Regular Meeting

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[57] SPEAKER_52: Yes.

[60] SPEAKER_55: Member Hill. Here. Member Grindel. Here. Member Nguyen. Here. Member Martinez will be joining us in a little while. And President Zhang.

[77] Bowen Zhang: Here. Thank you. We have approval of agenda for the next one. May I get a motion to approve the agenda as it is?

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

[90] Bowen Zhang: Can I get a second? I will second it if there is no second. Member Hill, how do you vote?

[105] SPEAKER_22: Yes.

[106] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[111] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[112] Bowen Zhang: My vote is as well. Motion carries with four ayes. Member Martinez is absent.

[120] Elisa Martinez: Hello there, President Zhang. I just arrived. I apologize. I was wrapping up the Mission Valley ROP meeting.

[129] Bowen Zhang: Okay. So Member Martinez joined us at 5.07. So before we start off our formal study session, any public comments on the study session? So I believe there's none. Okay. So Then Superintendent Triplett, I'll let you kick off the study session.

[157] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Jeon and good evening board members, good evening public and staff. I believe we have Ms. Cervantes-Folk coming on for this section. There she is. So thank you all. It's good to see everybody. This evening for our study session, we are going to be talking about the LCAP for the upcoming year. And this is an opportunity for board members to engage early in the process of our LCAP priorities for the upcoming school year. So of course, we'll be bringing back, this is one engagement. We're engaging with staff, families, and others in different ways, and Ms. Cervantes-Falk and Ms. Pierce will explain more about that. But this is an opportunity for the board to engage. We will, once we have completed engagements and identified priorities, then we will return to the board with a plan for the board to review and and approve if it sees fit. But we wanted to make sure that we are creating opportunities for the board to be involved early, often, and at the end. So without further ado, I'll turn it over to Ms. Cervantes-Falk.

[244] SPEAKER_53: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Good evening, board members. Dr. Triplett and Assistant Sub-Nicole Pierce. I'm happy to be with you once again. Speaking of the LPAC, excuse me, the LCAP, I have a short presentation. Let me make sure that I do this properly. We have a short presentation to just give you a quick, okay, I tend to always forget to share my sound as well. So give me a second, stop share. Share sound, there we go. Okay, so like I said, so we're here to present to you and give you a little bit of information on our LCAP. The purpose of this presentation or this study session really is to provide you, our Board of Trustees, with an opportunity to review, discuss, and actually participate as we are engaging stakeholders and the engagement. We'll have a quick overview of LCFF and LCAP, and I've actually found a video that I think you will appreciate. It's very succinct and to the point. quickly revisit the straight priorities and the accountability aspects of the LCAP. But we really want to spend time on the development process, the timeline, and then provide you with an opportunity to experience the engagement piece and give input as we prepare to finalize the plan. So without further ado, I'm going to cross my fingers because I always seem to miss this part, but I will be presenting this quick video, Understanding the Local Control and Accountability Plan. Please let me know if you aren't able to hear it.

[376] SPEAKER_64: Writing's not that easy, but Grammarly can help. This sentence is grammatically correct, but it's wordy and hard to read.

[387] SPEAKER_03: Understanding the Local Control and Accountability Plan. Part 1. The Local Control Funding Formula and LCAP. School funding is complex and hard to understand if you don't work with it all the time. Most people expect that schools and school districts receive equitable funding, but that's not always been the case. For many years, California had a school funding system that sent some dollars to schools for general use and other funds for specific purposes. These specific funds, called categoricals, supported things like gifted and talented programs for students, extra support for low-income and English learners, new textbooks, and many other uses. Of course, along with those state dollars, districts received federal funding, grants, and other restricted dollars. But not all school districts received an equitable portion of the money. In 2013, the California Legislature enacted the K-12 Local Control Funding Formula, or LCFF, to replace the previous funding system. For school districts, the LCFF established base, supplemental, and concentration grants in place of the variety of K-12 funding streams, including block grants and most of the 50 or more state categorical programs that existed at that time. The local control funding formula works like this. Each district receives an amount per student that differs a little bit by grade range. Extra funds are then added to K-3 to support reduced class size, and to high school to help fund career technical education. All of that makes up a district's base grant. Next, each district receives a per-student amount for each English learner, foster youth, or low-income student based on qualification for free and reduced meal programs. These additional dollars are the supplemental grant. If 55% or more of the students in a school district fall into one or more of the targeted groups, the district also receives a concentration grant. Those are additional funds per student beyond the 55%. Many districts continue to get federal funds, grants, and other restricted funds they received in prior years. The base, supplemental, and concentration grants are meant to be used to improve outcomes for students in eight priority areas determined by the state. Basic services, implementation of standards, and course access are the three priorities that make up the conditions for learning. Each of the priorities has metrics which are used to gauge performance and progress. Parent engagement, student engagement, and school climate make up the engagement priorities. pupil achievement, and other pupil outcomes make up the final priority group. Districts can add metrics beyond those required by the state if they're important to track student progress. Not only are the improved outcomes expected for all students, but they're also intended for student groups. This includes the targeted groups, along with homeless students, prior English learners, and students with disabilities. Improvements are also expected for groups of students by race or ethnicity. All of this is intended to close achievement gaps. So where is the local control in this system? Well, that's where the LCAP comes in. Each school district annually revises their local control and accountability plan, or LCAP, based on all of the data which is analyzed. Stakeholders are consulted to ensure that a variety of viewpoints and opinions are considered. Specific guidance from a parent advisory group and a group representing English learners is also considered. Finally, the plan is publicly discussed and approved by the Board of Education in an open meeting. The LCAP represents the degree of local control of district exercises in using the LCFF funds to support its students.

[626] SPEAKER_53: To learn more... Okay, so again, I appreciated that video because I do believe it's very succinct. So moving on, when it comes to the state priorities, the CDE has not changed its course, but is really looking at how do we support the whole child. And so they've established this graphic to see how the different priorities under the three buckets, conditions of learning, student outcomes and engagement, all are surrounding our efforts in order to really make sure that our students receive all the resources and support that they that they need. Here's a quick chart of the different priorities and how they fall under the three main main categories. And then you can see also on the right, you know, the California dashboard and or local indicators as how we measure how we as well as the state measures our progress. And one of the key things that I we'd like to stress is that with respect to the actual document, the final plan, we must follow three guidelines, and that is that we must adhere to the approved LCAP template, which is why sometimes you'll see, you know, they all look the same when you look at all districts. It also needs to be adopted at the same time as our budget for the next year. And then the other piece too that they ask is that it reflects the minimum percent required for the increase in improved services for unduplicated students. So when they talked about in the video about the base grant and then the supplemental concentration, what the county office is looking at for approval is to make sure that our plan at minimum is demonstrating actions and services that total the supplemental concentration grant funds that we receive. The LCAP process, that development process starts with LEAs consulting with teachers, principals, schools, personnel, students, and local bargaining units. And then we move to where then we can start talking to our parent advisory committees, like our English on our parent advisory committee. and also we give them an opportunity for them to ask questions of the superintendent which also is required that we respond in writing. Once that is done then we have an opportunity or we must create an opportunity for our community to provide input and this is when we need to have a public hearing we need to make sure that we provided with plenty of time for them to review and provide input. And then finally, when all that is done, then we can bring it back to the board for adoption. And it needs to be adopted prior to or no later than June 30th, because it needs to be submitted to the County Office of Education by July 1st. And through this process, we can say that right now we're in the stages in between stage one and two, Like we said, we are gathering input from our different stakeholders and getting ready to also be engaging with our advisory committees. So very quickly, one of the practices for us, Newark Unified School District, is that we do establish an advisory committee. We call it an LCAP Advisory Committee. And our practices at that committee, the composition is of parents, or guardians and students, as well as NTA representation, CSCA representation, and as well, our NEWMA representation. We have parents from each of the schools. We have at minimum two from each of the schools. So it's very, the schools definitely have an opportunity to weigh in on decisions as well as suggestions for for actions and services. And the main purpose really in the function of the committee is to really consult with the superintendent in the development process. And it's also for them to provide input on goals, actions and services. And so as you'll see, as we go through the process today, you'll see how we engage with our parent advisory committee. And then very quickly, just a timeline is, Once again, we started in February with our LCAB advisory committee, and then we'll continue to have those once a month. We'll be having our next one is on the 27th of April. The idea is that by that time, we will have a list of ideas, priorities, services that we are considering and that they'll help us prioritize. And we are scheduled to bring and product to our committees in May and ready for us to do the public hearing as well as the adoption in June. And also like to mention that throughout this time is there's also ongoing stakeholder engagement at the site level where they're engaging with their school site council, their ELAGS, their DELAGS, PTAs or any other community groups that they have. And we've also been engaging with our community as well as like our administrators. So that's the quick background on the LCAP and the development process. What I'm going to show you right now quickly is what we did with our parent, excuse me, with our advisory committee. And it's what we intend to to have you participate in today. And of course, Mrs. Pierce will provide a little bit more guidance if we need to. So first of all, for us to focus and start thinking about the 21-22 school year, our advisory committee had asked, okay, so where do we leave, where do we leave off, you know, pre-pandemic last year and what has transpired? So when we were communicating with them, we provided our stakeholders with the 19-20 actions and services that we had implemented. And then we also provided them the list of the 20-21 actions and services that we are currently implementing. And again, these came from 19-20 from the LCAP and the 20-21, since there was no LCAP, but we did have to submit a learning continuity plan, then that's where we do have services. The other thing that we also provided them with, which you also got, was the 2021 LCAP and LCP recommendations. And that was important to show because while we were preparing for the new year in spring of 2020, prior to the pandemic, A lot of the ideas that our advisory committee had mentioned really fit nicely with the conditions and what the recommendations we needed to think about the start of this school year. So we found that those two really aligned. So it was helpful to see that. So what we ended up asking our advisory committee was, given the priorities that our advisory committee had identified last year, as well as the actions that we had identified for this year, what should we consider? What should Newark Unified School District consider as a plan for the upcoming year? So thinking of what we've done in the past, thinking of what we're doing now, what should we consider moving forward? But they wanted to see that before they could give their input. And the way that they gave their input is we created a Google Sheet, yes, Google Sheets, where we allowed, you know, we gave them space for them to give their feedback, their input, their ideas, questions, anything that they wanted to share with us, they had this space, this platform. And this platform, as it will happen today, you will also be using. And the community is able to see what you're typing, what we're saying. And one of the reasons why we were doing this format versus open conversation, which is different with us, is our committee can get pretty big. If everybody attends, if we get 100% participation, we're at about 30 to 35 members. And because it's a public committee, you know, we're not necessarily able to do the group sessions, but they can really engage. So at least in this manner, we're able to, you know, make it open for all. So you should have received a link via an email. I believe Nicole Pierce sent you all an email prior to this meeting. So if you're able to then access this email and open the document, that's great. If you don't have that, let us know and we can resend it. And so what you see in this document is you're going to see that at the top, you have the three main buckets of the priorities, the state priorities, the student achievement, The engagement which we broke into two student engagement and parent engagement and then the conditions of learning when you actually open that tab and I'll open it right here is you'll see that each of these buckets. provide you with examples of what are they looking at. If we were to provide services or we were to think of actions or services for student achievement, they're looking at what are some programs, curriculum, systems and supports that would either address learning loss, learning acceleration, you know, et cetera. If we're thinking about number three, conditions of learning, then what we're looking at is, okay, what are some systems of support in the areas of teacher collaboration, professional development, access to the curriculum and instruction, and et cetera. So the members of our advisory committee were asked to think of these three buckets, or four if you want to call it that, And then these were the guiding questions that we post for them, given that they were at parents or guardians of our different students. Again, we said, think of like, what are you observing either district-wide or at your site that really is focusing and addressing the three priorities, even now that we're in distance learning? What are some services that you see that truly are being effective and can even be implemented in person, because we know we did some changes. And then, and of course, sometimes we can say, well, you know, we see that we're doing this, but we don't see as much of an effect on that. And then the last one was, you know, what are other things that we might be considering? So that's what we did with our stakeholders. That's what we're continuing to do within our group. And the idea being that we cross-reference everything. We'll have a laundry list. But then we're going to be looking at what are the common themes. And the common themes then will be telling us what everybody's really asking for. So I see that. Thank you very much. President Zeng has already started. Thank you very much. So with that, I guess I'll go ahead and return it to or pass it on to Ms. Pierce. Let's see if she has any clarifications or anything else to add.

[1394] SPEAKER_50: Yes, I do see a question up, Member Hill.

[1402] Aiden Hill: Sorry, can you show us an org chart of who is on this committee? So that's kind of question one. And then question two is, I would imagine that there's lots of different stakeholder groups, and there's probably very different opinions about what the priorities should be, and what's the process for actually rationalizing those. So I guess first, who's on the committee, and then what's the process for actually coming to some type of consensus?

[1433] SPEAKER_53: Nicole, do you, so yes, we definitely have that. I can look for it as you working on this and either Nicole or Dr. Triplett can also share that. So, and we do have the process where usually the terms are, it's a two year term with the exception that because of where we, because of the pandemic and what happened last time, you know, we propose that we keep the same committee if the members were willing to do so for this year so that we could start, continue in the same path. And so that list went to the board. I believe it was in either December or either November or December because the board does approve the list of the members. So there is a process for selecting them. And like I said, I will make sure that that we get that list to you.

[1494] Mark Triplett: Do you want to just speak to the different stakeholder groups that are represented on the committee? I think that might be what Member Hill is interested in.

[1506] SPEAKER_53: So as I mentioned in the presentation, the committee itself is made up of parents of Two parents from each of our schools and the school's administrators work within their community to select those two parents. We have a representation from NTA. So we have two members of NTA. We have two members of CSCA. And then we also have this year, for the first time, we have a student voice. And so we have two students from the high school participating in the committee. In addition to that is we present and we do this process with our different committees at our schools. So for example, each of our schools are being asked to do something similar with their school site council, with their ELACs, with their PTAs, at minimum with their school site council and what their elapsed. And so at the district level, you know, I make sure that we do the same process with our deal like representatives as well. And then in addition to that, we communicate with our administrators and then we also communicate with our Yuma, which is our new work unified management association. And again, the process we do with all of them is similar in the sense of provide us with your ideas. When we were doing this in person, right, it was easier in the sense that we could be in groups and you could be discussing and, you know, and at that time being saying, no, I think this would be better, you know, and so forth. Because when a virtual setting, it's a little different. However, I always encourage, actually, we always encourage our our stakeholders to always write anything and everything that they're thinking about, right? Because when we gather the data and you were asking, you know, who's involved in prioritizing and what is that process? First and foremost is what is common and what are the themes? What is something that is reoccurring over and over and that we're hearing and not just from, you know, one group but across the board? And so once that comes up, is it something that, you know, we can say, well, this is something that everybody is asking for. And so that's the main, that's first of all, how we start looking at how do we prioritize. The other thing that then we start thinking about is, you know, looking at the different funds. This particular, these particular funds are to supplement our base program. And especially, even though it's to support all kids, but especially to support the unduplicated students. So that's one of the things that we keep in mind. And I say that because sometimes, um, uh, there'll be a recommendation for an action or a service. And it's something that, yes, it's important, but then we will, we may not necessarily be able to fund it with these funds because these are, they're restrictive in a way because of you know, the definition, but then we will look at what other funds can we use. And I'm sure Marie is going to be talking to you soon about some additional funds that are coming our way. And so that's what we start thinking about. How do we, you know, how do we use what we have in the best way possible, right, to maximize our resources?

[1744] SPEAKER_50: And so with that, we're going to ask you guys to only because I'm noticing we're running out of time. But Mr. Vontes-Falk, you are full of information. So I know with all of the work, I can't even begin to explain how much work has gone into this already. But if the questions continue, that's fine. But we do want to see you guys get into this document and start giving some of your ideas, which may even be different among this panel. If you have children in the district, that may change your perspective. as to what's needed. But we do want to give you some time to get some feedback from you all, so you can A, understand the experience that others went through, and B, so that we can also get your feedback. So this might be a little bit of silent work time. But again, if you do have a question, Mr. Vantas-Falk is full of information we can still answer myself. Yeah, I can also answer, but we want to, I want to see you guys start working.

[1801] SPEAKER_53: I am going to stop sharing. Well, only because I want to be able to maybe make the rows wider or maybe Nicole, you can do that because when I'm when I'm sharing my screen, I can't see my other tabs. But, you know, just be making sure that that the text does wrap up right. And that way people are able to see what they're writing. And with our stakeholders, we went ahead and provided and left the access open to our advisory group for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes after the meeting was over. Then we closed it, but then as we meet again in April, then we'll bring them back and we'll continue adding to it.

[1863] SPEAKER_52: Two minutes.

[1873] Jodi Croce: Two minutes. Let's see.

[1907] Maria Huffer: Perfect.

[1918] Phuong Nguyen: We needed a dual monitor set up this evening.

[1927] SPEAKER_53: And some of the stakeholders also would say, well, what if I'm not sure whether something is working or not? That's OK. You could go ahead and just even write that. So use your space, right, to write what's going through your mind and some even used it to like provide or ask questions.

[1966] Mark Triplett: Mr. Roncesvalles, can you expand your screen and make the text wrap?

[1975] SPEAKER_53: I've been trying to do that.

[1978] SPEAKER_50: It's been done on the original document. It's just because she's sharing, it's paused in that.

[1983] SPEAKER_53: So if you want to stop sharing. Perfect. Thank you. Actually, I think if I just, yeah, if that's what happened, I went to the other one. How's that? Does that look like it is wrapped or no?

[1999] SPEAKER_52: Yes. OK.

[2001] SPEAKER_53: Thank you. Board member Hill, I see you wrote algebra and so I'm wondering if Maybe you can just add a description as to, yeah, what do we mean by that? As in algebra at a certain level, just algebra in general, or a book called algebra?

[2037] Aiden Hill: I think for earlier parent input at the prior board meeting, making sure that algebra stays as a part of the curriculum in seventh grade.

[2047] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Got it. Yeah, I agree. That's the stable math pathway.

[2064] SPEAKER_53: Thank you. I should say continue, right?

[2110] SPEAKER_50: We're going to give it maybe one or two more minutes, and then I'm going to ask one of our brave board members to draw out any themes they see across the board. It's a similar process to what we've done with the principals. It's a little bit different, but very similar. So I'd like to see if there's someone who can draw out some themes. And maybe one board member can take each bucket, and we can do it now. So maybe one more minute, and then we'll get started with that. All right. How are we feeling? Are we about ready to pull out some themes or do we need a few more minutes?

[2184] Bowen Zhang: I think I'm good to go.

