Liaison Committee Meeting

No content available.

[281] Phuong Nguyen: Good evening and welcome to the March 2nd, 2022 City of Newark, Newark Unified School District Liaison Committee meeting. I call this meeting to order at 6 p.m. Roll call, please, Ms. Gutierrez.

[299] SPEAKER_30: Committee member Grindel.

[301] SPEAKER_25: Here.

[303] SPEAKER_30: Committee member Collazo. Here. Vice Chair Hannon.

[306] Phuong Nguyen: Here.

[307] SPEAKER_30: Chair Wynn.

[307] Phuong Nguyen: Here.

[311] SPEAKER_30: All present.

[312] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Next item, approval of the minutes. Do we have any public comments or public speakers on this item? May I have a motion to approve the minutes?

[326] SPEAKER_29: So moved. Second.

[329] Phuong Nguyen: Member Quiazzo moved. Vice Chair Hannon, second. How do you vote, Vice Chair Hannon? Yes. Member Quiazzo? Yes. Member Grindel?

[339] Terrence Grindall: Yes.

[340] Phuong Nguyen: And myself is yes. Thank you. Four aye. Okay, on to item C, Old Business, C1, Sanctuary Village, Area 3, NUSD Feasibility Study Update. Are there any public comments? Superintendent Triplett.

[359] Mark Triplett: Okay, thank you very much, Chairperson Nguyen. Good evening, everybody. Good to see you. Public, staff, and elected officials So this first item is old business So we we did want to share out that we had did have an opportunity since the last time we meet we met here to to meet with both the city and the Developer with regard to the sanctuary village area 3 site to really first and foremost have a discussion about if it would be possible for the developer to extend the the deadline to give the district a little bit more time to consider options. So they were very receptive. They didn't close the door on the idea. And so we're going to continue to meet and have more discussions with them as we move forward. And that's as much as I have to update. OK.

[422] Phuong Nguyen: Any questions? Vice Chair Hannan? Yeah, just a couple quick questions.

[432] SPEAKER_22: My recollection is that the date began once the first building permit was issued for the development. Could you remind me as to when is the date that the school district must begin? for permits for construction?

[450] Mark Triplett: Yeah, we actually have people in here way more well-versed in this than myself, but I believe it's 2025. But Member Grindel, if you wanted to, or... Well, we could both answer it.

[462] Terrence Grindall: Yes, that's the year.

[465] SPEAKER_22: Member Grindel, would there be a specific action that's required by the school district to trigger

[476] Terrence Grindall: The the agreement states that it construction needs to begin And then driven in is that your recollection of the microphone on Is that it?

[489] SPEAKER_20: All right, so yes the agreement provides that construction shall commence on or before August 8th, I believe of calendar year 2025 and that the definition of Commencement of construction is something that I think a building official can certainly elaborate on but it does have a meeting within that particular trade It's that but it's more than that as well

[531] Mark Triplett: a couple of things. One is that when we look at the projections of possible enrollment in the future, it does look, based on the feasibility study that we did, that we could anticipate enrollment increasing, but not in the short term, but possibly in the longer term when some of the developments that have been in the planning stages or being built come to fruition. And so there is the budgetary question, but then also just in terms of when we anticipate having more students in the city.

[567] SPEAKER_22: My last question, thank you for your patience, is do you look at this from a geographic perspective, from the standpoint that our primary schools down in that area, I believe, are Birch Grove, Birch Grove Intermediate. I believe those are the only two grammar schools we have down in that area. So is that part of the consideration? We probably need another

[590] Mark Triplett: Yes, that's correct. So we have an interesting challenge in that we have currently, we've had too many schools for the population of our students right now. However, all the schools located in geographic areas, condensed in certain geographic areas, and then where the new developments are, there's no school at all. So it's an interesting challenge. to have, in one sense, too many schools, and at the same time, not schools not in the right places. And so that's part of sort of the equation that we're going to need to figure out.

[627] SPEAKER_22: Thank you, Madam Chair.

[629] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Quiazzo, any questions? Not at this time.

[633] Terrence Grindall: Member Grindel? Yeah, I wanted to illuminate a few things. In addition to the fact that there's a geographic issue, all of our schools will be built within a short period of time. So they're all going to start aging out at the same time. So we also have sort of a temporal problem and that that's that's detailed in the feasibility study to some extent. So I just wanted to stress that. The other the other thing just to to let the other members of the committee know is when you're dealing with the school construction you have to deal with the state bureaucracy called the state architect's office and based on their whims that can cause a lot of delays. So even if we if we can put together a calendar that works for August of 2025, there's there's some uncertainties out there that are outside of the control of the district that could cause problems. We've had we had situations where we're replacing air conditioning units, just replacing the units. And the state architect later came back and said, no, no, no, you need to you need to submit these plans to us, even though it's just a replacement. because they were a little bit bigger or a little bit heavier. And so that added almost a year to the process. So just to let you know that this is a state agency that's completely out of our control that goes forward. The city is fortunate to be able to hire their own building official and instead of having to rely on a state agency to do so. But I just wanted to put that forward. The feasibility study really does show that we do need a school in that particular area. And with this board member, and I think the consensus of the board is that we want to do what it takes to make that happen. But a little bit more time would provide us some cushion. So with that, that's all I wanted to point out.

