Regular Meeting

No content available.

[341] Phuong Nguyen: And welcome to the September 15th, 2022 Newark Unified School District Board of Education meeting. I call this meeting to order at 5.01 p.m. We are holding in-person board meetings at our district boardroom and are following the states and Alameda counties. safety guidelines for public gathering. Please refrain from attending in-person meeting if you have COVID-related symptoms. If you are not able to attend the meeting in person, you may observe the meeting via the NUSD YouTube channel or live transmission on Comcast channel 26. And there's also 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 advance notice requested by email at publiccomment at newarkunified.org, a written comment by submitting a speaking card via email at publiccomment at newarkunified.org, or with live in-person comments by submitting a speaker card with our executive assistant. Ms. Gutierrez. Roll call, please, Ms. Gutierrez.

[415] Jodi Croce: Member Zhang?

[415] Bowen Zhang: Here.

[420] SPEAKER_35: President, Vice President Grindel?

[422] SPEAKER_20: Here.

[423] SPEAKER_35: President Nguyen? Here. Currently, we have President, I mean, Member Hill and Member Marquez absent. Thank you.

[436] Phuong Nguyen: On to the next item, approval of the agenda. May I get a motion to approve the agenda as is?

[441] Bowen Zhang: Approve the agenda as it is.

[442] Phuong Nguyen: Motion made by Member Zhang. I will second. Seconded by Member Grindell. Thank you. How do you vote, Member Zhang?

[451] SPEAKER_20: Yes.

[452] Phuong Nguyen: Member Grindell?

[453] SPEAKER_20: Yes.

[454] Phuong Nguyen: I'm also yes. Three ayes. Thank you, Mr. Gutierrez. There's an error on the voting through Board Docs. Oh, OK. Thank you. All right. On to study session item 20-22-23, district goals and objectives. We do have a public comment. Ms. Parks?

[504] Cindy Parks: Since there's no attachment to this agenda item, it intentionally hinders the community's ability to provide relevant feedback to the 22, 23 goals and objectives you will be discussing this evening. The discussion of the new goals should start with the goals and objectives from the last two years. I started to draft my comments concerning the last two years of goals and objectives, but determined it wasn't worth my time to give an in-depth details, only a brief summary. A positive budget certification was a no-brainer with all of the influx of revenue. I have yet to see a root cause analysis that points to determination of why families enroll or do not enroll in Newark Unified. As far as the expansion of programs and the middle school transition, they had a lot of bumps in the road. I think the mass exodus of experienced teaching staff renders the development and retention of highly qualified educators goal as ineffective. As far as the safe attractive learning, facility environment. You did pay for a developer or development of a deferred maintenance plan and based on the survey results, there is no feasibility for a bond at this time. The previous goal to change over the website has had little to no impact. Many people find it very confusing There aren't enough tabs to easily direct people to departments. I found a lot of departments don't contain the same information from their previous website, or there's a tab without an active link, and many school sites do not have a lot of outdated staffing in their staff directory. I hope in the future, agendas will contain all necessary documents or presentation slides for the public to review prior to the meeting. Thank you.

[611] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Parks. Ms. Gutierrez, Member Hill is in attendance. As of 5.04 p.m. Thank you. On to our study session. Let's move down to the front area. Thank you.

[667] Bowen Zhang: Mm-hmm.

[675] Kat Jones: Well, there's two, I think. One is different.

[680] Bowen Zhang: The black one is worse, right?

[682] Nicole Pierce-Davis: They're both black. The one with the black brains and the black insignia.

[688] Bowen Zhang: There's a symbol for karma inside yours? Yeah.

[724] Terrence Grindall: We're pretty well versed with it by now, so maybe, yeah switch.

[747] SPEAKER_07: So welcome to everybody, and thank you for joining us for this study session.

[749] Jodi Croce: I'm going to put a timer on to make sure that I'm staying on track here.

[771] Mark Triplett: This evening we wanted to share, get a little jump start on our district goals and objectives. And so this is not the superintendent evaluation, this is not about superintendent evaluation, but rather about getting board input into really solidifying district goals and objectives for the year. And so we're excited to come to you with this. The idea is that we're gonna talk through a little bit about last year's accomplishments. Um, and then how it has led to, um, this iteration or draft of, uh, um, some goals and objectives for this year. But this is strictly a draft, and the idea is that we really want to get your input. Um, and in particular, I have a couple of, uh, ques- question prompts that we'd love to, um, to have you, um, sort of use as in the discussion. Um, and then we'll take this information back. We'll continue to engage, uh, our other stakeholders and, um, and take this back to the team and continue to adjust. And we'll bring it back again, most likely multiple times to the board during September and October. So why don't we start? I wanted to start with, well, of course, I know that the board and all of us feel really strongly about that goals and objectives are what I call smarty, both specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound, and equitable. And I wanted to say that for this conversation today, we're actually not going to get to the measurable component. So this is defining the goals. articulate how they're going to be measured within the year. And what would the end outcome be? What should it look like? So I'm going to jump in here and start with a little bit of the year-end progress from 21-22, just to ground ourselves. Board members, you are familiar with this, but I wanted to just go back to that before moving into this year. So as you recall, this past year, we have four goal areas, fiscal vitality, community engagement and communication, instructional excellence for equity, and exceptional learning facilities. And we intend to continue with those goal areas, but what we've adjusted is the goals and then the corresponding objectives to really make sure that we're continuing to progress and evolve as we go. So, what I wanted to do first is talk a little bit about achievements from this past year. So, as you recall, under fiscal vitality, we had two objectives. One was making necessary position adjustments based on... Oops, sorry, hold on one second. I want to make sure I'm following along on this screen. Oh, sorry. So, we have one goal in fiscal vitality. And that is making the necessary position adjustments based on projected enrollment with a goal of achieving a positive certification from Alameda County. As you all know, that the district had struggled in the past to achieve that positive certification. And I'm really excited that we were able to achieve that again this past year. Before the governor's final budget came out in July, as we all know, there was really a need to make some really significant cuts and reductions. And so that was really hard work, as you all will recall. And I'm really proud of doing that in a way that was as transparent as possible and also was really honoring all of the hard work of all our staff. Second goal area, community engagement communication. was we adjusted that goal, if you will remember, in the middle of the year based on sort of how things were progressing. And the goal was to draft an RFP for marketing and refine it with board input to then post that and then identify an agency to support us with marketing for this upcoming year. We did achieve, we did have the RFP draft presentation to the board. as was our intended outcome by June 16th. The board gave some great input. We were able to post the RFP. We got a lot of interest. And you'll see that this evening that we're bringing back a contract that we want to get board approval on to move forward into this year. We did not identify the agency by the summer of 2022. But we, unless you count August as an answer. So the other goal area was instructional excellence. And within this, we have multiple different objectives, the first one being phase two of a dual-language immersion. I'm really excited that we have kicked off this second year. And we ended up with, I believe it was 41 kindergarteners actively enrolled in the dual-language immersion. We were able to hire an additional full staff and hire an additional B-Class certified teacher, which as we've talked about before, is no small feat to recruit folks who have a BPAD certification. So really excited about that. The other area within Goal Area 3, the other objective was to prepare for the transition of the sixth grade. And as you know, that has moved along. We presented the final plan to the board on June 16th. It was really wonderful to have such an amazing group of stakeholders. all having worked on that plan and presenting it together. I think we're really, really proud of it and all the hard work that it represented. And I was there today and we had the honor of going into the Teacher of the Year, Mr. Fuller's class in the sixth grade with the county superintendent. And it's moving along really well. Of course, there are definitely always gonna be bumps, but we're really excited about how things are progressing and really proud of that sixth grade team. The other goal or objective was around the STEM programs, both STAR and Environmental Literacy. And we were really delighted to have board members join last year for the first annual Student Code Showcase, where we had some tremendous presenters. We are continuing, obviously, with the launch this year. I know Mr. Goldsmith is currently, he's been receiving all of the furniture and other equipment into the STAR Lab, and has been setting all that up, and that's been really great. We've also had an opportunity to develop some additional partnerships, thanks to the help of the Newark Educational Foundation. And we've been rolling out the maker spaces in the elementary schools, and so that's been tremendous.

[1218] Mark Triplett: different STAR classes, both robotics and coding, that we were able to launch this year. And then there is the environmental literacy component. We were really delighted to have been able to relaunch all of the science camps this past year.

[1248] Mark Triplett: And so we'll continue with this work this year. And the last two goals or objectives in this goal area, both professional development as well as, I think this next one is the coaching. We had a lot of success last year, professional development. We're able to do consistent professional development with principals, with teachers, as well as classified staff. We ended the year with a really fantastic instructional leadership team. two days in June. And likewise with the coaching, I think together I was adding up over the past two years, been able to go into a little bit over 200 classrooms with principals. And we've really been, the whole team's been supporting principals to develop effective coaching strategies as well as and us supporting each other with goal setting and that kind of cycle. And then lastly, the exceptional learning facilities. So we had two objectives in this area. One was a three to five year facilities improvement deferred maintenance plan, which we did bring to the board and were able to get board approval on that plan. And then likewise, there was the goal of feasibility of developing a school in Area 3, and we did bring a feasibility analysis to the board, as well as having a board session where we discussed surplus property. And so you'll see in the draft of this upcoming year's goals is we want to really now continue and go to the next phase of what we do with our surplus properties. Okay, so that was, how am I doing on time? Oh, that was perfect, 10 minutes. So what I wanted to do, I was thinking of doing this next part a little bit differently, because I know that you all don't wanna just hear me talk on and on. So what I was thinking is I was gonna go really quickly over how we've reiterated, or revised and reiterated the goals for this upcoming year. Just gonna put the five minute clock on. And then I was going to give you all a chance to go over them yourselves, and we'll do a little protocol where rather than me talking, you can review them, look through them, make some notations, and then we can actually hear from each other about what you're noticing in these new goals, and then from there have a conversation about are these the right So anytime we're creating goals and thinking about objectives, we want to ground ourselves in what is actually the mission, the purpose of our work. And so it's always valuable to have a mission up there at the Newark Unified School District, inspire and educate all students to achieve their full potential and be responsible, respectful, and productive citizens. And likewise, our vision, that we are in partnership with the community, we seek to be a world-class a model of world-class education that develops the unique abilities of every student. So I think sometimes it's really easy for us to start thinking about some of the other aspects of our work that tangentially affect our mission and vision and really our focus on students, but it's really important that we stay focused on our true purpose of really supporting students and their growth. NUSD graduate profile. So just a reminder that we are seeking to develop in students critical thinking, creative problem solving, effective communication for students to have integrity, resilience, and empathy when they graduate from our school district. And then lastly, that our instructional focus standards-based instruction, social-emotional learning and wellness, as well as assessment for learning. How do we use data to inform instruction? All right, and then as we're developing these goals, you all remember that we do have this preliminary data from SBAC from last year, and we really wanted to also reflect, I'm not gonna go over the data, but just reflecting on What is this data telling us about what we need to do this year and what we need to focus on?

[1541] Mark Triplett: Not that we are unique here at NUSD with this negative trajectory, but nonetheless, that we know we really want to focus and improve our math achievement for our students. And likewise, that we're really excited about the growth during these last couple years, and how it's really actually, it appears to be reflective in some of our data. All right, so this year, here's what we have, we wanna continue with these four goal areas, and I'm gonna talk just quickly about how we've modified the goals in each of those areas. So you should sense that there's an evolution So in fiscal vitality, we've articulated our goal as maximizing resources while ensuring a positive certification from the County Office of Education by maintaining a balanced budget through 23-24. And the reason we articulated this is because, as we all know, we have been fortunate enough to receive additional resources from the state, one-time dollars. And so we really want to focus on how we maximize those dollars while also making sure that we are staying fiscally responsible and really making sure that we're continuing to benefit from the hard decisions that we had to make prior around school consolidations and other cuts. The next goal within the community engagement and communication, we've articulated this as building the structures and systems for effective two-way communication with students, staff, and families. Third goal area, instructional excellence for equity, we have two different goals here. Goal 3A, continue to strengthen the focus on college and career readiness, grades K through 12. And then 3B, this is a slightly new articulation, recruit, develop, and retain highly qualified educators. And then the last goal, around exceptional learning facilities environments create safe and attractive and inviting learning facilities in the parents of schools. All right, so I'm gonna stop there and wanted to give you all a chance, what I thought we could do, how am I doing on time? Man, it's killing me with the time. Give you a chance to read through these on what you see on here is not only the goal that I just went through,

[1724] Mark Triplett: Maybe it will take four minutes. And then we like to do a protocol where it's notices. So in other words, we'll go around and each person can say, I noticed that. And then you say something factual, nonjudgmental. Just something that you notice that you then lift up to everybody else, because everybody else might not have noticed that same thing. And then from that, Then we can start going into sort of ideas, opinions, input, feedback around these objectives. Does that sound okay? All right, so I'm gonna put the clock on for, is four minutes good or do you want less time or more time just for the assignment? We've got one more minute. Wait, that's not... Great. Would you all... I'm going to modify my own protocol. Would you all like to do one noticing and then one wondering?

[2029] Mark Triplett: It's up to you. All right. I'm going to put on the ten minutes and... Do you want to go goal by goal or all the goals?

[2039] Terrence Grindall: All. Okay.

[2046] Mark Triplett: All right. Why don't we, why don't we start? Does anybody want to start?

[2051] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I can start. Yeah, so big notice for me, I think, I guess it's the first time we're talking about competitive salary, you know, in recent memory, following the past 10, 20 years.

[2068] Terrence Grindall: Thank you. I noticed that we talked about a balanced budget, not not looking at necessarily long-term fiscal sustainability. So aid budget's not really enough in looking at this. We need to be doing a longer-term financial plan to make sure we're not boxing ourselves into a problem. That was more than. That was more than.

[2096] Mark Triplett: That was more than. That was a little bit of a. That was a little.

[2100] Terrence Grindall: Sorry. My other ones are really fast.

[2107] Diego Torres: I'll move it towards. I also noticed that we are, one of the goals is to retain highly qualified educators because I know for me, two of my very good teachers have been in the district for a while last year. So I know that's a good goal that I'd like to see.

[2122] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. I also noticed that Lunar, Wanting to emphasize that recruitment and retaining highly qualified educators as a priority. I will repeat it again. I said I noticed that we are committing to recruiting and developing and retaining highly qualified educators as a priority. Is that better?

[2163] Aiden Hill: Do you want to go? Yes. So as I mentioned last year when we were going through the goal setting process, so I teach business at Cupertino High School.

[2183] Aiden Hill: But what I noticed is that in our goals, I don't think that we're really following the definition of SMART.

[2199] Aiden Hill: So the first part of SMART is specific. Specific means detailed, particular, or focus. A goal is specific when everyone knows exactly what is to be achieved, accomplished. Below are examples of goals with varying levels of specificity. Too general, I want to be popular. Not specific enough, I want to have more friends. More specific, I want to make more friends in Mr. Hill's class. So that's an example of being specific. If we talk about measurable, measurable means quantifiable. A goal is measurable when it establishes a standard for comparison or a specific result. Below are examples of measurable versus non-measurable goals. Not measurable, I want to do well in Mr. Hill's attainable when you can realistically accomplish it. Realistic goals are a balance of what is hard and what is easy to achieve. Below are examples of goals of varying levels of attainability. Hard, I want to be voted the most popular kid at school. Easy, I want to make one new friend at school. Attainable, I want to make one new friend in each of my classes. The challenge I see in a lot of our attainable is the only way that you can define attainable is you've got to have measurable first, right? So a goal is basically I'm here, I'm going there, right? There is the measurable component. Attainable defines whether you can realistically do it, whether you can do it. Are relevant. Relevant means relating to a matter under consideration. A goal is relevant when it helps you achieve a need, want you are focused on. If you want to get into college, then setting a goal to be the best-dressed kid in school is not relevant. Setting a goal to get straight A's in all your 11th grade classes is relevant. And then finally, time-based. Time-based means scheduled and regulated by time. A goal is time-based when it has a specific start and an end date. A goal is agreeing with a deadline. Which of the below goals are time-based? I'm going to lose weight, or I'm going to lose two pounds in the next two weeks. And so I think that we need to anchor ourselves. If we're saying that we're using the SMART framework to put our goals together, we need to follow the definitions. And I think particularly around specific, you know, it's pretty fuzzy.

[2349] Aiden Hill: As you've mentioned, Dr. Triplett, we need to get measurements in there.

[2355] Aiden Hill: Is it attainable? But most importantly, is it relevant, right? And that's where I think that the board comes in is We're basically, you know, the representatives of the community about what's important for the community. And so we need to make sure that what we've been hearing from the community, the goals that we set, tie to what they care about, what's relevant for them.

[2381] Aiden Hill: We have to have a start and an end date, and ideally we have to have milestones in between. So that's what it is.

[2388] Mark Triplett: Okay. Does anybody else have any other notices? So I just want to reiterate, we're not actually talking about input yet, or feedback yet, or just what you noticed on this document.

