Regular Meeting

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[9] Nancy Thomas: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It's the March 2nd, 2023 regular meeting of the Board of Education. Ms. Croce, could we please have a roll call? Yes, thank you.

[28] Maria Huffer: Member Jones. Here. Member Goh.

[32] Kat Jones: Here.

[33] Maria Huffer: And President Thomas. Here.

[41] Nancy Thomas: Is there any comment on closed session items? Seeing none, we will be recessing to closed session, where we will have two items on the agenda. 2.1 is public employee discipline dismissal release, and 2.2 is conference with labor negotiations, employee organizations, NTA, and CSCA.

[1664] SPEAKER_43: you

[4412] Nancy Thomas: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the March 2nd, 2023 regular meeting of the Board of Education. Please join me in the pledge. 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. The board has just returned from closed session. The board took action on a vote of four to zero to non-reelect a certain certificated employee, employee ID 4417 and employee ID 4333. Effective at the end of the 22-23 school year, the superintendent of designee is directed to provide the required notice to the employee per Ed Code 44929.1. Next, I would call for approval of the agenda.

[4495] Michael Milliken: Before we begin, or the board take any action on that, there's just two small things I'd like to request. First, because we recently discovered a board bylaw that specified the order of the agenda, we had set it up according to that, and according to that board bylaw, employee organizations are put at agenda item 13, and in reaching out to them, in the more recent past, they've been after recognitions and celebrations. So I'd ask that the employee organizations item 13 get put to seven and a half in between seven and eight so after recognitions and celebrations and before the superintendent report. And then the other thing I'd like to point out is that item 12-4 the title's wrong. The title refers to the 22-23 school year but it should apply to the 23-24 school year but the documents in that item 12-4 are accurate but the simply the title of it or the subject of it is wrong. So I apologize for that.

[4581] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Yes.

[4584] Phuong Nguyen: And I also have one request because I'm assuming a lot of our attendees here tonight are here for item 12.5. Is that correct? And I would also ask that we also move that item up for discussion after we we complete public comment.

[4603] Nancy Thomas: So we're asking for the employee? 12.5. 12.5. For the capital improvement project. Yeah. And you're asking for a 12.5 to be moved after which one?

[4617] Phuong Nguyen: To be considered for discussion and approval or a motion to approve or disapprove after public comment.

[4627] Maria Huffer: OK.

[4630] Nancy Thomas: With those two. Changes, I would entertain a motion. Three items. Three changes. Three changes.

[4643] Aiden Hill: So it's move 13 after 7, move 12.5 after public comment. What's the other one?

[4649] Michael Milliken: It was just tweaking the subject of 12-4, because the subject had the wrong school year. So it's not the. the order of the agenda, but rather simply fixing that typo.

[4668] Aiden Hill: So I move to approve the agenda, including the changes of moving item 13 to after item 7, moving item 12.5 after public comment, and changing the title. And I'm sorry, Dr. For 12-4.

[4692] Nancy Thomas: I'll second that. Please vote.

[4714] Jodi Croce: I'm sorry, can you go again? I stopped it too soon. Thank you. I'll just do this one as a roll call. Let's see. So member Nguyen, how do you vote? Yes. Member Hill, how do you vote? Yes. Thank you. Member Jones, how do you vote? Yes. And Member Thomas, how do you vote? Yes.

[4772] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Ordinarily, we would announce the student vote first, but he will be here later. Soon, yes. Thank you. Next, we move on to student reports. Superintendent.

[4795] Michael Milliken: Ms. Pierce, do we have a student report?

[4800] Jodi Croce: Actually, we do. Thank you. We have with us this evening from Newark Memorial High School, Ms. Leslie Hernandez.

[4811] Guadalupe Lopez: Welcome.

[4815] SPEAKER_45: Good evening, Board, Executive Cabinet, Superintendent Malaikan, and community. My name is Leslie Hernandez-Garcia, and I am the current NMHS ASB President. I will be presenting the school report on behalf of Student Board Representative Diego Torres, who was not able to attend tonight. February was an active month for our school. Our first big event was our annual Sadie Hawkins Dance. Although attendance was low, the students who attended had a lot of fun. Last Friday, February 24th, we had our Senior Cruise, which was the first in many years. Despite the rain throughout the day, the event still took place with an attendance of about 80 students and it was a beautiful night to be out on the bay. Our senior class president hopes it becomes a yearly tradition. Thank you to all those who planned the event and the chaperones who attended for making the night possible. Our athletes also left their mark during the past winter season. The wrestling team had two students qualify for state competition, junior Amaya Ortiz and freshman Malaya Saw. The school is very proud of them and would like to congratulate them on finishing among the top 32 wrestlers in the state. Both boys' and girls' soccer teams were MVAL champions. In addition, they qualified for NCS. The boys' team was eliminated in quarterfinals after suffering a tough loss to Northgate High School in overtime. The girls' team lost in the first round in a hard-fought game against Redwood High School. Girls' basketball also advanced to NCS, but ultimately fell to Monroe Catholic High School in the quarterfinal stage. On February 17th, the athletic department hosted the Special Olympics for the first time since 2020. The athletic department was extremely proud and thankful for all the hard work that the students put in the planning event. There were around 220 students who actively participated during the event, including students from NMHS and from the surrounding cities. Thank you, Superintendent Malaikin, Mr. Dolowich, Ms. Pierce-Davis, and member Nguyen, and others for attending the event and experiencing firsthand the joy the event brings. Currently, NMHS is hosting an attendance contest. The class with the best attendance from February 21st through March 3rd will be rewarded with an icy party from More Life Ice. on Wednesday, March 8th during pause. As of now, seniors are in first place and the freshmen are in last place. Thank you to our district office and Mr. Kuse for helping make this event. Continuing on to March, we kick off with Women's Empowering Month. We will be hosting a variety of events this month during PAWS to celebrate women empowerment. Our first event, which was yesterday, was a workshop led by Newark resident Chris Kendall, who is an author, coach, and business owner. Ms. Kendall spoke to the students about women in entrepreneurship and shared tips on starting a small business at any age. In addition, on March 22nd, Dr. Lisa Janssen Carlson will speak about her role as a pharmacist at UCSF in the clinical trials group. On March 29th, 2022, our very own, oh, on March 29th, 2023, sorry, our very own NMHS alumnus and current Harvard student Amber Nolasco Torres will speak about her experiences at Newark Memorial and the journey she took to get into Harvard. Our last workshop will take place on March 30th, Kariah Shabazz of Kariah Speaks will be back, this time to help students tap into their inner voice and learn to advocate for things they need. If your child is interested in attending any of these workshops, please make your pause appointment with Ms. Canales. To help alleviate the cost of end of year activities, the class of 2023 is hosting an escape room event this Friday, March 3rd, and Saturday, March 4th, from 5 to 9 p.m. in the 700 building. There are various rooms to choose from, such as Marvel, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. Please book your appointments through 23escape.com. It is $5 per person. Additionally, the Athletics Boosters will be hosting a crab feed fundraiser on March 18th. The tickets are currently on sale in the Athletics Office. All proceeds will go towards the Athletic Department. Finally, this year's prom will be taking place on Saturday, April 1st from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Pearl in San Francisco. The menu will include tacos, a mac and cheese bar, dip and dots, and a variety of mocktails. Guest passes are now available in the Activities Office or from the Finance Office and are due on or before Thursday, March 16th. No late guest passes will be accepted, so please pick one up as soon as possible. Tickets will go on sale March 6th. The price with ASBCO is $140 and $145 with that. Thank you.

[5074] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[5080] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Now I have a video from the Bridgepoint. Alexis Blanco. Thank you.

[5094] SPEAKER_28: Good evening, Superintendent Milliken, board members, and county members. I'm Alexis Blanco-Bear for Bridgepoint Leadership in 2. Bridgepoint held its second quarter awards ceremony yesterday. There was one student who earned perfect attendance from October to December. 12 students earned more than 17 credits in one quarter. 28 students earned a 3.0 or higher. Our third quarter is ending next Friday. We'll be welcoming more than 10 new students for the fourth quarter. We now have three new clinicians on campus to provide counseling. Thank you for your support.

[5129] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[5135] Jodi Croce: Thank you. That's all the student reports. And student member Torres is now with us on Zoom. OK, great.

[5142] Nancy Thomas: Welcome, member Torres. Next on the agenda, we have our spotlight, staff spotlight. And I will turn this over to the superintendent.

[5156] Michael Milliken: Thank you so much. We have a staff member to recognize tonight. I want to thank her for coming. Ms. Pierce, I'll let you take it from here.

[5168] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Thank you. It's fitting that we have so many people in the room. I would like to invite Ms. Rachel Koalei up, please. affectionately known as Coach K. A couple weeks ago. I'm gonna have you awkwardly stand there while we sing your praises for a moment. Get ready to really applaud because this was an award I was hoping to announce a couple weeks ago, but I'm really glad to be able to do it now. This award is just about as good as it gets. I would like to congratulate Coach K on being awarded California State, California State Athletic Director of the Year. Now I'm going to have you stand there a little bit more awkwardly while we sing a little bit more of your praises. It's important that the community knows how much you do. You have worked with Newark Memorial for over 21 years in different roles. And I'm going to read a little bit. There was many letters that went to the state to recommend Coach K for this award. But I'm going to read a part of a letter from Ms. Rangel, who was the former principal of Newark Memorial High School, because I think these words are really fitting for why you earned this award. As the principal of the high school, Olivia writes, I was always impressed with not just the positive behavior of our athletes, but the leaders they became on campus as influential peers in doing the right thing. Many were scholar athletes who were also held many responsibilities on sites such as ASB or leaders or clubs, and Coach K set this high standard and expectation by teaching them how to uphold the standard of a champion. When the pandemic hit the nation, Coach K refused to let it impact the students and their progress. She continued to meet students and coaches virtually to address their needs. She set meetings to plan for a safe return to practice. The work she did was not in order to do what was best for the field, but because she knew that one healthy outlet for many of our students in school is sports. Our kids were struggling with their mental health and purpose. Thus, the first NUSD children brought back to school were our athletes. Coach K's planning was so thorough that the school district used it as a model to bring back students into the classroom. Finally, her larger impact on the community is by far most admirable. Coach K partnered with a local restaurant to provide weekly dinners to families in need. Coaches and athletes came out to package and distribute meals in an effort to support this restaurants generous donation She has also led food distribution for holidays gift-giving for Christmas and organized support when families are in need due to a loss or a financial burden Every day coach K models how to be a champion to students by providing those in need in the newer community and as you know She creates champions of character. So again, please join me in giving her a round of applause

[5383] SPEAKER_14: I just want to say thank you for that long list and those kind words to Ms. Rangel and and to the community, but the truth is I don't do that by myself. And so these people that are here behind me, our student athletes and our community members and our very, very hardworking coaches are represented in this award. And I am just blessed to be the face of this award. And so I just want to make sure that it is well known that I do not do this job by myself and that there are many, many hardworking student athletes and adults, community members, family members, and just incredible people who do a really incredible job at working very, very hard at what we do. And so again, thank you for the recognition and thank you all for all that you do. And I'm proud to be the face of this for all of you. So congratulations to all of you as well.

[5448] Nancy Thomas: Congratulations, Coach K. We are so proud. Member Nguyen?

[5459] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. I'd also like to extend my personal congratulations to Coach K and all the amazing coaches and staff at Newark Memorial and also the student athletes there. I have been privileged to be able to participate in a lot of the activities there at the high school because my daughter is there. And I've seen firsthand how much she spends long hours there. Her family spends long hours there. They are so dedicated to all of the coaching staff, all of the parents, all of the students who are her number one priority. Thank you so much. And I really appreciate all the hard work that you do for this community and also the leadership that you provide for the rest of the staff and for all the student athletes here. So thank you so much.

[5518] Nancy Thomas: Well, I have to say, I've been on Facebook, and I've seen every day there's posts on the wonderful work that our athletes are doing. That has everything to do with your leadership. We are so proud of you to get this statewide recognition. And it's obviously, with everything that we've been told about what you do even outside of your job as the athletic director, this is extremely well-deserved. Thank you very much on behalf of the board and the whole community for everything you do for our athletes and for our kids.

[5562] Aiden Hill: And thank you, Coach K. And I just appreciated Ms. Pierce's emphasis of state. And so that's a really impressive accomplishment. And as you say, right, it takes a team. But again, congratulations to you and your team.

[5585] Nancy Thomas: OK. So next we have moved up. employee organizations. So do we have someone from NTA? Mr. Bruese, welcome.

[5610] Sean Abruzzi: Congratulations, Coach K. You deserve it. Good evening, board. NTA will be talking about the APEX program and the safety at the high school. Lastly, NTA will be reading a letter from one of our NTA members at the high school. The APEX program. If the district wants to keep the APEX around, then offer it as a .2 FTE with a job description attached to it. A .2 FTE with what is required by an APEX teacher. The district is offering a $40 an hour, which is not enough money to run this program. NTA is hoping to find a real solutions for credit recoveries for our students. Safety. There are many things going on at our secondary sites, and they have been going on for over two years. I do not want to get into specifics. of these kind of things. I think the letter that I'll be reading from one of our members will go into a little bit more detail. But NTN members do not feel safe at these sites. Being bullied by students, also having students with no discipline thinking that they run this district. we're losing our teachers. Not only are we losing our teachers because we don't have complimentary competitive salaries that compete against Fremont or New Haven, we're also losing our teachers because they're stressed out from the lack of discipline that we have. Discipline cannot only be solely on NTA members to handle that. It has to come from this board in this district with support I am passing this out to make sure that I read this correctly and that everyone could see what it is. This is from Marcus Landon. He can't be here today. He is appointed teacher. He was on professional development at Riverside. So where am I? So I am the Coggy that will be reading this next week. Teachers Union. and district will be negotiating a new contract for the teachers. You will be meeting as negotiations continue. Everyone in this community, teachers, parents, students, and the district leaders need to be made aware of what the teachers and students are facing on a daily basis at Newark Memorial High School. Teachers and students at the high school face a number of things on a daily basis, threats, harassments, The other thing I don't want to mention, the other thing I don't want to mention, fights and more. Quite frankly, as I say in I, Marcus Landon, is fed up with the district not doing enough to protect our community of students and teachers. The breaking point came a little over a week ago when he found out that one of his friends and colleagues was leaving Newark Memorial immediately because This NTA member has been facing harassment from students for over a year. This person's been called fat, the B word, far worse all around campus. This member complained to the admin many times and nothing changes. This member had enough and now is working in another district. This member is an amazing teacher and incredible assets to our school now This member is gone because the teacher couldn't protect this member. Not only one who feels this way, other appointed teachers at the high school is planning to leave as well because their significant others no longer feels comfortable with her work at Newark Memorial due to safety concerns. The teacher next to me, again, I'm speaking about Mr. Landon, is also planning to leave Newark, and she's from Newark. Why? Safety concerns and compensation. In the past month alone, there have been several safety issues at the high school. Early in February, there were some sort of threat to students on campus. No one told teachers or students about the nature of the threat or what the school was doing to address the threats. Most students don't feel safe, so their parents pulled them out of school. Two weeks ago, when one of our Spanish teachers was out of a class, a person with an object, who was not a student of New World World, came to the Spanish class and spent the class period with students. And the substitute was completely unaware because the stranger said he was a student. Our students are being scared, so they don't say anything. If that isn't enough, fire alarms are now regularly ignored because they constantly go off due to students doing things in the bathroom. The district needs to stop teachers from leaving this district. The best way to do this is to pay teachers a fair compensation and provide better safety. These issues have been going on and on, and we are hoping with new leadership in the district office that we can see some change in the near future. If not, this will be known as a district with long-term subs. You're losing us. And you sit there and you sit there and don't listen to us. How can we sit there and have an athletic program when you don't have qualified credentialed teachers in a classroom? We have had vacancies, and I check Ed Joint monthly, weekly, daily, and I don't see anything for Newark Memorial High School or Newark Unified School District of job postings. I see him out there for other school districts for the 23-24 school year, but not us. I wish you guys luck. Thank you for letting me talk, and have a good day.

