Regular Meeting

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[480] Phuong Nguyen: We are holding in-person board meetings at our district boardroom and are following the state's and Alameda County's safety guidelines for public gathering. Please refrain from attending in-person meetings if you have COVID-related symptoms. If you are not able to attend the meetings in person, you may observe the meeting via the NUSD YouTube channel, live transmission on Comcast channel 26, and there is Spanish translation available via Zoom. In regards to public comment the public will have the opportunity to address the board regarding non-agendized matters and agendized items with a live audio only comment via zoom with advanced notice requested by email at public comment at newarkunified.org a written comment by submitting a speaking card via email at public comment at newarkunified.org or with live in-person comments by submitting a speaker card with our executive assistant, Ms. Gutierrez. Roll call, please, Ms.

[541] SPEAKER_31: Gutierrez. Board member Zhang?

[545] Sean Abruzzi: Here.

[545] SPEAKER_31: Board member Marquez? Board member Marquez? Member Marquez? Thank you. Board Member Hill.

[563] SPEAKER_35: Here.

[564] SPEAKER_30: Vice President Grindel.

[566] SPEAKER_35: Here.

[567] SPEAKER_30: President Nguyen. Here. All present.

[569] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. On to item 2.1, approval of the agenda. May I get a motion to approve the agenda as is?

[579] Bowen Zhang: Move to approve the agenda.

[583] Terrence Grindall: I'll second.

[584] Phuong Nguyen: Motion made by Member Zhang, seconded by Member Grindel. Please vote via board docs.

[619] SPEAKER_31: Member Marquez, do you have access to BoardDocs? Member Marquez, can you hear me and can you confirm? OK, got it. Thank you.

[638] SPEAKER_30: All votes are in. Unanimous. Thank you.

[645] Phuong Nguyen: On to closed session, in closed session. Are there any public comments in closed session? Thank you. In closed session, we will be discussing item 3.2, public employee discipline dismissal release. Item 3.3, conference with labor negotiators, NTA and CSCA. Item 3.4, Conference with Labor Negotiators, NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors and Contracted Management. Item 3.5, Conference with Legal Counsel, Anticipated Litigation. And 3.6, Ratification and Approval of TK Enrollment. We will now recess to closed session. Thank you.

[3486] Marie dela Cruz: Good morning.

[3668] Phuong Nguyen: Good evening, and we are back from closed session. There is an item we're on item 4.1. There is no report out of closed session. For those of you just joining us today, if you would like to fill out a request to speak on public comment, there are forms in the back. And please feel free to fill it out and hand it to Miss Gutierrez. Thank you. Oh, Where's my sheet? Oh, I apologize. We do have one announcement out of closed session. We have approval of our TK enrollment, accepting one student. And motion made by member Hill, seconded by member Zhang, and voted five ayes. Thank you. On to item 5.1, Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. Please begin.

[3740] SPEAKER_19: 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.

[3761] Phuong Nguyen: OK, on to item 6.1, student report from Newark Junior High, Alternative Education, and Newark Memorial High School. Dr. Shiblett.

[3771] Mark Triplett: All right. Thank you, President Nguyen. Good evening to the board members and students, staff, and public parents. So we have our student reports. And I believe we're going to be starting with the junior high. Is that right, Ms. Gutierrez? And I believe our student leader is here, or leaders are here in person. Is that correct?

[3799] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[3800] Mark Triplett: Wonderful.

[3802] SPEAKER_33: Welcome, students. Good evening, board members, superintendent Triplett.

[3820] Phuong Nguyen: Can you please lower the mic? Thank you.

[3824] SPEAKER_33: Good evening Board Members, Superintendent Triplett, Executive Cabinet, and community members. My name is Addison Wolf, 8th grade class president, and I'm here to report. Hi, I am Akunvi Akore, the vice president for ASB. So for school, we recently started opening the student store today, and we also started Music on the Quad. We're planning a dance for Halloween. Thank you.

[3862] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you so much.

[3864] Mark Triplett: Thank you. It's great to see you both here. Next, I believe, we have student board member Diego Torres, who's going to be sharing on Newark Memorial.

[3881] Diego Torres: Good evening, everyone. At the high school there have been many events. Our school hosted all the Fremont schools, Logan and Moreau at the cross country opener yesterday. There were over 400 runners participating with our Newark runners taking first place in many races. The athletic spaghetti feed fundraiser will be taking place on November 5th. The first champions of character have been chosen. Freshman Isaiah San Pedro has been selected as a JV football champion of character for demonstrating great hustle, awareness, and perseverance in playing a new position. Congratulations, Isaiah. Sophomore Geraldo Zavala has been selected as the varsity champion of character for effective communication skills, high energy, and outstanding leadership. Congratulations, Geraldo. Tomorrow we have our first home game. This Friday we will be hosting our Heroes Night football game. We will honor those who have served our country as well as the police and fire department. If you would like to attend the game, please buy a ticket online and you can find that information on the school's website. One important event that happened last week was Club Rush. Kids got to sign up for clubs at school and it was exciting to see students getting involved and finding ways to get back to Newark Memorial High School. Clubs have already begun working hard. One of the biggest clubs on campus, Interact, an international program working to improve the lives of the community, has begun meeting this week. The president of that club has graciously gifted this sticker that has the mascot Sleepy Sheep on it. So I'm going to pass them around. Our esports club has collaborated with Mission San Jose High School and American High School to create a gaming tournament that will take place this Saturday. They are currently preparing for the High School School League, where they will compete nationally and have a chance at winning $100,000 and a trophy. We are currently preparing for Cougar Camp on September 10th. Cougar Camp is going to be an event where we invite kids from the elementary level to come to the high school and play games like soccer and capture the flag. This week, we saw PAWS starting up again. PAWS is a study hall period where students can go meet with their teachers if they need more support in a class, need to make up missed quizzes and exams, or work on their assignments. The school site council has started up again. The school site council is a committee that helps the school evaluate the needs assessment. After studying the needs assessment, they will allocate funds from the school budget to address the needs identified. This group meets a minimum of four times a year, but will likely meet monthly for about an hour each month. There are parent openings for this, so if you are interested, please contact office manager Tina Cordova by email at tcordova at newarkunify.org. Lastly, we have our back to school night on September 7th from 6 to 730. This event will be held virtually for Newark Memorial High School. This evening will begin with a 30 minute presentation by the administration at 7 p.m. Then parents and families will be able to chat with their teachers live or watch prepared videos from each teacher. That's all. Thank you.

[4052] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, student board member Torres. On to item 7.1, staff spotlight, Dr. Triplett.

[4061] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. We are delighted to be having a staff spotlight this evening to really celebrate and acknowledge a number of our wonderful staff. Firstly, we wanted to give a shout out to Ms. Ruth Dalton, Office Manager at Birch Grove Primary. Ms. Dalton is such a phenomenal member of our community and our school system as well as Birch Grove Primary. She's described as having just a tremendous love of kids, warm and welcoming while being incredibly organized and is such a fantastic office partner with the principal and the rest of the team. So please join me in appreciating Ms. Dalton. Secondly, in our NEWMA spotlight, we wanted to honor Ms. Tracy Blanco. She is relatively new. I believe she's been here now a year. Is that right, Ms. Delacruz? And Ms. Blanco is just doing such a tremendous job. She's our budget and position manager in the business office. Ms. Blanco is described as thoughtful, a hard worker, a master at the positions, including payroll and employee positions, a numbers guru, and someone who keeps the whole department in line. So it's really been a pleasure to have her join the family, and please join me in appreciating her. And then last but certainly not least, we wanted to give a big shout out to our sixth grade team. And we do have a guest appearance. One of our sixth grade teachers, Ms. Clevenger, here in the audience. So just wanted to really commend and appreciate this team. And I'll read all the names. So we have, going from left to right, we have Ms. Rose, Mr. Ramirez, Ms. Sears, Mr. Fuller, Ms. Nordman, Ms. White, Mr. Cabrales, Ms. Arden, Ms. Wakefield, Ms. Ramirez, Mr. Starrett, and Ms. Clevenger. And then we also have, there were a couple that we didn't manage to capture in this photo, but Ms. Cordero, Ms. Francisco, Ms. Nguyen, and Mr. Sa. I just want to say a few words about the team. Just such an incredible, solid team. They have been developing a really strong sixth grade culture already. High expectations for students while being caring and kind. and really embracing both innovation and just being supportive of each other and our sixth graders. So please join me in appreciating this wonderful group and a special shout out to Ms. Clevenger who's here. And those are our spotlights for this evening.

[4235] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. On to item 8.1, public comment on non-agenda items. Our first speaker is Ms. Paula Clevenger. Welcome, Ms. Clevenger.

[4249] SPEAKER_02: Thank you. Welcome to everybody. I'm not really good at this. I'm good at talking to kids, but not adults. So forgive me if I read this. My name is Paula Clevenger, and I have been with the district for 24 out of my 26 years of teaching. This year, I have a pleasure of teaching sixth grade at the junior high school with a wonderful group of teachers. You just saw them. and some that you did not see. All of the teachers are working very hard to make the sixth graders feel safe, welcome and happy. We are so proud of all of our sixth graders at the junior high. The sixth graders are doing very well despite all the hiccups at the beginning of the year. I know that I'm just a teacher and I'm not a parent of any biological kids in Newark, but I consider any and all children I've taught my children. Teachers will do always anything and whatever we can to help our students with the support of the district. At the junior high, we have seen Dr. Triplett and Mr. Dolowich, sorry, not Dr. Dolowich, a lot. I saw Dr. Triplett this morning. Mr. Dolowich has, okay, tell my kids to take a deep breath. Mr. Dulwich is trying to get the teachers what we need to succeed, and he has worked very hard to help us out through, and I just counted them, only 17 days of school. I can't believe how much Mr. Dulwich and all the teachers have accomplished under 20 days. We do have one group of students that I want to talk about, and we call them the 11. They are a group of students that they could not find a pair of teachers to teach. And so there's a group of sixth grade students who have to go to a new teacher every single period. And what we're trying to do as sixth grade teachers is trying to accomplish or get them into our flex time. And it's very difficult to do because of the fact that we can't communicate with their teachers because they're not in our wing. And so one of the things I wanted to bring across, and I know I have 49 seconds left, is that we really need to look after these sixth grade 11. They are not getting the same treatment that the rest of the sixth grade ring is getting. And I feel that they are getting lost in the shuffle. We as teachers are trying really hard to get them included in as many things as we possibly can. Our flex time is one of those. Flex time is where half the kids go to an elective and the other half are with us. But it's very difficult to get them to know where they need to go. So I thank all of you for listening and I thank board member Hill for speaking up for teachers, but I want to make sure that our students are heard as well and they can't come and talk to you. So have a wonderful evening.

[4434] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Miss Clemens. Our next public speaker, public comment on nonagenerous Miss Park. Welcome, Miss Park.

[4449] Cindy Parks: Good evening. I tried to get this issue addressed in the past, but it's still not fixed. On the front page of your agenda, it says, in compliance with the Americans and Disabilities Act, and upon request, individuals who require appropriate alternate modifications of the agenda or accommodations in order to observe or participate in the board meetings are invited to contact Ms. Gutierrez. And they give her email address. And it says, by noon on Monday preceding the board meeting. It's kind of hard to know if you're going to want to attend a meeting before the agenda is even published. So I would suggest that perhaps that language be changed. After two months, I have finally received the survey data from the Godby Research concerning potential bond for November 2022. Was this survey the linchpin to support the June RFP for the marketing strategy? The NUSD website post says that you are seeking a marketing professional with experience working in K-12 education to design and implement a 2022-23 NUSD marketing strategy with three main objectives. Increase enrollment, recruitment, and retention of highly qualified staff and improve community awareness of the greatness of our district, schools, and programs. How will that individual influence the satisfactory rate dropping 15% in two years to only 42.8%? Is this drop due to the public's perception of the district because of the district's new leadership? The almost 50% management turnover rate in the last two years, poor test results, Add in the current middle school debacle, limited communication, insufficient textbook and instruction materials, and school campus restrictions to volunteers. You need more than a marketing individual. You need a public relations company and a miracle.

[4573] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Parks. Our next speaker, Mr. Eric Tam. Welcome.

[4584] SPEAKER_11: Hello? Hi. It's going to be super short. Didn't have time to write a speech, though. Good evening, board, Dr. Triplett, and staff. First, I wanted to correct my statement from last time and apologize to Dr. Triplett. I got feedback from a community leader. I used friend to describe Dr. Jeffrey Vu and Dr. Triplett's relationship. This is an assumption. I should have used either business acquaintance or Facebook connection to properly describe that, so I apologize. Second, I want to acknowledge and echo Dr. Triplett's statement about the hard work that principals and teachers have put in for the school merger. Thank you for sacrificing your nights and weekends for the students. I know you, kind of like what the other teacher said, I know you put the students first. Regarding my statement last time about missing chairs, I need to amend that statement that it was missing chairs and or desks. regarding Dr. Triplett's closing superintendent statement. I think we all agree to disagree. Dr. Triplett specifically said that there were only three to five chairs and that he personally took care of it. Sorry, three to five chairs that were missing. Unfortunately, there were several parents ranging from grade six to eight from different classes of social studies to math classes that have stated their children have said otherwise. Just to prevent people saying that I'm spreading disinformation, I've already sent those screenshots of the parents' full names and the comments and messages to the board members. In addition, there are two teachers that have come forward privately and acknowledged that they either taught or talked to students that desks and chairs were missing during the first day. Unfortunately, these teachers are unwilling to come out publicly because of the fear of retaliation. Not that there is the culture of retaliation, but there might be a perception of retaliation Board, I want to raise the item again, as I believe there were more glitches than was reported and summarized. I want to thank Ms. Cindy Parks for helping get the Godby research. I wasn't able to write a full speech about it, but I was very curious on why some of the data was omitted to the public. Was there a specific reason? And then, yeah, thank you very much.