[2402] SPEAKER_31: Non-judgmental. Can I chime in? Sure. OK. I noticed a lot of overlap, and how the goals complement each other. For example, goal one, with competitive salary increase, as it relates to fiscal vitality, certainly overlaps with goal 3B, in recruiting and retaining staff. And then just kind of the same noticing of the overlap and complementary. For example, goal four, for learning facilities, community-based engagement process certainly overlaps with goal two, two-way communication with our families.

[2437] Nicole Pierce-Davis: So, can I move this? Similarly, the overlap you can see from maximizing one-time funds, right? And thinking about what does that mean for some of the more long-term facilities. in goal not quite as organized as you expect, right? In goal for B. Any other notices?

[2467] Mark Triplett: All right, we're doing great for time. So this is, thank you for those noticings. I think that you highlighted things that I would have brought up, and so you didn't have to hear me talk. So this next part, we actually have, I think, about 20 minutes for open discussion. And that can be people's input, feedback, thoughts, ideas, opinions. And I will just pose three prompt questions. One is that if we could get your input on are goals, or is there something else that's even more important in order for us to achieve or be reaching towards our mission and vision? The second question is, will these goals support student progress?

[2533] Mark Triplett: And then the last one is, it's almost rhetorical, because We have, clearly we have too many outcomes, or objectives, rather. There's, I think, by all standards, people say keep it simple, keep it a few so that they're attainable, like Member Hill was saying, and we, right now, we have too many, too many objectives. And so, wanted to hear from you all, number one, do you agree? Do you think that's, is it too much?

[2569] Mark Triplett: Because that's where we're struggling. I think we feel like we've got to do it all. We want to do it all. And so we'd love your thoughts about it all seems important.

[2579] Terrence Grindall: So we'd love your help in thinking through if we're going to stay focused and keep it attainable, what would we do? It doesn't jump out at me as being too much, necessarily, given the track record of what was accomplished last year. It doesn't jump out at me, but I mean, we need your input on whether that's true or not. But I would say that from my perspective, I don't see it jumping out as being unattainable. But of course, other board members have other ideas.

[2615] Phuong Nguyen: I would be grateful that Kathleen and Ms. Nicole brought up the fact that we do have overlapping goals. So I think we definitely should take a look at that and then either combine them or figure out how we can organize those better, because then that will eliminate some of the need for making sure that we have those things covered, but then also not overreach goals.

[2648] Bowen Zhang: So I always Generally, I always set just one or two big goals. I think four or five is on the upper end. So if I prefer, I'll probably just have one big goal, or maybe at most two goals, given that this year we don't have that bumping anymore. So that's one big less distraction. And then we established our academic performance baseline last year. double down and focus all in on improving the math baseline and also continuing to improve on the English reading performance. So that probably for me is the paramount goal. The other thing that doesn't appear on this, but I think is more important than any of this, is how to generate consistent income on a surplus property. When it comes to budget, because we're really at the mercy of the state, right? The state has a bone here. They gave us a lot of extra money and bail us out. If the state enters a recession next year, then every district suffers. So for that kind of thing, I wouldn't really want to judge a district that much, particularly that really your any fund balance has a lot to do with what happens in Sacramento. I sort of want to de-emphasize on that. I don't want to de-emphasize on really the budget. Particularly, we're not like four years ago when I first took over. Four years ago, we're on the brink of being taken over. So of course, you have to look at that very seriously. That's your top goal. Four years earlier today, we have a lot of one-time money. So we're nowhere close to being taken over or have a qualified certification on the budget. So this year, I think it's fine to temporarily, in the short run, de-emphasize on on fiscal or whatever on the budget position. I think the surplus property generating consistent and permanent income, that might be a much more long-term important thing than focusing on one or two years of your budget situation. I think we're sort of in the luxury of not really need to worry about a one-year deficit, right?

[2781] Terrence Grindall: I agree with Member Chen about that, although, I'm assuming, based on the description of the surplus property utilization plan, that there would be an emphasis on how we can make use of properties for ongoing revenue. I assumed it was in there. So if it's not, then maybe we want to be specific. But I do agree that that's important.

[2810] Mark Triplett: Yeah, that was the intent of that objective. And I think that was like you were saying that you really think that that's one of the top priorities.

[2819] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I mean even, and then later this year, I mean later in this meeting, we're going to go about that marketing thing, right? So we'll probably see the result then. That for me is sort of an action item. When you see the result from this professional team that does the work, then we can see what we're going to do, set up a goal for next month. So even for that one, I don't really worry that much about that. What do you call that? about setting that as a district goal. So for me, if you say I need to have two goals, one is probably the dashboard or academic performance, the other is this surplus property. You have one goal, then improve upon our baseline from last year. That's the only thing I have. And I really think the great thing is you don't need to worry about election this year. So this is a golden year that you don't really have that many distractions. Just focus on that one thing. Sometimes having one goal is a luxury. That's my opinion.

[2878] Terrence Grindall: And actually, I noticed or wondered something like that in that same phrase. Although the goals aren't prioritized, it may make sense. Because for me, goal number three is really our number one goal now. Now this goal, SCARE, is well behind us. Is there any thought of reorienting the goal numbers to match our true priorities? Because it's human nature. You see one, two, three, people say, oh, improving education is your third priority. Well, it's number three, but it doesn't mean it's the lowest priority. Sorry, I'm getting down in the weeds, but I wanted to raise that question.

[2927] Aiden Hill: So building on what? But I don't think that we should lose sight of goal one. And even the letter that we got from the ACOE when they were certifying us, they said, well, OK, you passed our certification, but you still have a structural deficit, right? And we've had a structural deficit for a long time. And what I'd like to suggest, I mean, I think the superordinate goal for fiscal vitality is that this year, we develop a robust plan that so by the end of the year, that we have a road bus plan with an implementation timeline that talks about how we can eliminate the structural deficit. And obviously, you have to have an assumption based on enrollment. And so we could say based on our projection for this year's enrollment or something else, but that we put a window around that because we keep kicking the cane down the road. And at some point, the state may not give us extra money, and then we're going to get caught flat-footed.

[2999] Bowen Zhang: So that fiscal might have a long-term structural thing, like if we ask Ms. Del Cruz, most of our structural deficit has to do with declining enrollment, right? So that's probably the biggest factor there. So the interesting thing is, my opinion on enrollment, particularly declining enrollment in the past four or three years actually has evolved quite a bit. Because initially, I really think it's an individual district thing, that we need to do a lot of improvement to actually reverse this trend. These days, looking at the holistic, looking at the entire Bay Area, I think we have things that we need to do to attract students. We need to improve on certain things. But I don't believe that we can do anything to negate the trend of declining enrollment, because this is a more demographic thing, rather than an individual district thing. So why do I say that? Let's look at things holistically around the Bay Area. Let's pick two of the highest performance students in the Bay Area. That's number one. Cupertino Union School District. Everybody knows that's probably the highest performing elementary school district in the entire South Bank, Cupertino Union. From 2015 to 2022, seven years, in a span of seven years, Cupertino Union School District lost 5,000 kids. And they have to close not one, not two, but three elementary schools last year. So would you say that people don't send their kids to Cupertino Union School District because they have bad school performance? I don't believe so. Let's look at Peninsula. Belmont and Rebel Shore Elementary School District is probably the highest performing school district on the entire peninsula. This year, their declining enrollment finally reached a point that pushed the district into basic A district. Because they just have fewer and fewer students, while their property tax continued to steadily increase. This year, they're a basic A district. They're no longer an LCFF district. So when you see two highest performing school districts in the Bay Area continue to lose students left and right in droves in the past four or five years, then you know this is a much bigger environmental or demographic thing. Rather than just we did a terrible job that we're losing kids. I think there are things we need to do to attract and retain students. But today I can say this with confidence. No matter what you do, you're not gonna stop the fact that America is an aging society. That is not something new or unified can do. I don't believe even the president can reverse this trend.

[3152] Terrence Grindall: Well, it's partially related to internal shifts due to housing costs as well. So it is true it's a national phenomenon, but we're particularly facing it in the Bay Area because housing prices are so high and young families move to other areas.

[3176] Terrence Grindall: Is that true? I don't know. Well, they won't in the long term. They won't see large reductions in children in those areas.

[3185] Mark Triplett: There is, I know the demographers, when we've sort of posed some of these questions to them, it did confirm that there are less babies being born in California. Less babies being born in that area.

[3198] Bowen Zhang: Well, let's look at an even bigger picture. In the year when you were born, every eight or nine employees working is supporting one social security recipient. Today it's two or three. And that ratio, I mean, that ratio tells you why you have declining enrollment. It used to be nine or eight workers supporting one social security recipient. Today it's two to three. That's why we regularly run into a trillion dollar deficit every year in the federal budget. It's because due to your aging society, You just don't have that many young people, not have any reproduction in the country.

[3233] Phuong Nguyen: And plus, with the last two years, you've seen it. Everybody's changing the way they work. And why stay in a state where it's overinflated with real estate when you can still earn California dollars working in another state and relocating your family and working remotely? So that's been huge too, and we don't take those into account. And actually this year, I mean just now recently, companies like Google and Apple are asking employees to come back to work into the workplace. But yeah, just three days a week or two days a week, not necessarily the whole week, right? So office space, everything's gonna be changing.

[3289] Terrence Grindall: No, but it does point to the challenge that Marie has to try to look in a crystal ball. Because enrollment, as Member Hill indicated, enrollment is what drives our balance sheet. So you can project a long-term sustainable future by simply assuming a rise in enrollment. If you just make a guess, that enrollment's going to go up, then great, we're in good shape. But we have to make a careful guess at what's going to happen with enrollment.

[3326] Phuong Nguyen: Plus, the state has already started to change the way they're funding, you know.

[3331] Bowen Zhang: And the other thing, there's this one inconvenient thing that people don't want to say. They don't want to say that in public, which is when you have a community or when you have an area that is increasingly wealthy, particularly when it comes to income, and housing equity value, when you have more and more high income people living in an area, you will always have a fraction of people that no matter how great a public school they are, they will always send their kids to private school. And that fraction will only going to be increasing, particularly given the increasing wealth in the area. That is something that people don't want to say that in public. But you look at Atherton, their public school definitely doesn't reflect the wealth level of the town of Atherton because nobody in that who send their kids to public school. They're all wealthy enough to send them to private school. Same thing goes for Palo Alto. Why would Palo Alto elementary school perform at a less level than Cupertino Union? Even though Palo Alto homes are selling one to two million more than Cupertino, right? And New World may very well, and you certainly use that in Fremont, you may very well be entering into some of that kind of category, that you have enough rich people that just don't want to send their kids to public school, no matter how great your public school is.

[3402] Nicole Pierce-Davis: I think what's interesting about that, though, is it kind of depends on what you value. And I do think it's important note to think that California, as well as the nation, is sort of shifting what they value. So sort of glimpsed at some things about private schools or public schools or different experiences that you can have. But I do think it's important to note that the shifting of what people want is also shifting. The shifting of, that's not how, that's not what I wanted to say. What people want is starting to shift. How people value assessment is starting to shift. And so while we see the SBAC scores and we see that those are definitely things we want to attain and improve, and that becomes our measures, right, if that is all we are focused on, we lose some of the life that is breathed into education. And I just want to caution the board against that, because you kind of made some value statements about that. I think what you are saying is actually quite a few people saying, you know what, I don't want that anymore. do a different setting with a more diverse group of students. And you still see people opting out, right? You see both. I think in the same way we started seeing assessment, we see the math scores, but we also see what is the breadth of experience the students are getting. So one of the noticings that I have is when we think about raising these math scores, is that happening unilaterally? Are we going to sit all our teachers in a room and say, OK, here's the test, teach the test? Or are we going to try to create really engaging experiences for kids? that then kind of breathe excitement and engagement into math so that they see themselves as mathematicians, they see themselves as scientists, they see themselves as being a part of this kind of workforce that maybe didn't feel like they were represented in the past. And so I just think that's the, that becomes the give and take. We do a lot of like, what's our purpose in education? And again, please, please, When I see those scores in ed services, we definitely want to improve our math scores. We want that focus. But the how and the why also becomes equally important.

[3529] Aiden Hill: I'd like to respectfully disagree. So one of my favorite movies back in the late 80s, early 90s is a school, a high school in South Central Los Angeles, which they were calling a dropout factory, right? And that literally it had a heavily Hispanic population there, and there was an assumption that these people are never, ever going to be able to achieve high levels of educational attainment. But they had a teacher come in that said, I don't believe that. And he said, I'm gonna start teaching these kids how to not only learn calculus, but to get a three or a four on the AP calculus tests. And he completely changed, over the course of 10 years, the performance of that school. But they did that by saying, you know what? We're not going to accept second best.

[3595] Aiden Hill: And we're going to put a plan together. And we have to have the courage to not be afraid to put some targets on the paper. And I think that we as a district, for many years preceding all of us, have been dancing around this topic and refusing to sort of say, OK, we look at the scores, but we're refusing to sit down and say, here's where we are. Let's set a goal for a 1% improvement, a 2% improvement. But the only way that we're going to do it is by establishing a baseline, and then establishing a target, and then trying to go for it. And maybe we don't achieve it the first year, but then we do some lessons learned, and we say, OK, what went wrong? And what do we need to modify? But the challenge and the reason why I feel so passionate about it is not only do I think it's not equitable to sort of, you know, say, you know, not everybody can do this, but, you know, as, you know, Member Zhang has talked about before, we are competing on a global stage. All of our kids are competing with people that are achieving at a higher level in math, you know, in terms of many other countries. We have to raise the bar. we can't just sort of dodge the issue.

[3661] Nicole Pierce-Davis: So I think that... Respectfully, no one said don't have targets, right? We've been really clear that the measurements in these goals are not included. No one... I even said I care about these scores. What I said is, can we focus then on the how, the purpose, and the why of getting those scores higher, right? Because if we just follow... I know you're not suggesting that we follow movies. I know you're not suggesting that. But if we look at research, how we get there, is not sitting kids in a room and saying, here's the test, or here's practice test after practice test. And so all I'm saying is let's be really, really mindful of the how and the why. And so that those scores can be raised, and we can feel good about how we got there.

[3705] Aiden Hill: You have to figure out the how. You're not going to get there otherwise.

[3710] SPEAKER_35: President Williams, for the record, remember Marquez has joined, and there are five minutes left on the slate.

[3715] Mark Triplett: Welcome member Marquez. Could I just say something? I really appreciate what you're saying, Ms. Pierce, because I think this goal around the STEM or the STEAM rather, to me, I think in us crafting this, this is about making math science engaging, not the drill and the kill. And I love, member Hill, that you brought up Jaime Escalante, Ms. Pierce and I actually worked with a very dear colleague who was a student in his class. And she grew up in LA and she talked about the way he taught.

[3764] Mark Triplett: How do we make it come to life? How do we make it connected to careers versus just something and they're doing the papers. So that's what we're hoping is embedded in here and reflected.

[3775] Phuong Nguyen: I too want to just thank Mr. Pierce for making that comment about how they lie and how to make students feel engaged because, I mean, students know when they have a bad teacher. Students know when they're not engaged. Students want to be there to learn and the impact that great teachers who come up with the how and are engaging to students are the ones that really do make that impact on the students, a lifelong impact, right? And we want to be able to recruit those high level of teachers to be able to teach our students, right?

[3813] Diego Torres: Yeah, I think it's definitely an improvement as part of it. Because when I go in a classroom, I want to teach it out. Like when I sign up for classes, sometimes I sign up for class just because I know the teacher's been there a while. I can trust them. I know the teaching style. And so two of the teachers that I had last year left because of different circumstances. One was low pay, and he was a teacher that I had freshman year. I was going to sign up. I signed up for his class just because I knew he was teaching the subject. And I knew his teaching style was engaging. There was labs. There was classwork. He graded well. And it made a fun class environment. So for him to leave, it was really disappointing. And so I think definitely that retaining highly qualified educators is something that I would love to see focused and more the goals and more timeline, how you actually plan on doing that. Because I see in one of the goals, I don't know which one it was, was to improve the salaries of, it didn't say who, but I was just wondering who supports all staff increasing the salary. I just wanted to know who was first in line. And when we were talking about salaries, it was the principals that are increasing salaries. Is it teachers? And also about the STAR Labs stuff, Yeah, I think that's really a great program, because I have a teacher that's actually starting that. I have him in fifth period, and it's really, the space that he's created is wonderful. Sometimes when I'm like, can't focus, I'll just go in that space, and it's a wonderful space. It's definitely innovative. There's TVs in there, there's new chairs, there's a new desk, and I think the whole program that he's created is really wonderful, and it's definitely, I forgot what it's called, it's something, oh, Master of Code, and it's something that, I'm not a coder at all, but I heard about it, and I saw it, and he told me about it, and I was like, wow, that sounds really cool, and it's a way to get engaged in the community of coding. So it's something that I'm gonna look forward to, and something that I actually look forward to at school. I get to code, and I get to participate in different activities. So I think programs like that are really wonderful at our school, and I think we should continue focusing on programs like that.

