taking pieces from other sites or rooms where the classrooms are not occupied. There is at least 15 requests in the last few years about the HVAC at the junior high. It's come to attention that at the junior high, wings G, M, C, K, and F do not have properly working HVAC units. When NTA left back in March, 2019 for quarantine, these HVAC units still were not working properly. NTA is requesting dates and times of when these HVAC units will be fixed. NTA is requesting dates and times of when the filters of these HVAC units were changed out. At the high school, we have HVAC units in the three and 400 building are still not working properly. And NTA is requesting dates and times of when these HVAC units will be fixed. NTA is requesting dates and times of when these filters of the HVAC units were changed out. NTA is still researching if there's any issues at the elementary site, and we'll get back to the board with our findings. Next thing that we have clarification on is Snow Elementary. On November 19th, the school board A slide that was shared during the school consolidation advisory committee report stated that there was a need to invect a possible settlement of building wing three at snow school. It also stated that depending on the result of the test estimated cost could for the repairs are about 300 to 700,000 February 20th, 2020. School Board information was presented as a measure G update, including in the list items for prior spending in an amount of $1 million in Snow School Foundation, Wing 3. For the safety and welfare of NTA members, NTA would like to be given a copy of the complete results of the tests from the soil and civil engineering tests that were paid from Funds 40. And our thing we would like to know is how much will it cost to open snow elementary for less than 30 days. Did the district fix wing three foundation, give empty members, a choice of voluntary transfer to another site, once the site. Once the principle of the new site is chosen. given that NTA member, and give NTA members the one-on-one conversations with HR that were promised to them by the district. Our other clarification would be music elementary. NTA would like some clarification on why TK and K are leaving music. Next year, when the board approved that this site won't be closed for two years, two NTA members are on the assumption that they have one more year at their site. Did the district give these two members a choice of a voluntary transfer or just an involuntary transfer? The district has a right to move NTA members according to the CV, but it would have gone a long way if these members were given a choice of voluntary transfer. And the last one is a clarification. It's just a little bit of an update of bargaining. NUSD gave NTA a counterproposal on a hybrid MOU on March 11th. NTA gave a counter to that proposal at 7.20, the same date. And USD gave NTA a counter proposal to the March 11th proposal on March 17th. And NTA just sent out their counter of the March 17th today at around 4.20 to the district. Both sides are working long hours to make sure that all staff and students are safe when the school reopens. And today's top priority is the safety of our members and the students we serve. I want to thank the board and everyone else and have a good night. And thank you again for letting me speak.

[8321] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Next speaker, please.

[8328] SPEAKER_36: The next speaker we have is from NEWMA and it's Ms. Leonor Rebosura.

[8335] Leonor Rebosura: Good evening. Good evening, President Zhang, members of the school board, Superintendent Chiplett, and the executive cabinet. I'm Leonor Rebosura, a member at large of NOMA. As the program administrator for Newark Teacher Induction in Science, let me begin with an update on teacher induction. This school year, we had the privilege of supporting 21 teacher candidates and 16 mentors through the individual learning plan process of teacher induction. Candidates have reported that their mentors have provided excellent support, guidance, and mentoring, especially during the pandemic. Currently, these teams of candidates and mentors are working on action research focusing on the candidates' professional goals. Here's a sampling of the ILP, Individual Learning Plan, wondering statements. How can I use activities and materials to increase student participation during virtual circle time? How might I be able to modify my instruction of the five components of fitness for the fourth grade PE in an online setting? Which digital assessments most accurately assess students' fluency and reading comprehensions? How do I increase sight word recognition using teacher-created digital tools? Through the ILP process and mentor-based support, the candidates have aligned their professional growth goals with the three district priorities. These ILPs will be reviewed by mentors on April 28th. If you're curious to find out what they discover on their ILP and how it impacts their practice, please do join us at the colloquium on May 12th to hear more about this. Together, let's celebrate the success of our induction candidates and their mentors. New Work also continues its very productive and highly collaborative partnerships with Bayside, based in Lawrence Hall of Science, and the Elementary Science Partnership based in Alameda County Office of Ed. These partnerships have been instrumental ensuring that we provide K-12 high quality inquiry-based literacy integrated science. Bayside facilitates the work of the district science leadership team, which is focused on environmental literacy this year. Elementary science partnership has supported professional learning of teachers in grades three to five around next generation science standards strategies, sensemaking, ELD integration, and discourse. A professional learning event entitled, Let's Give Them Something to Talk About in Science is scheduled for March 31st and May 11th for elementary teachers. Tonight, I also have the pleasure of highlighting two outstanding NEWMA members, Susan Condon and Monique Castellon. Susan Condon is a Director of Maintenance Operations and Transportation She has been a member of the Newark Unified family for 16 years, including her years as a campus monitor. Her main responsibilities are to coordinate the organization, staffing, and operational activities for MOT, which includes vehicle maintenance, transportation, building and equipment maintenance, custodial, and grounds maintenance operations. One of her main goals is to keep our children, all of the staff, teachers, and other district personnel in a safe, secure, clean, and healthy environment. When asked what she likes best about being part of the Newark Unified School family, she says, and I quote, it's the friendships I've developed over the past 15 years. Being NUSD isn't just a workplace for me, but has become an extended part of my family. Monique Castellon has been the Administrative Assistant of Educational Services for the past year and seven months. She joined Newark Unified in 2019. Her main responsibilities is to support the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services. She also assists with supporting site leaders and their front office staff and managing expenditures of the LCAP. She says, that she loves the small but mighty school district that Newark Unified is, and the open collaboration amongst all of its employees. Thank you.

[8589] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Okay. Next school spotlight, Newark Junior High School Superintendent Triplett.

[8601] Mark Triplett: Thank you President Jun and good evening again to board members, staff and community. So, as you know, every, every month we have a spotlight on one of our fantastic schools, and sometimes two per month. And this month we're delighted to be sharing a little bit about Newark. Junior High School, and our principal, Ms. Risha Krishna, is here to present around all of the fantastic things happening at the school.

[8633] SPEAKER_46: Wonderful. Thank you, Board President Zhang, Board Trustees, and Superintendent Triplett. This year has been historical, and we've been challenged to keep our students achieving at high levels despite the pandemic. And tonight, I am so excited to share our outstanding highlights at NJHS. So I'm going to share my screen and get to a presentation. OK. So I'd like to start off with this slide, and we took this district's goal and made it our mantra to improve student engagement, increased the use of formative assessments, and our intentional focus on students' social-emotional learning and wellness. At every level, we were using this lens every day, and since the fall, we've come a long way. In absence of SBAC results this year, we've used local measurements to assess our students' growth While formative assessments tend to be the marker, whether it's daily or minute by minute, to assess our learning, we are also using school-wide data to determine growth and areas to address. So for example, in this slide, you'll see our attendance. We are celebrating our attendance because in our first and second quarter, you see some consistencies between 97.55 and 97.62. Likewise, I'd like to bring our attention to our students who deserve to be celebrated because we are so proud of them. With our staff's commitment, our students have reached 61% above standard, 80% passing rate, met or above, 90% approaching standards or above in the fall. Between these two graphs, between first and second quarter, the performance remained consistent However, we continue to support our struggling students during this challenging time. Celebrating our students' success. Student of the Quarter is an opportunity to celebrate our students for a variety of reasons. It can range from attitude toward learning, contribution to their school, and their perseverance in the face of adversity. While we are celebrating our students, I do want to bring our attention also to our wonderful staff. Without their commitment and focus and their passion, our students wouldn't be where they are. And of course, such achievements help define what it means to be an NJHS Cougar. Through our science classes, our students have been participating in completing quarterly surveys. These questions can range from time management, how they're feeling, what they need. We cross-reference this input with what counselors glean from regular phone calls to parents, and which lead us to determine what are our appropriate responses. And in this particular case, it shows us what 21 and 12% of our students told us that they needed. So it brought us to specific focuses. Student check-ins. While student check-ins with surveys have been important, we've also tried to create space for our students to have brown bag virtual lunch with our counselors and admin. So on Tuesday and Thursday, you can join us with your brown bag lunch. And we have Kahoot games and Just Wellness fun things. And on Mondays and two Mondays of the month, tutorials so you can bring your homework and we're all available to help you too. So STEM. In our STEM classes, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, teachers are implementing next generation science lessons and students are learning behind the scenes what impact school has on a potential career. We are really proud of one of our teachers who received an Amazon grant, one of one of only 1,000 given nationwide. Thanks, Amazon, for that generous gift and with on-time delivery. And in this scene, what you're seeing is students are learning how to navigate products for appropriate delivery, so relatable life experiences. In an English class, which I observed, In this specific lesson, a student demonstrates her ability to point out stories theme as it appears in different story elements, addressing fiction standards and applying literary themes. But what I really appreciated is it's not about what you think, but how you think about it critically. And our English department is doing just that. I love the passion in the student's voice and the conviction with how she felt about the both the protagonists and the stories being way to go Addison. And our teachers collaborate and model examples and non examples. And in this particular quick video, you're going to see how to debate effectively. Here our teachers are stepping outside of their norm and using a totally different set of skills theater. They did mention that not to use to only use their stage name just in case they have to return and accept Academy Awards.

[9001] SPEAKER_47: Those are filled with pictures. Whereas most of the novels that are on there, even the shorter ones, were around two to 300 pages of text. I can also support my point that comics are not complex enough. Now I'd like to show you- Those are filled with pictures.

[9022] SPEAKER_46: Whereas most of the- Sorry, this slide. Look at the transformation of the teacher after he receives feedback from the students in the classroom, how to became a model for a good debater.

[9038] SPEAKER_33: Loss in class. Complexity is about more than just sentence and page. And some students who may not love reading novels may love reading comics. Students should be able to read comics for class. Thank you, Mr. Jones. That was an example of loss in class.

[9067] SPEAKER_46: Next slide. OK. And in this science lesson, the teacher asked students to make a personal connection with balanced force and Newton laws. So let's hear what Joy has to say.

[9083] SPEAKER_40: An example of a balanced force is if I was playing tug-of-war with my brother. Since we both have the same strength, it would be balanced and the rope would be staying in the middle. An unbalanced example of a force is pushing a grocery cart. Since there's nothing blocking me from the other side, when I push it, it would go straight.

[9117] SPEAKER_46: I'll have to ask Joy who won the tug of war, her or her brother. Puente is an inaugural year at NJHS with about 20% of our students enrolled. The teacher and the counselor work collaboratively to support our students and prepare them for the college track upon entering school, excuse me, entering high school and the focus is on multicultural curriculum. So here what's important in a name.

[9146] SPEAKER_17: Your Name Poem by Ethan Guzman. Names, names, names. Why so special in our so-called society? Names, names, names. They tell each person's past and heritage. Names, names, names. They are the center of who you are. They define us. Names, names, names. We shall never forget our names, for they are more special than any treasure.

[9173] SPEAKER_46: Thank you, Ethan.

[9175] SPEAKER_41: My name is Daisy, and it is spelled in many different ways. My family is Mexican, and my mom would have decided to name, and my mom had decided to name me Daisy, but it's spelled differently. It would have been spelled Daisy, D-E-I-C-Y. I have a friend named Daisy, and that's how it's spelled, but my parents.

[9199] SPEAKER_46: Thank you, Daisy. This is what our teachers are doing, but with a college and career focus. Here, our counselors have done a great job with providing our students information on college and career possibilities. In this chart, you can see that 46% of our students have elected to go to college and 39% want more information. This opens up doors and options for our students to make well-informed decisions and also know about their choices. And of course, we care about every and each student. So those that are struggling most is also our focal point. Cost is the coordination of services team that continues to meet remotely and identify students who may need additional support internally and through community partnerships. I want you to imagine every Wednesday morning we have deep conversations and explore every imaginable avenue that could possibly support our struggling students. What's been done, what can be done, what are our next steps? And we have seen an increase in attendance, engagement, wellness in our students, and we couldn't do this without our community partnerships. While we support our students academically, We are so very proud with the adoption of Character Strong. This is a huge celebration. And again, I want to acknowledge my staff. They deserve a huge congratulations. Their work has given students and the program time and space to grow. We and they are leading the way. Imagine every Monday morning, sleepy eyed and tired, our young Cougars plop down and hear and coax, hear words and coax them into playing with the idea of virtues, virtues that aren't just mere words, words like kindness, humility, responsibility, and how they can practice them and how they can enhance our community. All of these contribute to leadership in our students, but specifically leadership with our ASB. Associated Student Body. You may remember some of these students who've come and presented at board meetings for you. Our students build positive school climate, both interpersonal and community relationships. They create weekly challenges and bulletins which broadcast every Monday morning for the entire school. They have their own YouTube link.

[9373] SPEAKER_21: Good morning teacher, staff, and students. Today is the week of Monday, December 7th, 2020. I'm Kristen. And I am Delilah.

[9381] SPEAKER_41: This week's quote comes from writer Christopher Moore, children see magic because they look for it.

[9387] SPEAKER_21: Happy birthday, Miss Debbie, from all the office ladies.

[9391] SPEAKER_46: And I know that I love hearing all of these videos, but I know you have other agenda items. In partnership, all of these, anything one person can do, a team can do better. And we know team stands for together, everyone achieves more. And we are really fortunate to have an outstanding PTSA. Their commitment and support has brought so many wonderful opportunities for our students. Our PTSA's most recent poetry contest was entitled Praise Come Unity. What an appropriate way to engage on build our students connectedness, especially right now in this disconnected world. And they also had a local contest in the fall, which you see with the three people on the side and our PTSA. They have their own selection process. They chose that. And I'm super excited because that person in the pink I thought was a student is me. So I'm pretty excited. Way to go, Micah. And Protect our students in this different world. It may no longer be stranger danger, but really protecting them virtually. In partnership with PTSA and JHS, we were able to bring a magic show to all our families to be cyber aware and cyber safe. I want to thank all of our supportive parents. We wouldn't have been able to do this without them. And anyone who wants to get involved, we have a number of ways for family involvement. Fourth Tuesday of the month, there's conversation with principal, with me and the assistant principal and our counselors. We have school site council meetings, we have ELAC, and all of these are wonderful ways that we embrace our community. And look at what our students are doing on their own, a virtual wall, speaking of building community. Come check out our monthly virtual wall where students are posting affirmations on their own. Every month there is something. Last month it was spread the compliments and this month it is what is blooming this spring for you. And so it is kind of very fun. And our wonderful nutrition staff who faithfully bring a smile to work every day and bring our school to life. Rain or shine, this amazing staff feeds our families and our kids. And my experience is that if you're not having fun, you're not optimally engaged. So check out our holiday staff photo funsies, what our staff did. And it's pretty cool. So All our staff did a great job of submitting a fun photo of their holidays. And so we are doing all kinds of these challenges. Maybe they did it for a pie. I'm not sure. But those small things go a long way. So it was a lot of fun to get these. And we in this pandemic has taught all of us our own resilience and reminded us there's a hero in all of us. And I'd like to leave you today On behalf of our staff, thank you for the opportunity to serve this noblest effort guiding our children into their future. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to present this evening.

[9643] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Thank you for the presentation and thank you for all the hard work you're doing at a junior high for our kids. And any other comments from the rest of the board? Member Hill?

[9660] Aiden Hill: So thank you, Principal Krishna. Nice presentation. And I like the end with the reference to The Alchemist. So it's a great book and about discovering the true treasure, which is yourself. But question for you. Part of your presentation, you were talking about mastery of grade level standards. Can you explain a little bit more about what that is and how that's being measured?

[9685] SPEAKER_46: Yes, absolutely. So the grade level standards were based on our first quarter and second quarter report cards. And so mastery at grade level, above grade level, approaching grade level. Since we don't have SBAC results, we had to equate them into grades that students earned. So 4.0, 3.0. We had a large number of our students did an outstanding job by receiving virtual principal's honor roll and or honor roll.

[9717] Aiden Hill: Great, thank you.

[9718] SPEAKER_22: Sure thing.

[9720] Bowen Zhang: Hey, seeing no other board member, thank you again for the great presentation. Thank you for all the hard work you're doing under such a difficult period of time for our kids at the junior high.

[9733] SPEAKER_46: I want to thank every one of you also for doing all the work that you're doing to support us.

[9739] Bowen Zhang: OK, thank you. Have a great rest of the night. And moving forward, we'll be public comment on another agenda item. I believe we have three speakers. Ms. Gutierrez.

[9752] SPEAKER_36: That is correct. The first one is Christine Clinton. You may begin.

[9766] SPEAKER_19: Hi, everyone. Today, let's talk about censorship. On February 23rd, 2021, I commented on a Newark Unified School District Facebook post regarding the February 22nd Town Hall. Shortly thereafter, my comment was deleted from the thread. This isn't the first time a comment I made on the Newark Unified Facebook page was deleted. There was the time I corrected the spelling of heroes in a hashtag. Another time I pointed out that Newark is an Alameda County, not Contra Costa County as stated in the post. Those comments were deleted. What is unique about the February 23rd postings is it marks the first time you attempted to silence the entire community. After you deleted my comment, at least three other community members, asked their own questions and made their own statements in this Facebook thread. Rather than answer the tough questions that were also ignored the night before during the town hall, the entire post along with the community's comments were scrubbed from Facebook. Any sign of the town hall was also removed from the district's website. I have a screenshot to back up my assertions, by the way. This is a problem because it is illegal. First Amendment rights, anyone? Here's the deal. Because you created your social media presence to be interactive, you have created a forum where the community can express themselves. Social media pages managed by local government are considered a limited public forum, and you are not allowed to delete anything. You may hide comments that qualify as hate speech, none of which did, and you must retain all comments in an archive. But don't take my word for it. Ask your lawyers about the consequences of violating the community's First Amendment rights. If they don't urge you right away to undo the deletions and restore community commons going back to day one, I'd be happy to connect them and you with the First Amendment Coalition. So how did this happen? I know the management of Newark Unified School District social media accounts and websites are a function of the executive assistant. I submitted a public records request on February 27th for any and all communications within the district and its employees related to the February 22nd town hall, as well as documentation regarding the district's decision to violate the community's first amendment rights. I received a response on Wednesday, March 10th that said the district has determined that it does not have any records responsive to this request. That must mean the removal of the public comments But the removal of the public comments was an executive decision of the executive assistant. There was no paperwork trail according to this official response to deflect blame. I'm asking that you and your staff do better so as to avert more unnecessary, costly, and completely avoidable lawsuits. Thank you.