[2186] SPEAKER_50: All right. So thinking through maybe if you don't mind getting us started, if you're just looking vertically here for student achievement in the first bucket, what are some themes that you're noticing?

[2202] Bowen Zhang: Oh, so Obviously, right now, we don't really have makerspace due to the pandemic, but I think after we go back to normal, I think iReady is something that most board members share that as providing critical feedback and assessment during the pandemic. And I think once we go back to the regular, I mean, go back to normal, what I mean, in addition to our steam initiative, the makerspace, I think stable math pathway is something that we should ensure that anybody starting our junior high at the seventh grade, they should have a chance to complete calculus by the end they finish their high school. That's really just a prerequisite for anybody that wants to go to a decent engineering or science program in college. And the elementary report card is something I brought up a couple months ago, I think we'll have more in depth discussion next month when it comes to the grading of the core subjects. So that's my input.

[2261] SPEAKER_50: Yeah, and we will, I wanna keep us on topic, but we do have updates for you today, so. Okay, in terms of student engagement and parent engagement, that second bucket, do we have a brave board member who's willing to share out some themes that you see?

[2284] Elisa Martinez: I think, so PBIS, And, and I actually had added reward programs. I see PBIS as a, you know, it's, it's an incentive program. But, you know, what I've noticed, at least with teachers with my kids, it's in addition to that, just things that just keep restless kids engaged. And sometimes it's just little rewards or little competitions and things like that, that really want them and motivate them to show up when, when they're having rough days. So I think obviously those types of programs, that's one that you see really across the board there.

[2330] SPEAKER_50: Thank you, and I completely agree. That does seem to be pretty front and center. And the final bucket, conditions for learning. Any brave board member willing to pull out some themes there, although?

[2345] Elisa Martinez: Sorry, we skipped parent engagement. I don't know if you had wanted, did you want us to talk about that one? Because I think it's a really important one.

[2352] SPEAKER_50: Yeah, do you mind continuing actually with parent engagement? Yeah, they're kind of a bucket A and a bucket B within the same frame.

[2360] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, okay, sorry. So, and I think, you know, if you look at the themes, it really is around that stakeholder, those inputs, right? And so it's just those, I think it's reaching those connect, finding those connection points via an example like a Latinx summit you know, my comment was around, you know, the many times we just say, oh, we need to get together with parents and talk to parents, but I think it needs to be more deliberate. And I always think about when we, I know I talk a lot about, especially in our Latino community around this education and challenges being at a cultural level. And sometimes we just don't know how, and this is not just in the Latino, I mean, it's across the board, there are challenges in terms of, how people are comfortable or not comfortable engaging their kids in conversations about education, their classes, how's it going? And then beyond that initial question, how do we find you help? So, you know, being more deliberate in the topics that when we do engage versus just let's meet for the sake of meeting. So really just those opportunities with our organized groups being PTA, the coffee with the principals. I've seen a ton of activity this year where the principals are such a trusted source of information. So, you know, kind of getting putting those options out there for parents and making it easy to engage us as easy as possible.

[2453] SPEAKER_50: Beautifully stated, absolutely. And do we have a board member for our third bucket conditions for learning?

[2473] Phuong Nguyen: I can go. I will jump in there. For conditions of learning, systems of support in the areas of teachers, collaboration, and professional development, I think that the teachers in our district have really helped each other out. And those that are very technically savvy have helped their peers and helped train their peers. using Google Classroom and other new technologies to support student learning and achievement. And then the other thing that I also see on here is improvement in school facilities. I know that the district has, we have approved a budget for a lot of improvement and repairs at all the school sites this year, and we're continuing to do so.

[2528] SPEAKER_24: Thank you.

[2530] SPEAKER_50: So that is what you guys just experienced is very similar to the process that our community went through. Part of that process then would be really distilling out those themes of this group, and then again making sure that we keep all of our stakeholders, a part of this process so making sure that we're comparing what are the our parent guardian family responses. And how does that compare with our principal responses? And how does that compare with our teacher responses and so on? And so this information will be added in with the rest of our data. And as we move forward with our qualitative analysis of that, we look forward to bringing more information to you. Ms. Cervantes-Falk, do you have anything to close us out with?

[2573] SPEAKER_53: No, I just wanna say thank you very much. And I wanna thank Dr. Triplett and Ms. Pierce that recommended that we do this. because we think this is important and you at least get a sense of what we're doing and what we're looking at. So when we bring you that big, big document, it's not like, what? What's this all about? Because it can be daunting. So thank you very much.

[2601] Elisa Martinez: All right, Dr. Triplett. If I may, I just wanted to thank you, Dr. Triplett and team for bringing this forward. And this is my second year. And, and this is this is always so, you know, such a mystery. And obviously, as a parent, I kind of participated a little bit way back when, but even then didn't really understand all the connection points. And when we have when a few of us had gone to training, you see some other districts are so actively engaged around the LCAP. You know, I really felt like we just haven't had this type of conversation to educate us on how to make sure that we are holding ourselves accountable. So I really appreciate, you know, you all taking the time to to educate us and help us understand the process.

[2654] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Thank you. Great, so we will continue engagements with different stakeholders and continue to try to find trends and patterns across stakeholders in terms of the themes that are coming up as priorities for funding for next year. And then we'll work with the team to build a plan and articulate specific things based on those themes that we'll propose as things to fund for the upcoming year. And then, of course, we'll be sharing that with different stakeholders and bringing it to the board for final review.

[2699] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. So I guess with that, that concludes our study session. And so we'll be going into closed session at around 6pm and I believe we don't have any public comments. In closed session, we'll be discussing item 4.2, public employee discipline dismissal and release. Item 4.3, conference with labor negotiator, employee organization NTA and CSCA. 4.4, conference with labor negotiator, employee group NEWMA, and representative supervisors and contracted management. 4.5 conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, and we'll be back to open session at around 7 p.m.

[2750] Aiden Hill: President Zhang, given the full agenda for the closed session, are you sure we don't have any public comment on any of those items?

[2761] Bowen Zhang: Based on the live comment block that's been shared to me, there's no comment on the closed session for the regular meeting. Okay. Okay, so we'll see you at 7 p.m., Five ayes.

[6560] SPEAKER_55: Well,

[8002] SPEAKER_52: you

[8047] SPEAKER_58: I believe we are still waiting for member, I got member Grindel and member, member Grindel and member Nguyen.

[8069] Bowen Zhang: Good evening student member Salemi, long time no see.

[8074] SPEAKER_61: Good evening.

[8120] SPEAKER_52: But she's

[8176] Bowen Zhang: We've got member Nguyen joining us. We're still waiting for member Gwendolyn. Okay, Member Grundahl just joined. I think we have everyone here. Can we make our YouTube livestream? Can we turn on our YouTube livestream? Okay, good. So we're back to open sessions. So before we move on to Pledge of Allegiance, I do want to take several minutes to address the remarks I made at the end of last meeting. So at the end of last meeting, when discussing the pandemic's impact on our most underserved students and effective learning hours, and when it comes to related to the social mobility, I called out specific neighborhoods and made some generalized comments about the people living in the neighborhood. And I think that can be perceived as reinforcing racial prejudice and racial stereotypes. And that can also create stigma to people who are kids living in those neighborhoods. So for those comments, I'm sorry, and I apologize. And as your elected official, our words matter. So going forward, I will be very careful in my thought about the words I'm using. With that, we'll be moving on to Pledge of Allegiance. And Member Martinez has graciously agreed to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. So let's turn on the flag and everybody stand up.

[8407] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Okay, am I on? Okay, 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.

[8430] Bowen Zhang: Okay, moving on to the next item, report of closed session actions and no reportable action has been taken. Next, employee organizations, Superintendent Triplett.

[8449] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Jeon. And again, good evening to the board, staff, and families. Ms. Castellon, I think, who do we have first for the labor organizations?

[8468] SPEAKER_55: We have Sue Eustis.

[8476] SPEAKER_24: Good evening members of the board and Dr. Triplett. As it may be perceived is where the union CSCA is still as busy as ever. You would think that when we're in the middle of a pandemic that things would slow down. That's just not the case. We had a regional presidents meeting with three different regions, which means there was probably about 21 presidents there. And that was on March 23rd. And we all had a lot to share and a lot to learn. Our site representative training here for our site representative, each of the schools is going to take place on April 28th. We're going to have a reclass workshop actually tomorrow. And this is all being done virtually. Area C is having a stewards council, and that's going to be on April 21st. And I've attended the last two, and they have been very enlightening, very, very encouraging of how we can resolve issues within a district and be able to work together. Area C is also having a leadership institute and it's going to be actually three days and it's going to be for all of the executive board members here in Newark and it's going to be on April 23rd, 24th and 25th. electing a gentleman that is from the Evergreen district and trying to get him elected to the CALS per board. And he is a member of CSCA and we feel that we have a lot to offer from CSCA. I'm sorry, are you hearing me? I saw my thing go unstable. I hope you didn't not. Okay, good. Yeah, I think your audio is fine. I also would like to take and Yeah, I guess my computer goes unstable once in a while. I would hope that I know that with tonight having a 10 o'clock meeting that it may be necessary but in the future try to have it at a more normal time so that more people could participate. I think that that's going to be important especially with the issues that you have. I also would like to encourage you to continue to work with the teachers union in gaining an MOU I hope that this is helpful. I would like to thank Dr. Triplett, when I reached out to him last week or two weeks ago, he did call me. He has talked to me. And I believe because of that conversation that we are in a much more informed direction. And so I'm hoping that tonight that both the district and the two unions are successful in getting our kids back to school. Thank you.

[8664] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Ms. Useless. Next speaker.

[8673] SPEAKER_55: Next should be Shauna Bruzee.

[8686] Sean Abruzzi: Sorry, what's it again? Thank you. Good evening, the community and to the board members with NTS update. Sorry it's gonna be a little bit long but I'll try to get through it. And if I go too fast, I will forward that to the board members. One is a merger of snow and Graham and team members would like a detailed plan schedule. Tell me about how this merger will happen. Alpac HR back in October 2020 with the director of special projects, the full information was brought up that we have 170 to 200 students districtwide need to take the Alpac testing. The deadline for all of these students to be tested was October 25th. The director of special project had no answer to what would happen if the district missed the deadline, the October 25th deadline. The director of such parties said that they would attend an HR meeting at 2 p.m. on October 24th, 2021, but did not show up. And Tate would like some clarification on the following. Did the 200 students get tested before the deadline? Why does the director of special projects feel that it wasn't important to show up to the March 24th HR meeting to discuss LPAC testing? Why did the director of special projects communicate Why didn't the director of special project communicate with HR and NT about why they couldn't make it? Why are all elementary sites in the district fall? Why aren't all elementary sites in the district following a consistent LPAC testing plan? Why doesn't the district have a coordinated plan for all sites in which the district follows a consistent LPAC testing plan to utilize all LPAC coordinators? Next thing is HVAC units. NTA was given a report on HVAC units. This report only stated that the HVAC units are working. District did give NTA a report on Monday at 3.57 p.m. This update was only three minutes before NTA members, NTA met with the general membership. The update was to be handed over to NTA before 3 p.m. and they did get an update today. CTA is starting to see some schools considering electric air cleaning equipment that the state's indoor air experts in university research have cautioned may result in the district spending a great deal of money in electric Electricity unnecessary on devices technology that are yet unproven in their air cleaning benefits with no peer review research evident. They may have some health concerns related to the byproduct of some products may produce. Ventilation and air polarization. Air science research and health agencies continue to urge caution regarding the use of bipolar ionization, and other emerging electronic air cleaning technology. Research from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Portland State University and Colorado State University released a new study which found that the in-duct ionization product test removed little particles, matter, and that unintentional byproducts may occur. CDC expands its advice last week, including a minor that people in space treated by these products are also exposed to those ions, reaction, ionization, species, a chemical, and in that absence of the established body of peer review evidence, sheriff's proof. efficiency and safety under as used conditions and technology are still considered by many to be emerging. CDPH research on indoor air quality in schools also warns that not to use air cleaning devices that generate harmful pollutants, ionization devices or ozone generators or devices of unproven efficiencies. The California reopening ventilation and energy efficient verification and repair program established last year from AB 841 proves a clear technology roadmap to improve indoor air qualities in classrooms that districts should consider. Bottom line is that public health experts and air scientists are recommending that districts stick with proven physical air cleaning methods like MERV rated filters and standard portable HEPA filters School HVAC experts have let CTA know that most systems can in fact handle a MERV-13 without causing a significant pressure drop. NTA would like clarification on the following. Why hasn't the district given NTA a report on the HVAC filters? They did give us a report of when they changed. We would like to know what filters are in the HVACs. What is the name, make, and model of the specific equipment the district is considering or has purchased? Is it a portable unit or is an in-duct equipment that is installed into the HVAC unit? What is the clean air development rate? The ACDR in units of cubic feet per minute, the CFM for the proposed equipment device. Ante is asking for an independent review lab test that are on the equipment materials for the manufacturer in Pacific make and model was the cost of this equipment. What is the cost per device, how many devices that the district saying to purchase. What is the district's overall plane expenditure on this equipment. What is the cost per CFM on CADR of each device? Cost per cubic feet per minute of cleaning air developed. Delivery rate. Is the equipment energy star rated? Is the equipment CADR per wattage compared to star energy is at least 2.0 CADR per wattage. Has the district HVAC system in all buildings been evaluated by a certified test and air balance contractor? If so, please get a copy of the report to NTA as soon as possible. What MERV radiated filters has the district installed in each mechanical HVAC system? If MERV 13 filters won't work, NTA will need detail on why NUSD believes that to be true and to request a list from the filter supplier of the available MERV 13 filters or pressure drop information for the product and review this information. If there are real variable constrictions with MERV 13, then there are filtrization solutions that do not require unnecessary expenditures or on unreviewed technology. are portable air cleaners and correct size for the dimensions of rooms to ensure the right amount of clean air delivery? Has the district installed CO2 sensors to monitor the ventilation rate in occupied classrooms to give room occupants real-time information to ensure health indoor air quality? What is the plan to increase outdoor air, this the mechanical system door and windows? And how will room occupants know if the ventilation rate minimum meets code require standards? Once we want to talk about music elementary, the district has moved general education classes for TK and K. TK to Birch Grove Primary Elementary School and K to Kennedy Elementary. And T would like clarification on the following. Was this a volunteer and voluntary transfer? Why move these classes now? What was the reason behind moving these two classes a year before music elementary site closes? This district is not moving the mild moderate TK to two and moderate severe TKK classes out of music. The district needs to follow IDEA laws for the students in these classes and table like clarification on the following. Will they spread attorney be consulted to come up with a legal defense plan to justify not moving these two classes to a site where they will have access to grade level check ed peers. If the district doesn't consult with an attorney, then why. The director of special education and the principal of music elementary need to schedule a meeting with parents to explain the rationale for not moving these two classes in 2021 to 22. What is the timeline for this? What is the rationale for not moving these two classes to Gramp next year? If the district is moving a whole school to Gramp, why can't they move two more classes? Number five, and I'm almost done sorry it's taken so long, HR update and taste requested escape report from the chief business official. The escape report for the LCAP for July, 2020, and March 21 escape report for all site sips us in for July, 2020, and March 2021. Director of Finance Service has passed these reports to the Chief Business Official on April 14, 2020. Hopefully, these reports will be in NTA hands by April 20th during the HR meeting bargaining timeline. On July 2020, NTA bargaining started. On August 27, NTA in addition came to a TA on the distance learning MOU days prior to the start of the school year. September through November 2020, NTA and NUSD starting negotiation on the hybrid model. The reopening plan and the hybrid MOU should mirror, should be mirror documents, is reopening a mirror document of the hybrid MOU. December 20 to April 2021, NTA adds a second member from the junior high, NUSD brings in their lawyer, Greg Dennis, The board approves the reopening plan, the hybrid mo you is renamed to reopening mo you attended green meets by unity on 321 and to how to general meeting. to allow members to ask questions and share concerns regarding the full tentative agreement on that. Voting had been on 3-30-21, the first time in history NTA voted down a tentative agreement on 3-31-21. NTA and NUSD met the next, discussed next steps and NTA gave NUSD a counter proposal at 6-15, which included all the, you know, all of this contribution discussed points from our members regarding the schedule. on 4-1-21. NUSD gave NTA their counter at 5-0-3 p.m. on 4-2-21. NTA met at 8 a.m. to continue working through the counterproposal. NTA gave the prior evening. NTA returned the counterproposal at 10-10 a.m. NTA and NUSD met 11-30 to 2 p.m. at 2-0-5. NTA met to review discussion and waited for NUSD's counterproposal. New tenant agreement reached on 4621 on 414 to vote for the second attentive set history once again, did not get ratified by the simplest, somewhat slummous margin in NTA history. There were only seven votes separating the yes and no's. This lets us know that while the slummous simple majority of our members is not willing to go along with this agreement. NTA needs the documentation to back the language in the MOU. Please give NTA the documentation so NTA can put this MOU to vote again. NTA and NUSD is planning to come back to the table Friday to work on the reopening MOU for the Board of Education. Are you going to send your child or children to a site with only a report of working HVAC vans? Don't you think that your children or children deserve the highest standard of safety to return back to school? Are you satisfied with the district only doing the bare minimum that is required of the state and federal government? Has the Board of Education asked the district for detailed reports of all sites, HVAC units, and safety plans at all sites in the district? And Board, need to show transparency to NTA and the community about the safety measures taken at all sites in the district. I want to thank the Board and the community. Thank you, and have a good night.

[9548] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Thank you. I believe next speaker is Ron Yuma.

[9557] SPEAKER_55: Yes. Ms. Amanda Golier.

[9571] SPEAKER_52: Hello.

[9572] SPEAKER_43: Hi, everybody. Good evening, President Jeong, members of the board, executive cabinet. It's a privilege to be here this evening to represent NEWMA. So members of NEWMA have continued to work hard on our site plans as well as continuing to prepare for students' eventual return to campus. We want to thank all of our NEWMA community for their continued effort and support of our students and family during this very unusual school year. So each time we present, we are looking to highlight some of our behind the scenes members so that our community can get to know our NEWMA family. So tonight we are highlighting Ms. Tina Cordova from Newark Memorial High School and Chow Tran, a district occupational therapist. Ms. Cordova has six years in our district. She works at Newark Memorial High School, assisting our teachers with their needs, working with students and community, handling school budgeting and ordering, and assisting the principal. Tina would like us to know that what she likes most about her role as office manager is feeling like she's part of something that makes a difference. She loves supporting the secretaries as well as helping students, staff, and parents by being a part of the community and helping parents understand the importance of their child's education. The most rewarding part of her job would be seeing students come back after graduation to see her. That shows her that she's made a difference in their lives. That's why she loves what she does. So thank you, Miss Cordova, for being part of our NEWMA and NUSD family. Next. Ms. Tran. Ms. Tran has been with our district for five years as an occupational therapist. She works in all of the schools in our district, so she really knows our community. She supports students so they can access their education, supports teaching staff to have learning environments that meets the students' OT needs, and helps to educate parents on how to help their children. Ms. Tran wants us to know that what she likes best about being part of NUSD is being able to work with our amazing students and dedicated staff. Thank you, Ms. Tran, for being a part of our NEWMA and NUSD family. Thank you for your time this evening, and we wish everyone a bright and beautiful spring.