[3929] Mark Triplett: I think, remember, Taura's just so much. Thank you. Thank you, Member Torres. And thank you all for the conversation. I think there's a lot for us to take back and really put you on and continue to iterate on this. And to answer your question, Member Torres, the idea around the salary thing is for everyone, for all the different labor groups.

[3956] Mark Triplett: Which, exactly. All right. Thanks, everybody.

[3961] SPEAKER_27: Thank you.

[3963] Mark Triplett: I hope this felt like a good opportunity to dialogue versus just hearing a presentation.

[4023] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. On to closed session items. In closed session, we will be discussing item 4.2, public employee discipline dismissal release. Item 4.3, conference with labor negotiators, NTA and CSCA. Item 4.4, conference with labor negotiators, NEWMA, unrepresented supervisors and contracted management. Item 4.5, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation. And are there any public comments. Thank you. So we will recess to closed session. Thank you.

[7194] SPEAKER_42: Thank you.

[7574] Phuong Nguyen: a public comment on non-agenda items and agenda items. They're in the back corner. The forms are back there. And once you fill them out, please hand it to Ms. Gutierrez. She has a pink scarf on her neck. Thank you.

[7590] SPEAKER_30: Can you hear me on that end?

[7592] Julienne Sumodobila: Yes.

[7596] SPEAKER_30: Thank you very much.

[7733] Phuong Nguyen: welcome. We're back from closed session and um there is one item to report out on item 4.2 public employee discipline dismissal release. The board took action on a vote of five to zero to release a certain temporary sort of certificated employee employee ID number 4487 effective August 26th 2022. Thank you and then now on to the Pledge of Allegiance. Um our students are gonna be leading the Pledge of Allegiance tonight. Thank you. Please stand.

[7774] SPEAKER_24: Please begin.

[7776] SPEAKER_26: 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.

[7795] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. On to item 7.1, Latinx Heritage Month celebration. Just a little bit of background, Latinx Hispanic Heritage Month. Heritage began as Hispanic Heritage Week. Hispanic Week was established by legislation sponsored by Representative Edward R. Roybal of Los Angeles and was signed into the law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968. In 1988, the commemorative week was expanded to a month, September 15th to October 15th by President Ronald Reagan. September 15th was chosen as the starting point for the commemoration because it is the anniversary of the cry of Dolores early morning. 16th of September 1810, which marked the start of the Mexican War of Independence and thus resulted in 1821 in independence for the new Spain colony now Mexico and the Central American nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua, which became the Federal Republic of Central America. Mexico, most Central American countries, and Chile commemorate their independence from Spain on September 15th, September 16th, and September 18th, respectively. Hispanic Heritage Week was first proclaimed by President Johnson in 1968 in Presidential Proclamation 3869. President Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan gave annual proclamations of Hispanic Heritage Week between 1969 and 1988. National Hispanic Heritage Month was first proclaimed by President George H.W. Bush on September 14th, 1989 in Presidential Proclamation 6021. Since 1989, all presidents have given a presidential proclamation to mark Hispanic Heritage Month. Thank you. So, Superintendent Triplett, I hand this off to you.

[7963] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. Good evening to school board members, staff, community, and students. So we are really excited to be kicking off Latinx Heritage Month. And with us, we have some fantastic baile folklórico dancers from Schilling. And I think we're going to turn it over to them.

[7982] Jodi Croce: You guys ready? Yeah.

[7994] SPEAKER_27: I. Yeah. Hey. ♪♪ Ha!

[8155] SPEAKER_26: Thank you so much.

[8185] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. On to our next item, ROP Teacher of the Year recognition, Dr. Triplett.

[8200] Mark Triplett: Okay, thank you very much. So that's a hard act to follow. That was really awesome. Muchisimas gracias a todas las familias y los niños y niñas. Era fantástico. But fortunately, we do have a, I said it's a really hard act to follow, but we do have an amazing act to follow this, and that is that we are very honored to be appreciating Teacher of the Year this year for Mission Valley ROP, who happens to also be a member of our Newark Unified School District. So I know Mission Valley ROP likes to claim him as theirs, But we also really think of Mr. S, as they call him, as one of our members of our staff as well. And if Superintendent Hanson, if you want to come up as well, and feel free to say a few words after I'm done. So this is quite an honor. We had Mr. Fuller as Teacher of the Year for Newark Unified, and then Mr. Sabangan is joining him as Teacher of the Year for Mission Valley ROP. So I wanted to say a few words about him. Jonathan Svengen has been involved with the Newark Memorial community since 2014. He received his undergraduate degree from Loyola Marymount University with a dual emphasis in marketing and computer information systems and earned his master's degree from the University of Southern California, graduating in the top 1% of his class. Therefore, Jonathan was employed, thereafter, excuse me, Jonathan was employed within the online marketing channel Working with clients such as Microsoft and Hewlett Packard, being raised in a family of educators and medical professionals, Jonathan left the corporate world to follow his personal goal of helping and serving others. As a business instructor, he prepped students to make a smooth transition from the classroom into the working world by utilizing the core keys of 21st century learning. In his class, Jonathan also emphasizes the value of ethics in not only business, but in everyday life. His curriculum includes classroom presentations, weekly speech and debate exercises, and biannual employee professional finals. For these finals, Jonathan brings in his personal advisors from law firms, entrepreneurs, and tech companies such as Facebook and Google for mock interviews and sales pitches, where students bring in their portfolios of resumes, marketing projects, and entrepreneurship ideas. Jonathan is greatly appreciative of the support from Mission Valley ROP and the Newark community, and we are deeply appreciative of him. I will say anecdotally, so I had the honor of being in his class today. We went there to honor him with the county superintendent as well as Superintendent Hanson. And I think in the years that I've been doing this and gone to different Teacher of the Year classrooms to celebrate, I've never witnessed this, but he had students from all of his other classes who were crowded in there because they wanted to be there and be a part of the celebration of Mr. S. And I think it's really reflective of the incredible love that students have for him, the appreciation. So we had much more than the normal 30 kids in that class. probably double that, but it was just an amazing reflection of who you are, Mr. S., and all that you bring to our students. So, thank you. Thank you so much. Superintendent Hanson, would you like to say anything?

[8431] SPEAKER_09: Just a few words. Jonathan came to Mission Valley ROP ended up, you know, at Newark and has done phenomenal work. He's as good a fit for a technical ed program as he is at Newark and probably many, many other schools. His students adore him. He's high energy. He's very, very creative. And it shows. And we are thrilled Very, very fortunate to be able to forward him as a nominee for the County Teacher of the Year. So next week there will be, we were just joking about it a minute ago, there will be lots of Newark noise at the October 6th Castro Valley Performing Arts Center. It's going to be great. I mean, to get together and celebrate the best of who's in classrooms is an extraordinary evening. It's always a wonderful experience. We love going to it. He's been to maybe one of these, but not, he'll learn. He'll be a fan, I'm sure. But we're very excited to have Jonathan represent us. And we're very happy that we got to come over here and share some accolades tonight.

[8508] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much. OK. On to item 9.1. I'm sorry, 8.1, public comment on non-agenda items. We do have several speakers. Ms. Parks.

[8551] Cindy Parks: I'm going to start with the text message I received while sitting in this boardroom this evening. After a second period at brunch at the junior high today, there was a girl hitting another girl. I don't know where the supervisors were, but monitors and vice principals started running over. And guess who was seen walking over to the fight while the fight was going on? Dr. Triplett. He walked in the direction of the fight and then turned around and walked away from it. Why didn't he help stop the fight? What message did that send to the staff and students who witnessed Dr. Triplett's departure? Because it was noticed. How is that leadership? What I came to speak to you about this evening is the Aspire program. Board members, have you ever heard of Aspire? I hadn't heard about it until I saw a couple of postings on social media. It's an after school tutoring and homework help program for youth in underserved communities. This program is being offered Mondays through Thursdays from 2.30 to 5.45 at Schilling Elementary. I had never heard of Aspire, so I looked up the organization, CY International. Their vision statement says, we aspire to be preeminent Hindu faith-based humanitarian organization that serves selflessly and compassion to create a positive impact. We envision and strive for a world in which all people live in harmony free from suffering. CY International's mission is to serve humanity in distress, aid local communities, run developmental projects for the underserved, and assist people in transformational change through the power of innovation by mobilizing partners, donors, and volunteers. I bring this to your attention as this organization has been operating on one of your elementary school campuses for at least a year. Were you informed about this after school program? Since they are interacting with Newark Unified students, do they have liability insurance? Have these individuals been fingerprinted? Is there any additional cost to the district? How does this program and Think Together coexist? Board members, I hope you will follow up with the administration and request a public report about the program, receiving answers to these questions. I'm sure many parents would like to know why this organization is allowed the privilege of being on campus when they are restricted from being on campus until 3.30. Thank you.

[8697] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Our next speaker, Ms. Christine Clinton. Welcome.

[8712] SPEAKER_02: Good evening. Tonight I want to discuss two of your legal duties as a public entity. First, let's talk about the California Public Records Act. You are now late on yet another one of my requests for publicly accessible information. I requested current enrollment numbers because you omitted them from your last superintendent report. If you continue to share this information, you would not have received my request. I suspect the numbers keep dropping and you are delaying the inevitable. You will need to provide this information either tonight in the superintendent report or tomorrow in my email box. Next, let's talk about First Amendment rights. The public should be aware that you violated the law by blocking me from seeing your social media account. This is odd considering you've done everything possible to keep people from commenting on your posts. This along with deleting and hiding comments is also illegal. Once a government entity establishes a public forum on social media, it cannot change the terms. I'm not sure why you would change the terms. This opens up the district to costly and preventable lawsuits and leaves it up to a third party Facebook group to create community among your staff and parents. It also seems like a waste of time and possibly money to violate these easily enforceable laws when there are more pressing issues like worrying about, than worrying about what information I can and cannot see. The public should also be aware that I served you with a cease and desist letter over your latest transgression. I hope you take this letter to heart and make the necessary changes to comply with both the First Amendment and CPRA laws. Thank you.

[8811] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Clinton. Our next speaker Adeline Silvera.

[8818] SPEAKER_32: Welcome.

[8829] Phuong Nguyen: There you go. Welcome.

[8837] SPEAKER_42: Hi, my name is Adeline Silvera, and I am a third grader at Lincoln. My class has moved to Room 6 because they thought Room 21 had mold. My mom told me you want to move us back to Room 21 because you are fixing the floors. I do not want to move back to Room 21 because I am comfortable in Room 6. We have put posters on the wall and it is nice. Thank you.

[8866] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Our next speaker, Ms. Angela Silvera. You did great, Adeline.

[8881] SPEAKER_32: OK. Hi, my name is Angela Silvera. First off, something simple. I'm asking again that you allow volunteers back on campus. As positive role models and student motivators, volunteers contribute to better school attendance, improved grades, and test scores, less misbehavior, better social skills, and so on. So let volunteers back in the classrooms today to benefit the students every day. Next, I'm imploring you to allow Lincoln to get the water bottle refill station that we had earned a grant for about five years ago. It would reduce waste, increase hydration, and is far more sanitary than water faucets. And the grant should have covered the cost, so it would not be costing the district more fees. Last, I would like to also address the mold test, the mold that my daughter just spoke of. I would like to see the mold testing reports that were done on room 21 at Lincoln Elementary. Parents were informed that our children were being moved back to this classroom because the mold tests came back clear. And when asking about it later, I was informed they were actually preliminary reports and that the company only did an airborne test. Why is it if it was only a preliminary report, would you tell us that our children need to go back to that room? This seems like a big oversight. Also, airborne testing only is not sufficient in this situation where children are possibly being put in danger of mold exposure. Please do more testing and please show us the reports as you said you would Dr. Triplett at our meeting. I would truly appreciate it as would the other parents of that classroom and because I have more time and I'm going to use it I'd also like to address something I said two times ago which is emergency supplies for all schools. I really am concerned that all the schools in our district do not have the MRE food bars and water if there was an emergency and the children had to be shut in to the school campus for a long period of time. As far as I'm aware, none of the schools have them. I know that the cost would it would be a cost and it would have to be replenished every five years. But to me, to keep our children safe and to be proactive, it seems that something we can find we can find money for. So thank you very much. Thank you, Ms.

[9023] Phuong Nguyen: Alvara. Our next speaker, Giovanni de Torres. Welcome.

[9035] SPEAKER_44: Hello. All right. Hi, everyone. So I am here because I am hoping to have your help in advocating for a fence to be built around Kennedy Elementary. And before I even get to the end, in case I run out of time, I'm hoping this is the start of a conversation that may go on when we get more parent support here, more staff support. But what I can tell you right now is I'm speaking out of personal experience and my personal communications with the staff and with other parents at the school. We are in need of a fence. Most of the other elementary schools do have a fence for whatever decisions were made in the past. We don't have one today. But times have changed. Everything has evolved in the world. Things have gotten dangerous and we need to protect Kennedy just as much as we would protect our kids. And so they're they're all together there. We want to make sure that by having a fence we can keep just negative situations from happening. Right. I don't want to take it down that path. But even crazy things like mass shootings. It's real. It's there. It's a problem. And we don't want to be left in a position where Kennedy is out in the open and has nothing to do and just become victims to the situation. So why not be proactive about this and just use the money that is available, from my understanding there is still budget for improvements, that we can use towards building a fence and not react after it's too late. So by being proactive, we can at least already prevent homelessness from coming into the school, because we've already witnessed that. We've witnessed people who have been under intoxicated levels coming into the school. And it doesn't necessarily mean during the school hours, but it could also mean after hours. But by having a fence, we can protect the school. during off hours, right? So it's a win-win situation in terms of during the school and off the school. But there have been incidents where it has happened during school. Even there are incidents where animals get onto the school. Can they jump over a fence? Sure. But just having that one level of protection around the school will make a difference. Other issues involve kids. And I'm going to take this straight to the home here. I've had an experience where I dropped off my kids, I was leaving the school, and I see a kid who has run off. Do we have enough staff to protect the entire perimeter of the campus? That's something that we can work on, but at the same time, that's a lot of kids. With music being shut down, we've absorbed a lot of population from music elementary, and now we have an even larger population of younger kids who are willing to just run out. And I've witnessed it. I've seen it. I've had to approach a child to bring them back to the campus. It's a scary situation. And we don't want to get to the point where we have to lock down the school. And parents are now getting this impression that something really negative is happening at the school, where their kids are now in a DEFCON 5 level threat, when it's really one kid who may have just left the campus. So what I'm getting at is there are extremes. that we can be aware of taking care of. Okay, I know my time's up. And I really hope that this is something you can consider helping us out with using that budgeted money for. Again, this is the beginning of a conversation. You'll probably see me again. And hopefully it stays on your mind and we could look forward to progressing this thought.

[9241] Phuong Nguyen: Sound good? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. DeTorres. Ms. Gutierrez, is there a public speaker online for Non agenda items. Not for this one. Okay, thank you. On to public comments on agenda items 9.1. Miss parks. You have five items. Starting with 12.2. Yep.

[9281] Cindy Parks: The junior high SPSA has had a lot of issues before making it to you this evening. I hope you have noticed the plan does not include any funding for the new AP position you approved at the April 7, 2022 meeting, which was to be funded out of Title I money. If you recall at the time, I mentioned the agenda showed the salary to be $170,000 for this position, yet the 21-22 junior high SPSA only showed $95,437 in Title I revenue. I stated you could have additional funding from the sixth graders joining the campus. However, there was also the possibility that those additional students, the middle school, with those additional students, the middle school would no longer qualify for Title I funding. I also mentioned the CDE indicates that there are certain criteria when approving activities or expenditures supported by Title I funding. I hope these steps would be followed. Now to the question at hand. Was this a bait and switch to get you to approve the position? Or is there undisclosed relevant information you should have had at the time of the approval? I ask because with the increase of approximately 350 students, the Title I funding only increased about $8,000. And there isn't any mention of the AP position in the plan. Later, when you consider this item, Please ask for clarification on the AP Title I funding.

[9377] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. 12.5.

[9380] Cindy Parks: Sufficiency of instructional materials. This resolution affirms that the 22-23 school year, Newark Unified School District has provided each pupil with sufficient textbooks and instructional materials aligned to the academic content standards and consistent with the cycles and content of the curriculum frameworks. This determination shall take place on or before the eighth week from the first day pupils attend school for that year. I am still hearing, even sitting in this room today, that K and five do not have math consumables, which is their instructional materials. They do not have textbooks. There are classes at Coyote Hills that do not have social studies consumables, and I've even heard that there's an issue with the DLI materials at Schilling. While I can appreciate the photocopying of consumable books, Ed Code section 60119 says, for the purpose of this section, sufficiency textbooks or instructional materials means that each pupil, including English learners, has standard aligned textbooks and instructional materials. If you want teachers to have and be able to teach, you have to give them the tools necessary. Also within that Ed Code section, I must have deleted it when I was doing my typing, good thing I brought it with me, it says that sufficient textbooks or instructional materials are defined in paragraph one, do not include photocopied sheets from only a portion of the textbook or instructional materials copied to address the shortage. Let me read that again. does not include photocopied sheets from only a portion of a textbook or instructional materials. So these photocopied consumables don't qualify. So I ask you to seriously consider whether you want to approve this item based on the information that every student does not have sufficiency. They do not meet that standard. Thank you.