[6041] Nancy Thomas: Mr. Abruzzi, thank you so much for bringing these issues to light. although I think we've heard some of them in the past. And you can be sure that the board will be working with the superintendent to place this issue on a future agenda and work toward a solution. Superintendent?

[6063] Michael Milliken: Yeah, Mr. Bruese, thanks for speaking tonight. We came to the board meeting open session late because we're working hard on negotiations as I shared with you earlier. My request is that we try to work on these things in between board meetings, and that you bring things to HR and me, and you have my word that we will work with you to address the concerns of your membership. But thanks for coming, and thanks for being here in Newark Unified.

[6101] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[6103] Jodi Croce: And we have one more. We have NEWMA. For NEWMA, we have Ms. Olivia Rangel. Hello. Thank you.

[6112] SPEAKER_11: Good evening, Dr. Milliken, board, executive cabinet, and newer community. Tonight, NEWMA would like to acknowledge that March is Disability Awareness Month. In March, it is important that we take extra steps to raise awareness about the supports and the rights of people with disabilities. and to celebrate their contributions to our communities, as well as acknowledge the staff that provide our most vulnerable students with the services to help them access their education. Students with disabilities make up 13% of our student population in Newark, and we would like to acknowledge the hard work of many of our staff who welcome these students. As you are aware, last month, it's not over Rachel, I know you're not used to this. Last month, the Newark Community, Newark Memorial Community, under the leadership of NEWMA member Rachel Kaolii, welcomed back the Mission Valley SELPA Special Olympics Basketball Event. This amazing, inclusive event, it caters to the students with special needs in the secondary schools in Newark, Union City, and Fremont, and it's by far the best one. Coach K modeled for the general education student peers who volunteered for this event the importance of inclusion and providing a sense of community to all of our students but especially our special athletes. The NEWMA board would also like to acknowledge the daily hard work of a NEWMA service providers such as occupational therapists, behaviorists, physical therapists, and principals who provide expertise, guidance, and daily support to our students with special needs. We also want to thank our NTA partners, such as RSP teachers, SDC teachers, general education teachers, mental health clinicians, adaptive PE specialists, and psychologists, as well as our CSCA partners, such as aides, office staff, and custodial staff. Without your patience and direct support of our students and their programs, they would not be successful. Finally, we would like to thank our parent partners in their child's growth who continue to collaborate in meetings to meet their child's needs. Many of these providers and educators put forth the words of Temple Grandin, who is an American academic and animal behaviorist on the autism spectrum. She said, they put a lot more emphasis on what the child can do instead of what he cannot. Thank you for your time this evening. Thank you.

[6253] Nancy Thomas: I think that's it for employee organizations. Thank you. So next, we have staff reports, superintendent. No, excuse me. It's your interim superintendent report.

[6268] Michael Milliken: Understood. So we will try to keep this short. We know everyone didn't come here for the superintendent's report. I just wanted to thank the high school staff and students for hosting that Special Olympics event. It was incredible. I've been joining principals' meetings and starting to visit school sites. And we put out an invitation to all the school sites. And I'll be going twice to The secondary sites, once for lunch with staff and once for lunch with students to make sure that I'm hearing from them about what's going well and what we need to work on. There'll be a meeting with each school and each stakeholder group before spring break and another meeting after. Then we'll be sharing opportunities and events for the board to be engaged in school district events and to see what's taking place. And I'll be personally involved and have been involved in the negotiations effort. And with that, Ms. Pierce has other highlights to share.

[6347] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Again, I'll be brief. We just wanted to share some of the highlights from our Special Olympics event. Here you have some photos from the event. And again, led by some really incredible student leaders. We also have our attendance challenge, starting specifically with our elementary students. It's this March Madness, so who will win the Cougar Cup, if you will. Each week is an opportunity to win, so no one gets knocked out. It's not that kind of March Madness tournament. But we do want to encourage everyone to really get into the habit of coming to school every day. Obviously, not if you're sick. But any other case, please come to school. And so that will start. It started already. We're into March. starting next Monday, ramping up. All right. We've got March 6, secondary professional development. This has really been differentiated by site and department. So each site and each department is really leading their own work. The primary focus is on formative assessment, with some examples such as Illuminate, sort of end of course assessments, school-wide learner goals. Other FOCI include college and career fair, eighth grade transition plans with our counselors, academic integrity statements, and then we do have some CPI, some crisis prevention and intervention training happening with some of our SDC classrooms. Our elementary, it's a teacher work day, but tomorrow on March 3rd, they'll be looking at their I-Ready data in preparation for finishing out the year strong. We do have just a couple highlights we'd like to share. Coyote Hills Elementary had a Living Wax Museum where they celebrated African American History Month. So we have some photos there of our living characters, giving highlights that they prepared ahead of time and shared with our community. We also have Tule Ponds. This is Ms. Kitake's fourth grade class at BGI. Two classes have already attended. We've got seven more on the way from Birch Grove Intermediate, Coyote Hills, Kennedy, and Lincoln Elementaries. Again, this is a part of our environmental literacy, sort of getting outdoors STEM initiative from this year. I do have some interesting thing that students said that they learned. Things like predators and prey, living organisms, fault lines and different ways that they use the toolies. We also shared our mini pitches. We found out a fun fact that we are the only district besides Menlo Park City School District that has mini pitches. They are located at Schilling and Coyote Hills Elementary, and we shared those with our partners. It was a rainy day, so you don't see any kids using it that day. But it was a great opportunity to share with our neighbors as they're looking to also sort of follow our lead and purchase these for their sites as well. It is March. It is National Nutrition Month. So we just want to celebrate all of our staff that work in our nutrition office. School Breakfast Week is also next week. So we want to encourage all of our students to eat a healthy breakfast, as always. But make sure you get in there next week in particular. We are in the LCAP input session. So each of our schools have SSC meetings. They actually have two engagements where families can give input onto our LCAP plan for 23-24. If you're unable to make those engagements, we also have a survey that we correlate the data for and then use that to inform our planning for LCAP. If you haven't seen these flyers up and around, please reach out to your site principal who can share those both in English and Spanish. And then finally, again, we've already celebrated the California State Athletic Director of the Year, Coach K. But we really did want to thank her yet again for everything that she's done. Thank you so much.

[6577] Michael Milliken: And thank you to member Wynn, board member Wynn, for her photos of the Coyote Hills Wax Museum event. She took those and she was there to encourage the students and and hear their presentations.

[6594] SPEAKER_04: Thank you.

[6598] Nancy Thomas: Staff reports, superintendent?

[6601] Michael Milliken: The two staff reports that we have are from Business Services.

[6606] SPEAKER_19: So CBO, Vela Cruz, will share the summary

[6616] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, the first one is the facilities projects update. We periodically bring to the board an update on the projects that are going on throughout the districts, the projects that have been completed in progress, and it's a combination of bond projects as well as non-bond projects. So I have Maria Denny here from RGM Kramer, who's our facilities projects managers, to give you a brief presentation.

[6645] Nancy Thomas: Welcome.

[6647] SPEAKER_40: Thank you. Good evening. I'm happy to be here. Tell you about all the great work we're doing out in the field. Tonight, we're going to be talking about some Cal Shape funding and also update you on our HVAC projects at all the schools. We finished up the landscape group projects. Our non-bond projects include parking lot striping at both the high school, junior high school, We're currently installing fencing at Coyote Hills. And we have a few projects in planning. The BGP parking lot, water filling stations, and Kennedy Fence. So good news, Ms.dela Cruz is constantly looking for additional funding for the school district. And we got a CALSHAPE grant, which stands for California Schools Healthy Air Plumbing and Efficiency. In October, we submitted an application to the California Energy Commission for ventilation projects. And in February, just a month ago, the New Works School District was awarded over a million dollars in grant money. HVAC projects, we have completed increment one. These are non-DSA projects. These were the most simple projects where we didn't have to do any structural upgrades to the roofing. So we've installed 99 units at the elementary schools and 177 units at the junior high and high school. At the junior high, over Christmas break, we installed 30 units. Right now, we're working on our phase two projects. These are the more complicated ones. We have five units left at the elementary schools. The drawings are complete. We have received, we've ordered and received the units. And we are bidding currently to get pricing from contractors to install the units this summer so we don't disrupt the learning environment. And for the junior high school, we have DSA approval, and we're currently bidding that project. Most of the HVAC units have come in, and the one for One of them for the high school was so large, we had to get a crane to take it off the truck. For the high school, we'll have 31 units. We'll have to open up the ceiling in the gym and beef up the structure in there to get that unit in. And this summer, we'll be finishing up our HVAC projects. OK. We finished up the group two landscape project. So we have a lot of landscaping and irrigation, welcoming students and staff to school every day. Here's a photo at the high school. This is my favorite one at Coyote Hills, the beautiful flowers. We also had projects at Bridgepoint and at the district office for this group. Coyote Hills fence, increasing safety and security at this school. This part of the fence was installed over Thanksgiving, and it's near the kindergarten building. We're going to finish up the fencing over spring break near the admin area. Last spring, we re-striped the high school parking lot. It needed a refresh after the solar project. At the junior high school, we did a pothole, seal coat, and striping project. And it also really improved circulation, because we changed the arrows and the directions the cars drove in. OK, water filling station projects. So recently, the board approved that we would install one bottle filler station at each elementary school and bridge point. And at the junior high and high school, we would install two. water filling stations. So we have walked every site with the principal, and the principal initially suggested a couple of locations, and we want the water filling stations to have refrigerated water, so we had to scope out electricity, make sure there's electricity nearby. And then we met with the LK representative, And who knew that there are just dozens and dozens of different kinds of water filling stations. We had a meeting with them and they helped us. They listened to our needs and helped us figure out the best unit to use. There are vandal resistant units. There are units that have filtration. Some are mechanically operated, the kind that you just push a button. Others are touch-free, which is what we are going to get. Some units are for indoors, and some are for outdoors. We are getting ready to order. Actually, just today, I requested an order for 11 water-filling station units. They've also offered to donate one unit to the school. So that's really good news. And we'll be installing them this summer. OK, Birch Grove parking lot. We had some really good stakeholder engagement and came up with this design that we've showed you before. And the main difference is that we've separated the drop-off loop and the parking lot. We have the parking lot isolated in the middle of the entire parking lot there. And we have submitted drawings to DSA at the end of January. They have accepted our application, and we will start bidding this project soon, and we hope to install it this summer. And then my last update is for Kennedy Fence. done stakeholder engagement for that project. Thank you.

[7070] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[7074] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you for the update. I just had one question. I know that I drive by Coyote Hills often, and the fence in the front there, is there going to be any irrigation done to that part where the new low fence is? Yeah.

[7092] SPEAKER_40: Yeah, okay, so this is what happened when we did the landscaping project We knew that if we installed landscaping at the very front along cherry that it would get trampled So we actually installed the irrigation. Okay last year and The fence that four-foot fence just went in a few weeks ago and I have been coordinating with the landscape contractor to come and install the plants and They've ordered the plants. It's taking a little while for them to come in.

[7123] Phuong Nguyen: No, it looks great. I just wanted to say that. Thank you. Thank you for the update and thank you for all the projects. And we really appreciate all your hard work.

[7132] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[7138] Aiden Hill: Thank you for the presentation. Could we go back to the slide regarding HVAC and the phase two?

[7146] SPEAKER_09: Yeah.

[7151] Aiden Hill: OK, great. I just had a question on the last section. So it says DSA review 40 units. So and then at the very last bullet point, legacy CLOSET certification. So is that the last step in the overall HVAC project? And then after that, we'll really be going into maintenance mode?

[7171] SPEAKER_40: After the summer, yes. OK.

[7175] Phuong Nguyen: Also one clarifying question. The unit that you said that was going to be going into the gym at the high school, is it the main event center or the secondary gym?

[7187] SPEAKER_38: I believe... It's okay.

[7194] Cindy Parks: It's okay if you don't have the answer.

[7197] Phuong Nguyen: I guess I'm not sure... I was just curious.

[7201] SPEAKER_40: Well, I'm not sure what you, I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you call buildings. It's, let me draw you a picture.

[7206] Phuong Nguyen: Because we have an event center, which is the main, I would say the main gym that's in the parking lot. And then there's a, our original gym is in the building.

[7223] SPEAKER_40: May I come show you this diagram? Sure. These are the portables.

[7233] SPEAKER_28: Oh, OK.

[7234] SPEAKER_40: This is where the big, big one is going. The parking lot's out here. Portables?

[7243] Phuong Nguyen: All the portables are out here. Oh, the portable. OK, so the main. And this is the parking lot, right?

[7250] Leonor Rebosura: Yeah, the parking lot's over here. The big parking lot? That's OK. OK.

[7265] Phuong Nguyen: Sorry about that.

[7266] Nancy Thomas: OK. Thank you very much. I think that's all the questions. OK. Item 9.2 is a letter from the Alameda County Office of Education.

[7282] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, so the letter that we received from the county regarding first interim report does indicate that they concur with our positive certification. They did point out a couple of areas that we need to keep in mind. One is our ADA relief calculation, just to keep in mind that There are requirements that will be audited. And I'm fairly confident that we will pass that audit because we made sure that we met the requirements, which included that we offered independent study, that we updated our board policies. And so we were able to take advantage of that relief. The other advice is that they're asking us to continue to look at our declining enrollment. and to continue to monitor and make sure that we maintain a balanced budget.

[7341] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Okay. So next we move on to public comment. First public comment on non-agenda items.

[7351] Aiden Hill: Is it supposed to be before or after? After.

[7353] Nancy Thomas: Okay. Ms. Martinez.

[7389] Elisa Martinez: Good evening, board, interim superintendent and staff. My name is Elisa Martinez. I'm the mother of an eighth grader and a junior at the high school. It's taken me a while to come back after to make comments about the emotional decision you all made a few weeks ago to buy out our previous superintendent. That's done. I'd love to understand what the total cost of that emotional decision was. We know that there was a year and a half left on the contract, plus legal fees, plus, plus, plus, right? The cost to have someone else. And so I'd like to understand that. I do want to speak to, and the timer's not going, so I can't. gauge here. I do want to speak to this emotional decision, and those are my words, because I've been asked by students, I've been asked by families, hey, what happened? And in the absence of any logical, real explanation, I'm going to share my opinions and my perspective. Those are mine. First, I'm going to look at Member Hill. There's not a secret. There's no secret how Member Hill felt towards our superintendent. You got to watch every meeting, any meeting. Usually, he went off the rails, off topic, and I think seemed very upset that the superintendent didn't bend at his will. I'm not making it up. Those are, again, my observations, but I welcome any one of you to observe those meetings and form your own opinion. So I'm sure he was itching to get two more votes to make a change. Second, and actually there's one more thing I have to before I move on from Member Hill. Please, please, please, please spare us your experience as a project manager. You were not elected to be a project manager. We don't want to hear about it. It's irrelevant. You are a LA board member. If you wanted to be a project manager here at the district, you'd be the superintendent. So maybe consider that. Member Jones, you were a previous employee here. You made it no secret that you didn't like the previous superintendent. I get that. That's your personal, your prerogative. But again, you were elected to come represent us, not to bring to bear your personal grievances. Again, my opinion. Finally, Board Member Thomas. We've known each other for a long time. Once again, It is no secret that you'd like superintendents to do as you wish. And I'm not making this up. There's a grand jury report out there. There's a letter of resignation floating out there that basically calls to those things or to the way you like to operate. But I just want to remember or remind you, you're a board. Our citizens, us, we elected you to represent us to determine the what, not the how. That is not your business. The how is not your business. If Member Hill, if Ms. Jones allowed herself some time to be trained, Member Thomas, you've been trained into what the role of the board is, and it is not to tell the superintendent how to do the job. And then I ask a question of you. When was the last time that since the three of you have been on the board, and I exclude you, Member Nguyen, because I really appreciate your perspective, When was the last time you three, or the trio, had a substantive conversation about what are the good things we need to be working for our students instead of are we running the meetings, are the agendas correct? Please consider that question and answer it for us next time.