[9697] SPEAKER_58: Thank you.

[9699] Bowen Zhang: I believe that's it. Next one we have School Spotlight will be our Memorial Hype, Superintendent Triplett.

[9708] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Jhun. So I believe we have our leader from Newark Memorial High School, Ms. Olivia Rangel, joining us. And she is going to share out some of the amazing things that are happening at Newark Memorial this year and plans for next year. So welcome, Ms. Rangel.

[9729] Vicenta Ditto: Thank you. Good evening, community, President Zhang, board members, Dr. Trippett, and the executive cabinet. Thank you for the opportunity to highlight the students and staff of Newark Memorial High School. Our goal as a site is to put student needs first under the guidance of our collective instructional goals as a district of engaging students in rigorous-based instruction, assessment for learning, and caring for the whole child through social-emotional learning and wellness. Throughout this presentation, you'll hear how we use data to drive the work that is done at the Flagship High School. As you may know, California Dashboard has 2018 and 19 as the most recent data due to the pandemic, but we've been able to maintain our graduation rate of 93%, and our attendance has been great during this time. Part of our goal was to acknowledge the work of our students and staff. In the first semester, we were able to do a drive-through in which we honored 700 and 54 students who made the honor roll. This is a great opportunity for families to come and take a picture and honor their children during this pandemic. We also provide weekly spotlights for students in our weekly communication, as well as our staff. Our staff nominate our students and our students nominate our staff. Now I'd like to highlight how our math and science teachers engage students this year. Of all of the platforms they can use, math and science really enjoys to use Edpuzzle. Edpuzzle allows for interactive video lessons. Math also likes to use Desmos, which is the digital math activities. Science has been able to continue to host labs using simple-to-find at-home products. To assess for learning, Math uses Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project from UC San Diego. It's administered to determine how to meet the students' needs and meet them where they're at. While I would love to show this video for time's sake, I will share this on our website so that you can see Ms. Kelly utilizing EdPuzzle. I'm going to play a video while I speak so you can see as I go along. One of our amazing classes is our AP Computer Science class. The program you see are written by students in a language called Scratch. Scratch was made by a team at MIT and is used in courses at many universities. Students build their programs by assembling blocks to make codes. The codes control every element, graphic, action, and sound that you see in this video. There are blocks behind the scenes that make the video turn out the way it is. Students use these blocks based program code in order to build hundreds, it could take hundreds of blocks organized over dozens of pages to make these programs. In English and history, Ms. Bulwark is a wonderful department chair and had created a video as well, which I'm happily post on our website. In particular, she talks about the biographical narrative project, as well as a cross curricular project between English and history, which discusses the history of racism. History also was able to part, the social science department was also able to participate in a 2020 California student mock election. The English department utilizes common benchmarks assessments to assess for our student learning. In this video, you will see one of our students using a creative way to show his understanding of World War I. September 21st, 1917. Uh-oh, we having some technical difficulties?

[9961] SPEAKER_19: Welcome, Dad. My platoon reached the Western Front earlier today. The men here look drained of all energy. None of them smile. There's a putrid smell that seems to waft through the entire trench. I don't know what is causing the smell, but it makes me want to vomit. It was surprisingly quiet.

[9978] Vicenta Ditto: So again, a creative way to show his understanding of the standards. Through district-led PDR, teachers were able to learn about Nearpod, Jamboard, and Pear Deck. Here you will see a slide from our band teacher in which students were planning for an in-person marching event and program when they return. They presented to one another their different creative ideas. Our modern language department is able to utilize our online Vista Higher Learning program, but here is an example of a jam board used to increase Spanish vocabulary. Our PE department got creative in utilizing Flipgrid, as well as TikTok, very popular amongst kids these days, to demonstrate skills. Here is a student exhibiting the luge for an Olympic event. I wanted to also acknowledge our existing learning communities and partnerships on campus. MCA is celebrating its 20th year. MCA is a cohort of at-risk students through core classes that are encouraged to demonstrate their understanding of standards through multimedia projects. Puente has a driven staff behind the program who have the fundamental belief that all students can reach their dreams of college success. Other partnerships we have are Ohlone College dual enrollment programs in which students are allowed to earn college credits on and off campus throughout the day. MVROP is another one of our partnerships that we're all very familiar with, which provides technical skills training and students to build their resumes for their future. And this year we have engaged in planning for the upcoming year and future years of something called the STAR Academy. This is science, technology, aerospace, and robotics. This is in order to have our students dive into science exploration, as well as revamping of our STAR Lab with local partnerships. We're hoping to increase our course offerings so students can continue to grow their resumes in the computer science for college and career. Now that we're done talking about engaging students in the assessment for learning we're moving on to social, emotional learning. Newark Memorial is in its seventh year of PBIS in which we show or help our students exhibit participation, respect, integrity, drive, and excellence on campus and then on the classroom, in the community, and now on the computer. We've furthered that by utilizing our SEL curriculum, Character Strong, in which helps our students understand behavioral expectations, self-awareness, self-management, and responsible decision-making, all while addressing the social-emotional needs of our students. We are blessed enough to have a Center for Alternative to Suspension coordinator and mental health clinicians on site who support our students by removing barriers to their learning, such as any social-emotional concerns. We have two teams on campus and actually part of the CATS coordinator has allowed us to move from the orange tier to the green tier in suspension rates. We have two data driven teams on site. One is our cost team, which is which you're probably familiar with, with other sites talking about. They meet weekly, they look at data, they look at student files, transcripts, teacher input, really to remove any barriers of learning and link our community resources, site resources to provide students what they need. We've also began what is called a student advisory team, which helps provide student academic support and guide students who are struggling in learning. These different teams have counselors, community members, our health and wellness clinicians who are all there to help our students remove any barriers to learning. The next has a very familiar face you may see in this meeting. Mr. Salemi allowed me to use his student insight card. We have been partnered with Equal Opportunity Schools to increase our equitable enrollment and rigorous courses. This allowed for students to take a survey to create this insight card, which you see here. It allows us to look at the student beyond grades and test scores. We are able to see their drive, interests, and other personal factors. It allows us to connect them to a trusted adult, as they are listed here, and help each student achieve their goals and so they could be successful for their future. So this is just a small example of how we get our students more college and career ready and make connections. Communication has been vital this year in a time of uncertainty and unknown. So we have a lot of parent partnerships. Our PTSA has funded a number of activities for our students to engage in. Unidades Padres Hispanos allows us to provide information, training, and reflection from our Latinx community. We also have English language advisory and students school site council, but we also have weekly communication that comes in the form of a YouTube video and email to our our students, staff and community so everyone is aware of what is going on and what's latest at Newark Memorial High School. Lastly, I wanted to acknowledge our co curricular activities. NMHS activities has been able to still host our clubs, as well as do very informing informational activities, such as a mental health awareness, which drove us to really provide character strong to our students, as well as engage the community in a fun scavenger hunt over spring break. Athletics has been able to offer 18 sports and 44 teams and really believe in the idea of champions of character. This is a philosophy of servant leadership that drives their character on and off the field in court. They believe in building champions for life and you can see that as our students also make a community impact. We have staff that are examples and weekly serve meals at O'Sullivan's, but our students are also doing the important work. Our Student-Athlete Advisory Council has been able to read to BGI, Graham, and BGP students. Our Muevete Flacorico provided relief to farm workers and our Interact provided some donations to the Tri-City Volunteer Food Bank. So again, thank you for allowing me to present about how Newark Memorial was able to achieve and has risen to the occasion to meet the needs of our students. I'm happy to answer any questions.

[10395] Bowen Zhang: Thank you for your report. Any comments from other board members? Okay, thank you. Have a great rest of the night. Thank you, Ms. Rangel.

[10413] Maria Huffer: Thank you.

[10416] Bowen Zhang: Next, I believe we have public comment on non-agenda item. And I believe we have 11 speakers. Even though our allocated time will be 30 minutes, but I'll give everybody three minutes. So as a result, we'll need to respect everybody's time. And Ms. Castillo, do you have the clock on the screen?

[10440] SPEAKER_55: Yes, I'll display the clock. Let me share my screen to get ready. Okay, and I can start the clock when we have our first public comment, which will be from, and excuse me if I pronounce the last name wrong, Cheryl Goguen.

[10467] SPEAKER_26: Hi there, can you hear me okay?

[10469] Bowen Zhang: Yes, you may begin.

[10472] SPEAKER_26: Good evening, my name is Cheryl Gogan, and I'm a parent in this district. I recently discovered that the agenda for these meetings is offered in English only, as are the instructions on how to make a public comment. The live translation link is posted on Facebook and Twitter, but this translation is not recorded for those who are unable to attend live. Tonight, that link was not even posted until partway through the study session. A large portion of our community is primarily Spanish speaking, which leaves them unable to easily engage in board meetings, board meetings where decisions are made impacting their children and the schools they attend. The word equality is spoken in these meetings regularly, but where is the equality when many of our families can't participate in board meetings because the instructions on how to submit comments has not been translated? Where's the equality when translation is not offered at all or is insufficient? Research has shown that parent involvement in education is a crucial factor in student success, but that involvement extends beyond the home. There's no doubt we wanna see our students successful. So parent engagement should be encouraged at every level from the home to the school to the district and wider community. The district needs to step up parent engagement and involve every one of our families, not just those who speak English. Please do better, start by translating meeting agendas and public comment instructions, record the translated meetings and start encouraging involvement from all of our families. Speaking on engagement at board meetings during the last meeting, a student tried to make a live public comment. Unfortunately, they misunderstood the procedure and their comment was not on topic of the agenda item. They were reminded of the procedure, but then was rudely not allowed to finish their comment. Three minutes, that's all we get. It would have taken three minutes to hear them out. Students are the reason we are here and we should be encouraging student voices in our community. What message is being sent when we do not allow these students to speak? Yes, somebody needs to explain their procedure to that student, but why not let them have their three minutes? I would like to hear what they have to say, and I do hope they feel comfortable trying again. Finally, I wanna quickly touch on the aberrant comments made last week by President Zhang regarding our underserved community. I wanna say that there is hope for every single student in our district. Every child has potential regardless of the situation they're in right now. They need our hope, they need our encouragement Your apology does not do enough to address the harm your comments have caused. Our students deserve an apology too, and deserve to know that our board president sees their value. Thank you.

[10629] SPEAKER_55: Okay, our next public comment will be Nathaniel Whitaker.

[10639] Aiden Hill: You hear me?

[10641] SPEAKER_33: Yes. Good evening, Dr. Triplett, members of the board and the Newark community. You may remember that I spoke to you all at the last board meeting, and I want to remind you that I still want to desperately return to the classroom and work with students in person. Unfortunately, at this time, the district still has yet to demonstrate the preparation needed to return to in-person learning safely. As a reminder, my concerns center on issues that will ensure that all Newark students who deserve the best will be in a safe environment with as little further disruption to their learning as possible. Here are a few of the concerns. First, the non-negotiable schedule that was proposed for secondary sites eliminates the opportunity for intervention, tutorials, and one-on-one support for struggling students. And the 75-minute block periods have been drastically cut to 50-minute periods. These and other schedule changes reduce the number of live instructional minutes that individual students will get for the rest of the year. The district's rebuttal to this issue was to claim that smaller class sizes will free teachers up to do one-on-one intervention and tutorials during class. Whoever thought this up was obviously never been in the classroom as a teacher, especially using Zoom. I would also like to remind you of the HVAC system at the junior high. I gave a scenario of how the HVAC system in my classroom took months of reaching out to multiple people at the state and local level to get anyone to even look at it. Even so, the HVAC unit in my classroom and others still malfunction. Of most concern is that MOT is installing Merv 8 panel filters instead of the Merv 13 filters recommended by Cal OSHA and California Department of Health, or even the Merv 9 filters that this district has claimed repeatedly. In fact, I have proof that there are HVAC units that have dirty filters or no filters at all. This means information and false claims about working HVAC systems and proper filters needs to stop. The public, the students, the parents, and the staff deserve to know the truth. Stop playing with our lives for a few million dollars from the state. I would also like to remind you that at multiple town hall meetings, The district has guaranteed that classrooms will be cleaned and disinfected between groups of students at the secondary level, however, there'll be no cleaning or disinfecting between groups. In fact, there are no sanitation station setup, just a pump bottle of hand sanitizer, not even hands free one. This means all students will touch the same pumps in each classroom every day and cleaning of the classrooms will only happen once a day in the evening. Since students are in a mingling all day without proper cleaning between have just one confirmed covert case arises the entire state will have to close. Being fully vaccinated does not mean that one cannot get or spread COVID, especially when students are not vaccinated and there are new variants of the virus floating around which the vaccines are ineffective. This is a serious risk. Only with more regular cleaning and proper ventilation is the classroom students and staff be safe. Once again, I want to reiterate that I really, really want to return to in-person learning, but until these issues are addressed properly and the spread of misinformation ends, I don't believe that students who deserve the best have a safe environment to return and provides little or no disruption to learning. Thank you. Thank you.

[10830] Bowen Zhang: Next speaker.

[10832] SPEAKER_55: Next speaker, Cindy Parks.

[10838] Cindy Parks: Good evening. At the last board meeting, you had several junior high parents speaking concerning seventh grade algebra. As a parent of a student who took algebra in the seventh grade, I totally understood their lobbying to continue the program. I attended the 2016 meetings when the Math Pathways was brought to the board for approval due to legislative changes. Contained within SB 359 was the requirement for the school districts to develop and adopt, in a regularly scheduled public meeting, a fair, objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy for pupils entering ninth grade. The one item I remember from the meetings was that the Ed code would now state, the governing board shall ensure the mathematics placement policy would be posted on its internet website. I looked at the Ed service page for the pathways chart. It wasn't there. I found the course pathways for NUSD math students in the September 20th, 2016 board agenda. The board approved the course pathways, grade eight through 12th chart, which alluded to the seventh grade algebra, since it listed eighth grade geometry, followed by algebra two. At the following October 4th, 2016 meeting, board policy 6152.1 placement for I'm sorry, placement in mathematics courses was approved at its first reading. However, when I went to Gamut, I couldn't find the policy. The situation only confirms what I've brought up at numerous board meetings over the years. I truly believe there are approved policies which have never been uploaded to Gamut and legislative changes which are not reflected in your policies. Your written policies are to convey its expectations for action that will be carried out in the district, clarifying roles and responsibilities of the board and superintendent, and communicate board philosophy and positions to the students, staff, parents, guardians, and the community. The last time the board fully examined its policies was 1996. and many policies have not been changed since then. Please consider bringing in CSBA to audit your policies to ensure they can contain all of the necessary policies and most recent updates. Once that is done, an employee needs to be responsible for monitoring the CSBA quarterly updates for the necessary changes. Back to the seventh grade math issue. How many more students are going to leave this district because of the lack of challenging course offerings other than the high school AP classes? As you develop your middle school model, I truly hope you will consider the continuity advantages and give a serious consideration to the various accelerated course offerings. Thank you.

[11007] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Mrs. Park. Next speaker.

[11013] SPEAKER_55: Next speaker is Eric Tam.

[11020] Bowen Zhang: Eric, you are on mute. Yeah, you may begin.

[11022] SPEAKER_28: Hi. Good evening, board members, Dr. Triplett, staff, and fellow community members. I am going to talk about the GPS needlepoint ionization resolution that many have talked about. I am an asthmatic and prolonged exposure to ionization technology agitates my lungs and affects my breathing, I am concerned about the health of staff and students. On November 19 mystical cedar men and the district staff recommended to utilize ionization technology, based on my research, I wanted to bring to the board's attention three issues with the resolution. First, we went against the norm guidance. The CDC, the state of California, and Harvard TH Chan Public Health School all have recommend HEPA filters as a technology of choice, specifically portable HEPA filters, since schools have old age facts and can't afford the new cost. In addition, not once did I find the phrase ionization technology in any of their official resources or websites. Did you know that Miss Nicole Cederman's own data supports HEPA as a better choice? She sold the story of ionization can increase our MIRV8, MIRV9 capture rates from 11% to 87% for SARS-CoV-2. Did you know in her same slide, her own data states HEPA filters is 99.9% effective against SARS virus, which is 12% better than the technology she's trying to sell us? Second issue, Ms. Nicole Cederman forgot to mention all the fine print on the company's public website. She painted the story of GPS was verified by world-renowned independent testing companies like EMSL and ATS Labs. Did you know the website says SARS-CoV-2 virus was done on a small lab called Innovative Bioanalysis. She stated they have a 99% kill rate for COVID-2. The website states, and I quote, SARS-CoV-2 specialty testing conducted by innovative bioanalysis is not a measure of inactivation in the air. The kill rate is for surface testing. Yet, CDC continues to show the aerosol nature of COVID versus surface spread. Third and final issue, ASHRAE, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers. The same certification body GPS touted on their presentation for ozone levels does not recommend ionization. ASHRAE created a special task force to provide guidance for school reopenings and once again they recommended HEPA filters. Here is an excerpt from their website, and I quote, needlepoint bipolar ionization has a less documented track record in regards to cleaning disinfecting large and fast volumes of moving air within heating ventilation and air conditioning HVAC systems. Consumers are encouraged to exercise caution and to do their homework, end quote. I am confused on why the district staff recommended ionization over HEPA filters. OSHA's website states COVID-19 falls within their general clause, section 5A1, which requires workplace free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm. The board and district need to test actual air quality at all sites immediately unless you want to face legal ramifications.

[11206] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tan. Next speaker.

[11215] SPEAKER_55: Next speaker is Lori Eddings. Lori Eddings.

[11228] Bowen Zhang: You're on mute.