[754] SPEAKER_22: I had a follow-up question. Sure. state and the dealings with the state, you don't see me laughing underneath the mask. I can see it in your eyes though. In terms of just how much fun that's going to be. Your feasibility study, are you looking at it from the perspective of let's kind of highlight the major steps at kind of moving backwards from that August 2025 date to kind of get a sense as to where we need to be if we're going to try to meet that deadline?

[781] Terrence Grindall: Perfect. That's what the study says and it is available to the public as well if the council members If the members of this committee and other council members want to review it, I'm sure the superintendent will provide it to you.

[794] SPEAKER_22: Yeah, that could be sent to us. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[797] Phuong Nguyen: You're welcome. Okay, on to new business. Item D1, election of chair and vice chair. I'm going to move that we elect Vice Chair Hannon as the chair.

[818] SPEAKER_25: Second. Thank you.

[822] Phuong Nguyen: How do you vote? How do you vote, Vice Chair Hannan? I vote yes. Member Quiazza?

[828] Terrence Grindall: I vote yes.

[829] Phuong Nguyen: Member Grandel?

[830] Terrence Grindall: I need to consider this. Of course, yes.

[834] Phuong Nguyen: And yes as well for me.

[836] SPEAKER_22: Thank you. I was happy when I got a second.

[844] Phuong Nguyen: OK. And then for the vice chair, I move that I nominate member Grindel as vice chair. I'll second that. How do you vote, Vice Chair Hannan? I vote yes. Member Quiazzo? Yes. Member Grindel? Yes. And I vote yes as well. Thank you. Congratulations, new chair Hannan and vice chair Grindel. Okay, on to item D2. Do we have any public comments? And do we have any public comments on new business at all? Okay, thank you. Item D2, COVID vaccination and testing efforts from the City and District and Facility Closures, City Manager Bannoon and Dr. Triplett.

[897] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Chairperson Nguyen. So, we actually have a couple slides to share. We have, we've, as I think the committee knows, we've been doing considerable amount of vaccination clinics and testing throughout this pandemic. And so, we just wanted to share sort of an update there. You can go to the next slide, Ms. Gutierrez. Oh, and the next one. All right, so first of all, we've been having vaccination clinics every Sunday at Coyote Hills Elementary, but we also just had a recent clinic at Schilling Elementary, and there'll be another one coming up on the 18th. So we're really trying to work with both Bay Area Community Health and Alameda County. to really identify the areas of the city where vaccination rates are lower and certain demographics where the vaccination rates are lower and then really be specifically in those areas and really outreach to those communities. So we also have another vaccination clinic coming up in partnership with the city. And the city's really done an amazing job at organizing this. If you go to the next one, Ms. Gutierrez. So we're excited about this clinic as well, coming up at the library. And maybe if city manager Benin wants to speak a little bit more about this one.

[990] SPEAKER_20: Sure. Thank you, Mr. Triplett. This is a no cost COVID vaccine event. It's hosted at Fire Station 28. It's the fire station located on Thornton Avenue. We have two events, one on Saturday, March 12th. follow up on Saturday, April 2nd. We'll have doses available for Pfizer for both adult and younger children. Appropriate doses, boosters will also be available. We encourage people to register, but we will also take walk ins. We'll have interpreters present as well. And then there's an incentive for the first 100 people who show up and are vaccinated. they receive an at-home rapid COVID test kit. So I'd like to thank the school district, Bay Area Community Health, they'll be administering the vaccines, our fire department, and our rec department for putting together this program. So I'd be happy to answer any questions that this committee may have in regards to this event. If not, I'll pass it over to Dr. Triplett. Do you have anything?

[1055] SPEAKER_29: I have a comment. Yes. I just want to say thank you for making this accessible to all our residents. There's other cities where they're having a hard time finding a place to get a vaccine. And we have been able to provide vaccines for anybody that wants them. Tests and vaccines, we're very lucky here in Newark. So I want to say thank you.

[1082] SPEAKER_22: Membrane? Mr. Bidoon, the event at the fire station, the flyer, is that flyer available in Spanish and English?

[1091] Toni Stone: Yes it is.

[1092] SPEAKER_22: Would it be a benefit or are we actually walking and knocking on doors to get this information out. Let's say to some of the residents in the old town neighborhood. Are we doing anything of that nature.