[9929] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Next speaker.

[9935] SPEAKER_36: Yes, the next speaker is Vanessa Shea.

[9943] Bowen Zhang: You can begin.

[9944] SPEAKER_16: Good evening. My name is Vanessa Shea. I'm a school social worker and alternatives to suspension coordinator in the district. I'm speaking tonight as an advocate for the mental health of our students and staff, as well as for ongoing equity efforts in cultivating a safer, healthier, more just community for all. My profession is anchored in the values of service, social justice, relationships, and integrity. And my code of ethics demands me to act, not to join forces with systems that uphold structural racism. Racism is a public health crisis impacting all of us. I understand my privilege as a white woman speaking up against racism and the perpetuation of harm that I've witnessed in our district is my duty to the culture and climate. I can't imagine what it is like for a person of color to speak up against racism and their experiences of harm in our district. Our efforts must be bold and long term to address systemic inequalities that play out in our schools. The pandemic has increased existing educational and societal inequalities and the impact has created needs in all areas of the lives of students, their families, as well as staff members who give their love, time, and energy to our community. It is a stressful time for many of us as we're all continuing to navigate the school year. A few problematic aspects of NUSD's culture that perpetuates racism include a sense of urgency that makes it difficult to take time to be inclusive, encourage democratic and thoughtful decision-making, to think long-term, and to consider consequences. One example is that the BLM resolution was passed without the consultation or input of our Black families, staff members, and students, which is why student leaders want to drive and support the anti-racism work outlined in the resolution. Second, paternalism. For instance, those with power believed to be making decisions for and in the best interest of those without power. An example is a district moving forward with two consultants who during an implicit bias district training dismissed two black women courageously expressing how they were harmed during the training. A potentially teachable moment turned into a traumatic experience that many are still worried about. NUSD has the ability to shift paradigms to promote more restorative practices district-wide and ensure training to be more healing-centered or trauma-informed in the long term. Student leaders have been lifting up the importance of mental health and justice this year, holding us accountable as their leaders. While addressing budgetary challenges may be a priority, it must also be balanced with meeting the significant social and emotional needs of all students. It is a step in the right direction to prioritize SEL for students and to support long-term racial equity work in NUSD. Research has shown that students affected by trauma and mental health issues are unable to access learning and engage in school. To advance real solutions, we need to genuinely listen to people of color in our district and not attempt to silence them. which ultimately perpetuates racism and white supremacy culture. My hope is that we can authentically do the work of exploring racism in NUSD and further professional development, support resources for our staff, and align our purpose with our pedagogy, curricula, policies, decision-making processes, and structures. May I finish one last sentence and I'm finished? Yeah, go ahead. Thank you. I appreciate it. I stand in solidarity with the students, families and staff members who continue to be impacted by racism, both interpersonal and systemic, who have been and will continue to fight for a better school community and world for our kids. Thank you so much.

[10150] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Next speaker.

[10155] SPEAKER_36: Yes, our last speaker is Cindy Parks.

[10161] Bowen Zhang: Mrs. Barth, you may begin.

[10163] Cindy Parks: Good evening. When word spread of the need for the district to close two elementary sites, many community members were not happy. Although closing two schools was not a popular course of action, I believe the community hoped for a fair, transparent process. From the first consolidation meeting, it was apparent the committee wasn't going to be allowed to operate independently. especially after the facilitator was caught on video after the meeting had concluded, telling staff she would help take back control. Newark has been proud when a principal has risen through the ranks. Four of your eight elementary principals have that status. I'm sure if you were to search for articles that listed components of a happy workplace, the opportunity for advancement would be one. After the approval of the snow merger with Graham, certain commitments surrounding stakeholder involvement were made. Unfortunately, that inclusive process disclosed early on by the superintendent has changed, eliminating stakeholder involvement in the interview panel. It is my understanding there is an internal posting for the Graham principle. In order for that to have happened, the Graham and Snow principles should have received a pink slip. Yet at your March 4th meeting, the board did not approve eliminating certificated administrative principle positions. Wouldn't the board need to authorize that by March 15th? Was that an omission, a way to hide that what is taking place? San Lorenzo Unified gave pink slips to all of its principles and assistant principles. They are all listed on the reduction resolution. Are there postings and approval requirements you should be following regarding notifications like this? The board has not approved new boundary lines for the merged Snow and Graham area, yet they are reflected on the district website. Shouldn't school boundary changes be approved by the board, even though they are assumed in the case of Snow and Graham? Also, it has been mentioned music will not be hosting TK and K this year. Since the board hasn't approved new boundary lines for that area either, why aren't TK and K students allowed to register at music? Many school sites have a long time history of being named after predominant local community members. At the last liaison committee meeting, council member Hannon suggested the district maintain the history and retain the Graham name. At the last board meeting, Ms. Thomas made a similar plea. I understand there is a superintendent directed district rebranding underway. Lincoln had to change its school colors to Cougar blue and gold with a mascot change to follow. The Birch Grove sites just changed their colors five years ago to purple and teal. Where was the community input on that? It seems as though the board voted last November to merge Snow and Graham, close music and move the sixth graders to the junior high. That vote seemed to absolve all of you of any other decisions regarding this matter. Many decisions during your one-on-one conversations with the superintendent produced, or how many of your discussions during your one-on-one conversations with the superintendent produced decisions made outside of the public purview? All of this should have been made very inclusive process with discussions held in public. Instead, many feel as though the district decisions are being made at the top, decisions that should be made with board approval. Thank you.

[10363] Bowen Zhang: Next, staff report 10.1, update on forefront solar, power solar project at the Memorial High and the Junior High. Superintendent Triplett.

[10373] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Jeon. So I'm going to turn it over to Ms.dela Cruz, who will give an update on the solar project. It's very exciting. We're delighted that we're moving forward.

[10387] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Ms. Gutierrez, is Ms. Payne

[10394] SPEAKER_36: Yeah, we're over right now. Ready?

[10399] Marie dela Cruz: Yes. So good evening, board members. We do have an update for you this evening. As you know, the solar project was approved by the board back in November of 2019. And we have been moving forward with all the pre planning and the drawings and been meeting every other week with with our forefront power company, and we've provided the last update, which was back in December. And we are at a point now where the plans are at DSA, the Division of State Architects, and we'll soon be breaking ground. So I wanted to bring Ms. Payne here to give you an update. Ms. Payne. Can you hear me?

[10457] SPEAKER_38: Yes. Okay, fantastic. Did you want me to share the presentation, Marie, or do you have it queued up?

[10464] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, could you please? Absolutely. Can she share, Ms. Gutierrez? You want me to share? No, I'm asking, yeah, if Ms. Gutierrez would allow you to share.

[10478] SPEAKER_38: Okay, fantastic. Let me go ahead and do this. And I will go ahead and play.

[10485] SPEAKER_29: Let's see.

[10490] SPEAKER_38: And let's see here. All right. I'm going to share my presentation. Give me one second here. All right. Let's get this in play mode. All right, just wanna make sure everyone can see this. Okay, good evening, everyone. Thank you for your time this evening. I'm excited to present our latest update as Marie just introduced. My name's Lisa Payne. I'm the project manager for Forefront Power. And I am fortunate to have been involved in these projects at the junior high and high school. So there you go. We'll start at the top. So essentially right now, these are both DSA projects, Newark Memorial High School, as well as there's also an ESS component, which is the battery storage component, and then the junior high school, all of which will have been submitted to DSA as of today, actually. And essentially, as the clock starts ticking, we'll await comments. These projects were also involved in the CGS due to the liquefaction zone. All were submitted to CGS back in January, and we're currently waiting review and approval on those sites as well. Moving into construction schedule. So once we receive the comments back, address any comments from DSA and CGS, that will allow our box to be open and our steel to be fabricated. Currently, right now we're estimating our mobilization date at the end of your school year, which is essentially setting right at the beginning of summer. At this phase, we will put up the temporary fence and the team will start to begin deliveries, remove any light poles, set up their construction areas, survey underground and confirm final array locations. The main part of construction will commence the week of 6-7. This phase will consist of drilling, setting, pouring, boring, running conduits, pouring pads, and all of this is dependent upon obviously site conditions. This section of construction will last approximately six to eight weeks, just depending on the underground that we find. Any required ADL upgrades will also follow this PV construction. All major construction is estimated to complete by the end of summer, 8-6. At this point, our temporary fence will be removed around the arrays. There might be some small areas where we'll need to access the inverters for commissioning. But at that point, 90% of your parking lot will be open for access. And we'll be able to block off just a couple of sites around there should we need it. Commissioning and final completion will follow that generally involves like the IOR and a PG&E inspections with the COD date late September, early October. All right, the first site, Newark Memorial High School PV layout essentially consists of seven arrays. Each of these arrays is a minimum clear height of 12 foot with a total system size of 755 kW, excuse me, And you can see the layout here. This is Cedar Boulevard, just to give you kind of a reference point. And all of the arrays will be installed in this lot and then the far lot in the back. And this is the configuration of the arrays, just so you have an idea of how they're set together. We usually do them in blocks, and that matches our PC. Moving on to the system side view. So you'll notice that obviously these are the tilt angle. Each of these arrays are at a five degree tilt, allowing the inverter to be mounted at the top, and then we run the conduit. And then this is your foundation, your steel foundation into the concrete baller. This is what we're looking at in terms of the fenced off area. This will be our construction zone while we're working on these arrays. If you'll notice, we've allowed the necessary space for travel throughout the parking lot, allowing the area for any fire trucks or any access to the site. So as we're doing construction, you'll still have access to the far back lot and then on the side of the building here. Moving on to the energy storage system. The energy storage system is located in the back of the school. I guess the best place, the best reference I can give you is off to the back by the pool area. There's a transformer switchgear area and the battery storage pad will sit right behind that area off by itself. And just to kind of give you an idea, the arrays will be connected also with the battery storage as well. So it will all be a one combination of a system. This is essentially what your battery storage will look like. If you remember, when we did a presentation, the board voted on the four hour 250 kW storage which actually allows the district to gain more savings. So essentially you'll have a system a little bit bigger, a little bit larger platform, but allow for more storage and allow for more savings as well. Moving on to the Newark Junior High School. This system consists of six arrays located in the parking lot as well, a 12 inch minimum clear height and 395 KW. Moving on, same system. Your tilt actually at this site is a seven degree tilt, allowing the inverter to sit at the top of the post, and then this is your foundation below. This site has a construction boundary, a little bit smaller footprint because of the array layout. However, still allows access around the site and access to the rest of the parking lot. And then moving on to the last slide. So just to kind of give the district an idea of your total savings, we did a combination of the total system savings at the high school, as well as the battery storage. So that is a combination of both savings over the 20 years, and then the Newark Junior High School savings over the 20 years. And that is what I have for you this evening.

[10951] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Given there is no public comment, I will go straight to the board. Student Member Salemi, any questions and comments? Student Member Salemi, any questions or comments?

[10971] SPEAKER_14: Oh, I have no questions.

[10972] Bowen Zhang: OK. What about the rest of the board? Member Hill.

[10981] Aiden Hill: Yes, thank you. And thank you, Ms. Payne, for your presentation. So just a quick question. So you've got this savings slide in front of us, and we show sort of the cumulative savings at the end of 20 years for both the high school and the junior high. And then what's kind of the payback period? So like how much, you know, because I'm new to this agreement, so we put in so much money to get so much savings. Can you explain that a little bit?

[11012] SPEAKER_38: The payback portion of this, that was part of sales and I can get that information for you and find out what the payback was. But I believe that this system at the beginning, I'll have to double check for you if you don't mind.

[11031] SPEAKER_29: I don't want to speak to that.

[11034] SPEAKER_38: Yeah, I don't think the district should invest any money into this system.

[11038] Bowen Zhang: I think it was PPA.

[11043] SPEAKER_38: This PPA rate is strictly, there was no buy-in from the district. Like there was no pay down, pay back, pay down through bond money. This is all strictly savings.

[11054] Aiden Hill: Right, what I'm what I'm asking for is a more generic, you know, so there's a certain amount of money that was invested. And then, and then, you know, there's a certain amount of money that we save. And so I just wanted to kind of be able to see that.

[11067] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so, so a little bit of background. So when we vote on it, there are two options. Either we invest some money in there and we'll be owning the storage or we don't invest anything and we're sort of renting from them, but we don't pay anything. So, but six years later, we have the option to buy back the storage. I think we choose the second path, which is no upfront cost to us. I believe five or six years later, we will have the option of buying the storage system back from the provider. Then we'll no longer be on the leasing business anymore.

[11098] Aiden Hill: Okay.

[11098] Bowen Zhang: I understand.

[11099] Aiden Hill: Thank you.

[11101] Bowen Zhang: Any other questions, comments on the board?

[11110] Phuong Nguyen: Just to comment, I'm excited for the project to start and that we'll be able to have and produce and use some green energy in the district. So I think it's a positive thing. So thank you so much.

[11129] SPEAKER_38: No problem. I'm excited as well.

[11131] Bowen Zhang: Just a bit more information for the two new board members. There is a termination cost within a specific time. I believe it's within 10 years or within seven years. We decide we're not going to do this because we didn't pay anything up front. The provider, the vendor actually installed the storage. There is a termination cost on us for them to remove the storage. So that will be the cost. We decide this is not saving our money. So that's the contract we signed. Okay, seeing no other comments, obviously, thank you for your presentation. We definitely look forward to the implementation of this system.

[11165] SPEAKER_38: Wonderful.

[11165] Bowen Zhang: Thank you so much.

[11167] SPEAKER_41: Bye. Thank you, Ms. Ping.

[11171] Bowen Zhang: Next one will be 10.2 Professional Development Plan, Superintendent Triplett.

[11177] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Jhun. So we wanted to bring forth tonight, a presentation by Mr. Dolowich, our Director of Teaching and Learning, who's going to share about the professional development plan that we've been implementing this year. We're really, really proud of the work that we've been doing with our teachers and our and our administrators, because this is a learning organization. And for us, that means all of us are continuing to learn, and we want to make sure that we're creating opportunities for all our employees to continue to grow and be their best selves with our young people. So Mr. Delawich has been leading some amazing work around professional development, and I'll turn it over to him.

[11226] SPEAKER_13: All right, wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Good evening, members of the board. Thank you for the opportunity to present this evening regarding Newark Unified's Comprehensive Professional Development Plan. Since March of 2020, Ed Services has continued to evolve our approach through conversations and collaboration with colleagues throughout the district in order to provide a comprehensive framework for professional development. First and foremost is centered on three district instructional priorities. You heard mention of them earlier here tonight, just to delve a little deeper. Student engagement through rigorous standards-based instruction. And I heard an earlier question regarding assessment. And so in lieu of summative assessment from SBAC last year, we have to find creative ways to measure our students' progress. That includes strategic partnerships with online platforms, for example, and I'll speak to that momentarily. Priority number two is assessment for learning. Again, how do we shift and support teachers with respect to daily and weekly formative assessments? We don't have the same summative assessment data as we would in a traditional setting. And then third, social emotional learning. You heard a comment earlier from the public. And this encompasses not only the character strong SEL curriculum that we brought forth at the secondary level and also look forward to bring an elementary SEL curriculum shortly to you so that we have comprehensive TK through 12 SEL curriculum. But it also includes mental health wellness. And within that is for our students, but absolutely for our staff. That does include implicit bias, very essential conversations, challenging conversations, but from a shared experience as an organization critical for our growth and development. When you look at our PD calendar year at a glance in organizing this over the summer of 2020 with NTA and with teachers, we prioritize Mondays and specifically we designed each Monday of the month, first Monday for staff meetings that could be positive behavior interventions and supports. That's PBIS at the elementary level. It could be SEL at the secondary level. It could be an upcoming assembly that a principal wants to reinforce in the classroom with thematic lessons. Those are examples of staff meetings. The second Monday is dedicated for district-led PD, and I'll discuss the strategic partnerships momentarily, but Nearpod, Pear Deck, and the international organization EdTech have all been partnered with to try to support teachers in the transition to distance learning. The third Monday is a collaboration focus. This may be site-specific, in other words, across grade levels or across content areas at a specific site, but just as likely, it could be district-wide. And so, for example, to the assessment question, we've held a district-wide calibration for all elementary teachers, where they're looking at the grade level standards, the ones they're going to prioritize, since it's a new reality in distance learning, and then what are the grading implications and what's the rubric they're going to use. So what really does a four mean? or a 90% and above and coming to common agreements so that occurs across the district. And then fourth Monday and finally site level initiative. And so this is specific to the site is, you know, currently with our eight elementary schools for our partnered with seal, which looks at early academic language development. and can be supported for our students across the district. And also tools for formative assessments. So in lieu of summative assessment data, how do we shift to daily and weekly feedback? What does that mean for parents? What does that mean for students? And so those are some of those site-level initiatives that we've undertaken. When you look at our PD calendar year at a glance, we have every Monday accounted for throughout the year. This is an example of the fourth Monday of the month, and specifically it begins with January. So what you see before you is January 25th, February 22nd, March 22nd, and so on and so forth. Each Monday is accounted for and you see in the color code, one of the three district instructional priorities. So the professional development or the site level initiative that's occurring is aligned to that you can see here at the end of the month, we've been having secondary implicit bias training trainings really essential work based on recent events. throughout our nation and throughout the world. And if you go further, you can see that certain sites have options, whether it's with SEAL, whether it's with platform tools, SEL, so on and so forth. And so I work on a weekly basis with an amazing team of TOSes, three specific TOSes, teachers on special assignment. So they have helped contribute to this refined calendar. So too have principals and teachers. We want to be responsive. And at the same time, they not only help coordinate some of the PD, they help lead it. And so I'll speak to that as well. So what is our comprehensive model for PD? It is essentially rested on three pillars. And those three pillars are strategic partnerships, TTT model, which is defined as teachers training teachers, and then finally, district-led PD and initiatives. So I'll briefly touch upon those. as I know your time is valuable. Strategic partnerships, I mentioned even delving back to the spring with March and April, we formed a close partnership based on NTA recommendation with EdTech. EdTech is an international organization that specializes in distance learning and student engagement. They've been fantastic partners. We've also entered into commitments with Nearpod, specifically the Nearpod features English learners. one that we've committed to. Pear Deck throughout the district. RAS Kids is TK6. And in terms of assessment data, this will offer comprehensive assessment data for reading comprehension and literacy. Seesaw is specific to our younger grades. We know that You know, if you're a kindergarten or first grader, it is, it's, it can be a little bit more challenging to maintain engagement so seesaw specifies TK through three in our district. And then the high schools requested Ed puzzle. So those are just some examples of partnerships that we've utilized either for staff development days or PD. EdTech, when we were starting out, for instance, we made it specific for grade levels and also for content areas at the secondary level. So you can see examples when we first started out, they went into, for instance, how do you engage students with asynchronous lessons, the time when they're not in front of the camera and they're assigned work? How do we use Google Classroom as our learning management system? And how do you really engage a classroom community virtually? And then we've leveled that up with respect to our August PD that Dr. Triplett and I open. And with every one of these, we always include feedback and survey data with this. And so it helps provide that teacher feedback. With EdTech, for instance, some of the comments just jump off the the feedback form, for instance, one veteran saying this is one of the best PDs in my seven plus years in Newark Unified. We also have a rating scale to assess it. And the rating scale allows teachers to provide their rating one through five. Do the results always look like this? No, they do not. But this is one of our full day PDs with EdTech. And of course, we also have our TOCES involved in terms of coordinating and then following up with site-specific PD. Secondly, the second pillar, the TTT model, something I'm really proud of, we began in the spring and we've continued to develop it, is a model that taps expertise within an educational organization. It's first developed by California Teachers Association, as well as the National Educators Association, NEA. And essentially, it honors the fact that we have expertise leaders within our own organization, that have the trust, have the relationships with colleagues, and can lead training. And so we've done this at the secondary level with respect to SEL, for example, and other content specific in the math department at the high school, and then also at the elementary level. when we've looked at our learning management system, how to leverage Google Classroom, for example, or like I was talking about with our little ones, engage with Seesaw for virtual students TK through two. And then finally, district-led PD and initiatives. I had mentioned, so in Ed Services, I lead and meet with the TOSAs each week. They're very responsive. They hold office hours. They also go into staff meetings upon request and present not only in the staff meetings, but in the site-level initiatives. And so they do the follow-up and the unpacking of a number of those partnerships I mentioned. They're responsive to the teacher voice. They've been teachers, and they have the relationships with our staff. And then ultimately, like I mentioned, we're trying to have coherent vertical articulation. And so we want to align this with the three district instructional priorities that we're committed to continuing with next year. And then finally, just as an example of some of the TOSA work, you can see that they're looking at gathering data on a weekly basis with formative assessment. That would be tools for formative assessment. Or supporting teachers with designing lessons, both synchronously and asynchronously. So even when we return in a hybrid eventually, a lot of this work will continue and lend itself to both the virtual and the in-person setting. And then finally, just have to really acknowledge the teachers. They have been an absolute joy in terms of wanting to continue to grow in terms of being honest around what's working and what's not. And so as we build collectively our practice with the new realities, I think first and foremost, they deserve the acknowledgement on the front lines. And so we want to be receptive and responsive to what they're lifting up. So that concludes my presentation, and I'll stop and see if there's any follow-up questions or comments.