[9506] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Parks. Item 12.6, resolution 22.23.07.

[9514] Cindy Parks: In the spring, Ms.dela Cruz explained the new statutory limitation on school district reserves. Beginning in the 22-23 fiscal year, the district reserve cap requires that a school district adopt and revise budgets shall not contain a combined, assigned, or unassigned ending general fund balance of more than 10% of those funds. On June 16, 2022, the board adopted Resolution 2021.22.49, designating $5,869,876 in general funds as committed fund balance. Since the ending fund balance in the 21-22 unadopted actuals resulted in an increase of about $6 million, the committed fund balance designation for 22-23 needed to be modified in order to maintain the 10% reserve cap required for the 22-23 fiscal year. In September 2021, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurman announced a new initiative that seeks to get all third graders in the state reading at grade level by the year 2026. In October 2021, State Superintendent Tony Thurman named a statewide literacy task force with the goal of achieving universal literacy in third grade by 2026. While the details are still being worked out, why should newer teachers and students wait? This resolution sets aside $900,000 for textbooks and consumables. And that doesn't include the 3.1 million that was disclosed for art, music, and instructional materials that was talked about before. This resolution for 900,000 for textbooks, instead of reacting, let's be proactive and pilot a few comprehensive sequential reading language arts programs. Stop supplying the teachers with the failed Lucy Calkins piecemeal program, which many have abandoned in favor of a program they have had to piecemeal together themselves. In the last four years, of the core four subjects, Newark Unified has adopted big ideas math and a new social studies text. Show the community, Newark Unified is committed to providing the teachers with quality instruction materials by piloting then adopting a solid reading language arts program. Increased test scores is the best marketing tool. Thank you.

[9665] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Item 15.4, unaudited actuals.

[9670] Cindy Parks: Not that it was very surprising to work my way through the document. There was a lot of unspent revenue. Now granted some of it is a rollout. You have a couple of years to spend some of the one time money. However, what I did find rather interesting on the top of page 10, the designated reserve for economic uncertainty is $14 million, which is about 19% of the total expenditures. Combined with Fund 17, reserve for emergency purposes of $2.3 million, the total reserve for economic uncertainty is about $16.4 million, which is 22% 22.2%, 22.2% if you look at the box. Of total expenditures, this amount exceeds the board's goal and commitment to achieve minimum of 70% reserve. 22.2%, I hope that you read through the audited and looked at your expenditures versus your revenue and are taking that to heart as you negotiate with your three with your two bargaining units and NEWMA, whatever you want to call them. The two unions and NEWMA.

[9745] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Your last one is on item 17.1, Audit Committee Charter.

[9751] Cindy Parks: I was quite shocked to sit in the last board meeting and listen to Ms. Marquez recommend essentially to gut the Audit Committee Charter. I find the revisions of the charter troublesome in light of the 2021 audit findings reported earlier this year and the interim findings for 21-22. I could almost understand it if year after year the district did not have any findings, but that's not the case. Let me remind you of some of the recent findings. Six out of 52 warrants had purchase orders dated after the invoice date. They recommend that purchases be initiated after receiving a signed purchase order. Kramer workplace investigation warrant for $23,092.50 issued on 10-8-21 with the PO dated 10-6-21, but the invoice had work was done on 8-5-21. The purchase order should have been processed prior to the work performed. The board date field on the purchase order requisition screen is not being used consistently. Numerous teacher registers selected for testing were not signed timely. Finally, under independent study, seven of 10 contracts did not contain all three required signatures, the student, the parent, and the teacher, which is required under AB 130. I believe these interim report 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 needs to be allowed to fulfill its purpose, which is to provide oversight for financial reporting, internal controls, and auditor's activities. I'd like to conclude with an issue I brought to your attention at the last meeting about the 21-22 interim audit progress report. The posted report contains student and staff names. The report is no longer posted on the website. In the spirit of transparency, I hope the document is just being processed, or is in the process of having those names redacted, and the report will be reposted. Thank you.

[9878] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Parks. Our next speaker is Steven Young on item 17.1, audit charter. I want to hand this out. Thank you, and welcome.

[9895] SPEAKER_16: Thank you. So thank you, Cindy, for covering half my first page. So look at my document here, and I'll go to point eight. I am your auto committee member that's non-voting. Over the seven decades of my career, I spent a number of years working with plaintiffs and prosecutors, law enforcement agencies. Fraud, embezzlement, and illegal transfer technology. I have observed a pattern. And this pattern, called fact patterns, has four steps. First step is the concealment information. Next is obstruction. Third is the denial of knowledge, that you deny that you know anything. And fourth is blame others, OK? And what's troubling me is observing stage two of this fact pattern from the audience, OK? And the most troubling, which is this Exhibit 2 of the Charter Amendment, in my opinion, it's a blatant obstruction of concealment. It goes in the face of your charter, in the handbook, fiscal vitality, and a bunch of other things that I could point out. I hate to see good people in the board get in trouble. I don't know if you actually consulted a competent advisor. It finds the face of any logic in terms of what's popular and appropriate for the community. So my opinion, it's simple to open some parent doors box for the community and for the board and district. So the clear red line that's in front of the board, in my opinion, is are you going to do your job, in my opinion only, that you could adhere to your charter? Or are you going to remove the committee's ability to monitor and make sure the district complies with the audit report. So, if, you know, based upon the fact patterns and motivations and what Pete pointed out, there are clear violations. It could be, well, penal code violations, in my opinion. I'm not a prosecutor, but there are very little civil. It's all penal code, because you are public point officials. You guys take public money, okay? So, basically, I am encouraging, That's my personal opinion. The board thinks very carefully. There's a clear red line that is going to be recorded on what you're going to do. And in my opinion, later on, there'll be more discoveries, right, on Spanish from this validation. Okay? So you can go through the snippets. Lastly, there's assumption that the district will identify board members and officials. That's not always the case. If you are found to be validating penal code, and you have prior notice, and you have plenty of prior notice, plenty of it, including this one, that something's going on, inappropriate. You need to get the ICL list, internal control list documented as a first step defense, okay? So that, I'll stop right there. So that's just my opinions. You can take it as it is, and I'll wait and see what happens, okay? Thank you.

[10089] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Mr. Young. Our next speaker is Christine Clinton on item 15.3, contract for marketing services.

[10103] SPEAKER_02: Hi again. I'd like to discuss the marketing proposal for $170,600. First, this cost does not include the media buy. That is the cost to purchase the airtime and ad space. How much more will this cost? Is there a budget or proposal for these purchases? And to what extent will you invest in marketing? Second, how will you measure these ad successes? Is it based on new enrollments? I recall seeing billboards on 880 and 84 advertising NUSD and Enroll Now. Given that this year's enrollments are less than the previous year's enrollments, it is safe to say these billboards did not produce the desired results of new students. Why do you think this time will be any different? When is the last time you bought a product or service from an ad on the side of a bus? I never have. In fact, I've seen similar ads on buses from San Lorenzo Unified School District and billboards from Hayward Unified School District. Did you talk to them to see how effective this strategy really is? Third, enrollments are not generated from fancy marketing materials. They are, whether we like it or not, generated from school ratings, student achievements, and word of mouth. invest in academics in the classrooms and students will follow. Perhaps instead of an overpriced marketing firm, you can invest in your high school's videography equipment and have students make the videos. I've seen a couple student videos and I'm pretty impressed by what they can do. I'm sure others would be too if they could see them. The contract includes social media management. However, you do not have a policy in BoardDocs regarding social media. Bremont Unified does though. And how exactly will this marketing company manage and improve your social media presence? Presidio Communications has over 3,000 followers, and yet they generate less than five likes per post. Lastly, I know you will argue that this is a budgeted expense, and we should go for it. We have this money. Money can always be reallocated, and in this case, it should be. There are so many needs within our schools that could be addressed with $170,000. You could get Kennedy the security fence they need, You could get Lincoln the modern marquee they've needed for years. You could get the DLI classrooms bilingual books to read. You can get every school working printers. You could fulfill every DonorsChoose project with this money and so much more. That would be a great start in showing the community you truly care about your schools and your students. Thank you.

[10250] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Clinton. Our next speaker is Ms. Angela Silvera on item 15.3, contract of marketing services. Yes.

[10265] SPEAKER_32: So this is on 12.5. I just wanted to say I was confused to see this on the agenda when I was reading through it because my two elementary children do not have consumable math books. In fact, one of them, I know the teacher Every teacher gets like a number of copies they can make, and they use their copies to make the math book pages. And so then they have less copies to make for other things, right? So I'm a little concerned to see that there. And I would also say that since the teachers did have to make copies in the beginning, I'm curious if there's any sort of compensation or any sort of discussion with the school sites to not dock the copy copy code numbers. And I don't know how each school does it, but I would ask to either have the teachers compensated for that or for maybe school sites to be given extra paper or something just to kind of make up for what wasn't printed at district. Because sometimes you can't send it all off to graphics, because graphics takes a while to get stuff back. So that's 12.5. 15.3. I understand the concept of needing to market. Newark Unified, our numbers have gone down for years. I've heard so many parents have come to me and said, my child's going to go to private school, or I'm going to go find a charter. I've heard that and the number of reasons, you know, a number of reasons from test scores to not feeling like they're being heard to feeling like they're not getting the services that they need. And I get that. But what I was kind of concerned about in this contract was stating that there's no way to show that there's like a mark met. what is the caliber, what is the way to show that they have met the criteria of this contract. And in fact, I would almost recommend doing maybe a sliding scale. If we've increased 2%, then you get this amount. If we've increased whatever, just so that they're is motivation on their end to keep pushing for more students because I know more students equals more money for our district, which equals being able to have more things for our students. So I would just suggest that you either talk with Presidio about having some sort of sliding scale or having some way to show that they've met the standards, right? Kids have to meet standards. Well, is there anything showing how Presidio met the standards? And if not, to me, I would, if I was being contracted with them, I would suggest to get that in writing just so that you guys are secure. Thank you. Thank you, Ms.

[10446] Phuong Nguyen: Alvara. And are there any public comments?

[10452] SPEAKER_35: We did have a public comment requested via Zoom. It was from Candy Ramirez. They were logged on. However, they, at this point, have logged off.

[10462] Phuong Nguyen: OK, thank you. If she comes back on, we'll take her. Thank you. OK, moving on to item 10.1, employee organizations.

[10476] Guadalupe Lopez: We do have NEWMA.

[10480] SPEAKER_35: Ms. Vicentadelo is here. You may begin.

[10486] SPEAKER_38: Good evening, President Nguyen, Board of Trustees, and Executive Cabinet members, and members of the school communities. Today marks the 26th day of this school year. NEWMA members have been ensuring students are in school, have nutritious food to eat, the right people are in the right places, technology works, and that students are supervised. We're thrilled to see so many students back in school and also recognize that not everyone is ready to be back in person. So they have the amazing support of Principal Calderon and the Crossroads Independent Study Program to support them. Our own members are experiencing change with new positions being created, retirements, and tons of new faces in NEWMA. As we move through the year, we look forward to highlighting the positive contributions NEWMA members are bringing to NUSD. Our mission to inspire and educate can be seen in the daily actions of the NEWMA team. Thank you.

[10546] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Ditto. Ms. Villa, will you be speaking on behalf of NTA tonight? Thank you. Come on up. Welcome.

[10568] Chery Villa: Cindy stole my thunder again. It's OK. All right. Good evening, everyone. My name is Cheri Villa. I'm the vice president of our NTA. I have three things tonight. First, our NTA would like to give recognition and a big thank you to Michelle Olivares in our graphics arts department. For many, many years, Michelle has done an outstanding job of getting our teachers the materials that they request and times do not request. Michelle goes above and beyond time after time. And so again, I'd like to say on behalf of our NTA, thank you, Michelle. All right. Second, I wanted to provide some clarification and correct some information that was given at the last board meeting in regards to what the textbooks and consumables, the difference. Obviously, this hardbound, this is a textbook. This is what's used in secondary. Now, textbooks in elementary, this is our textbook. It's a consumable. Students write in them, and you can tear the pages out. So if asking the question, do our elementary sites have textbooks, second grade, fifth grade do not. So I'd be happy to answer any questions regarding textbooks, the difference, or if there are any questions. And then finally, on the same topic of, curriculum and textbooks, I have concern, NCA has concerns regarding our DLI. These are words from our DLI teachers over at Schilling. There's a huge gap and inequity of Spanish resources at our DLI. Having Spanish resources on hand or even access online would make a world of difference. We have no teacher's manuals. in Spanish, nor do we have access to Spanish teaching manuals online. We do not have student books in Spanish. We do not have enough reading books for students in Spanish. DLI programs are supposed to exist to eliminate gaps and break the inequity, but it is not happening here. The gap is just going to get deeper and deeper. Those are words from our DLI teachers. Thank you.

[10714] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Villa. Thank you. Thank you, employer organizations. Onto our next item, consent agenda, personnel items. Make it a motion to approve item 11.2 and 11.3. Okay, make it a motion to approve 11.2. Member Hill would like to pull 11.3. Motion to approve 11.2. Thank you, Member Marquez. May I get a second, please? Seconded. Thank you, Member Zhang. Motion made by Member Marquez, seconded by Member Zhang. How do you vote? Student board member does not vote on action. Next one, you definitely can. Member Marquez, how do you vote? Yes. Member Hill?

[10778] SPEAKER_20: Yes.

[10778] Phuong Nguyen: Member Rendell? Yes. I'm also a yes. Member Zhang voted already. Five ayes. Thank you. And OK, we will visit item 11.3 later on. Moving on to consent agenda non-personnel items. Are there any items that you'd like to pull, Member Hill?

[10807] Aiden Hill: Yes, could we pull 12.3 and 12.5, please? Thank you. I would like to pull 12.2. OK.

[10810] Bowen Zhang: May I get a motion to approve item 12.4, 12.6, 12.7, 12.8, 12.9, and 12.10? So moved. Seconded. Thank you.

[10814] Phuong Nguyen: Student board member, how do you vote? Motion made by member. Member Zhang, seconded by Member Grindel.

[10838] SPEAKER_24: Yes.

[10839] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Student Board Member Torres. Member Zhang, how do you vote? Yes. Member Marquez? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel? Yes. I'm also yes. Six ayes. On to superintendent report.

[10861] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. Ms. Gutierrez, could you bring up the slides, please? I think this might not be the right one. All right, if you could go to the first slide, please. So I wanted to share out some enrollment updates. I know member Hill was eager to see a comparison of a number of different points since the beginning of the year. So I have here, The enrollment by grade level, and then as well showing the projections. And then enrollment as of 7-26. So I just want to point out this was actually before school started. So this was the number of students that we had on record as being enrolled in July. And then another enrollment point on the 16th of August. So this was a little bit more than a week into school, and then our enrollment as of yesterday. And so, as you can see, so these are compared to projections, so that's the, what are, I'm blanking on the term for the person who does the projections, but the people who do the projections. Demographer, thank you. So based on the, the demographers work, what they anticipated being in, oh my goodness. Great. So as you can see, we have, there was projected in elementary 2,243 students. We currently have 2,280, so we're above projections there. At the junior high, projected at 1,064, and we're currently at 1,054, so about 10 below. The high school were one below projections bridge point one above and then you can see crossroads well below projections and so as we as we were constantly monitoring this and Just to point out that At the time of the demographer's projections, they were seeing an extremely high level of interest in crossroads last year. That's the virtual learning. And since then, obviously, we've had a significant amount of students returning to in-person. So that demography work, I believe, happened around December. Am I right, Ms.dela Cruz? So there is, in particular, in a year where there's so much unexpected or unpredictable things happening, it's easy to see how the demographer could have gotten that part wrong. And so overall, you can see that we are currently around 70, I believe it's 72 students below the projections that happened at last year. I do want to say a couple things about some of the changes. So we anticipate during this time of year to see fluctuations in enrollment. And in particular, we expect to see in these first month that enrollment goes down. Because what happens is we have students that are rolled over from the prior year in enrollment. And then some of those students end up not not opting to come to the schools. Some move away, some select a different school or a different district, some move out of state. So we expect to see some fluctuation. And when we look at the numbers, The elementary in particular is an interesting situation because you see the numbers right before school started. And then you see a big decline there. And that is when we are essentially clearing our roles. So we're calling up families saying, hey, we haven't seen you yet. Are you going to attend? And then that's when families are saying, oh, no, I'm actually I've moved away or what have you. And then particularly in the elementary, after Labor Day, we see, it's very common to see that there's an increase that comes because some families are just sort of getting back into the swing of things and catching up. and enrolling after Labor Day. So we see a lot of fluctuation here at this time of year. But part of our job is to be tracking the absences, and then making calls, and then dropping students that never showed up or have decided to leave. And we do that through a process of calling families and making those confirmations. Next slide, please. So just wanted to mention, thank goodness we're done with the heat wave. But I wanted to appreciate all of our staff who really supported our students during this heat wave and really took precautions to make sure people were staying hydrated and staying in cool areas as much as possible. And so we're looking forward to the cooler weather. Wanted to remind everyone about the More Than a Meal campaign. We've sent out a lot of information really trying to generate the families to put in their application. As we've mentioned before, this is much more than just about meals. There's a lot of benefits. The number one being this represents funding for schools. And so we're really shooting for every family to complete the meal application. Next slide. Wanted to remind us about Newark Days. It's starting, I think, as we speak. And we are really excited that we are going to be in the parade Saturday and having all our schools represented in the parade. And we're really looking forward to it. This will be my first Newark Days. And it sounds like it's a really, really wonderful thing. And there's captain hats for all the board members who are intending to come and be in the parade. And I mentioned this the last time, but we won't have another board meeting before this occurs. This is Science in the Park, really excited to be participating in this. This is an opportunity to have a full day of really amazing science. And I know we already have a number of teachers who are gonna be participating, and we've been invited and challenged to come and do the competition of Are You Smarter Than a, I think it's a second grader. Maybe it's a fifth grader. I can't remember. Fifth grader, OK. So inviting all board members if they want to participate, it should be really fun. And this is news hot off the press. So there has been a lot of questions about when families are going to have an opportunity to return to campus. As you know, we started the year with campuses closed to families out of caution for COVID and safety and health and really out of respect for the staff who are expressing concerns with starting the year in that way. We have seen that although COVID is very much still around, that there has been a leveling of cases, I think, across the country, and based on the guidance from the county, We are excited to actually be reopening campuses for our families. So September 26th is the target date. And for those families and those of us who actually weren't around, before COVID, we'll be sending out communication around some of the protocols. So the morning drop-off, families are invited to enter the campus, be on the blacktop, and be socializing. When the bell rings, then students line up with their teacher and go into the classroom. We are asking that families do not enter the classroom. And then at that time, families exit the blacktop. The pickup in the afternoon will still be outside the gate, so not on the blacktop. And then parent-teacher conferences, that is something that is optional for families to hold either in-person or virtual, depending on their preference. We'll really take those on a case-by-case basis. And then we are also going to be opening things up for classroom volunteers. So we've heard from teachers that they're really eager to to get some support, and we know that families are really eager to get in there and support. So this is based on teacher need, and it really just depends on the teacher and what they're expressing. And anybody who's, any family who's interested in volunteering needs to complete the volunteer form, which you can find at their school. And likewise, field trips and school events will then be open to family participation. So families can expect to get more information from their school site in the upcoming week. And I believe that is all for this evening.