[4721] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Mr. Tam. On to item 9.1, public comment on agenda items. Ms. Parks will be speaking on agenda item 10.1 and 17.1. Welcome, Ms.

[4737] Cindy Parks: Parks. So 10.1 is the sufficiency of textbook public hearing. The public hearing is for the governing board shall make a determination through a resolution as to whether each pupil in each school in each school district has sufficient textbooks or instructional materials or both that are aligned to the content standards adopted by the state board in each of the following subjects. as appropriate that are consistent with the content and cycles of curriculum adoption, framework adoption by the State of California. Those are mathematics, science, history, social science, English language arts, which includes the English language development component of an adopted program. This public hearing shall take place on or before the end of the eighth week from the first day the pupils attend school for that year. As part of the hearing required pursuant to this section, the governing board of a school district all shall make a written determination as to whether each pupil enrolled in a world language or health course has sufficient textbooks or instructional materials. The governing board of the school district shall determine the availability of library science equipment as applicable to science laboratory courses offered in grades 9 through 12 inclusive. The provision of textbooks, instruction materials, or science equipment specified in this subgraph is not a condition of receipt of funds. I have heard from numerous individuals about the lack of various instructional materials or textbooks at several sites and grade levels, not to mention the consumable math books. If you want teachers to effectively teach and students to learn, you have to give both groups the tools to make that happen. Ultimately, the million-dollar question is, why is this resolution on the agenda this evening? You have until the eighth week of school to approve this resolution. This next item is I hate this whole stinking agenda thing. It pertains to the audit committee charter. Over the years, I've spoken numerous times about various financial concerns. I think the need for an active audit committee is supported by the following information provided in the synopsis of the interim audit process report July meeting, which was released at the August audit committee meeting. Some of the areas covered were cash disbursements. Reviewing the warrant register support, they noted that six out of 52 warrants had purchase orders dated after the invoice date. They recommended that purchases be initiated after receiving a signed purchase order. Kramer Workplace Investigation Warrant for $23,092.50 issued on 10-8-21 with a PO dated 10-6-21, but the invoice and work were dated 8-5-21. The purchase order should have been processed prior to the work performed. Of consideration, they noted that the board date field on the purchase order requisition screen is not being used consistently and recommended making it a practice to enter the board approval date in the PO system. Numerous teacher registers selected for testing were not signed timely. For attendance questionnaire, teachers should be reviewing and signing registers weekly. Attendance records should be signed. Finally, under independent study, seven of ten contracts did not contain all three required signatures, which are the student, parent, and teacher. This is requirement of AB 130. I believe these interim findings and the two audit findings identified earlier this year for over $650,000 confirms the importance of an active audit committee. The audit committee webpage states that the purpose of the audit committee is to provide oversight for financial reporting, internal controls, and auditor activities. I applaud this year's increased oversight and transparency. One issue that I would like to bring to your attention is when I noticed on the report that the student and staff names were inadvertently included in that interim progress report. The district needs to ensure this kind of information is reported in a more anonymous fashion. Thank you.

[4996] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Parks. OK, onto item 10.1, public hearing, sufficiency of instructional materials. Public hearing is now open. Public hearing is now closed. Onto item 11.1, employee organizations. Dr. Triplett. Oh, there's none this time. Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. On to consent agenda personnel items. Is there any items that we would like to pull from personnel consent agenda? Yes?

[5048] SPEAKER_04: 12.3, please. 12.3?

[5050] Phuong Nguyen: Is there another one? I want to pull 12.4.

[5058] Phuong Nguyen: We will pull 12.3 and 12.4. May I get a motion to approve item 12.2 and 12.5, please?

[5067] Bowen Zhang: I move to approve 12.2 and 12.5.

[5070] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. May I get a second? Second. Thank you. Motion made by Member Zhang, seconded by Member Grindel. Please vote.

[5101] SPEAKER_30: All votes are in, five ayes.

[5107] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. OK, on to item 12.3.

[5111] Mark Triplett: Sorry, my present went. Can we introduce the new assistant principal?

[5117] Phuong Nguyen: Oh, yes. Yes, let's do that before we start on. Yeah, that'd be great.

[5121] Mark Triplett: Super. So appreciate the board's approval of the personnel report or ratification rather. We do have our new assistant principal here for the Newark Memorial. Mr. Brown, you can come on up. We'll put you on the spot. I'd love to say a few words about Mr. Brown. So Mr. Bernard Brown II is a San Francisco Bay Area native and an accomplished professional. with 25 plus years of solid contributions in organizational education and program management in the human services and educational services field. He is a fully credentialed teacher and a school administrator, and he spent the past 20 years as a teacher, school site administrator, and educational leader at the secondary education level. He holds a passion for working with teachers on improving practice, developing new and innovative curriculum, and creating equitable, and culturally competent learning environments for students. He is able to leverage his previous experience as a seasoned educator and educational leader when supporting teachers in building their practice. And he has a proven background in moving educational departments and programs forward, an advocate for student athletes and affectionately known as Coach Brown in the Bay Area communities and here now. We're going to call you that too, Coach Brown. He brings an extensive background in athletic coaching, sports performance training, and sports and health and fitness. So please join me in welcoming and embracing Mr. Brown.

[5223] SPEAKER_41: Well, thanks everyone. Thanks for such a warm welcome. I think it's been such a beautiful experience to step on the campus of Newark Memorial and receive such a warm welcome. It's a beautiful group of students, the way they govern themselves, the way they've approached me, and the way they've welcomed me as a new member of the family. And I think one of the most striking things for me coming to Newark Memorial is I work with a dynamic team of people, administrators and teachers. So I'm appreciative of that and thankful for your opportunity.

[5262] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Welcome.

[5264] SPEAKER_35: Welcome.

[5269] SPEAKER_41: I'm not good at this picture thing. I don't know how to smile.

[5277] SPEAKER_35: Thank you.

[5277] SPEAKER_41: Thanks, everyone.

[5278] Phuong Nguyen: Welcome. Thank you. We will be discussing the pulled agenda items later in 18.1. So we will be moving on to consent agenda non-personnel items. Are there any items in the non-personnel items that board members would like to pull?

[5311] Aiden Hill: Yeah. 13.8 and 13.9, please.

[5314] Phuong Nguyen: OK. Any other ones? No? OK. Make it a motion to approve all of the consent items except for 13.8 and 13.9.

[5326] SPEAKER_30: Sorry. Are we skipping and then going back to?

[5330] Phuong Nguyen: No, because we're going to 18. Yeah. Sorry. My apologies. So make it a motion to approve items 13. 13.2, 13.3, 13.4, 13.5, 13.6, 13.7, 13.10, and 13.11. So moved. I second. Motion made by member Grindel, seconded by member Zhang. Please vote. Oh, student board member, how do you vote? Yes. Thank you. Have all votes been accounted for?

[5389] SPEAKER_30: All votes are in. Five yays.

[5392] Phuong Nguyen: And student board members also, yes. Correct. Thank you. On to superintendent report 14.1. Dr. Chiplett.

[5402] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. So if we can have the presentation on the screen, please. So this evening I wanted to share out a few updates and then also some of the upcoming events that we have that are happening in the next month or so that we're really excited about. So first, next slide please. Just wanted to share we have started this year's Leadership Learning Academy. That's the professional development for our principals. And this year we are focusing on three main things with our principals in alignment with our district priorities. And that is building and implementing positive school culture and climate, which is aligned to our social-emotional learning and wellness priority for our teaching and learning. Number two is developing highly effective teams, and that's aligned to distributed leadership. And then three, growing as instructional leaders, including supporting principals to then support their teachers with observation and feedback. So our first meeting was last week, and we have those Leadership Learning Academy meetings every other week. Wanted to share, we've had our back to school nights have begun. We've gotten through most of them, although I think we have a couple more in the upcoming week. It's been really great. I've had a chance to visit during a couple of these, all virtual this year. And it's been really nice to just pop in and hear the teachers speaking with families about the structure of the class and how things will go this year. We did have a bit of a challenge at the junior high with their back-to-school night. Unfortunately, we had the Zoom, the incorrect Zoom that only allowed for 150 participants and we had overwhelming and wonderful participation from the families. So we are going to conduct a second a second back to school night for the junior high, not for the teachers section, but just for the beginning section where the principal and counselors and other leadership can have a chance to present to families. So that should be upcoming, along with, I believe we still have our Newark Memorial back to school night, as well as a few other elementary schools. Wanted to continue to champion and Trumpet this the importance of our more than a meal campaign. So the applications are due September 23rd Thus far. We really haven't gotten the amount that we're really hoping for I think we have about 500 applications and we really want to have 5,000 applications we want to have every single family in submit an application. This is really critical because this is an important aspect of how we are funded. And so just asking everyone, board members, staff, families, to really encourage everyone to complete the application. It can be, there's a link on our website to fill it out and we'll also be sending out more communication, mailers, flyers, and and other things. The importance of this and the reason it's called More Than a Meal is because traditionally this was for the lunch program, but it's much more than that now. And particularly since now, this year, all lunches are free for everyone. But there is benefits, number one, to increased funding for schools. Families also have the opportunity to get free internet access or discounted internet. Discounts on college application fees. Discounts on summer camps. Newark Parks and Rec discounts on some of their programs. As well as, of course, school meals normally. And also even discounts on SAT, ACT, and AP fees. So we're really hoping that we get everyone to complete the application by September 23rd. Ms. Delacruz, am I forgetting anything with that? Okay, I'll keep saying it. We're going to say it over and over again until we can get them all in. Next slide, please. So as I think everyone is starting to hear, we're really excited. Newark Days is back live in person this year, September 15th through 18th. This is obviously something by the city. This will be my first Newark Days because since I've been here with COVID, there hasn't been an in-person Newark days, but I put this year just because we are really excited to participate all the schools are planning on having having groups of students in the parade and we're also going to have a table and And we're gonna have a float as well. So looking forward to experiencing my first Newark days Wanted to also share about another really exciting upcoming event that's throughout this area, and that's Science in the Park, October 1st. It's gonna be held at Cal State East Bay, and we are really, we're working with Supervisor Valle, who is one of the champions of this really exciting program that happens normally every year. I think it's been on hold for the last couple years as well. Teachers have the opportunity to to apply and then actually have a table at Science in the Park. They get paid to do a table and actually do fun experiments at the session. And then also want to invite our board members to join. There's a challenge, evidently, for public elected officials then we'll be competing against Fremont and New Haven and I believe and even Hayward. So if our public officials, I think Mayor Nagy is already signed up as well as one of our council members, Council Member Bucci. So this is a challenge. I'm throwing down the gauntlet to you all. I'm also going to participate. And it's a competition, I believe it's called Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? And so we'll be competing with some fifth graders, and we'll really put ourselves to the test. If we win, if Newark wins, we get, I think it's a $5,000 prize that goes to our schools and students. So we got to start studying, everybody. Next slide, please. Wanted to also give a heads up that we will be starting our fall assessment window October 11th through November 4th. And that is with our iReady program, as well as DRI, which is a reading assessment. And so this fall, all of our teachers and students are preparing for that. Next slide. Also coming up, I know this is something dear to President Wendt's heart, walk and bike. It says walk and bike and roll to school on October 12th. So we're really looking forward to partnering with the city and with Newark Police Department to have a really wonderful walk and bike to school day on that day. So I just want to put it on everyone's calendar. And that is all for this evening in terms of the report.

[5853] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Dr. Shriblett. Any comments from board members? No? Member Hill?

[5862] Aiden Hill: Do we have any current enrollment numbers? I'm just not sure the frequency that we report that.

[5870] Mark Triplett: I don't have any tonight, but I'm happy to bring it back next time if you'd like. I will say that right now they're definitely in flux. This is the time of year when we're really trying to solidify our numbers. And we do always see a level of fluctuation. Some students or families that originally signed up, they move or whatever. So part of our job right now is to basically like clear our roles and as well as going through what we call the queue and seeing if really pushing families who are in the queue but haven't completed their paperwork to complete that work or if they've made a decision to actually not enroll, then we're communicating with them so that we know to remove them from the queue. So happy to bring some more new data back next time.

[5923] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Any other comments from the board? Thank you, Dr. Triplett, for the superintendent report. On to old business, item 15.1, CSBA Online Learning Center.

[5940] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. So this is a return item. As you recall, last time the board had a discussion about increasing the budget for board trainings in order for us to be able to purchase this subscription to online learning centers as a supplement to the trainings that we already have for our board members. And so we're just bringing this back to get your vote and approval on.

[5969] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. So with that said, I think we already had our discussion and we're all ready to make a motion for approval. Yeah, I move to approve this. Thank you, Member Zhang.

[5980] Aiden Hill: I second.

[5981] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill. Motion made by Member Zhang, seconded by Member Hill. Please, student board member, how do you vote? Yes. Thank you. And then remaining board members, please vote on board docs. Thank you.

[5996] SPEAKER_30: And President Nguyen. We will be, for this meeting, since Member Marquez is via Zoom, we'll move to roll call vote as well.

[6005] Phuong Nguyen: Oh, for Member Marquez?

[6007] SPEAKER_30: For all members. Okay. Yes.

[6010] Phuong Nguyen: So would you like me to do the roll call vote? Whatever you want. Okay. Member Zhang, how would you vote?

[6017] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[6018] Phuong Nguyen: Member Marquez? Member Marquez, how do you vote? Yeah, we'll come back to Member Marquez. Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel? Yes. I'm also yes. So, Member Marquez, can you hear me? How do you vote on item 15.1?

[6059] SPEAKER_30: Sorry, something might be wrong with her microphone. She put in the chat yes, and also locked in her vote as yes.

[6064] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. So we have six ayes. On to item 15.2, policy update. Board policy 7310, naming of facilities. Dr. Strickland.