[11915] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Mr. Dolovesh. I'll bring to the board, Member Hill.

[11921] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Mr. Delowich, a very interesting presentation. Would it be possible to send the board like more information about EdTech and the TTT model? I mean, it seems like those are really interesting programs and it seems like the teachers are really responding to those. And so it would be great to learn more about that.

[11941] SPEAKER_13: Absolutely. I've had instructional leaders ask for that as well. We've partnered with other districts where they've asked for the EdTech information. Um, and then the TTT model, obviously we've, we've, um, received that from CTA leaders across the state. So absolutely.

[11957] Aiden Hill: Great. Thank you.

[11962] Bowen Zhang: Seeing no other comments. Thank you again for your presentation. Uh, have a great rest of the day. Uh, moving on superintendent report, superintendent Triplett.

[11977] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you, President Jhun, and thank you again to Mr. Dulowicz and his amazing team doing incredible work with supporting our teachers and our administrators. So I'm going to jump to my deck here. Today, I have a David Ensign, PB – He, Him, His): What I think will be a brief, I hope, is a brief from superintendent report because there's some other items that are coming up in the agenda that that I want to make sure that we we devote some time to as well. So two things on tonight's superintendent report, enrollment, our regular enrollment update, and then a merger update as well, which of course we were always doing. For enrollment, these are our numbers this week. So you can see this compares to the last time we reported out, which was on the 3rd of March. And this is as of the 15th, which I believe was Monday, if I'm not mistaken. You can see that we have we've declined seven students overall across the district since in the last two weeks. And again it's a trend that's concerning because we know that particularly given the situation with the virus and the learning that families, some families are really struggling, and, and even in some cases have had to move or seek other options. So I'm just wanted to make sure we continue to make you aware of our enrollment numbers. I want to just go over the enrollment and registration process for next year. So as you've seen before, I've showed you this in that we have been moving through the priority window, the priority registration time frame. So that is closed now. And what's happening now is that our team is reviewing all of the registration thus far to really confirm all of those registrations, as well as now looking at intra-district transfers, which is new this year. Again, normally, in the past, those have waited all the way to July or June, which has left many families frustrated. So we are processing those now, and then we will continue to process the inter-district transfers as we move along. But part of our new priority window option is doing that at this point as well. And then, of course, on March 22, we open again for just open registration, open enrollment, and we'll continue to receive registration applications all the way up through the beginning of the school year and beyond. I did want to loop back and just confirm something for the board and those in the public who are watching, because I know this was a topic of conversation at our last meeting, I believe, questions on getting to make sure there was clarity around the options being offered at Schilling for the upcoming school year. So this is just to confirm we have, we've been able to review all of the data thus far in terms of registration and I'm pleased to be able to say that we will have both a dual language immersion kindergarten, a dual language immersion first grade, as well as a English kindergarten and an English first grade at Schilling for the upcoming school year. And then we continue to engage families and students in the enrollment process. So we did hold our meeting at the Memorial High School on March 8th. with regard to course offerings. That was the follow-up for another Memorial High School meeting for incoming ninth graders. We've been holding our ParentVUE workshops, and that's an opportunity for families to understand and get support around registering on ParentVUE. There'll be another one on the 24th. And then we've been having some orientations at the junior high. And you saw Ms. Krishna this evening. There was a family orientation night on March 16th. I know some board members were in attendance. That was really wonderful. And as well as sixth grade presentations to students. I had the honor of being in one of those today at BGI. So counselors, principal, and other staff members from the junior high going and going into classes in our different elementary schools to talk about seventh grade next year, talk with sixth graders about seventh grade next year. Our current sixth graders had great questions, everything from where can I park my bike at the junior high school to what kind of clubs and what kind of classes are being offered. So really, really awesome. Shifting gears a little bit. So I wanted to give some merger updates. I believe I showed this last time. So these are the things that we are doing. These are part of our Gantt chart of action items for March. So Continuing to meet with the design team. We met last week as a design team. We had did hold a joint staff meeting and we'll continue to do that. We are involved in the naming process. I'll speak a little bit more about the leadership selection process that that we've We've embarked on now, and we are planning on meeting with non-teaching staff during March, finalizing and communicating class utilization, facilities improvement lists, and then developing specifications for moving and determining furniture needs. So that's what's on deck for March, and we'll give you an update at our next board meeting about what has been accomplished. And then jumping into the leadership selection process. So this has been something that I know board members have asked about as well as Community members, staff and the like. So just to go over our timeline to date. So this is with regard to selecting principal for the snow Graham. school for the upcoming school year. We did meet with both principals principal from snow and the principal from Graham, March 10, discuss the process with them first and gauge their interest and applying for the, for the position of the leader of the new school. We then also met with, we had a joint staff meeting with the Snow-Graham staff, shared the process with them as well, addressed questions and concerns. We're meeting with you tonight to also share the process. The next stage is engaging with, re-engaging with staff and then also with families and community from Snow-Graham to really elicit from them and hear from them what are the characteristics that they are looking for in a school leader for the Snowgram Merge School. So we'll meet on March 22nd with both staff and during the day and then families during the evening to hear from them and get input around the characteristics they're looking for. And then we are opening, posting the position internally And really with the idea that we have two principals already, and so we don't feel the need or that it would actually be appropriate to post this externally. And then once we've determined that both principals are in fact going to apply and are interested, then we will have the interviews with both those principals. both the candidates. The panel is going to be made up of our labor leaders from CSCA and NTA, as well as principals and central office staff. I do want to point out here that this is, we're specifically having that list of people to be engaged in the interview process. Often we would have members of the school community be on the interview panel, but in this case we really want to avoid the a situation where we have school communities feeling like they're sort of in conflict with each other and each sort of championing one person. And so that's why this process is a little different. However, the really critical part is that we are engaging staff and community in actually defining what they're looking for in a candidate. And then during the interview process, we will use those characteristics with the panel And the panel will be able to create questions and really interview the candidates with those characteristics in mind from the community. The panel will recommend a candidate to the final interview, and that'll be with the executive cabinet. And then from there, we will bring forth that recommendation from that panel to the board for final approval. And that is the superintendent report for this evening. Are there any questions?

[12556] Bowen Zhang: Ms. Gutierrez, can you bring in the public speaker first?

[12560] SPEAKER_36: Yes, we have two public speakers on this topic. And the first one is Delight Evans Vasquez.

[12580] SPEAKER_29: One second.

[12585] SPEAKER_36: Okay, one second while our IT team works on the video. Thank you. Okay, Delight, you may begin.

[12595] SPEAKER_43: Okay, good evening members of the board and Dr. Triplett. As members of this district and community, we are very concerned on how the new leadership of Snow Graham is being selected. We found out a week ago that because the schools are now merged, the principals of Snow and Graham must reapply for the position of principal for the new merged school. So basically, what is happening is that two schools closed, Snow and Graham, not a merger, but a consolidation of two school sites. After the new principal is chosen, one of them will be put in another position, one of which might be back in the classroom. Is this a fair process? How come the interim assistant superintendent of human resources, HR, and the superintendent didn't give notices to all principals in the district? And by the way, this is a practice that other districts do to be fair. Why aren't we looking at seniority, experience, expertise, as well as credentials? Principal Bird has to apply and interview for a job she already has. Her site did not close. Another school merged into her school. Also, two communities and two staffs, Snow and Graham, have come up with a list, have to come up with a list of qualities we want in a leader and some questions to ask during the panel interview. Who may you ask will be on the panel? The panel will be made up of other principals and nobody represented from Snow or Graham because apparently we might have biases. So Principal Bird and Principal Tomasini have to be interviewed by a panel of their peers? Peers with no biases? Really? That is wrong. I'm asking for a neutral panel, maybe principals from another district. Something fishy is going on here and I'm determined to figure it out. We urge you that as a board members and district staff, you all look at your processes and practices before you act upon them. Board members and Dr. Triplett, let me end with this. The definition of equity is justice according to natural law or right. Specifically, freedom from bias or favoritism. If we claim that we are a district about equity, then let's start by doing the right thing. Thank you.

[12755] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Next speaker.

[12761] SPEAKER_36: Yes, the next speaker is Annabel Gutierrez. You may begin. Actually, one second, our IT team will work on, one second, Ms. Gutierrez. Okay, you may begin.

[12778] SPEAKER_24: I've come to voice my concerns about our principals hiring for the newly merged school. Dr. Triplett met with Snow and Graham staff to explain the recruiting process and timeline for a new principal. The parent in this school, this timeline is incredibly problematic. You voted in November. Why has it taken so long? What do you need to consider when you have two new principals at the junior high and at Kennedy? They'll keep administrative positions, yet one of the principals at Graham and Snow could potentially end up in the classroom next year, resulting in a major pay cut. What makes you think that's fair? How does the process show the community that you value parents, students, and staff? Dr. Triplett continues to dismiss our concern and it's disrespectful because he claims he wants to include the staff, parents, and community in the process. Why is Dr. Triplett assembling a panel of NUSD principals and administrative staff? Why wouldn't the panel include teachers, NTA and CSCA reps, SSC and ELAC parent leaders? the Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and the Director of Student Services. Why are Principals Byrd and Tomasini having to interview for a role that they already have? Is it acceptable for them to be interviewed by their colleagues, in your opinion? Why are Snow and Graham's principals being punished because the district is unable to pay its bills on time? Why are you wasting time debating who is the best candidate to lead the school when you already have a highly qualified principal who not only has raised scores in the district at a Title I school, but also has all the appropriate credentials? Members of the board, this is your chance to build one of the greatest schools in the district and hopefully grow NUSD enrollment. But for that, we need an excellent leader. So I urge you to be fair and seek what's in the best interest of your students. Thank you.

[12910] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. With that, I will bring the discussion back to the board. Student member Salemi, any questions for the superintendent?

[12925] SPEAKER_14: I just have one question in terms of, so do we intend on holding more workshops for parents beyond the month of March?

[12937] Mark Triplett: Sorry, members, could you clarify workshops for what?

[12942] SPEAKER_14: I said that you had on your slides some parent view workshops and helping them with things like that. We intend on doing more of that for our parents beyond this month.

[12951] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you. Good question. I believe so. I don't have the dates for any past March, but I can loop back to the coordinator of people services and then get back to you.

[12967] SPEAKER_14: Thank you so much.

[12972] Bowen Zhang: Seeing no. OK. Member Martinez.

[12975] Elisa Martinez: Just a question, Superintendent Triplett regarding the enrollment. Obviously, we continue to see it. How are we reaching as are we reaching out? Are we having any touch points as we identify the students that are no longer with us to try to see what is driving those individual departures?

[12996] Mark Triplett: Yes, I don't have any data to share with you right now, but I can say that, like I said earlier, there are families that are moving out of the area. There are families that have expressed that if we're not offering an in-person option, that they're going to seek an in-person option elsewhere. And all of that is anecdotal, but those are two of the things that we're hearing.

[13024] SPEAKER_41: Thank you.

[13025] SPEAKER_22: Member Hill?

[13029] Aiden Hill: Yeah, thank you. So thank you Doctor Triplett. Just quick clarification. You were talking about. Dual language immersion and do you have? Do you have the latest numbers on enrollment in terms of TK and 1st grade?

[13047] Mark Triplett: In terms of the at Schilling, is that yes, correct, correct? Yeah, I don't have them off the top of my head, but I do know that we have, we anticipate, so that the projection was to have two cohorts of kindergarten and two cohorts of first grade, actually two and a half. And we are already at that point, which is really great news. And so now we're in a The challenge of having more students and more interest than we actually projected for, which is a good problem to have. But we do need to continue to go through all of the current registrations. There's a confirmation process and all that kind of stuff. So none of that is like official hard data yet, but that's what it's looking like.

[13096] Aiden Hill: And when you say cohort, you're meaning like a full class.

[13099] Mark Triplett: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. So, um, 26 students in, uh, in a cohort in kindergarten and 26 students in a cohort in first grade.

[13107] Aiden Hill: So, okay. And we're saying about two and a half for each one, two and a half core.

[13111] Mark Triplett: So it's in kinder and then two and a half in, um, in, uh, first grade. Okay. Great, thank you.

[13118] Bowen Zhang: When you say two cohorts in kindergarten, you're talking about one cohort in the dual language program, the other cohort in the English only program, right? That's correct.

[13127] Mark Triplett: But like I said, it is looking like there is even more interest in the kindergarten in dual language than just one cohort. And so we'll continue to accept students into the program and We'll see if we may have to open up another section, which, again, would be a great problem to have.

[13149] Bowen Zhang: OK. Cool. Member Nguyen.

[13156] Phuong Nguyen: Hi, Superintendent. I just had a quick question in regards to the leadership selection process and the interview panel. I do understand that you know, it is currently made up of labor leaders from CSCA and NCA as well as principals, but I would recommend that you would consider principals from outside the district. I know that, I don't necessarily think that it would be fair for sitting principals who have to interview for the current position in front of their peers. I think peers outside of the district, okay, that's fine. But peers internally in the district, I think that there is room for some biases that I would not agree with. So I would hope that you would reconsider reviewing that section of the process.

[13228] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Thank you for the suggestion, member one.

[13231] Bowen Zhang: Okay, seeing no other comments. Thank you, Superintendent for your report. Thank you. Next one is Board of Education agenda request and USC personnel hiring policy and procedure and I believe following the Ed code. So today it will be just a board vote on whether we will let staff spend time and bring this item back. But before that, I would, I think given that this is a board vote, so I will first ask Ms. Gutierrez for public comments. I believe we do have a public comment on this.

[13269] SPEAKER_36: Yes, we do. Carlos. Okay, so Carlos Zarate is ready. You may begin.

[13278] SPEAKER_22: Good evening, once again, members of the board and Dr. Triplett. As a former Graham School student, I am outraged to find out that Principal Byrd is having to apply for a position she already has. You currently have two principals who are new to the district, Principal Krishna and Principal Soria, who as of now, will still hold administrative positions next year. Yet there's a possibility that Principal Byrd could end up in a classroom. This does not make sense to me because it isn't fair I want to thank you, Member Hill, for requesting this item onto the agenda, because this entire consolidation process from the beginning has been biased and systemically racist in our public education system. Principal Byrd is the only African-American principal in the entire district. Her administrative credential is not preliminary. She has an excellent rapport with the community. She has over 13 years of experience being an outstanding leader of a school with high numbers of low-income students, English learners, and students with special needs, and she has raised standardized test scores dramatically. At the last board meeting, Dr. Triplett praised Assistant Superintendent Pierce for having raised scores at her former middle school. Ms. Pierce was recognized for having outstanding academic improvement on SBAC measures. She had a 7.5 increase in math and a 13.5 point increase in distance from standard in ELA. These stats are very impressive. However, Principal Byrd increased scores in math by 24 points and had a 25.5 point increase in ELA at Graham, which is a Title I school. This alone should leave you nothing to consider. For once in this merging process, be fair, show the community that you value students, parents, and staff, and appoint Principal Burt as the leader for the newly merged school, because she has proven that she has what it takes to move kids up the ladder, and she knows what diverse students like me need in order to be academically successful. Thank you.