[11230] SPEAKER_36: Sorry. Good evening, President Zhang, board members, and Dr. Triplett. I'm Lori Eddings, and I would like to address the HVAC system again. On April 1st, Dr. Triplett told the whole community that every single HVAC system in the district was supplied with MERV 9 filters. He went on to say the district spent $359,945 on needlepoint bipolar ionization units. and that installation would be completed April 9th. Furthermore, Dr. Triplett gave information about filters being changed four times a year with the last time being in March. The board and the community have been misinformed. A third party report given to NTA shows that only 76% of the HVAC systems actually work in the district, 76%. So which students will be left vulnerable to no ventilation? I'm sure we can all agree zero should be. I believe if parents knew the truth, they would be hard pressed to send their children into the classroom. The only test that has been run on the HVAC is to see if the system turns off and on. That's how we know 76% of them work. No air quality test, no air quantity test, no balance test. The next bit of information pertains to the junior high. Some of the classrooms and buildings that are supposed to have nine filters don't even have a filter. If the junior high is any indication, there is a reason for concern at the rest of the schools. As far as the bipolar ionization units, where are they? There's no sign of them. If the filters were just changed in March, why are there filters that are filthy? If the board would like proof of this, I would like to offer you photos that have recently been taken of the HVAC at the junior high. Just send me an email. In a letter to parents on April 12th, Dr. Triplett stated HVAC improvements would include air purifiers with HEPA filters in every classroom. Where are they? Are they even ordered yet? Why aren't they in the classrooms? I don't know where the miscommunication is. Is it the contractors being dishonest with the district? Is it the district being dishonest with the community? Somewhere there's a major breakdown of transparency. There is an easy way to prove the air quality and quantity. A HERS test proves the quantity, an IAQ test proves the safety of the quality, and the balance test would prove the functionality. Please get to the bottom of the dishonesty, prepare our classrooms and make them safe for our kiddos, and let us back in. Let's work together like other districts that are back. Be proactive, get the test, be transparent, and post the results. On a personal note, Dr. Triplett, I don't care for the way you phrased your last parent communication. No teacher did. How dare you insinuate teachers don't want to go back to the classroom. This is our chosen practice, and we know online learning is hard for our kids. But you should know it's no picnic for teachers either, and we want back in. We just want to make sure it's safe for our kids and our colleagues, and the district has yet to prove that as their priority too. Thank you.

[11407] SPEAKER_55: Next speaker? Next speaker, Paul Bretz.

[11413] Bowen Zhang: Can we reset the clock?

[11417] SPEAKER_46: Good afternoon. Thank you, board members, for providing me the opportunity to address the board. As a precursory matter, I'd like to draw your attention to a matter that still needs to be resolved. In June of 2020, I notified the district that my personal email was being blocked from the Newark mail servers. That issue still has not been resolved. And I would like to ask the board to please look into it. I was surprised to see that tonight's agenda did not have a session in closed session related to the board receiving information about the pending litigation between myself, Jessica Saavedra, and Newark Unified School District. Particularly given the fact that last week, last Friday, through your counsel, you were served notice that the complaint adds 26 additional claims of defamation with 20 different school districts in five different states. I question whether or not the board has gotten that information. I also question whether or not the board is receiving full information from their legal counsel. There seems to be a push by some board members to try to take ownership of the issues that are going on, not only with everything that's going on with the school, Last year, the community changed the plight of this district and removed several of the members of the executive cabinet. The board still has not taken ownership despite the fact that some people are trying to change that pattern. It seems today through the conversations with other people that are discussing these issues that there remains an issue that needs to be resolved. That issue continues to be an issue of trust. And I would certainly encourage the board to trying to take a better, more proactive approach to taking ownership of the issues that are facing the board and the superintendent's office. The time for change is now. This community deserves it. People are not gonna stand around and allow it to continue.

[11587] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, have a good day. Thank you. Next speaker.

[11592] SPEAKER_55: Jocelyn Leggett.

[11598] SPEAKER_07: Hello. You may begin. Okay, there's a quote from a picture book called Speak Up by Miranda Paul and illustrated by Ebony Glenn. All of my children read this book in elementary school. The book is beautiful because it teaches children how to be upstanding. The quote reads, there are times when we should be quiet. There are days for letting go. But when matters seem important, speak up, let others know. Upstanding means being honest and respectful and have integrity. Well, the truth be told, Dr. Triplett, the process you chose for the merger principal selection was not upstanding. It was full of bias. What was the criteria for this position? How could you not allow community members or staff from Snow and Graham to be in on that interview panel, yet allow three principals from another elementary school to be on the panel? Is it even possible not to have any sort of bias when you already know the candidates? We asked that you have a panel that was neutral, but that didn't happen. Our parents and community are watching because you have broken trust. And the last time I spoke, I also explained to you that the Black community in Newark would be watching. We hope that Mrs. Thomasani, sorry if I mispronounced her name, is able to work with the demands of the newly merged school. We hope that she is equitable to the staff, to staff members, and takes care of the needs of every child. Discipline needs, EL needs, special education needs and cultural needs. As you are aware in this country, some of us live each day of our life feeling lesser than. On December 10th at the Graham community meeting, when the parents were told of the merger, you said, and I quote, that you would not tolerate any student feeling lesser than. And this was the continued reason for the school's name change. Well, guess what? I feel lesser than. The Graham community feels lesser than, and the Black community feels lesser than. Is that something that you can tolerate, Dr. Triplett? School board members, we hope that as soon as we come back to in-person learning, that you all take time to visit the schools and be more proactive at providing solutions rather than reacting to comments on social media. Talk to the other board members and know that your lack of acknowledgement and disregard is a sign of acceptance and that is racism. Your silence on these matters implies complicity. Board members, consider joining the implicit bias training with your staff and do the work. Don't just say the word equity. We will be, we will continue to watch and please make an effort to push past your discomfort and make an attempt to acknowledge this fact and have some empathy. Thank you.

[11784] Bowen Zhang: Next speaker.

[11786] SPEAKER_55: Timothy Merritt. Sir Timothy Merritt. President Zhang, I don't see his name on the list and the attendees.

[11806] Bowen Zhang: I don't see his name either.

[11807] SPEAKER_55: Yeah. So we can check again at the end and we can move on to the next one if that's okay.

[11812] Bowen Zhang: Let's move on to the next speaker.

[11814] SPEAKER_55: Next we have Carlos Zarate.

[11822] Bowen Zhang: You are on mute.

[11827] SPEAKER_41: Good evening members of the board and Dr. Triplett. I am a student in this district. I have a parent who growing up lived on Bain Avenue when it actually was a low income, excuse me, when it actually was low income. During distance learning, I stay with my grandparents who immigrated from Mexico and do not have a primary school education or speak English while my parents are out making a living. and I am moving up the social ladder, not because of the Newark Unified School District, but despite it. I'm only 12 years old, so I'm not old enough to vote for any of you to serve my academic needs, but I can join the cause to have my voice heard, which is why this afternoon I participated in a protest against systemic racism in NUSD. The definition of systemic racism includes the policies and practices entrenched in established institutions, which result in the exclusion of promotion or designated groups. When you don't translate documents or meetings to my community, you are not only violating Ed Code 48985, but you're also in support of systemic racism because you create language barriers that exclude an entire community. It's language barriers such as these that prevent people from having the opportunity to equally participate, like was the case in the materials provided for the principal selection process meeting that took place on March 24th. My community is ready to file a formal complaint. You all have the obligation to reduce inequality in this district, even if the president doesn't think that it is top priority of an education system. And I will be here using my voice at every board meeting if I have to, to make sure you all are held accountable. Enough is enough.

[11935] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Next speaker.

[11942] SPEAKER_55: Next we have Annabel Gutierrez.

[11953] SPEAKER_11: You may begin. Before I speak, I'd like to state that the reason we are repeating public comments in Spanish is because of the lack of respect from NUSD leadership towards the Latino community in providing interpretation and translation for all.

[11969] SPEAKER_13: Hay una frase de un libro de imágenes llamado Habla, de Miranda Paw, ilustrado por Ebony Glenn. Mis hijos leyeron este libro en la primaria. El libro les enseña a los niños cómo ser honrados. La frase dice, hay momentos en los que deberíamos estar callados. Hay días para dejar ir. Pero cuando las cosas parezcan importantes, habla. Hágale saber a los demás. Ser verdadero significa ser honestos. y tener integridad. Dr. Triplett, el proceso que eligió para la selección de la directora de la escuela funcionada no fue correcto. Estaba lleno de prejuicios. ¿Cómo no permitir que ningún miembro de la comunidad o personal de SNOW y Graham esté en ese panel de entrevistas? ¿Cómo pudo permitir que tres directores de otras escuelas primarias estén en el panel? le pedimos que tuviera un panel que fuera neutral y eso no sucedió. Esperamos que la señora Tomasini pueda trabajar con las demandas de esta escuela que es título uno. Esperamos que sea equitativa con cada miembro del personal y se encargue de las necesidades de cada niño, las necesidades de disciplina, las necesidades de EPL, las necesidades de educación especial y las necesidades culturales. Como saben, en este país, algunos de nosotros vivimos cada día de nuestra vida sintiéndonos menos. El 10 de diciembre, en la reunión de la comunidad de Graham, cuando se les informó a los padres sobre el proceso de punción, usted dijo, Dr. Triplett, que no toleraría que ningún estudiante se sintiera inferior, y esta fue la razón continua que da para que se cambie el nombre de la escuela. Pues la comunidad de Graham se siente menos, y la comunidad afroamericana se siente menos. ¿Es eso algo que usted tolera, Dr. Triplett? Esperamos que cuando regresemos al aprendizaje en persona, todos se tomen el tiempo para visitar las escuelas. Sean más proactivos para brindar soluciones en vez de reaccionar a los comentarios en las redes sociales. La falta de reconocimiento es una señal de aceptación y eso es racismo. Su silencio sobre estos asuntos implica complicidad. No solo digan la palabra equidad. Hagan un esfuerzo por superar su malestar y traten de reconocer este hecho y tener algo de empatía. [Translated] There is a phrase from an image book called Speech by Miranda Paw, illustrated by Ebony Glenn. My children read this book in primary school. The book teaches children how to be honored. The phrase says, there are times when we should be quiet. There are days to let go. But when things seem important, talk. Let the others know. Being true means being honest and having integrity. Dr. Triplett, the process you chose for the selection of the school director was not correct. It was full of prejudice. How can we not allow any member of the community or staff of SNOW and Graham to be in that interview panel? How could you allow three directors of other primary schools to be on the panel? We asked you to have a panel that was neutral and that didn't happen. We hope Mrs. Tomasini can work with the demands of this school that is title one. We hope that it will be equitable with each staff member and will address the needs of each child, discipline needs, EPL needs, special education needs and cultural needs. As you know, in this country, some of us live every day of our lives feeling less. On December 10, at the Graham community meeting, when parents were informed about the puncture process, you said, Dr. Triplett, who would not tolerate any student feeling inferior, and this was the continuing reason it gives to change the name of the school. Well, Graham's community feels less, and the African-American community feels less. Is that something you tolerate, Dr. Triplett? We hope that when we return to learning in person, everyone takes the time to visit schools. Be more proactive in providing solutions rather than reacting to comments on social networks. Lack of recognition is a sign of acceptance and that is racism. Your silence on these matters implies complicity. Don't just say the word equity. Make an effort to overcome your discomfort and try to recognize this fact and have some empathy. [End] [Translated] There is a phrase from an image book called Speech by Miranda Paw, illustrated by Ebony Glenn. My children read this book in primary school. The book teaches children how to be honored. The phrase says, there are times when we should be quiet. There are days to let go. But when things seem important, talk. Let the others know. Being true means being honest and having integrity. Dr. Triplett, the process you chose for the selection of the school director was not correct. It was full of prejudice. How can we not allow any member of the community or staff of SNOW and Graham to be in that interview panel? How could you allow three directors of other primary schools to be on the panel? We asked you to have a panel that was neutral and that didn't happen. We hope Mrs. Tomasini can work with the demands of this school that is title one. We hope that it will be equitable with each staff member and will address the needs of each child, discipline needs, EPL needs, special education needs and cultural needs. As you know, in this country, some of us live every day of our lives feeling less. On December 10, at the Graham community meeting, when parents were informed about the puncture process, you said, Dr. Triplett, who would not tolerate any student feeling inferior, and this was the continuing reason it gives to change the name of the school. Well, Graham's community feels less, and the African-American community feels less. Is that something you tolerate, Dr. Triplett? We hope that when we return to learning in person, everyone takes the time to visit schools. Be more proactive in providing solutions rather than reacting to comments on social networks. Lack of recognition is a sign of acceptance and that is racism. Your silence on these matters implies complicity. Don't just say the word equity. Make an effort to overcome your discomfort and try to recognize this fact and have some empathy. [Translated] There is a phrase from an image book called Speech by Miranda Paw, illustrated by Ebony Glenn. My children read this book in primary school. The book teaches children how to be honored. The phrase says, there are times when we should be still. There are days to let go. But when things seem important, talk. Let the others know. Being true means being honest and having integrity. Dr. Triplett, the process you chose for the selection of the school director was not correct. It was full of prejudice. How can we not allow any member of the community or staff of SNOW and Graham to be in that interview panel? How could you allow three directors of other primary schools to be on the panel? We asked you to have a panel that was neutral and that didn't happen. We hope Mrs. Tomasini can work with the demands of this school that is title one. We hope that it will be equitable with each staff member and will address the needs of each child, discipline needs, EPL needs, special education needs and cultural needs. As you know, in this country, some of us live every day of our lives feeling less. On December 10, at the Graham community meeting, when parents were informed about the puncture process, you said, Dr. Triplett, who would not tolerate any student feeling inferior, and this was the continuing reason it gives to change the name of the school. Well, Graham's community feels less, and the African-American community feels less. Is that something you tolerate, Dr. Triplett? We hope that when we return to learning in person, everyone takes the time to visit schools. Be more proactive in providing solutions rather than reacting to comments on social networks. Lack of recognition is a sign of acceptance and that is racism. Your silence on these matters implies complicity. Don't just say the word equity. Make an effort to overcome your discomfort and try to recognize this fact and have some empathy. [End] [End]

[12141] Bowen Zhang: Gracias por tu comentario. Next speaker. [Translated] Thank you for your comment. Next speaker. [End] [Translated] Thank you for your comment. Next speaker. [Translated] Thank you for your comment. Next speaker. [End] [End]

[12145] SPEAKER_55: Next we have Zoila Avila.

[12154] Bowen Zhang: You're on mute.

[12159] SPEAKER_42: Good evening, everyone. My name is Zoila Rivera Avila. On behalf of the students and the family of the Newark Unified School District is deeply disappointed by this Sorry. In this news, we came as the district that is not, I believe, in the best interest of going back to school, to in-person learning, if they choose. These are the words you said in the letter yesterday, Mr. Triplett. I'm sorry, I can't do it. I had a speech, but after listening to all of you, everybody, just talking to you guys over and over, I just, I cannot read this no more, because I work with you guys. They're sitting in there. I spend time with you guys, and I cannot believe it. We're telling you guys over and over, every meeting, why you guys are, the mistakes you guys are doing. I knew it was for the students. I mean, come on, when you guys were in the elections, you guys promised us so many things. And look at what happened to you guys. I mean, that's how every time we're going to have a new member of the board, it's going to do the same thing. After one year, you guys are going to be doing a good job. And the second year, it's going to be all lies. and nothing done. What happened to the promise you guys made to the students? That's how you guys don't, you guys don't feel nothing inside of your heart that the students are listening to everything. They know what's going on. I mean, Carlos just is 12 years old and look what he's saying. Every kid knows what's going on. Don't you guys, how you guys go to sleep at night? Think about it. This is how you, I mean, our kids are growing up and for what? You guys are not even doing, giving them the education they need. Why you guys, if you guys don't want to do the job, step down. Step down and let somebody else come and do it the right way. Our kids are our future, okay? Our teachers are doing their best for our kids. What happened to you guys? I mean, nothing, huh? This is what matters to you guys, that education for our kids. And I'm really, really, I mean, my stomach just is getting sick just to know that I know you guys. I cannot believe it. I mean, I'm ashamed to myself that I voted for you guys. I mean, I'm sorry to say this, but I hope that you guys will step down or do your job. Thank you.

[12337] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Do we have Mrs. Mary there? Mr. Mary there?

[12348] SPEAKER_55: I still don't see him in the attendees.

[12354] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so. I don't believe he's present. I think that's it for the public comment.

[12360] SPEAKER_55: That is correct.

[12362] Bowen Zhang: For non-agenda item. And next will be superintendent report. Dr. Triplett.