[6078] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. So this is, if the board will recall, this was an item that was brought forth for discussion at the request of Member Ajean in the spring, in June. And so what we're doing is we basically took the suggestions and ideas from the board discussion and tried our best to articulate those in a recommended policy change. So we're just bringing that policy change back per the discussion that was had in June.

[6109] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Dr. Shiplett. Are there any clarifying questions or comments from board member, student board member, member Zhang?

[6125] Bowen Zhang: I thought this was, this time brought back by Member Grinnell, right, for temporarily naming the newer junior high to middle school and wait until the naming process for middle school. Is that right, or?

[6137] Terrence Grindall: I think this is a separate, I was going to ask a clarifying question about that, but I believe this is the discussion we had in the spring about making some minor changes.

[6148] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, one of the minor changes, last time we said this, the individual living near an individual, whatever statewide national significance or geographic area we talk about, there's an implicit order of preference, which Muriel and I sort of agree on. So for this, do we still assume there's an implicit order of preference on that? Because that was my original idea, is if we listed one, two, three, then I want to add the order of preference.

[6180] Terrence Grindall: My recollection. My recollection is that we decided to use bullets instead of numbers to allow for more flexibility for the boards in the future to consider those factors. That's what I understood the case, that we'd actually explicitly wanted it to be bullets instead of numbers.

[6200] Bowen Zhang: So no ordinal preference?

[6202] Phuong Nguyen: That's correct.

[6208] Terrence Grindall: So my clarification was this is not the issue that was discussed at the last meeting where a majority of the board wanted to look into temporarily renaming Newark Junior High School to Newark Middle School. And that's going to come maybe at the next meeting?

[6225] Mark Triplett: Yeah. This is wrapping up the prior directive from the board to bring forth a policy revision. Right. Thank you.

[6238] Phuong Nguyen: Member Marquez, any comments? At this time, I'm ready to make a motion. Oh, thank you for making the motion. Member, did you have a comment? OK, great. Thank you, Member Marquez, for the motion to approve. May I get a second?

[6256] Terrence Grindall: I'll second.

[6257] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Motion made by Member Marquez, seconded by Member Grandel. How do you vote, student board member?

[6264] Diego Torres: Yes.

[6265] Phuong Nguyen: Member Zhang?

[6266] Diego Torres: No.

[6268] Phuong Nguyen: Marquez?

[6269] SPEAKER_36: Yes.

[6270] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill? No. Member Grindel?

[6273] Terrence Grindall: Yes.

[6274] Phuong Nguyen: I'm also a yes. Four ayes and two noes. Thank you. On to new business, K-12 Workplace, I mean, sorry, K-12 Workforce Pathway Coordinator LEA Host Contract, Ohlone CCD. Dr. Triplett.

[6303] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. I'm chuckling because it's a mouthful and it's also, it's a brainful, too, because this position, or this MOU, if you will, does require a little bit of explanation. So, I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Pierce to talk us through it.

[6321] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Thank you. So as the board knows, last year we approved a new position, the A to G, to work on our A through G credits. Let me slow down. Our coordinator of access and equity. This is an opportunity for us to continue to add to our workforce working on our college and career readiness data. This is a shared position. The grant actually came to Cabrillo Community Colleges, who are the holder of the grant. And they're working with various community college districts to fund these pathway coordinator positions. So we've been lucky enough to be able to host the position for our region. Our region includes Ohlone, as well as Fremont Unified and New Haven Unified, as well as ourselves. So again, we are the host. Cabrillo would be the fiscal agent in this case. We think this is a great opportunity to host this position because again, we have already started this work, very intentional work in our district. And we think that together with our coordinator of access and equity, doing the work that they're doing, this could really be a great partnership and an opportunity for us to host a position that we then really take advantage of in that way. Again, we would not be the fiscal agent, so all of these funds are coming to us from this grant, the Strong Workforce Grant that you mentioned earlier. And this person would be focused on really improving career technical education courses, programs, and pathways, which is something that, again, is a focus for Ed Services at this time. I'm happy to answer any questions. It is quite a position, so I tried to simplify it as much as possible. But if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer.

[6425] Mark Triplett: And could I add just one more thing? So this is the contract between us and the organization. If the board approves this, then we would be bringing back at the next meeting actual position for the board to approve, because this would be a new position for our district. And so this is just the contract. And this is money in. This is not money out. So we're receiving funds for this, not paying funds.

[6452] Phuong Nguyen: Great. Thank you so much, Dr. Triplett. And thank you, Ms. Pierce-Davis. Any questions or comments from the board? Our student board member? Member Zhang?

[6464] Bowen Zhang: So this grant, is this a one-time grant or this is an ongoing grant? Because we're going to establish a position. We've got to look into, I see the fiscal impact. No.

[6477] Nicole Pierce-Davis: So currently, we know that it's funded for multi years. Now we don't know the length for which it will be funded. But right now we see it as at minimum being a two year possibly three and an ongoing position. Again, I just want to be clear, we are hosting this position. They would work with all three districts to strengthen pathways. And so in some ways, it is one of those positions where you hope that they come in, they build some really strong systems that then are self-sustaining over time. But as long as they are willing to give us the funds to maintain this position, I think we would want to continue to work towards continuous improvement.

[6514] Phuong Nguyen: Great. Thank you. Member Marquez?

[6518] SPEAKER_20: I just wanted to first and foremost say that I feel like this is a great opportunity for our school district because we are one of the smaller school districts, especially in the MVROP. It would be a great way for us to stand out and show that we are capable of fulfilling what the contract is asking from us and at the same time support New Haven and Fremont. I see on the document that it says that the services are through September 30th of 2023. It would be great for us to counter to that, that we continue to work with the LEA that's providing the funding to show what our school district offers to see if we can have them tap in as well and expand what we're already doing for our students. Thank you for the opportunity.

[6561] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Marquez. Member Hill? No, no comment. Thank you. Member Grindel?

[6569] Terrence Grindall: My question or comment is along the same lines as Member Zhang's. I'm heartened by the answer that we want to build our capacity going forward and this position hopefully goes on for a long time, but we keep our eye on the fact that it might go away. and be building our internal capacity around that. As you said, setting up systems so that the work can continue even if this grant ends. So that's really more of a comment and just want to make sure we don't hire a position and then at the end of the contract, we lose it and we lose all the progress we've made. So thank you.

[6611] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Grindel. And thank you. I am echoing Member Marquez's statements. I think that this is a great opportunity for us to host the position and work with other districts, you know, with Fremont, New Haven, and especially with our MVROP partners, right, to build up the framework to be able to hopefully sustain it over time. So I'm very much happy with this. Thank you so much.

[6648] Bowen Zhang: So can I assume that two years or three years later, this grant is not given to us anymore, then this program will be gone?

[6658] Nicole Pierce-Davis: No, you don't want to assume that. I would have assumed that as well, so I appreciate the question. I did actually, I asked that question directly to our providers, and their answer was not definitive. It was absolutely, we hope that this is ongoing funding. We will know more as more, as time, as time goes on.

[6678] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so another comment I want to make is, remember when Don and myself, we sort of serve on a Mission Valley ROP board. I think, I guess, and then, Mr. Delacroix, you're from that district. This ROP serves three school districts. However, I guess when I voted on item, what I realized, when good things happen, let's say the Tesla thing, fixing the EV vehicle, Newark generally got the background on that. All the goodies go to Fremont and New Haven. It doesn't come to us. So even though we're probably the district that needs the most resources, And I guess they are still using the 70%, 20%, 10% distribution rate. So we got 10% every time. So is there any measure in place that Newark can guess a better share of this pie? Yeah, we're going to be the one doing this program.

[6733] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Ms.dela Cruz, feel free to add. What I will say is it's one of the reasons why we absolutely, and I want to thank Dr. Triplett for his vision in this, sought to host this position, right? And ultimately were selected to host this position to ensure, I'm not sure if I like this metaphor, but to ensure we get our piece of the pie, right? I would also like to say I appreciate the board members' comments because I did leave out Mission Valley ROP. Obviously, they'll be working very closely with Mission Valley ROP as well. Finally, this position would also be in coordination with other community colleges. So they're also getting training and support from other pathway coordinators in other community college districts who are doing similar work. So because the work is on strengthening those pathways, I actually think we would be really positioned well, since we're hosting the position, to really kind of maximize the support and we have one comprehensive large high school as well as our second alt ed high school that both run ROP classes. And so I think we actually end up maximizing our support by hosting this position. Obviously, I can't tell it to the future, but that there was some strategy involved there.

[6811] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill.

[6812] Aiden Hill: And then, I apologize for my ignorance, but member Zhang, you talked about how ROP, that Newark's not getting the kind of the, I'll just summarize, my impression is the fair share, but could you describe a little bit more what resources you're talking about?

[6829] Bowen Zhang: So, one of the very recent example is, you know that these days, one of the very important career technical training is being a car mechanic. This is a very important skill, right? As we're transitioning to the EV market, we want to educate our kids to be able to know how to fix EV, right? And there's a recent round about EV vehicles to our district. I think there are several EV. So what happened is they stationed several EV vehicles in Fremont Unified and one EV vehicle in New Haven and none in Newark because we're literally only 10% of the funding. So the reason is, okay, no EV for your school district. So that is one of the things that could happen to Newark Yes, we're the smaller district there. But we end up getting nothing from that.

[6878] Marie dela Cruz: Just a little bit of an explanation on how the percentages work. It has to do with enrollment. So the more students that we enroll, the more share, I guess, of the pies, how it's allocated. Because the way it is now, we represent 10% of their enrollment.

[6901] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Delacruz. Yes, go ahead.

[6904] Aiden Hill: And when you say enrollment, are you talking about in ROP?

[6909] Marie dela Cruz: Our students attending ROP classes that are either at the center or at our high schools. OK, great. Thank you. Or our high school, rather. Thank you for the clarification. Oh, Bridgepoint, sorry. The schools, yeah.

[6921] Phuong Nguyen: Any additional comments? I think we're ready to make a motion to vote. May I get a motion to approve?

[6929] SPEAKER_20: Motion to approve.

[6930] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you member Marquez, motion made by member Marquez, may I get a second?

[6934] Bowen Zhang: I'll second it.

[6935] Phuong Nguyen: Seconded by member Zhang. Student board member, how do you vote? Yes. Thank you. Member Zhang? Yes. Member Marquez?

[6944] SPEAKER_36: Yes.

[6945] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel?

[6947] Terrence Grindall: Yes.

[6948] Phuong Nguyen: I'm also yes. Six ayes. Thank you. Okay, on to item 17, board member requests. 17.1, audit committee charter review. I believe this was brought up by member Marquez. Member Marquez, would you like to take the lead?

[6973] SPEAKER_20: Yes, I would. Thank you. Thank you. If the items could please be handed out.

[6985] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Marquez.

[6987] SPEAKER_20: You're welcome. Thank you. So what I want to do, does everyone have their copy? You ready?

[7010] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[7011] SPEAKER_20: Thank you. So what I wanted to do is go over this. I spent some time in reviewing the actual document. Early on, it's been about three months, four months that we discussed about addressing this. Furthermore, one of my peers, I can't remember exactly who of my peers had mentioned it. it would be a great idea to go ahead and review the actual matrix. And in doing my research, I found that our local and neighboring school districts didn't have what they call an actual audit committee, per se. So for example, New Haven, they worked with more the title of budget and finance. Fremont as well, budget advisory task force. So in looking at what our fellow school districts were doing when it came to audit committees, it was as if their committees were sharing their responsibilities. So they didn't have as many committees, but what they were doing is taking on shared responsibilities. So in reviewing our committee charter, what I came to realize is there are some points or some information that's being presented in our charter matrix that's repetitive or redundant. It's something that the board itself, the board members is already responsible for. So I wanted to make some recommendations. On the first page under purpose, you'll see that I struck out line item D. This item, the purpose of the reason for my striking is that we already have study sessions and we do this as a board. as a collective, so my recommendation would be to move line item D. Furthermore, I struck line item F, provide input on the effectiveness of the independent auditor. We do so as a board and as a committee that's already in our description of job duties. So by moving line items F, G, and part of G's description, what G actually does, it makes it appear as though we are a board within a board. in the way that was written. So what I recommend is that we as a committee just make the recommendations and realize that the board itself is responsible for step G. Moving on to the next page, I requested or I recommend that we strike where it says that the board may appoint non-voting committee members with specific expertise to this committee. And I thought about that and I said to myself, well, the board itself already hires the experts, right? That's how we have the audit firms coming in. In my point of view, I believe that three members in the committee is suffice. With an alternating case, one of us is unable to attend. But to have the additional expense or to hire someone else when we already have an audit firm in place felt as though we weren't thinking as soundly when it comes to limiting expenses. So if we're looking for trained members or members that are experts, right? Because that's what it states is the expertise. I feel that this would be an excellent opportunity for board members who serve on this committee. They should be asked to complete the MIG courses, especially when it comes to finance and we should make this as a prerequisite. So for example, if we're a part of a certain committee and because we have MIG courses, we should take those courses. That should be a prerequisite, just like taking a specific course for our students, as well as in college. And then moving on to the bottom of the page, where I ask that we strike out according. It says, and highlight accordingly that the audit committee members should. All this information, when it comes to responsibilities, is repetitive. It's worded above, and it's also worded in the matrix. So we're repeating the same information. So my goal is to streamline this information. And then on the page of committee authority and responsibilities, I did ask that we strike the term monitor and look for review, because that's our overall goal. We're not monitoring. We're not the audit police. We're not trying to do the, I got you, or this is, oh, I knew they were gonna do something wrong. That's not our responsibility. The responsibility of a committee in this case is to review and to make recommendations. We are not the governing or we are not the board itself. And then I did ask that we strike, assess the performance and independence of the independent auditor on an annual basis. That's the board's job. I don't feel that that's a committee's job. We can say that we agree with what the information is that they present to us during our audit committees, or on the other hand, we can say that we disagree and that's when we present our information. I don't feel that it's our position or our place to assess someone because we are not the board, nor are we the executive staff. And then further below where it goes on into additional responsibilities, Board responsibilities, again, in roles. It's not the committee's responsibilities to be monitoring or furthermore pinpointing this type of information, especially when it comes to policies already in place. The board and the voting members of the board are those that enforce, right? As an audit committee, we are reviewing the information that's being provided to us by the audit firm and then reporting back. So you'll see those items that were struck. as well as item number two, because it's repetitive. And then item number four, we had discussed as well early on in our, and I appreciate for my fellow board member, Mr. Hill for setting the calendar for us and providing the dates. And I think we should identify that. So as an audit committee that we meet at least once a month, and I do appreciate the fact that we have that calendar, that it was in place and then it was, Send to everyone, and then it shows up on our Google Calendar. And I think that's a part of effectiveness and accountability, so we know what's coming up. So I felt that number four should be rewritten in that way. And then for number five, the key about the board request that we have professional consultants, that's a cost. If there is something that needs to be reviewed or if the board or in private session, if there's something that we believe as a board member that we need to hire a professional consultant, it should be handled at that time, not necessarily by the audit committee. Number seven, repetitious, regular calendar, establishing the regular calendar, that's the same as number four. Number eight, board responsibilities. We do that in study session, and the members are there as well. And it's also public, so those that want to comment can do so. Coming down to number 10, review all material written with communication, independent auditors. That's also repetitive or redundant, so I think that should be struck. Number 13. The audit committee will evaluate the independent auditor. Evaluating or making recommendations of an audit firm, that is a board response. That's the board responsibility with the executive committee. It's not necessarily us as an audit committee that we should be making that type of a decision when it comes to an evaluation. And then on line item number 13, on the far corner where it says reviews annually, Here, I'm just simply asking that a date needs to be specified and calendared annually. And again, I want to refer back to my fellow member Hill for having done that with us and during the meeting, and it was clear, the information there. So he specifically provided a date as a team that came together, a master calendar was created and it was taken care of. And then Ms. Jodi took care of that for us. So at this time, these are the recommendations that I am making as a board member and a part of the committee that we streamline our charter and hoping for proposed changes so that it's not so wordy and that we recognize in clarity what it is that our responsibilities are, and at the same time, what the board is responsible for.