[7643] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Ms. Parks.

[7663] SPEAKER_38: Good evening.

[7665] Cindy Parks: During the last board meeting you approved the school accountability report card for each school site. Several sites listed projects needs under the school facility conditions and planned improvement category indicating the immediate need for maintenance and repair. The high school quad blacktop and concrete area received a fair and poor rating due to uneven pavement leading to safety concerns. Even though it wasn't identified, students at Lincoln have stumbled over the uneven pavement in their quad area, posing a risk to their safety. Moreover, the report indicated that five classrooms at Kennedy's site require window replacements due to the metal slats on the windows interiors, which could pose a fire hazard. The metal slats could block an occupant's exit from the room if they could not exit through one of the doors. The Newark Unified School District has set aside $11 million with $2 million allocated for deferred maintenance. To ensure the safety and well-being of the district's students and staff, I respectfully request you follow up on the status of the projects identified in the school accountability report card. Thank you.

[7740] Nancy Thomas: Megan McMillan.

[7750] Megan McMillan: Good evening, board, staff, Superintendent Milliken. My name is Megan McMillan. I teach special education preschool at Schilling. And this is my 18th year in Newark. And that is a long time. 18 years is a very long time, and 18 years is the length of the relationship that our preschool team sets up with families in the Newark Unified School District. Oftentimes, those kids start at age three, and they're with us until age 22. And I got to say, when people ask, and people do ask, why I stay, one of the reasons, the biggest reason is this community. The problems that we face, they're never the kids. And the other thing that keeps me here is the amazing team that I work with. This team, we have each other's backs even when it feels like the district doesn't. And we have the district's back even when the district doesn't have ours. And I wanted to point out that this is the second year that I am a 1.5 FTE. Last year, one of our preschool teachers, we have three classrooms, she left to go on maternity leave and have her son. There was no sub, short-term or long-term. We are starting the relationship with the district for these families. It was either sub, after sub, after sub, if we could get one, people who didn't have the qualifications, or my colleague and I could split that class in half and take it on until a sub was found. A sub was never found. I ended the year with a caseload almost equivalent to a gen ed kindergarten teacher. My caseload is supposed to, according to my contract, every effort is to be made that my caseload does not exceed 12. And I ended with 24. We came into this year going, wow, worst year ever. That can't happen again. And this year said, hold my beer. And in January, our new third classroom teacher, because the previous one didn't come back, she couldn't afford to, she resigned. The new teacher resigned. There is no sub. My colleague and I are again split that class and taking that class on ourselves. There's no sub in sight. It's March. We're not going to get one before the end of the year. Again, I will end the year at a caseload nearly twice what I am supposed to have. I am being compensated. not a .5 of my salary, but I am being compensated. But we can no longer continue to be band-aids for the school district. We understand that our occupation is the occupation that creates all others. And if we are not given the tools we need and a fair compensation to do the job, students don't learn. It's not a product that doesn't get made, it's children who don't develop. Thank you.

[7951] Nancy Thomas: Nicole Ozent.

[7962] Nicole Izant: Can I do all my comments at the same time for all the agenda items that I wanted to talk about, just to speed things along? Sure. I think that's all right.

[7970] Nancy Thomas: Is that OK?

[7970] Nicole Izant: Yeah. OK, I'll be fast. So first one is, wait, wait, let me just see which ones they are before you start. Thank you. Non-agenda items, the Chromebooks, and then the Sylvan Lettering Center. So OK. Ready to go. Hi, my name is Nicole Izant, and I speak up here frequently. I was a student in the district. I graduated from UC Berkeley, blah, blah, blah. Many people have heard this before. Now my daughter is a student here, so I'm a concerned parent. I'm an invested parent, and I very much want to see students succeed. So my first comment is about non-agenda items. At the last board meeting, I just want to quickly make a comment that I don't think we should withhold payment to vendors if we don't like their social media, and that's the comment. You could get hit with discrimination and all kinds of other things. So thank you, Member Thomas, for curtailing a discussion that could have gone way off into the weeds. Again, you can't decide to stop payment for people who have rendered services, at least I don't think you can, in the state of California just because you have an objection to what's on their social media. That's the point one. The second point is the Chromebooks. So a lot of kids depend on Chromebooks every day. There's a lot of wear and tear. At the, I think it was the 16th of February meeting, there was a decision to postpone voting to get more Chromebooks. And I really hope that after tonight's meeting, the people that voted no will vote yes. And the reason why is there's state testing coming. There was a lot of wear and tear due to Chromebooks at home during COVID times. And I really think, as your mission statement says, we have to put students first, technology first, and we need to make sure that our kids have what they need and put every single other opinion and petty argument to the side. I've read all of the documents, and I'll use my own opinion here. I think that the business officer put in a really good presentation. I don't see much change from the last time, so I really hope that this time, students first, tech first. If we want kids to come to this district, we have to back up what we're trying to put out there. Thank you. And then the last one is related to the Sylvan Learning Center. Sorry. I'm very emotional, as you can tell. I think it's a really great proposal. It's, you'll see it later. I think Director Kearns is going to talk about it. But long story short, there's money in the LCAP that hasn't been used. We've been getting monthly updates about how much money has been spent in that specific funding. And because it's a funding type, the idea is to use it for after-school tutoring to close the learning gap from specific unduplicated pupil populations. And so the proposal is to do private tutoring with Sylvan for those kids. The school year is almost over. They need the tutoring. They need to get what they need to succeed in math, to succeed at the PSAT, whatever it has to be. So I really hope. You read that proposal really well, and you really put, again, the students first. If we're unable to meet their needs after school, because as you heard from the other teachers beforehand, they're already overworked and underpaid, and we can't expect them to hang out after school to tutor more, but we have LCAP money to pay for the tutoring for the kids, I really urge you to consider those proposals. If there's issues with the contracting language or you need to finalize that, fine, I get that. But please don't delay getting the tutoring there when we have the money sitting unused and it's not going to get used before the end of the school year. I think that's it. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[8178] Nancy Thomas: Michelle Padilla. Thank you.

[8190] Jodi Croce: Ms. Padilla, you are allowed to, it is your time for the non-agenda items. Ms. Padilla, you may begin.

[8230] Carina Plancarte: And guess what?

[8232] SPEAKER_38: None of them want to leave here. They will not.

[8234] Jodi Croce: Hello? Yes, thank you, Ms. Padilla. You may begin.

[8240] SPEAKER_38: Good evening. My name is Michelle Padilla. I am a parent of two children in the district. And I spoke a couple of weeks ago and wanted to see if there was any report out on the findings for Mr. Speaker, not Speaker, Member Aiden, his court case or his, excuse me, mumbling here. If there was any findings to report out on the legal case regarding member Aiden Hill. I think we've asked for this multiple times and I don't think that we've heard anything back. As I understand it, this is under review possibly again. I'm not sure if that's the case or not with this new lawyer that's been hired. Since these are our tax dollars to work here, I believe the public has a right to know. Would appreciate some report back on this. That is all. Thank you.

[8300] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we go to public comment on agenda items. And Ms. Cindy Parks wants to talk about 11.1, which is the Chromebook purchases I can hold it until the item. OK. So I will pull out your others as well. OK. The search contract, Ms. Martinez.

[8357] SPEAKER_43: Sorry.

[8366] Elisa Martinez: Hi, good evening. Elisa Martinez here again. Yes, I wanted to comment on the contract that's up for approval. It's about a $25,000 amount. In my earlier comment, I talked about wanting to get visibility into how much already has gone into this emotional decision to change the leadership. I have to believe we're somewhere between $300,000 and $500,000 in salary and legal fees. I know that this is only $25,000, but I actually wanted to call out a couple of board members who have made it no secret that they have a couple of candidates in mind. So if you're gonna do that, and you have the guts to go ahead and make that leadership change, don't spend $25,000 on a process you already have a prescribed answer for. And I won't mention those candidates to protect their identity. But you know, sadly, as I think about this process is that You go through this process. You go through the motions. If one of those two candidates you've been kind of sharing to anyone who will listen ends up being selected, I have to believe that many of us are going to question whether they really are the right candidate, whether the process was even fair, and really selected the right fit, the right level of experience for what Newark, for our schools, for our kids, for our staff, what we need. So I ask that you just go ahead and be forthcoming and say, you know what, we're going to do the search ourselves. We already have a couple of candidates we'd like to choose from. So I suggest that you vote down this contract. Thank you.

[8483] Nancy Thomas: Ms. Miriam Mendez.

[8491] SPEAKER_45: I'll be translating.

[8494] SPEAKER_09: Thank you. Good evening. My name is Miriam Mendez.

[8497] SPEAKER_45: I'm Sheila's mom, second grade and fourth grade.

[8521] SPEAKER_09: And I need to speak Spanish. I will send my translation for email, please. Thank you. Quiero exponer el caso de mi niño de cuarto grado de Shilling. Y desde que inició este ciclo escolar en agosto de 2022, Me hijo me hizo saber que la maestra que le fue asignada para su clase, que es una clase combo de cuarto y quinto grado, era maestra sustituta. El nombre es Lori Taylor. Y que me decía que les grita mucho todo el tiempo y que no se sentía cómodo. Por lo que yo como una mamá preocupada por el bienestar de mi hijo, yo hablé, in different ocasiones con la maestra para saber de qué forma podía ayudar para resolver la situación y que fuera lo mejor posible para todos. Pasaron las semanas y mi hijo seguía empeorando en su estado de ánimo y no quería ir a la escuela a comment so I'm a heart like I'm a standard or me though know this comes out of a note or me a the knee up a study yes he the whole day in Paris early also got the DNS they hold this on race. um But she didn't report it. She only told me. So I went to the principal, very worried, me as a mother, looking for help, because her emotional health was in danger. So the help I received was psychological therapy. Y se comprobó que el daño emocional era causado por los gritos y el matrato psicológico y emocional que la maestra tiene hacia los niños. También quiero mencionar que a partir del mes de septiembre a diciembre del 2022, estuve acudiendo como voluntaria a la clase de mi hijo para ayudar y apoyar a la maestra. Pero en fecha, diciembre 12, también a mí me gritó exasperadamente. Y fui testigo de cómo le gritó y maltrató a otro alumno a tal extremo de casi golpearlo. Al igual que a mi hijo, lo maltrató delante mío, estando yo ahí presente. por lo que acudí de nueva cuenta con la principal para buscar una solución. Se habló con la maestra, Ms. Tyler, y solo cambió o mejoró, se controló por un par de días, no más de una semana, cuando regresó a la misma actitud. Sé que muchos niños de esta clase, si no es que todos, están afectados por la conducta agresiva y excesiva de esta maestra. But they are afraid to speak, even to talk to their parents. In my house, we foster communication and trust. And even so, my son was afraid to speak. I myself thought of leaving everything as it was, until now. But this past Tuesday, Thank you. The community, the Latino community is present here this night. It's more moms Latinas. Thank you.

[8788] Nancy Thomas: Next, Sophia Rollins. Welcome. Sophia is going to be addressing the Capital Improvement Project, agenda item 12.5. Can I start?

[8810] SPEAKER_02: Okay good evening board members and Newark community. My name is Sophia Rollins and I'm currently a junior at Newark Memorial High School and I know I sent you guys all emails since I thought I was going to be, I wasn't going to be able to come since I had a lacrosse game but I was able to come after. I'd like to share my thoughts on agenda item 12.5 capital improvement project. I would first like to say thank you for approving the funding of a new track and field at Newark Memorial. But I would highly encourage you all to continue to move forward in an efficient manner with this project because it has been identified as an urgent top priority amongst our students, staff, and families. And I acknowledge this is a large purchase, but this is a major project opportunity to bridge the gap between Newark Memorial and the Board. And, like, I know we have already approved, like, the purchase, but I mean, like, I just feel like there's certain things that certain people are trying to do to push things back, but I feel like it's, like, an urgent thing that needs to be, like, it needs to happen efficiently. And like I said before, like, as athletes, we are taught to, like, trust our teammates to succeed. So, like, we are putting, like, I am and we, like, as a community at Newark Memorial, we are putting our trust in you guys to approve the contractor tonight to keep the process moving, just so there's no, like, delay. Like, there's no point of having a delay in these things. Like, we've already approved it. Like, we all want this track and field. Like, it's for, there's many safety reasons why we want it. It's not just because we want it, you know? But that's all I have to say. So, thanks.

[8906] Nancy Thomas: Alex Garcia. Alex is also going to be speaking about the capital improvement contract.

[8924] SPEAKER_46: Good evening, board. My name's Alex Garcia. I'm currently a sophomore in North Memorial High School. I play varsity football, and I throw varsity track and field for our school. As a competitor in the sports I use the field year round, not only just me but many other students in this room. It's more than just as a want as Sophia said it's more of a safety concern that fields got ton of potholes it's horrible. I know you guys heard the whole thing last time but I just feel like it needs to be addressed because We've had, I believe, four torn ACLs on that field due to field conditions. And this isn't just for us. This is for generations to come. Everyone in Newark eventually ends up at Newark Memorial. Everyone from the different, even private schools. I came from a private school, and I'm still here at Newark Memorial. So you're getting more than just the community you already have. You're also bringing in students from the private school area and sometimes kids from even out of towns. I want to thank you again for your support through this process in approving the field and it would be very nice and helpful to have it move along as urgently as possible because while it is mostly for the benefit of the people who are going to come after us because our time and our days here are unfortunately numbered. It would be nice for some of us younger people to be able to at least have one season on this field or be able to at least play on it once and it's even just see it at school because everyone loves just a nice field. It's just it makes a school look good just from a visual standpoint. It makes a purpose when you walk in and you just see a nice thing like, OK, yeah, this place looks nice. This place looks like we can we can do something with it. Thank you.

[9023] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Also speaking on this topic is Fess Santiago.

[9049] SPEAKER_04: Good evening. I brought a friend with me because I get nervous when I speak. Good evening, board members, superintendents, staff members. My name is Fess Santiago. And I want to thank you for the work that you're doing. It's been a long time since I've been at one of these meetings, so I just want to tell you that I appreciate everything that you guys are doing and the topics that come up. I've lived in Newark for 11 years now. I have a fourth grader at BGI. I have a first grader at BGP. Go Bulldogs. This year's been pretty good. I've come here to talk to you guys about the contract award for the capital improvement project at the high school. I think that it's a great benefit to our community and our students. My son and daughter were very excited to hear the news when I shared the details of the project and like the pictures. My son talked about it with his soccer friends and his soccer teammates about how much fun it will be when he plays soccer at the high school. He's a fourth grader, so he's really looking forward to that. My daughter, first grader, also talked about how excited she is when she joins the cheerleading team. She actually did the junior cheerleading this year, so it's really cool how the high school is reaching out to the younger kids. I think that was awesome. I've been at high school games before, and it's incredible to see the wide range of people that are in attendance. I see students, I see teachers, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, siblings. I even see Newark community members that don't have kids even in the high school, like their kids are adults now. So it's really cool to see. The high school is Newark's Town Square. It is where we all run into each other. This is true for people even like me, who I don't have kids in the high school. But when I go there, I run into a bunch of people that we know. I believe a state of the art sports facility will not only benefit our students, but it will be a space to bring the community together. Also, as a board member for Newark Little League, I have seen firsthand the positive impact capital improvements can do to the quality of the experiences that the youth have. Feel good, look good, play good. It also has helped us in our Little League on our retention, our registration numbers, as well as community outreach. People volunteering, wanting to help out, wanting to pitch in. So it's good all around. I also think that one of the best features of Newark, which is why I love and why we're going to stay here, is we have one high school and it brings the whole community together. That really is a selling point for me. With that said, I hope that every elementary and junior high student goes to North Memorial. I think the project will greatly help that cause. This improvement project will definitely have a long lasting effect on our students. Thank you for all the support that you have for our community. I hope this contract is awarded and this important work can start soon. Thank you. Thank you.

[9224] Nancy Thomas: On the same agenda item, Tyler Jorgens.