[1103] SPEAKER_20: We have hundreds of families registered through the promo tourist network on social media and those platforms and we've been reaching out to them and they're aware of this upcoming event. So the intended target is. There are lower vaccination rates in that census tract. They release the vaccination data off of census tracts. And this event is geared towards attracting folks in that census tract. And so we'll be advertising heavily, we are advertising heavily in that tract. And that includes social media outreach and through the promotor's network, so.

[1138] SPEAKER_22: I want to join my colleague, board member Goyazo, in commending the school district and the city working. This is what collaboration looks like, you know, whether it be at a school site or a city site. We understand the importance of increasing the number of folks that are vaccinated, especially the children. And I think the school district's done a fabulous job. So thank you for that effort.

[1159] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Vice Chair.

[1160] SPEAKER_29: I have a comment. I just thought of something. Do you remember back in the old days when somebody would walk up and down a street wearing like a little sandwich? sign?

[1169] SPEAKER_22: I will not be doing that.

[1171] SPEAKER_29: I thought that would have been a great idea.

[1179] Terrence Grindall: That sounds like you're volunteering.

[1181] SPEAKER_29: I wouldn't mind doing it right out in front of Magnolia Plaza.

[1188] Terrence Grindall: Yes, I wanted to echo my other members comments. And also just stress when you when in reading the state and the county's guidelines, As we move to an endemic phase of this disease, vaccinations are even more important because there's an acceptance that there's going to be more, there's going to be infection in the community. Vaccines are proven to dramatically reduce the impact of the disease and causing serious repercussions. So as we start to take off our masks and accept this being endemic, vaccinating our children in particular is of even more importance. So I would compliment the city and the school district working together to make this available, particularly in areas that need it the most. So thank you.

[1240] Phuong Nguyen: I, too, echo the same sentiments as my fellow members, liaison committee members, and wanted to say thank you for the partnership between the city and the school district for providing all this availability of vaccination and testing to our community. So, thank you.

[1258] Mark Triplett: Thank you. And if I may, Chairperson, I think I have one more slide on this. on this agenda item. So I did just want to share out about testing as well. So we were able to pull the numbers today. And today, as I think this committee knows, we have weekly testing at all of our sites, our school sites. But then we also have daily testing six days a week at the Whiteford campus. So to date, we've tested, we've administered tests district-wide, 23,624 tests. And at Whiteford alone, 11,343 to the public at large. So it's been an amazing effort, and we're just really, really proud of everyone who's come together to be able to provide this opportunity for the community.

[1309] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Okay, on to item D3, middle school design at the Newark Junior High School update.

[1317] Mark Triplett: Okay, Ms. Gutierrez, can you go to the next slide there, same deck? Great, so this committee wanted me to bring back some update as we progress through the middle school design. As you all will remember, the school board voted last year to transition the sixth grade to the junior high to create a six through eight middle school. And so I just wanted to give the committee an update on the progress. A lot of work has been done and is being done as we move forward into the spring. Next slide, please, Ms. Gutierrez. First of all, I want to just give a shout out. So we have a design team that is supporting the work. And it's made up of students, which is super exciting, and teachers, principals, counselors, district office folks, and parents. So this group meets every other week for an hour and a half, Thursday evenings. And they're doing amazing work and have really been, it's a powerful group. And they have been able to really provide a lot of different perspectives and insights as we iterate on the plans. So as we've been saying all along, we're not creating plans behind closed doors and some secret plan that's already been designed. This is the group that's really helping to do this together because we know that when there's stakeholder engagement and community involvement that we come up with a much better product. Could you go to the next slide, please? So something that we've shared out with the community and different teachers, groups, et cetera, is that we've, at this point, been able to sort of map out an idea about what a day in the life of a sixth grade middle schooler would be. So I was going to talk you all through it. We're envisioning that start of the day is around 8.15. And then students would have advisory, which is a smaller, shorter class, where students get to work with a teacher, developing social emotional learning skills, checking homework, study skills, organization, and things like that, and just settling in for the day. And then they would move on to what we're calling a humanities block. The students in 6th grade, unlike 7th and 8th grade, in 6th grade, they would have the same teacher for both history and English. And then they'd have brunch. And then we have what's called an elective wheel and an academic flex class that we're developing. So this is a new idea that some successful middle schools do, where students have an opportunity to go through a number of different electives during the year. So maybe it's art for a period. And then later on in the year, say, music or coding or other things. And then likewise, they sort of rotate through an academic flex time, which is where they get additional support in their studies from their same teacher. Then all students have physical education. And then, oh, did I skip something on there? No, no, here it is coming up. They have lunch separate from the seventh and eighth graders. And that was something that community has been really vociferous about, is really wanting to make sure that sixth grade had its own sort of special thing, that there was opportunities to engage with seventh and eighth grade students, but also that the sixth grade had its sort of separate thing where they're sort of able to be in an enclosed sort of space, so to speak. And then a math science block, similar to English history, they would have one teacher for both math and science. And then we have really wonderful opportunities for after-school programming, enrichment, clubs, and other activities. So that is the current iteration. It'll continue to change a little bit, I think. But we've gotten a lot of really good feedback on this. And people are feeling really positive about this so far. Next, Ms. Gutierrez?