[13408] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. So, This is, I believe this is a general request by Member Hill. Not sure if he is really requesting to talk about the grand school selection or something, but given that we'll follow the EdCo protocol, I will give Member Hill the chance to elaborate what he's looking for and what he wants to get out of this. Member Hill, you can go ahead.

[13432] Aiden Hill: Okay, great. Thank you, President Chung. So yeah, so what I was hoping, and as you point out, My initial request was not directly related to the snow Graham merger and principal selection process. It was really more looking at the at the larger process for selecting, you know, cabinet level, what we call cabinet level positions or executive positions. And I think that we as a board need to be more involved in that process to make our district great. And I know that we have had prior meetings Activities as a board in the past, where prior board members have been involved in the selection of and when I say selection, it's really, you know, the interview process and obviously ultimately, you know, the superintendent puts forward the candidate that they want, but but there's a lot of board involvement and I know that there have been prior selection processes with prior associate superintendents etc where board members have been involved in interviewing meeting the candidates and and so I would suggest that we continue that practice from the past It's my understanding that other districts follow similar, not every district, but some districts follow similar processes. And then I can tell you, having spent 26 years in business at the highest levels, working with corporate CEOs and boards, it is a common practice. And in fact, it's a best practice to have boards, the board involved in meeting and interviewing with with executive staff. And in the most recent situation that we had with the associate superintendent, I mean, I didn't even have a chance to meet with this person or even speak with this person prior to ultimately being asked to a vote on whether we bring them on as associate superintendent. And so I don't think it's a good process. I think it could be improved. And I'd like to suggest that we maybe put this up as a study session where we can talk about a process where we can get good board involvement and make really high quality decisions from an HR perspective when we're bringing in cabinet level positions. And so that's my request.

[13593] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so just to clarify, are you asking that whether to talk about whether how the board can be more involved in the personnel hiring process or you want to discuss the overall, the big picture hiring process at NUSD?

[13613] Aiden Hill: Yeah, I mean, I, I want to maybe eat the elephant in bites. So, um, you know, I'd say that the, the most important thing from my perspective, I mean, obviously we're not talking about, I don't think it's, it's the board has the time, um, to get involved obviously in every hiring decision and that wouldn't be appropriate. Um, and so, but I would say that when we're talking about cabinet level positions, it's important. And so I'd, I'd say that let's, let's focus there first and then we decide if there's other areas where it's appropriate.

[13644] Bowen Zhang: Okay. And that's your requesting study session, right?

[13652] Aiden Hill: Correct.

[13652] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, sorry. So if there's no other comment or we can proceed to ask the board for whether we want to bring it back as a study session. Any other comments?

[13663] SPEAKER_36: Point of order, if I may, President Zhang. Just two different items, just to give some clarity to the board, if I may.

[13671] SPEAKER_49: Yeah.

[13673] SPEAKER_36: requested item by member Hill, so it was placed on there. However, if you are requesting a study session, then that would probably be left for the request section. Right now, the question on the table is whether staff, if you're gonna be directing staff to do more research on this, to bring this item back as an agenda item. Okay, I see.

[13700] Bowen Zhang: If there is no other board member want to chime in, then we can call a vote whether we want to bring it back as an agenda item to that staff spend time. Member Martinez, Member Grinnell, you have any comments?

[13714] SPEAKER_48: I just want to say I'm not sure I necessarily agree that we need to be more involved in that process. However, I think I will be supporting looking into it.

[13726] Bowen Zhang: You're supporting the agenda, not a study session, because Member Hill was talking about study session, and then this is a vote on the agenda.

[13733] SPEAKER_48: Understood. OK.

[13737] Bowen Zhang: OK, Member Martinez, how do you vote?

[13742] Elisa Martinez: No, I don't think the timing is right.

[13747] Bowen Zhang: Member Guendou? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[13757] Phuong Nguyen: Actually, I'm a little bit confused now because we want to bring this back and have staff list all the hiring policies so that we can make adjustments or procedural changes in another board meeting, or are we tabling this and having a study session?

[13778] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, the vote I'm calling is the first one, whether we want a staff to spend time and bring this back as an agenda item. So the board either want to be more involved or change the process. That's the vote I'm calling for. Because if we want to do a study center, that's at the end of the meeting.

[13796] Phuong Nguyen: OK. So I think before we bring this back, I definitely think that we should have a study session to go over current hiring policies and procedures that are currently in place and talk about what things that we want to change. And then we can bring this item back. So what is, I mean, I mean, I guess my answer would be yes, eventually bring it back after the study session. So my answer is yes.

[13828] Bowen Zhang: OK, so my vote is no, because I will go for the study session first. But given we have three board members asking yes, so.

[13838] Phuong Nguyen: OK, so now I'm really confused. So if that's the case, I would rather have the study session first than bring this back. So I would say I'm changing my vote to no also.

[13850] Bowen Zhang: Pengfei Xue:" Yeah, so my vote is no as well. Motion doesn't carry. But like I said, given member hills requesting for study session. So we can discuss at the end of this meeting. So there will be no staff time being spent on this. That's fine with me.

[13866] Mark Triplett: Okay. Sorry, President Chen, just to clarify, to have a study session will involve staff time. We will definitely need to prepare in order to be able to support a quality discussion, which is no problem.

[13880] Bowen Zhang: Well, I guess what we want is we want to have a study session and then, because I don't want the board just take action in the next one. Have a study session so we know what's going on, the overall hiring process, and then possibly we'll have other opinions and then we decide whether we want to change it or not. So before we really bring this out as a general item that the board really want to change any hiring practice or practices, I think it's worthwhile for the board to get some information on that.

[13909] Elisa Martinez: And if I may, I think in Ms. Gutierrez maybe you could help clarify or Mr. Martinez really what would be the topic of the study session because Our purview is board policy, not the processes per se. So we really want to make sure we as a board are looking at the documents that we can influence, rather than being in the weeds. So I think that's the guidance that we would need for that superintendent.

[13938] Bowen Zhang: The guidance for the study session is offering obviously the current hiring practice and the item, you know, board governance, no not governance, board policy sanctioned by CSBA lawyers about what board can do and if there's anything we can do, whether, what kind of action board wants to take to change the current process. under the framework of the board policy sanctioned by CSBA lawyers. I think that's the study session I want to see.

[13965] Mark Triplett: OK. And maybe it'll come up later, and so maybe I'm jumping the gun, but I just want to make sure I'm clear so that I can do the right thing. So we're talking about not just overall hiring practices, but a study session specifically on board policy about board member involvement in hiring.

[13986] Bowen Zhang: Yes, that will be more appropriate, more specific target to the board member. And I'm here, we're primarily discussing about cabinet level principal hiring, not everybody. OK, so I guess, well, I think to be fair to me, I think this study session should probably happen after my request from three or four weeks ago. I think I have yet to see my stuff coming back. Okay, but since this is a study center, we can discuss at the end of the meeting during the board request again. Okay, moving on, old business, 13.1, 2020 to 2021, LCFF budget order for parents revised template. Superintendent Triplett.

[14031] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you, member Zhen. So we have someone from the county that is joining us, Ms. Zhu Wen. and to discuss this. Essentially, and Ms. Cervantes-Folk apologizes, she was not feeling well and so was unable to to join us tonight, but essentially this is a, the board saw a So I saw this LCFF budget overview for parents earlier in this school year and approved it and was aware of the process. We afterwards learned that that we had actually been given the wrong template. So this is strictly to to make sure that we are using the right template. So we're just taking all of the information from the original process, no changes and just putting it into the right template. But I'll let Mr. Lam explain a little bit more. She is from Alameda County and she's a part of the county process of of LCFF.

[14100] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Welcome, Mrs. Lam.

[14102] SPEAKER_44: Thank you so much. Good evening, Superintendent triplet and board trustees. My name is Joanne lamb I'm the executive director for the research assessment accountability partnerships team with the Alameda County Office of Education, and first I wanted to provide some context that. This budget overview for parents this year took actually a different process. So typically this budget overview for parents is combined with the local control accountability plan. So there is no question about which template is to be used because it's all in one. But this year, as you well know, because of the pandemic and the LCAP did not go according to plan, the state legislator actually required that the budget overview for parents would be a separate item that would go. And so that is what kind of led to the different process. So just to reiterate that, you know, typically in years, we would not be, you know, handling different templates, which is why that happened. That being said, our staff provided the prior year's template. to the Newark team. And that was an oversight certainly on our part. And so we actually worked with the Newark staff and just really appreciating their flexibility as well. And being able to get the content that was approved in the prior budget overview for parents into the new template. So the only thing that has changed, it's not the content, it's really the template that you are providing the information on. And I'm happy to take any additional questions regarding that.

[14195] Bowen Zhang: Okay, with that, I will open up to the board for questions. Given that there is none, so I guess thank you for your time. And we look forward to continue working with the county.

[14209] SPEAKER_44: Yes, and us as well. Thank you so much. We will see you for the LCAP process.

[14214] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Lam. And thank you to the whole county team for all of your support of our district. It's really tremendous.

[14221] SPEAKER_17: Yeah.

[14223] Bowen Zhang: So I guess there's an action for the board to do, which is to vote to adopt a local LCFF budget over for parents. Is that right? Yes. Okay. So, uh, I get a motion to adopt, uh, LCFF budget over for parents.

[14239] Terrence Grindall: I would move to approve the budget overview for parents redo.

[14244] Phuong Nguyen: I'll second.

[14246] Bowen Zhang: Moved by member Grundahl, seconded by member Nguyen, student member Salemi. How do you vote? yes member uh martinez yes member grindel yes member hill yes member win yes my vote is yes as well motion carries unanimously thank you next reopening plan uh superintendent triplet thank you miss lamb thank you thank you very much okay uh thank you president jones so um i'm gonna uh

[14282] Mark Triplett: put this on my screen here. So I'm looking tonight to present to the board a little bit of an update on the reopening plans. Much of this information has been shared publicly already in many different forums, town halls, here at the board meetings. But what we're really looking for tonight is really welcoming input from the board around the timeline for reopening. We are currently in negotiations with our NTA labor partner. And, and we're very optimistic that we're going to reach a conclusion, but we really, we really thought it would be appropriate and helpful to make sure that that the board has been able to weigh in and give input into into the timeline as well. So, I actually have a lot of slides here and and so I'm going to go, I'm not going to go through all of them. They will be available. They're available and and board docs, but I'll try to be brief because much of this has already been seen in the past. So, Really quick, recently State Bill 86 was signed into law March 5th, and what it meant was that there's additional resources and support for school districts. There were some requirements that have came with this and initially we had certain information from the state and the county, and we've now since gotten more details and more specificity that I'll share with you tonight. So if there is a requirement around an April start date, to reopening in order to receive some of these funds. The funding is reduced for every day delayed for opening, and opening must include grades K-2 plus one, at least one secondary grade in order to benefit from these resources for students. And in addition, districts must also offer in-person instruction for all prioritized student groups. This is something that you may not have seen yet and does a little bit more detail and specificity around this funding. So the funding is actually in two parts, one called an in-person grant and the other being expanded learning grant. And so it is actually the in-person grant, which in our case is approximately $1.75 million that is contingent upon reopening. So you can see there, it requires a reopening between April 1st and May 15th. Every day after April 1st, the funding is reduced by 1%, not including vacation days. If the district is not open by May 15th, then we forfeit the entire grant. The other grant associated with this bill is expanded learning opportunity grant, which for NUSD would be approximately 3.9 million. For this one, it requires a plan by June 1st of how we are going to be utilizing these funds in support of our students. 85% of it should go to in-person learning, 15 to remote learning, 10% for prepare professional support. And these funds, the 3.9 can be used through August 31st of 2020. So we have more time for those funds. Wanted to touch upon you see on the right is a reopening status document. This was I cut this a couple of days ago. Well, actually, it looks like the on the 15th, this was current. Anyone can go on to the county website and look at this document. I actually update there's updated information on the left. So there's actually as of this afternoon, there's 12 districts in our county that are planning to reopen and have announced some sort of reopening. That includes districts that are not just the ones on this list. I believe there's a couple on this list to the right that have since the 15th actually announced their reopening. Six districts in the county are without a reopening date. Newark is one of them. And then I know there's a lot been a lot of questions around the upper grades. So just for just in terms of data, six districts are planning to reopen with grades nine through 12 in April. So not all districts are opening nine through 12. But all districts that are reopening are reopening at the elementary grades first. refresher here. So these are the things we currently have operating. We have athletics and new in the last week and a half is we are now we are now allowed to have sports competitions. So our young people have been competing for football, I believe, golf, many other sports. We do have a Kandango preschool that's been operating at Graham and Schilling since August. Think Together programs are now operating at Schilling and the junior high. We are continuing to develop a learning hub model and are working towards having a additional Think Together day program. And then new is that since we are in the red, we are now able to open our childcare. per our agreement with our CSCA partners. That'll be eight schools, and that will be opening on March 29th. In terms of vaccinations, so this, I think, is a very important part about reopening. I know that it's very anxiety-producing to be considering reopening without vaccinations. Here's the opportunities that we've been able, the ongoing opportunities we've been able to provide to our staff, and I'm really proud of our team for being able to negotiate these. Halers, I always pronounce their name wrong, sorry, Halers Pharmacy and the Fremont Fire Department were able to provide vaccinations for any of our staff on the 27th and 28th that signed up, that was in February. There was an educator day at the Coliseum on the third or the fourth and the fifth of this month and staff that indicated interest and were given a code to make appointments on that day. The county has also provided codes for appointments for any other staff that were desiring it. They've since stopped that, I think, in the last day because there's other opportunities that are being made available. And then really significantly is through a partnership with TrueCare 24. We're delighted to announce that we have an exclusive vaccination opportunity on March 22nd. We've sent out notice to all our staff, anybody who still has not been vaccinated has the opportunity. to sign up for this vaccination. And of course, 2Care24 will come back for a second date for the second vaccination for all staff that signed up for the first one. I believe we currently have approximately 100 staff signed up for the March 22nd date, but it is still available for those who want to sign up. And then I want to share, I'll try to go quickly, the commitment form results. Some of you may have seen them at our town hall meeting. This is where we've asked families what they're comfortable with for the remainder of the year, going back to in-person learning or staying in distance learning. And approximately 43.5% of the folks that filled out the form, which was around 2,900 people that filled out the form, 43.5% said that they want to return. They want their child to return to in-person learning. 56.5% said they would want their child to stay in distance learning for the remainder of the school year. And I'm going to go quickly over these, but you can see that at the different grade levels, the yellow represents returning to a hybrid model. The blue represents staying in distance learning. And so it really has varied by grade level, sixth grade being the where more families want to return than want to stay in distance learning. You can see seventh grade is the grade level with the least amount of families wanting to return, only 30%, while 70% wanting to stay in distance learning. And then you can see in the high school, it's pretty much even across all grades in the high school with around 40% wanting to return and approximately 60% wanting to stay. And then of course these are our schedules. So, with our current plan, in order to maintain as much safety as possible and, and also being able to serve both the students in distance and in person, we developed this plan where cohort, a. would be in person in the morning being taught by their teacher and then in cohort B, which would be in distance learning, would be receiving the same lesson in the afternoon taught by that same teacher. It would allow the teacher to be able to teach lesson once in the morning and or lessons once in the morning and then a second time distance via distance in the afternoon. Very similar model in the secondary, although here you can see, because students do travel from class to class, that they would, cohort A and B, they would be, it would depend on what day it is for what period of class they would go to. And then want to just talk about our criteria for reopening based on the county and state guidelines so needed to be in the red tier. And so that happened on March 10 need to have an approved reopening plan approved by both public health department and the office of education, we have that approved as of I believe it was. late December, early January. We need to have the state COVID safety plan posted five days on the website prior to opening. We anticipate having that up next week. And then I need to have agreements with the labor partners. We have an agreement with our CSCA partner. And like I mentioned earlier, we are working on an agreement with NTA. and then need to have a modified injury illness and prevention plan that's related to specifications that we always have to have, but it needed to be modified according to the pandemic guidelines, and we've done that. And then I know that there have been questions and concerns around HVAC, so I just wanted to highlight the work that has been done and continues to be done. So reiterating that we have replaced all our filters. We have MIRB9 filters, which address bacterial spores. Those filters, while normally HVAC filters are changed twice a year, we've actually been changing them every two to three months. So not required, not mandated, but we've just taken that initiative to do that because we want to be extra safe. And we are running regular assessments of all our HVAC systems. So that includes mechanical assessments as well as electronic assessments. I know the board had a discussion maybe a month or so ago about the contract for the electronic assessment organization that we work with. And so we continue to have them supporting us with assessments. We also are conducting preventative maintenance on every system every day. And then we do have the bipolar de ionization units that the board approved for purchase significant at significant cost, but it purchased for every single HVAC system that we have, we completed phase one of the installation on March 15, and we anticipate finishing phase two of the installation on April 9. These units are not required by the state, the county. However, they're some of the latest, most innovative technology that actually is arguably much better than any filter because it literally kills the virus in the air. And I'm going to stop there. I do have lots of other slides, like I said, but I want to make sure that there's time for discussion. And like I said, we'd be happy to answer questions and then really looking for guidance from the board in terms of input on when would be the most appropriate timeline for reopening.

[15059] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, with that, I will first go to student member Salamik. Any comments?

[15067] SPEAKER_14: Yeah, so I think if there's strong interest from students and parents, which it seems to be that it makes sense to open in a hybrid. I know, especially when we look at primary grade students, they're having a lot of trouble doing basic things like learning how to read and especially the isolation is becoming hard. And I know that for every household, it's not easy to do alone without in-person support at school. And then As long as we're not forcing families, which we're not, to go back to campus, I think that this is very important that we do as soon as we can. We have been making the necessary changes when we look at the HVAC system, policies and practices, teachers getting vaccinated, and of course, CDC and other public health, you know, public health Sorry, public health departments across the state agree that it is safe to return. So I think that in the next couple of weeks or right after spring break that we should be returning in terms of a timeline.