[9237] SPEAKER_03: Hey, good evening board, Tyler Jorgens. I'm a math teacher at the high school and I coach the track and field team as well as cross country and football and soccer team, coaching wise. Again, I kind of spoke last time. A lot of people already have advocated for the track and field. Obviously, I spend every day of the year there. So I'm obviously in support of upgrading those facilities. So I'm just here just to say if you guys do go through with it, I would definitely love to Be a part of a team if they're looking at any sort of dimensions or anything like that in terms of kind of exactly how they're looking to lay things out or whatever. I'd love to be a part of that and offer any guidance as I'm there a lot in terms of where's the long jump pit going to go, how wide are they going to make the soccer field, things like that. I'd love to be a part of a team if you guys do go through with the project. If you decide not to, if you decide to spend the money elsewhere, I just urge you to make sure we're maintaining the facility that we do have the best that we can, because it takes a lot of work to maintain a grass field. And I think this year was definitely worse than it had been. It was a little disappointing. I heard they talked about in the student report Leslie gave about we had a doubleheader playoff game. Teams came down from Larkspur and Santa Rosa. And Rachel had to like call us that morning, kind of give us the bad news. That's whatever had happened where they couldn't get a striper to paint the line. So we either had to have faint lines and long grass because they couldn't cut without the lines going away. Or if they cut, then we're going to have to play with no lines. So you're either dealing with faint lines and long grass, which in soccer is a big deal, The ball's not going to roll well, or you cut it and then the lines are gone. It wasn't the best look, I don't think, for our district to have teams coming down from Santa Rosa and not be able to have the field the best quality. Obviously, Rachel's the best at working with what we have, and that's why she's getting the award she's getting. But if we do end up not going through with the project, I just urge you to make sure that we're maintaining the facilities that we do have. The best that we can. Last, last kind of point here is just that side note is just that I was talking to Logan cross country coach. They have a nice facility there, but he was talking to me. Just this is a little bit different, but just in terms of the contract, he's told me he makes about $40,000 more than me to kind of do the same job, which I've not. in the numbers all the time, but that's like a lot more. And I'm teaching six-fifths, and one of his classes is athletic PE, which is basically his coaching. So he's essentially coaching two, or teaching two less classes, making $40,000 more than me. So I hope that, I know you guys are looking at the contract and stuff, but I just wanted to make sure you know that we're definitely looking at that as well. So thank you for your time.

[9411] Nancy Thomas: Oz Jimenez.

[9420] SPEAKER_21: Good evening. Thanks for having me. I've been a community member for well over 13 years. I've been with the Little League. I have a son and daughter that are freshmen at the high school. And like I said at the last meeting, I don't think some of you might have been here, but I got to travel to a lot of high schools. where our kids got to play. And I actually traveled to a lot of high schools for my work to check out these type of fields and facilities, because as a municipal worker, we put these in in our own field, replacing grass fields and whatnot. The kids and the school district will grow from having these facilities. We lose student athletes because we don't have the facilities to keep our own student athletes. Kids would rather play at facilities where they know they have a chance to prosper, get better, be seen for college sports, and feel like their school district appreciates them. I worked in Placerville for a while, and there was two high schools there. a school that had 60 years since it was established, and a school that was two years. School with two years had all the most up-to-date facilities as possible. Brand new field, synthetic. Brand new up-to-date gym. A lot of the families would move from where they were living to be in the other school, just because of the school's facilities. I know that we've lost a lot of people from Newark in the past several years because they want to make sure their kids, who are students first, but are excellent athletes, and they'll move them to a facility where they think they're going to have a better chance to be an athlete in college. Because a lot of parents think that they might be able, you know, they don't have the kids that might get the greatest grades to go to a great college. They're hoping that their athleticism can get them a full ride at school and college. And by helping these kids that we have, I mean, look at all these kids. They came here not because maybe they might not, there might be some seniors or juniors here that might not even get to use those facilities. They're doing it for whether it's their siblings or other class teammates that are younger than them that might get that opportunity. And that's why they're here. They want that chance to maybe be able to make it to the next level. And with a facility, that could help. ACLs, MCLs, in high school, because of a bad facility, I think we can do better. Thank you.

[9608] Nancy Thomas: And also talking about architectural services is True Clark.

[9624] SPEAKER_12: Good evening, board members. My name is True Clark, and I'm a senior at Newark Memorial and former student of Ms. Jones at BGI, where she was my favorite teacher. I was her favorite student. I'm ecstatic to see Ms. Jones up there representing students of Newark Unified School District. And this is especially. It's especially important to me because I know she represents and prioritizes student voice. The stadium project of the high school has been one I've been included in since we're allowed to sit down with district leadership, I should say. meet with them and prioritize and identify different capital improvement projects. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend on December 5th when the vote to approve the project took place, but I was relieved when I heard you say that you heard some comments saying that if you weren't sitting up there that you would vote no, but you denied that and said that is not true. I'm happy to see Ms. Jones up there and continue to support student priorities and will vote to move this project forward tonight. Thank you, Ms. Jones, for always supporting students, including myself and advocating for their wishes.

[9697] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Well, next we are going to move to item 12.5, capital improvement projects. Superintendent?

[9716] Jodi Croce: I'm sorry.

[9716] Nancy Thomas: Sorry, thank you.

[9717] Jodi Croce: Did we have a Javin? Did Javin get a chance to speak?

[9723] Nancy Thomas: Oh, well, come on up. Yeah. Thank you.

[9725] Jodi Croce: We had. And then did I hear Miss Parks will wait for her items? Yes. OK. So Javon is our last speaker for this. Thank you. Thank you for catching that.

[9741] SPEAKER_49: Good evening, board. I'm a senior at Northmore High School, so I don't really get a chance to play on this field. I'm going to I'm just kind of here to represent the voice of many that I hear on campus. Obviously, I know a lot of senior athletes and they know they won't get a chance to play on the turf, even the juniors. But just the aspect and how it represents the Newark community. Obviously, you see, we roll deep. Newark community, they stay strong. And I plan to have Newark as a part of my life forever. So I hope to grow older, drive by Newark, and I see you. a nice turf field, brand new field. It would be great. So I'd appreciate y'all. Obviously, y'all voted yes. I talked at the previous meeting. And I appreciated y'all voting yes. And I would love to see y'all move forward and get this done as fast as possible. Thank you.

[9792] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I believe that is all of the comments on. She wants to delay. So next we move on to 12.5, because we moved it up on the agenda, which is Capital Improvement Projects Contract Award for Architectural Services for the Newark Memorial High School Track.

[9822] Michael Milliken: Superintendent. Ms. Dela Cruz, this is your presentation, but just want to clarify for the group that this is specific to hiring an architect for the project. So I just want to make sure that even though we do have a cost estimate for the whole project, that this is not reviewing that. It's specific to the architectural agreement. Is that correct? That's correct. OK. Thanks so much. Just wanted that clarification before you begin.

[9854] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Dr. Milliken. Yes, that is correct. At the December 5th meeting, the board approved the project. And that's when we reviewed this cost estimate. I attached it here for reference, just so all the board members, because I believe there are a couple of board members that were not at the December 5th meeting, so that they had a point of reference. So after the board approved the project, we've been working with RGMK in getting the project moving along. And part of that process was to send out requests for qualifications and requests for proposals. from architect firms so that we can get started on the design and get community engagement and start all the planning and DSA process. So we went through the RFP, sent out documents to five firms, and had a job walk with the architect firms on January 27th. On February 9th, we received four proposals, reviewed the proposals, And we invited three of the most qualified firms to do the interviews. And we had Coach K as part of the interview process, as well as our principal from the high school, and a couple of other staff members, as well as our GMK. So from that process, we selected what we felt was the most qualified firm, which is Verde Design. And the recommendation tonight is to approve a contract with Verde Design so that they can help us with the engineering and architectural services. One of the, well Verde had quite a few qualifications and one of them is that they have the most experience in this type of track and field design and projects. They've also done a lot of local projects. They have award-winning designs. And the civil engineers and the architects that actually presented their proposals are also athletes themselves. So we felt like they could relate to a lot of the community in working with this project. So our recommendation is to approve this project. $334,950, which will come out of our developer fee fund. That does not, however, include a contingency allowance for $25,000 for any ADA or accessibility compliance issues. And when we reference the budget, there is a line item in the budget for soft costs. And this is part of that soft cost. The line item, we had set aside $1.1 million. And this $334,000 is part of that.

[10046] Michael Milliken: And just to clarify, the $334,000 is within the cost estimate that you're comfortable with and that we had planned?

[10054] Marie dela Cruz: Yes. That is what I'm referring to.

[10057] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Board? Comments? Member Hill?

[10064] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Mr. LaCruz. It's just a quick clarification. So the basically $335,000, that will be sort of the first big part of the overall like $6.3 million in spend, right? So that falls within that earlier approved item.

[10079] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, that is correct, Mr. Hill. Great. Thank you.

[10084] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen.

[10086] Phuong Nguyen: I have a comment and I'm ready to make a motion. I'm supportive of this project. I think that all the students, I resonate with all the statements that you made and the families and the parents here that are speaking to it. I'm also a product of Newark Memorial High School and so I know how old that our track and field is and yes, it's over 30 year plus and there's And the last game that Mr. Jorgens was referring to, it was both our boys and girls soccer team who made it to NCS, and they were playing at our home field. I commend all the parents who come out and sit and watch the games, freezing their butts off. But yes, noticeably, I didn't even recognize it during football season, but they're definitely on the field. It is very uneven. There's definitely a slope going down and injuries can definitely be an issue and is an issue for our students. So with that, I'd like to motion to approve the contract.

[10153] Nancy Thomas: Would you like to make a second, someone?

[10157] Kat Jones: I wanted to ask, was Ms. Parks going to respond to this or was it a different one? Okay. I thought she was making a comment about this. I just wanted to double check. I will make a second. May I make one comment first? Sure. Okay. I would like to say that I am completely behind this project and I just wanted to clarify that for students and community members. I was never opposed to this project in the beginning. That was somebody else's feelings that they were putting onto me. So I just wanted to clarify that. And yes, I will second this.

[10198] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I just have one question. You said there were three that you interviewed. Was this contractor the lowest bid?

[10211] Marie dela Cruz: No, they were not the lowest bid. But the gap between this and the next lowest was not significant. And we felt that even though they weren't the lowest, and with professional services, we don't have to go with the lowest bid. We have to go with the most qualified. We felt that this firm was the most qualified out of the three.

[10234] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Well, I, too, am in favor of this project. So I'm happy to ask for a vote.

[10244] Jodi Croce: All right, member Torres, student member Torres, can you give us your vote?

[10250] Diego Torres: Yes. Very happily, I say yes.

[10253] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Thank you, Member Torres. Please vote.

[10261] Jodi Croce: Votes are in.

[10262] Nancy Thomas: Six ayes. The phantom board member.

[10272] Jodi Croce: I'm sorry. Five ayes. Yes.

[10274] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we are going to cover the Chromebook purchase from Tefera. And after this is introduced, we will have a speaker to address it.

[10298] Michael Milliken: So for everyone, yes, that was the motion passed. And we hired the architect.

[10303] Mark Triplett: Thank you.

[10310] Phuong Nguyen: President Thomas, can we have a five-minute recess?

[10313] Nancy Thomas: Yes. Everyone agree? OK, we're going to take a five-minute recess, please. We are back after a short recess, and so we are moving on to 11.1. After that is introduced, we do have a public speaker on it.

[10933] Michael Milliken: So this is both a discussion and providing background, but also a specific proposal for a purchase. So this is an action item, and with that, We would, I'd like to thank both our ed services team and our business services team for working together collaboratively on this to come up with a proposal that works financially and works in the best interest of our students educationally. So with that, I'd like to hand it off to Ms. Pierce.

[10976] Nicole Pierce-Davis: All right, thank you so much. Yes, thank you. We did partner, so Ed Services and Business Office partnered together to make some adjustments to the proposal, and hopefully you like what you see tonight. So just opening up with some information, end-of-life devices, for those that don't know, end-of-life devices are essentially devices that have sort of reached their useful life. They no longer will have applications that will work as new applications come out. And as you can see from this pie chart here, We've got about 42.7% of our devices that are reaching end of life very quickly. Phase one of this was essentially to do an inventory. So let's look after the pandemic and we sort of issued Chromebooks to each student. Many districts sort of on average, they lost about 30% of their Chromebook inventory coming back from the pandemic. just due to wear and tear, lost devices, and so on. And we were, you know, no different than many of the other districts. So phase one was just to get a physical inventory of all of our Chromebooks and carts at our sites. And then phase two was really sort of updating the Google admin dashboard, which essentially is more for our IT department. And Trofera is one of the few companies that was willing to do this sort of second phase, which will help us with ongoing inventory needs, which is one of the reasons Trofera was initially selected. From this inventory, you can see here by school site, how many students we have, how many total Chromebooks they have, but most importantly, how many of those are actually good versus how many are nearing end of life and or are just not, you know, here we just say bad, but they're just not, they're damaged in some way and it's time to replace. The difference there is how many we would need in order to be one-to-one with students. That totals about 1,144 Chromebooks, again, just to get one-to-one. This next chart that you see in front of you includes the one-to-one for our elementary sites, but it also includes a few additional Chromebooks for our two main secondary sites, the Junior High and Newark Memorial. The reason for this is In elementary sites, our students are in one classroom, right? They're self-contained classrooms. In our secondary sites, students are moving classroom to classroom each period. It really becomes not so much a one-to-one issue, but you do need to start moving more towards classroom carts where students can come in and sort of use those Chromebooks, put them back, but it's less helpful to be one-to-one because you just simply have more periods, more teachers, more classrooms to be able to serve. And so we did ask principals directly Just for practical use not your best of the best just practical use what would you need to really feel comfortable getting through testing in your classrooms and for specifically for your core classes. And these are the numbers that we came from the Newark Memorial in the junior high asking for about additional. sort of 200 Chromebooks each. We did also have some district office Chromebooks that we had, so we sort of subtracted that from the total. And what we have here is 1,845 Chromebooks that would really be needed just to really have practical use at our elementary and our secondary levels. Moving forward, though, it's not just about planning for this year. We really do want to think about anticipated need moving forward. And this is one of the requests that came from the board as well. So we are reestablishing a baseline for average broken and damaged laptops. After the pandemic, we are using the Chromebooks a lot more than we did prior to the pandemic. I think that's pretty common sense, right? We got used to using them for instruction. Teachers got used to using them. Students got used to using them. I see some students nodding their heads. And so we just use them a lot more. The Chromebooks that we bought, that we have bought recently and plan on being, are under four-year warranty, which covers accidental breakage, loss, and theft. Obviously within reason, we can't call them and say $2,000. have gone lost. But the good news about that is it does create sort of a built-in system of repair. And we can start to do a little bit better planning moving forward. The general lifespan of student Chromebooks is about eight years maximum, five years on average. It does vary by model. But what you can see here is when you start to kind of go out to 2024, 25, 26, 27, 28, in 2026, we're going to come to another sort of lane in the road where we've got about 3,700 end-of-life devices that we are then going to have to replace as well. So the goal here is to not have to replace all those computers in 26. We want to sort of ramp up to that. So even though you see in 25, we don't anticipate having any end-of-life devices, we want to start prepping for that 26 year so that we don't find ourselves again in a deficit. And then we want to start creating a plan where we can sort of on average maybe, for example, do 500 a year. just so that we're getting in the routine and we don't have them all end of life at the same time. The option, once we realized how many we needed, was either to go to bid or sort of do piggyback pricing. For those who don't know, piggyback is sort of what public agencies can do when it's in the best interest of the district. They have the authority to use another public agency's bid as long as it is cost effective. And that's exactly what we did here. Trafera, which again, we understood the board's concern knowing that they are the ones who did the inventory and then were buying computers directly from that company. However, they are the number one supplier of Google Chromebooks. And so while we chose them to be the inventory company because of what they offered by way of phase one and phase two, they also had one of the better prices. So we want to just note that, that that was done thoughtfully and not Not without thought. And so any purchase, again, under, that is over our bid limit, we have the option of piggybacking and going to bid. In this case, that's why we went ahead with Trofera. We also want to talk about why we went with Trofera with the cost. As you can see here, the base cost of Trofera was much cheaper than the CDWG. These are the two companies that we sort of work with the most. Even though the total contract was a little bit higher, it offered that four-year warranty. And we strongly believe that for an extra $10,000, that four-year warranty is going to save us money. In the sense, again, of any lost, damaged, broken computers can be sort of sent out and fixed. alleviates our IT department from having to do all of these fixes. And so we really do feel like that additional cost is worthwhile. I did want to note just for our community, somebody said, well, I can find one for $130 on Amazon. I just want to, you know, they're missing a lot of things, right? The education Google licensing requirement would be an extra $33. The white glove service is $37, right? And we're going to talk a little bit more about that next. The warranty protection plan is another $37. Not to mention Amazon will not allow us to buy 2,000 Chromebooks at one time. And so the prices end up being comparable when you add in all of those extra services. What is White Glove Service? It essentially means that we're not just getting Chromebooks delivered to our site. They come with the Google Apps that we need. They have a functionality check. They essentially go through an asset tag, each device. They also then will go through for additional cost and replace, sort of go through our carts, take out the ones that are end of life or broken, and replace them with new ones. And so again, with a short staff with IT, this is really supportive to keep our inventory strong moving forward. And so that is why, yet again, we sort of went with this company. So we bring to you three options tonight. the minimum requirement is really getting one-to-one, and that would be for 1,144 Chromebooks. We are recommending that sort of middle of the road that we went to our secondary principals, we did classroom checks, and that's right around that 1,845. Obviously the quote we brought to you last time was 2,579. Staff would prefer to have more computers always, But if we are going to do that amount, we really need to commit to trying to achieve classroom sets moving forward. Otherwise, we put ourselves in the exact same situation where we're going to have 3,000 devices, the end of life all at the same time, and we want to get out of that habit. We want to start planning ahead. So this really depends, that would depend on a sort of a commitment to move towards classroom sets. So tonight we are recommending the middle $1,845 for the contract that you see there. All three contracts are attached to this agenda for your preference. Obviously the board can amend this recommendation as you see fit. If there are any questions, again Marie De La Cruz is right next to me and I'm happy to answer any questions as well.