[7532] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Thank you, Member Marquez. Any questions or comments by our student board member? None at this time. Member Zhang.

[7544] Bowen Zhang: So since I just got this one in this meeting, so I tend to agree if there is a fiscal impact If there's a fiscal impact, the board should approve the additional cost. And for the other thing, so what is the rationale about suddenly have such wide range of changing on this charter? So that's my question.

[7568] Phuong Nguyen: Can you repeat the question so Member Marquez can hear?

[7571] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so my question is, this is quite a, looks like quite a big change to the audit committee charter. So what is the rationale behind this?

[7580] Phuong Nguyen: Member Marquez, would you like to respond?

[7583] SPEAKER_20: Can someone please repeat his question? It's coming through broken.

[7586] Bowen Zhang: Oh, he said... Yeah, what I'm saying is this seems to be a pretty big change to the Charter. What is the rationale behind this?

[7596] SPEAKER_20: The rationale is simplification. When the information, we're providing information to the public as well as our parents, right? That the same questions, if you look at the items that were struck out, those items are repetitive. It's just simply reworded in a different way, but we're saying the same thing over and over again. So it's just simply streamlining, cutting back, simplifying our document so that anyone who reads it knows, oh, that's exactly the point. Like the information regarding the calendar would be a great example. We bring up the calendar three different times in three separate line items. It needs one line item versus in three separate places. And that's an example there. And then making sure that we adhere to what it is that the actual audit committee is trying to do, right? And appreciate what the audit committee is trying to do, but at the same time, keep it simple. So then that way, those that are participating and those that are wanting to be a part of that committee, know the expectations and they don't get lost in between the repetition.

[7665] Phuong Nguyen: Great, thank you. Any other comments, Member Jung? Member Hill?

[7674] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, thank you. So, I'm pretty surprised at

[7684] Aiden Hill: I mean, not only the fact that we're bringing this to the board level, because I think that it really is a function of the audit committee to basically, and it's actually articulated in our current charter, that if we see that there's important changes that need to be made, that we discuss it at an audit committee meeting. and then we as the committee propose those changes to the board. And we've actually had two audit committee meetings. So the most recent one was in August. It was August 9th. And then the prior meeting that we had was on June 21st. And in both of those meetings, we actually had as agenda items reviewing the audit charter and discussing as a team whether we felt that there needed to be any changes. In both of those meetings, so member Marquez is a member of the audit committee, but member Marquez was not present at either of those meetings, either the 21st or the 9th. And so therefore wasn't really participating in our discussions. And so I'm just surprised that at this point now, this is being brought out of the audit committee and now being brought to the board level. But where my concern is, is that as a person who has an MBA and who's worked extensively in corporate America with CFOs, publicly traded companies, and dealt with a lot of issues that are related to financials and the audit committee in those companies, I can tell you for a fact that a best practice is that you, that the audit committee really needs to serve as an oversight entity, and of course it ultimately provides input and recommendation to a board, and the board needs to make those decisions. But when I talk with professionals in the field who have, or who are, Again, trained CPAs, public accountants, and who work either as accountants or who work in finance, they will tell you that the trend these days is focusing on more independence and not less independence. And when I say independence, it means from management. And that's to ensure that we avoid potential conflicts of interest. And the other thing that you want to have is you don't want this to be a political committee, you want it to be really an oversight committee that is guided by accounting best practices. And the thing that, again, really surprises me is that, so I was not the author of this document. We inherited this document. But in my understanding, in talking with the people who put it together, They consulted professional organizations and really used their templates to put this charter together. One of the organizations that was consulted was the Association of International Certified Public Accountants. And the other template or document that was used was what's called the Audit Committee Toolkit for Government Entities. And so again, the things that are laid out in our charter really are pretty much standard practice, both in terms of the accounting committee and also the best practice in terms of people who are looking at how you ought to handle accounting oversight from a government perspective. So there really isn't anything controversial. But I think that per member John's comment, what is going on with, quite frankly, the gutting of this document, which was put together by professionals. And by the way, we as an audit committee just a couple of weeks ago, and we have a certified public accountant, Mr. Aaron Weisz, on our committee. And he both served as an auditor. I can't remember the firm that he worked at. And he currently works in accounting at Electronic Arts. And he went through this document in detail. And he basically said he felt that it was a pretty good, pretty robust, and proper document. And he is a trained accountant. And by the way, he has sat on our audit board for, I think it's like about five or six years. And so to all of a sudden have these changes completely come out of left field, it's very surprising. But one other thing that I'd like to remind the board about is not only is this document, has it been put together based on consulting best practices from other entities, but if you look at even our own board policy. So if we look at board policy 3460, financial reports and accountability, there's a section there that talks about audit committee. And it says, the board may appoint an audit committee composed of staff knowledgeable about fiscal matters, other staff, and representatives of the community. The committee shall serve in an advisory capacity and may, and by the way, this is what our document says. We're only serving in an advisory capacity. We're not ultimately making decisions. We're making recommendations to the board to approve. But so, number one, make recommendations regarding the selection of an external independent auditor in accordance with Education Code 41020 and 41020.5. Number two, review the plan for the audit process with the independent auditor to determine the adequacy of the nature, scope, and timetable of the audit. Number three, review the results of the audit and participate with the independent auditor and management in preparing financial or final recommendations and responses. Number four, participate with the independent auditor in presenting the audit report to the board. Number five, review board policies and administrative regulations to recommend any revisions needed to ensure effective financial reporting. Number six, provide input on the effectiveness of the independent auditor. And number seven, periodically report to the board regarding the status of previous audit recommendations for improving the accounting and internal controls. So the whole reason that you have an audit committee is, again, because you want to have independent oversight. It's not a political body. It is looking at how we make sure that what accountants call The financial statements are fairly stated and that also you have proper controls in place to prevent fraud. And you staff it with people that are experienced in this area. And quite frankly, I think that, you know, the recommendation that Member Marquez has around training, if we're really going to talk about training, It's not sufficient. I mean, I've taken four years of accounting in school, and I don't think that that necessarily qualifies me to be going through and trying to talk about what best practices should be in terms of accounting. I leave that to the external experts and the auditors. and people who have auditing experience. And so again, I'm really troubled by this. I feel that this has really been handled in an inappropriate fashion. If we as a committee have an opportunity, we've had ample opportunity over the past couple of months to review this, discuss this, but to basically have this taken out of that vein And quite frankly, to a wholesale change that I will tell you that the audit committee, the other members of the audit committee, I think when we review this with them the next time, they wouldn't be supportive of this at all. And so again, I think it's highly inappropriate and I think that the board ought to actually send this back to the audit committee for proper review by the Audit Committee, and then we could provide recommendations as an Audit Committee, and the Board can evaluate those at that point. So those are my comments.

[8195] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill. Member Grindel?

[8199] Terrence Grindall: Member Marquez, I have a couple questions, just some technical issues. One, you indicated that the non-voting member would be eliminated, but Do I understand, and is it clear that the existing member that sits in that position would serve out his term, or is it envisioned that that term would be terminated immediately?

[8226] SPEAKER_20: Oh, that's a great question. Thank you for asking for the clarification. So what I was referring to is that I would not want to impede on the person who's already been voted and decided on. This would just be in future. So when the position actually, or the term actually ends, then it would be exercised at that time. I did want to address member Hill's comments. In reading the points that you read regarding the board, I believe it was six or seven points if I'm not mistaken. That was clear. And that's my biggest concern, right? Is here, you were able to read or provide to us the six or seven points, I believe that what the committee should be doing according to the board, yet we have what, a 12 or 13 page document or excuse me, a document that has 12 or 13 points on it aside from the information, right? That's been added. So if we go back and look at the actual board policy 3460 regarding financial reports and accountability, it discusses what the laws are that oversee, it makes a recommendation and it discusses the superintendent designee, and then it lists the seven points. And if you look at our fellow school districts or those surrounding us, their policies and their committees are streamlined as well. It's not this long, heavy document. And so what I was looking for, and if I'm not mistaken, early on, and I should have gotten the notes, but I wanted to say that this was an item that you yourself, Member Hill, had discussed or mentioned that you wanted us to address or look at the document early on when we were meeting with the committee. And again, looking to streamline, simplify, and then allow for the public to understand what it is that we're doing and what our position as a committee member asks us to do and take care of versus looking or mimicking as though we were a voting body that would have the ultimate decision. And that's all.

[8353] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Marquez. Member Grindel, I would like, would you like to finish?

[8358] Terrence Grindall: I would like to. Yes, please. Actually, Member Marquez, you stole some of my thunder because that's partially my concern. The existing document... is very redundant and confusing and it leaves in many places the impression, if not explicitly, that the audit committee is going to be directing staff to take action and doing things that's really the purview of the board. The sections 3460 that were read by Member Hill really are a charter. In fact, it's a more robust charter than any other committee that we have. I believe all of our other committees are without a charter altogether. Is that correct, Dr. Triplett?

[8405] Mark Triplett: I can't remember all, but I don't know of another committee that has a charter. I don't know, Ms. Stelicruz, if you know of any?

[8412] Terrence Grindall: So I really think the board, thank you, Dr. Triplett. I really feel like the board's policy should be the meat of whatever charter is in place, because I do appreciate Member Hill reading it, because it is quite clear that the role of the charter, the role of the committee is to advise, not to direct. And I think a lot of what is in the existing charter is redundant and confusing. So I do appreciate that. I have one more detailed question. I wanted to know what you were thinking, Member Marquez. The requirement that finance classes in the Masters in Government series be taken, would there be a time frame to accomplish that? Would you envision that within three months of appointment or would it have to be accomplished prior to appointment to the committee? I'm just concerned that you might find yourself you might find yourself in a situation where you have no qualified members if there's a lot of turnover.

[8478] SPEAKER_20: Thank you, Grendel, for bringing up that point. In looking at the MIG calendar, I know that over the summer they do not offer, right? So if we had a newly appointed member in December or at the end of the calendar year, They would only have up until, I believe, the end of May to take those courses. I think three months would be too short. A year would be too long. I would say, if I could recommend, I would go with six months.

[8510] Terrence Grindall: That's fine. And again, just to clarify, this discussion is to provide guidance to staff to bring back the formal changes. There's no discussion about adopting your changes tonight, but staff does need clear direction on what we're looking for. Is that a correct assessment? Oh, no. Correct.

[8532] SPEAKER_20: That is correct.

[8536] Terrence Grindall: Yes, so I generally agree with the direction that you have here. I think we really want to keep this charter tied closely to board policy 3460, which really empowers the audit committee to do its role, which is to advise the audit. I don't have any other comments.

[8558] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Grindel. I also am in agreement with The analysis that is made by member Grindel and member Marquez. I do have a clarifying question regarding item number five on the matrix. Do you want to strike that completely also or just recognize that there is a cost and that it should go to the board?

[8586] SPEAKER_20: Member Marquez. Thank you for that question. Let me switch screens here back to number five. So the audit committee may request that professional consultants be hired as necessary. I see that as a cost and that's one thing that my fellow board members, and that's what we've discussed and emphasize on is reducing the cost. If it's something that could be handled in-house, I feel and I believe that this is something that the board itself should be making a recommendation if we need to further seek professional consultants. I don't feel that it's something within our, I don't want to use the word power, but our right and privilege as a committee member to say that we need to hire someone because then we're inducing costs.

[8630] Phuong Nguyen: OK. So would it be fair to say that you would like item five also struck out? Pardon me? You would also like to get rid of item five?

[8644] SPEAKER_20: Either rid of or reworded in a fashion so it doesn't look like we're trying to incur an additional cost. OK. the decision needs to be made more at the board level, right, with the executive team versus we as an audit committee coming right out and saying, oh, we need to hire someone.