[15131] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Thank you for your comments. So I guess the student board member, if I understand you correctly, you are hoping that after the spring break, the hybrid model will start kicking in, right? yeah correct for the people who choose to come yes i'm talking about the hybrid model yeah okay yeah uh any other comments from the board when it comes to what the superintendent asked us regarding the timeline uh member member grindel you're muted um

[15170] Terrence Grindall: I just want to say, I think it's important that our schools be open as soon as it's safe and not any later than that. So I really think we need to be moving forward on reopening our schools. I agree with Member Salimi that the opportunity for those that are not comfortable to have a distance learning is important. But I really do believe, I strongly believe that in-person instruction is much better for children not only for their ability to learn, but also for the social and psychological impacts of that. So I commend the superintendent for working with the labor groups and trying to get to a solution. And I really very much hope that we can open on April 12. I think that's something we really want to try to get to. So that's where I'm standing.

[15229] Elisa Martinez: Member Martinez? I think Member Grindel just said it very well. I recognize that we are split relatively down the middle in terms of who is anxious to come back and who's not. but really for those that want to come back and are ready to come back, and for those that don't have a voice, and maybe we're not hearing from and really, really, really need to be back. Again, I'm really glad that we've made some significant progress, but I'm really, really looking forward to getting in back the kids that are ready to come back safely with our staff, safely by April 12th, absolutely.

[15272] Bowen Zhang: So the April 12th, I guess that's the that's after the spring break. Is that right? Student members telling me.

[15282] SPEAKER_14: Yes, that's right.

[15283] Bowen Zhang: OK. How about other board member Hill?

[15289] Aiden Hill: I echo member Grindell's sentiments. Yeah, I think we we need to start getting a plan rolling.

[15297] Bowen Zhang: Member Nguyen.

[15298] Phuong Nguyen: I'm also in agreement with my other fellow board members and really do think that it is really important that we try to get and our students back in as soon as possible. And if April 12 is is the start date that we're all shooting for, then I'm hopeful that we can work together with our labor partners to make that happen. It's so important to get our our families who really want to have their kids and students back into school for in-person learning, that we are able to provide that for them, but also have a pathway for parents and students who are still not comfortable coming back in before the school year. So yes, so I am in agreement with my fellow board members.

[15346] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so so I think the encouraging news is next Monday, the 22nd, where we're going to have the entire district staff to have at least the first shot, although many of them already got the first shot or fully vaccinated. So so at least we have this insurance that knowing after the 22nd, every one of the member in our district, every staff in our district and teacher will have at least one shot of the vaccine. So that's reassuring. Particularly if you look at the scientific data, even that just first shot, that dramatically reduced the case of serious infection and need for hospitalization. So I think that's reassuring to see that. So yes, I think I'm also in agreement that at the beginning of the pandemic, when we go home, when we completely shut down, because we don't really have that much data about this pandemic. So at that point, the correct way of handling this is to be conservative and bring everybody home as this pandemic drags on. And then when we get more and more scientific data on this pandemic, we can handle this better and better and we know how this is being transmitted and how we can prevent transmission and how we can improve safety. So I think by this point after more than a year of the lockdown where the county has already been in the red tier for second week, I think the loss of learning for the most underserved and underprivileged kids definitely outweigh the whatever the I think that the loss of learning can be incalculable, we continue this shutdown. So I'm in agreement with the rest of the board. I mean, you have April 12th, I think the day after the spring break is what the board is shooting for. I think, Superintendent, are you expecting board to give you any directive on this, on the negotiation or the school reopening timeline?

[15456] Mark Triplett: Just some input is greatly appreciated, yeah.

[15460] Bowen Zhang: So by hearing from the student board member first, and then the rest of the board, I guess what we're trying to, I guess the directive if the board agree is that we'll continue to negotiate in good faith with NTA, and as a board, we're committed to opening on April 12th. Is that what the rest of the board would agree to? Continue to negotiate in good faith with NTA? And we're committed as a board to returning to in-person instruction on April 12th.

[15491] Mark Triplett: OK. Thank you, President Chen. And thank you, board members. And we're absolutely committed to continuing to negotiate in good faith. And so we appreciate that guidance. And we will continue to put forth plans with a target date of April 12th and also continue to be in bargaining.

[15514] Bowen Zhang: OK. If there's no more comments and questions, I think is that is that all for this item or. Okay. Okay. Okay, now I guess the board gave directive and let's move on to the next item. 14.1 school naming and school naming policy and procedures superintendent triplet.

[15538] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you, President Chun. So if you recall, the board last meeting asked for us to present the timeline and the specifics around the school naming process that we've developed, and also share and give in. I think the board is asking to give input, weigh in to the criteria. So I'm going to share the timeline Let's see. Sorry, wrong thing here. There we go. So I'll go. I'll go through the process that we've been working through and then would welcome board input in terms of the criteria that we hope the community is going to use and the design team will use in terms of developing the school name for the Graham Snow Merge School. So this is a little bit about the timeline. So we did, the design team has taken on the responsibility of supporting this school naming process. We first reviewed the process that we had built with the design team on the 25th of February, got input on the process itself. And then we returned to the design team on the 11th of March last week to get their input into the criteria. We do want to point out that there is a board policy, there's actually two board policies, around school naming criteria. So we certainly weren't working outside of that. However, there is something, and I'll talk a little bit more about it in a minute, There is in particular one piece of criteria articulated in the board policies that really asks for the school community to identify some themes that could be really valuable to school naming. So that's what happened on the 11th. We are going over the process with you tonight. And then on the 25th and also getting your your input into the criteria on the 25th of February that we will we will do sort of open call. to the community for suggestions around the name based on the criteria that has been defined by the board policy as well as the design team itself. So our goal is to get as many suggestions, ideas as possible from students, teachers, staff, families, community members, We hope that people just think of as many different really wonderful names that could represent this new school. So there'll be a little bit less than a month, I guess it's about three weeks time for folks to weigh in, generate ideas, have discussions. We're hoping that there'll be classroom discussions about it, family nights and other times. On the 22nd of April, the design team will then look at all of those suggestions that have come in and narrow it down to about five to 10 viable suggestions. So of course, in any process like this, we'll probably get some suggestions that are not really viable, don't fit the criteria that's been outlined. And so the design team will be the ones to make those, do that culling. And then we're hoping to have a community engage in a rank choice voting on those top suggestions that the design team has called. So that would be students, staff, families voting on the choices that they have actually generated themselves. And so then from that vote, What we'd like to do is then bring that back to, have the design team bring it back to the board so that the board has a chance to review the voting data, what got the top votes, and then hold a public hearing during a board meeting where the community can weigh in on some of the name choices that have been narrowed down. And then on the 13th of, this is now in May, the design team will look at the top three choices based on the public input and the board input. Then our idea is that the design team makes a choice and votes for one of the three top choices to then present back to the board for a vote. So just want to be clear in this process, our goal is for me to not make a decision about school naming, for central office not to make a decision about school naming, that this really needs to come from the community, and that this should be all about community voice, student voice, staff voice, and family and community voice. And so we're really grateful for the design team to help to shepherd this process. I did want to point out the board policy that I made reference to. So I think board members have seen this before, but there's two policies. At first blush, they almost seem like, why two? But in reality, they're very similar. One just has a slight difference than the other. This board policy, 7511, talks about criteria for renaming a school must honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the county or the community, or a school should be named in recognition of a geographic area in which the school or buildings is located. And then this one articulates that the superintendent or designee creates a ad hoc committee. which the design team is, representing district staff, parents, guardians, students, and public. Just want to remind the board that the design team is a committee made up of staff, both teachers and classified staff from each school, equal numbers, and then family representatives from each school. And all of those team members were elected by the school community themselves. And so that is the committee that then, or design team, if you will, that then we're charging to be responsible for receiving and screening the name suggestions and submitting the recommendations to myself and to the board. The other policy, you can see slightly different and so we utilize some of this policy as well. School name should school name should be based on individuals living or deceased and entities that have made outstanding contributions, including financial contributions to the school community. Individuals living and deceased to have made contributions of statewide national worldwide significance. geographic area in which the school or building is located. And then this is the last one that is unique. I think that school name based on a theme relevant to the school community. So what we did with the design team at the last session is we had them weigh in on some themes. And this is what the design team came up with, and they actually had a long list of themes, and then they voted to narrow it to these five. So a school name having some being enduring, likely to stand the test of time, to be inspiring, so meaningful, especially to students, to hold the values of the community, so inclusion, equity, diversity, that the school name should have some sort of representation, reflect a type of individual place or entity that is not well represented in Newark school names already. And then five where they picked was diversity. So someone, a person from a diverse background and who represents the local community or a broader community. So those are the things that they added in that fifth category. So I'm happy to answer questions, but then I'd love to, if the board would like to weigh in on other themes or other aspects of, of how the, the, the criteria could look for, for the school naming would welcome any input.

[16038] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Student member Sonomi, any suggestion, comments on this?

[16044] SPEAKER_14: Just a comment. I just want to reiterate what Dr. Chippewa was saying about how this really needs to be a community decision. And, you know, I don't think any one of us should be having that strong influence on that decision, which I know we're not attending on that. But and again, I think that the themes that the community has already come up with thus far are really great.

[16070] Bowen Zhang: Any other comments on the board? Member Hill?

[16074] Aiden Hill: Yeah, so, so yeah, I mean, I think that this is all really good work. The, the one thing that I think that we should consider is maybe broadening our definition of the community. And so this is, you know, one of these like big events that happens, you know, not very often in our history, and has long term impacts. And And I think that we really wanna make sure that we truly have lots of input and lots of experience applied. And I think, just as we had gone through when we had to deal with the school consolidation issue and the board had actually called a specific committee to sort of evaluate that and evaluate and provide input. that we should consider that potentially as an option, or we should, or maybe we could talk with Dr. Triplett about expanding the participation on the design team. But I think we've, I've certainly seen a lot of email and input on this topic. And I think that we have a lot of key stakeholders and it's not just, you know, the people that are in the community, it's, I mean, in the school community, but certainly people that have historical experience, people like current Mayor Al Nagy or former Mayor Dave Smith, or some teachers that have been in the system. People that have really institutional knowledge that I think could provide a lot of valuable input. I think we really need to make sure that we've got really, really good stakeholders involved that represent broad swaths of our community in making this decision. Thank you.

[16180] Bowen Zhang: Member Goodell.

[16182] Terrence Grindall: Yes, I wanted to second the comments of Member Salimi and Member Hill. It's very important that the community be involved in this process. This is not the school that is named by five people who happen to be on the school board. This process should include the community. And I also welcome Mary Hill's suggestion to broaden it to other individuals. I did have one question I wanted to note. In the policies, it indicates there could be individual buildings named as well. So I'm hoping that in this process that the names of the existing schools might be able to be maintained by naming the multipurpose room or something along those regards. So just to give that a thought. So that's all I have. Member Martinez.

[16242] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. And Member Grindel, that's what happened at the prior two schools, that the Bunker Milani, the libraries retained the name just kind of for reference. Um, yes, I did want to, you know, comment, um, absolutely support that it should be the community, right folks. I mean, we're all the community, but obviously some folks are more affected than others. And so really making sure that they have a voice, um, you know, as I think about. You know, some of the dimension, the dimensions, the geographical area and the relevance, uh, or, or a theme relevant to the community. I'm much more biased to that than to a person. Because I think that when you find a person that can kind of also set off maybe polarization. So I like that we have a rich history, right? We have our native history of the Ohlone tribes. And there's just so much to go learn from that. So I encourage, I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just saying that there's so much to be proud of. If you want to go a little bit more recent, then we've got our Mexican tradition, right, from when the time that this was Mexico. The reason that that is so important is our Newark student body is still over 50% Mexican-American. And so, you know, I think that there's just, there's something around making sure that those communities haven't had a voice. And so with all due respect about bringing other folks, you know, that are seasoned in community, You know, they represent a sliver or a piece of the population, but I want to make sure, or I want to encourage that maybe folks that haven't had a voice in naming of important facilities, that this is a particular important time. And it's accessible, right, just because schools are such a place of community that it really does bring everybody together. So those are kind of just things that I wanted to plant a seed is I love the idea. Um, the bridge Grove school, right. Is something that's important to us as our trees that brings us together. So maybe some of our historical context, um, might bring us together as well.

[16377] Bowen Zhang: And help the point of order. Uh, I actually, I apologize. There is actually a public comment on this. Uh, I should be sure that brought in a public comment before we start our deliberation. Ms. Gutierrez, can you bring in a public speaker?

[16392] SPEAKER_36: Yes and I do apologize for that as well. We have two public speakers on this.

[16398] SPEAKER_22: The first one is Carlos Zarate. Good evening once again board members and Dr. Triplett. Why are you wasting time considering a name change when you should be focused on making sure the newly merged schools is staffed Teachers don't even know what grades they're teaching next year and parents don't know who the principal will be. Is there a budget in place to make sure we have sufficient resources to move forward in the merger. Community members have requested more time to decide on the name of the school, but Dr. Triplett has denied that request and said it had to be done by May. Why? This has been a very difficult year for students in NUSD and all over the world having to deal with an unprecedented pandemic. Why can't we wait for the students at Graham and Snow to join each other on campus first? Why don't you wait for the students to originally create their new school's culture and decide on a name together as a community? There are only three more months left before you merge Graham and Snow. The naming process does not show that you value the academic needs of students. You invested $20,000 on a facilitator, yet you have no investment in the community. Please take the time to listen to the community and seek what's in best interest for students at Graham and Snow. Thank you.

[16488] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Next speaker, please.

[16496] SPEAKER_36: Yes, the next speaker is Delight Evans-Vesquez.

[16504] SPEAKER_43: Hello.

[16505] Bowen Zhang: You may begin.

[16506] SPEAKER_43: Okay. Good evening again, members of the board and Dr. Triplett. I'm speaking today about the concerns I have regarding the Graham-Snow merger. In November 2020, the board voted to consolidate Snow Elementary onto the Graham campus. The original idea was to close two schools. But since the community and staff made the point that Graham is a larger campus and would be able to accommodate all of snow, the consolidation was reworded from consolidation to merger. We celebrate that, that snow is able to stay together and join another site as a whole versus Graham closing and being spread among three campuses. Later, Graham staff was told through an email that because it is now a merger, The school known as Graham will need a new name and ASAP. I found this out at a meeting where Dr. Triplett shared a timeline. After asking Dr. Triplett if we could call the school Snow Graham for the first year and create a new name as a community building activity so we can truly involve the students, families, and community, I was told by Dr. Triplett that no, it needed to be done by May. Why are we rushing? Our community is going through a lot of stress right now due to the pandemic and some because they've lost their jobs. Are we really being inclusive and fair to the students and family? How will the children and community be able to come up with a name together during a time of shutdown and possible reopening? Board members and Dr. Triplett, you all need to reconsider this timeline so that our students can participate in building and shaping the culture of Graham Snow since this will be their school. Thank you.

[16625] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. With that, I will bring back to the continuous board deliberation. So we have member Martinez, member Hill, no, member Grindel that already talked. What about the rest of the board?

[16642] Phuong Nguyen: It's just me.

[16643] Bowen Zhang: I think member Hill didn't talk, right? Did he? Well, if you two, I mean, I can go forward if you want. So by reading the board policy, obviously it looks like Naming important individual is really part of the precedence, whether it's living a deceased who have made great contributions to the history of this town has been really the top priority for renaming a facility or school. So I'm actually in much agreement with this spirit, because I think naming school after a person represent the rich history and part of the heritage of our town. And let's talk about H.A. Snow and James Graham. These two are not your typical regular citizen of Newark. H.A. Snow is the founder of the first Oakland Natural Science Museum. Today is known as Oakland Museum of Natural Science, I believe. James Graham is also a very prominent figure in the history of our community. I think he's the founder of a Newark foundry, biggest employer once in the city of Newark. So we're talking about prominent historic figure in the history of Newark. So one of the things I was a bit disappointed looking back at the merger of Bunker and Milani is I wish we can retain the heritage by naming one that's called James Bunker Primary, the other Louise Milani Intermediate, but we didn't. Like I think we have, I hope that by going through this process, we don't really lose part of our heritage and lose part of our history. So the people, the children, the next generation that come after us don't remember who these historic figures are in the history of Newark. So with that spirit, if you ask me about my personal opinion, that Given this is a merger, I always thought it's just natural to combine the two names together. And instead of making this one year, my opinion will be, my wish will be, make it permanent, either it's called Grand Snow or Snow Grand. Because like I said, I think these two are historic figures that are very unique in our history that shouldn't be easily forgotten. So that is my opinion. Any input from other board members?

[16789] Phuong Nguyen: I haven't spoken. So I just want to say that I do echo the rest of the board members in terms of like, we do want to have our communities, our community involvement in renaming of the school. And if we choose not to go and and have it stay Graham Snow, like Member Zhang stated, that at least we do reference those names and have them be on the buildings of the school in some form or shape to honor the historical, the history and the heritage of our city, of our district, like Member Grindel had mentioned. That's all I have to say. Thanks.

[16841] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill.

[16843] Aiden Hill: Yeah, and I'd like to build on what Member Martinez had spoken about. I agree that we shouldn't just narrow the participation to somebody who is, you know, maybe a prominent figure. There's lots of different stakeholders. And, you know, and maybe what we could do is as a board is maybe we could solicit some volunteers, you know, to come and say, you know, I would like to participate in this. And then we as a board could select, you know, from that, you know, some representatives that are representing different stakeholder communities. Communities and add those to the design team so I think that that could really, you know, make the process super robust and and then also echo echoing what Miss Evans had just spoken about, you know, also reevaluate and just say. you know, do we, you know, do we have to make a certain decision by a certain point? You know, do we really have to do this by May or, you know, and if so, why, or do we actually have more time and will the quality of the decision improve if we give it more time? So, I mean, those are my suggestions.

[16914] Phuong Nguyen: So in that spirit, I do have a question for the superintendent. Is there a reason, is there a specific reason why there has to be, has to be completed in May? for the name change?