[1579] SPEAKER_29: I have a question before we move on. OK. understand at one point that fifth graders are going to be going over to junior high, too?

[1587] Mark Triplett: No, no, just sixth and it'll just be sixth, seventh and eighth.

[1591] SPEAKER_29: OK, just the sixth grade.

[1592] Mark Triplett: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fifth grade will remain.

[1594] SPEAKER_29: Somebody had mentioned that to me and I thought, hmm, I haven't heard anything, but.

[1599] Mark Triplett: Yeah, no, no. That must have been some confusion. Sometimes we do. We're thinking about the current fifth graders are the ones that are going to go there for sixth grade. So maybe when sometimes when people hear that, then they This is a little bit about a little bit more information about the elective wheel. So we really want to make sure that we're creating electives that are aligned to our district priorities. So our star initiative, science, technology, aerospace, and robotics is one. Environmental literacy, outdoor education, dual language immersion, as well as visual and performing arts. We're continuing to develop what the electives will be. But we really want to focus them in this area. And we've had a chance to survey families. We had a town hall where I think we had over, now I'm forgetting, I think it was maybe 150 families attended our town hall. And we were able to get input from them on what they thought would be the best electives. And then we have also been able to survey our fifth graders, our current fifth graders, who will be sixth graders. about what they're interested in, as well as the teachers. So we've collected up that data and now we're at a point where we're really going to try to narrow in on the electives for the upcoming year. And then I think we have one more slide.

[1682] SPEAKER_29: Before we move on to the next slide, I have one more question. Sure. So our fifth graders that are moving over to the junior high to be sixth graders, are they still going to have the opportunity to do like science camp like our regular sixth graders do?

[1697] Mark Triplett: Right, great question. And that has come up. Yeah, so that's the goal. We'd really like to think about how we have a science camp in fifth grade, and that then in sixth grade that there's another science camp type, what's the word, activity that all the sixth graders get. So that it sort of builds on the fifth grade experience, and it's a second sort of outdoor environmental science camp type So that's part of what the middle school design team is going to be working on this spring, is how does the sixth grade experience look different than the one they'll have in fifth grade?

[1737] SPEAKER_29: So fifth graders will be attending science camp.

[1740] SPEAKER_25: That's right.

[1740] SPEAKER_29: And then at the junior high, they will have a similar experience with science. OK.

[1746] Mark Triplett: Similar, yeah. Similar, but one step up, so to speak. Yeah. I will say I had the pleasure of the science camps are happening in these last couple of weeks. So we've had a number of science camps. I had the pleasure of going up to the BGI science camp up near Boulder Creek last week and being with the kids. It was really, really amazing. Such an amazing experience.

[1767] SPEAKER_29: Well, you know, it's an experience that they never forget. I know my children loved it, and they want to be counselors when they were older, when you go back and be counselors. So it's an experience that I think is necessary for every child.

[1783] Mark Triplett: Yes, I absolutely agree. Thank you. And that is the last slide on this agenda item, actually.

[1791] Phuong Nguyen: Vice Chair Hannan?

[1792] SPEAKER_22: Yes, just a couple of clarifying questions, if I may. The students, are they on a quarter or semester system?

[1799] Mark Triplett: They both quarter. In the junior high, it's quarter and semester.

[1805] SPEAKER_22: So the electives that they will sign up for, will they then have an opportunity to switch from one to another? Or are they one year long?

[1814] Mark Triplett: Great question. Yeah, so different than in the seventh and eighth grade, where they are for the whole year or sometimes a semester. But the idea of the elective wheel is, for this first year, that students are getting a little bit of a number of different electives. So they'll switch. We haven't yet decided on the exact timing. Right now, we're thinking probably by a quarter is probably the best, so that they would have an opportunity for three electives plus their academic selection.

[1845] SPEAKER_22: different things versus just one. The math and science, for example, will those be done on alternative days, or will it be the teacher will teach math first half of the class and then science in the second half of the class, or will they alternate on different days?

[1862] Mark Triplett: Yeah, that's a great question. There'll be a little bit of a prerogative for the teacher to decide that because We do want to really emphasize project-based learning, for example. And sometimes when there's a project going on and the teacher determines that, OK, we really need to use this whole period for that project today, then they have the discretion to do that and then double down on the other content the following day.