[11481] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Dr. Striplett. Are there any comments from the board? Member Zhang? No. Member Marquez?

[11491] SPEAKER_30: Yes, thank you for the recognition. I just wanted to say that's a great decision on behalf of the board. and as well from the superintendent's office and advising the board and the public this evening that volunteerism has been improved. Sometimes the students need to see the same faces within their community so they can build also a community of trust. So I think it's important that the volunteers that do go into our campuses remember that. That it isn't necessarily for socializing, more importantly, it's to serve our youth. So that they learn that within the community, we are working together for their best outcome. So once again, thank you for that approval. I'm glad to hear it and excited to see the new post and what we'll see on our social media with all the volunteers on campus.

[11540] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Thank you, Member Marquez. Student Board Member Torres, do you have a comment?

[11544] Diego Torres: I would just like to say I really like the hat.

[11549] Phuong Nguyen: Awesome. Member Hill.

[11553] Aiden Hill: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And I just want to echo member Marquez's comments. So I think it's great that we're allowing volunteers to come back on campus and And I think it connects to the goals that we were talking about earlier about engagement and community engagement and two-way communication. And that, I think, is an important part. And to give parents the opportunity to be involved more, I think that's great. So that's great. I appreciate that decision and that effort. And then just a quick question about the enrollment numbers. The initial chart it showed projected was 50-65. And that, was that coming from the demographer or was that just our estimate at the end of last year or whatever?

[11606] Mark Triplett: No, that's from the demographer.

[11607] Aiden Hill: Okay. And then do we know, do you know what was the ending enrollment at the end of the first or the second semester of last year? Yeah. What was it?

[11620] Mark Triplett: Yeah, and on June 1st, it was 5,117. Okay. Okay, great.

[11628] Aiden Hill: Thank you.

[11630] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill. Member Riddell?

[11633] Terrence Grindall: Also, I want to echo the comments from Member Marquez. It's great that the parent volunteers can be involved in the classroom. Again, it's going to be a real asset to the children.

[11644] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Grindel. I also am in agreement with my fellow board members. I think it's wonderful to have parents and volunteers back on campus, and it just brings our community closer together. So thank you so much for that. OK, on to item on to old business item 14.1 local control accountability plan. Clarifying questions, Dr. Triplett.

[11672] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you, President Nguyen. So I believe Ms. Pierce might also be available to speak on this. Essentially, as the board knows, we do a very thorough process of developing a local control accountability plan throughout the year that's submitted to the board, and that happened in the spring, in June, I believe. And then every year the county reviews the LCAP and then comes back to the district with clarifying questions. So then we respond to those questions and submit that. The requirement was to submit it by particular date that has already passed. And so because we weren't going to have another board meeting until now, we did have to submit the questions already. Part of what the county advised us on is they just needed to know when we were going to bring this to the board. And so we submitted that date and they were fine with that. So you'll see here the questions and then the responses. Ms. Pierce, did you want to add anything? Or Ms. Delacruz?

[11746] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. With that said, may I get a motion to approve or accept the ratification of the LCAP?

[11756] Terrence Grindall: I would move to accept or ratify or whatever.

[11761] Phuong Nguyen: Ratify. May I get a second?

[11764] SPEAKER_20: I'll second it.

[11765] Phuong Nguyen: Motion made by member Grindel, seconded by member Zhang. How do you vote, student board member? Yes, thank you. Member Zhang, how do you vote? Yes. Member Marquez? Yes. Member Hill?

[11779] Aiden Hill: Yes.

[11780] Phuong Nguyen: Member Grindell? Yes. I'm also a yes. Six ayes. Ratification approved. On to new business. Resolution 22.23, item 15.1, Latinx Heritage Month.

[11802] Bowen Zhang: I move we reaffirm the resolution.

[11805] Phuong Nguyen: May I get a second?

[11807] Terrence Grindall: I second.

[11808] Phuong Nguyen: Motion made by Member Zhang, seconded by Member Grindell. How do you vote, Student Board Member? Yes. Member Zhang? Yes. Member Marquez?

[11817] SPEAKER_20: Yes.

[11818] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindell? Yes. I'm also yes. Six ayes. At this time, we'd like to read this out loud. I would like to start with our student board member. Student board member Torres, would you like to read the first two items on the resolution?

[11849] Diego Torres: Whereas on October 7, 2021, the Newark Unified School District Board of Education adopted the original resolution 2021.2022.08 National Latinx Heritage Month. And whereas the Board of Education will reaffirm this resolution annually. And whereas the Latinx heritage of the United States historically has been a consistent and vital influence in our country's growth and prosperity.

[11873] Jodi Croce: Member Zhang.

[11875] Bowen Zhang: And whereas Latinx Heritage Month is a time when our community honors the Latinx spirit of self-determination, dignity, and respect for cultural heritage, celebrates rich Latinx history and culture, and acknowledges the Latinx influence on politics, the economy, and the social and cultural life throughout the United States and the world. End.

[11896] Phuong Nguyen: Member Marquez. OK. Member Hill.

[11919] Aiden Hill: Whereas culture is tied to Iberian, indigenous, and African ancestry, Latinx are made up of a multiracial and multicultural diaspora, which includes people of all skin colors, character traits, and interests.

[11941] Terrence Grindall: Whereas Latinx in California are a diverse mix of immigrants, first-generation immigrants, and long-time residents. They reflect an array of distinct and vibrant cultures from various countries all over the world that have enriched our community in valuable ways.

[11956] Phuong Nguyen: Whereas the observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15th and ending on October 15th. It was enacted into law on August 17th, 1988 and

[11977] Mark Triplett: Whereas the day of September 15th is significant because it marks the anniversary of the independence of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence day on September 16th and September 18th, respectively. Also, Dia de la Raza is October 12th, which falls within this 30-day period.

[12005] Marie dela Cruz: Whereas in 2020, Latinx, Hispanic Americans in the United States made up approximately 18.5% of the U.S. population, making them the largest minority racial group in the country. Furthermore, 39.4% of the population of California and 34.8% of the population of Newark, California identify as Latinx or Hispanic and

[12030] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Whereas 52.8%, 2,994 of students enrolled in NUSD identify as Latinx and or Hispanic, and 67.7% of NUSD staff self-identify their ethnicity as Latinx and or Hispanic, and Whereas today approximately 29.2% of students in NUSD speak Spanish as their primary language. And of the 1,130 students in NUSD who are learning English in NUSD, 849.75% are native Spanish speakers.

[12067] SPEAKER_31: And whereas students who identified as Latinx Hispanic lost more instructional minutes, 88,979, due to absences than any of the other four largest ethnic racial subgroups represented in Newark Unified combined. Minutes lost for Asian, white, Filipino, and multiple ethnicity students totaled 25,065, as measured by the Mid-Year Attendance Report for 2021, the A2A Report 2921, and... Ms.

[12105] Julienne Sumodobila: Gutierrez.

[12108] SPEAKER_35: Whereas in 2019, 84.4% of students identifying as Latinx Hispanic graduated from high school, and only 25.2% of those students graduated college and career ready, as measured by the CA Dashboard College and Career Indicator.

[12123] Bowen Zhang: whereas the Latinx Hispanic community in Newark has used their voices to demand equitable access to academic and career opportunities and whereas NUSD is taking steps to establish quality programs that support multilingual achievement and emerging bilingual support such as introducing a dual language immersion program in 2021-2022 offering a Chicano studies high school course increasing the percentage of students graduating with the state seal of bi-literacy and fostering partnership with the programs such as Ponte and Hoven Noble. And now, therefore, be it resolved, NUSD Board of Trustees to hereby proclaim September 15th to October 15th to be Latinx Heritage Month in recognition and celebration of the many contributions of Latinx to the county and our community.

[12177] Phuong Nguyen: Member Marquez, will you be Is she available?

[12185] SPEAKER_35: Member Marquez, can you hear us to read the sentence on the screen beginning with therefore?

[12191] SPEAKER_30: I sent a message, please. I can't actually read the print. It's extremely small. I apologize if someone can read on my behalf. Oh, yes, of course. Sorry about that. Member Hill. Thank you.

[12202] Aiden Hill: Therefore, be it further resolved and USD staff and community observe, recognize, and celebrate the culture, heritage, and contributions of Latinx to our country, our state, our city, and our schools. Therefore, be it further resolved NUSD continues to invest in programming that affirms, sustains, and promotes multilingual achievement. and positive representation of Latinx cultures, histories, and contributions, and is committed to an ongoing partnership with the Latinx community to promote excellence and achievement.

[12243] Terrence Grindall: Therefore, be it further resolved, NUSD is a sanctuary district and a welcoming city in a sanctuary county. We welcome and serve all students, no matter where they come from or how they arrived in Newark. Therefore, be it further resolved, NUSD commits to equitably addressing disproportionality in our academic programs in order to support students' academic success and social emotional well-being.

[12275] Phuong Nguyen: Therefore, be it further resolved, NUSD continues to invest in professional development for staff on how to recognize the unique assets and challenges that our Latinx students dysphoria brings into our community and adjust daily practices in support of Latinx academic achievement.

[12294] Mark Triplett: Therefore, be it further resolved, NUSD continues to invest in resources and services such as high-quality translation services, culturally relevant customer service training for staff, and parent-family programs that help Spanish-speaking families access our educational system and community resources in order to effectively welcome, encourage, and empower our Latinx Hispanic families to authentically engage in our educational community and support their children's academic success.

[12327] Marie dela Cruz: Therefore, be it further resolved, NUSD recommits itself to taking actions to address systemic and institutional racism through the establishment of a culturally and linguistically sustaining culture in our classrooms, schools, district, and the community at large.

[12348] Nancy Thomas: That's it.

[12349] Marie dela Cruz: Passed and adopted. This is the 15th day of September, 2022. Thank you.

[12354] Phuong Nguyen: Okay. On to item 15.2, assignment of Yasmin Sears. Dr. Shriblett.

[12368] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Ms. Ingham-Watters, would you like to speak on this, please?

[12373] SPEAKER_31: Sure, so board action is needed to support one of our teachers at Newark Junior High School. Ms. Sears is a current English teacher. She has completed all of her credential coursework. She needs to complete one additional test to be formally recommended. for her teaching credential. Last year she did have a short term staff permit and so the next level of support for her is the board to provide a credential waiver effective this school year so that she can finish that last test up and be formally recommended for her single subject teaching credential in English.

[12415] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Are there any questions regarding This item, if not, may get a motion to approve.

[12422] Terrence Grindall: So moved.

[12423] Phuong Nguyen: Motion made by Member Grindel. May I get a second?

[12426] SPEAKER_20: I'll second it.

[12427] Phuong Nguyen: Seconded by member Zhang. Does the student board member, is the student board member able to vote on this? No. OK. All right. How do you vote, member Zhang?

[12438] SPEAKER_20: Yes.

[12439] Phuong Nguyen: Member Marquez?

[12441] Carina Plancarte: Yes.

[12442] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel?

[12445] SPEAKER_20: Yes.

[12445] Phuong Nguyen: I'm also yes. Five ayes. Thank you. Item 15.3 contract for marketing services. Oh, Dr. Triplett.

[12460] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. So as the board will recall, this was part of the goals that we had for last year for the district. And I know this was a big priority for board members. And while we weren't able to secure this during the summer, we did extend the timeline a bit because we wanted to make sure that we really did a thorough job in terms of developing our request for proposals and ample time for organizations to prepare proposals, ask us questions, and then submit those proposals. We also then went on to do a thorough review. We received many more proposals than we anticipated. As you can see on here, there was eight different organizations that did draw up proposals based on our RFP. And then we did a review of all of them and then had interviews for a select group of them and ultimately landed on this organization Presidio that we believe will do an excellent job in doing an extremely thorough marketing campaign or campaigns throughout the year. So we're really delighted to be bringing this to you. Presidio really represented what we felt like was the best of the best. They've done really fantastic work with analytics, very fluid with social media campaigns, and they've had a really good track record with a number of schools and school districts. Ms. Delacruz, did you want to add anything to that?

[12565] Phuong Nguyen: Student board member, do you have any comments? Member Jung?

[12569] Bowen Zhang: So what is the component that we were talking about doing the survey about parents, about why they are or not sending their kids to school? Because I thought that's part of the original scope we want to do for the marketing, right?

[12586] Mark Triplett: I think that was a discussion early on, but my understanding was that that was not going to be part of the of the scope. It was not part of the RFP that we brought to the board, that the board reviewed and gave input on.

[12602] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, any other questions or comments? Member Marquez? Okay, thank you.

[12616] Bowen Zhang: Just as a real front, did the board really, did we really make the decision to skip the part about conducting surveys of all the parents?

[12624] Aiden Hill: That wasn't my recollection.

[12626] Terrence Grindall: It was my recollection. We talked about that at some length.

[12633] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill, do you have any comments?

[12635] Aiden Hill: Yes, thank you. So before us is a $170,000 proposal to hire a marketing company to help us, quote, increase enrollment, recruit and retain highly qualified staff, and improve community awareness of the greatness of our district, schools, and programs." Member Grindel has been a driving force behind this proposed initiative, and has argued that the root of our enrollment and staffing challenges lie in the claim that NUSD's greatness has been hidden from the general public, and all we, the board, need are some slick marketing campaigns to get the word out. Sadly, however, it isn't that easy. Parents and potential staff know that our poor enrollment and retention problems belie bigger issues. And until we address these issues, no amount of marketing is going to turn things around. According to the $34,000 God be marketing research we already commissioned back in May of this year, we know the number one and two reasons why Newark residents feel NUSD is failing to provide a quality education to students. The first involves the quality of teachers slash staff, where 37% of respondents agreed with that statement. Interestingly, it seems many teachers and staff also agree. Over the past two years, we have seen enormous turnover in staff, with 48% of principals, assistant principals, and key district office staff having left the district, as well as a recent mass exodus of certificated teachers from the high school and junior high. From my understanding, we have had at least 14 experienced teachers leave just this past summer. And while we aren't clear on why quality personnel are leaving the district, apparently either we aren't conducting exit interviews or that information isn't being shared with the board. Anecdotally, one wonders whether the open retaliatory actions and hostile work environments the district has created for educators like principal Akilah Byrd and social studies teacher Brian Foster is demoralizing our entire workforce. No amount of marketing pixie dust is going to solve these underlying issues. We need to start listening to our existing quality personnel and heed their calls for improvement. rather than shoot them when they dare to utter inconvenient truths. Otherwise, the exodus will soon turn into a tsunami. The number two thing survey respondents felt could improve NUSD's quality of education is a change of the administration and board, with 22% supporting that action. While we do not have the detail regarding why the public feels this way, you have to wonder whether it has something to do with the fact that we don't walk the talk. We say we care about educational outcomes and being quote-unquote great, but our test scores at the junior high and high school are anything but. At Newark Memorial for the 21-22 school year, only 21% met or exceeded state standards for math, down from 24% in 2019. Meanwhile, at the junior high, the scores for the 21-22 school year were only 31% for math, down from an overall 32% in 2019. Contrary to the language in this marketing RFP, many parents are already well aware of this lack of greatness and are either putting their kids into private school or they are transferring or moving out of the district altogether. It's funny how people have a sixth sense when it comes to hypocrisy. And maybe one of the reasons they want to see changes on the board is because they recognize that no amount of slick marketing can ever paper over the fact that while Member Grindel is championing these initiatives to convince others to enroll their children in NUSD, he himself refuses to walk the talk and put his own child there. Actions speak louder than words. If we really want to turn around declining enrollment and staff turnover, We need to stop talking about marketing and instead direct our attention towards efforts that will address their root causes. Let's redirect some of this $170,000 in proposed marketing funds to programs committed to and accountable for raising test scores. And let's direct the remainder to programs providing teachers with the resources and incentives to make those academic outcomes a reality. If we do that, we won't need marketing. The results will speak for themselves. For that reason, I urge the board to vote no on approving this marketing agenda item.