[16927] Mark Triplett: Yeah, so a couple of things there. Really, it's in terms of families signing up for the school and and energy being able to be created around a new school. That's something that it may seem surface, but I think it's really, really important, actually, that a name is really attached to identity. And so we don't yet have a name. It sends a message to families who are considering where they want to send their child. Oh, this is not even knowing what this school is about yet. This did come up in the design team. And there was a really healthy discussion. And the majority of the design team, while hearing the hearing the sentiment felt like it was really important to do the naming now and so that first of all it can bring the community together now and really create a really nice unifying process and then also really like develop a clear identity to be able to move forward with. So It's sort of a natural time and I think it's an important time if we're going to continue to get enrollment, we're going to attract families. A lot of families are wondering what is sort of what what is this new school going to be all about, and they're eager to know not just the name. but eager to know how the school is going to look, what are the structures that are going to be in place, what's going to be special about it. And so that's the work of the design team is doing that work. And the naming is a part of it.

[17037] Bowen Zhang: Hearing from the board's input, I guess the consensus from the board is the board wants to add more people onto the naming design team. Is that what the board is saying? I think I see Member Hill nodding the hat.

[17052] Elisa Martinez: Yes. So I'm sorry. No, I don't think there's a consensus. I don't think that that was even the question. I think there was a proposed like Member Hill mentioned it, but I don't think it's a consensus.

[17067] Phuong Nguyen: Because part of the plan already includes a broader community outreach. But, and then it comes back to the design team to narrow down the culling of the name. So there is already going to be, to my understanding, is that correct, Dr. Triplett? Yes, that's correct. And then the design team is going to narrow down the name and bring it forward to us for the selection of it, or for the approval of it.

[17096] Mark Triplett: That's correct. And just to be clear, the design team is a working group that is meeting every other week and is doing more than just the naming. They're working on the design of the new school, all aspects, instructional, climate and culture, developing the values. And that group was elected, like I said, by their peers. The staff were elected by staff at both schools and the family representatives were elected by family to be on that. But they committed to doing more than just naming. They committed to doing all of this instructional development, culture and climate development, and such for the school.

[17142] Elisa Martinez: And if I may, President Zhang, I just wanted to weigh in on timing, just because, again, I happen to be you know, I was affected by the prior name changes, if you will. And the name had a lot to do with just let's get moving on and let's move forward on this, the healing portion. I was one of those, it was like, why are we having to change the bunker name? You know, I mean, and, you know, it's kind of almost irrational at times, because at the end of the day, the kids are going to be, and staff, They just want to be together and they want to, you know, engage as they normally do. And that's exactly what happened. It was us as parents who had the biggest issue, to be honest. And so, you know, when we were Birch Grove, that was it. Day one, we walked into the school and we were the Birch Grove Bulldogs. And we had our colors and we moved forward. You know, yes, like I said, some of us has emotional issues about it, but the kids didn't, staff didn't, they loved it. That's who, that's who they were together. So I just wanted to weigh in on that because I think timing is really important when they walk through the door. And that's just, you don't have to take my word for it. Please, you know, you know, I, I'm sure, um, Sarinda Triplett, maybe I'm not sure if the committee has reached out to other folks. that went through that, but that was something that was very healing. So just wanted to share that.

[17238] Bowen Zhang: Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, I just want to reiterate my point. So we're a young country of 20 years plus. unlike some other country where erasing 1,000 years of history, they still got another 2,000 or 3,000 years of history. Because we have such a short history, I think we should be extra cherished about our heritage. So I am always, I mean, I'm fine with changing the name, but I hope that after 10 or 20 years, like I hope 10 years later, people still know who Louise Maloney is, who James Bunker is. ideally we'll have our local history museum but since we don't have that luxury so hopefully school name is really the one of the few ways for our community to pass down our heritage for the next generation. But anyway so does the board want to give any further direction since this is just a discussion item?

[17298] Mark Triplett: Okay, could I say, just one last thing, I'm presenting it. Anyone who wants to, to participate, really, really welcome participation of. It would be wonderful and I know a member, he'll mention the mayor and. We'd love to have all of the community weigh in and engage in the process. So thank you for lifting that up, Member Hill, and be delighted to connect with anybody who wants to be involved.

[17332] Bowen Zhang: OK, watching the clock, I think we'll need to vote to extend the meeting. We still got three new business items left. Hopefully these three items are not something that generate a lot of discussion. So is the board comfortable if we just extend by 30 minutes? OK, so I think we also got to be a little bit more efficient and disciplined when it comes to running our meetings. OK, so I move that we extend our meeting till 10.30 PM. Can I get a second?

[17365] Elisa Martinez: I second.

[17367] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Martinez. Student Member Salami, obviously you don't need to stay past that, but how do you vote?

[17374] SPEAKER_14: Yes.

[17376] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez.

[17378] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[17379] SPEAKER_31: Member Goodell.

[17383] Bowen Zhang: Yes. Member Hill. Yes. Member Nguyen.

[17389] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[17390] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously. Moving on to the next item. Audit Report. Member Goodell, Superintendent Triplett.

[17401] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Chen. So I'm going to turn this over to Ms. Dela Cruz to speak on the audit report.

[17410] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. So this is our audit report specifically for the Measure G bond. It is very similar to our general audit, except it is specifically for the Measure G finance as of June 30, 2020. There were no findings and the opinions on the statements and the performance were both unmodified, which is the best opinion that the audit provides. Unfortunately, our representative from Christy White could not attend tonight, but if there are any questions, I will try and address what I can, and if not, I can always get back to you.

[17460] Bowen Zhang: Okay, student member Salemi. Any questions?

[17465] SPEAKER_14: No questions.

[17466] Bowen Zhang: What about the rest of the board? No questions. Yeah, I just want to commend the team. This is obviously the best audit report you can get. There's no major finance excellent rating. So congratulations on the team. With that, if there is no other questions, may I entertain a motion to accept the audit report?

[17490] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve the audit report.

[17494] Bowen Zhang: Moved by member Nguyen.

[17497] Terrence Grindall: Second.

[17498] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by member Guendel. Student member Salami, how do you vote?

[17504] SPEAKER_14: Yes.

[17505] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez?

[17508] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[17509] Bowen Zhang: Member Guendel? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[17515] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[17516] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, everyone. Next item, resolution 2020.21-023, committing to funding of reserve act, now inserting 17% of total general fund expenditures. Superintendent Triplett.

[17532] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Hsuan. So this is a follow-up on the conversations we've been having throughout this year. This is the next step in that process, and I'll have Ms. Dela Cruz to explain a little bit more about the resolution.

[17546] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. So as you recall, we had a couple of study sessions, one in October and another one in January. And we had some extensive discussions about our reserves and that the board agreed that it would be in our best interest to try and build a reserve up to 17%. We talked about how our average monthly payroll is about four and a half million and the 3% minimum required barely covers half a month's of payroll. And a 17 reserve would at least cover at least two and a half months payroll. So what we're proposing based on $68 million as our average total expenditures, 17% of that would equal 11 and a half million. So as a second interim, our reserves were at $8.6 million, and an additional $2.96 million would bring us to the 17% level. So based on that, and looking at a five-year plan, if we at least contributed $592,000 each year, then by 2026, we would have our 17%. So it doesn't mean that we can't contribute more than 592,000, but at the minimum, that would be our goal. So for example, if this year we end up with a reserve or a surplus of 700,000, let's say, then we would have the option of contributing all of that to our reserves in order to get to our 17% a little bit faster. And the resolution has all that articulated in it. And that's, if there's any questions, that's pretty much what our proposal is in order to get to our 17%.

[17682] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Student member Salami, any comments?

[17687] SPEAKER_14: Just a question. For any of the if say we get this and then we don't have the financial capacity to contribute in that year, where would that money come from?

[17700] Marie dela Cruz: So in that case, there could either be a time when we can try and catch up. So let's say, for example, like right now, we're projecting a surplus next year of over a million. So if we were able to contribute that million towards our reserves, And in the following year, we couldn't contribute, then we could apply what we did next year, whatever excess to that year where we didn't have that. So we just have to kind of balance it out and see and hope that we can get there because we are committed to fixing our structural deficit. So if we only had 300,000 available, then that's what we would contribute. So if we knew we're having a deficit in one year, we try to resolve that ahead of time so that we can contribute.

[17757] SPEAKER_14: Okay, thank you so much.

[17760] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill.

[17762] Aiden Hill: My question is similar to Member Salemis. So is this resolution kind of more of a guideline or kind of a you know, a basic goal, or are we saying that this is a binding resolution?

[17782] Marie dela Cruz: It's our goal and it's our plan. So we, we're committed to getting to 17% and this is the way that we can see that we can achieve it.

[17795] Aiden Hill: Okay. Cause the reason I ask is that when we were, when you were taking us through the financials in the last meeting, I mean, we already know that, a couple of years out that we're going to be, we're probably not going to be running a surplus. And there's a, there's a high, there's a, there is a reasonable chance that we could have a deficit, possibly a significant deficit. So are we committing to something that we already kind of know is not probably in the cards unless a miracle happens or, you know, we, Um need to or are or are we ultimately going to be forced to to go down a path? That could be a very painful path to um to achieve this resolution you know, because um You know, it's just not um, yeah, I mean that we would have to take draconian action to continue to live up to this resolution So in the years that like right now where we're projecting a deficit

[17858] Marie dela Cruz: we're committed to try and find budget balancing solutions to fix that deficit. And we've done this in the last couple of years to where if we're showing in our multi-year that we have a deficit, then we provide solutions, whether it's reducing expenditures in supplies or increasing our revenues, we have to come up with those solutions in order to balance our budget. Because that all kind of goes together.

[17896] Bowen Zhang: So I guess my question is, this $2.96 million, does this include the projected surplus that we're going to have for this current fiscal year? Or that is, after contributing from this current fiscal year's projected surplus, we still need $2.96 million?

[17916] Marie dela Cruz: It does not include any surplus from this year. It's just based on what we had in the reserves as of second interim.

[17925] Bowen Zhang: Okay. So, okay. So, so that means if let's say this year we have a 1 million surplus, we contribute 1 million, then it will only have 1.96 million left.

[17934] Marie dela Cruz: Correct.

[17935] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, then I think if that's the case, I am actually, I think this is a reasonable plan. I mean, this is obviously not a biting, hardcore draconian plan, but I think this is a reasonable aspiration for the district, so.

[17948] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, and it's not that, for example, if in 2025, it looks like we really, really aren't able to make this reserve, then we can modify it and make revisions, amend it just like we did with our first interim resolution.

[17969] Bowen Zhang: OK, member of Grindell.

[17972] Terrence Grindall: Yes, I strongly support this idea. I would like to see in the resolution a statement that we would put all of our reserves into this account, all of our surpluses towards this effort until we reach 17%, but at least 592,000. But I'd like a commitment that we would spend all of our surplus to pay this down. I'd like to get these reserves up as quickly as possible.

[18009] Bowen Zhang: I think that's actually within our board's discretion. I think once come September, once we really have the unaudited report as a surplus, I think we can decide how much we want to put into the reserve, right?

[18023] Terrence Grindall: Well, I guess I'd like to at least make it clear that that's the intention. I'd like to see it in the resolution, but sometimes people see a surplus and they start thinking about spending money. We need to be reminded that we need to get our surplus to a reasonable level before we start looking at fund projects.

[18046] Bowen Zhang: I believe that's sort of the end. I mean, by voting on this resolution, I believe I mean, I can't speak for the entire board. I think my understanding is that's what we're going to do, that we're going to put all, if not the vast majority, if not all of the reserve, I mean, all of the surplus into the reserve to shoot for this 17% as soon as possible.

[18067] Terrence Grindall: Exactly. So my point is, if that's the case, let's put it in the resolution.

[18072] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, maybe what we could do is modify, you know, there's section two here, you know, where it says the goal may be achieved by contributing 592. In there, it could say by contributing all of the surplus, but at least something to that effect, 592.

[18089] Terrence Grindall: Thank you.

[18090] Elisa Martinez: Yeah. I'm a little nervous about saying all because I think the verbiage 592 or more, I mean, to President Jiang's point, we can make that determination. Because it's not necessarily fund money, right? But if there's some sort of curriculum upgrade that we're like, hey, we actually have this opportunity to do, we should probably evaluate. So I don't know. Maybe, for me it's clear, but I'm OK if you all want to clean that up a little bit more.

[18120] Bowen Zhang: Ashley, I think given the record of this current board, I think this is a board that's very high fiscal disciplines. I'm actually okay with leaving that out, because three of our five went through pretty difficult period in the past two years. We got hammered left and right, but we know how important fiscal discipline is. So I don't really worry about the current board wanting to spend money crazy on things that don't really need. Okay, member Hill.

[18147] Aiden Hill: Yeah, so, yeah, I mean, I agree. President Zhang and, you know, and with everybody else that, yeah, we need to be fiscally prudent and we need to have discipline. And quite frankly, I mean, I think that one of the things that former Governor Brown did and he did, you know, against a lot of opposition is he built a rainy day fund, which has actually saved us, you know, down the line and partly during the pandemic. And so when we have extra cash, we should start putting it away. And if we have extra cash now, we should. The only thing that I'm just a little bit concerned about, and I want to make sure that the resolution addresses it, is that I don't want there to be an expectation that if we are in a situation where all of a sudden funding dries up, that we're committed to savings targets that would then require us to do things like massive layoffs or some, you know, draconian measures just to meet a target that we've set that really, you know, will achieve that target, but would have grave ramifications for the district. And so I want to make sure that we don't have language in the resolution that kind of binds us to that, you know, potential outcome.

[18220] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think this resolution is, like I said, I think it does give us flexibility if there is a bad year comes. And another thing is, I think based on what I've experienced in the past few years, any time we want to cut or have any reduction in force, that needs to be approved by the board. So it's not automatic that the staff will just go ahead and implement draconian solutions to fulfill this $592,000. So everything will still come back to the board. So we're still the ultimate authority to get the green light if we want to do anything draconian or something.

[18251] Aiden Hill: And so Ms.dela Cruz, given your expertise, long-standing expertise in multiple areas here, so is the resolution worded in a way where, again, we're not committing to something that we can't you know, deliver on in the future if we have severe funding problems?

[18272] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, no, this resolution can always be modified, but we have to at least have that goal and make every effort to achieve it. So this is just our way of committing to that.

[18287] Aiden Hill: Okay, great. Thank you.

[18289] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I just have a quick comment. So in section two, would it be okay if we say the goal may be achieved by contributing up to 592 or more because that way that will relieve the issue in terms of like maybe how member Hill is feeling that we have we don't that we have to commit to the 592 or more but maybe up to to give us some wiggle room in terms of if we have when we actually have go back to our actual ADAs and then I mean granted like you said we can always go back and change the resolution or modify it But I don't know if that wording makes it more comfortable for other members of the board.

[18340] Terrence Grindall: It actually makes me more uncomfortable. I'd like to see the commitment. If we're not going to contribute the 592, then we ought to change the resolution. When it comes time to do so. And that's just a matter of a vote doesn't require, you know, an act of Congress. So I think we should we should have a firm commitment to to be on that.

[18361] Bowen Zhang: What's in the cloud. I think, I think we're a little bit overdoing this. This is this is an explorational document. It's not like a legally binding. If we see problem, we can come back to modify that. Okay, I don't really think that these I don't want to looking at one or two vocabulary in there and then change it wrong. This is our exploration, this is our goal is our aspiration if things change that then we can come back to modify and like I said, Pengfei Xue, Jr. : The any financial decision like particular when it comes to costs and layout that needs to be approved by the board. So we still reserve our authority to make further changes going forward. So, so I'm okay just voting on the resolution as of now.

[18401] Phuong Nguyen: Okay.

[18402] Aiden Hill: But could we, per member Grindel's kind of suggestion, could we accelerate it right now? Could we just simply say, instead of that the sunset here or the target is 2026, if we know that we've got extra funds this year and next year, let's up the amount. And we'll say by this date, we're gonna achieve, we're gonna contribute X amount. And then that really puts the handcuffs on us to do it while we have the money to do it.

[18428] Bowen Zhang: Well, I would rather prefer voting on that in September, because that's when you really see the audit report results. So you know how much you're going to do that. OK. Yeah. OK. So may I get a, if there's no further comments, may I get a motion to, I guess, approve this resolution?

[18448] Terrence Grindall: I'll make a motion to approve it with the understanding that As this goes forward, I want to see all the surpluses going to this. I don't have to have that changed, but I want to make that clear as part of my motion.

[18465] Bowen Zhang: Anybody want to second this? So given there's no second motion dies. So I would just, my suggestion is let's do this in September. I will just approve the motion as it is written. And then come September, once we see the unaudited result, we're gonna get another vote to determine how many funds want to get into the surplus. I mean, we're really overdoing this today on this.

[18492] Terrence Grindall: That was the intent of my motion. I simply had a comment attached, but. Okay, I see, I see.

[18498] Elisa Martinez: So, okay, so if that, so that member or President Zhang, yes, I mean, if the motion is as is, then I would second. There was silence there because it was a different motion. So if the motion from Member Grindel is to accept the motion as is, then I second.

[18521] Bowen Zhang: It is, okay. made a motion move made by member member martinez how do you vote student member salami yes member martinez yes member grundell yes member hill yes member win yes my vote is this as well motion carries unanimously do we need to read this or we can move on no you can move on it's not that type of resolution president next administrative regulations 3312 contracts first reading uh superintendent triplet thank you in the interest of expediency i'll turn this one back over to miss dela cruz thank you dr triplet so this is um

[18572] Marie dela Cruz: revision to the administrative regulation 3312, and it basically aligns the dollar amount, the threshold for contract approval. So our BP has a dollar amount of contract approval not to exceed the half of the bid limit that's specified by the state on an annual basis. And our AR says something different, which says that The superintendent and the CBO have authority up to $20,000. So basically, this AR aligns it with the BP.

[18613] Bowen Zhang: Any other comments from the board? Seeing no comments from the board and the student member, may I get a motion to approve this with the first reading or bring it back for a second reading?

[18630] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve.

[18632] Bowen Zhang: I'll second. Let me clear, so your motion is to approve as it is?

[18639] Julienne Sumodobila: Yes.

[18641] Bowen Zhang: Motion made by Member Nguyen, seconded by Member Martinez. Student Member Salami, how do you vote? Yes. Member Martinez?

[18650] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[18651] Bowen Zhang: Member Goodell?

[18653] SPEAKER_48: Yes.

[18654] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[18657] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[18658] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Mrs.dela Cruz.

[18663] SPEAKER_48: Thank you.