[12371] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Jun, and thank you to all of the public comments. I'm going to start my presentation. All right, so this evening's superintendent report, we're going to touch upon three things. One is enrollment update that we always provide. Second is just looping back to the math pathway conversation. Wanted to provide a little bit of an update there. And then lastly, discussion about some of the merger work that has happened of late. First enrollment. So as always, these are the current enrollment numbers. The ones on the far right is as of Monday. And then the 29th were the enrollment numbers from the last time we presented at the board. And as you can see, we continue to lose some students. So there's five less than there were last month on the 29th of March. We'll continue to monitor this, of course, and it is definitely a cause for concern. And we understand that given the pandemic and the conditions with distance learning, that some families have left the area, some families are seeking in-person learning and have gone to other districts or other schools. So we will continue to try to address these issues. So this is just a review of the enrollment process for this upcoming school year. So we went through the priority window and we have got significant registration and we are now, we processed inter-district transfers for TK and K. We will continue to do that. And then we're currently in the open registration phase. portion of the enrollment timeline. And so we will continue to receive registration applications from families and make placements as they come in. Wanted to jump to the math pathway update. I know there's been some conversations around the status of the math pathways for both the junior high and the high schools. So I wanted to give you an update since the last time, the last board meeting. We have done some preliminary engagements and then also have some next steps. So the objective has been and still is to develop a comprehensive 612 math pathways that is common core aligned, aligned vertically and horizontally across the district and provides multiple opportunities for acceleration and support. Since the last board meeting, we did have an opportunity to meet with some parents and secondary, also met with junior high mathematics department meeting or department And then also met with both the junior high and the Memorial High School site leaders to engage them in really looking at the implications for master scheduling secondary alignment, etc. So we do hope to have a further update for you at the upcoming our next board meeting. Our next step is to engage the mathematics department at the Memorial High School, just like we did at the junior high and then we'll then we'll really want to embark on a year long process establishing a committee of stakeholders to envision and develop a new comprehensive 612 model for mathematics and NUSD that really addresses some of the requests and interests that we have heard through public comment and through families and teachers. and students throughout our district. So it's a really good opportunity for us to start to really think and engage all stakeholders in how we can meet the needs of all students and provide really valuable opportunities for all students in the 612 mathematics model. So more to come on that and really the end goal will be present the committee recommendations to the board in the upcoming school year sometime around January in preparation for the following school year. So we really want to do this really thoughtfully. We want to engage as many stakeholders as possible and we'll continue to give the board updates on this as the process unfolds. Shifting to merger update. So one thing I wanted to announce to the board and to the public, we are kicking off, the design team is kicking off the school naming process. This is the name for the merge school, Snow and Graham together. So we have sent out flyers, And we have a survey and also an email address specifically for collecting up ideas, suggestions from students, families, staff, community members as to what would be the best school name for the Merge School of Snow and Graham together. The submissions are due April 28th. There's three different ways to submit a submission. One, this email, which is myschoolnameatnewarkunified.org. Two is the survey address that you see here. There's also a survey in Spanish and also flyer in Spanish. And then lastly is if the person prefers, there's a paper option. So we will have paper flyers at the schools and also be distributing them. And anyone can fill out on the bottom of the flyer, there's a little portion where you tear off, make a name suggestion, tear it off, and put it into the drop box that will be at both Snow and Graham. So this is a little bit of how the bottom of the flyer looks, where you can make a suggestion and then tear it off. And so let me just finish off with this one. So we'll have this open call for suggestions through the 28th. And at that point, the design team will collect up all of the suggestions. call through them and then identify the top five to 10 to then give back to the community for in a voting process. We're going to do a rank choice voting process in order to narrow down to about top three, which the design team again will review and ultimately make a decision to bring forth to the board as to a name suggestion. So that is an update on school naming. We're looking forward to teachers engaging students in this process and really thinking through all the different possibilities. I've heard a lot already of really great name possibilities for the Merge School. And then lastly, wanted to give an update on the leadership selection process. So as you recall, the goal is to select the principal for the Snowgram Merge School, the person who would lead the school through the merger process and beyond. And just a review of this process, which is shared with you, as well as with staff at both schools and community at both schools. So first part on March 10th was to meet with both principals, review the process with them first, engaged their interest in applying for the leadership position. Next was to hold joint staff meeting of Snow and Graham staff together to offer information about this process. Then we gave an update to the board on March 18 about the process. And then we engaged in some engagements with stakeholders, first with staff, and then with families and community on March 22 and March 24. And the purpose was to really elicit from these groups, what were the characteristics that the community staff were looking for in a school leader for the Snowgram Merge School. We then collected up all of those characteristics and HR used those to shape the questions and the criteria that the panel used to interview both candidates. So there was a panel made up of classified staff leadership, CSCA leader, NTA leadership, as well as central office staff and principals interviewed both candidates and then made a recommendation to myself and executive cabinet. We interviewed the finalist and then are moving forward tonight with that recommendation and you'll see that in the personnel report. And that is the superintendent's report for this evening.

[12941] Bowen Zhang: Any comments from the board? Student member Salemi, any comments?

[12948] SPEAKER_61: I'm just happy to see that we're engaging with different people when it comes to the math pathways. And I just hope as a district that we stay committed to providing rigorous courses for our students and providing different opportunities for our students and nothing less. But other than that, thank you for your report.

[12965] SPEAKER_52: Thank you.

[12973] Bowen Zhang: Hey, seeing none from other board member. Thank you, Superintendent, for the report. Moving on to staff report, graduation requirement, Class of 2021, Superintendent Triplett.

[12988] Mark Triplett: Okay, thank you, President Jun. So I'm going to turn this over to Assistant Superintendent, Ms. Pierce, who's going to share a little bit about this report on graduation requirements.

[13001] SPEAKER_50: Hello, good evening. And thanks for having me tonight. So yes, that's exactly what we're going to talk about graduation requirements specifically for this class of 2021. So we're not thinking long term here, we're thinking, we've talked about it plenty regarding how challenging this year has been and how unique it's been. And I just want to invite up, just so you know, joining me tonight are our high school principals, Ms. Calderon and Ms. Rango. So they will be speaking tonight as well. Just to get started, I just want to remind everyone what our graduation requirements are. I'm sure you know this already. They are aligned to ATG requirements at Newark Memorial and Bridgepoint and Crossroads. They're adjusted for their program. When I first came into Newark Unified, I had as many interviews with as many people as possible. Teachers, principals, district office employees, just as many people as possible. I was trying to understand the context. And one of the quotes that came out of one of my meetings was, aligning with A to G requirements was the right move. They really felt that way. Still this year seniors have been impacted the most by coded 19, how can and USD show our support and understanding when considering the realities that this class of 2021 has faced, and they really really. They spoke deeply about this particular class and how much attention was put on the class of 2020 and how challenging that was. And then thinking through really this class of 2021 over the course of this year, what they've also had to carry out over the course of their senior year. So with that, I want to bring up our high school principals to talk a little bit about some of the concerns that have come up this year as it relates to our seniors. Ms. Ferngale?

[13116] Vicenta Ditto: Good evening again, board. While these numbers that you see before you are fluid as students pass current Apex courses that they're enrolled in, as well as work with their teachers, students still may be struggling in their current courses to pass the classes they're in. The interventions at both of our sites have included counselor conferences, admin conferences, home visits, phone calls, certified letters, enrollment in Apex courses, and teacher meetings. but obviously you see we still have a concern to address.

[13152] SPEAKER_48: Good evening board and cabinet. I'm Principal Calderon from Alt Ed. As you can see I don't have as many numbers as Principal Rangel, however my number is I would think Equally concerning, Bridgepoint has continued to struggle with our graduation rate. It's the reason that we are in CSI. However, with the work of our Alt-Ed counselor, we were able, while this isn't documented on dashboard because of the pandemic, we were able to raise our graduation rate last year. However, due to the pandemic, there will be a dramatic reduction in our graduating seniors.

[13193] SPEAKER_50: And, and I just want to be clear this is not special to Newark. This is really happening across our nation, and specifically California, and some of the guidance around end of year assessment, and some of the other guidance they given us they really said local agencies need to consider what's going on with our graduates this year and how they have had such a different year. than previous years. And so I sent this ahead of time, so hopefully you had a chance to look. I'm not going to take the time tonight, I think, to go through every article. But the first one is an Education Week article that really shows state by state how they're taking on this challenge of creating flexible graduation requirements. The next one talks about just all of the uncertainties for our seniors in the spring of 2020, which then extends to our class of 2021. as well as sort of the crisis inequity that happens as a result of this pandemic and really what it's showing sort of the gaps in equity that the pandemic exasperates. Here is a full research report done by California Education Lab at UC Davis, and it talks about some of those concerns that our seniors are facing. Things like how the virtual learning is impacting them, things like housing and support for family members or working or some mental health concerns, which I'm sure you guys have heard about as well. And so with that, you know, we can look at research and we can look at global, but I thought it might be a good opportunity for our principals to once again, just talk about their particular communities and at the localized context, what's happening for them.

[13288] Vicenta Ditto: I can start so in discussion with Newark memorial high school administration counselors and department chairs, we all believe that students need alternatives at this at this time, due to being being impacted by the pandemic. A number of our students have been impacted, such as having to care for siblings taking on additional hours and a job to support their family. change in their living situation and in particular being impacted by mental health. Recently, I had a parent and student come to me asking for reprieve as the student has been on track throughout his entire high school career. but recently has been recommended by a doctor to take some time from school. And really, it had to do with his mental health. But when they came to visit me, you can see it had physically impacted him as well. So our students are absolutely been impacted in multiple ways by this pandemic.

[13344] SPEAKER_48: Thank you, Principal Rangel. Similarly, our students are some are working full time because they are helping to support their family. We have situations where students are living with grandparents or other relatives who are struggling to keep together multiple families in one household. I've had a grandparent already plead with me for an alternative for her grandson. She's very concerned that he will not continue at adult education if we don't come up with a solution at Bridgepoint. I spoke to my teachers. I have a much smaller staff than Principal Ron Hill and unanimously people love the idea of exploring options to support the class of 2021. Today one of my leadership students from Bridgepoint came to campus. He's a young man who's now working 40 hours a week. He really needs another solution because otherwise we're going to be advising him to go to adult education. And while I also serve as the principal of adult education and I'm proud of the work we do there, I would really love to see him graduate as a Bridgepoint Panther.

[13409] SPEAKER_50: And again, I would say this is not intended to reduce rigor for our students, right? That is not the intent here. But the intent is to recognize the situation we're in and come up with some solutions. So with that, our lovely high school principals have also come up with some solutions. So we're going to talk, we're going to explore those. And the intent here tonight is just to provide you with some information ahead of time. We are not making a decision tonight, but we wanted to be able to bring the information as we're seeing sort of this dilemma unfold. We wanted to bring it to you earlier than later so that you can start thinking about ways that you can add some additional solutions maybe to this list or at least process what you're hearing tonight. So again, Ms. Redhill and Ms. Calderon.

[13457] Vicenta Ditto: Thank you. So possible one-year solutions include reducing our graduation credits by 10. We of course have to think about what the state requirements are. So that is why VAPA and electives in particular are noted here. Students still have to meet those requirements in order to graduate. While we may see a decrease in our A to G course completion percentages this year, our graduation rates would increase or at least maintain. We also have discussed potentially implementing graduation and summer school senior contracts in which our students will still be allowed to rock the stage, which is monumental for them. But with the thought process that they would be able to accomplish 10 to 20 credits over the summer, typically we offer 10 credits over summer school, but this year we are considering offering offering 20.

[13512] SPEAKER_48: One of the practices that we have implemented historically is implementing a fifth year for English learners and special ed students. And of course, we would like that to be available to all English learner and special ed students. In addition to this, I'm interested in exploring the possibility of a fifth year for alternative education. So Bridgepoint and Crossroads students with principal approval based on criteria. So this wouldn't just be a fifth year offer to everyone, but we would look at specific circumstances that students have faced as well as the effort that they made during their fourth year of high school.

[13545] SPEAKER_50: And obviously we're looking at other solutions as well. I did want to bring just for the, for members of the board, there is precedent set here. I went from everything local to nationwide. So, you know, Alameda, Oakland, Pleasanton have offered different solutions, whether it is taking away GPA requirements or reducing credits. Alameda reduced by 10 credits last year and will continue again for this year. We looked at Southern California, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sweetwater, and Downey. These all, Downey actually reduced by 30 credits and some of the other gave more flexible grading options as well. And then we also saw all the way over at Grand Rapids and Wyoming, right? You see this almost everywhere you go. Their credits are a little bit different. It's credit hours, but they reduced from 18, which is essentially like a 10 credit. It's about the same as about 10 credits. And they did this statewide. So again, there is precedent set for this. This is not about dropping rigor, but this is providing the support our students need to get through a very challenging year, just like we are all giving each other supports to get through a very challenging year. So the next steps for us, and again this is just to provide you all with some early information as to the dilemma, we are going to sort of assess eligible students interest and see where they fall and what, you know, a fifth year is they need to agree to it too right so we need to make sure that's our option. Let's see how many kids might be interested in that option. assess impact and equity outcomes, identify summer school teacher interest, and see if the possibility of accelerating during summer is an option. We also need to assess, you know, the fifth year option on our Alt-Ed program, how would that impact them? And then we do wanna return to you all with a solid recommendation. So thank you so much for your time, very much appreciate it. Sorry, I think I interrupted somebody. Perhaps not.

[13667] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Thank you for the presentation. And any comments from the board? Student member Salameh?

[13679] SPEAKER_61: I think it's clear that the pandemic has had clear consequences on students' educational careers. And these past 13 months have been very hard for many of us to do things like access the type of help needed to succeed. Students are having to work in order to support their families or maybe experiencing mental health problems, as Mr. Engle said, among so many other things. So I believe to potentially deny students such an important thing needed for their future because of something out of their control is wrong. And I would be interested in any of these solutions as they would solve a lot of the problems that are happening in terms of students not being able to fulfill their quest.

[13719] Bowen Zhang: Other board members' comments?

[13723] Elisa Martinez: I just had a question regarding summer school is summer school, and I think your last light spoke to it. I mean, it would be, um. Live teaching, meaning not, uh, computer based, correct? Um and module based. I mean, maybe it depends where we're at. But I mean, the it's engaged with a teacher is would be the idea.

[13748] Mark Triplett: Yes, that's our goal.

[13750] SPEAKER_64: Okay? Yeah. Thank you.

[13756] SPEAKER_38: I would just thank you. I just like to agree with Member Salemi. This has been very hard for all the students and the teachers getting through this process, and I applaud the staff for looking at creative ways to address some of these problems. Thank you.

[13779] Bowen Zhang: With that, thank you, Mrs. Caderon and Ms. Runhill.

[13785] SPEAKER_58: Oh, Member Nguyen.

[13786] Phuong Nguyen: All right, one last question. I was just wondering, do we have a timeline as to when staff will be bringing this item back?

[13800] SPEAKER_50: Um, so our hope, um, after presenting this to you is to do this over the course of the next couple of weeks and actually come sooner than later, um, with a solution, because as you know, we're getting very close to the end of the year.

[13814] Phuong Nguyen: Yeah. Okay. Great. Thank you so much.

[13819] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. So thank you, Mrs. Calderon and, uh, Mrs. Rathel for your report. Next item will be the bond projects update. Superintendent Triplett.

[13832] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Jeung. So, as you know, we wanted to bring forth an update on all the bond projects. I'm gonna turn it over to Ms. Dela Cruz, and I believe we have Mr. Caputo joining us. Is that correct, Ms. Dela Cruz?

[13849] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, Dr. Triplett.

[13850] Phuong Nguyen: Is there any public comment on this item?

[13853] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Member Nguyen.

[13857] Bowen Zhang: Based on the live comments, I don't believe there's public comments on that.

[13863] SPEAKER_55: No, there's not.

[13869] Marie dela Cruz: So thank you, Dr. Triplett. Good evening, board members. Ms. Castellon, could you please? Oh, there's Mr. Ralph Caputo. Thank you. So just to give you a little bit of background, Mr. Caputo and I will be giving you an update on the Measure G bond projects and the status of where they're at as of today. We had a list of priority projects that the board approved back in October, 2018. We had a study session in February of 2020 to review those bond projects. And at that time, there was approximately 7.8 million remaining in the Measure G funds. The board had asked us, staff, to review facilities needs with the principals. So the superintendent and I met with the principals back in February 2020 to gather their input. And we came up with a list of projects, which was very much the same as the original October the HVAC system upgrades, some new flooring and landscaping improvements, plumbing and irrigation repairs, roof repairs, and some security fencing projects. At that time, the budget reflected just rough estimates of the cost of the projects. We did present budget revisions and project changes. back in September and October 2020. And tonight we'll also be presenting you with a revised budget and as well as the status of all of the projects. So with that, I am going to share my screen and we have a little presentation that Mr. Caputo will share with you.

[13994] SPEAKER_29: Good evening, members of the board, Dr. Triplett, cabinet and staff. It's my pleasure to bring an update. I know the board has been looking for this for some time now. As you know, as we went through the bond project list, one of the first- Mr. Caputo, can you turn on your volume? Hang on one second. It should be working good. Can you hear me now?

[14039] Marie dela Cruz: Barely. Maybe you just need to speak louder or get closer to the mic.

[14047] SPEAKER_29: I'm right on it.

[14068] Marie dela Cruz: Mr. Caputo. Maybe you just need to get closer. Just be closer for now.

[14081] Marie dela Cruz: Because we can hear you, but barely.

[14091] SPEAKER_29: Okay, my apologies. I hope this works better.

[14096] Marie dela Cruz: You'll just have to speak louder. Go ahead.

[14099] SPEAKER_22: OK.

[14105] SPEAKER_29: So go ahead and go to the next slide. The first project was on the district's list back in February of 2020 was another incremental project that the district has been doing over the last several years. As the board and community know, with the district's Measure J bond program, They have allocated money at different times of that bond program to incrementally replace HVAC units across the district. The district in February allocated $3.3 million. As we started to work with the district, we recognized that the district is near the end of its bond program and that it'll take approximately about $10 million to replace the remaining units. And since there's not another strong funding source, the district has looked to find additional dollars to replace as much of the remaining units that are nearing the end of their life expectancy as soon as possible. Units typically can go up to 20, some maybe as many as 30 years. These are nearing the end of its life. But since we're at the end of the district's bond program, the district recognized that it made sense to try and replace as much as possible because when these start to fail, anywhere from another three to 10 years, some perhaps sooner, it can be a big hit to the district's general fund, some 40, $50,000 a shot, if not more for the larger units. So we have identified 378 mechanical units that are earmarked to be replaced over the next several years. And out of those 378 units, we've determined that about 70% of those to 75% of those are between three and 12 ton units. So they're smaller units, individual classrooms, offices mostly. The larger units are generally for large open spaces such as gyms and multi-purpose rooms. With that, we've recognized that the smaller units, most of them are almost all of these are carrier brand units. Most of the district's older units and newer units are also carrier units. Carrier brand makes models that can be more easily replaced than other units that they manufacture or different manufacturers make. When we look at HVAC units, we look at this district where almost all of its units are roof-mounted. The division of the state architect's office that governs our regulatory permitting process, much like homeowners and commercial owners go to local cities or county building departments, we go through the division as state architect. They're very concerned about roof structures on older buildings and it's very difficult to replace HVAC units on roofs without doing a good seismic review. There are certain thresholds. We've identified that out of these 378 units, approximately 70% of them we can match with new units that would not require significant upgrades or a longer regulatory review process. And so we're working hard now to try and expedite those and align them for bidding. A carrier brand unit can be set on the existing roof curbs. The electrical mechanical connections are aligned. Doesn't require a lot of re-roofing or structural upgrades. The balance of the district's units are much larger. There are in conditions that will need electrical upgrades, plumbing upgrades. for both condensate lines or gas, and many cases have some dry rot. New platforms need to be built. Those are underway in planning and design phase, but will take much longer engineering and design review. So, as we move forward, we will have a final list in about a week, a week and a half, and we anticipate that somewhere between 100 to 250 approximately, we can work with DSA and look at a more expedited review and approval process because they'll fit within the DSA tolerances for additional weight. New units just tend to weigh more than old units. So we've identified and are completing that identification of units that will closely align within the DSA standards that will allow us to move through that process, hopefully a little bit faster. The reason I mentioned carrier because as a public agency, we're typically required to specify not a sole source product, but leave it open to two or three equal products or allow an or equal process. In this case, other vendors, other manufacturers could have units that weigh more and will automatically push the district into significantly more costs. The other reason we're looking specifically at streamlining this is that we want to take advantage as best we can of the short summer window and have as many of these replaced as we can as the district starts to reopen in the fall. That said, we would look to the district in an action item to allow us to start to initiate an order for these units directly with the manufacturer. The bidding documents could either leave it to the district to procure completely or to make the initial order in order to expedite manufacturing and cut down the lead time to have them completed, manufactured, and delivered and ready for installation. Obviously, you know, if you look at a bidding process, you're looking at 30 to 45 days before you make it to award. And then you've got contracts, bonds, insurance, and a long list of items before a subcontractor is identified and can make the order. So given our timelines, we're looking at ways that we can expedite the process and move these projects forward. Go ahead to the next slide. So and obviously in closing, the next round of projects will be more aligned for the fall or next summer. Those are mostly the larger units. So as we move forward with other projects on the district's list, we have completed the paving projects. We have a couple of pictures to show you. Before we show a couple slides of the pictures, or as we are showing them, I'd just like to report that the district approved a budget of $660,000. thousand four hundred ninety three dollars in September 17th board meeting. It included a small contingency allowance. We're pleased to report that even with some additional work that the district requested, we currently have an encumbered budget of six hundred and thirty four thousand And we think as we conclude the closeout of this project, we will anticipate a little more savings than that. So we are bringing this project in under budget and anticipating that any savings can be moved up to help fund more HVAC unit replacements. You guys are all familiar with some of these schools. If you can look at these slides, you see in the left-hand area of the slide is what the conditions looked like prior. And the bigger picture, of course, is the conditions very recently.