[11533] Nancy Thomas: So we have a member of the public that would like to address this issue, Ms. Parks.

[11546] Cindy Parks: Good evening. I would like to thank the board for previously tabling this item. It demonstrates fiscal responsibility on the part of the board and staff to carefully evaluate inventory before making a significant purchase. The inventory chart has provided valuable insights as to the Chromebook needs at different sites and the underutilization of inventory at others. As you just witnessed, for instance, at the high school there was around 1,500 students, but only 413 good or provisioned. Chromebooks. While at Coyote Hills, there were 452 students and 721 good or provision Chromebooks. The district currently has 4,951 students and 404 good or provisional Chromebooks. While their proposed purchase is smaller than the original proposal, it would still enable the district to achieve the much desired one-to-one ratio of Chromebooks to students. Thank you.

[11603] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Ms. Parks. Are there any clarifying questions for staff?

[11612] Phuong Nguyen: No, I just want to make the comment that I'm actually, I prefer that we do the staff preference, get as much, I mean, get the original amount that was asked of us to fill the 2,579 Chromebooks. That will get us closer to the one-to-one. And we have the funds to be able to do that right now. So that's my comment.

[11645] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill.

[11647] Aiden Hill: Thank you. Ms. Pearson, it was a really good presentation and I really like us looking at the numbers in detail and thoughtfully. I have a couple of questions just to help me understand. So on, I'm not sure what the pages are, but the first page that you have in the graph where it shows, I mean at the table, keep going, that one, that one. So let me make sure I'm reading this correctly. So on the left-hand column, students, we're totaling up all the students at the different site. And the total is 4,951. So that's our total student count, correct? OK. And then our estimate is that we've got 6,982 total Chromebooks, 4,000 of which are in good condition and almost 2,800 which are in bad condition or end of life. Is that correct? Okay and then and the part that I'm just a little bit confused about is I don't understand what the difference column is.

[11719] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Yeah so that that is either are we when we think about achieving one-to-one Are we negative Chromebooks? Are we positive Chromebooks? So for instance, Newark Memorial High School, in order to achieve one-to-one with good provision Chromebooks, we need 1,084. There are some sites that have more. The reason why we're not pulling those from those sites is some of those sites have decided to use their own site funds to increase Chromebooks at their sites. And we don't feel like it would be fair to those SSCs, those school site councils, those ELACs, who sort of took money out of their own funds to prioritize Chromebooks.

[11756] Aiden Hill: OK. So then that helps, because I was looking at the numbers. And it wasn't making sense to me, because I thought you were taking total Chromebooks and then subtracting out the end of life. And so the math wasn't exactly working. But what you're saying is that we're comparing the students column with the good provision column. Is that what we're doing?

[11782] Nancy Thomas: Yes, that is correct. OK. I'd like to interrupt for a moment, because Jay Lee wanted to speak to this, which I'm happy to do if this was turned in early before we started the discussion. If we've already started the discussion, it's not fair to allow him to come up. Pardon? OK, so that's why we can't honor that. Thank you.

[11816] Phuong Nguyen: But I think we should make the exception. I mean, it is a student, correct?

[11820] Aiden Hill: Yeah, well, Kim, we as the board, right, could make a motion.

[11823] Nancy Thomas: The board can change the rule. OK.

[11827] Phuong Nguyen: I'd like to move to allow the student to speak.

[11831] Aiden Hill: I second.

[11832] Nancy Thomas: OK. But we don't need a formal vote. No. OK. Student, please come and speak.

[11848] Joy Lee: Hello, board members. My name is Joy Lee and this is my friend Rami.

[11852] SPEAKER_34: Hi, nice to meet you guys.

[11855] Nancy Thomas: I'm sorry, I had your name wrong. I said Jay.

[11858] Joy Lee: That's fine, that's fine. But we came up here in support of the Chromebook purchases for many reasons. For one,

[11869] SPEAKER_34: Living in the Silicon Valley, proper exposure to advanced technology is fundamental for our learning, future, and so much more. Another thing that we'd like to mention, and this is from our own experience, is that we and many other students have had to purchase their own Chromebooks, which is, like, obviously, like, not, like, necessary, but, like, it's very hard to rely on the school Chromebooks because of, like, their constant, like, some of them don't turn on. Some of them, like, are extremely slow. Sometimes, like, the Wi-Fi is out. Like, it's all, like, just about, like, the Chromebooks and, like, technology part. And as I previously said, living in the Silicon Valley is like, we need to advance with the technology and we can't stay behind, I feel like.

[11908] Joy Lee: Also, from my own experience, there are times where I would have to miss out or go behind in my learning because my Chromebook wouldn't turn on. So I would have to go back, find a new one. And then if that one doesn't turn on, I would have to go back, find a new one. And then sometimes there are shortages of Chromebooks within our Chromebook cart because there are so many that are missing. The keys are missing, it's slow, it won't turn on. And so we're really hoping that you guys will make the best decision so that we will be able to test well and we'll be able to learn well. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good.

[11951] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you.

[11956] Nancy Thomas: I'm glad we did that.

[11958] Aiden Hill: So if we could just go back to that table, if we just take the bottom row, the total row, so how do you calculate that $1144?

[11976] Nicole Pierce-Davis: So there are 4,951 students. Total Chromebooks that we have is 6,982. But out of that 6,982, 4,000 are good, 3,000 are bad. So just to achieve one-to-one, if we take out the bad Chromebooks, so we've got 4,000 good ones, but we have 4,900 students, there's about 1,000 Chromebooks that we would need to achieve one-to-one Chromebooks, student-to-Chromebooks.

[12004] Aiden Hill: But shouldn't it be 4951 minus 4004? That gives you the delta?

[12011] Michael Milliken: No. I'll interject here. I think what may have happened here, Member Hill, is that the difference column got summed to the bottom. Because what you can't do is take credit for all of the good Chromebooks, because for the for the sites that have spent their own site funds to go above one-to-one, we don't take them back at the district and give them to another school. Does that make sense? So you don't get the benefit of all the green I see.

[12052] Aiden Hill: Chromebooks, if that makes sense. Okay.

[12054] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Thank you so much. Thank you for clarifying that. Now I understand what the question is. Yeah, so that sum total is the difference to get one-to-one at each of the sites, not taking into account the positive number.

[12064] Aiden Hill: Okay, I understand now. Okay, great. So the second question is, do we have a sense of how many of the Chromebooks have been lost or stolen?

[12079] Nicole Pierce-Davis: So I think I mentioned earlier when we came back from the pandemic, on average, districts sort of lost around 30% of their Chromebooks. We do not have a sense of how much we lost in Newark Memorial because we were in mid inventory when the pandemic hit. So that inventory, we really are starting with a new baseline.

[12100] Aiden Hill: OK. OK. And then just two more questions, because I know it could be different depending on the district. But in our district, do we check out Chromebooks to individual students or do they always stay in the classroom and then they're used in the classroom?

[12118] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Right now, they're always used in the classroom. There might be the occasional checkout of a Chromebook. Obviously, our independent study students do get checked out Chromebooks. And then there might be specific needs where a student might need one. But for the most part, they stay in the classroom in carts. That being said, there was a plan, again, before the pandemic, specifically at Newark Memorial High School, to move to a model where students actually took Chromebooks home. That is something that many schools have chosen to do, many districts have chosen to do. I think we need to sit down and think about what kind of vision we want moving forward for Newark Memorial and how that fits within the budget.

[12152] Aiden Hill: Right, and the reason I ask that question is in the district where I teach, kind of the policy is we do want all the kids to have access to technology. If they have their own device, whatever it is, a Mac or a Windows PC, they can use that. But if they need a Chromebook, we will issue it to them. However, there's an asset tag for every single one of those, and there's a formal checkout process. And then at the end of the year, if they don't turn it back in, there's a fine that gets issued. And so there's kind of easier traceability. But I know, being a teacher, I also have reserve Chromebooks in my class. I don't have a lot. But to be frank I'm not an inventory control manager in my in terms of my job And so although I kind of keep track of stuff because I want to make sure that there's access But again, I'm not I'm not tracking this and I think that the one of the things you're why you're recommending for Farah is That they're gonna help us with tracking and so are they gonna come in and do like an annual physical inventory? we're at the end of the school year, they're going to come in and say, okay, there's supposed to be 30 Chromebooks in this cart. There's only 25.

[12228] Aiden Hill: We need to track them down. Is that what the process is going to be going forward?

[12233] Nicole Pierce-Davis: So we would need to pay them in order to do an annual inventory. But part of this inventory is absolutely asset tagging. And I would say if that is the model that the board is interested in going, I would highly recommend that we think about the 2,500 version. Because if we're going to go to a model where we are sort of checking Chromebooks out and we want to make sure we have a class set, then we're going to need to purchase more than just one-to-one. We'd have to actually move much closer to two-to-one.

[12260] Aiden Hill: Well, but I guess, yeah, that wasn't really what I was kind of driving at. I mean, my concern more is that the asset tag, in my opinion, has zero use unless it's actually tracked. And so just putting a tag on something and then it gets lost, right? I mean, we're going to be spending millions of dollars every year on Chromebooks if we don't have an asset tracking process. And so I think that that's something that we ought to think about as we move forward.

[12289] Michael Milliken: We share your interest in that. And this is an opportunity for us to take a fresh look at and invest in asset management.

[12303] Nancy Thomas: So I have a question. What is the downside of going with the staff recommendation versus the staff preference? Because I noticed in the following year you don't have any that you have to replace. Isn't it kind of advantageous if you don't need, if the staff recommendation is sufficient, then buying them next year opposed to this year means they're going to be end of life one year later, so So I guess my thought is that that the the staff recommendation would be sufficient and in order to continue with again with practical use you are correct, and that's why that is the recommendation and

[12350] Nicole Pierce-Davis: If we were to move again towards a model that member Hill was talking about Then we would need to start investing more upfront knowing that that investment is going to need to be more year over year over year But for what we're doing right now, the staff recommendation is one thousand eight hundred Are we ready to make a motion?

[12371] Phuong Nguyen: I'll make the motion to approve the staff preference recommendation for the full amount, only because it also allows near classroom sets. And I think it's really important that we have those. And there's going to be a plan to be able to asset tag them, and then also be able to have a plan to replace them over years where there's end of life. But obviously, it's going to be less than the upfront amount that's being asked.

[12404] Nancy Thomas: Is there a second?

[12411] Diego Torres: I'll move to second that.

[12415] Jodi Croce: Second by Member Torres.

[12420] Nancy Thomas: Please vote.

[12427] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Student Member Torres, how do you vote?

[12430] Diego Torres: Yes.

[12432] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Thank you, Otren. We have two yea, three nay. Nay is by Member Hill, nay by Member Jones, and nay by President Thomas.

[12472] Nancy Thomas: So I would entertain another motion.

[12475] Aiden Hill: I'd like to move that we follow the staff recommendation.

[12480] Nancy Thomas: Do we have a second? I'll second that. Please vote. The motion was made. that by Member Hill and seconded by Member Jones that we follow the staff recommendation.

[12493] Jodi Croce: And the staff recommendation is how many again?

[12496] Nancy Thomas: It's for 1,845 Chromebooks and 17 cards.

[12503] Jodi Croce: I believe that's what you just voted on?

[12505] Nancy Thomas: No. We voted in the staff preference.

[12511] Michael Milliken: Do you want to go back and show that earlier? There you go. So, Jody, we voted on or not we, the boards, we voted it on the right column. That was 2,579.

[12527] SPEAKER_19: And there were three nos and two yeses.

[12530] Michael Milliken: So now there is a new motion for the staff recommendation, which is the central number, the 1,845.

[12537] SPEAKER_19: And so if, Jodi, if we have the electronics

[12547] Michael Milliken: are wrong right now, I would recommend that we just take an oral vote and go from there.

[12558] Jodi Croce: Thank you. So we will do that. The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the purchase of 1,845 Chromebooks and 17 carts through Trafera as presented. May I present Thomas? Are you asking for the... Oh, roll call. Thank you. And I'm sorry, I didn't know who made that motion. I didn't write down who made the motion.

[12585] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill made it, Member Jones seconded it. Thank you.

[12595] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Student Member Torres, how do you vote?

[12601] Diego Torres: Yes.

[12602] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Member Nguyen? Yes. Thank you. Member Jones? Yes. Thank you. Member Hill? Yes. Thank you. And President Thomas? Yes. Thank you. Five ayes.

[12619] Nancy Thomas: Next, we move on to item 11.2, appointment process and timeline for filling the board vacancy. I would, after we have your presentation, superintendent, we do have one person that wants to speak to this.