[18664] Bowen Zhang: Moving on to consent calendar personnel report. May I get a motion to approve 15.2 personnel report?

[18674] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve 15.2 personnel report as is.

[18678] Bowen Zhang: Motion by member Nguyen.

[18682] Elisa Martinez: I second.

[18683] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by member Martinez. Member Martinez, how do you vote?

[18687] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[18690] Bowen Zhang: Member Grundell? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[18700] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[18701] Bowen Zhang: My vote is this as well. Motion carries with five ayes. Consent calendar, non-personnel item. We do have a public speaker on item 16.7, warning report. May I get a motion to approve item 16.2 through 16.8, except 16.7? So moved. Motion made by Member Grindel.

[18727] Elisa Martinez: I'll second.

[18728] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Martinez. Student Member Salami, how do you vote?

[18733] SPEAKER_14: Yes.

[18734] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez?

[18737] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[18738] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[18744] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[18745] Bowen Zhang: My vote is as well. Motion carries unanimously. Did everybody see the Board of Voting?

[18753] Nancy Thomas: No, I just want to show up.

[18754] Bowen Zhang: Okay, good. You guys are seeing okay. 16.71 report for February 2021. Can we bring in our public speaker?

[18767] Cindy Parks: Good evening. In the warrants you're going to be approving tonight is a $3,625 check for the implicit bias training. I think you all know how well the first training session turned out. I certainly heard a lot about it. Many of the comments I heard not only centered around the incident that happened, but the lack of preparedness by the facilitators to deal with the incident, along with a general sense of inexperience with providing the training. Out of curiosity, I Googled the individual you issued the check to. Imagine my surprise to see Priscilla Parchia is a program manager with Oakland Unified. Nothing on her LinkedIn account listed her as being a partner in the TDB colon PEP consulting firm as referenced after her name on the warrant, which leads me to wonder whether proper protocol was followed when hiring this consultant firm. Apparently, Ms. Partia is a former colleague of Dr. Triplett's, just like Jeanette Hernandez, the facilitator for the Graham-Snow merger. If a thorough vetting process doesn't take place, ensuring you hire quality consultants and vendors, you end up hiring a firm like the original one for the consolidation committee, or run into situations like the one that took place during the first implicit bias training. You do have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the district's interest is protected, even though you designate the superintendent to oversee the day-to-day operations. Thank you very much.

[18862] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Ms. Parks. Any other comments from the board? If not, may I get a motion to approve the board report?

[18882] Elisa Martinez: I move to approve item 16.7.

[18883] Bowen Zhang: Moved by Member Martinez. May I get a second? I'll second. Seconded by Member Guendel.

[18897] Terrence Grindall: I think Member Nguyen beat me.

[18900] Phuong Nguyen: You can't.

[18902] Bowen Zhang: Member Salami, how do you vote? Yes. Member Martinez?

[18910] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[18912] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel?

[18913] SPEAKER_48: Yes.

[18914] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[18919] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[18920] Bowen Zhang: My vote is as well. Motion carries unanimously. Moving on to Board of Education Committee reports. Anything for Mission ROP?

[18933] Elisa Martinez: Member Martinez? No, nothing to report. Just watching the time, nothing. Well, let me just say that the Superintendent Hanson and team, of course, are having all their plans ready for reopening. So they're waiting to see what the JPAs, the three districts, and they're looking to be ready as soon as possible.

[18965] Bowen Zhang: Okay, nothing from Senator. Anything from the Liaison Committee? Nothing. What about EBIT, Member Martinez?

[18978] Elisa Martinez: No.

[18978] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Audit Committee? Nothing. Parcel Tax Committee? I guess nothing. Okay, moving on Board of Education request, Student Member Salami?

[18996] SPEAKER_14: No request.

[18997] Bowen Zhang: Okay, Member Martinez?

[19000] Elisa Martinez: I'm just gonna put it out there. And I know I recognize the timing is tough right now, but Superintendent Triplett, it's going now on, this is obviously before your time. I really remember Zhang and I were here. Member Zhang, I don't believe remember when you were here when we did the Latinx Summit. And there was quite a bit of work that went into really getting our Latino communities together, parents and students. And there was actually some work that we did with the committee and the board. And there was some to-dos and just fell by the wayside, but I think it was really important work. And I would just like to maybe put it on the board, on the whiteboard, if you will, so we could consider bringing it back. for just an informational item at some point. But maybe we can speak offline, superintendent. I can give you some more background on that.

[19066] Bowen Zhang: OK. Member Grindel? Nothing tonight. Member Hill?

[19073] Aiden Hill: Just to follow up from our earlier discussion, so setting up a study session to evaluate how we can have greater board involvement in that.

[19082] Bowen Zhang: Hopefully this, by the end of May, I hope to see this. OK. I guess, generally, we give a two-month buffer for the member.

[19094] Phuong Nguyen: Member Nguyen? No request this time.

[19099] Bowen Zhang: So for me, going back to our previous request I made more than a month ago, I think Superintendent Triplett, we're still on track to have the grading standard, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, bring it back for the board to discuss. HAB-Danny Teodoru, COB. : Last time we talked by the end of April. Is that what we do agree on.

[19117] Mark Triplett: HAB-Danny Teodoru, COB. : I can't remember the date, but, but I do remember the request. Yes, we, we, it's still, we're still planning on doing that.

[19127] Bowen Zhang: Okay. HAB-Danny Teodoru, COB. : So do you have any idea what is going to be L of April or we don't do it in May.

[19134] Mark Triplett: If it's okay with the board, it would be wonderful to do it in May and not April. We just have a lot of things going on.

[19145] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, that will be an agenda item rather than a study session because the board will want to revisit the vote we took in March 2019 about giving the primary TK6 grading from 1 to 5 rather than the current one, the pilot program 1 to 3.

[19162] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you. And just so I have brought it up to the staff. And so we're beginning to work on that.

[19170] Bowen Zhang: OK, cool. That's for me.

[19174] SPEAKER_36: President John, just a point of order. I know that just to make it clear for the minutes, whether we have consensus on these items or not.

[19183] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I think last time we got two more member. Member Martinez and Member Nguyen. That sort of echoed my, that was last time. So this time I was just asking for update. Apparently Member Hill and Member Grunau didn't really have the data point for that.

[19198] SPEAKER_36: And the first request from Member Hill?

[19202] Bowen Zhang: Yes, I think we do have- The study session. Study session as a consensus. I mean, as a majority. Both of them will have a majority from the board. Okay, moving on to recognition announcements. Student member Salemi.

[19221] SPEAKER_14: I just wanted to appreciate all the hard work that everyone here, staff, students, community has been putting in during this time. It's a lot of, you know, different things going on. And I just really want to highlight the hard work that our counselors are doing during this time. You know, behind the scene doing a lot of work, really supporting our students. And I just wanted to appreciate them.

[19246] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Member Martinez.

[19253] Elisa Martinez: Just want to appreciate, you know, really all of us in our community, if you will, obviously, most importantly, our students and our teachers and the district team. You know, I think that there is a ton of work happening For those that are listening or those that communicate on social media and after listening to these meetings, I just wanted to comment on sometimes I hear some comments that are not very positive. And I just always, I would encourage you to come from a place of positive intent that we all have very clear that we're trying to serve our community as best we can. our kids most importantly, right? And that, you know, things won't always be perfect. Absolutely, this is sometimes messy as we really look to correct the course of our Newark schools. And, but I am absolutely convinced, you may not agree with me, but I'm absolutely convinced that we are on a path and we'll have some bumps along the way, but, but we've got a good team. And as you look and you find opportunities, come and in a positive way, share those. And no, we don't always get what we want, but just try to please be understanding and have some empathy. And I think we're gonna have some really good results. So thanks for that. Thanks, staff.

[19354] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, member Martinez. Member Guendel.

[19358] Terrence Grindall: I just want to thank the teachers, the students, and all the staff for all their hard work. Last month we celebrated the, we celebrated, we recognized the the beginning of the COVID outbreak in this country. It's been a difficult time for everybody. Just really want to recognize that and appreciate that and also encourage everyone, it's not over yet. Please stay masked, wash your hands, keep social distance. We'll beat this thing, but we have to do it together. Thank you.

[19389] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Member Hill.

[19391] Aiden Hill: Yeah, I just want to echo my fellow board members that, you know, to thank everybody for their hard work. you know even though it's tough and and even though um we're all human and we make mistakes but you know you know everybody's trying hard and we should recognize that so thank you member hill uh member win

[19408] Phuong Nguyen: Hi, so I'm not wearing green because it was St. Patrick's Day yesterday, but if most of you are not aware, it is to honor Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month. Why green? The color green is chosen to reflect youthfulness and new growth, as well as hope for advancement and treatment and acceptance. So for those of you who don't know what cerebral palsy or cerebral palsy, and also known as CP, it's a group of permanent movement disorders that appear in early childhood, affecting body movement and muscle coordination. CP is caused by abnormal development or damage to the parts of the brain that control movement, balance, and posture. In some cases, the cerebral motor cortex hasn't developed normally during fetal growth. In others, the damage is a result of injury to the brain, either before, during, or after birth. In either case, the damage is not repairable, and the disability that results are permanent. So CP is most common motor disorder and the second most common disability found in children. Currently over 700,000 people live with cerebral palsy. So I just wanted to bring awareness and National Awareness Day for cerebral palsy is March 25th. And I just wanted to thank one of our families, dad in the district, Ramon Medina, too, that brought it to my attention. So I just wanted to share that with everyone. And then also wanted to thank staff and for all the hard work. And can you believe it? We've been in this pandemic for over a year now and When we thought it was just going to be a few weeks, maybe a few months, it ended up to be a year. And in conclusion, I just want to echo Member Martinez and remind everyone, and this is from All on the Board, it says, cruel and negative comments can affect somebody's life and their state of mind. Everyone has an opinion. But one thing we should agree on is that it's always best to be kind. So I just wanted to end on that note tonight. Thank you.

[19544] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Member Nguyen. Obviously, I want to thank the district for partnering with the TrueCare 24. So by next Monday, every single one of our staff will get at least the first shot. For those who haven't gotten one, that's a major achievement to vaccinate all our staff and I don't want to pat on ourselves, but given we vote on the aspirational for the 17% reserve, I think we've come a long way in the past two years from at the edge of being taken over by the state to aspiring for 17% reserve. I'm not going to name any district, but if you look at some surrounding district, they are going through some very different and difficult conversations right now. And I'm just fortunate enough that we're in a much different positions. So congratulations on the student and your team. Okay, moving on, Superintendent's concluding comments.

[19598] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Zheng, and thank you all for your comments. I want to echo President Zheng's appreciation of TrueCare 24. I think I neglected to mention earlier, but the way that we got into partnership with them is because it's one of our parents. So one of our parents in one of our schools is is with that group and reached out to us and offered that service. And I think it's really indicative of the Newark way and how much families really do reach out in so many different ways to try to support the district, the community, their students, and other families. So very, very grateful for that support for all of our staff.

[19645] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. I move to adjourn a meeting. May I get a second?

[19650] Elisa Martinez: I second.

[19652] Bowen Zhang: Okay, Student Member Salami, how do you vote? Yes. Member Martinez?

[19658] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[19659] Bowen Zhang: Member Grundahl? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[19664] Jodi Croce: Yes.

[19665] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 1030. Everybody, good night. Thank you, everybody.

[19673] Megan McMillan: Good night.

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

Virtual Meeting Practices & Connection Information

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

Governance Team Handbook Review and Update

Type Discussion, Information, Procedural Purpose:

The board will have a discussion to review the Governance Handbook and make updates if needed.

Background:

The Governance Handbook was previously updated in 2017 and ratified in December 2020. Three board training seminars have occurred since 2019 where updates have been suggested and agreed upon by the Board. On February 18, 2021, the Board made updates to the handbook and will continue to update as necessary. This Board will convene in a study session to review the current handbook and make agreed-upon changes where they see fit.

If changes are suggested here, the handbook will be brought back at a later meeting for Board approval on the revisions.

File Attachments APPROVED 030421 - Governance Handbook.pdf (443 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:

Bretz vs Newark Unified School District Keenan Claim # 569505

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

Recess to Closed Session

Type Procedural Purpose:

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

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. 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

8. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

School Spotlight: Newark Junior High School

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 presented by the Newark Junior High School Principal, Risha Krishna.

File Attachments NJHS Board Presentation.pdf (6,247 KB) Board Mtg_ 2020-21 School Spotlights.pdf (45 KB)

9. 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

10. STAFF REPORT

Update on ForeFront Power Solar Projects at Newark Memorial High School and Newark Jr High School

Type Information

Purpose:

To provide the Board with an update on the progress of the solar projects at Newark Memorial High School and Newark Jr High School.

Background:

The last update on the Solar Project provided to the Board was on December 3, 2020.

On November 7, 2019, the Board approved the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between Newark Unified School District & ForeFront Power for solar facilities and battery energy storage systems at Newark Memorial High School and Newark Junior High School including the option for the district to incorporate costs such as, but not limited to, inspector fees, DSA fees, PG&E upgrades, and ADA compliance requirements, currently estimated at $100,000 for both sites.

ForeFront Power gave presentations to the Board on May 16, 2017, and August 1, 2019. Inspector fees (estimated cost $20,000 per site), DSA fees, PG&E upgrades and ADA compliance upgrades (estimated cost if needed is $30,000 per site) are the district's upfront costs; however, the PPA will incorporate these costs and the district will be reimbursed or ForeFront will pay for them directly. ForeFront Power worked with NUSD in 2017 to submit interconnection applications to get the District grandfathered on lucrative Time of Use rates. SPURR, the Joint Powers Authority, ran a statewide RFP (Request for Proposal) process in 2017 for solar and storage systems that K12 Districts can "piggyback" off to procure solar facilities, storage systems, and EVCS (Electric Vehicle Charging Stations). Eight companies submitted proposals and the RFP was awarded to ForeFront Power. ForeFront Power has updated the numbers since 2017 and presented a districtwide solution in the Board Study Session on August 1, 2019. After careful consideration, the District determined that as Phase I of this project, Newark Memorial High School and Newark Junior High School would be the best locations to initially install solar facilities to start this project. Initial estimates indicated that the District could save $145K (25%) in year 1, and $4.6 million over 20 years with this solar solution, using very conservative assumptions. Phase II of this project would potentially include other school locations in the future. The PPA includes a buyout option after year 5. Other Districts who have partnered with ForeFront Power through the use of the SPURR REAP (Renewable Energy Aggregated Procurement) RFP include: Central USD (in Fresno) Stockton USD Fresno USD (4th largest school district in the state) Shasta Union High School District Paso Robles JUSD South Monterey County JUHSD Bakersfield CSD Sierra CCD State Center CCD Kings Canyon USD

File Attachments Newark USD PV & ESS Presentation LP 3-18-2021.pdf (1,192 KB)

Professional Development Plan

Type Information Purpose:

To inform the Board and detail district instructional priorities, and provide a comprehensive overview of the professional development trainings that Educational Services has coordinated and led for TK-12 staff during the 2020-21 school year.

Background:

With the district remaining in distance learning since the beginning of the academic year, professional development priorities and related partnerships have shifted in order to support the new realities for our students and teaching staff. As a result, the district strategically transitioned to a new approach to support teaching in a distance learning environment and support staff with relevant professional development trainings that foster student engagement and learning.

File Attachments NUSD PD Presentation 3.18.21.pdf (1,448 KB)

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

File Attachments Supt Report 3.18.21.pdf (893 KB)

12. BOARD OF EDUCATION AGENDA REQUESTS

NUSD Personnel Hiring Policy and Procedures

Type Discussion Purpose:

This item is brought forth to the Board as a request by Member Hill at the March 4th, 2021, regular board meeting. The Board is asked to decide if they want to hear the content of the request, and if heard, to decide if the request merits additional discussion and further development from staff for a later meeting, or if the request has been satisfied.

Background:

"It is the intent of the Legislature that members of the public be able to place matters directly related to school district business on the agenda of school district governing board meetings," as long as it "is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the governing board." (Ed. Code 35145.5) It is within the role of the board president, working with the superintendent, to develop the board agenda. A school district may exercise discretion not to place an item on the agenda if the district determines that the matter is not "directly related to school business." Mooney v. Garcia (2012) Cal. App.4th 229, 231.

"A board is not required to place an item on a specific portion of an agenda (closed versus open), is not required to discuss, prepare a report, or take any action on an item requested by a member of the public, and is not required to provide any additional time to the requester for public comment. To meet the requirements of the statute, a board must only agendize the item, call the item, and allow for public comment as it would for any other agenda item." (DWK Brown Act Manual)

"Even if a district places the matter on the agenda, however, no action is legally required and the item need only be considered. The law does not require the item be placed on the agenda immediately, but it is advisable to place the item on the agenda within a reasonable time frame, ... Interested members of the public may comment on the item, subject to the Board's policies regarding public comment generally." (SCLS)

"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." (NUSD Governance Team Handbook)

13. OLD BUSINESS

2020-21 LCFF Budget Overview for Parents- Revised Template

Type Action

Recommended Staff recommends that the Board adopt the 2020-21 Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) Action Budget Overview for Parents. Purpose:

To resubmit the LCFF Budget Overview for Parents in the correct template.

Background:

On December 3, 2020, the Board adopted the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) Budget Overview for Parents for the 2020-21 school year, as required by SB 98, prior to December 15, 2020; however, after the district submitted the report to the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE), staff was informed that ACOE provided the incorrect template. The data contained in the report remains the same.

The slide deck presented to the Board on December 3, 2020 is attached for reference.

A representative from ACOE will be present at the Board meeting to address questions from the Board if needed.

File Attachments NUSD 2020 - 21 Budget Overview for Parents-redo.pdf (64 KB) 2020-12-03_13.1_2020-21 LCFF Budget Overview for Parents 11.17.2020 PPT.pdf (1,091 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends that the Board adopt the 2020-21 Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) Budget Overview for Parents.

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

Reopening Plan

Type Discussion, Information Purpose:

To review the district's plan and preparations for the reopening of in-person learning, and receive Board input regarding the appropriate timeline for reopening.

Background

On January 25, 2021, a Reopening Plan was submitted and approved to the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE) and the Alameda County Public Health Department.