[1886] SPEAKER_22: And with Common Core, there's such a carryover or parallel in a lot of these that they can actually do both at the same time moving forward. Right. In a lot of the high schools, students are given the opportunity to take courses, for example, alone because they excel academically. Can you give us a thought to allowing fifth graders to move into the junior high on selective courses if they've excelled academically at the lower level? Is that something that you've looked at or any other school that you're aware of looks at in terms of giving kids an opportunity to further demonstrate their excellence?

[1927] Mark Triplett: From 5th to 6th, it's not something that we've explored or that I'm familiar with. There are some cases where 8th graders take some A course or something at the high school level, in my experience. I don't know that that happens here in Newark. Yeah. One of the challenges always comes up is around the transportation.

[1948] SPEAKER_22: Thank you.

[1950] Phuong Nguyen: Member Quiazzo, any comments?

[1952] SPEAKER_29: Not at this time.

[1955] Terrence Grindall: Yes, I just wanted to compliment the team that you've got working. And of course, all of your staff, they are chewing gum and walking at the same time. They're dealing with COVID issues and teaching and also planning for the future. So I just wanted to compliment you and all of your staff for multitasking in this way. Thank you.

[1980] Phuong Nguyen: I just have one quick question. In terms of logistics, have the design team decided on how or where to place the incoming sixth graders?

[1993] Mark Triplett: That's something that we are currently iterating on. And that's actually a thing that the design team is not part of their charge. So we're working with the maintenance department and also really engaging with the junior high staff. So I met with the junior high staff on Monday, this Monday. And we did an iteration of how it could look. And then we got their feedback on that. So we had met with them a couple of weeks ago and heard their initial ideas for what would be the best way to reconfigure the school, the classrooms and such. And so then we took that back. We started to do some work. And then we brought them back in iteration on Monday. And they gave us some really good additional feedback. The big priority that we've heard from families, from students themselves, and from teachers is the need to have the sixth grade in one area, almost like a wing or like a special section. So that's our number one priority. And then, of course, we're also really trying to minimize the number of moves that teachers that are currently there have to make. So that's our design challenge, so to speak. But I think we have a good initial plan. There are, because the campus is really large and it hasn't been fully occupied because of only seventh and eighth grade there, there are some empty classrooms. So that's been really helpful.

[2079] SPEAKER_29: I have a question. I'm sorry. How many students are we looking to move from sixth grade over to the junior high?

[2085] Mark Triplett: It's around 347. That's a very specific number. I said around 300. That's pretty precise.

[2093] SPEAKER_22: I have one follow-up question, if I may, Madam Chair. The DLI, will that allow students to focus on more than one language? I mean, multiple languages? Or is it predominantly English, Spanish kind of thing?

[2108] Mark Triplett: We currently have just English and Spanish. I think it'd be fantastic if we could start to develop other language opportunities as well. But we don't have that yet.

[2117] SPEAKER_29: OK. We're working on it.

[2121] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Okay. On to item D4, snow school facility use proposal. Dr. Triplett.

[2133] Mark Triplett: All right. No slide deck for this one. Not a super big update. We don't have any immediate plans for the snow facility. We need to go through the process, what's called the 7-11 process. which is forming a committee of different stakeholders, and then really determining the best use of the different properties. So no major updates, but that is something that was definitely on our list of things that need to happen.

[2165] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, Member Krause.

[2167] SPEAKER_29: I want to thank Superintendent. I sent you a little text one day. I had a young lady that was trying to sell me a candy bar to raise money to have fields mowed over at Snow School because they were playing softball and lawns hadn't been mowed. I said, well, wait a minute. If you're selling candy bars to raise money, that should be for uniforms or equipment. I said, let's see what happens. And then all of a sudden, I drove by and everything was mowed.

[2195] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Glad to hear it. Yeah. Yeah, it's really nice that the softball is able to use that facility. And so we've been really glad to partner with them.

[2204] SPEAKER_29: Thank you.

[2207] Phuong Nguyen: Any other comments or questions? All right. On to item D5, Music School Consolidation Update. Dr. Triplett.