[12637] Michael Milliken: Sure, so the cover memo or the public content here, for the most part, speaks for itself. We outline the resignation of board member Bowen Zhang on February 17th. That resignation was to take effect at the end of the month. And however, for the purposes of counting 60 days, your 60 day timeline, you have from February 17th. So our deadline for an appointment is April 18th. The board discussed this at a previous special session where you also discussed the selection of a superintendent search firm item, and you discussed and gave us direction that you wanted to go with an appointment. So we needed to outline a timeline for you, which we do here. That timeline would start tomorrow. We would have applications open for nearly three weeks. We would then identify those applications that are eligible based on the information given. We would post the applicant names and the answers to the questions that they provide. My apologies, the draft application has at the top that questions one through nine would be posted publicly, and we actually listed 10 questions, so for clarity, all 10 answers, or however many answers there are to the number of questions that the board decides for its application, would be posted publicly. And then we would give the community and stakeholders time to review those so they could give informed public comment and input at a special meeting on April 3 or April 4 ahead of the regularly scheduled meeting on April 6th. We had a couple of procedural questions. So, for example, what if more than, say, four or five or six people apply? Would the board like to have a committee to narrow that group down, or would the board like to give us guidance that you would structure the interview special session to perhaps consider all of the applicants and narrow them to then a second group or a narrower group that then you have a more substantive interview process for. So there's different things that you could do, but I drafted this committee idea. Another option is to have a subcommittee of the board narrow that group, or again, There are different ways that the board, the entire board itself, could narrow a field should there be more than five applicants. Again, that's a hypothetical problem, but just something for the board to consider. And then the last issue is the application and we'd welcome staff, I mean, excuse me, we'd welcome the board's advice on that application. For me, we had the nine questions that came from CSBA and I proposed a tenth question. I did it relatively hastily, but I do, you know, based upon, you know, what I know of this board, I do know that You value diversity, but another alternative phrasing for that question might be the following. So consider this an alternative to that original question for question number 10. The NUSD board values a diverse governance team that reflects the interests of the newer community. How would your appointment contribute to the diversity of the NUSD board? So with that, we'd welcome the board's guidance. both on the timeline, or not both, but on the timeline. The procedural question of what if you get a number of candidates, more than you expect, is that something that the, how you'd want to deal with that? And then finally, your advice on the application itself that we plan to send out to the community with your approval.

[12931] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I think you framed that very well. So, Ms. Parks.

[12954] Cindy Parks: So this evening I would like to express some concerns regarding the upcoming appointment of the new board member. According to California Education Code 5090, the deadline for appointing a new board member is based on the specified effective date of the resignation. Therefore, in this case, of the correct resignation with a deferred effective date that deadline for the appointment of the new board member should be April 28th instead of the 18th because it's as of the resignation date, not when he turned it in because he deferred it. I would also like to draw your attention to the previous issued encounter in 2021 when the candidate applications were solicited. The original board vacancy posted was not properly advertised in the local media. I urge you to ensure that this step is correctly followed this time. I have a procedural question that needs clarifying. The process provides an option in case there are more than five candidates for the board appointed committee to narrow down the candidate poll. However, this procedure is not outlined in your board bylaw, which states that the board has the sole responsibility to screen out candidates due to the ineligibility. I'm going to strike everything about the 10th question because that threw me off in that it said at the top nine. would be given out to the public as opposed to 10. So in conclusion, I urge the board to ensure a fair and transparent process while filling the board vacancy. Please consider the deadline and the adherence to board bylaw. Thank you.

[13048] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Superintendent.

[13051] Michael Milliken: Just to address the specific question that was raised, you cited Ed Code Article 5090, which says when the resignation shall become effective. And I agree with you. The resignation became effective at the end of the month, February 28. I would respectfully point you to the later section 5091, which is the very next section after 5090. And it says, if a vacancy occurs or if a resignation has been filed with the county superintendent of schools containing a deferred effective date, The school district or community college district governing board shall, within 60 days of the vacancy or the filing of the deferred resignation, either order an election or make a provisional appointment, blah, blah, blah. So it's the filing of the deferred resignation, not when the resignation takes effect, but when it's filed. So we did look into that. And so I just wanted to point that out. And I'm happy to follow up afterwards.

[13123] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. So board, do you have clarifying questions or comments? I think we can just move into the discussion before we have a motion in a second. Member Hill.

[13142] Aiden Hill: Thank you, President Thomas. I like the superintendent's revised phrasing for question 10, because I think it embraces a lot And I agree with the timeline and even though there might be some differences of opinion about exactly when this needs to be done, I think that this looks like a good timeline to me. And then around the procedural question, I really think that we the board are ultimately responsible and that if we do end up having a whole bunch of candidates that we can talk about a process at that point. We can think about it now, but we could talk about it at that point how to deal with it. But I think that that should be in the board's hands. Those are my opinions. Thank you.

[13187] Kat Jones: Okay. Member Jones. My comments basically are that I agree 100% with Aiden Hill's, I'm sorry, Member Hill's comments, and so I don't really need to repeat them, but I do appreciate Dr. Milliken's rewriting of number 10. Thank you.

[13210] Phuong Nguyen: Member Nguyen. Just a clarifying question. In terms of for tonight's purposes, does staff need us to be able to make a decision on a subcommittee right now? Review the applicants?

[13230] Michael Milliken: That would be helpful.

[13233] SPEAKER_19: And to... Oh, your mic.

[13237] Michael Milliken: Apologies. Thank you so much. That would be helpful. And just to set expectations appropriately low, the job of that subcommittee is simply to say these people are eligible. Correct. So it's, but yes, identifying those two members would be helpful.

[13254] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. Okay, so in the past we have identified two board members to be part of the subcommittee and to be quite frank, we don't, in the past couple of times when we've had board vacancies, we didn't get more than three or four applicants and we always, you know, interviewed them all. So just to, just to put that out there. But yes, I'm okay with if the board, you know, unanimous or majority of the board wants to have a subcommittee, I'm okay with that.

[13289] Nancy Thomas: I believe that myself and Member Jones are going to be in training with for Masters of Governance on the days that the board subcommittee would be doing its job. So my suggestion would be that the board subcommittee be member Nguyen and member Hill. Thank you. I also agree with member Hill's comments about the revision of question number 10 and I think I agree with Member Nguyen that we probably won't have the issue of too many candidates. If we were to have that issue, I think another way to think about it is to have a two-step process where in the first step we prioritize and vote on our candidates and then the top three, they get the top three scores from us, would move forward to a next round where they would have additional questions and we would vote on those top three. That's kind of a way we could do it if we do get more than four or five.

[13366] Phuong Nguyen: Yeah, I'm in agreement with that and I think that prior processes were similar to that where we had a rating scale and the top two or three, if we had more than four, we could easily, you know, re-rank them more and make a final decision.

[13385] Nancy Thomas: So I would recommend, I would ask for a motion to approve the process with those two minor changes that the superintendent pointed out. Or the one minor change on that question, right? And the other being the open-ended procedural question.

[13405] Michael Milliken: Based on the conversation, it sounds like you're in consensus. We don't need action on this in terms of a board vote. We have the guidance on the issues. And so we have what we need.

[13418] Nancy Thomas: OK, great. OK, good. Thank you.

[13423] Aiden Hill: I hate to do this. But since it's 15 minutes to 10, and we don't want to run out of time, and since I am a glasses half empty person, in case you haven't figured that out.

[13439] Phuong Nguyen: You're admitting that right now?

[13442] Aiden Hill: Can we extend the meeting to 12 midnight, even though I anticipate that we will get finished much earlier than that?

[13451] Phuong Nguyen: I second, and I can really appreciate Member Hill always looking and watching the clock for us, so thank you.

[13457] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Member Hill. Can we have a raise your hand vote on this? OK, four ayes.

[13467] Jodi Croce: Does Member Torres also? Student Member Torres. Student Member Torres, how do you vote for extending the meeting?

[13472] Diego Torres: I vote yes, hoping that the meeting will end earlier than midnight.

[13476] Nancy Thomas: OK. That was an aye. Five ayes, and we have provided direction to the staff. OK. OK, next we move on to 11.3.

[13489] Michael Milliken: And this was a topic discussed at the previous special meeting. The materials speak for itself. We ask for you to take action to engage them in a contract.

[13507] Phuong Nguyen: Since we've already had discussion on this and we voted for them, I'd like to make a motion to approve the contract.

[13516] Nancy Thomas: I'll second that. Motion made by Member Nguyen, seconded by Member Jones. Please vote. Student member, what's your vote?

[13526] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Student member Torres, how do you vote on 11.3? Yes. Yes. Thank you.

[13553] Nancy Thomas: Please vote. Thank you, Member Torres, by the way.

[13559] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Five ayes.

[13574] Nancy Thomas: Oh, did she say five ayes? Yes. Oh, thank you. I missed that. OK, next we move on to new business board bylaw 9300.11. Superintendent?

[13586] Michael Milliken: So you can see that the layout of this agenda is slightly different than past board meeting agendas. And that's because we discovered bylaw 9300.11, which is called methods of operation. but really lays out in writing the board's expectations for the order of the agenda. I outlined three places where I was aware of us having some disagreements or lacking clarity. So the first is public comment. You know, I think We oftentimes prefer public comment to take place when an agenda item comes up, but that's not always Community friendly or family friendly so we want to make sure I don't know I shouldn't say we want to make sure my suggestion is that we allow for either or both public comment with perhaps some text letting people know that there is Their comments made when an item is considered may be more easily retained or remembered by the board members when given at that time. And they can also make those comments informed by the staff presentation that's typically made immediately before the public comment on the agenda items. And then the second and third things were board reports. We looked into that. Our thinking was that given that this item is listed as a single item in your written bylaws, no change is really needed or recommended. But we just want for you to acknowledge that the board president may organize this item as he or she sees fit. Or if you want specificity, you can modify bylaw 9300.11. Similarly with consent items that are pulled from consent. And the only thing that I didn't write here that you may consider is that our employee organizations, per this bylaw, are going to be item 13 in all future agendas. And we'll have to modify them meeting by meeting, because I do expect that NTA and our other employee organizations would appreciate speaking earlier. So that's a second change to the public comment change that staff would recommend. So first, we recommend that public comment be changed as we lay it out there in the memo. And then second, consider putting employee organizations earlier on perhaps after, you know, where it was tonight between item seven and item eight. Ms. Croce, we put them between seven and eight tonight because that's where it's been historically, is that correct? At least in recent history? Yes, that's correct. Understood. So those are our two recommendations and that's our background on this item.

[13805] Nancy Thomas: Comments from the board?

[13811] Kat Jones: I liked how we reordered for tonight's meeting based on the comments in the background, but also how we reorganized things. It makes more sense to me to have the organizations earlier. And I was looking at it and going, wait, where is comments on agenda items? And so then, yeah, going back and looking there. makes a lot more sense. Thank you.

[13844] Phuong Nguyen: Member Nguyen. I just have one request. Is it possible to move up public comments before the staff reports? Because, you know, to make it public friendly and for students if they want to be able to come and speak. But then, like you said, the second recommendation that you guys have is to also have it public comment during the item is being called up for members who like that option, or for community members who like that process prior to our changes last year.

[13878] Michael Milliken: It's a board meeting. It's your order of items, and staff does not object to moving public comment before staff reports.

[13888] Nancy Thomas: Okay, perfect. I'm fine with that. I think that would work nicely.

[13894] Phuong Nguyen: Sorry, it would be before superintendent report and before staff reports.

[13900] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, after recognition and celebrations. Yeah, I think that's a good place for it. OK. So I agree with that. I agree with the 7.1, that we move the employee organizations up after recognitions and celebrations. Is that what we said? Yes. OK. Number 20, I would recommend that that doesn't make any sense, that that should be removed, which is report of closed session actions. We report closed session actions after we come out of closed session. The only reason that might be there is if we go back into closed session at the end, but I don't think that's necessary there in general. There's one other change that I would like to put in, and that is, After the second paragraph, the order of business at each, before that second paragraph, the order of business at each regular meeting shall be as follows, blah, blah, blah. Before that, I would like to recommend that we say that the board will follow the Rosenberg rules of order, which is similar to Robert's rules of order, but much simplified.

[13985] Phuong Nguyen: I'm OK with that change, but I think that we should probably have a training session on those rules just to make sure that we are going to abide by them before making the change to the bylaws. So if you don't mind, after we get the training or a study session in regards to those procedural changes that you want, and bring back the bylaws and make those changes. So don't make them now. Don't make them now. Make them after we have either a study session on Rosenberg's procedurals so that we know exactly what we're following, so that we don't violate any Brown Act laws or procedural whatever. Anyways, my recommendation is that we bring that back after we've had some training on it. Thank you.

[14044] Nancy Thomas: Did you get that?

[14046] Michael Milliken: I had a clarifying question. We've put two items immediately after recognitions and celebrations, employee organizations and public comment. I guess my question is, does the board have thoughts on which comes first? Because as my notes right now read, employee organizations and then public comment.

[14069] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, that's fine. OK. I think that works. Okay, I guess my suggestion would be, since we made several changes, that this be considered a first reading and that staff brings it back next time for action.

[14084] Guadalupe Lopez: Is that okay?

[14092] Nancy Thomas: Okay.

[14092] Michael Milliken: Happy to do that.

[14094] Nancy Thomas: Then moving on, 12.2, we do have someone that wants to speak to this after you introduce it. And that is position, job description, director of operations, human resources.

[14107] Michael Milliken: Sure. Our executive director of human resources, Ms. Ingham-Watters, will be presenting this item.

[14121] SPEAKER_35: Thank you. So back in July of 2022, we had school services of California complete and present to the board and the board accept accepted the review, an organizational review of the business services and human resources departments and particularly the HR department. One of the major recommendations in the report was to consider restructuring the positions within the HR department in order to improve the overall efficiencies within the department. And so, We are continuing, and this is the first kind of step towards that recommendation. We're taking a multi-phased approach to the recommendation, starting with the Director of Operations, Human Resources, and then we'll continue with other technical positions as recommended by the organizational report. As such, this does affect our classified management positions. And so you'll notice next on the agenda does include a resolution to eliminate the positions of manager and classified and HR manager of certificated. So this agenda item is to recommend a new position and job description for a new one classified management position that would oversee operations for both classified and certificated. We did meet with NEWMA regarding the job description and the position. Also, I would like to just give a little bit more background information about the dollar amount provided in the agenda review. It does show $196,000. So I want to explain and unpack how we got to that amount. So the range for the proposed job description is range 135. We took the middle step of the salary schedule, approximately $140,160 and added all of the burdens, the additional costs, which is about 40%. So that is the middle of the range plus the district's obligation. So I just want to point out the cost savings in this scenario. So if we did have a reduction of the two current management positions, the midpoint for that range is $94,442. Adding the burdens on top of that would create a cost of approximately $264,000. This one position in our proposal would equate $196,000. So in short, would provide a savings to the district close to $70,000. So I wanted to put that extra context in there.

[14310] Michael Milliken: So just two questions. So to confirm, the midpoint of the salary range is what dollar amount for this new position?

[14319] SPEAKER_35: Yes. So it's step C on the current salary schedule for the range, 135. Step C is $140,000, 160. OK. And then the second question is, you used the term burdens? Yes. So when we say,

[14338] Michael Milliken: you know, when you go from 140 to 180 or 90 in total cost, is that unique to this position? Or is it for all Newark employees, all school district employees in the state? And what are a couple of those burdens? Just to give people an idea.

[14358] SPEAKER_35: Sure. So, Marie, Dela Cruz can also chime in, but it's the employer I don't want to say the fees, the employer responsibilities. So that would include, for this position, PERS contributions, which is well over 20%. And Marie, you can talk about the additional state and federal. Go ahead.

[14380] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah. So unemployment insurance, workers comp, and Medicare, all those taxes.

[14389] Michael Milliken: Gotcha. And PERS is the pension contribution.

[14392] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, that's the employer's contribution rate to retirement.

[14400] SPEAKER_35: And the only other thing that I would say, if this is approved and we move forward with the first phase of the restructuring, that the hiring for this position would follow our process for any position that we have, meaning it would go through the normal posting process, And any internal or external candidate would be welcomed and encouraged to apply, holding the interview panels, et cetera. So the same exact process would be followed as we transition if it's approved.

[14436] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. We have a public speaker, Ms. Cindy Parks.

[14448] Cindy Parks: Good evening again. As you review the proposal for the new Director of Operations position in HR and consider the resolution to lay off two current HR positions, I urge you to fulfill your fiduciary responsibility to the district by thoroughly understanding the financial impact and implications of this decision. It is important to note that the proposed salary for the new position, which would report to the Executive Director of HR, is within the same range as your Director of Fiscal Services. Thank you for the explanation on the $196,000 and breaking that all down because I was just going to get to all of that and the fact that being quoted at $196,000 was more than what you make right now. But I do think that it is important to note that that is a significant pay increase over what the current managers are making. The new position was derived from the school services organizational review of business services and human resources department, which is presented to you board members or the board members on October 20th of 22. The report was also recommended the creation of an HR generalist and an HR technician positions. Neither of these positions has a job description nor a salary schedule as they do not currently exist and they are not included on this agenda. So you need to consider that when you're adding what is a part of this job versus what you're taking away. As board members, it is your responsibility to receive a clear and complete explanation of how the school services recommendation will fully impact the Human Resource Department and the district's finances. This includes understanding the true reason behind the resolution to lay off two HR positions, which claims lack of work and or funds. But in reality, the workload has simply been redistributed. With the district's declining enrollment, teachers still without a contract after nine months, and the $858,000 general fund deficit identified in the county February 2022, I'm sorry, February 22, 2023 letter for this fiscal year. It is more critical than ever for the board to take its fiduciary responsibilities seriously and ensure that every component of this reorganization is fully understood before the decisions are made. Thank you.