[14630] Marie dela Cruz: This is Newark Junior High.

[14634] SPEAKER_29: This is at Bridgepoint. Probably have to zero in more to see the cracking and unevenness of the existing surface, but the new surface has been completed and is performing well. Next slide. This is shilling. This is a new entrance before and after. And then the flooring projects. In February of 2020, the district allocated $1.2 million in flooring projects. It was essentially two different line items. There was the initial $1 million for flooring, and then there were some other projects identified aside from New Memorial High School. We are in the process of completing that project for approximately $652,888 and that amount appears sufficient to complete the work. The work was scheduled to be completed already but with COVID a lot of the final floor tile that was required became in short supply. It has just recently been received And we're now working with the reopening plans because we don't want to start tearing it up and interfere with reopening. Some of this work may be deferred to the summer months. But we're now ready to complete the final phase of that. And then a couple of pictures of before and after conditions. This is Newark Memorial High School library. You can see the old floor tiles were buckling in places and were in very poor shape. The district selected a rubber back based, very, very industrial, good wearing carpet. And it also improved sound attenuation. This is also at the high school, new VCT in the classrooms. These are the locker rooms, you can look for at the existing concrete floors and how they were wearing poorly. This is a picture of the finished product. landscaping and irrigation. As you know, the district has significant amount of irrigation repairs needed in landscaping areas. The funding that was allocated to this project is not enough to hit all the fields and all the parking lot islands in and around the campus. So we've worked closely with the district and the landscape architect to identify focus areas in each of the sites and we've worked with the principals on on those areas and some of the design concepts. We just had our first update meeting earlier today and we started to look at renderings and planting options. So in a board meeting in the not too distant future, the board will be able to look at some of the really neat slides we saw today with Photoshop showing the existing marquees, islands of grass and dirt and how the architect is looking at plants to help bring better focus and curb appeal to these areas. Pending non-bond projects, we're just starting to engage with the district to rework the three main staircases at Newark Junior High School. That project is in its design phase right now. We are gonna have to coordinate the work along with the solar project that's also earmarked this summer. This project is due to go to DSA on May 5th. And I don't know if we'll walk away with the permit May 5th, but within a week or so and we can start initiating the bid process on this shortly. In addition, we're going to look at some portable upgrades and replacements at Graham Elementary School, some fencing gate improvements at Graham as well. and I know that the district is looking at some programs that can really make use of STAR Academy and we're going to start working on some concepts that we can share with the board at a future board meeting. And then with this we want to do the projects and I'll turn it over to Marie for a budget update.

[14943] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, on this slide, I'm sorry that it's really tiny, but you did get in a separate attachment for the budget. And so what we tried to show here was kind of like the history on where the budget started. That first column is what was allocated back in February 2020. And as you can see, like with the HVAC, we had allocated 3.3 million and some roofing, the paving for 500,000 security upgrades and so on. So that's how we allocated the 7.8 million. And then in October, we presented a revised budget where we added the roof repairs budget to Age back. So now we had a budget of 3.5 million in age back and the paving was slightly higher, but it was still within the proposed budget that was approved by the board. And the security upgrades went from A total of 1.2 million down to 798,000 based on actual bids and costs of the project. The landscape, there was 1.4 approved, including the curb appeal of $345,000. And then with the flooring, we had a revised budget of 1,098,000 and the bleachers stayed the same. We haven't really started looking into that yet. And I think initially right now what we're thinking is that 100,000 may not be enough to do the bleachers. And then we did have a budget of 200,000 for project management. Most of the project management costs though is they're incorporated within the projects themselves. We did have 1920 carryover of 692,000. So that was a budget that was allocated last year, but was carried over. And then with interest, we now have a total balance in our bond of 8.6 million. So what's been encumbered so far is 2 million. So our unspent balance is 6.6 million. So what we're proposing is that with the revised budget is any balance from the other projects to move them over to HVAC. Because if we wanted to do all of the units that are recommended to be replaced, The estimated amount right now is almost nine to $10 million. So the 4.7 is only half of what we need. And in order to support that with other resources, we are looking at our Fund 40 as well as our developer fees fund. And if we go back to in-person, we can also use some of our in-person Um, grant and as well as the answer funds. So we think that we do have additional resources to replace all of the recommended age back units that need to be replaced with the adjustments. From, um, all of the other projects. Oops. So that orange column there is what our proposed revised budget is, which is a total of the 8.6 million and it includes the carryover from last year. So basically it's moving that carryover over to the HVAC budget as well as that interest income. And then if you recall the landscaping project, We did, the board approved $2 million from Fund 40 to support that project. And other than that, I think that's it. Are there any questions?

[15227] Bowen Zhang: Thank you for the presentation. Student member Salami, do you have any questions?

[15233] SPEAKER_61: No questions.

[15235] Bowen Zhang: Any other board members? So I guess this is for information only and should we expect a vote that's gonna come in the next board meeting?

[15251] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, what we'll present to you with recommendation is the revised budget and possibly some more updates on the HVAC. and have a recommendation on that project as well.

[15274] Bowen Zhang: OK. And what will be the roughly fiscal impact on that vote?

[15283] Marie dela Cruz: For the HVAC, it will be close to $9 million, maybe $10.

[15292] Bowen Zhang: But this is not from the Measure G money anymore, right?

[15296] Marie dela Cruz: It will be a combination. of Measure G and other resources.

[15302] Bowen Zhang: Okay, I see.

[15305] Marie dela Cruz: So it'll be about 4.7 from Measure G and another 4.7 from other resources. It will be either and or the Russian Capital Outlay Fund, 40, our Developer Fees Funds, some ESSER funds, and in person if we go back to in person. So we'll be looking at all those funding.

[15330] Bowen Zhang: What about the deferred maintenance fund?

[15335] Marie dela Cruz: We do not have a separate deferred maintenance fund. We have our ongoing maintenance, routine and ongoing maintenance, but we don't have a separate deferred maintenance fund anymore. It used to be fund 14.

[15348] Bowen Zhang: Okay, I see. Member Hill? when you're here.

[15358] Aiden Hill: Sorry. Thank you, Ms. Delacruz. So, quick question. This is like round two of HVAC, right? Yes. Okay. And then, and it's more, like there's more units than we're doing in round two than we did in round one, right?

[15376] Marie dela Cruz: Yes. My understanding is round one was about 25%. So this is the other 75%.

[15383] Aiden Hill: OK, just out of curiosity, why are you projecting less money for round two versus round one?

[15395] Marie dela Cruz: Where did we present round one?

[15397] Aiden Hill: I thought that we spent like around $12 million for round one. I may be wrong on this.

[15408] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, I'd have to look at that. I didn't share that information. in this presentation, so.

[15415] Aiden Hill: Yeah, this is just from memory. Okay. Yeah, I just, you know, I just want to make sure, you know, that, I mean, it could very well be that they're different types of units or, you know, or, you know, maybe they're smaller or maybe they have, you know, less power, whatever. I'm just curious.

[15439] Marie dela Cruz: Right now, this is just the budget. we don't have a full cost construction estimate yet, and that's still in process. So maybe that's why it's not really competitive. This is just the budget right now. We're still going through construction cost estimates.

[15458] Aiden Hill: Okay, great.

[15458] SPEAKER_29: Thank you. Initially there was 556 units and the district did a couple of increments. I don't know the dollar amounts but I can share the numbers that there were about 556 that were on the list and we're currently looking at about 378. The district did a number of projects where It was one bid, but it was several campuses at a time. And so, for instance, a building that might have nine classrooms, they may have replaced two or three units. And so they tried to spread the money out through a series of increments. OK. And I think that what was allocated by the board was to continue that phased process. We've just all taken a step back and said that with the current funds we have, And this has gone through a couple of board meetings and the board has shared the comments that we need to focus and try and do as much as we can because we don't know when the next bond will be or where other funds come. These are big capital expenses when they start to break down one at a time.

[15524] Aiden Hill: Sure. OK. OK. Thank you.

[15527] Marie dela Cruz: Thanks. Thanks, Mr. Caputo. Any other questions?

[15536] Bowen Zhang: Okay, seeing none. Thank you, Mr. Caputo. Thank you, Mrs. Dela Cruz for the information. Have a great rest of the night. Next will be Governor's Tin Handbook. Superintendent Triplett.

[15552] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Jeanne. Yes, so this is old business. We're just returning to the revisions to the governance handbook per the requests of the board. So the handbook has been revised, formatted. Hopefully, we were able to clean up all of the errors that were existing from from previous and also make the changes that you had requested in your discussions.

[15584] Bowen Zhang: Okay. Yeah, I see that. We definitely proofread this one and then revised some of the grammar there. That's good. Any other questions from the board members? Student member? Seeing none, so can I entertain a motion to approve the new governance handbook.

[15610] SPEAKER_38: I'll move to approve the new governance handbook.

[15613] Bowen Zhang: Motion by Member Grundahl.

[15617] Elisa Martinez: I'll second.

[15618] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Martinez. Student Member Salami, how do you vote?

[15624] SPEAKER_61: Yes.

[15626] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez?

[15629] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[15630] SPEAKER_58: Member Grundahl?

[15632] SPEAKER_22: Yes.

[15634] SPEAKER_58: Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[15639] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[15640] Bowen Zhang: My vote is as well. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to new business resolution number 2020.21-026, classified layoff.

[15654] Mark Triplett: Superintendent Drupal. Thank you, President John. So these are the classified layoffs that we are doing for this upcoming school year. So you'll note on there, there's, I believe, a total of approximately 6.5 FTE reduction in different areas. Much of the reduction in FTE is related to the merger, but not all of it. And we're pleased to say that although What you see on the resolution is a reduction in FTE. It actually has resulted in significantly less actual layoffs than you would see on that form. So I know the HR department has been working very hard to find places for all of our classified staff, and we've been able to reassign based on vacancies, retirements, and things like that.

[15730] Bowen Zhang: Okay, any questions and comments on the board? Starting with you, student member.

[15739] SPEAKER_61: I know this is a difficult situation with the pandemic, especially with our financial situation, and I know that the snow positions are because of the closure. I don't even know if I could vote on this item, but even Just looking at those food workers, I could not support any reduction or layoff in a time that is already difficult for people. And we are looking back to go back by the end of the month or latest next school year. Therefore, these positions may become even more essential than they are now. That's just my brief comment.

[15768] Bowen Zhang: So I do want to make a comment or a question. I believe these reduction, they don't really lead to layoff, right? It's just reduction in position is not bad. Do we actually have actual employee losing their jobs?

[15783] Mark Triplett: Yeah, so just to clarify, like I said, all of these are, these are reduction in FTE. However, we have been able to reassign for the upcoming school year. Most of the staff into other positions. There are a couple of situations. here that will result in bumping of another employee based on seniority and will result in a layoff. But it's not all of these positions, only a couple of them.

[15818] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so at least that's soft in the blow.

[15822] Mark Triplett: That's right. Yeah, it's always very difficult. And so we worked really hard to try to find positions for each of the people who have been impacted by this. The list was longer initially, and we were really glad that we were able to also do some things to enable to reduce the list.

[15848] Bowen Zhang: Any other questions on the board?

[15852] SPEAKER_38: Um, I just want to say it's unfortunate when you have to have a reduction in force like this. Certainly hope that it has a minimal actual human impact. However, we do have to have our, we do have to have our staffing right size to our revenue and our needs.

[15872] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I echo the sentiment, obviously. Always, it's not easy to vote on things like this. Okay, may I get a motion?

[15884] Phuong Nguyen: Move to approve the resolution.

[15886] Bowen Zhang: Motion by Member Nguyen.

[15890] Elisa Martinez: I'll second.

[15891] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Martinez. Student Member Salami, I believe you can vote on this. So, how do you vote?

[15901] SPEAKER_61: No. No.

[15905] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez?

[15908] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[15910] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel?

[15911] SPEAKER_22: Yes.

[15913] Bowen Zhang: Member Nguyen? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. My vote is yes. Motion carried with five ayes, student member voting no. Next one is consent calendar. We do have public speakers for this item and watching the clock. I think we might need to extend this meeting a little bit. How about we extend to 1030?

[15946] Elisa Martinez: President Zhang, is there a consideration to reduce the amount, the speaking time, just because knowing we have a special meeting after this one? I'm not sure how many speakers you have.

[15960] Bowen Zhang: We have five speakers, so that's 15 minutes. That's within the limit of each item. So I will move to extend the meeting to 1030 and the special meeting will be immediately following that one. Okay. Can I get a second? Seconded. Moved by myself, seconded by Member Grundell. Obviously, Student Member Salami, you don't need to stay that late if you choose to, if you don't want to do so. Student Member Salami, how do you vote?

[15993] SPEAKER_61: Yes.

[15994] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez?

[15996] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[15999] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel?

[16000] SPEAKER_22: Yes.

[16001] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[16006] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[16007] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries with five ayes. Meeting extended to 1030. Personnel report. We do have public speaker, but I will first delegate to Superintendent Triplett.

[16022] Mark Triplett: Okay, thank you. So this is a personnel report, and it articulates both appointments that we have, and then also we have some retirements and some resignations. I did want to highlight that this does include the Human Resources Executive Director position. And that is Catheerine Ingham-Watters, who I can speak more about later. But we're really delighted that she has been selected to this position after board ratification. It also includes the selection I referred to earlier of the leadership for the Graham Snow Merge School.

[16084] Bowen Zhang: Okay, so before I think we bring back to the board, we do have five public speakers. Mrs. Castellon, can we bring in the speakers?

[16098] SPEAKER_55: Yes, let me pull up the clock again as well, share my screen. And our first speaker will be Vanessa Shea.

[16113] SPEAKER_20: Good evening. You may begin. Thank you. Good evening. I have concerns about personnel report and my statement is in regards to Principal Byrd. The toxicity of white supremacy culture is ubiquitous and the foundation of our district. Since we are a microcosm of our greater society, this is no surprise. We need to interrogate and reckon with systemic racism and anti-blackness in particular as we further equity work and social justice in NUSD. Principal Byrd is a definition of an equity warrior and is a respected colleague who I had the honor of working with on the district wellness committee. I was saddened and upset to hear about the devaluation and mistreatment of her following an interview for her job for her own job by a panel of her peers. Principal Bird was an advocate for her community and was a visionary leader at the district and school site levels through her work as an admin for seven years. Additionally, she was selected to collaborate with California educators as an equity thought leader to create reports for State Superintendent Tony Thurmond. And this is how we treat dedicated leaders who stand for equity and our underserved students. The silencing of the community and treatment of Principal Bird is traumatic for people to experience and witness. I would like to acknowledge this injustice and request that the district address this huge microaggression and letting her go and make a commitment to respect, recruit, and retain educational leaders of color. Black and Brown staff members, students, and families continually face challenges presented by systemic racism and microaggressions, micro-assaults, and micro-invalidations. Our staff training, development, and a lack of retention is an example. District leadership and the school board can better meet the needs of students and families by not silencing folks. For instance, when it comes to the merger of a high-performing Title I school successfully led by the only Black administrator in our district. Unfortunately, NUSD has also not been meeting the needs of our Spanish-speaking community in interpreting meanings or translating documents. We must place our most marginalized, targeted, oppressed, and underserved students and families at the center of our focus, especially during a pandemic. and not silence, mistreat, devalue, dehumanize one of the district's strongest administrators. We have to be understanding of what our kids, educators, and families are going through right now. To what extent do the goals and priorities on USD represent the possibility for healing and dismantling this culture that perpetuates systemic racism? Our district can acknowledge and repair harm and trust as well as listen to the community and dedicated staff members to push forward equity and social justice authentically. A focus on repairing relationships between district leadership, employees, students, as well as community members would occur by investing in the implementation of district-wide restorative justice practices and mental health support staff for healing. Diversity, equity, and inclusion consultants can guide NUSD and meet the unique needs of our community while assisting us with the challenges of dismantling systemic racism in schools. Lastly, all of our kids deserve to feel safe, seen, and supported. Thank you.

[16303] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Mrs. Hsieh. Next speaker.

[16307] SPEAKER_55: Next speaker, Patrick Harris.

[16314] SPEAKER_08: Mr. Harris, you may begin. Good evening. As a new teacher in your district, I have watched every school board meeting since being hired. I have some concerns that have honestly made me ready to run for the hills. Reviewing this particular personnel report, I noticed some changes that has me questioning the validity of the district's commitment to equity and social justice for its students, staff, and community. I joined this district for its commitment to equity. Equity is one of my specialties besides music. However, please explain how you removed your only black administrator principal Akilah Byrd from Graham elementary and educator who facilitated positive accolades for her school and district. then being selected as the ACSA Region 6 Elementary Principal of the Year. I also noticed Principal Ingham-Watters will be moving from BGI to Executive Director of Human Resources on Monday. In the report, there is no mention if Principal Byrd will be transferred to BGI. Dr. Triplett, part of your dissertation states, investigation of the literature surfaced key aspects of organization's coherence. which will be crucial in our research process. These aspects include the importance of central and site leadership to develop and sustain instructional focus, the value of shared decision making and distributive leadership when building a strong academic culture, the power of teams collaboratively look at student data to inform decision making in a cycle of inquiry The cultivation of a shared belief in high expectations for all students. And finally, a shift of orientation of central office partners to truly be service to school sites. Has this service been provided to the school site admin equitably? Especially those sites that are closing and merging. Will this happen to music when music officially closes? What about the sixth graders when they move to the junior high? Will the junior high principal re-entry? If not, how is this equitable to Principal Berg? Ultimately, how will this affect our students? Furthermore, this district proclaims to have a commitment to equity. But again, please explain how this change is equitable to someone who has been an administrator in this district since 2014 with success. I understand California Ed Code states administrators are at will, but how can you let go one of your best? let alone the only Black administrator. I do not know Principal Byrd personally, but as a fellow Black educator who has also been disrespected this year, not by the students or their parents, but by some who are my colleagues, I can resonate with her. I cannot stand by and watch a fellow Black educator be continuously publicly discussed and blatantly disrespected. Black educators are already acutely underrepresented underrepresented in education. As a district and board, part of your commitment should be to mend and repair the much needed trust with your students, parents, staff, and ultimately the community you serve, and provide transparency, consistency, and equity that they need. And I leave you with the famous words of James Baldwin, I cannot believe what you say because I see what you do. I yield my time. Thank you. Thank you.