[12925] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill, I mean, Member Goodell.

[12928] Terrence Grindall: Yeah, well, I don't appreciate, and it's really bad form for one member to paraphrase the ideas of another, that Member Hill paraphrasing my ideas, I do not believe that marketing is the root of our problem, but I do believe, and I hear this in the community, that the district does not do a great job of communicating its successes. And I have had many conversations with community members where they literally told told me we should be doing X when that is exactly what we're doing. They're simply unaware of it. And it really shows a lack of effective marketing. That's why it's critical. And our marketing attempts at telling that story are, in my opinion, scattered and not strategic. So having a firm, an expert firm, that can help us to come up with a strategy, a plan, a calendar of how to communicate to the community, to our students, to our teachers. Overall, how best to communicate is critical, is a critical part of changing the perception of the school district. um and this this is something that has been a part of our goal and going going forward that was approved as part of the the district's goals and we asked for there to be an RFP and it's been a at least a majority wanting to to do that. I appreciate it's great that we got such great responses. I appreciate that we have a firm with uh with real experience and it's um and and I'm I'm excited to see the district get its marketing um ship in order, no illusions that you wave pixie dust, as was stated, and that things just get better. But if you don't tell your story, someone else is telling it. And that is literally true for the Newark Unified School District. In regards to some of the personal attacks that were there, it is true my daughter goes to a private school where her mother works. She works in the same school as my daughter goes to school, and that is much more convenient for our family. And again, the statements in Member Hill's comments, making assumptions that activities of the district have been retaliatory, that we shoot people, and that we are hypocrites, are unacceptable, and unprofessional, and outside of the duty of a board member.

[13107] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Grindel. Yes, I'm actually very disappointed in Member Hill because he was also one of the driving forces behind wanting a marketing plan. And now he's sitting here spinning it around and because it is $170,000, he does not want this and that it would look bad. And, you know, quite honestly, I do agree that, you know, maybe we shouldn't take this approach to spending $170,000 on a marketing firm. We've had in the past in the district conducted and had marketing firms try to market market the school district and it hadn't worked and even today in our in our um study session with the changing demographics in the city and the the trending decline in enrollment that's something that's happening not only to our district but a lot of other districts too so how how we best market our district is by getting our stories out, by getting the successful stories that we do have in our students, the programs that we have been building on and conducting and had teachers present that are enthusiastic about environmental literacy, about the Star Academy, about our coding programs, and about DLI. And that's why I'm just so upset at the fact that we continually do not want to support students because we sit up here and actively attack each other on pretenses. And we're not getting anywhere. And we're not properly, you know, giving solutions or helping solutions, but we're here pointing fingers or blaming what's going on is wrong. While I personally, and I do apologize to the rest of the board, I definitely do not support this marketing contract, but I'm nowhere in agreement with Member Hill and how he is approaching the way that he's trying to narrate this agenda item. Thank you. So I can... Marquez, do you have any comments?

[13257] SPEAKER_30: Yes, ma'am, thank you for the recognition. The only comment that I have to make is simple. And it was pointed out by my fellow board members that stories, right? We need to provide facts. When we consistently hear stories and that he said, she said, or I heard or they heard, that's not effective when it comes to a board and making decisions that we need to make on behalf of our students. What I recommend is that when we start in the future when we prepare ourselves to make presentations that we have facts and that we don't go by storylines because in Spanish it's called chisme and we don't need chisme on the board. What we need is factual information and not the he said she said or because someone was having a bad day and then we get the grand end of a story and then it continues to create a toxic situation on the board, but we have important information to discuss and to vote on for the better of our students. And we need to remember that. Thank you.

[13320] Phuong Nguyen: Member Zhang.

[13321] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so like, I will also ask the form it is today that I think we're sort of missing the survey component. I think to gather the fact from community members about why they are or are not sending their kids to school. So I would like to offer my amendment or compromise that will go back and solicit a marketing firm that actually will offer a component in that. Because I do think without gathering data, doing a survey about what are the top reasons that families are not choosing to enroll their children in the district, is a very critical part of all the marketing campaign because they are telling you the root cause. And like I said, even though the overall trend of declining enrollment probably cannot be reversed by any district, but there are things that we can do to improve. There are rooms for improvement. So that's my three cents on this.

[13378] Terrence Grindall: Again, it's a little frustrating because we're spinning wheels. The discussion we had was, that we sat around the table and we said we know what the issues are, we don't need to spend, does that ring a bell to anyone? We know what the issues are, we don't need to spend part of our resources to ask why they're not sending the children to our schools and we decided to be more efficient and skip that step and because we felt like we knew what the problem was, we wanted to go forward. It is critical that Our story is not going to get out there unless we tell it. And we're already spending a lot of money on marketing. We still, we do spend money on marketing, but we do it in a scattershot idea. If you have a strategy, you end up saving money. And this program, The thing I liked about it most is the training of our staff to be able to carry the strategy forward. And so over time, this is a good investment of money. And not only would they set us up with a program, a strategy to go forward, but they'd be building capabilities within our own district so that we can maintain it. We, you know, we can go back to ground zero, but meanwhile other people are telling our story.

[13472] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Grindel. Member Hill. Oh, I'm sorry.

[13476] Diego Torres: Yeah, I definitely agree with Member Marquez and Member Grindel that our stories are being told by other people and that is like the wrong way that it should be going. It should be told by us because there are many great things happening at this district that are just not being told. No one really knows about them. And I think education is definitely a very important key that we have that we should utilize. If people don't know about these programs, why would they sign up if they don't know about it? So definitely programs that were mentioned like Puente, for example, it should be highlighted, not like hidden. It feels like a lot of these programs are hidden, like no one even knows about like the coding stuff at the school or other programs or other things that are happening. So I definitely think that marketing will help a lot because I know for, like I'm in leadership, and we market a lot of our events, and other schools will be like, wow, that's really cool, I like that, I saw your video, I saw this, we're gonna use that now, because we really liked your idea that you put out there. And we even have members come here and say, oh, we saw your post on Facebook, we saw your post on Instagram, and I know that helps a lot, get the word spread. So I definitely think that marketing is a key strategy that we should be using. Yeah, that's that.

[13547] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, student board member.

[13549] Aiden Hill: Yes, so I'm looking right now at our goals that we all agreed to from last year. And under Goal Area 2, Community Engagement Communication, Goals 2A and B, it said, school quality root cause analysis, RE, impact on enrollment. So that's what we talked about. And that is what was never delivered. And I have repeated on multiple occasions, and remember, I am a trained business person and I also teach business in high school. Marketing is not advertising. Okay, it's much broader than that. And right now, we do not understand who our market is. We've never done any type of customer segmentation. We've never done any profiling. We have no understanding of what the different wants and needs are of these two groups. And yet, we're now going to do what's the worst strategy, which is basically what they call in marketing, play and spray. So you're just going to start sending out haphazard marketing messages that are not going to be effective. And so I would echo what Member Zhang had said, and I would even say, I think we need to take a step back. I would like to recommend that we do a true market research analysis around what are the root causes of our enrollment problem, and we start there, and then based on that, then we come back for a second proposal for how to market based on what we found out.

[13648] Phuong Nguyen: Superintendent Triplett?

[13650] Mark Triplett: Thank you, thank you President Nguyen. I'd just like to point out some things and I appreciate Member Torres and Member Marquez's comments. Number one is the board approved this in the budget. So this is budgeted and that was on the board approved. Secondly, that this is board directed. The board directed the district to do this. And thirdly, The root cause analysis was the initial part of the district goals and as member Grindel said the board changed that Around the mid mid part of the year and changed the direction So what we have in front of us is the result of the change direction from the board. So we're excuse me so I also want to point out that The times have changed in districts and in enrollment, and times have changed everywhere. And the best districts have a clear marketing campaign, and they invest money in marketing. It's just what good districts do, just like good businesses. For us to not do that because we suddenly aren't comfortable with investing the resources that we already committed seems like going backwards. It's what is needed in order to really do our very best and to really promote our district. And we do know what families want. That part is not up to that. I'm sorry. Can I complete my speech? I don't interrupt you and I'd ask if you don't interrupt me. Thank you very much. We do know what families want and what families need and that was part of the conversation that we had where the board decided to change direction here and we're following that direction. I also want to point out one more thing, and that is that this marketing campaign, RFP, is not just for enrollment. So it's for recruiting the very best, highly qualified staff. And that's what businesses do when they need to recruit the very best staff, is they do that through marketing campaigns and through recruitment campaigns. Organization will help us with that. And as member Torres said, it's also really important for the families and the students and the staff who are working so hard and doing such wonderful things for us to be able to get out the word about that. And I think it's incredibly disrespectful to our students, our families and our staff to be talking about that our district lacks greatness or that our district is somehow Some are full of students and staff that are somehow not wonderful. I think that's disrespectful. And I personally feel like our staff and students, our families are doing incredible things that need to be celebrated. And if we don't do it, then like member Grindel said, someone else will tell our story for us, which seems to be happening in certain places. Thank you.

[13868] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Superintendent Triplett. With that said... Point of order.

[13872] Terrence Grindall: Has it been 30 minutes of discussion?

[13874] Phuong Nguyen: If you have another comment, I would allow it.

[13878] Terrence Grindall: I was going to make a motion.

[13879] Phuong Nguyen: Oh, go ahead.

[13881] Terrence Grindall: I don't want to roll backwards. I want to move forward, start making progress in our district. Would I move approval of this item?

[13888] Phuong Nguyen: May I get a second?

[13890] Penny DeLeon: Seconded.

[13893] Phuong Nguyen: There's a motion on the floor. Motion made by member Grindel and seconded by member Marquez. Student board member, how do you vote?

[13902] SPEAKER_24: Yes.

[13905] Phuong Nguyen: Member Zhang.

[13906] Bowen Zhang: So I think I might have some misunderstanding about the root cause analysis. I thought the reason we're moving to the next year is because last year we were too busy with moving to the middle school, so we postponed to this year. So I never thought we're just not doing that. So I will know on this.

[13924] Phuong Nguyen: Member Marquez? How do you vote, Member Marquez? Yes. Member Hill? No. Member Grindel?

[13935] SPEAKER_20: Yes.

[13938] Phuong Nguyen: I know initially I said that I wasn't going to vote on this because the item, the budgeted amount for the contract I felt was a lot. But being reminded that it was a board directive and also with the voice of the student board member, I am in agreement. We do need to get our stories out. And if this is going to help us also be able to market and retain, help get us qualified and retain quality educators, I am going to change my vote to yes.

[13973] Bowen Zhang: Can I say one more thing? I know the most, I just don't want to say that. I can understand the reasoning behind Member Hills, but I do think your comment about Member Grinnell's daughter not coming to school, not enrolling in this district, I think that's a bit over the line. I'm pretty sure that if both of us are talking about raising the birth rate in this country, we wouldn't appreciate people calling us hypocrites because we don't have children of our own.

[13998] Aiden Hill: So we, as a board, need to lead by example.

[14006] Phuong Nguyen: So does that mean that you shouldn't be a board member because you don't have children in the district also? OK, so I think this is a no point, but let's move on. The item is approved by a vote of 4-1. I mean, I'm sorry, 4-2. Yeah, sorry, I lost my agenda. Hold on. Apologies. Vice President Grindel, can you please take over the meeting for a second while I log back on?

[14050] Terrence Grindall: The recommendation is for the board to approve the 2021-22 unaudited actuals financial report. Superintendent Triplett and staff.

[14061] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Vice President. So this is the unaudited Actuals Financial Report. This is the product of an incredible amount of work. I think it's over 160 pages. And this is all of the review of the revenues and expenditures for the entire year of 21-22. This is the unaudited because, of course, the audit is still in progress, and we will have the audit finished and reported to the board later this school year. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Ms.dela Cruz.

[14096] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. So, our year-end unaudited actuals is a product of a lot of work from our business office, and the year-end closing process usually involves a lot finalizing of expenditures, reviewing our POs, and making sure that our orders have been received. We're paying invoices or setting up liabilities, which are also known as payables, and trying to determine if any POs need to be rolled over to the new year. It also involves our revenues and finalizing and reviewing our estimates and our projections compared to what we've actually received and what we have yet to receive so that we can set those up as receivables and reconciling cash and finalizing a lot of categorical programs and expenditures and year-end balances. So there's a lot of work done and I want to appreciate my staff for that, but I'll thank them also in the end. So I'm pleased to report our year-end unaudited actual report. And as Dr. Triplett mentioned, it's unaudited because the auditors still have to look through our report here. Next slide, please. So the year-end report reviews last year's 21-22 actual revenues and expenditures, not budget. It's for the period of July 1, 2021 through June 30, 21-22. This report has to be submitted to the Alameda County Office of Education by September 15, which is today. So I'm actually planning on submitting this after the board meeting, assuming we don't go past midnight. And then the district's auditors will review our report and all the related forms that are associated with this document. Next slide. So our revenues and expenditures in both restricted and unrestricted, we ended with about $81 million in revenues, which is 2% higher than our estimated actuals. Our total expenditures were $73.5 million. which is 8% less than what we had estimated. And the net increase to our fund balance was $7.2 million. Our total ending fund balance for both unrestricted and restricted is about $23.7 million. 70% of that is unrestricted, which represents about $16.7 million. And 30% of that is restricted, which is about $7 million. Our enrollment in ADA for the year was 5,167. This is based on our CBEDS data. And that was 337 below our enrollment from last year, which was 5,504. Our actual ADA that was reported to the state was 4,720. which as you can see, this is significantly lower than our historical ratio, which historically has been about 96 to 97 percent. But last year, like many districts, ours was about 91 percent. With our expenditures, our expenditures were $73.5 million, 8% less than what we had estimated. And 76% of our expenditures does represent salaries and benefits. And 17% is from services and other operating expenses, and that includes our utilities, professional service, and some of our software licenses. And this also includes almost $7 million in one-time restricted COVID-related expenditures. With the COVID funds, We received an allocation starting in 2021 of about $11.5 million. We spent $7 million that year, and we carried over $4.5. So as of July 1, 2021, we had $8.7 million. That included an additional allocation of about $4.2 million in 21-22, and of The carryover and the new allocation, we spent almost $7 million, about 6.7. And we are carrying over $2 million into this school year, 22-23. That's that last column there. A couple of our programs, namely special ed and the routine restricted maintenance account, do not have enough or generate enough revenue. So the general fund contributes to these programs. The routine restricted maintenance account is a required account that we have to contribute 3% of our total expenditures for. And for special ed, we contributed about $7.8 million from the general fund to support that program. And then for the routine restricted maintenance account, It was about $2.2 million for a total of $9.9, almost $10 million. But this was $1.1 million less than what we had originally projected. So in the unrestricted general fund, this is where we maintain our reserves. We had a net increase of $5.3 million in our unrestricted general fund. So our total ending fund balance as of June 30th was $16.8 million, just $6.5 million more than what we had originally anticipated when we adopted the budget for 22-23. So our reserves as of June 30th, 2022, was $14 million, which represents 19% of our total expenditures. In fund 17, which is our reserves for emergency purposes. We had 3% In in that fund above about 2.3 million So our total reserves was 22% which is more than the goals goal of 17% however, this does impact our 22 23 and reserve, which the state has imposed a 10% reserve cap on. And so our excess reserves above 10% are being designated as committed fund balances, which is under a separate resolution on tonight's meeting agenda, which, thank you, has already been approved. Now, these are all of our funds. We have a general fund, our adult education fund, child development, cafeteria fund, which is our child nutrition fund, our special reserve for emergency purposes, our building fund, which is our bond money, capital fund is developer fees, and special reserve for capital outlay is what we know as Russian fund, and then the bond interest and redemption fund and our self-insurance fund. What we have left here represented in bond funds, the 494, is actually all spent. This is carryover from last year of some HVAC and landscaping work that is being completed. And our developer fee balance as of June 30th is $16.8, but there is a portion of that, $2 to $3 million, that's going to our HVAC projects in Phase 2. And then Fund 40 Russian, there's about $9 million left in there. So looking at our past, present, and future, you can see back in 16-17 and 17-18, we did end our year with 1.3 million deficit in one year and 1.7. And we made some significant decisions in reducing our budget and was able to balance it in 18-19 and moving forward. So based on our reserves from 21, 22, and this year, 22, 23, and two subsequent years, we are projected to end with a reserve well above 3% minimum required so that we should be able to attain and continue our positive certification. So in summary, last year we ended our unrestricted general fund with a net increase in fund balance of $5.3 million. We have a total reserve as of June 30 of 22%. And in our multi-year analysis, it does indicate that our district will be able to maintain our 3% minimum required in this 22-23 and also in the two subsequent years. So based on all of this information, we do recommend approval of our 21-22 year end unadded actuals.