[14599] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Ms. Parks.

[14603] Michael Milliken: Yes. Ms. Ingham-Watters, just a follow-up question. Does this address the HR department reorganization for the foreseeable future, or is this part A or part one of a multi-phase reorg?

[14627] SPEAKER_35: This is phase one of the reorganization recommendations. We wanted to start with the director of operations because how we will create the additional recommended positions, generalist, technician, we want full alignment between certain tasks. For example, we don't want one position to oversee all classified leaves or certificated leaves or what we want is we want certain tasks to have multiple positions, have their eyes on certain things. For example, leaves. We want like a possible tech or generalist. They have a part of leaves. The director of operations is overseeing that work. I'm guiding all of the timelines and responsibilities. So for some of the things in which in our current structure, some positions are just on some tasks. And what we're hoping to do is really have some of those really vital tasks, have multiple set of eyes on them, and multiple layers of oversight so it doesn't sit in any one's list of duties and varying degrees of responsibility. Where I'm overseeing everything, the director of operations is over, you know, assisting and directing other employees and they're doing more technical pieces.

[14742] Nancy Thomas: Board members, clarifying comments, questions?

[14750] Phuong Nguyen: I guess my main concern is that in the resolution, we are going to be laying off two employees. Is there a way for us to be able to reclassify their positions now based on their skill level and what they're capable of doing and giving them that option for the generalist and the technician? Or, I mean, while you open this up for recruitment, they are also able to apply for this position if they're qualified.

[14781] SPEAKER_35: Can you just repeat the question?

[14783] Phuong Nguyen: OK. So my main concern is that, you know, we are having issues hiring and stuff like that. And if we do lose two employees right now, that just makes it more difficult for you to be able to recruit with the new school year coming if we don't have positions filled or if we don't fill this position and then not have a generalist or a technician to be able to do the technical part of the recruitment and also maintain all the other aspects of HR. So is there a way for us to be able to reclassify the two current employees into any of the new roles or the suggested roles that were in the recommendation?

[14834] SPEAKER_35: So just to clarify, when you say classify, the other positions.

[14841] Phuong Nguyen: So like in the in the review, right, saying, hey, we need we need this position, the director of operations. We need a generalist and we need a technician. Our two current HR managers that are in the job right now, in a way that in a way that was a review of the job, job duties and specifications. Is it possible to reclassify either of the current employees that are in those positions to fill any of the generalist or the technician position?

[14873] SPEAKER_35: Yes. I think the one thing that I want to just highlight in the organizational report was the management number in our current size district with our current size enrollment was quite high.

[14890] Maria Huffer: Correct.

[14890] SPEAKER_35: And there's all sorts of comparative data embedded. And so that type of work, we have four management positions out of an FTE of six. And so part of the consideration is reducing the management level positions by one, which will allow some like a shift instead of having two, one who is the front office staff person and then one in HR trying to shift some of that responsibility out of the management type positions and in more of other types of positions. So I'm not sure I can answer that specifically. because the work of the other non-management positions would not be in the same classification as management positions. So I think that's a little hard for me to answer.

[14952] Michael Milliken: OK, no worries. But your primary interest is making sure that we're able to recruit and hire for next year.

[14959] Maria Huffer: Correct.

[14963] Michael Milliken: Do you feel as though you'll be able to recruit and hire for next year, Ms. Ingham?

[14969] SPEAKER_35: I do. I do feel I do feel that we will. Yeah.

[14975] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you.

[14979] Kat Jones: Jones. Yes. My question is I mean if we're eliminating two positions and I know we're kind of creating this generalist and tech position but if we're eliminating these two management positions and one person is now more or less doing the bulk of that work. Is that possible hours wise? I mean, I know you're going to be taking some of that and putting it down on these other two. But if we don't have those other two people in place, is this one person going to be able to accomplish the two jobs that we're eliminating at this point without formulating the new ones? I mean, you know, after this would happen.

[15027] SPEAKER_35: Yeah, and we have been actively working on drafts of what I just described as far as this multi-layer approach of certain really important tasks. So those are all in draft form. I think we wanted to start with this to kind of see the big picture of having someone oversee the operations. And so I think we would be ready to move relatively quickly with the next phase of the suggested generalist and technician roles. And so we can move quicker on those. We have been doing a lot of heavy lifting in HR with our current staffing configuration. And we have been getting by obviously day to day, but we do want to have those pieces in place so we can. So to answer your question, I think the director of operations is overseeing and guiding and directing that operational work. That's the vision. And then folks that are supporting that type of operational work, they are doing the paperwork pieces and the organizational pieces and things like that. that are, you know, checked and looked over by a director of operations who knows classified and certificated. And then I'm overseeing the department and really be able to focus on negotiations, labor relations, recruitment and retention plans for the district and not, you know, filling out forms myself for staff or for hiring and things like that. So that's the bigger goal and vision of restructuring in that way. Member Hill.

[15135] Aiden Hill: Thank you, President Thomas. Could you remind me, because you were going quickly, so the two existing positions that we're getting rid of, what's their fully loaded cost or however you were calculating it?

[15151] SPEAKER_35: Sure. So the midpoint of that current range, which is range 68, is $94,442.

[15163] Aiden Hill: OK, and times 2.

[15166] SPEAKER_35: With the addition of the employer contribution costs, that brings it up to $132,218.80. Now times 2. OK, great. $264,437.60. OK. And so we're saying that we're going to eliminate those two positions.

[15193] Aiden Hill: full it up under Director of Operations. And then the two other positions that are on the org chart, I'm not asking for a perfect answer here, but do we have a sense of what the fully loaded costs for those two new positions would be?

[15211] SPEAKER_35: We have not determined an appropriate range for those positions, but they would be more technical, supportive positions. So they wouldn't be in the management salary schedule, is what we're predicting.

[15228] Kat Jones: But you've got about a, I'm sorry, is it OK? But just listening to the numbers, it sounds like there's roughly $70,000, the difference between the two positions and the one position. But then we've got these other two positions that need to be created. I don't think we're going to be able to pay for those two positions with $70,000. That's a concern.

[15252] Phuong Nguyen: No, I don't think it was meant to have a cost savings to the district. I think it's the functionality and the way that is being restructured. I mean, technically, they're eliminating a manager, two managers position to create this management position. But you're also hiring technical people, two additional technical people to be able to help sustain HR, which they currently need help in. So I'm in support of it. Thank you.

[15287] Nancy Thomas: I, too, am in support of the restructuring that's been recommended by school services. I think it's necessary. It would have been helpful, I think, this evening to have those other two jobs scoped out so that we could say, OK, here's the bottom line of how much more it's going to cost.

[15308] SPEAKER_35: Do you want to address that? Yeah, just if we're thinking about our CSCA classifications, we have to go through a process of negotiating brand new job descriptions with CSCA and revising any ones that we have. And so we have begun that process of, you know, they know that this this plan is getting worked on, if you will. And so Because this is a management position, we met and conferred with NEWMA, and we did our part there. I think the negotiations with CSCA and their 610 process to approve that will take some time. And so again, the idea to have kind of a multi-phased approach allows us time to do that. And then, of course, those job descriptions, CSCA is on board and it looks great, then we'll bring to the board for approval.

[15372] Nancy Thomas: Superintendent?

[15373] Michael Milliken: Just, you know, big picture, you know, we've heard some concerns from NTA about our ability to address employee concerns. We've heard concerns around recruitment and retention. And so, you know, if this is an area of need And we've benchmarked and done a study about how to better organize the work to better support our employees, to better do recruitment and retention. You know, we ask for your support as we change how we approach the work so that we can be more effective as a district along these lines. And it goes to the heart of, you know, our people and so that's the orientation here. It's not always just dollars and cents.

[15430] Aiden Hill: Yeah, thank you, and I I see in this org chart so the proposed org chart There's this position says substitute placement clerk and and I can speak from personal experience a couple of years ago And I was just beginning my educational journey, and I was trying to be or I was I was acting as a substitute at Newark Memorial My perception was it substitute placement was kind of a chaotic process and so having a dedicated person I think would be great my question though is since we have identified that recruitment is so important and oftentimes in this in at least in you know corporate America you're you within HR you have a separate function that does recruiting or somehow spelled out what in this new structure who would be driving the recruiting efforts

[15483] SPEAKER_35: I think, ideally, I'm taking a big responsibility in the district's recruitment and retention plan. And so, of course, anywhere where it says supporting the executive director. So, for example, the fourth bullet down on the job description works collaboratively with the executive director of human resources for layoffs, recruitment and hiring, and seniority. So I would be driving the work and the overall plan for recruitment and hiring. collaboratively working with the operations manager so that we can push hiring managers, you know, with a quick timeline, like right now, last month, to identify closed positions, to get their forms in so we can post early, and really push that work to happen in a timely manner. So it would be guided by me. for the vision and the long-term planning of supporting recruitment and hiring. So again, it would be me, it would be the operations, and then processing the forms, editing the adjoined postings, all of that would be some of the support personnel.

[15562] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill, I mean Wynn.

[15564] Phuong Nguyen: No worries. So just one last comment, I really do appreciate Superintendent Milliken's comment about when the board requests or the staff requests an assessment of the department functions and reorganization, I think it's really important that we do, once we have the findings, that we do try to follow those findings as much as possible because, you know, I've worked for local government for pretty much all of my adult life. And I've seen so many times when we have strategic plans that just get shoved in the back corner and they don't use it. And I think it's really a detriment to organizations when they do that. So for Dr. Milliken to bring that up, I just want to reiterate to my fellow board members that I think that this recommendation is warranted. Thank you.

[15623] Nancy Thomas: that this restructuring is extremely important. And I think it will help stabilize and improve our recruitment and retention of employees. So I would entertain a motion regarding this item.

[15641] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve.

[15645] Nancy Thomas: Can we get a second?

[15649] Kat Jones: I'll second.

[15650] Nancy Thomas: Moved by member Wynn, seconded by Member Jones, any further comments or discussion? Seeing none, please vote. Member Torres.

[15664] Jodi Croce: So thank you. Member Torres did have to leave, and so thank you. He's not available. OK.

[15670] Nancy Thomas: Please vote.

[15679] Jodi Croce: The votes are in. Four ayes.

[15681] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, 12.3. This is for resolution classified layoffs.

[15699] SPEAKER_35: All right. So we have two resolutions under classified layoffs. We wanted to go through each of them for you. So the first one is specifically to reduce or eliminate positions. This is resolution 2022.23.22. This one in particular is reducing or eliminating positions that are specially funded. And I'll explain a little bit more about what specially funded means. Those mean positions designated by funds that are not like an automatic ongoing fund. So for example, positions relating to school site councils, recommendations on school SPSA plans. aid positions, bilingual aid positions, those types of things, child care. Child care is funded out of parent fee and ELOP funds, donation funds, et cetera. So we decided to do two resolutions because of the differences between specially funded positions and then eliminating positions due to lack of work. And the requirement is kind of the title is lack of work, lack of funds. And all of ours on the second resolution, 2022, 23, 23, are all due to lack of work in this situation. So I would like to go through. The first one is the 22, 23, 22. And these are the specially funded positions. Last year, when we went through this similar process, I was able to give a little context on the actual kinds of services. I'm not sure if the board is wanting me to go into that detail today, but we do have the funded positions, whether they're from SPSA, parent donation, funding changes, a total FTE of 13.35774. Is it in the board's preference that I go through each type of service? OK. The second resolution is, let me get to the second one. is specifically for lack of work and lack of funds. That's the general title. And for us, it's lack of work. So you can see food service delivery driver, a 0.5, food service assistant, and then we've already talked about the HR manager position. So the total FTE would be 3.26250. We have discussed this with both CSCA and NEWMA. And of course, as the background shows, there are certain rights as far as 39-month reemployment lists, et cetera. And so all of the Ed Code and collective bargaining agreement language will be followed. All of that to say, with, for example, our specially funded positions, never mind. I have to talk about that if I went through every single one. So yeah. Any questions or comments that I can clarify? Because I know I went kind of fast.

[15924] Kat Jones: Yes. I'd like to know, are the people that have held these positions, are they informed prior to this coming to the board? Or is this basically the first time they hear about it?

[15939] SPEAKER_35: I think it could depend. So just for an example, one of the library clerks, part of their position is funded by their parent teacher club. And so this is an annual thing. That parent-teacher club donation is not guaranteed every year. And so that person knows that that is going to be coming up every single year. So for example, that type of communication would be had. I think it just depends on the service. So for example, bilingual classroom aid, we're doing notices because school site councils haven't done their voting and their SPSA creation until later in the spring, as we know. And so casting this wide net is an important step. But depending on what the site's intentions are, they will likely touch base with those employees and say, We're hopeful. I believe we have the funding. We have to wait until the school site council is ready. We really hope to continue. But because of the March 15th deadline now for for classified employees we do have to kind of tag tag those positions just because we can't predetermine what the site wants to do in their right.

[16025] Kat Jones: And what about the others on the lack of work lack of funds.

[16032] SPEAKER_35: I think it would depend on kinds of services. So I guess my answer, it just kind of varies case to case. It just depends on the positions, if they're vacant, for example.

[16048] Kat Jones: Yeah. If they're not vacant, are they informed? Again, is that circumstantial?

[16055] SPEAKER_35: Is that what? Circumstantial. I think it's circumstantial, yes. But of course, we will follow the proper noticing, of course, by the March 15 date. Yeah.

[16072] Nancy Thomas: Any other comments? I would entertain a motion.

[16077] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve resolution number 2022.23.22 and number 2022.23.23, classified layoffs. Second.

[16097] Nancy Thomas: I'll second that motion. Any further comments? If not, please vote.

[16129] Jodi Croce: Votering, four ayes.

[16132] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we move on to 12.4, resolution to reduce the number of certificated employees due to a reduction of particular kinds of services.

[16145] Michael Milliken: Ms. Ingham-Watters.

[16146] SPEAKER_35: All right, so the resolution for your approval tonight is for layoff, reduction in certificated staff. due to reduction in particular kinds of services. So included in this resolution, and I will, just because it's a short list, talk a little bit about what each of these mean. So the pupil services credential for school social work is 1.0. This position was formerly the CATS coordinator position at Newark Memorial High School. It actually should have been listed in last year's resolution, but was missed. This position is not filled this year. And it's no longer funded by the site plan. No current staff would be noticed as it's vacant. Moving down to multiple subject teaching credentials, a cumulative FTE of 8.2. So this includes three current vacant intervention positions for our district-wide intervention positions. And that's funded out of the LCAP. a cumulative FTE of 2.0 intervention teachers that are SPSA funded. Because of natural attrition, no multiple subject teachers will be noticed. So that's great news. Finally, we have a reduction in our MOD severe education specialists. And that's due to lack of need. And so we just need one less special education teacher for next year. No current staff would be noticed as there's currently vacant positions this year.

[16249] Nancy Thomas: If there are no questions or concerns, I would ask for a motion.

[16254] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve resolution number 2022.23.24.

[16262] Nancy Thomas: I second. Motion made by Member Nguyen and seconded by Member Hill to approve 12.4. Please vote.

[16287] Jodi Croce: Votes are in. Four ayes.

[16289] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we move on to 12.6, having dealt with 12.5 previously, Contracts Sylvan Learning Center.