[8660] Phuong Nguyen: OK. Thank you so much for the clarification. Thank you. We are at time for the discussion, 30 minutes.

[8669] Aiden Hill: I don't think that this is sufficient time to discuss this.

[8672] Phuong Nguyen: Each agenda item is worthy of 30 minutes, so we are moving on. Member Hill, you already had the floor. I think we already have covered it. Again, this is not... Well, we haven't because you've miscarried... We can bring this item back.

[8685] Aiden Hill: All right, so let's bring it back for further discussion. Thank you. Because I think we need a lot more discussion about this.

[8690] Phuong Nguyen: I would be fine with that. Would you like to request that at the end of the meeting? I will. Thank you.

[8699] SPEAKER_30: President Nguyen, is there any direction currently for the staff?

[8702] Phuong Nguyen: So currently for the staff, we will be bringing this item back for further discussion. Thank you.

[8708] Mark Triplett: And just to clarify, do we want to bring a version based on the proposal of Barbara Marquez?

[8717] Aiden Hill: Yes. I don't think that that's appropriate, right? So this is one person's input. There's five members of the board. I think we need to have five members provide input before you bring back any new document.

[8729] Phuong Nguyen: Just like we did for the renaming of the school policy, can I get a majority of the board members to get a clean version of the updated markups of the changes for the audit committee charter?

[8744] Aiden Hill: Then you can't see what the old version was.

[8747] Phuong Nguyen: We'll have both for the next discussion.

[8750] Aiden Hill: If you want to label it member Marquez's version, fine. Or revision.

[8754] SPEAKER_30: President Nguyen, if it helps, as was conducted previously with the handbook, all board members provided edits.

[8762] Phuong Nguyen: You can provide your edits too Member Hill if that if that makes if that's a good compromise for you.

[8768] Terrence Grindall: I would agree that we should bring back a working document red line strike strike through with the with the comments and with the board members having a chance to with the board members having a chance to comment. I would also our theme really should be to stick to 3460.

[8788] Aiden Hill: That's... So, Member Grindel, I wanted to comment on this and President Nguyen shut me down. So, if we want to continue discussing this, let's extend time because you guys are mischaracterizing what I just read and I'm happy to provide examples.

[8805] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill, we are bringing this item back. I'm moving this meeting along. I do not want to stay here past 11 o'clock like we usually do. So, please, we will be directing staff to bring this item back. Thank you. OK. On to item. 18.1, we will be going back to the consent items that were pulled on the personnel items, 12.3 Member Hill.

[8850] Aiden Hill: Point three, the district-wide special education aides. So when I was going through the agenda the other day, I noticed that there was a recommendation that we approve two additional aides, right, personnel. But I noticed that there weren't any dollars attached. So in my one-on-one with Dr. Triplett a couple days ago, I said, hey, what's that? how much is this going to cost, et cetera. And he said, yeah, I see that this is an omission. So he's since sent back a clarification to us in email stating that I think it's like $65,000 or something like that. But my question is, is this a part of the current budget? Is it budgeted?

[8896] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Thank you for that question. And I appreciated you bringing this forth as a question and highlighting that omission. So Ms. Delacruz, do you want to speak to that question?

[8907] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, so these are two new positions. So they are not currently budgeted. They will be added to the budget. It's a special ed aides that have been required due to the students that have come into our district and their IEPs.

[8929] Phuong Nguyen: May I ask a clarifying question? What is the fiscal impact?

[8934] Mark Triplett: So the fiscal impact for both aides together is $64,000, and that would be out of special education funds.

[8941] Phuong Nguyen: Great. Thank you. OK. Do we need to officially pull this item and bring it back?

[8948] Mark Triplett: OK. No, I don't believe so. I think based on the information we're sharing, I think if the board wants to put forth a motion to approve, then they're welcome to do that. OK, great.

[8958] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. At this time, May I get a motion to approve item 12.3? I move to approve. Motion made by Member Zhang. May I get a second, please? I'll second. Seconded by Member Grindel. Student Board, oh, I'm sorry. Student Board member does not vote on this item. Member Zhang, how do you vote? Yes. Member Marquez?

[8984] SPEAKER_36: Yes.

[8985] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel? Yes. I'm also yes. Five ayes. Member Hill, item 12.4. Oh, I'm sorry, Member Zhang.

[8999] Bowen Zhang: Quick clarifying question, the attendance, what was the thing that we missed from last time?

[9005] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Schoen, excuse me, Member Schoen. Yes, so we, last time this agenda item was brought forth to the board, but unfortunately, and it was voted on, but unfortunately we did not follow the process of reading out a summary of the terms, and that is, it's a Brown Act, I think it's like a code that we need to read those out, sorry, Brown Act requirement, that we need to read out the terms, summary of the terms before voting. So we're just bringing it back. There's no changes to it. It's just bringing it back to make sure that we're doing the proper protocol.

[9042] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. Do you need to read all the terms this time?

[9044] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I'm going to read it out right now. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Thank you, Member Zhang for pulling the item. So item 12.4 is the approval of an addendum to the Assistant Superintendent of Education Services Employment Agreement. The addendum reflects a 2.2% increase in the Assistant Superintendent's annual salary, making the annual salary $192,167 effective July 1, 2022. Thank you. With that, make a motion to approve.

[9076] Bowen Zhang: I move that we ratify the addendum.

[9078] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, member Zhang. May I get a second?

[9083] Terrence Grindall: I'll second.

[9083] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, member Grindel. Motion made by member Zhang, seconded by member Grindel. Member Zhang, how do you vote? Yes. Member Marquez?

[9092] SPEAKER_36: Yes.

[9092] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel? Yes. I'm also a yes. Five ayes. Thank you. Okay, on to item 13.8. Resolution 2022.23.06, Sufficiency of Instructional Materials. Member Hill.

[9114] Aiden Hill: Thank you. Yes, so I spoke with Dr. Tripa to my one-on-one and And I understand that there have been some issues with getting proper material in the hands of students. And I know that the district is working on it. But I've also heard from a lot of community members that, again, they've been impacted. There's a concern. So I think it's premature at this point to actually approve this. And I'd like instead to recommend that not only do we give it a little time to stabilize, but that we have staff come back and provide a report that confirms that we fully looked at all angles of what's required and we make sure that we have everything covered from a material standpoint.

[9160] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill. Any other comments from other board members? Member Zhang?

[9165] Bowen Zhang: So can you provide some comment on what Member Hill just said?

[9168] Mark Triplett: Yeah, we actually have Director of Teaching and Learning, Mr. Ariel Dolowich here, who can share a little bit of information about, he's prepared to talk a little bit about the current state of the instructional materials. Would the board like for us to hear from him?

[9186] Phuong Nguyen: Welcome, Mr. Dolowich.

[9188] SPEAKER_07: Thank you. Good evening, members of the board. So I absolutely understand how critical this issue is. So I just want to provide some context and clarity, really specific to math consumables, which has been one of the issues that surfaced district-wide. And so just a little context and background, we ordered the materials on June 13 based on enrollment, which is earlier than we've ever ordered them in the past. The materials were set to arrive before August 1st, but per the vendor, which is Cengage, there were really three major reasons why they did not, including a paper shortage, a lack of truck drivers, and also materials sitting at ports. Those were the reasons provided to us. Regardless, they didn't arrive on time. And so these are consumables. And I'd like to shed light a little bit on what a consumable is. You probably do know the difference, a textbook and a consumable. A textbook for Big Ideas Math, which is what we're discussing, looks like this, right? It's the hard copy. That is in every single classroom. Every student has access to a textbook for math instruction, unless it's a district-adopted digital curriculum. That's otherwise. A consumable is a workbook that's supplementary. And so what we're discussing that surfaced is a consumable that looks like this, and the students work in it. And it's also with Big Ideas Math. And so that is really, especially at the elementary level, what surfaced vis-a-vis math instruction. And so for Ed Services, we took a policy where we support any teacher or grade level that's reached out who requested them. And so we've had that actually, just speaking with NTA leadership, we've had that numerous requests from grade levels at every site. And so we've taken that stance with graphics to make those copies and provide them to our staff. The good news is that the consumables arrived via FedEx yesterday. And so they're off the pallets. Some were distributed today. The majority will be distributed tomorrow, with the exception of kinder and fifth grade. And so as grade levels reach out, we are committed to continuing to provide those copies so they have the consumable, not the textbook, in the classroom. And kinder specifically doesn't start chapter one until after Labor Day. That's when they begin full day kinder. And so with respect to all of the other instructional books at all levels, we've deployed a team. We acknowledge how important this issue is. And every student has access to a textbook in their classroom. And so I think I just wanted to shed a little bit of light and background with the consumables because that's why we're at this level, I believe.

[9376] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Thank you. I could thank Ms. Clevenger for that one too. Any comments or questions?

[9388] Bowen Zhang: So is consumable part of the instructional material? Yes. And we're saying there are some that have yet to arrive. Is that right? Okay.

[9400] Mark Triplett: Yeah, they're supplementary instructional materials. And so the majority arrived yesterday, today. It sounds like the kinder and fifth grade have yet to arrive. But in terms of the fulfilling of the instructional materials, if they have copies of the materials, then that is sufficient. Is that correct, Mr. Dolowich?

[9425] SPEAKER_07: That's correct. And that's what we've been providing via graphics.

[9432] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill? I'm sorry, Member Marquez? Do you have any questions at this time, Member Marquez?

[9442] SPEAKER_20: Then at this time, that was my only question, is if we had the permission to copyright and make copies, but it was answered. Thank you for that.

[9450] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Hill?

[9452] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Mr. Dalewich. So for those of you that might watch home improvement shows one of the kind of cardinal rules is measure twice cut once. And so it basically means kind of check your work. And it seems that this is an area where we got caught flat footed. OK. And so again you know if I mean if we if they were supposed to show up a couple of months ago and nobody noticed until a couple of weeks ago. Right. We got caught flat footed. So my sense is that Are there other areas where maybe we might get caught by surprise? And I don't think that it hurts in following an abundance of caution to say, let's go and sharpen our pencil and kind of double check and make sure, and let's come back with a really comprehensive viewpoint to say, we check here, here, here, here. We believe that we've looked at everything. We've consulted teachers, et cetera, et cetera. And we have a thumbs up. But I'm nervous about approving this, given that, again, we just caught this. And so my concern is what else might be lurking out there.

[9522] Mark Triplett: If I may, just a clarification. So the statement no one noticed until a couple of weeks ago is just inaccurate. We've been tracking this throughout the summer. Is that correct, Mr. Dulowich? And really pushing the vendor to get it as quickly as possible and then making plans for if it was not going to arrive on time. So with that the vendor has throughout the summer was saying oh, yes, it's gonna arrive Oh, yes, we think we can do it. Okay, maybe a little late And then it's continued to be pushed back. But the notion that we did not know this is it's just not accurate Can you is that correct? Mr. Dolwich?

[9558] SPEAKER_07: That's correct. And just to speak to that, on August 8th, with our principals, we sent out a communication via Ed Services, notifying them of this policy that we would support copying and graphics. And then we subsequently sent out district-wide communication to all elementary teachers in August, monitoring the situation.

[9580] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Grindel?

[9583] Terrence Grindall: Yes, given that the students have textbooks and that they've got to work around in terms of printing out the copies, I'd like to move approval of this item.

[9591] Phuong Nguyen: May I get a second motion?

[9593] Bowen Zhang: So is there a time urgency or a timeline requirement to vote on this?

[9600] SPEAKER_07: Go ahead, Mr. Dalovich. So legally, it's before the eighth week of school.

[9606] Bowen Zhang: Eighth week, so I think we still have some time on this, right? I would rather wait until all the digital copy arrives so the next board meeting we still have time and we'll just be safe and vote on this. I made a motion. Yes, I know.

[9624] Phuong Nguyen: There's a motion on the floor. May I get a second?

[9629] Bowen Zhang: There are no seconds, so the motion dies.

[9632] Phuong Nguyen: That's correct.

[9634] Bowen Zhang: I will prefer that in two weeks we vote on this.

[9639] Phuong Nguyen: Are there any?

[9641] Mark Triplett: Go ahead. Just to be clear, it's worth repeating. So as of today, we have sufficiency of instructional materials. So if the board wishes to wait for the next time, that's totally up to the board. But I just want to be clear that we do have sufficiency of materials and that the copies are considered sufficient.

[9667] SPEAKER_07: And the other addition I would make is that every classroom has class sets, one-on-one for every student, and students have access to the core subjects in their classroom.

[9679] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Mr. Dalowich.

[9683] Bowen Zhang: Should we move on to 13.9?

[9686] Phuong Nguyen: So do we want to pull this item and bring it back?

[9691] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I would recommend voting in two weeks on this.

[9695] Phuong Nguyen: OK. So we will be pulling item 13.8 and have staff bring it back at the next board meeting for approval. And we will have to do the public hearing again, correct? We would have to do the public hearing again, correct?

[9711] Bowen Zhang: No. Yeah, I don't think so.

[9713] SPEAKER_30: No, the public hearing has been conducted in a timely manner. OK. And the opportunity to speak on that matter was provided today.

[9719] Phuong Nguyen: OK, thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dolarowicz for the clarification. On to 13.9. 13.9.

[9730] Bowen Zhang: Member Hill?

[9745] Aiden Hill: Yes, thank you. So I had a chance to go through the report. I flagged a couple of purchase orders that I had questions about to Dr. Triplett, and he's collected some information to send back. But I still have a couple of clarifying questions that I need help with. So my first question is, so one of the purchase orders was for $215,000 for Danis Waller-Rakelli.

[9785] Aiden Hill: And so Dr. Tripp, I do need to indicate that this is basically an open purchase order and that we would use it going forward. But my question, and this is maybe more towards Ms. Delacruz, is how much usually per year, or let's just say last year, how much did we spend with DWK or how much are we projected to spend with DWK this coming year? So is $215 going to cover the entire year?