[14695] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Delacruz.

[14696] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you. Be happy to answer any questions or receive any comments.

[14700] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Student Board Member Torres, do you have any comments for Ms. Delacruz? Member Zhang?

[14706] Bowen Zhang: Just want to ask, what is the deficit of special ed this time? How many more millions of money we need to pull from general fund to fund the special ed obligation?

[14717] Marie dela Cruz: So for this year, it's about the same. It's almost, I think it's $8 million.

[14728] Bowen Zhang: Remember Marquette? Do we anticipate that this kind of sizable deficit will continue well into the future?

[14735] Marie dela Cruz: Unfortunately, yes. There hasn't been a large improvement. I think the state continues to add a little bit more COLA in funding, but it's still not sufficient.

[14750] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Marquez.

[14753] SPEAKER_30: She must be reading my mind. My question actually is, if the COLA was reflected, if we anticipated any future adjustments in COLA. So that was my question. So it's already reflecting what we received of the new trailer bill, right? With the adjustment that was made over the summer. Do we anticipate any more COLA adjustments in the positive?

[14777] Marie dela Cruz: Not at this time. Not any more than what they've already allocated. Thank you.

[14783] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill.

[14786] Aiden Hill: No questions.

[14787] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Grindel.

[14790] Terrence Grindall: More of a comment than a question. First of all, thank you for all the work that you and your staff have done, and also for the very clear and concise presentation. Just my only comment I want to make is that, you know, it's great that we're in the strong position where we are, but just as we've discussed in other work sessions, if enrollment continues to decline, where we, you know, out years are going to be a problem. This shouldn't affect the certification of our budget, but we really have to keep our eye on the ball that We need to either be finding ways to get our enrollment up or finding ways to reduce our costs so that we don't end up as we were a few years ago. And so that's really just more of a comment, sort of a caution. But very happy that we're in such a strong financial situation right now. And thank you for your efforts.

[14848] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. Thank you, Ms. Dela Cruz and staff for all your hard work on the budget every year.

[14855] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you.

[14855] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Thank you. With that, may I get a motion to?

[14864] Bowen Zhang: I move to approve the 2021 to 2022 on audited actuals.

[14868] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang. Motion made by Member Zhang. May I get a second, please?

[14873] Julienne Sumodobila: Seconded.

[14873] Phuong Nguyen: Seconded by Member Marquez. Thank you, Member Marquez. How do you vote, Student Board member? Yes. Member Zhang? Yes. Member Marquez?

[14881] SPEAKER_30: Yes.

[14883] Phuong Nguyen: Member Grindell? Yes. I'm also yes. Six ayes. On item 15.4. Thank you.

[14891] Terrence Grindall: So Marie, you can run and send that right now. You could just push a button, right?

[14899] Phuong Nguyen: All right. Onto consent agenda, pulled agenda items. So we'll start with, let me go back to my notes. The PAL report item 11.3. Member Hill, you had pulled this item. The personnel report.

[14915] Aiden Hill: Thank you. Yes. So so on the personnel report. So there's a section called Change in FTE of Certificated Employees. And there's a bunch of names. And it looks like it's a combination of teachers at Newark Memorial High School and the junior high. But it says 1.2 FTE. And I'm not sure I understand what that means. Could could somebody explain to me what this means?

[14943] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill.

[14945] SPEAKER_31: Yeah, so that is called what we call a six-fifths. So a teacher's normal typical full-time equivalent is five periods and one prep a day, a total of six periods for students, right? So in an event where we are unable to fill a position, which as you're aware, we've had vacant positions, We do have an opportunity with agreement with the unit member and the Newark Teachers Association to provide a unit member six fifths. And so what that means is that they are paid that additional section in lieu of their prep period. So they are actually teaching first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. And so the swap is They don't get that prep within the instructional day. And so you will see at the secondary level, we had many unit members agree to take on that extra period. And the association agreed to it as well. That is only for the academic year, one year. It will automatically revert back to their original FTE 1.0. Thank you.

[15025] Aiden Hill: How many teaching positions are we down right now across the high school and the junior high school?

[15033] SPEAKER_31: I would say we have approximately 10. And the reason I say approximately is because all but one are filled with long-term subpositions or have been solved by staff taking an additional period.

[15057] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill, for asking the question, because that was also my question. Member Grindel, do you have any comments or questions? No. OK. May I get a motion to approve the personnel report?

[15069] Bowen Zhang: I move to ratify the personnel report.

[15072] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Zhang, may I get a second?

[15074] Terrence Grindall: I'll second.

[15076] Phuong Nguyen: Motion made by Member Zhang, seconded by Member Grindel. Member Zhang, how do you vote? Yes. Member Marquez? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel?

[15086] SPEAKER_20: Yes.

[15087] Phuong Nguyen: I'm also, yes, five ayes. Thank you. On to consent agenda items that we pulled, starting with 12.2. Member Jean?

[15109] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, so Superintendent, it's the same question about the new AP at the Junior Heights, does that position need to be included in the CPSA?

[15119] Mark Triplett: No. No, it doesn't need to be included in the CPSA. It's covered through different funds. OK. Is that correct, Ms. Stokers?

[15126] Bowen Zhang: But they're both paid off.

[15129] Marie dela Cruz: It is. It's not part of the CPSA because it's not part of the school's discretionary.

[15135] Bowen Zhang: But they're part of the LCAP, I remember, when we approved.

[15138] Marie dela Cruz: It's Title I from the district portion. not from the school discretionary SPSA.

[15147] Bowen Zhang: So with that, I approve the newer junior high SPSA.

[15151] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. And I'll second. Student board member, how do you vote? Yes. Member Zhang? Yes. Member Marquez? Member Marquez, how do you vote? Yes. Member Hill, thank you. Yes. Member Grindel? Yes. I'm also a yes. Six ayes. Item 12.3, Member Hill.

[15177] Aiden Hill: Thank you. Could someone explain to me what this is? I just need a little bit of an explanation.

[15186] Mark Triplett: I'm sorry, this is 12.3?

[15188] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, 12.3 Research Institute for School Leadership, Partner School, MOU, and Intern Teacher Credential Program, MOU.

[15199] SPEAKER_31: Sure, so when we have employees hired as interns, they are in the process of getting their credential. We have to have an MOU with the institution to have interns hired. This item is for the educational institution, REACH. So it's two MOUs. One is an MOU that the district will work with REACH, kind of a general overarching MOU. And then we have a specific one based on an actual intern that we're working with at Newark Junior High School. And so it's specifically about him being an intern in the district.

[15246] Aiden Hill: Yeah, because the reason I'm asking is, don't we already have big partnerships with San Jose State and Cal State East Bay, et cetera? Because I've never heard of REACH Institute. Are we not able to get enough candidates from these other institutions?

[15267] SPEAKER_31: Yeah, good question. We certainly do have a lot of MOUs and work with folks who are getting their education at those universities. This teacher in particular is already enrolled in that program before he applied and wherever he applied to. So we didn't go through REACH to get him. He applied as an intern candidate, and he was already enrolled in that program. So part of his process is for the district to establish an MOU with the institution.

[15300] Aiden Hill: OK, great. Thank you. You're welcome.

[15303] Phuong Nguyen: OK. With that said, may I get a motion to approve item 12.3? Motion to approve. Thank you, Member Marquez. Motion made by Member Marquez. May I get a second? I second it. Seconded by Member Zhang. How do you vote, Student Board Member Torres? Yes. Member Zhang? Yes. Member Marquez?

[15320] SPEAKER_24: Yes.

[15320] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel? Yes. I'm also yes. Six ayes. 12.3 passes. On to the next item that was pulled, 12.5, the sufficiency of instructional materials. Member Hill.

[15337] Aiden Hill: Thank you. So I remember in our last board meeting, this item came up and the request was to basically pass the resolution. And I think there was a lot of discussion and a lot of questions about, you know, have we really validated that we have everything that we need? And Mr. Delovage is here to respond. But I think that the thing that just makes me a little bit nervous is that I always believe in dotting your I's, crossing your T's, checking everything. And we've just had a few people come up and indicate literally the second in command of the union. calling out that there's still some issues. And so I'd like to understand a little bit more about that. And I'm hoping that we can go through a really comprehensive process that validates, like school by school, we're not missing anything. So can you comment on that? Sure.

[15394] Mark Triplett: Good evening. Yeah. So, Mr. Dalewich is here to give an update. Like we said, we actually had sufficiency of materials as it's defined by this resolution for the last meeting. But we're here and Mr. Galbraith is happy to update us on some of the materials that have come in and the status as well as some really fantastic news about the Williams audits that have been passed at our schools.

[15429] SPEAKER_07: Great. Good evening, members of the board. So let me start with that. First, we've had three Williams visits in the last two weeks to check for sufficiency of instructional materials with county auditors. They occurred at all three levels, elementary school, the junior high and the high school. All three of the inspections were completed and we passed with flying colors. And I have the documentation here with respect to that. So that's number one. We circled back to both the auditors as well as our partners at Alameda County Office of Education and one of the reasons we passed is that a purchase order suffices and specifically it suffices from them with respect to education code 601 19 subset lowercase A to capital A, which reads, if an LEA has submitted purchase orders to the publisher to purchase instructional materials, it is considered sufficient to remedy the insufficiency, and these materials should be received and in students' hands by the end of the second month of the school year. If we didn't have a purchase order, then addressing a shortage with photocopies would not be allowable. But as is the case, we have an arrival date within the month of September. And with respect to the math consumables that's been spoken, every grade level has now arrived with the exception of fifth grade. So kindergarten arrived. Some of those kindergarten materials have been successfully distributed to sites. Others are en route or in process. Fifth grade is from our vendor set to arrive within the month of September and be distributed. So I want to make mention of that and also reiterate we are in by no means the only district in this situation. This is happening throughout the Bay Area, throughout the state, throughout the nation with respect to paper shortage and supply chain. So we do have either support case numbers or purchase orders, which substantiate their arrival, which again is why Williams inspectors approved us at all three levels.

[15574] Aiden Hill: And thank you, Mr. Dolowich. So I understand how they how they classify that. But can you give us an assurance so that, you know, Ms. Villawish is up here citing a couple of different textbooks, that those are included in the purchase orders that you've been referencing?

[15591] SPEAKER_07: They have indeed been included in the purchase orders and their arrival date from our vendor is within the month of September. Perfect, thank you. That's all the information I have.

[15604] Phuong Nguyen: With that said, may I get a motion to approve item 12.5?

[15610] SPEAKER_30: Motion to approve.

[15612] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Motion made by Member Marquez. May I get a second, please? I'll second that. Seconded by Member Zhang. Student Board member, how do you vote? Yes. Member Zhang? Yes. Member Marquez?

[15623] Richelle Piechowski: Yes.

[15624] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel? Yes. I'm also yes. Six ayes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dolowich. Okay, on to Board member requests, audit committee charter review. The proposed changes have been attached to the agenda with member Marquez's proposed changes. We brought this, we're bringing this item back for additional discussion. Are there any additional comments, member Marquez, that you would like to make?

[15666] SPEAKER_30: Yes, I would. Thank you for the recognition. The two items that I wanted to address is number one, this is not to eliminate the committee. This is to simplify and to identify clearly so that both the committee members as well as our community knows exactly what the audit committee does. The key element throughout the charter is reviewing. Reviewing, interpreting, and recommending. Nowhere should it say, that we are demanding or that we make the request for something because that puts us in line or demonstrates that we are an equal with the board members, which we are not. We are a committee. So it's intended purpose is for review. Secondly, in going over and also speaking with some experts, three actual different people from neighboring counties with regards to how often we should meet. It was recommended that they meet quarterly, so I did ask that recommendation and change be made. So that's the only item that you would see that would change from the last time that we met, is quarterly versus monthly. Thank you.

[15739] Phuong Nguyen: Student board member, do you have any comments on this item?

[15742] Diego Torres: So I just want to clarify. So the whole point of the strikeout is just to get simpler language so the power of the audit committee is not, nothing's actually being removed from them?

[15753] Aiden Hill: That's not correct.

[15757] Phuong Nguyen: It is correct. Member Marquez, would you like to clarify for the student board member?

[15762] SPEAKER_30: I can't hear. It's muffled.

[15765] Phuong Nguyen: Would you like to repeat it, student board member?

[15767] Diego Torres: So I just want to clarify. So the whole point of the strikeout is not to remove any of the power that the audit committee has. It's just to get clear language.

[15778] SPEAKER_30: That's a great way of putting it. It is to make it clear and to identify what the actual ability or what it is that the committee is in existence for. It's to review, to receive information and to review, not demanding or making decisions that are equal to or that are presenting themselves as if we are a board because that is not the committee's, that is not the committee's role. We are just a committee reviewing and recommending and that's all.

[15810] Phuong Nguyen: Is that clarification? Member Zhang? Member Hill?

[15818] Aiden Hill: Fellow board members, as you may be aware, our district has had a history of financial improprieties dating all the way back to 2003 and possibly even earlier. These included over $9,000 in excess family medical benefits paid to two prior board members, improper credit card transactions and political gifts made by a former superintendent, almost $100,000 in overpayments made to consultants, and the list goes on. And for that reason, in 2017, Nancy Thomas helped champion the establishment of a formal audit committee charter based on guidance provided by the Association of International Certified Public Accountants and the Audit Committee Toolkit for Government Entities. The goal is to provide greater oversight and transparency to NUSD's financial operations. As you are also aware, since Dr. Triplett joined as superintendent in 2020, we have been encountering a number of new financial irregularities that have required the oversight of a strong and independent audit committee. These irregularities have included the mishandling of the free and reduced price meal program, which now may require us to pay back $436,000 to the state. A breakdown in procurement internal controls requiring approved purchase orders to be in place before purchases are made. And finally, conflicts of interest related to Superintendent Triplett's issuing of no-bid contracts to illegitimate vendors whose only qualification are they are his personal friends. Not surprisingly, Superintendent Triplett and Chief Justice Officer de la Cruz, from the beginning, have tried to conceal these improprieties from the Committee. And when these issues began to come to light in late 2021, they actively worked to obstruct meetings of the Committee to investigate these issues. The Charter has been very clear, however, in articulating the fiduciary responsibility the Audit Committee plays. and has enabled the committee to share concerns with the external auditors, which have since been validated during their July 13, 2022 interim audit progress review. Amazingly, however, rather than embrace these findings and push for greater transparency and management accountability, Member Marquez and Member Grindel now appear to be colluding with the superintendent and Ms.dela Cruz to gut the audit charter and eliminate professional independent oversight of the auditor and NUSD's financial processes. And sadly, this seems to be consistent with their joint approach on other issues facing the district. If you don't like the message, shoot the messenger. It's important to note here that our current Audit Committee charter is based on over 100 years of accounting best practices, coming directly from one of the most prestigious accounting trade groups in the world, with over 689,000 members globally. It is also important to note that over the past four months, this same document has been reviewed by our own Audit Committee members, one of whom is a certified public accountant and former auditor and the other a long-time business executive here in Silicon Valley. They have confirmed that the scope articulated in this document is appropriate for a committee such as ours. Despite our charter's pedigree, however, it is now coming under attack by two people, Member Marquez and Member Grindel, who have no formal accounting training, No prior audit or audit committee experience, and in the case of Member Marquez, doesn't even show up to these meetings. And if you look at their proposed edits to this document, and this comes back to the student members' questions, you will see that they have taken a hatchet to the audit committee's oversight role and have effectively put the wolves in the form of Superintendent Triplett and Ms. Delacruz back in charge of the henhouse. They have also, and here is again what people ought to pay attention to because they need to read this document, right? Don't listen to what people are saying. Read the document and look at the changes. They have also stripped out language identifying the audit committee as the escalation point for whistleblower fraud claims, despite the fact that our own external auditors have just recommended that the committee increase its oversight in this area. Finally, adding insult to injury. Member Marquez and Member Grindel are now attempting to jam through these wholesale changes with only 30 minutes of review and discussion on the part of the board. This is nothing less than fiduciary malpractice. Board, the lines are being drawn very clearly here. Are you on the side of accounting best practices, oversight, and transparency, or are you supporting changes that will enable even more financial malfeasance? I hope you do the right thing and reject Member Marquez's and Member Grindel's current dangerous proposal. Thank you.