[16499] Bowen Zhang: Next speaker.

[16501] SPEAKER_55: Next, we have Delight Evans-Vasquez.

[16510] Bowen Zhang: Mr. You're on mute.

[16513] SPEAKER_47: OK, hello?

[16514] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[16515] SPEAKER_47: All right. Okay, good evening members of the board and Dr. Triplett. Once again, I am here to address my concerns and concerns of the members of the community. For the last three months, many of us have come to the board meetings requesting that we have an anti-bias process for choosing the principal of the merged Graham Snow Elementary School. First, I would like to remind you that the panel who conducted the interview of the two candidates was composed of a group of peers. There wasn't any representation from either of the schools, even though we asked to have a neutral panel along with member Fong. None of the recommendations or input was taken into account. As a member of the community and staff of Newark Unified, it has become more evident that Dr. Triplett and the leadership of the district are more interested in checking off boxes on a list to make it seem that they went through the process for the following reasons. One, Dr. Triplett held several ground snow staff meetings where instead of bringing staff together, we were divided because essentially he was pitting two schools and communities against each other. We were asked about characteristics of a leader. And I know for a fact that most of us focused on student outcomes, principles, expertise, knowledge, and credentials. However, it seems to me that that was never taken into account. Number two, The parent meeting to come up with the qualities was even worse in many ways. It wasn't properly interpreted and documents were never translated. We were expected to work through a Google document with tiny virtual post-its, impossible with most being on their phones for the meeting. It is evident that the district leadership and board has not invested time to get to know the community we serve and look at how to better serve them. Expecting parents to go into breakout sessions without the appropriate tools is like having a teacher in the classrooms with no instructional materials or training to claim that the meeting. took place with parents where only 10 were present from both Graham and Snow and the other 14 were district employees is a disgrace. I know because I was there and it was very upsetting. Number three, we find it very racist and biased not to consider the only African-American principal in the entire NUSD, Mrs. Byrd, for an admin position when she holds an admin credential, not preliminary, for more than five years, has a wealth of expertise and knowledge, has built a great rapport with parents, students, community, has brought scores up, and has been acknowledged for her great work as an administrator. by ACSA. Akilah Byrd was given a pink slip. She did not get the job as principal of Graham Snow and has to possibly return to the classroom. Board members, it is your job and responsibility to play close attention to what is going on and to question. It may all look good on paper, but when you look at it a little deeper, there are big problems. And please don't take this as an attack because you all made the oath to bring systemic changes to meet all the needs of all our students. Thank you.

[16702] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Mrs. Vasquez. Next speaker.

[16708] SPEAKER_55: Next we have Carlos Zarate.

[16717] Bowen Zhang: Carlos, you may begin. You are on mute.

[16723] SPEAKER_41: Board members and Dr. Triplett, I want to address some concerns that arose with the Graham slash Snow principal selection process. Our opinion was not taken into account. First, the fact that only 10 parents were present at the Graham and Snow meeting on March 24th shows a lack of communication. Dr. Triplett, you as a leader must know the history of the community. Communication is critical, which you and the district have not done well. We had multiple meetings with you to discuss the Graham-Snow merger, and you have made promises to follow a fair and impartial process. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Please explain what criteria the panel used to hire the principal because it is clearly, excuse me, it is clear that they did not use many of the characteristics we provided. For example, someone with the experience and knowledge to work with our diverse schools. Someone with a trajectory to work with Title I schools. Someone who challenges and raises the scores of standardized tests. Someone who works with teachers and the community and understands the challenges we face. And someone who understands each student's challenges. As parents and students in the community, we know our rights and we've reviewed the CTE website to see the credentials our leaders hold. We know how hard they work because we work with them. However, you and the district were very strategic and decided to divide the community by putting two principles against each other. Instead of doing an ethical process, you should have had all principles apply. We hope that the board will take this into account. and think about the vote it will make today. Members Martinez, Nguyen, and Zhang, you have been on the board and community members for the past few years. Please see the process, excuse me, please see the process that we used and includes stakeholders as everyone claims they do. Member Hill and Grindle, please continue to question the processes. We're tired of systemic racism. Thank you.

[16855] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Mr. Sorate. Next speaker.

[16866] SPEAKER_55: Next is Monica Quiroz.

[16881] Bowen Zhang: Are we Are we bringing in the speaker?

[16894] SPEAKER_55: Monica Quiroz?

[16896] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I actually don't see the name on the list.

[16898] SPEAKER_55: Okay. I think she was on there. Nope, she's not on there no longer.

[16908] SPEAKER_59: Okay.

[16910] SPEAKER_55: Yeah, she's no longer on there.

[16912] Bowen Zhang: Without bringing it back to the board.

[16916] SPEAKER_41: Okay.

[16919] Bowen Zhang: Obviously this is a personnel report, so I guess if this is dealing with personnel issues, if there's no more comments, we'll proceed to a motion.

[16937] SPEAKER_58: Member Hill.

[16940] Aiden Hill: And so as I mentioned in prior board meetings, especially when it comes to executive cabinet selections, I cannot in good conscience vote to ratify a selection process that I haven't been involved in or had input into. And so there needs to be greater transparency and I think greater input and oversight from a board perspective. So that's my comment.

[16968] Bowen Zhang: So are you specifically referring to the HR director position?

[16972] Aiden Hill: Yeah, that's my primary issue. I'm concerned about some of the other things that some of the speakers have mentioned, but particularly at a cabinet level.

[16980] SPEAKER_55: Okay. President Zhang, she's back.

[16984] Bowen Zhang: Okay. So yeah, can we bring her in?

[16988] SPEAKER_55: Yeah.

[16990] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I saw her on the list. Monica?

[16998] SPEAKER_55: Yes.

[17000] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, you may begin. We can see you. You may begin. Monica, you may begin.

[17010] SPEAKER_09: Buenas noches, estimados miembros de la mesa directiva y Dr. Triplett. A los padres de ELAC y estudiantes aprendices de inglés de la escuela Graham, queremos abordar algunas preocupaciones que surgieron con el proceso de selección de la directora de Graham y Snow. Nuestra opinión no fue tomada en cuenta. En primer lugar, el hecho de que fue solamente diez padres estuvieron presentes de las dos escuelas gram y snom en la junta de padres el 24 de marzo muestra la falta de comunicación doctor triplet usted como líder debe saber la historia de comunidad la comunicación es crítica lo cual usted y el distrito no han hecho Tuvimos multiples reuniones con usted para discutir la fusión de Graham y Snoop. Usted ha hecho promesas de seguir un proceso justo, imparcial. Desafortunadamente, no sucedió. Por favor, explique qué criterios utilizó el panel para contratar al director ¿Por qué? Porque es evidente de que no usaron muchas de las características que le proporcionamos. Por ejemplo, alguien con la experiencia y el conocimiento de trabajar con nuestras diversas escuelas. Alguien con una trayectoria en las escuelas del Título 1. Alguien que desafía el sistema y ha subido las calificaciones, las pruebas estándar, estandarizadas. alguien que trabaja con los maestros y la comunidad y entiende los desafíos que enfrentamos. Alguien que entendemos los desafíos de cada estudiante. Como padres estudiantes de la comunidad sabemos nuestros derechos y hemos revisado el sitio web de CTE. Vemos las credenciales que tienen nuestros líderes y sabemos lo duro que trabajan porque trabajamos con ellos. Sin embargo, el distrito fue muy estratégico y decidió dividir la comunidad, poniendo a dos directores uno contra el otro, en lugar de hacer un proceso ético de mirar todos los directores y darles la oportunidad de aplicar también de esta manera. Usted no está señalando a la señora Tomasi y a la señora Burr, no la conocemos, y a ella los padres de Snump no la conocen, a la señora Burr. Usted no nos ha permitido reunirnos en ambas para conocerlas mejor. Esperamos que la mesa directiva tome en cuenta esto y piense en el voto que va a tomar hoy. Thank you. Gracias por tu comentario. [Translated] Good evening, dear board members and Dr. Triplett. ELAC's parents and English learners at Graham School, we want to address some concerns that emerged with the selection process of the director of Graham and Snow. Our opinion was not taken into account. First, the fact that it was only ten parents were present from the two gram and snom schools on the parent board on March 24 shows the lack of doctor triplet communication you as leader should know the history of community communication is critical which you and the district have not done We had multiple meetings with you to discuss the merger of Graham and Snoop. You have made promises to follow a fair, impartial process. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Please explain what criteria the panel used to hire the director Why? Because it is evident that they did not use many of the features we provide. For example, someone with the experience and knowledge of working with our various schools. Someone with a career in Title 1 schools. Someone who challenges the system and has uploaded the grades, standard tests, standardized. someone who works with teachers and the community and understands the challenges we face. Someone who understands the challenges of each student. As student parents of the community we know our rights and have reviewed the CTE website. We see the credentials that our leaders have and we know how hard they work because we work with them. However, the district was very strategic and decided to divide the community, putting two directors against each other, rather than making an ethical process of looking at all the directors and giving them the opportunity to apply also in this way. You're not pointing to Mrs. Tomasi and Mrs. Burr, we don't know her, and her Snump's parents don't know her, Mrs. Burr. You have not allowed us to meet in both to know them better. We hope that the board of directors will take this into account and think about the vote you will take today. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. [End] [Translated] Good evening, dear board members and Dr. Triplett. ELAC's parents and English learners at Graham School, we want to address some concerns that emerged with the selection process of the director of Graham and Snow. Our opinion was not taken into account. First, the fact that it was only ten parents were present from the two gram and snom schools on the parent board on March 24 shows the lack of doctor triplet communication you as leader should know the history of community communication is critical which you and the district have not done We had multiple meetings with you to discuss the merger of Graham and Snoop. You have made promises to follow a fair, impartial process. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Please explain what criteria the panel used to hire the director Why? Because it is evident that they did not use many of the features we provide. For example, someone with the experience and knowledge of working with our various schools. Someone with a career in Title 1 schools. Someone who challenges the system and has uploaded the grades, standard tests, standardized. someone who works with teachers and the community and understands the challenges we face. Someone who understands the challenges of each student. As student parents of the community we know our rights and have reviewed the CTE website. We see the credentials that our leaders have and we know how hard they work because we work with them. However, the district was very strategic and decided to divide the community, putting two directors against each other, rather than making an ethical process of looking at all the directors and giving them the opportunity to apply also in this way. You're not pointing to Mrs. Tomasi and Mrs. Burr, we don't know her, and her Snump's parents don't know her, Mrs. Burr. You have not allowed us to meet in both to know them better. We hope that the board of directors will take this into account and think about the vote you will take today. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. [Translated] Good evening, dear board members and Dr. Triplett. ELAC's parents and English learners at Graham School, we want to address some concerns that emerged with the selection process of the director of Graham and Snow. Our opinion was not taken into account. First, the fact that it was only ten parents were present from the two gram and snom schools on the parent board on March 24 shows the lack of doctor triplet communication you as leader should know the history of community communication is critical which you and the district have not done We had multiple meetings with you to discuss the merger of Graham and Snoop. You have made promises to follow a fair, impartial process. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Please explain what criteria the panel used to hire the director Why? Because it is evident that they did not use many of the features we provide. For example, someone with the experience and knowledge of working with our various schools. Someone with a career in Title 1 schools. Someone who challenges the system and has uploaded the grades, standard tests, standardized. someone who works with teachers and the community and understands the challenges we face. Someone who understands the challenges of each student. As student parents of the community we know our rights and have reviewed the CTE website. We see the credentials that our leaders have and we know how hard they work because we work with them. However, the district was very strategic and decided to divide the community, putting two directors against each other, rather than making an ethical process of looking at all the directors and giving them the opportunity to apply also in this way. You're not pointing to Mrs. Tomasi and Mrs. Burr, we don't know her, and her Snump's parents don't know her, Mrs. Burr. You have not allowed us to meet in both to know them better. We hope that the board of directors will take this into account and think about the vote you will take today. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. [End] [End]

[17212] Bowen Zhang: I think the main verbiage she told, because Ms. Gutierrez is not here, I guess I pick it up, talking about the communication issue and the selection process. Also, given the fact that we are, Graham is a historic title one district and hope that we can, I mean, work together to improve the district. I might miss something. Member Martinez.

[17235] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, it was a literal translation of the previous comment. I think we heard it in English and Spanish, so. Okay, okay. Thank you, though.

[17247] Bowen Zhang: With that, I think we're all... Member Hill made his comments, so I think we're ready for a motion. Can I get a motion?

[17259] Elisa Martinez: I move to approve the personnel report as is.

[17263] Bowen Zhang: A second? Any second? I'll second that motion. Motion moved by Member Martinez, seconded by Member Glendale. Student member cannot vote on this. Member Martinez, how do you vote? Yes.

[17285] SPEAKER_58: Member Glendale? Yes. Member Hill? No. Member Nguyen?

[17293] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, but I do have a comment later on at the end of the meeting in board comments.

[17298] Bowen Zhang: And my vote is yes as well. Moten carries with four ayes and one no, and Member Hill has already explained his no vote. Moving on to the other consent calendar. Sorry, President Chun? Oh, I'm sorry. Superintendent Triplett, I think you want to bring in Mrs. Catheerine Ingham-Watters, right?

[17322] Mark Triplett: Yes, thank you. Thank you, President Chun. Miss Castillon, can we bring in, oh, there she is. So I'm delighted to, not really an introduction, but a reintroduction of Miss Ingham-Watters. You all know her as the principal of BGI, as well as the president of NEWMA. She has been a principal for eight years, And she also was a student in NUSD, K through 12. And I just learned today that I thought she was a native Newarkian, but she's actually not. She came here when she was three years old, so we're calling her out. But she's been here ever since. So Miss Ingham-Watters just brings such integrity and incredible just thought and caring to all her work. And we're really delighted for her to be joining the Executive Cabinet. And with that, I'll turn it over to you, Miss Ingham-Watters.

[17390] SPEAKER_31: Thank you. Good evening, President Jun, board members, Dr. Triplett, and executive cabinet. I'm very excited for this opportunity. I've had the privilege of working in Newark Unified. This is my 21st year, and it's been my true privilege to work with the many families and students and staff at various sites, including Bunker Elementary, Music, Milani, and Birch Grove Intermediate. I hope to bring stability and the new work lens and perspective as Director of Human Resources. I assure you that my door is open as we continue to build partnerships with our labor groups and continue to build trust and collaboration. I do want to give just a special thanks to the Birch Grove Intermediate staff This was a big end of the year change for them, as well as my admin colleagues, and of course, my friends and family supporting me with this next step. So I'm very thankful for this opportunity, and I'm ready to get to work.

[17462] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Any other comments from board members?

[17467] SPEAKER_58: Member Nguyen?

[17468] Phuong Nguyen: Congratulations, Miss Ingham-Watters. And it's so hard for me not to call you by your first name, Catherine. But we get to be teammates again. So I'm really honored that you're with us and a part of the executive board. So congratulations. I'm so proud of all the work that you've done and in leading the district. And you are definitely I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. Cougars. You know, Goku is so proud of you.

[17498] SPEAKER_11: Thank you.

[17500] Aiden Hill: Member Hill. Welcome Miss Ingham-Watters. Welcome. Thank you. Help.

[17507] Elisa Martinez: If I may remember Miss Ingham-Watters. Of course, I am just so so excited. Um. To And I say that because I know you as the principal of my children, and what I've gotten to see in terms of how you work, you're fair, you're resourceful, you're structured, organized, professional, all those wonderful attributes that we as a board are really excited to see that superintendent brought to his team. Not to, mentioned, you know, the Newark lens, the fact that you know, and people know you, we know there's boundaries. So I'm very, very excited, having you join the team. Congratulations.

[17564] SPEAKER_58: Thank you. Member Grundahl.

[17566] SPEAKER_38: Yes, I'd like to second all those comments. Welcome. Welcome to the to this position. I'm very excited to be able to work with you. So thank you.

[17576] Bowen Zhang: Welcome on board, Ms. Ingham-Watters. And I guess next time, instead of speaking for NEWMA, you will be sitting here with us listening to what we have to say.

[17585] SPEAKER_31: That's right.

[17587] Bowen Zhang: Interesting transition. And we obviously hope that we can get back in person and see you in person and sit together for the next board meetings in the next several years, hopefully.

[17601] Mark Triplett: Hey. If I may, President Chun, so Ms. Engelmard is going to be transitioning quickly, but we also want to recognize that we want to make sure that transition goes well and that we don't leave BGI in the lurch for the remainder of the year. So she'll be continuing to support BGI, but also be stepping into a role as HR executive director.

[17627] Bowen Zhang: OK. With that, I think we're ready to move on to the next consent agenda.

[17634] Mark Triplett: Can I just say one more thing? Sorry, President Chen. Sorry, I know we gotta keep moving. Just wanted to say we will be introducing Principal Tomasini as the new principal of the Snowgram Merge School, but later in the year, since that's something that she will remain at Snow for for the remainder of this year. So when we come back to the board with the design team's presentation of the merger plan and the school naming, then at that point, we'll have a chance to celebrate as well.

[17670] SPEAKER_22: Cool.

[17671] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Next, non-personnel consent calendar. We do have a speaker for 15.2. I think two speaker for 15.2. So we'll first vote on 15.3 and 15.4. If there's no further comment, can I get a motion to approve 15.3 and 15.4?

[17693] SPEAKER_38: I move to approve 15.3 and 15.4.

[17700] Bowen Zhang: Motion made by Member Grindel.

[17702] Phuong Nguyen: I'll second.

[17704] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Nguyen. Member Martinez, how do you vote?

[17709] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[17712] SPEAKER_58: Member Grindel? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Nguyen?

[17721] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[17722] Bowen Zhang: My vote is as well. Motion carries with five ayes. I have yet to see the voting, the voting thing on the board up yet.

[17735] SPEAKER_55: Yeah, I am still learning that piece since I'm covering First Lucia, so I'm going to go back in and edit it afterwards.