[9811] Mark Triplett: Ms. Delacruz, do you want to speak on that?

[9815] Marie dela Cruz: Well, I don't have that figure off the top of my head. I'd be happy to look into that and check to see what we've spent last year. And normally, we try to base it on what we've historically spent.

[9830] Aiden Hill: So it's anticipated that the $215,000 would cover an entire year's worth of work? Correct. OK, if you could just confirm that later, that would be great. The second question is, there was a purchase order for school services for a little bit more than $14,000, $14.4? And the response back was that it was HR consulting. So maybe this is more directed at Ms. Ingham-Watters. What kind of work are we doing with school services around HR consulting?

[9864] Mark Triplett: You want to go ahead, Miss? OK. So yeah, so school services provides a lot of different services. In this particular incidence, we're getting support from them around our HR practices, our structures. They offer expertise and even I think I would call it coaching. Is that accurate, Miss Ingham-Watters? For the HR staff and in particular for Miss Ingham-Watters and her executive director position.

[9892] Aiden Hill: And have we already approved the contract for this?

[9894] Marie dela Cruz: Yes. Yes, we have.

[9899] Aiden Hill: All right. OK, and then there's one more, or two more POs, but they're two of the same vendor, RT Motors. So one is for $48,000, and the other one is for $44,000. And it looks like we're like purchasing trucks or something. Could you explain a little bit more what these are? Ms.

[9915] Mark Triplett: Del Cruz, do you want to go ahead?

[9918] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, these are used vehicles for our maintenance department to replace vehicles that have been surplused.

[9926] Aiden Hill: Okay, just out of curiosity, how often does that happen?

[9929] Phuong Nguyen: Not often.

[9930] Marie dela Cruz: Not, like, when we have funding, every five to ten years. Okay.

[9938] SPEAKER_04: Okay, thank you.

[9941] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, any other additional clarifying questions? We're ready to make a motion to approve.

[9947] Bowen Zhang: Item 13.9.

[9949] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang. May I get a second? Second. Thank you, Member Marquez. Motion made by Member Zhang, seconded by Member Marquez. Student Board Member, how do you vote?

[9960] Diego Torres: Yes.

[9960] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Zhang? Yes. Member Marquez?

[9966] SPEAKER_36: Yes.

[9967] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindell?

[9970] Terrence Grindall: Yes.

[9971] Phuong Nguyen: I'm also yes. Six ayes. Thank you. Okay. On to 19.1, Board of Education Recognitions and Announcements. Student board member?

[9986] Sean Abruzzi: Not at this moment.

[9987] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Zhang?

[9989] Bowen Zhang: We just wish everyone have a great Labor Day weekend.

[9992] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Marquez?

[9997] SPEAKER_20: I just wanted to make one acknowledgement, and that would be to all of the student clubs at the high school, the amount of work and time that they put in in their rush, And it brings me back to the first college days, right, of going to the college campus, seeing all the different activities, as well as the clubs, showing that there is a community and that Newark is strong when it comes to supporting within its own community. And I want to applaud the club members and their committees for all the hard work and for our mascot for always making that presence.

[10034] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill. Thank you. Member Marquez.

[10037] Aiden Hill: Yes, I just want to acknowledge the students and teachers and parents for all coming together to basically get the school year kicked off. I know it's a change for everybody, and so thank you for all of your efforts.

[10052] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill. Member Grindel.

[10056] Terrence Grindall: I want to echo my fellow board members and wish everyone a happy Labor Day and everyone stay cool out there.

[10067] Bowen Zhang: Oh, I actually forgot one thing.

[10068] Phuong Nguyen: Go ahead, Member Zhang.

[10070] Bowen Zhang: I just want to wish Member Grindel a happy birthday. That's great.

[10075] Terrence Grindall: Thank you.

[10075] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. It is. Today? Yes. Thank you, Member Zhang. Happy birthday, Member Grindel. And I just wanted to acknowledge and echo the sentiments of my fellow board members and really appreciate the students, the parents, and our teachers and our wonderful staff for kicking off. This is our third week of school and things are surely getting into place. And I think I've only heard wonderful things from my two daughters. at the junior high and also at the high school. And so, again, just really appreciative of everybody getting back into the swing of things and working really hard all the way around. So thank you for that. Okay, on to item 19.2, Board of Education Committees. Are there anything to report out from Mission ROP? Member Rendell or Member Zhang?

[10136] Terrence Grindall: Nothing to report.

[10138] Phuong Nguyen: Anything from SELPA, Member Zhang? Anything from EBIC, Member Marquez?

[10144] SPEAKER_20: None at this time.

[10145] Phuong Nguyen: Anything from the Audit Committee, Member Hill?

[10148] SPEAKER_04: No.

[10149] Phuong Nguyen: There is nothing to report out from the Bond Parcel Tax Committee and also nothing to report out from the Liaison Committee, correct? Right. And on to Board of Education requests. Student Board Member, do you have any requests at this time? No, not at this time.

[10171] Bowen Zhang: Follow up from my previous request that's sort of approved by the board regarding the definition of basic aid district, I still want to have a report about how we compute our property tax to determine whether we're a basic district or not. Because I think the definition, if you search online, is very vague. Just say, if your property tax exceeds your total school budget, your basic aid, I don't think it's that straightforward. Because if you really look at commercial and residential property tax, in Newark, we collected our assessed value. We're way above the $60 million threshold, whatever to run a district. There's got to be something more complicated when it comes to computation about whether you're a basic aid district. So we really want to get a clarification from the staff, how we determine basically just around how far away Newark really is.

[10217] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, thank you. Member Marquez, any requests at this time?

[10225] SPEAKER_20: Not at this time, ma'am. Present.

[10226] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Hill?

[10230] Phuong Nguyen: Do you want me to give them all at once or do we want to do them one at a time? One at a time because we have to make sure that

[10240] Aiden Hill: is in our last meeting, I don't remember the exact agenda item, but we were talking about security at the schools and we were talking about how we can ensure that doors and things get locked, et cetera. And at that point, a discussion came up about active shooter scenarios. And I've since had a teacher reach out to me, kind of expressing a concern in this area Because what they've expressed is that although the district has given kind of an overview of active shooter, we don't have formal journals in this area. And I'd like to request that we consider actually implementing this at my own school district.

[10310] Aiden Hill: And so one thing I'd like to request is that we ask staff to investigate maybe putting this kind of drill in place for our district.

[10320] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so I think this is an issue I also raised a couple of months ago, so I would want not directly informed by the investigator or have a report about what's the current status, how are we going to respond, work with the Newark Police Department on this?

[10338] Mark Triplett: We've scheduled the same trainings that you're going to receive. Member Hill, in your district, we actually met with, we've been meeting with the police department for those to prepare. And then today, the police department met with principals to get the pre-training. And those trainings are starting next week.

[10357] Aiden Hill: And we would do a drill at some point in the future? Yeah, absolutely.

[10376] Aiden Hill: So I know that we've had, obviously we were emerging through COVID, we've, we're being trying to be careful, but we have a policy where, you know, we haven't been allowing parents on campus, you know, and I think that that causes some, you know, reasonable, I mean, understandable anxiety. And then it also kind of,

[10402] Aiden Hill: And so I guess my request is, can we try to get back to more normalcy here and actually have parents be able to come on campus, obviously through proper approvals, but not sort of a wholesale prevention? And then secondly, if we are going to need to do these kind of things, like for example, in my school, even though parents can come on campus, the district decided that they didn't want to do an in-person back-to-school night. But what we did to avoid technical challenges is we simply had a—we have to make a pre-recorded video, which the parents can then watch at their leisure. Obviously, some of this is already right under the bridge. But if we're going to do those kind of events in the future, either recognize the technical challenges and make sure we have plans in place, or maybe simplify it so we don't have those challenges. So my question is, first, can we try to bring parents back to on campus?

[10477] Bowen Zhang: So this parents no campus, is this a county thing or this is our individual district's decision?

[10483] Mark Triplett: This is district by district based on recommendations from the county. I will say that we are intending to revisit this in September as promised. And I'm personally hopeful that we'll be able to return to normalcy there.

[10505] Mark Triplett: or at least it's about to be posted on the website of the junior high back to school night. So that is something that was done and is being put there.

[10521] Phuong Nguyen: So since we are in September and the district is reevaluating whether or not parents can come on campus, is that still a request? Yeah. OK, thank you, member Hill.

[10534] Aiden Hill: And then the last request is related to the audit charter. And I've already expressed my concern. But what I'd like to propose as an alternative path is, I don't think people understand how serious this topic is.

[10563] Aiden Hill: internal operations and product development, I think that the board isn't qualified to do that and I think that the engineers would be understandably upset.

[10574] Bowen Zhang: So, interesting point. Obviously the board will not give any direction to individual engineering department. The other interesting thing is My boss generally spend less time with me than I spend with Dr. Triplett because my boss respect my expertise and he wouldn't say that much about what I should do, conduct my daily life. So that is a, yeah, you wouldn't see board of directors giving engineering department how to implement a product.

[10605] Aiden Hill: division of labor and delegation of authority. And so I think that the proper process is to have the experts work on individual areas and accounting is a very a very specialized area. And although I haven't attended the trainings that you're mentioning from CSBA, my understanding is that those are very, very general trainings. And I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that they don't cover what is covered when you actually take accounting courses and you get certified as a certified public accountant. And those are the types of people that understand auditors how auditing works And so if we are going to go forward and actually have the board step into this I think that we ought to do what we did with the With our governance handbook that we ought to have a specialized session. I'm not just a 10 or 30 minute item on the agenda. And quite frankly, it maybe needs to happen over a weekend. And we need to actually have professional accountants involved in the discussion of this. Because right now, we've got people that don't have any accounting experience basically calling audibles, and it's very dangerous.

[10687] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. What was the actual request?

[10690] Aiden Hill: My request is that if we're going to continue to look at the board auditing or amending the charter, that we put together a, you know, let's say a full day, just like we did with the governance handbook, a full day discussion with the board on a weekend sometime, including professional auditors as our facilitator, so that we can do this properly.

[10716] Terrence Grindall: I think the approach that we had specified when we discussed this item of bringing it back at an item with some proposed language is the best way to do this. I don't agree with their question.

[10727] Bowen Zhang: Thank you. So my point on this is. Most of you know that I campaign on the issue of student success. I really want to focus on student success on the board. So I really don't want to amend this charter at all. Let's just move on. I mean, why do you fix things that are not broken? That's engineers' mojo, right? Don't fix things that are not broken. Let's move on to other topics. So I would rather just shut down this amendment of charter. Let's move on to other things.

[10752] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang. So we currently do not have a majority on this. Member Rendell, you have the floor. Do you have any requests?

[10765] Terrence Grindall: Not so much a request as a reiteration of my past requests. I do find that in the community, in the parlance, there's a lot of confusion about whether it's a middle school or a junior high school. And I would hope that the item that was approved at our last meeting could be brought quickly to where we can discuss sort of ending the confusion while we're considering a permanent name change over the next year with community input. So I'm just reiterating a request that's already been approved.

[10797] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Grindel. I do not have any requests at this time other than for the superintendent to consider when he's considering allowing parents to back on campus to really allow for families to volunteer at the sites again. I think our teachers would really benefit from our community helping them in the classroom with some day-to-day functionality. Thank you. Okay, with that said, we will move on to item 20.1, superintendent concluding comments, updates, and future agenda items. Dr. Triplett.

[10839] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. I'd just like to note, if I can keep this to two minutes, we were ending before nine o'clock. I do want to, and I want to appreciate that. I want to appreciate, I've had a chance to meet with student board member Torres multiple times now, and I really appreciate the collaboration. I appreciate all your questions, student board member, and how you're really approaching this work. And I wanted to appreciate our last meeting where you invited the Environment Club to come and join us. And they had a really tremendous proposal about recycling that we're going to be following up on. And so I just really want to applaud the student voice and leadership that's happening. And then I hope you all will indulge me in this last minute. I'd love to recognize member Grindel by all of us singing him happy birthday together. Happy birthday to you.

[10902] Phuong Nguyen: Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.

[10917] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, everyone. OK, may I get a motion to adjourn the meeting, student board member?

[10923] Diego Torres: Yes, I motion for that.

[10925] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Motion made by Student Board Member Torres. May I get a second, please?

[10930] Bowen Zhang: I second it.

[10931] Phuong Nguyen: Seconded by Member Zhang. How do you vote, Student Board Member?

[10935] Diego Torres: Yes.

[10935] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Zhang? Yes. Member Marquez? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindell?

[10942] Marie dela Cruz: Yes.

[10943] Phuong Nguyen: I'm also yes. Motion approved unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 9.02 p.m.

1. CALL TO ORDER

Meeting Practices and Information

Type Procedural IN-PERSON MEETING INFORMATION:

NUSD has opened its boardroom for in-person meetings and will follow the State's and Alameda County's safety guidelines for public gatherings. Please refrain from attending in-person meetings if you have any of the following symptoms: Loss of taste/smell Difficulty breathing Vomiting Diarrhea Fever Cough Headache Sore Throat Runny Nose For additional COVID-19 information please go to https://www.newarkunified.org/covid-19 or https://www.acoe.org/guidance

OBSERVE THE BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING:

Members of the public may observe the meeting via the NUSD YouTube Channel, live transmission on Comcast Channel 26, or in-person at the NUSD Boardroom. Spanish translation will be available via Zoom.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

The public will have the opportunity to address the Board of Education regarding non-agendized matters and agendized items with a live audio-only comment via Zoom with advance notice requested by email at PUBLICCOMMENT@newarkunified.org, a written comment by submitting a speaking card via email at PUBLICCOMMENT@newarkunified.org, or with live in-person comments by submitting a speaker-card with the Executive Assistant.