[2214] Mark Triplett: All right. This one is me too. Ms. Gutierrez, can you go to the next slide? So this is a part of our overall timeline for the music consolidation. So these are some of the items that we've been addressing between November and now. So a lot of work has been done. I won't go over every single one of them. But a lot of work has been done. We were really glad that we were able to engage with the music families and get from them their requests for the school that they would be transferring from, or to, rather. And we're really pleased to say we had every family list their top three. And we were able to get every family in the general program their first choice. So the majority of the students are going to Kennedy or Birchgrove Primary or Birchgrove Intermediate. We do have another healthy group going to Coyote Hills and then the smaller group going to Schilling. But the majority is in that part of the city because of the proximity to music. And we've also been able to meet and engage with the staff at music and really talk through the options. So we're currently working with our labor partners to negotiate a plan for how to make sure that we're really prioritizing the staff from music in terms of transferring to other schools. They have done such amazing work there at that school with students. The culture that they've built is just so tremendous. And so we're really, really want to support them to transition to another school and to bring with them all of the skills and strategies that they have at music, because it's something that I think any school can benefit from. And then we are also able to, normally the special ed programming happens much later in the spring, but we were able to expedite that as well and communicate with all of the families as to the special ed programs that are available in the other schools and do initial placements of all those students as well. So that was really good. And so the next step is this spring is we have started engaging the principals of the receiving school with the music principal. And they're planning different events to be held so that the students and the families can get to know the community in their new school. So we're planning both opportunities for events at music, to celebrate music, and to meet and greet, as well as then opportunities for the families and students to go and tour their new schools and things like that. So that's a big focus of the spring, as well as the whole move itself. So packing up, securing the moving services, and then this summer, we'll be doing the actual physical moves.

[2407] Phuong Nguyen: Any questions or comments? Vice Chair Hannan?

[2411] SPEAKER_22: Congratulations on being able to place 100% of the parents in their first priority. I mean, it's disruptive to begin with, you know, when you get assigned a specific school, then to realize when your child's in second or third grade, well, in that case, maybe they're going to another school. So to be able to provide them with their first choice makes that transition a little bit more palatable. So congratulations on that. As a result of the kind of consolidation of our schools, have you seen a reduction in the number of staff in terms of teachers, maintenance, and things of that nature? Or are you able to then transition those folks into other assignments throughout the school district?

[2455] Mark Triplett: The goal is to transition everybody to another assignment. We have seen a reduction in enrollment overall, and not just from music. We are having to make some really challenging, difficult decisions this year in preparation for next year with regard to reduction in staff. But that's not related to the consolidations.

[2478] SPEAKER_22: And I would imagine at some point you will begin that process of kind of a reuse as you're doing with snow. Will you be doing kind of a reuse with music as well, even though your administration is here? That's a good question.

[2490] Mark Triplett: Yeah, we're really trying to think about it as a global, like a whole picture. of all of the different facilities and how to best utilize all the facilities.

[2502] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Madam Chair. Any other comments or questions? On to item D6, the Omicron impact on NUSD schools.

[2519] Mark Triplett: So in hindsight, I realize we should have just clumped the two COVID-related agenda items together. So this, I wanted to just share out the most recent data with regard to our COVID cases. So this is a chart, I think maybe I shared this, an earlier version with the committee in this fall. This is a chart showing the number of positive student COVID cases per week, and then the number of positive staff cases. And you can see on here in December, We had weeks where we were down to a single student case, positive case. And some weeks, zero positive cases for adults. And then what the whole world saw in January, we had this massive spike due to Omicron. I'm pleased to say that it is leveling off. As you can see there, we've now had two weeks with approximately 13 to 14 cases per week of students. This is across the entire district that we're talking about. So really, it's really a big relief that things are leveling off, and I think we've seen that across the whole country and the whole world, really. So we're continuing to monitor, we're continuing to test, and we're really optimistic that we're headed in the right direction. And the public health officials are saying we gotta be prepared if something else comes. I think when I spoke to the health director, Dr. Moss today, he was saying the one thing we learned is that we can't predict anything that's going to happen. So we're working, continuing to work with the county and make sure that we're prepared either way. And so that's the news there. In addition, as I know everyone is aware that the guidelines for masking are changing. We are waiting to hear from the county what the new guidelines will be for Alameda County for K-12 schools. And so that, we're anticipating that to come out in the next couple days. And then we'll work with the county to follow those guidelines in terms of any change in masking.

[2664] Phuong Nguyen: Any comments or questions? Vice Chair Hannon?

[2666] SPEAKER_22: Dr. Triplett, thank you for sharing the numbers. The folks that test positive, specifically the students, is it a positive result when they get to school, or is it self-reporting from home? Where do those numbers come from? Or is it a combination of both?

[2685] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you. These are reported to us, or they come from a test that occurred at school. And these are only cases of students who were at school when they were in their contagious period. So if there's a student that, let's say, during winter break got COVID, but they never had COVID on campus, then it's not representative of these numbers. So we do take, part of the guidelines is that if a family gets tested outside of school and there's a positive test, if that student was at school while they were contagious, then they report it to us. And then we do contact tracing to determine the level of contact with other students. And then we report that to the families of the students who were in close contact with the positive case.

[2746] SPEAKER_22: Other students that that student may have come into contact with, that doesn't necessarily result in them being isolated themselves other than if they test positive as well. Would that be correct?