[17741] Bowen Zhang: Okay. 15.2, quarterly report on contract fiscal year 2020 to 2021, third quarter. Superintendent Triplett, do you have any comments before we bring in the public speakers?

[17757] Mark Triplett: No, no comments. These are the standard contracts that we share out.

[17765] Bowen Zhang: Ms. Castellon, we have two public speakers on this.

[17769] SPEAKER_55: Yes, let me share my screen for the timer. And our first speaker will be Miss Cindy Parks.

[17779] Cindy Parks: Good evening. Under background, this item says the board has requested a report of all contracts for services over $10,000 be reviewed by the board on a quarterly basis. This report only includes contracts that have not been previously approved by the board. This report lists contracts from the third quarter, which is January, February, March of 2021. The contract with J.R. Consulting for mob program management commenced on July 1st, 2020. However, Jeff Rios, the contractor, did not sign until November 4th, 2020. Dr. Hamilton signed on December 3rd, 2020, and Ms.dela Cruz signed on December 4th, 2020. Why was this contract signed four to five months after the work commenced? Since the signatures were garnered in the second quarter, why wasn't this contract listed on the second quarter contracts report which you approved in January? The second contract on this report was within the correct time period. It is with another friend of Dr. Triplett's. I don't see anything in Jeanette Hernandez's LinkedIn or her brief resume that was included with the contract that says she is an expert or has experience as a facilitator. Her resume cited experience with leadership growth, development, and coaching equity and social justice. Why is NUSD going outside for so many consulting services when your own board policy says you should only go outside when those services can't be provided by your own staff? I believe cronyism is one of the areas the grand jury likes to investigate. Perhaps the Snow and Graham community can weigh in on whether they felt the meetings were facilitated correctly. The one contract lacking in the second quarter report, and now the, or in the second quarter report, and now this third quarter report, is the contract for implicit bias training. A community member who requested a copy of the contract sent it to me. The contract terms began November 19, 2020, between two individuals, Ms. Perchia and Ms. Jackson, on the one contract. It was signed by Mr. Dolowich on January 7, 2021. Ms.dela Cruz signed on January 8th, and Ms. Parchia, one of the contracted individuals, also signed on January 8th. The address, phone number, EIN, or social security number area were both left blank. The contract was executed between two individuals, not a business. Why on the warrant did it list a consulting firm after Ms. Parchia's name? Plus, why wasn't this contract included with the contracts before you this evening? Why are contracts being signed weeks and or months after work has commenced? The objective of this agenda item is not being carried out according to the board's direction and in a transparent way, which allows for the community to review executed contracts in a timely manner. I hope this flawed process can be quickly remedied. Thank you.

[17954] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Mrs. Parks. Next speaker.

[17962] SPEAKER_55: Next speaker will be Eric Tam.

[17967] SPEAKER_28: Hello, board and Dr. Triplett. I would like to make a resolution proposal in relation to Dr. Jeanette Hernandez's project consultant contract. You have all spoken many times about fiscal responsibility. Ms. Marie De La Cruz's forecast already shows a deficit in 2022 and 2023. In addition, if it wasn't for the unplanned cost of inflation adjustment that we got back, next year we would have also faced a budget deficit. On the November 19th meeting, you all debated passionately about which schools to close and merge late into the night. You made a difficult decision and resulted in a net savings of half a million dollars, and you just approved several layoffs. Sorry, the number changed after Dr. Triplett's comments. I was shocked at the amount of Dr. Jeanette's Hernandez contract. Even though there is a maximum limit on the contract, the hourly rate is ridiculous. Dr. Triplett, as one of the most important roles in the district, your approximate hourly rate is $100 per hour, excluding benefits. I doubt Dr. Hernandez contributes three times the value that Dr. Triplett can bring to the school merger facilitation. We teach our children to not just raise problems, but bring solutions. How can we practice fiscal responsibility and work together? I propose the following to the board. Utilize clause 14, termination, ability for NUSD to terminate the contract at will. Utilize the 20K we will save and fund it to the 4.7 million gap we just learned about, about the HVAC systems. We then ask Ms. Pierce, who's a very capable individual, to then please facilitate this process. Member Grindel, I totally agree with you. We need to meet our resourcing to match our revenue. I hope you will create a motion for a similar proposal in the next board meeting. If we're scrounging money to make sure our kids have working HVACs, do we really need to spend 20K on a consultant for a design process? Thank you.

[18090] Bowen Zhang: Thank you, Mr. Tan. Superintendent Triplett, I want to give you a chance whether you want to respond to any of the comments.

[18102] Mark Triplett: No, no, no response. Okay.

[18105] Bowen Zhang: Comments from the board members?

[18110] SPEAKER_58: Member Hill?

[18112] Aiden Hill: Yeah, I share the concerns of the speakers around the contracting process. And in a former life, I actually have an MBA in supply chain management and have extensive experience with procurement, including public procurement. And I don't think that we're following a good process here. And I think we ought to revisit it.

[18133] Bowen Zhang: OK. Is that you're going to bring it up as a future agenda item or? At some point. Okay, are there other comments on the board? Seeing none, may I get a motion to approve 15.2?

[18152] Elisa Martinez: I move to approve item 15.2.

[18159] Bowen Zhang: Motion made by Member Martinez.

[18162] SPEAKER_22: I'll second.

[18163] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Grindel. Member Martinez, how do you vote?

[18170] Carina Plancarte: Yes.

[18171] SPEAKER_58: Member Grundell?

[18173] SPEAKER_22: Yes.

[18175] SPEAKER_58: Member Hill? No. Member Nguyen?

[18179] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[18180] Bowen Zhang: My vote is yes as well. Motion carries with four ayes. And Member Hill has explained his no vote. Moving on to Board Education Committee reports. I guess Member Martinez, Mission Valley ROP, any update?

[18203] Elisa Martinez: Yeah, actually was in a meeting today just but for the. Just from a timely perspective, I think two highlights, just things that they're focused on right now is the preparing to select the student of the year. So there's quite a bit of activity trying to make sure that they're able to celebrate it as as much as possible. Just given it's it's a really important event for ROP and they're really trying to make it as. as whole for the students selected as possible. They are also looking at an option for in-person drive-through of certificates and awards. Again, that's just really important as the year comes to an end, making sure that they're able to give these very important certificates in hand to our students as they get going. So those, there's a few other housekeeping, but maybe next time I'll do a more thorough report. Just wanted to give those highlights.

[18269] Bowen Zhang: Hey, nothing from me for SELPA. What about liaison committee?

[18275] Phuong Nguyen: The liaison committee is meeting Monday, April 19th at 5.30. And we will give you an update That's the following 14.

[18290] Bowen Zhang: Member Martinez, anything from EBICT?

[18294] Elisa Martinez: No, nothing.

[18295] SPEAKER_22: What about audit committee?

[18297] Bowen Zhang: Nothing. Nothing. Obviously, bond parcel tax, I guess, nothing. Nothing. Okay, moving on to education request. Student member is no longer, is not with us anymore. I guess, Member Martinez?

[18318] Elisa Martinez: Um, yes, a couple of things. Um, what? What? Sorry, where's my notes here? Um, and I don't know if we already did this. And maybe I'm just losing my mind, Superintendent and Miss Deli Cruz. But, um, the question was around, um, did we ever get the final report on the facilities master plan? I know that there was some, we were gonna go follow up and with regards to some mistakes in the document. And I honestly can't remember where we are. It'd be great if we can get an update maybe at the next meeting, whether it just as part of the update, just to get an answer or in the weekly update to the rest of the board. Because at some point we do need to close the loop on that. That would be really important. Um, I don't know if it's again more of a request rather than a comment. Um, you know, because I and I wanted to say this, um, you know, I really want to commend the district. There's been today was a tough day of hearing, um, you know, this this sense that that that we are not being fair, um, along a lot of different dimensions. But one of the things, um, um, that I want to talk about is around trying to make meetings and communication more accessible, especially to our Spanish speakers. And are we there yet? Absolutely not. Have we made a huge stride from a year ago? Absolutely. And I just wanted to say that I want to make sure that doesn't get lost. Not downplaying the request that, hey, we need to do more. We need to get more in writing. Absolutely. but let there be no mistake, there's been an effort at the schools, at the district in terms of how we're communicating this commitment to revamp our website so that we've got ease of access to translate because I do go on the website and stuff is outdated, stuff in Spanish isn't there, but we know that and we are working on it. And I just wanted to call that out because it's a lot of work to get there and we're dragging decades of not doing that. And we're trying to get it all fixed in a year. And it's hard to do sometimes. And I'm sorry, President Jung, but I need to say that in Espanol. Porque quiero, yo sé que todavía hay algunos, algunas quejas sobre cuánto esfuerzo está haciendo el distrito para ofrecer comunicación en Español, ya sea las traducciones en español. Lo que quiero decir es que claro que sabemos que no está perfecto, claro que todavía nos falta mucho, pero también les pido que reflejen un poco que en un año ha habido mucho progreso y acuérdense que estamos tratando de arreglar un problema que no se atendió por muchísimos, muchísimos años, pero hay mucha urgencia Hay un enfoque en la página web que el superintendente está llevando donde se va a facilitar mucho más esas traducciones y esa información. Y nada más quería compartir eso porque quiero que se reconozca, no tienen que, pero yo quiero sacarlo que es algo que se ha llevado y ha sido mucho trabajo de mucha gente. Thank you for allowing me to say that. And then I did want to just add something interesting that happened to me last week. I went into a store in Fremont, and I'm not sure if this young lady's listening, but I'm having my mask, my glasses, my hair's back, and I'm, you know, whatever, picking what I'm gonna purchase. And she says, you look familiar. And I laugh, I'm like, I do, you know, with everything on my gear. She says, well, actually, your voice does. And she says, you know, do you get like at Newark at the at the district? And I said, oh, yeah. And all of a sudden I became very self-conscious. And she's and I said, we're part of the I'm part of the board. And and I said, you know, I hope we're not doing too bad of a job. And and turns out she's a I believe a junior at Newark Memorial. And she says, I've been watching the meetings. And, and I said, Oh, geez, I'm sorry. You know, we're trying, we're trying our best. And she said, you know, it's, it's really interesting, all the negativity that flies around, you know, whether it's, you know, one, you know, what, two teachers to the district, to the, you know, there's so much negativity, she said, but, you know, I know you guys are trying your best and us as students, you know, we just kind of shrug our shoulders because I think we just want to know, okay, what's going to happen. Right. And, and I was, ah, you know, such a profound, I, I know, and I try to remind myself, but that just had a huge impact of our behavior. And, um, you know, everyone is free to speak their mind, but, you know, this team is working really hard and I'm not talking about us as board. I'm talking about staff and, um, you guys took a beating today. Um, and those are opinions. Um, but I know that your guys's work will continue to to really, uh, move our schools and our kids forward. And I just really want to appreciate you guys today.

[18663] SPEAKER_58: Member Grindel.

[18666] SPEAKER_38: Um, yes. Um, I'm gonna limit myself just to one thing. Um, but I do want to bring up again the need to get back to in person meetings for this group. Um, I know that's not going to be You know, we can't just pick a date and do it. There's work to do. We need to arrange for how we can manage, you know, safely being together, but also, I hope, maintaining the ability for people to comment electronically if they're not comfortable coming out. So I guess I'm gonna keep saying it until we're back in, but I'm hoping that staff is working on that and can prioritize that. I think it's important for our community to be able to participate and interact with us in a more transparent way. So thank you.

[18717] SPEAKER_58: Thank you. Member Hill?

[18721] Aiden Hill: Nothing at this time. Thank you. Member Nguyen?

[18725] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I have two requests. The first is to Miss Del Cruz, and hopefully other board members will also be in agreement. In regards to the HVAC, can we get a report on previous HVAC completed work and how much it has cost per site?

[18755] Mark Triplett: Yes, we can. We can. We can do that.

[18758] Marie dela Cruz: And then you burn you and just 30. Clarification You're talking about the previous, um, age back. Projects from the bond. Yes, from the bond.

[18769] Phuong Nguyen: Okay. Thank you. And then second. I would. I'm So let me get my thoughts together here. OK. So as a board member, it is not proper for me to get involved in personnel matters, especially pertaining to district hires other than the hiring of the superintendent position. But I am not restricted to giving input to the superintendent and staff. So in light of the internal promotion of the BGI principle to executive HR director, congratulations, Ms. Ingham-Watters on being selected as our HR executive HR director. It now leaves a principal vacancy at BGI. What does that mean? So the board decision on school closure and merger for the 21-22 school year impacted two of our principals, one at Snow and one at Graham. They recently had to interview for one position available due to the merger, and one was selected, which leaves our principal, which leaves our other principal without a school site to lead for 21-22. But a new position, but a new opportunity presented itself with the vacancy of the BGI principal. While normally I would not comment, on the recruitment for the open position, but I feel strongly that I had to and express my input to have the superintendent consider not to open recruitment and instead appoint or I mean, and instead appoint our already highly qualified principal that currently does not have a site to lead in 2022. Superintendent Triplett, I hope that you take my input to heart. Thank you for the consideration.

[18910] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. So yeah, I want to echo on this member of McDonald's request. I hope that the first regular meeting in May that we can be in person. If not, that hopefully at least in May we can be the second meeting in May we can be back to the boardroom. That's my first request. Second request regarding the math pathway. I understand the district is trying to develop the continuity plan for the math pathway. I just want to ask the district to explore the possibility of letting the A students honor pre-calculus class to go directly to calculus BC rather than going to calculus AB. Because the high school I attended Anybody that got an A in the honor trigonometry slash pre-calculus class, go directly to calculus BC. Which in essence, calculus BC is just one semester of class at a UC system and two quarter of courses in a quarter system like Stanford or like other UCs. At Berkeley and UC Riverside, that's one semester of class. So I do think a student that's talented to get an A in the honor pre-calc class, definitely can handle the course and difficulty at Calculus BC. We should enable and encourage our students who are the most aspiring ones to finish Calculus BC as early as possible, particularly if they're aiming for a decent engineering and science program in college. So that is my request, the possibility of letting pre-calculus honored students who get an A in that class to go directly to Calculus BC. So that's my request. And next one will be Board of Education announcement and recognitions. Member Martinez. Member Martinez, you're on mute.

[19034] Elisa Martinez: You know, I just want to recognize obviously the entire team for just you know, keeping things moving with regards to to getting our facilities where they need to be. You know, that money's been sitting there for so long. And so, you know, Mr. La Cruz, I know you work very closely with Mr. Caputo. And, you know, it's really gratifying to finally see the progress So thank you again. We know there's so many moving pieces right now. So just thank you for bringing that forward to us as an update.

[19074] Bowen Zhang: Member Grindel.

[19077] SPEAKER_38: I just want to thank everybody for all the hard work, particularly the teachers working to help our students adjust in this difficult time. So just wanted to bring that forward. We'll be discussing reopening at the closed session coming forward. So I'm not going to comment on that right now. I'm sorry, I had a special meeting coming forward, but I just wanted to thank everybody for all the work they do, and my heart goes out to the students who are really fighting through this, so thank you.

[19106] SPEAKER_58: Member Hill?

[19110] Aiden Hill: On mute. Sorry, I just want to wish Member Phuong, I mean Member Nguyen, a happy birthday again. Thank you. From yesterday.

[19120] Bowen Zhang: From yesterday.

[19125] Phuong Nguyen: Number one. Thank you to all the staff. For all your resilience, hard work and dedication to the district. I know it hasn't been easy. It's been tremendously hard and difficult. But everybody is pushing through and I echo the same sentiments as number Martinez. and to all the families and students. It is a difficult time and we continue to push on and I hope that we can all find understanding at the end of this. Although right now we are at odds on on a couple of issues, 50-50 split down the district on so many things. But I hope that when it comes down to it, that our families and our students really do understand the whole process of how difficult this pandemic has been on all of us. And to find some compassion and empathy through the whole process. So thank you. for all your hard work staff and teachers and students.

[19199] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. So I want to reiterate my previous sincere apology for the comments I made at the end of last board meeting. I think what I said can be perceived as reinforcing racial stereotype and prejudice and kids living in those neighborhoods can be stigmatized by my comments and that was definitely not my intention. In no way I was wishing stagnation for the kids living in the, our low income kids. And I believe social mobility is something that our district should strive for. And that's why many of us volunteer to serve on the school district. And once the pandemic is over, and we definitely are making sure the most underserved kids can actually recoup the learning loss is probably the most important job going forward for us as a district and as a board. And again, I'm sorry, I apologize for my remarks. And in addition, I want to echo everybody's comments just made for the recognition about what a difficult job the team and the staff has been doing. And these are very, very unusual times. And the pandemic probably happened once a century. So I thank for their resilience and hard work. With that, I'll bring to the superintendent for the conclusion remark.

[19284] Mark Triplett: Thank you, president John. I know we need to be moving over to the other meeting, so I'll just keep it brief. And thank everybody for all the work. And also, thank you to our community that is coming out and making public comment. I appreciate that people are really trying to help us to get better. And so we appreciate it. We appreciate being pushed.

[19314] Bowen Zhang: OK. With that, we'll move to adjournment. I move to adjourn the meeting. May I get a second?

[19324] Elisa Martinez: I second.

[19325] Bowen Zhang: Seconded by Member Martinez. Member Martinez, how do you vote?

[19329] Elisa Martinez: Yes.

[19330] Bowen Zhang: Member Grundahl?

[19332] SPEAKER_58: Yes. Member Hill?

[19337] Bowen Zhang: Sorry, yes. Member Nguyen?

[19340] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[19341] Bowen Zhang: My vote is as well. Meeting adjourned at 10.27 PM. We'll be moving to the special meeting quickly.

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

3. CLOSED SESSION

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

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

The employee organizations include NTA & CSEA.

Recess to Closed Session

Type Procedural Purpose:

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

4. 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.

5. NEW BUSINESS

Reopening Plan and Timeline

Type Action, Discussion, Information

Recommended (Recommendation left blank to allow the Board to decide if action is needed) Action Purpose:

The staff will review the existing Reopening Plan and a timeline for the reopening of schools to in-person learning. In addition, the staff will present the possible options available to the Board regarding in-person learning.

Motion & Voting Motion to direct the Superintendent to unilaterally implement the MOU agreed to by the NTA representatives.

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

6. BOARD OF EDUCATION - ANNOUNCEMENTS, DEBRIEF, AND DISCUSSION

Board of Education Announcements

Type Information Purpose:

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

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

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

                       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.

8. ADJOURNMENT

Adjournment

Type Action, Procedural

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

This action will conclude the meeting.

No minutes available.