Since January 2021, we have held three town halls with a focus on the reopening plans. On February 22, a commitment form was sent to all NUSD families (in Spanish and English) asking them for their choice between continued distance learning or in- person learning. A repeat of the February 22 town hall was held on March 2 in Spanish. Finally, on March 9, a follow-up town hall was held to review the data from the commitment form and any subsequent updates.

Board will receive a synopsis of the data received from the community as well as plans and preparations that have been completed by the district, and seek input regarding an appropriate reopening timeline.

File Attachments NUSD REOPENING PLAN 3.16.21.docx.pdf (1,458 KB) Reopening Presentation 3.18.21.pdf (2,820 KB)

14. NEW BUSINESS

School Naming Policies and Procedures

Type Discussion, Information

Purpose:

The superintendent will provide the Board with an update on the steps taken to date by the Design Team with regard to the school naming process. The Board will give input in the themes relevant to the school community as part of the school naming criteria.

Background:

In November 2020, the board voted to merge Snow Elementary and Graham Elementary on the Graham campus for the 2021-22 school year. As part of the design process, a design team was created to facilitate the combining of the two schools into a new school. Per Board policy, an ad hoc committee (the Design Team) was created representing district staff, parents/guardians, and the public. The committee is responsible for receiving and screening name suggestions and submitting recommendations to the Superintendent or designee for the Board's consideration and adoption.

BP 7310 - Naming Of Facility

BP 7511 - Naming Of Facility

File Attachments Graham_Snow School Naming Process.pdf (946 KB)

Audit Report - Measure G Bond

Type Action

Recommended Staff recommends the Board accept the Measure G Financial and Performance Audit Report Action for the 2019-20 fiscal year. Purpose:

The purpose of this item is for the Board to receive information about the Measure G Financial and Performance Audit Report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

Background:

On March 2, 2021, the Measure G Financial and Performance Audit Report for the fiscal year ended June 20, 2020, was reviewed by the Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee.

In accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and Government Auditing Standards, the independent auditing firm of Christy White Associates has completed their Financial and Performance Audit Report of the Proposition 39 (Measure G) Bonds of the Newark Unified School District for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. The comprehensive summary of auditors' results on audit report page 16 outlines the following: The opinions on the financial statements and performance were both unmodified, which is the best opinion that can be provided in an audit. There were no findings, questioned costs, or audit adjustments in relation to this audit.

File Attachments Newark USD Measure G Bond FINAL 2.23.21.pdf (308 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board accept the Measure G Financial and Performance Audit Report for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

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

Resolution 2020.21-023 Committing to Funding of Reserves for Economic Uncertainties to 17% of Total General Fund Expenditures

Type Action

Recommended Staff recommends the Board adopt Resolution No. 2020.21-023 committing to reach the Action District's goal of building combined reserves in the General Fund and Fund 17 (Reserve for Emergency Purposes) to 17% of total General Fund expenditures by June 30, 2026. Purpose:

To commit to reaching the district's goal of maintaining reserves for economic uncertainties at 17% of total General Fund expenditures.

Background:

On October 15, 2020, and January 21, 2021, the Board held study sessions to review the budget and agreed that it would be in the best interest of the district to build district reserves for economic uncertainties to 17% of total expenditures. The Board subsequently requested staff to develop a plan to reach the 17% level of reserves.

As of Second Interim, the reserves for economic uncertainties were $8.6 million. Based on projected total expenditures of $68,000,000, 17% would equal $11,560,000. An additional $2.96 million in contribution to reserves would be required to bring the reserves to this amount.

The district's average monthly payroll is $4.5 million. A 17% reserve would cover about 2.5 months of payroll.

Resolution No. 2020.21-23 states the following:

1. The Board commits to increasing the combined General Fund and Fund 17 reserve balance to 17% of total General Fund expenditures by June 30, 2026.
2. This increase in reserve balance shall be achieved by contributing at least $592,000 annually to the reserve funds in the years 2021 through 2026.

File Attachments Resolution 2020.21-023_Plan to increase reserves to 17 pct.pdf (93 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board adopt Resolution No. 2020.21-023 committing to reach the District's goal of building combined reserves in the General Fund and Fund 17 (Reserve for Emergency Purposes) to 17% of total General Fund expenditures by June 30, 2026.

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

AR (Administrative Regulation) 3312 Contracts (First Reading)

Type Action

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended Staff recommends the Board of Education approve the revised Administrative Regulation Action 3312 as presented with the recommended revisions or move to bring back for a second reading with recommended revisions. Purpose:

For the Board to review the recommended changes and approve the updated administrative regulation. Administrative Regulation (AR) 3312 needs to be updated to reflect the same signature authority as Board Policy (BP) 3312.

Background:

BP 3312 was adopted on January 20, 2004. The BP was revised on February 2, 2016, to update the signature authority of the superintendent or designee to approve contracts for professional services, that are exempt from competitive bidding, in an amount not to exceed one-half of the current bid limit for purchases of equipment, materials or supplies, pursuant to Public Contract Code 20111. (BP 3312 is attached for reference. There are no recommended changes to the board policy.)

AR 3312 was adopted January 16, 2007, and indicates the Superintendent and the Chief Business Officer (CBO) are designated as the only administrators vested with signature authority for contracts up to $20,000 for professional services that are exempt from competitive bidding. The proposed revision updates the language for signature authority to match BP 3312 which authorizes the superintendent or designee to approve contracts for professional services, that are exempt from competitive bidding, in an amount not to exceed one-half of the current bid limit for purchases of equipment, materials or supplies, pursuant to Public Contract Code 20111. The current bid limit for 2021 is $96,700 which, therefore, provides signature authority for the Superintendent and CBO up to $48,350.

The administration has reviewed this document for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice. If any revisions are recommended, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading.

File Attachments BP 3312 Contracts.pdf (25 KB) AR3312 Contracts (First Reading).pdf (19 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board of Education approve the revised Administrative Regulation 3312 as presented with the recommended revisions or move to bring back for a second reading with recommended revisions.

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

15. 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 _________. 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 18, 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 03-18-21.pdf (362 KB)

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

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

16. 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 _________. 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 16.2 -16.8, except 16.7.

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

Addendum to Ascend Rehab Contract

Type Action

Absolute Date Mar 18, 2021

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $26,775.00

Budgeted No

Budget Source Special Education

Recommended The staff recommends the Board ratify the addendum to the Ascend Rehad contract. Action Purpose:

This is a ratification of the current contract with Ascend Rehab in the amount of $26,775.00 for services rendered for .5 FTE Speech-Language Pathologist. This brings the total contract amount to $982,085.00

Background:

The District contracts with nonpublic agencies when necessary to provide related services to students with Individual Education Programs (IEPs). The ratification of the Ascend Contract is due to a Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) requiring a leave of absence in September 2020. As a result, a .4 FTE SLP is required. Additionally, a .1 FTE SLP is being sought to support the preschool assessment team with pending speech assessments for the remainder of the school year and pending summer assessments. This past school year the Special Education Department had to add additional Speech- Language Pathologists support due to the number of students requiring assessments and related speech services for speech. Additional support was also acquired from another contractor at the end of the school year to support the high demand of assessments, particularly at the preschool level. This continues to manifest due to the current outstanding in-person assessments that the District has pending due to COVID-19.

Students served through Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and identified as needing speech and occupational therapy- related services are legally mandated to receive these required services. Without the agency's therapists, Newark Unified School District would be out of compliance in providing these necessary related services. The District has actively recruited to fill these FTE positions but has been unable to fill them. The District requires speech-related services to fulfill the District's obligation to serve special education students. The ongoing shortage of special education personnel nationally requires the District to act with a sense of urgency to ensure service providers are in place at the commencement of the school year.

Districts throughout California have similar challenges faced in Newark Unified School District in securing qualified personnel to serve special education students speech services. The shortage of Speech-Language Pathologists is due in part to the limited number of graduate programs, along with an increasing number of students qualifying for speech-related services. Currently, Newark Unified School District has the following employees serving students requiring speech-related services, they are as follows: 1.6 FTE Speech-Language Pathologists, and 1 FTE Speech-Language Assistant (SLPA).

For the upcoming school year, Ascend Rehab Inc. will support the District with 7.6 FTE. This is an increase of .6 from the previous school year. The increase is due to the number of students qualifying for speech-related services. Students' speech services may include 1:1 intense services, along with group services, depending on the unique needs of the student. In recent years with the increase of students qualifying for special education-related services under the primary eligibility of autism, has further impacted the number of students that require speech-related services to meet students' unique needs. Moreover, the District is required to ensure caseloads of providers are within the recommended Education Code- EDC requirements they are as follows:

56363.3. The average caseload for language, speech, and hearing specialists in special education local plan areas shall not exceed 55 cases unless the local plan specifies a higher average caseload and the reasons for the greater average caseload. (Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 56, Sec. 58. Effective January 1, 2008.)

56441.7. (a) The maximum caseload for a speech and language specialist providing services exclusively to individuals with exceptional needs, between the ages of three and five years, inclusive, as defined in Section 56441.11 or 56026, shall not exceed a count of 40. (b) The superintendent shall issue caseload guidelines or proposed regulations to local educational agencies for individuals with exceptional needs between the ages of three and five years, inclusive, by January 1, 1988. (Added by Stats. 1987, Ch. 311, Sec. 6.5. Effective July 30, 1987.

OT services function as "related services" under IDEA 2004 EC 56363.3 Caseload for language, speech, and hearing specialist

File Attachments Addendum to Ascend Rehab Contract .5 FTE SLP.pdf (93 KB) Ascend Rehab Master Contract 2020-21 SIGNED.pdf (451 KB)

Addendum to Ed Sped Solutions Inc. Contract

Type Action

Absolute Date Mar 18, 2021

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $59,250.00

Budgeted No

Budget Source Special Education

Recommended The staff recommends the Board ratify the addendum to the Ed Sped Solutions Inc Action contract.

Goals 1. To provide academic excellence via equity and opportunities for all students.

Purpose:

This is a ratification of the current contract with Ed Sped Solutions Inc. in the amount of $59,250.00 for services rendered for a Program Specialist for the remainder of the school year. This brings the total contract amount to $572,473.00.

Background:

The Program Specialist is essential for ensuring the District adheres to IDEA requirements. The following outlines the roles and responsibilities of a Program Specialist: Coordinates program and service recommendations with stakeholders. Ensures compliance with state and federal regulations, reporting requirements with the Department of Education, and department policies and procedures. Participates in the development of IEP's and facilitates when needed. Recommends additional resources for assessment when necessary. Consults with and assists service providers. Provides oversight and assistance to ensure effective programs and services are being implemented. Participates in staff development, program development, and innovation of research-based methods and practices. Provides coordination, consultation, and program development in the area of his/her expertise. Ensures educational benefit for students receiving special education services. Serves as a resource to administrators, psychologists, other special education-related support staff, teachers, and parents regarding program function, and state and federal mandates regarding special education. Acts as liaison between special education office, school sites, and community agencies. Completes administrative placements. Represents LEA in offering Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) based on IEP team recommendations regarding placement, program, and services. Builds consensus among the IEP team. Provides research-based staff development opportunities, including planning and coordination of regular staff meetings. Schedules and writes IEP's as needed. Coordinates and serves on committees. Manages caseloads. Coordinates transition services. Addresses concerns from students, parents, and staff. Maintains statistical data, facilitates program projections, and makes recommendations regarding staffing assignments. Facilitates the development of positive relationships with students, parents, and district personnel. Contributes to the attainment of district and board of education goals.

File Attachments Addendum to Ed Sped Contract for Program Specialist.pdf (55 KB) Ed Sped Contract 2020-21 SIGNED.pdf (4,109 KB)

Consolidated Application and Reporting System 2020-2021 Winter Data Collection

Type Action

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended Staff recommends ratification of the Consolidated Application and Reporting System Action (CARS), 2020-21 Winter Data Collection. Purpose:

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

Background:

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

Each year, the programs included in the CARS change based on federal/state mandates and different methods of gaining or disseminating information. This is the 2020-21 Winter Data Collection.

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

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

File Attachments Con App Winter 2020-21.pdf (1,164 KB)

Approval of Contract with SI&A for Attendance Services

Type Action

Absolute Date Mar 18, 2021

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $118,800.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Resource 7085 - Proposition 47 California Learning Communities for School Success Program Grant

Recommended Staff recommends the Board approve the contract with School Innovations & Advocacy Action (SI&A) for the attendance management system, Attendance 2 Attendance (A2A). Purpose:

A2A provides the tools, training, and support to successfully reduce absenteeism systematically across the entire district.

Background:

A2A is an early warning system for at-risk students, combining an easy-to-use web-based application with SI&A's unique expertise in attendance management. This program also helps with the paperwork and requirements for the SARB process. A2A is a comprehensive approach to attendance management and dropout prevention that supports the following: Increase Student Attendance Decrease Dropout Rates Improve Graduation Rates Increase Revenue Recover Learning Time Improve Parent Communications

This is a three-year contract -- 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-2024 (i.e., July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2024). The current contract expires June 30, 2021. If this agreement is approved by March 31, 2021, the annual fee is $39,600 per year.

If this agreement is approved after March 31, 2021, the annual fee would be $41,600 per year.

File Attachments Newark USD CA A2A Services Agreement.pdf (641 KB)

Updated Alameda County Office of Education Triennial Plan for Serving Expelled and High-Risk Students

Type Action

Absolute Date Mar 18, 2021

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The administration recommends the approval of the updated Alameda County Office of Action Education (ACOE) Triennial Plan.

Goals MISSION: The Newark Unified School District will inspire and educate all students to achieve their full potential and be responsible, respectful, and productive citizens. 1. To provide academic excellence via equity and opportunities for all students. 2. Establish financial stability and fiscal solvency in order to drive continuous improvement.

Purpose:

The County-Wide Educational Services Plan for Serving Expelled and High-Risk Students (the Triennial Plan), July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2024, fulfills the Education Code mandate. All districts of Alameda County enter into this agreement every three years.

Financial Impact Note: The financial impact to the District comes in the loss of daily attendance apportionment when an expelled student is placed at a county community school after expulsion. Additionally, if the expelled student has an IEP, the District may be charged (in future school years) for additional special education services for that student. ACOE has indicated that they are flexible and willing to be creative in serving students with IEPs, and if the District chooses to continue special education services under the IEP instead of having ACOE provide the services, there will be no charge. However, the feasibility of such an arrangement must be considered on a case-by-case basis and agreed to in the usual IEP process.

County Wide Plan Overview Educational programs within Alameda County provide numerous alternatives and opportunities for students who are in need of traditional and/or alternative education programs. Individual school districts offer a broad spectrum of services and the County Office of Education (COE) offers additional options. In combination, these two sources provide a continuum of education alternatives to expelled and high-risk students.

Under Education Code Section 48926, school districts throughout California have been mandated to provide educational services for students expelled from their district. The original county-wide plan was adopted by the local governing boards of education and the Alameda County Board of Education in 1997.

This current county-wide plan is the triennial update to the existing plan. The law also states that "At the time an expulsion of a pupil is ordered, the governing board of the school district shall ensure that an education program is provided to the pupil who is subject to the expulsion order for the period of the expulsion."

In Alameda County, this mandate impacts 18 school districts spread over a region comprised of urban, suburban, and semi- rural or isolated communities. The educational placement of a student is determined on an individual basis by the district's governing board based on 1) seriousness of the offense, 2) available educational alternatives, and 3) other related factors.

The county-wide plan for the provision of educational services to expelled students for the period 2021-2024 shall identify: 1. Existing educational alternatives for expelled students, as well as strategies for improvement during the next three years in behavioral intervention practices utilized at the site and district levels. 2. Gaps in educational services to expelled students, strategies implemented to fill those service gaps, the success of these strategies, and additional measures taken. 3. Alternative placement for students who are expelled and placed in district community day school programs (for applicable districts), but who fail to meet the terms and conditions of their rehabilitation plan or who pose a danger to other district pupils, as determined by the governing board. 4. Existing alternatives offered by school districts in the countywide plan.

Key Questions/Answers

1. Is this plan substantially the same as prior Triennial Plans? Yes. Newark's offerings have not changed from the prior 2018-2021 Triennial Plan. (Other districts detailed in the Triennial Plan may have changed.) The ACOE community school offerings are substantially the same as well.

2. What changes are in the plan? No Changes.

3. Is there a charge from ACOE to educate general education students?

   No. With the enactment of AB 922, Statutes of 1995, Chapter 974, California Education Code Section 48926 requires each county superintendent who operates community schools, in conjunction with the superintendents of the school districts within the county, to develop a county-wide plan for providing education services for all expelled pupils in the county. The plan is to be adopted by the governing board of each school district within the county and by the county board of education; the plan is to be submitted to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

   Education Code Section 48926 provides specifically that:

   EC Section 48926 further requires that each county superintendent of schools, in conjunction with district superintendents in the county, submit a triennial update to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction � the next date being June 30, 2021 (effective July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2024).

 1. The county-wide plan shall enumerate existing educational alternatives for expelled pupils, identify gaps in educational
    services to expelled pupils, and strategies for filling those service gaps.
 2. The county-wide plan shall identify alternative placements for pupils who are expelled and placed in district community
    day school programs but who fail to meet the terms and conditions of their rehabilitation plan or who pose a danger to
    other district pupils, as determined by the district governing board.

File Attachments Triennial Plan-DRAFT, 2021-2024.pdf (465 KB) Triennial Plan Supertintendent Signature Page.pdf (113 KB)

Warrant Report for February 2021

Type Action

Fiscal Impact No

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

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

Purpose:

The purpose of this item is to present warrants, for the total amount of $1,748,168.78, made from District funds for February 2021.

Background:

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

File Attachments February 2021 AP Warrant Board Report.pdf (356 KB)

Motion & Voting Staff recommends the Board approve the Warrant Report as presented.

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

Minutes of the March 4, 2021 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended Staff recommends the Board approve the minutes of March 4, 2021, Special Meeting of the Action Board of Education Purpose:

For the board to review and approve the minutes

Background:

The attached minutes are reflective of the March 4, 2021, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. The exact language is available for viewing on the NUSD YouTube Channel.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board extend the meeting to 10:30 PM

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

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.

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

No minutes available.