[2761] Mark Triplett: That's the current guidelines. Yeah, the guidelines have changed over time. And Omicron definitely affected that. And fortunately, because Omicron, the severity of the cases was much less. So it allowed the guidelines to change. Initially, before Omicron, if a student was in close contact, determined to have been in close contact, then they did need to quarantine. And then when vaccinations happened for those age groups, then if they were vaccinated, they did not need to quarantine, even if they were in close contact. At this point, the guidelines are saying that whether vaccinated or not, as long as you are testing, regularly, you can continue to go to school as long as you don't have any symptoms and continue to test. Thank you. It's been the guidelines always changing and they're like super complicated. But the office staff and the school leadership has just done an amazing job. I mean, it's it's like a second job because they have to do all of the contact tracing. They have to, like, organize all the testing every day. It's it is a lot.

[2828] SPEAKER_29: So testing it is it every five days? for that particular person?

[2833] Mark Triplett: That's right.

[2834] SPEAKER_29: It's every five days. So if they have five classes, that means you have to have different classes that you have.

[2842] Mark Triplett: That's where the high school, it just gets so crazy complicated. Yeah, in the elementary level, since they're with the same group of 31 students all day, it's a little bit less complicated. It's also difficult, but less complicated. But when you start to get to the secondary level and you think about these students have been in contact with literally hundreds of kids in any given day, that's when it gets really.

[2864] SPEAKER_29: They have different classes, and then they have the break, and they have lunch. Right. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions?

[2873] Phuong Nguyen: Any other comments or questions? Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Flip for the update. And thank you to staff, office staff for doing a tremendous job in organizing and reporting out on all the COVID cases and helping all the students and their families. So thank you for that. On to public comment. Do you have any public comments?

[2904] SPEAKER_30: ¿Tienes tú tu copia?

[2906] SPEAKER_25: ¿O quieres que yo lo diga?

[2908] SPEAKER_30: OK. ¿Quieres decirlo tú en inglés, en español, y luego yo lo puedo repetir en inglés? ¿Tú en español? Sí.

[2915] SPEAKER_17: OK.

[2918] SPEAKER_30: No, lo puedes decir tú.

[2920] SPEAKER_29: Sí. Y yo lo digo en inglés. Aquí. Buenas tardes a todos.

[2929] SPEAKER_17: Mi nombre es Miriam Mendez. Soy madre de familia. representante de ILAC, miembro de DILAC, promotora de educación comunitaria, soy latina, y quiero agradecerles por permitirme estar presente en esta reunión tan importante desde mi punto de vista, pues me parece extraordinario que tanto la ciudad como el distrito trabajen siempre en favor de nuestra comunidad, por lo que además de agradecerles, quiero hacerles saber que en la medida que me sea posible, por supuesto, me pongo a sus órdenes para colaborar con ustedes como voluntaria, promotora, madre de familia, como sea siempre en favor de nuestra comunidad, así como una miembro más de la comunidad de Newark. Así que gracias.

[2990] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Thank you.

[2994] SPEAKER_30: I'll repeat it in English. My name is Miriam Mendez. I am a mother. I am a mother, representative of ELAC, member of DELAC, promotora, a part of the organization, a promotora of education, educational, community education, and Latina. I want to thank you for permitting me to be present in this meeting, which is very important. And it's an extraordinary, Event to have with the district with the school district and the city to be able to In order for I'm sorry a great accomplishment for the city and the district to be working together for our community I also want to thank you. Oh I just want to thank you and let you know that I make myself available to to you and to collaborate with you as a voluntary as a volunteer and as a promotora and as a member of the community of Newark. Thank you for your attention.

[3057] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you so much. Gracias.

[3062] SPEAKER_30: We got one more.

[3062] SPEAKER_38: Hello, good evening all. My name is Lorena Talavera and I'm here as a parent of Newark Unified School District. I have four children at Lincoln Elementary. And I'm here to request for more Spanish speaking persons at the unified school district office. I have some parents call me and ask me to translate, which I do with great joy. My parents did not speak English and One thing that my father told me when I came to this country was to not forget where I came from and to see every person that asks me for help and see them as if I was helping my own parents. So that's something that I do with Great Joey when somebody asks me to help. So I'm here to request for more personnel. I can translate sometimes for the parents, but sometimes it's not possible. I have had a parent call me and ask me to translate because there was nobody that speaks Spanish at the time that they came to the unified school district office. And unfortunately, I couldn't. So I feel sad for that parent that had to leave and go home without their issue being resolved. And thank you for this opportunity. I'm also grateful that the city and the school district is coming together. And I'm very happy that this is happening. Thank you.

[3151] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you so much. Any other speakers, Ms. Gutierrez? Thank you. So on to future agenda items. We currently have one item for the April meeting. Crossing Guard update and possible addition to Newark Junior High School. City Manager Benin, we'll wait for the update. Thank you. And then we're ready to, any other items that you want to add to?