[16299] Michael Milliken: Ms. Kearns, you're like a baseball closing pitcher that's been called in at the end of the game to help us bring us home and secure the win. Oh, I love it. So thanks for staying so late, and we welcome your presentation.

[16319] Abbey Keirns: Good evening, Board of Trustees, Interims, Superintendent Milliken, Executive Cabinet, and community members who are still out there and in the room. I'm going to present first some background on the 2023 LCAP action item that we're referring to today, the work we've done to carry out that intended action, and then the proposal we're making today. My hope is that you all will see the value in this sort of third third approach, and that we'll be able to move forward with timely services to our low-income, unhoused, and our English learners.

[16353] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[16357] Abbey Keirns: Appreciate it. So in the development of the LCAP, we heard a lot from staff, parents, and community members about the desire for some additional support for academic interventions. We've heard a lot about the ground that was lost during the pandemic and the need to really recover some of what is often referred to as learning loss. So we originally had a strategy that was to hire three intervention physicians. Unfortunately, those highly specialized positions we did not, even though we recruited internally and externally, we're not able to hire for those positions. Through consultation with NTA, we tried to pivot and offer opportunities for teachers at K6 to do after-school tutoring. We launched that at the end of November, and we had about four teachers take it up in December. And then we extended it, because we wanted more, to do K12, and sadly only had two more teachers sign up. So I think that just speaks to what we've heard from our union leaders, that our staff is really burnt. So we've tried to find a third option, and in considering that third option, we wanted to make sure we were attending to a few things, one which was gonna be effective, whatever third option we decided. So we really looked at agencies that had a proven track record, had the capacity to serve the students that we have here, and that they had done this kind of partnership with the district previously. We also wanted to make sure that our labor partners had meaningful consultation with us before we did this, because we understand it is clearly not our preference to be outsourcing the interventions. And then lastly, we want to make sure that the contract we did make up protected our families. meaning that they were not then kind of made another sort of business user, end user. And this is really about public services from our point of view. So those are the things we thought about. And so the contract, which you all have on your hands, I'm just going to highlight a few things here. This is for students and families who are, sorry, students who are unduplicated. So for translation, that's low-income foster youth and English learner. So any student K-12 will have this option to have three free tutoring sessions. They will have a choice of either doing it in person or online. And for families that have struggled with online, we'll be happy to assist them, either pairing them up with someone at the library or whatever their access issues are. The online tutoring I want to make a highlight is going to also be face-to-face with a local person, so there's no quality loss in the quality of services if it is given online. I wanted to also just highlight that we will be doing, we're going to review the use of tutoring to make sure that we're reaching for families that are using it, that they're able to maybe even extend beyond the three free sessions. So in May, we'll consider redistributing if we see that there's a lot of families not doing it. After we've made numerous efforts to reach them, we'll extend it to families that are using it to offer them perhaps even more sessions if we have the opportunity to do so. And lastly, we want to be clear that, again, this is not for all students, but it is really specifically for unhoused foster and low-income English learners. And the reason for that is because that's the focus of our LCAP supplemental funds. So we want to stay true to the intention of the design of this action as it was made initially. So just happy to take any questions.

[16604] Nancy Thomas: Ms. Swinn.

[16606] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, President Thomas. Thank you, Ms. Kearns, for coming and presenting. I think that this is a valuable use of funds. And especially if we're not able to support that with our current staff, I think that going outsourcing and bringing in civil learning for our students who are in need of tutoring is great. So thank you for that.

[16634] Abbey Keirns: And so you just reminded me, I forgot to make a previous point, which is we'll continue to leave the opportunity open for any NTA K-12 teacher that does decide that they want to do tutoring. That's also great. The door has not closed on that.

[16649] Phuong Nguyen: That's also great. Thank you for pointing that out. Thank you.

[16654] Nancy Thomas: Well, I have a question. Didn't we not get federal funds for learning loss because of the pandemic?

[16664] Abbey Keirns: We also have the LRE, which is the Learning Recovery Block Grant. Those are additional dollars that... Are they in the LCAP? They are not, but there is not a required plan for the learning recovery funds. The suggestion is that we do include them in the LCAP, but we had not received the LRE funds while we were designing this year's LCAP, but now we are in possession of those funds, so we could include that in the LCAP for 23 to 24.

[16695] Nancy Thomas: So my question is, if we, learning loss happened across all groups of students, not just our unduplicated students, and if we had the original plan with teachers after school, was that going to be limited just to unduplicated as well?

[16713] Abbey Keirns: No, but we found that it's The schools that have a higher concentration of unduplicated students tend to offer more tutoring services. That's definitely what happened in this case. When you look at the teachers that signed up, they are definitely from our high concentration schools.

[16727] Nancy Thomas: So I guess I'm asking, is there a reason we don't have enough money or can't include students that are not unduplicated if they have learning loss issues?

[16739] Abbey Keirns: I would, sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. With the LRE dollars, we definitely could and should consider doing something like what you're proposing. The LCAP funds, because they're targeted specifically for the students who are unduplicated via the guidance from the state, we do want to make sure that we're staying true to that, those contributions. Yeah.

[16762] Nancy Thomas: Go ahead. Did you want to say something?

[16766] Michael Milliken: For us, it's simply a matter of prioritization as well as staying true to the terms of the funding. So we take your point with regard to supporting all of our students. But this is targeting our highest need students, I suppose, is one way of framing it.

[16792] Nancy Thomas: Yeah. And I certainly agree with that. Member Jones?

[16798] Kat Jones: I have a question. You're saying three sessions, and I'm looking at a $230,000 bill. Is it a set $230,000, or will it pay for what we've used?

[16821] Abbey Keirns: We have allocated $300,000 in the LCAP for this action. So I'm protecting $10,000 for potentially additional tutors to come on who are NTA members. And then the remainder is the other amount has already been expended or encumbered. And then what's remaining is the $230,000. And so yes, they will draw down on that contract until it's exhausted.

[16847] Kat Jones: OK, so it's not 230 and let's say 10 kids show up for it. No. OK. Yes. That was the way that it was written. I'm like, that could be really pricey.

[16861] Abbey Keirns: No. And that's what the monthly, they're going to give us monthly statements on the amount of users. the amount remaining so that we can stay up to date on who's using and what the costs are.

[16872] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Great. Thank you. And the good news is we can actually reallocate those hours too. So we find a family's not using them. They don't just get lost. We can then sort of reallocate them to a family who's using them. So instead of having three sessions, it becomes really positive. Now they could maybe have as many as six, nine, you know, so on.

[16891] Abbey Keirns: And there's no expiration on that.

[16896] Kat Jones: Like no ending point? Or do we have an ending point because it is LCAP funds? Do we have an ending point? Families can only be serviced until June 30th?

[16909] Abbey Keirns: The contract is being made within the year of this LCAP. So the contract will be with Sylvan until we've drawn down that contract.

[16923] Nancy Thomas: Can we have a motion?

[16925] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve.

[16927] Nancy Thomas: I move to second. So member Nguyen moves to approve, and member Jones moves to second. The contract with Sylvan Learning Center. Please vote.

[16951] Jodi Croce: Votes are in. Four ayes. Yay, thank you.

[16954] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next we move on to the consent agenda, personnel items.

[16962] Michael Milliken: I think we can disregard 14.1. There's no need to pull it all together in one action item because there's just 14.2, the personnel report.

[16974] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve the personnel report.

[16981] Nancy Thomas: I'll second. Moved by member Nguyen, seconded by member Thomas to approve the personnel report. Please vote.

[17005] Jodi Croce: Votes are in.

[17005] Nancy Thomas: Four ayes. Thank you. Next, we move on to consent agenda, non-personnel items. Is there any board member that wants to pull any of those items? Seeing none, I would entertain a motion.

[17021] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve items 15.2 to 15.7.

[17026] Kat Jones: I'll second that motion.

[17028] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen made the motion. Member Jones seconded to approve 15.2 through 15.7. Please vote.

[17041] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. President Thomas, I just wanted to recognize that Mr. Cary Knoop is here in the audience. And we'd like to congratulate you on your reappointment. Thank you for being a part of the CBOC. Do you like to come up and say hi?

[17063] Michael Milliken: Did he get approved?

[17065] Jodi Croce: What are the votes? Votes are in. Four ayes. OK.

[17074] Michael Milliken: Mr. Knoop, am I pronouncing it correctly?

[17077] Cary Knoop: You could say Knoop, but nobody says that, so Knoop is fine. How do you pronounce it? Well, where I'm from, you say Knoop.

[17085] Michael Milliken: Okay.

[17087] Cary Knoop: That's a challenge, I think, so I don't really want to put that on anybody.

[17091] Michael Milliken: Well, Mr. Knoop, thank you so much for your service, and we invite you to make some comments. It's the least we can do.

[17098] Cary Knoop: Well, I have to be brief because I have two other times I'm going to talk, too. But, you know, it's my pleasure, and we need people at the CBOC. And, you know, if we're going to get a new bond, we have to really make sure that we got this recruiting of members out on the web page. So we don't get situations where there's only one member right now. And so we need the bodies, basically. Thanks.

[17124] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we move on to Board of Education Committee Reports, Requests, and Announcements. Now, Mr. New would like to talk on Board of Education requests. So I will ask the board members to, if you want to combine your recognition and announcements and your committee reports, that would expedite it a little bit. And then we'll ask for requests that we have here from Mr. Knoop.

[17161] Phuong Nguyen: OK. I guess I'll, is it OK if I start? Sure. I just wanted to, again, commend all of our student athletes for a wonderful winter sports season like the all of the teams the boys varsity soccer team and JV and the girls varsity and JV soccer team did amazing they had a strong winning record and also the girls basketball team and the boys basketball team they all did wonderful And and also I just wanted to also commend all of our parents who come out every day to support our students and and recognize all of the hard work that our staff and teachers are continuing to do regardless of the fact that were unable to find substitutes. And it has been hard on our teachers. So I just wanted, again, to commend them. And I know that it's just words, but we are trying to really work hard to make sure that we do have a decent contract for them. So I just wanted to make that statement. And yeah, lots of wonderful events going on. The Special Olympics that Superintendent Milliken had mentioned, what a great experience for our community and for our students to be able to work and participate in the event. So a lot of stuff, wonderful stuff going on.

[17255] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Member Jones.

[17257] Kat Jones: I would just like to say that I have really appreciated all the communication from staff with everything that's been happening on the different sites. And I'm really appreciating being updated really quickly. So thank you for that. And we do have a lot of really exciting things going on on the different campuses. And I'm looking forward to attending many more of those. Thank you for all the hard work and the great communication. Thank you. Member Hill.

[17293] Aiden Hill: I'd like to echo both Member Nguyen and Member Jones' sentiments. And I'd also like to just give a quick or make a quick comment on 16.2 that we do have an audit committee meeting coming up this coming Tuesday at 6 o'clock. So for anybody that's interested, you're welcome to join. Thank you.

[17313] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I too could not have said it better than the two of you in terms of the recognition for the communication, the recognition for all the activities and the hard work that our staff is doing. So the only other comment I would like to make is that I appreciated what the high school did for Black History Month. Member Jones and I went to the the Black Businesses Fair and it was very, very fun. We made a few purchases and appreciate that the schools are doing activities, you know, for Black History Month and for this, I think this is Month of the Women. What's this month? Women's History Month. Women's History Month, okay. So hopefully, Our schools are doing that kind of activities, too. Anyway, next we have a Board of Education request. Before we do, Mr. Knoop.

[17384] Cary Knoop: Not a member, definitely not. No, Mr. Knoop. Not even a hidden member or something like that, whatever. I was actually going to say two things. But my first thing was actually suggesting because we have kind of a new board composition to have some, you know, bounding session or something like that. But, you know, I must say, I think you folks work really well together. I mean, short of that you guys start praising each other for being so wonderful. It's really good to see that, because I think everybody brings their unique capabilities. Thomas has the most experience in the public governance, right? You have so much experience in teaching, technology, management skills, so that should bring everybody together and, you know, form a good team. So I just can encourage, you know, work together as much as you can and see each other one-on-one, you know, as long as it doesn't violate the Brown Act. It's good to understand where everybody comes from. And by all means, disagree, you know. I mean, if you folks will all agree on things, you've got too many board members. So it's very good to see that, you know, what's happening here. The second thing I want to bring up is bit more serious, I think. And that's, you know, last meeting we had a teacher do a public speaking on what he thought was not the best way that the district treated him. And I think there is a pattern. You know, there's a pattern where we have ex-employees and even, in some cases, citizens where the districts seem to kind of go after them. And that's not our task. We are a public institution. We're here to educate people. We're not to go after ex-employees or citizens. And I know that one of the comments was brought up last time to do something in closed session, and I don't believe that is appropriate. But what I do think is appropriate is to you know, direct to the superintendent to really look into this. We don't want to get lawsuits of ex-employees coming back at us, usually rightfully so. When you have a departure, an amiable departure, move on. And again, this district is not there to, you know, be vindictive in any way. So I would urge the board not to discuss it in closed session, we can't, unless it's a specific case, but at least to direct the superintendent to say, if there are situations, if there are, you know, things that we may want to correct or do better, we should do that. We are not in the business of getting tough with ex-employees. Thank you.

[17581] Nancy Thomas: So, board requests, Ms. Wynn.

[17586] Phuong Nguyen: I just have one, and it's in regards to the Wi-Fi status update at the high school. I just want to know what progress has been made since we've approved the contract for the work.

[17602] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Member Jones?

[17607] Phuong Nguyen: Do we have majority? Do you agree on the request? OK, we have three. We're good.

[17616] Nancy Thomas: We have four.

[17618] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, President Thomas.

[17623] Kat Jones: No requests at this time. Thank you.

[17627] Nancy Thomas: No requests. No requests.

[17632] Phuong Nguyen: You better make the motion to adjourn.

[17635] Nancy Thomas: Before the interim superintendent gives his concluding comments, we have a speaker, Mr. Knoop.

[17647] Cary Knoop: Well, good evening again, and nice to meet you, Superintendent. I hope that the superintendent will be able to, in the very busy time that he surely has right now, and I understand he also has other commitments, that it is important that there will be cases where parents or students have big concerns, And I hope that there's a room for meeting parents who have issues and things that come up. In addition, there's the items of future agenda items. And this is always happening. It's always said that a good board should spend a lot of time talking about educational issues, academic issues. And not necessarily only academic, but you know, rather than talking about contracts and things like that, speaking of academics. So it might be a nice idea to try something like that, that we have maybe once a month at least something on the agenda that's about how can we involve students more in learning? How can we help parents in understanding what's going on? We have a lot of parents I'm one of them who didn't get their education in the US. So we don't know how this works, especially when you get into the high school. Educating our parents or helping them is very important, because once the parents know, they can teach the kids. So again, I don't want to give the superintendent much more work than surely he already has, but it might be an interesting suggestion to put something educational, academic related, on the agenda at least once every month or so. Thank you, and everybody have a good night.

[17761] SPEAKER_19: Five ayes.

[17767] Michael Milliken: So, not... Ms. Ingham-Watters pointed out to me, rightfully so, that we neglected to acknowledge something very serious and significant that happened in our school district community this past week. We lost a student in a member of the BGI community. And so I'd like to just take a moment to reflect and have a moment of silence in honor of the student and his family. Thank you. So our thoughts have been with the BGI school family. And there is a sunset vigil tomorrow evening at 6 PM for the members of the community that knew the family or know the family. And our thoughts and prayers will be with them. And we will. do our best to support that community as they mourn his loss. And with that, we have no more concluding remarks, but it's a reminder regarding the importance of safety, regarding the importance of supporting one another and remembering our priorities and what's most important. So with that, I'll turn it back to you, President Thomas.

[17872] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. entertain a motion for adjournment?

[17881] Aiden Hill: I move to adjourn.

[17884] SPEAKER_40: I'll second that.

[17887] Nancy Thomas: Please vote.

[17909] Jodi Croce: Votes are in. Four ayes.

[17914] Nancy Thomas: Thanks, everyone.

No minutes available.