Roll Call

Type Procedural TRUSTEES:

President Phuong Nguyen Vice President/Clerk Terrence Grindall Member Aiden Hill Member Alicia Marquez Member Bowen Zhang

STUDENT BOARD MEMBER:

Diego Torres

2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Approval of the Agenda

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the agenda for this meeting. Action

PURPOSE:

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

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

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

3. CLOSED SESSION

Public Comment on Closed Session Items

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

The Board of Education encourages the community's participation in its deliberations and has tried to make it convenient to express their views to the Board. If a constituent wishes to address the Board on any agenda item, please fill out a virtual speaker card via email at PUBLICCOMMENT@newarkunified.org.

PUBLIC EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE/DISMISSAL/RELEASE (Gov. Code, � 54957, subd. (b)(1))

Type Action, Information, Procedural

PURPOSE:

Information will be provided by the Superintendent and Executive Director of Human Resources.

CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS (Gov. Code, � 54957.6, subd. (a): Employee Organizations - NTA and CSEA

Type Action, Information, Procedural PURPOSE:

Information may be provided by the agency negotiator, Executive Director of Human Resources. Assistance from the legal firm Dannis, Woliver, Kelley, Attorneys at Law may be provided.

The employee organizations include NTA & CSEA.

CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS (Gov. Code, � 54957.6, subd. (a)): Employee Group - NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors, and Contracted Management

Type Action, Discussion, Procedural PURPOSE:

Information may be provided by the agency negotiator, the Executive Director of Human Resources, and the Superintendent. Assistance from legal firm Dannis, Woliver, Kelley, Attorneys at Law may be provided.

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

CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL � ANTICIPATED LITIGATION Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Gov. Code, � 54956.9, subd. (d)[(2) or (3)]

Type Action, Discussion, Procedural

PURPOSE:

Information may be provided regarding significant exposure to litigation pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 54956.9: One case

RATIFICATION AND APPROVAL OF TK ENROLLMENT: (Ed. Code, �� 48000 & 35146)

Type Action, Discussion, Information

Preferred Date Sep 01, 2022

Recommended To approve newly registered Transitional Kindergarten students who shall reach age 5 after Action February 2, 2023. PURPOSE:

The Board will review student information for approval of newly registered Transitional Kindergarten students who shall reach age 5 after February 2, 2023. This process will continue on a case by case basis for students who register within the extended window.

BACKGROUND:

Education Code sections 48000 and 48010, and District Administrative Regulation (AR) 5111, requires the District to enroll any otherwise eligible student who turns age five or six on or before September 1 of a given school year into kindergarten or first grade, as applicable. In addition, if a student turns age five between September 2 and December 2 (extended to February 2 for the 2022-2023 school year) of a school year, then that student shall be offered an opportunity to enroll in TK. The District may additionally admit younger children to TK "on a case by case basis."

Education Code section 48000 specifically provides as follows: (c)(1) As a condition of receipt of apportionment for pupils in a transitional kindergarten program... a school district shall ensure the following: (c)(1)(D) In the 2022-23 school year, a child who will have their fifth birthday between September 2 and February 2 shall be admitted to a transitional kindergarten program maintained by the school district.

(c)(2)(A) In a school year, a school district may, at any time during a school year, admit a child to a transitional kindergarten program who will have their fifth birthday after the date specified... with the approval of the parent or guardian, subject to the following conditions: (c)(2)(A)(i) The governing board of the school district determines that admittance is in the best interest of the child. (c)(2)(A)(ii) The parent/guardian is given information regarding the advantages and disadvantages and any other explanatory information about the effect of this early admittance. (c)(2)(B) Notwithstanding any other law, a pupil admitted to a transitional kindergarten program pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall not generate average daily attendance... until the pupil has attained the pupil's fifth birthday, regardless of when the pupil was admitted during the school year.

Consistent with the Education Code, the District's AR 5111 provides: On a case-by-case basis, a child who will turn five years old in a given school year may be enrolled in kindergarten or TK at any time during that school year with the approval of the child's parent/guardian, provided that: (Education Code 48000)

1. The parent/guardian is given information regarding the advantages and disadvantages and any other explanatory information about the effect of this early admittance.
2. The Governing Board determines that admittance is in the best interest of the child.

For the 2022-2023 school year, the birthday for admittance has been extended to February 2, and will continue being extended by two months each school year, until the 2025-2026 school year, when any student with a birthday after September 1 must be admitted to TK.

Recess to Closed Session

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

The Board will recess to Closed Session, and reconvene to Open Session on or about 7:00 p.m.

4. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS

Report of Closed Session Actions

Type Action, Procedural

PURPOSE:

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

5. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

Pledge of Allegiance

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

The Governance Team will recite the Pledge of Allegiance

6. STUDENT REPORT

Student Reports from Newark Junior High School, Alternative Education, and Newark Memorial High School

Type Information PURPOSE:

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

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

1. Newark Junior High School

2. Alternative Education

3. Newark Memorial High School

7. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

Staff Spotlight

Type Information PURPOSE:

To recognize the wonderful accomplishments of our NUSD Team.

BACKGROUND:

The presentation will be provided by the Superintendent.

8. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

Type Procedural

PURPOSE:

The Board of Education encourages the community's participation in its deliberations and has tried to make it convenient to express their views to the Board.

BACKGROUND:

Please see the instructions on the link below for public comment information on non-agenda items and agenda items.

http://go.boarddocs.com/ca/nusd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=C4Q2D4019F40

9. PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS

Public Comment on Agenda Items

Type Procedural

PURPOSE:

The Board of Education encourages the community's participation in its deliberations and has tried to make it convenient to express their views to the Board.

BACKGROUND:

Please see the instructions on the link below for public comment information on non-agenda items and agenda items.

http://go.boarddocs.com/ca/nusd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=C4Q2D4019F40

10. PUBLIC HEARINGS

Public Hearing: Sufficiency of Instructional Materials

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

For the Board of Education to provide an opportunity for the public to speak on the Sufficiency of Instructional Materials Resolution.

BACKGROUND:

To certify compliance with Education Code Section 60119 (as revised by Chapter 704, Statutes of 2006 and California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 5, Section 9531). In order to be eligible to receive instructional materials funds, the governing board of each district and county office of education is required to hold an annual public hearing and adopt a resolution stating whether each pupil in the district has sufficient textbooks or instructional materials in specified subjects that are aligned to the academic content standards and consistent with the content and cycles of the curriculum frameworks adopted by the state board. This is an annual process.

Under EC Section 60119, the governing board of every local educational agency that receives state instructional materials funds must hold an annual public hearing before the end of the eighth week from the first-day pupils attend school for that year. At the public hearing, the governing board must make a determination as to whether each pupil in each school has sufficient textbooks or instructional materials, or both, that are aligned to the content standards and are consistent with the content and cycles of the curriculum framework adopted by the State Board of Education in reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and history- social science.

Site principals reviewed the site's sufficiency of materials and affirmed.

Governing boards that have met the requirements of Education Code Section 60119 and have also certified compliance with the Instructional Materials Funding Realignment Program (IMFRP) requirements regarding the provision of adopted standards-aligned instructional materials for all students (Education Code Section 60422) may spend 100% of any remaining IMFRP funds from that year's allocation for other approved purposes.

The Board will later have the opportunity to approve Resolution 2022.23.06 - Sufficiency of Instructional Materials

File Attachments Sufficiency of Materials Public Hearing 22-23.docx.pdf (405 KB)

11. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

Employee Organizations

Type Information PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

1. NTA: Sean Abruzzi

2. CSEA: Maria Huffer

3. NEWMA: Vicenta Ditto

12. CONSENT AGENDA: PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

Recommended It is recommended that the Board of Education approve, under one consented vote, the Action agenda items under Consent-Personnel, except for agenda items:

PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

Items within the Consent Agenda are considered routine and will be approved, adopted, or ratified by a single motion and action. There will not be a separate discussion of these items; however, any item may be pulled from the Consent Agenda upon the request of any member of the Board and acted upon separately.

Motion & Voting It is recommended that the Board of Education approve, under one consented vote, the agenda items under Consent- Personnel, except for agenda items: 12.3 and 12.4.

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

Crossroads Independent Study Program Classroom Aide

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 01, 2022

Dollar Amount $22,000.00

Budget Source SPSA

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve a new classroom aide position at Action Crossroads Independent Study. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is to approve a classroom aide position to support Crossroads Independent Study.

BACKGROUND:

This year, Crossroads Independent Study Program has one elementary teacher serving students virtually. This new classified aide position, funded from the site's Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), will provide additional small group and individual support to students in the virtual setting.

District-Wide Special Education Aides

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 01, 2022

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves two additional district-wide Action special education aides. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is to approve two additional district-wide special education aides.

BACKGROUND:

As part of the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the least restrictive environment is identified as one of the six (6) principles that govern the education of students with disabilities and other special needs. By law, schools are required to provide a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment appropriate to the individual student's needs.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves two additional district-wide special education aides.

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

Addendum to Assistant Superintendent's Employment Agreement

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratifies the addendum to the Assistant Action Superintendent of Educational Services' employment agreement. PURPOSE:

For the Board of Education to ratify the addendum to the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services' employment agreement following the Assistant Superintendent's evaluation.

BACKGROUND:

This agreement was brought to the Board for approval on August 18, 2022, and the Board unanimously approved the agreement, however, the summary was not provided to the public. In order to adhere to the Brown Act requirements, the agreement is brought to the Board, once more, for ratification.

The Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services' current employment agreement states that if the Assistant Superintendent receives a satisfactory annual written evaluation for the 2021-22 school year, with Board approval, she shall receive a 2% salary increase effective July 1, 2022. Following the Assistant Superintendent's receipt of a satisfactory annual written

evaluation, through this item, the Board will consider approval of the 2% salary increase effective July 1, 2022 pursuant to the employment agreement.

File Attachments Assistant Superintendent Contract 03.2021-signed.pdf (269 KB) (CORRECTED) Addendum and Amendment #1 to Assistant Superintendent Agreement 8.18.2022.pdf (15 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratifies the addendum to the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services' employment agreement.

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

Personnel Report

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 01, 2022

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratify the personnel report as presented. Action

PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to ratify the Personnel Report as presented.

BACKGROUND:

All personnel activities including new hires, changes in status, resignations, leaves, and retirements are routinely submitted to the Board for ratification.

File Attachments HR PAL 09-01-2022.pdf (357 KB)

13. CONSENT AGENDA: NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

Recommended It is recommended that the Board of Education approve, under one consented vote, the Action agenda items under Consent Non-Personnel, except for agenda items:

PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

Items within the Consent Agenda are considered routine and will be approved, adopted, or ratified by a single motion and action. There will not be a separate discussion of these items; however, any item may be pulled from the Consent Agenda upon the request of any member of the Board and acted upon separately.

Motion & Voting It is recommended that the Board of Education approve, under one consented vote, the agenda items under Consent Non- Personnel, except for agenda items: 13.8, 13.9

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

Contract with Esther B. Clark, Non-Public School (NPS)

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 01, 2022

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $110,572.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Resource 6500 - Special Education, Resource 6546 - Special Education Mental Health

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the contract and the individual Action service agreement with Esther B. Clark. PURPOSE:

For the Board to ratify the contract and the individual service agreement with Esther B. Clark for day treatment services for the 2022-2023 school year.

BACKGROUND:

NUSD students' least restrictive environment per IDEA was determined to be placed in a Non-Public School (NPS) setting due to a significant disability, behavioral, or programmatic need that has impacted their current ability to be successful within the general education setting.

File Attachments Esther B. Clark Contract 22-23.pdf (448 KB) Esther B. Clark ISA 23-11a redacted.pdf (261 KB)

Wellness Together Contract Extension

Type Action

Preferred Date Sep 01, 2022

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $225,560.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source LCAP 2.8

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Wellness Together and Action HearYou.org Contract for 22-23. PURPOSE:

Staff is seeking the approval of Wellness Together contracts in alignment with the LCAP Goals and Actions (LCAP 2.8).

BACKGROUND:

As a result of engagement with numerous educational partners, LCAP PAC and District identified mental health and wellness as a priority for continued support in our LCAP for the 22-23 school year. The Community identified the following in their feedback: 1. Ensure that ALL students in need have access to mental health services (vacancies, health insurance barriers, etc.) and increase the frequency of support from academic counselors. 2. Continue to fund (increase and/or address vacancy issues that we experienced this year) in order to provide mental health services for ALL. 3. Increase frequency of counselor-student conferences.

As a result of ESSER III funds in 2021-22, we developed a partnership with Wellness Together, a non-profit that places qualified Mental Health Clinicians in schools to provide 1:1, group, and classroom support for students. Schools, with Wellness Together clinicians, have reported positive impacts resulting from these services, and we hope to continue and expand this service in our schools.

The following contract provides details about the contracts for Wellness Together and HearYou.org (a division of Wellness Together) for the 2022-23 school year.

File Attachments Wellness Together - NUSD HearYou.org Agreement 2022-2023.pdf (293 KB) NUSD Wellness Together Contract Extension 22-23 (2).pdf (123 KB)

Contract with Asif Khan for Special Education Services

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 01, 2022

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $200,000.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Resource 6500 - Special Education

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the contract with Asif Khan for Action Special Education services. PURPOSE:

To ratify the contract with Asif Khan for psycho-educational assessments as needed by Special Education in the amount of $200,000.00

BACKGROUND:

The services provided by Asif Khan are essential services for ensuring compliance requirements are met for students with disabilities, that includes assessment timelines provided per the students' Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). The contracted position provides services for unfilled district positions. Assessments are legally mandated per Individual Disability Education Act (IDEA).

File Attachments Asif Khan Contract 22-23.pdf (112 KB)

Contract with Maxim Healthcare Services Inc., Nursing Services for Special Education

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 01, 2022

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $78,975.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Resource 6500 - Special Education

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the renewal of the contract with Action Maxim Healthcare Services Inc. PURPOSE:

To ratify the renewal of the contract with Maxim Healthcare Services Inc., for nursing services for the 2022-2023 school year.