[3184] SPEAKER_22: Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I want to thank the representative from Palm Tortoise. It is such a vital organization in our city that steps in time and time again to volunteer to help us get the message out to our community on all those services we provide. So once again I want to thank that organization to the representative that commented on the lack from their perspective of Spanish speaking employees to assist. We have no greater responsibility in government to make sure our residents not only feel comfortable in approaching us with questions and comments but to make sure that we provide answers in a somewhat timely manner. Just a thought, and I'm not going to get into the issue itself, but I don't know, do we have any kind of a hotline that somebody can call in that is specifically focused on those that speak maybe a different language, where they can maybe leave a message in their language, and maybe somebody will get back to them at a later date? Just a thought for you to consider. And then my agenda item that I'd like to have And I believe our next meeting is in April. What's our next meeting after that, Mr. Mnoon? Can you advise me?

[3254] SPEAKER_20: It would be Monday, April 18th at 6 p.m. And as a housekeeping matter, I believe it would be held at City Hall, as we agreed to the alternating locations on a yearly basis.

[3263] SPEAKER_22: And then the next meeting after that, would that be like July?

[3267] SPEAKER_20: The next meeting after that would be June, and that would be the third Monday in June, and then the third Monday in October.

[3274] SPEAKER_22: Okay. The reason I mention that is I want to give Dr. Triplett plenty of time to look into this issue and maybe come back. I'm really concerned as any parent would be about the academic loss as a result of the COVID-19. We hear just in the news and I'm hearing from parents that they're concerned about the loss of the quality education that their child is receiving in the classroom and whether or not that has caused a little bit of a setback academically. I'd like to hear from the school district kind of on what are your thoughts in terms of how to help parents who feel that their child is falling behind, whether or not we're looking at possibly summer school opportunities, things of that nature. But just I want to put that question out there and whether you want to present that in April or June, whichever is best for you, I'm fine with. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[3331] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Quiazzo, any agenda items, future agenda items that you'd like?

[3336] SPEAKER_29: No, I just want to ask, what's the deadline so we can put an agenda item on there? Because something will come up.

[3346] SPEAKER_30: Usually, either Kathy or myself will reach out a couple of weeks beforehand to ask for any additional agenda items. So two weeks before.

[3356] SPEAKER_29: Thank you.

[3360] SPEAKER_25: Member Grindel?

[3361] Terrence Grindall: I think that items D2 and D3 should should be updated once more in our next meeting. And more later.

[3373] Phuong Nguyen: All right. Thank you so much. Any other items? Just a general comment, Madam Chair. Sure.

[3385] SPEAKER_22: These meetings are not held on Zoom, I don't believe. Am I correct? That's correct. Maybe that's something that we, as a board, can discuss in April, whether or not we would like to maybe expand our outreach as a board in terms of getting this information out to the community. Because Dr. Triplett and Mr. Padilla, you shared a lot of great information tonight. And sometimes, you know, parents aren't always able to log in or track what's happening at the school board because they're working, whatever the case may be. This is always a second opportunity for folks to kind of understand what's happening in their schools and in the city, for that matter. So this might be something that we as a board in April can chat about whether or not we want to expand to maybe Zoom. And I'll leave it up to Mr. Badoon and Dr. Triplett to provide us feedback on that. Not necessarily do it in April, but at least have a conversation about it.

[3435] Phuong Nguyen: That's fine. And then just so that the public is aware, tonight's meeting is being broadcasted on our NUSD YouTube channel. Oh, perfect. Yeah, so.

[3449] Terrence Grindall: I think it should be agendized, because there is the element of having Zoom participation from the public, which is not necessarily happening tonight, am I correct? Correct. That is correct. And there's new state law about that. I'm sure that both Dr. Triplett and Mr. Purnoon are quite versed in all the challenges involved in that. So it might be a good idea to have it on our agenda to talk about how we, even though this this committee may not require it, we probably want, at least I would like to have us be consistent with what's being done in other public meetings.

[3486] SPEAKER_22: Plus I think it's always good to show that we the school district and the city are working collaboratively. Many of our residents maybe don't see that. It's nice to see that this is working and working well. I think it's good for both of our organizations.

[3499] SPEAKER_29: Right. And if we zoom, that gives them the opportunity to public comment.

[3506] Aiden Hill: Right.

[3507] Phuong Nguyen: Great. Thank you so much. I noted that and I will hand it over to Ms. Gutierrez at the end of the meeting. So on to our last item. Adjournment. I move to adjourn. May I get a second? I'll second. OK. Seconded by Vice Chair Hannon. How do you vote, Vice Chair Hannon? Yes. Member Quiazo?

[3530] SPEAKER_29: If only if we have to.

[3533] Phuong Nguyen: Member Grindel? Yes. Myself is yes. Four ayes. Meeting adjourned at 7.56.

No minutes available.