BACKGROUND:

The attached contract was approved by the Board of Education on December 16, 2021. Section 1.1 of this contract states that this contract will automatically renew each year unless terminated. The rates remain the same.

File Attachments Maxim Contract 12.16.21 Fully Executed.pdf (963 KB)

Addendum to the Contract with Ed Sped Solutions Inc.

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 01, 2022

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $302,875.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Resource 6500 - Special Education, Resource 3311 - IDEA

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the addendum to the contract Action with Ed Sped Solutions Inc. PURPOSE:

For the Board to ratify the addendum to the contract with Ed Sped Solutions Inc., in the amount of $302,875.00.

BACKGROUND:

Ed Sped Solutions Inc. will provide Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) and Assistive Technology (AT) assessments and consultation services for students with disabilities. A service provider will assess the needs of the students with disabilities, assist in the selection of appropriate assistive technology for the student, and provide training in the use of the selected device(s). The services to be provided by Ed Sped Solutions, Inc. are essential services for ensuring compliance requirements are met for students with disabilities, which includes assessment timelines, and related services are provided per the students' Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Assessments and related services are legally mandated per Individual Disability Education Act (IDEA).

In addition, Ed Sped will provide 5 Aides as needed by Special Education for unfilled positions. Without Ed Sped Solutions, Inc. services, Newark Unified School District would be out of compliance for providing classroom aide support and 1:1 services.

While the original contract was approved by the Board of Education on 8/4/22, this addendum will bring the total contract amount to $2,152,473.00.

File Attachments Ed Sped Contract 22-23 Fully Executed.pdf (570 KB) Ed Sped Addendum 9.1.22.pdf (80 KB)

Addendum with Curriculum Associates, LLC for i-Ready Services

Type Action

Preferred Date Sep 01, 2022

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $20,575.50

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source LCAP 1.14

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the addendum with Curriculum Action Associates, LLC. PURPOSE:

This addendum for the 2022-23 school year is specifically to support and provide licenses for all grade 6 students at Newark Junior High School, as requested by 6th grade teachers. This addendum will provide diagnostics and student licenses in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics for 6th grade students. The previously approved agreement provided licenses for students grades K-5 and for English Language Learners at the secondary level, grades 6-12, only.

BACKGROUND:

This is a part of the district-wide assessment program. This is the seventh year of implementation of i-Ready; this continuity allows staff the ability to identify trends in student data results and adjust instructional planning accordingly at the site level. The original K-5 contract was for $94,123.10, with this addendum of $20,575.50, the total amount equals $114,698.60.

File Attachments Newark JHS IR API MR SL Updated RepQuote292687.4.pdf (723 KB)

Resolution 2022.23.06 - Sufficiency of Instructional Materials

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves Resolution 2022.23.06 - Action Sufficiency of Instructional Materials. PURPOSE:

For the Board of Education to approve Resolution 2022.23.06 - Sufficiency of Instructional Materials.

BACKGROUND:

To certify compliance with Education Code Section 60119 (as revised by Chapter 704, Statutes of 2006 and California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 5, Section 9531). In order to be eligible to receive instructional materials funds, the governing board of each district and county office of education is required to hold an annual public hearing and adopt a resolution stating whether each pupil in the district has sufficient textbooks or instructional materials in specified subjects that are aligned to the academic content standards and consistent with the content and cycles of the curriculum frameworks adopted by the state board. This is an annual process.

Under EC Section 60119, the governing board of every local educational agency that receives state instructional materials funds must hold an annual public hearing before the end of the eighth week from the first-day pupils attend school for that year. At the public hearing, the governing board must make a determination as to whether each pupil in each school has sufficient textbooks or instructional materials, or both, that are aligned to the content standards and are consistent with the content and cycles of the curriculum framework adopted by the State Board of Education in reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and history- social science.

Site principals reviewed the site's sufficiency of materials and affirmed.

Governing boards that have met the requirements of Education Code Section 60119 and have also certified compliance with the Instructional Materials Funding Realignment Program (IMFRP) requirements regarding the provision of adopted standards-aligned instructional materials for all students (Education Code Section 60422) may spend 100% of any remaining IMFRP funds from that year's allocation for other approved purposes.

File Attachments Sufficiency of Materials Public Hearing 22-23.docx.pdf (405 KB) Resolution No. 2022.23.06 - Sufficiency of Instructional Materials.pdf (200 KB)

Monthly Purchase Order Report

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Monthly Purchase Order Action Report as presented. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is to present a monthly report on Purchase Order transactions per Board Policy 3300, Expenditures and Purchases.

BACKGROUND: Based on the discussion at the Board's Study Session on January 6, 2022, staff is providing a monthly report on Purchase Order transactions per Board Policy 3300, Expenditures and Purchases. The policy states that "The Board shall review all transactions entered into by the Superintendent or designee on behalf of the Board every 60 days."

This report covers the period from July 1, 2022 to August 28, 2022.

File Attachments Monthly Purchase Order Report 09-01-2022.pdf (293 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Monthly Purchase Order Report as presented.

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

Contracts and Purchase Orders Authorized under Resolution 2020.21-025 (Delegate Authority to Procure Necessary Materials, Equipment and Services to Provide Distance and/or In-Person Learning for Staff, Teachers, and Students to Mitigate the Effects of Covid-19)

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Budgeted Yes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education accept the update on costs associated Action with the implementation of Resolution 2020.21-025 (Resolution of the Board of Education of the Newark Unified School District to Delegate Authority to Procure Necessary Materials, Equipment and Services to Provide Distance and/or In-Person Learning for Staff, Teachers, and Students to Mitigate the Effects of Covid-19). PURPOSE:

To update the Board on costs associated with the implementation of Resolution 2020.21-025 (Resolution of the Board of Education of the Newark Unified School District to Delegate Authority to Procure Necessary Materials, Equipment, and Services to Provide Distance and/or In-Person Learning for Staff, Teachers, and Students to Mitigate the Effects of Covid-19) from August 1, 2022, through August 31, 2022.

BACKGROUND:

On April 1, 2021, the Newark Unified School District Board approved Resolution 2020.21-025 delegating authority to the Superintendent or designee to procure necessary materials, equipment, and services that are needed to provide distance and/or in-person learning to mitigate the effects of Covid-19. Language in the resolution states "the Superintendent/Designee shall make periodic reports to the Board of Education and the public regarding implementation of this resolution and the costs associated therewith"; requiring the update provided here.

On June 16, 2022, Amended Resolution 2020.21-025 was approved. The amendment extends it to on or around June 30, 2023, and states that updates will be presented at the first Board meeting of each month.

VENDOR DATE PO NUMBER DESCRIPTION AMOUNT N/A *

*There are no contracts or purchase orders to report for the period of August 1, 2022, through August 31, 2022.

Minutes of the August 18, 2022 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the minutes of the August 18, Action 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the August 18, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the August 4, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

14. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

Superintendent Report

Type Information

PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

The presentation and information will be provided by the Superintendent

File Attachments Superintendent's Report 9.1.22.pdf (4,466 KB)

15. OLD BUSINESS

CSBA Online Learning Center

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $1,500.00

Budget Source General Fund

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the increase to the budget for Action Board training and the subscription purchase of the supplemental CSBA Online Learning Center. PURPOSE:

For the Board to approve the subscription purchase of the supplemental CSBA Online Learning Center platform.

BACKGROUND:

At the August 4, 2022, Regular Board of Education meeting, Member Hill requested to agendize a discussion of the various training options made available by the CSBA. The request was agreed upon by Members Grindall and Zhang.

On August 18, 2022, the Board was presented with information regarding the various CSBA training options. The Board discussed and agreed to purchase a subscription to access the supplemental CSBA Online Learning Center. The CSBA Online Learning Center will provide additional training options to supplement the required training that Board members already participate in. Today the Board will have the opportunity to approve the increase of the Board's training budget in order to purchase the supplemental subscription to the CSBA Learning Center.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the increase to the budget for Board training and the subscription purchase of the supplemental CSBA Online Learning Center.

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

POLICY UPDATE - Board Policy 7310: Naming of Facility

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy 7310: Action Naming of Facility. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to approve the recommended changes to the updated board policy.

BACKGROUND:

The suggested updates to this policy were provided by the Board at the June 16, 2022 meeting. If any additional revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a third reading. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice.

File Attachments EXISTING NUSD Policy 7310_ Naming Of Facility - 2022.09.01.pdf (41 KB) RECOMMENDED NUSD Policy 7310_ Naming Of Facility - 2022.09.01.pdf (53 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy 7310: Naming of Facility.

Motion by Alicia Marquez, second by Terrence Grindall.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Terrence Grindall, Alicia Marquez
Nay: Aiden Hill, Bowen Zhang

16. NEW BUSINESS

K12 Workforce Pathway Coordinator LEA Host Contract - Ohlone CCD

Type Action

Preferred Date Sep 01, 2022

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the K12 Workforce Pathway Action Coordinator LEA Host Contract (Ohlone CCD) as presented. PURPOSE:

To approve Strong Workforce Program K12 Pathway Coordinator LEA Host Contract (Ohlone CCD). Newark Unified School District was selected to serve as the employer of record for career technical education funding that supports the establishment of Strong Workforce Program K12 Pathway Coordinators from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, Workforce and Economic Development Division.

BACKGROUND:

This contract allows NUSD to serve as the employer of record for the K12 Pathway Coordinator (PC) position for the Ohlone Community College District, funded through the K12 Strong Workforce Program (SWP). The SWP legislation created the K12 PC positions to support connections between the K12 LEAs and local community colleges to strengthen CTE programs and pathways that align with regional workforce needs. More specifically, the K12 PCs are assigned to each community college district's service area, to work with the community colleges and the K12 LEAs to provide technical assistance to strengthen and expand CTE programs and be the go-to resource for K12 SWP and Career Technical Education Incentive Grants.

The Bay Region has 18 K12 PCs on board, and the LEA host for the Ohlone Community College District's K12 PC has been Alameda County COE for years 1 and 2 of this position. Due to structural changes at the COE, the position will no longer be hosted through them. The Bay Area Community College Consortium (BACCC) and Ohlone College have partnered with NUSD to be the new LEA host for this K12 PC position. This PC position will serve MVROP, Fremont, Newark, and New Haven, in providing technical assistance to implement and improve career technical education courses, programs, and pathways. This partnership is an opportunity to further Educational Services' work on improving college and career readiness data in our secondary schools.

File Attachments K12 PC R4 Contract Ohlone CCD.pdf (132 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the K12 Workforce Pathway Coordinator LEA Host Contract (Ohlone CCD) as presented.

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

17. BOARD MEMBER REQUESTS

Audit Committee Charter Review

Type Discussion, Information PURPOSE:

For the Board to review the Audit Committee Charter and provide updates where needed.

BACKGROUND:

The Board requested to bring the Audit Committee Charter to the Board for review and to provide updates if needed. The Board will have the opportunity to review the current charter and provide staff with updates to bring back to another meeting and approve the updates.

File Attachments Audit-Committee_Charter-Matrix_Board-of-Ed-approved-May-16-2017.pdf (76 KB)

18. CONSENT AGENDA: PULLED AGENDA ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - Pulled Consent Agenda Items

Type Action

PURPOSE:

This is specifically a placeholder, and will only be used if agenda items from the consent categories are pulled for additional discussion.

BACKGROUND:

Items within the Consent Agenda are considered routine and will be approved, adopted, or ratified by a single motion and action. There will not be a separate discussion of these items; however, any item may be pulled from the Consent Agenda upon the request of any member of the Board and acted upon separately. Those items pulled will be discussed and voted on here.

19. BOARD OF EDUCATION: COMMITTEE REPORTS, REQUESTS, AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Board of Education Recognitions and Announcements

Type Information

PURPOSE:

The Trustees may acknowledge or recognize specific programs, activities, or personnel at this time.

Board of Education Committee Reports

Type Information PURPOSE:

The Trustees will provide an update, if available, on the committees of which they are members.

BACKGROUND:

Each year the Board of Education members liaise with schools and committees in order to build relationships, hear from staff, students, and families, and act as a conduit for information to and from the schools.

Board Committees 2022-23

Board Adopted on 12/16/21 Representative Alternate

Mission Valley Regional Occupational Center/Program (ROC/P) 1. Terrence Grindall 1. Bowen Zhang Executive Board

Regional Policy Board of Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) 1. Bowen Zhang 1. Alicia Marquez

Newark Teacher Induction Advisory Council (Formally EBIC) 1. Alicia Marquez 1. Aiden Hill

Audit Committee 1. Alicia Marquez2. Aiden Hill1. Terrence Grindall

Bond/Parcel Tax Committee 1. Terrence Grindall2. Phuong Nguyen1. Bowen Zhang

                                                                    1. Phuong Nguyen

City of Newark � NUSD Liaison Committee 2. Terrence Grindall 1. Bowen Zhang

Board of Education Requests

Type Action, Discussion, Information

PURPOSE:

This is an opportunity for the Board of Education to suggest items for placement on future agendas and to review Board requests.

Approval from the majority of the Board will be required for direction to be provided to the Superintendent.

BACKGROUND:

The following derives directly from the Board approved "Governance Team Handbook"

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

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

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

Superintendent's Concluding Comments, Updates, and Future Agenda Items

                       AGENDA REQUESTS

Type Information

PURPOSE:

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

21. ADJOURNMENT

PLACEHOLDER - Extend Meeting

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education extends the meeting to ____ P.M. Action

PURPOSE:

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

Adjournment

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education adjourns this meeting. Action PURPOSE:

No items will be considered after 10:00 p.m. unless it is determined by a majority of the Board to extend to a specific time.

This action will conclude the meeting.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education adjourns this meeting.

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

No minutes available.