[16138] Phuong Nguyen: Member Grindel?

[16141] Terrence Grindall: Yeah, well, where to start? First of all, I'm not associated with this proposal. It's Member Marquez's proposal. I'm commenting on it. I certainly didn't collude. I don't appreciate such accusations. I do have, I'm a member of this board and I am one of five and I have my opinions and they are just as valid as any other member and this charter is the charter of the board for the Audit Committee. It is not the Audit Committee's self-appointed charter. The concern with The concern that I'm hearing from Member Marquez is a valid one. There is language in this agreement that looks like the audit committee is taking actions that properly belong to the board. You cannot have a subcommittee. I don't have to be an accountant to know that you can't have a subcommittee of a board taking actions for the board.

[16204] Aiden Hill: Yes, you do. You need to study accounting. You don't know how audits work.

[16208] Terrence Grindall: You cannot take away power of the board and hand it to another committee. Now, there could be there's argument. You could make arguments that that's not the case, that the language that's taken out is is not necessary to make that clear. But one thing is very clear. The audit committee cannot have powers of the board in its control. It cannot take action for the board. It cannot. And the problem is the language in the existing charter gives the impression that it can. And that's what I'm concerned about. Honestly, that's an issue that we're gonna have to, that the board's gonna have to face when the rubber meets the road and the Audit Committee does take actions that are not within their purview. It's better if the charter makes it clear that the Audit Committee cannot act on its own It only recommends and reviews. Its job is to assure that the audit is done properly. That is it. And then it recommends the certification to the board. So the problem I have with the audit charter is the ambiguity, the duplication of statements, and the bleeding over of audit committee control into what are properly board actions. That's it.

[16308] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Grindel. As a reminder, The comments and opinions of Member Hill is of his alone and not the representation of the board. So with that being said, is there a motion to approve?

[16323] Aiden Hill: Hold on. I'd like to make a comment regarding Member Grindel's statement. So again, details matter. It seems, Member Grindel, that you haven't even read this charter, apparently, from your description. Because throughout this charter, it never states that the committee has the powers of the board. And in fact, it says throughout this that all the actions that it's engaged in ultimately need to be brought before the board to be ratified. That essentially, the work that's being done ultimately comes forward as a recommendation to the board. But what we're having right now is an attempt to basically strip away any oversight capabilities and prevent the audit committee from seeing what's going on, which is what they have been chartered to do. And this is standard practice. And you talk to any accountant. Including our own accountant who sits on the accounting committee and you were there in the meeting Member Grindel when he's told us this That he went that is not my recollection of what he stated and you should not be paraphrasing other people from the dais So so so I was in the meeting and I heard exactly what he said So okay, and then by and well, so and and as we just noted we had another committee member that came forward and expects exactly the same issues in person, right? And so you guys do not know what you're talking about. You have zero accounting experience. You have zero Audit Committee experience. And what you are doing is you are taking our district down a dangerous path.

[16425] Terrence Grindall: OK, once more, I do have to respond to the personal attack. Of course I read the Audit Committee I read the Audit Committee report, I mean the charter prior to any changes, and I read it put together without the changes to see how it read. I believe with the changes it is more clear, it doesn't take away powers from the Audit Committee, but it makes it more clear that the Audit Committee's role is to supervise the audit and to advise the board. That's why I support the changes put forward by Member Marquez. So to avoid going over 30 minutes, I'd make a motion to approve the audit committee changes as proposed by Member Marquez.

[16472] Phuong Nguyen: May I get a second, please? I second. Okay, motion's on the table. Motion made by Member Grindel, seconded by Member Marquez. How do you vote, Student Board Member?

[16483] Bowen Zhang: Yes.

[16483] Phuong Nguyen: Member John?

[16484] Bowen Zhang: No, so if the concern is that certain board member will be micromanaging the district, I think we have enough guardrail for that. Remember, you need three votes to do anything for the board. And I stated last time, ready to move on on this quickly.

[16498] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang. Member Hill? Oh, I'm sorry, Member Marquez? Yes. Member Hill? No. Member Grindel?

[16510] Terrence Grindall: Yes.

[16511] Phuong Nguyen: I'm also yes. Motion passes. Okay, on to item, motion passes 4-2. On to item 17.2, temporary renaming of the Newark Junior High School. Member Grindell, you requested that this be agendized. Would you like to?

[16543] Terrence Grindall: There seems to be a great deal of confusion, even within a particular meeting, about whether or not we have a junior high school or a middle school. And I would recommend, since we've moved to a middle school model, we want to celebrate that, I'd recommend that we temporarily name the Newark Junior High School, temporarily name it to Newark Middle School. and to allow time in that to go through our whole community process to look into renaming the school. And I would advocate when that process is over, I would hope that it's Newark middle school at the end. However, we do want to go through the community process with the board likes to what's our own guidelines really dictate that we go through a community process that we involve the entire community in that. So I would recommend I would recommend that we change the name of the of Newark Junior High School to Newark Middle School temporarily and so that we can we can stop having confusion about what the name of the school is. That's that's my recommendation. We can't act on this tonight. We need just direction from the board, if I read the agenda right.

[16621] Phuong Nguyen: It's just discussion, yes. Student board member Torres, do not default to member Zhang. You have the floor. Sorry. No, don't apologize either.

[16633] Diego Torres: Yeah, I definitely agree. There's a lot of confusion because some people will say oh, it's the middle school and it's a junior high and it's like Well, officially it's still called junior high and there's just a lot of confusion So I think temporarily naming it middle school would be a great idea and it's a great start to welcome this new school that we have and tell people that we are now in middle school and not in junior high. So I think, yes, definitely renaming the school is something that we should consider and give the process, and obviously do the process, but currently rename it. Because I think on the ID cards, it says Newark Middle School that they get. So it's just even more confusion that it's still called Newark Junior High, even though IDs and people, and we're still in middle school.

[16674] Phuong Nguyen: Member Zhang, you have the floor.

[16675] Bowen Zhang: I guess the only thing that matters to me is, what is the logistical challenge for this? You have a lot of print material. Obviously, you've got to do a lot of government, whatever, registration with the ad department. And then you will have changing of a name. And within a year, if we go through a formal process, you might end up having another name. So any logistical challenge for the district.

[16697] Mark Triplett: President Nguyen, may I speak to that? Yeah, thank you for that and I do want to say I really appreciate the desire to have a clear name and to be able to expedite that. I do want to make the board, we did do a little bit of analysis of potential costs both in dollars and in time. And so I did want to make the board aware of those as they're considering their decision. So these are all very rough estimates, but just as we were trying to brainstorm all the different potential things that would need to be temporarily changed. So there is the marquee that sits on the side of the building. And we have had experience changing those names before on marquees. They are quite expensive. I believe the cost estimate was about $5,000. to change that. So it does say Newark Junior High, so if we wanted to switch that over, that would be about $5,000. There's also the large, beautiful, I don't know what you call that, granite monument sign. We would anticipate needing to maybe buy, purchase some sort of a covering that had the name of the middle school on it and the approximate cost of that around $2,000 for something that would be weather, you know, would hold in the weather. There are interior signage, which we haven't been able to do a full analysis of how many different interior signs would be needing to change. There is implications with CDE as well as CBEDS. There's no cost to those changes, and we can make them. It would just be a time issue. And I don't believe that they're actually that time consuming. It's just making sure that we're dotting our I's there. Then if students were to change their PE uniforms, shirts, of course, that would all be an added cost. Otherwise, they would continue to have the Newark Junior High uniform, PE uniforms and such. And then I think one of the biggest things is the time time costs. So just thinking about switching over social media titles, website changes. We wouldn't change the mascot, but we would need to change the logo to read middle school letterhead on all documents, all forms. So it can be done. I just want the board to be aware that it will take an amount of time and energy. And I wouldn't say like a huge cost, but there will be some financial costs as well.

[16850] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent Triplett. Member Hill, do you have any comments on this? No comments. Thank you. Member Marquez?

[16864] SPEAKER_30: I just wanted to say that my students still have their Newark junior high PE clothes. 10 plus, 15 plus years, but I too am looking forward to the change. I'm sure the families so that we can alleviate any confusion. My question with regards to C beds, would we possibly run into any issues in making that changes that we might lose representation of any students or do we know if it would be a streamlined change?

[16897] Marie dela Cruz: We at this time, we don't think there will be any problem with that, but we are verifying just to double check. Thank you.

[16908] Phuong Nguyen: While I'm in agreement that there is confusion, I think that renaming the school temporarily is. not efficient use of our time and dollars to be able to make those changes, especially when it's just temporarily, it's just a temporary change. And I would push for renaming the school on a permanent basis if we're just going to go ahead and do that. Anyways, so that's my comment. Member Grindel.

[16944] Terrence Grindall: I'll just go ahead and make a motion to direct staff to change the name of Newark Junior High School to Newark Middle School. Perfectly fine. And I would recommend that we phase in those changes. Already, as a student member indicated, there's some documents that have been switched over. I'd like to see if we can reduce the cost by phasing those in. But I think we need to turn a page on on Newark Junior High School or if the motion fails, I think we should reaffirm that until we go through a process, we'll stop calling it the middle school and we'll stick to the name Junior High School to avoid some confusion. I think that's another solution. It's a little awkward because I'd like to see us celebrate that this really us being a part of a new old wave of of educating this age of children, but if there's not stomach for that work, then I think we really need to stick to the name, stick to the junior high school name until we go through the whole process. But that was a long, long motion. My motion is to temporarily, to direct staff to temporarily, to do the work necessary to temporarily change Newark Junior High School to Newark Middle School and bring that to the board formally in the near future.

[17043] Bowen Zhang: I think if you were phasing in by the time when you're middle through the way, middle through your phasing in period, the name might be permanently changed after we go through the process. So do we anticipate going through this formal process within this current school year? I guess that's the question. Yeah, that was the plan. Yeah. So in that case, then you're really just at most, this is September. If you start doing this in October, you are at most seven, eight months being called middle school. And then starting August 1st, 2023, you're going to be called your real permanent name. So is that what we're directing the staff? Because this is discussion. It's just for consensus. I guess there's no motion today.

[17090] Phuong Nguyen: But yeah, he's directing staff and asking.

[17094] Bowen Zhang: He's making a motion to direct staff. If the plan is to go through the formal process and change the name permanently within this school year, then I guess we have. eight or nine months to go for this school year, right? So I'm fine with just calling that Newark Junior High. Or you might end up having six months in this school year calling Junior High, the other six months calling Middle School. Then after another six months, what do you call it? That's a real permanent name, right?

[17126] Terrence Grindall: The only place I would disagree is that people are calling it both. That literally in one conversation, you'll hear people say both. And depending on who you talk to, they say it's a middle school now. And some people say, no, it's still a junior high school. So there's confusion. But again, it sounds like there's no second for my motion. So I think we can just move on. Okay.

[17153] Phuong Nguyen: So can we agree to temporarily call it Newark Junior High until we formally approve it? change the name.

[17160] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, another thing I would rather next year when we see the preliminary dashboard score, we see the historic comparison of newer junior high. Because we had a baseline last year, we can see improvement next year. If you change your name, if you look at a California dashboard, the public website, you wouldn't see the historic trail of the school anymore. Just like today, you wouldn't see the past performance of BGP and BGI, formerly Bunker and Malani.

[17188] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill?

[17190] Aiden Hill: And this is one of the reasons why I was so insistent earlier in the year that we have a detailed project plan, right? Because this should have been one of the items on. There should have been a separate group looking at this, analyzing it all, presenting the recommendation rather than waiting now, because as Member Zhang is indicating, it's a messy situation. But it's water under the bridge at this point. I just would like to say that if we're going to go and do future projects, that next time we need to put together detailed project plans.

[17220] Mark Triplett: If I may clarify, just to be clear, this was always the plan. So this was part of the project plan was that we would wait. And the reason we were doing that was based on the desire to change the structure of the board policy for renaming schools. So that was clearly a desire of the board or board members. And so because of that, we were very clear from the get-go. It's strange that member Hill doesn't seem to remember those conversations. that we would be waiting for this upcoming year. When we changed the name of Coyote to Coyote Hills, we did that on a more expedited path. And there was some voices that stated, why don't we wait? Why couldn't we do this as a thorough process the following year? And so we wanted to respect the fact that there were people both on this board as well as in the public that had that opinion with regard to the junior high.

[17285] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Superintendent Triplett. OK, so with that said, can we get a majority consensus?

[17295] Bowen Zhang: I guess we don't really need a consensus, right? That the motion doesn't have a second. We'll stay junior high today.

[17301] Phuong Nguyen: OK, it's going to stay Newark junior high.

[17303] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, and then we know we're going to go through the regular process this year.

[17306] Phuong Nguyen: OK, thank you.

[17310] Aiden Hill: Can I make a motion just to be on the safe side? to extend our meeting to 1030 with the goal of trying to get out at 10. Yes.

[17318] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, well, I move to extend the meeting to 1030.

[17321] Phuong Nguyen: No, you second. He made the motion. OK, I'll second. Motion made by Member Hill, seconded by Member Zhang. Student board member, how do you vote? Yes. Member Zhang? Yes. Member Marquez? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindell?

[17334] Terrence Grindall: I so want to say no. Yes.

[17336] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, for me as well, six ayes. Thank you, Member Hill, for the reminder. Much appreciated. Okay, with that said, we're going to be moving on to item 18.1, Board of Education Recognition and Announcements. Student Board Member Torres, do you have any announcements tonight?

[17357] Diego Torres: Yeah, so actually next Friday, we're having a big event at our high school where we're inviting the community members and our clubs at our school to, they're gonna be selling, it's called the Night Market, so it's happening Friday from 5.30 to 8, and it's, someone just sent me like a little text about it, Basically, it's going to be food, free admission, and then there's going to be a chance to meet some culture and diverse clubs and local vendors.

[17383] Phuong Nguyen: Where is it at?

[17384] Diego Torres: Newark Memorial High School in the staff parking lot from 530 to 8. So there's going to be clubs selling food, and then there's going to be vendors also selling food. And it's a way to get the community involved with the high school.

[17394] Diego Torres: I missed that part. Oh, it's going to be Friday, next Friday. I think that's the 23rd. Thank you.

[17401] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Zhang?

[17404] Bowen Zhang: I just hope everybody will participate in this weekend's New World Day. This was a very fun event three years ago when I first got on the board, and three years later, hopefully this time we have a big turnout.

[17416] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Marquez?

[17422] SPEAKER_30: Thank you for that. Earlier on, we had mentioned and we discussed Latinx heritage as well as recognizing that presented for the board. And in all fairness with the month of September, I wanted to make sure that we were aware that September also represents National Self-Care Awareness Month. And what it represents and what it stands for is the need for us to be the greatest version of ourselves for others, as well as ourselves, that you can occasionally need to put yourself first. Because September is a National Self-Care Awareness Month, it's the ideal time to practice making some me time a priority, right? And taking care of yourself first. It's just like when we're on the plane, right? You want to make sure that you put your mask on first before you help others. Same thing. We need to promote self-care and holistic whatever it takes, whether it's a cup of coffee, it's going for a walk, or just spending some time in your backyard reading a great book. Just remember that September is National Self-Care Awareness Month.

[17493] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Marquez. Member Hill?

[17495] Aiden Hill: Yeah, I'd like to echo Member Marquez and thank the lovely young ladies that came here to give the dance performance. It was great. And I want to also acknowledge, you know, basically, you know, the month of September as Hispanic Heritage. And I just want to thank and acknowledge all of our Hispanic community members, because you're an important and valued part of our community and our district. And you bring a lot of vibrancy and energy and great things. And we saw some of that tonight. So thank you.

[17533] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill. Member Grindel.

[17537] Terrence Grindall: Yes, I want to echo my my fellow board members. I'm very excited to have the Latinx History Month. The in particular tonight is is actually the the night of the gritos. It's actually the 15th. It is. And we just we're just it was it was a nine o'clock our times when is when Hidalgo got on a balcony in Dolores, now named Dolores Hidalgo, and proclaimed Mexican independence. Viva Mexico. So Feliz Dia de la Independencia for my friends who are Mexican.

[17574] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Grindel. I also, too, would like to echo the sentiments of my fellow board members and celebrate Latinx Heritage Month and also, like Member Marquez Self-care Awareness Month, but it is also National Suicide Prevention Month starting from September 1st through the 30th. And as you well know, mental health and social-emotional care is very important. And learning how to deal with anxiety and any stresses in our lives, especially with our students and coming back from the pandemic, I think that we need to really remember If there are signs in regards to, you know, if you notice your friends aren't well and haven't been checking in, please, you know, and also your family members, check in with them, make sure that everyone's okay and feeling good about what's going on with themselves. And it's always great to make sure that we have that connection with our loved ones and also our friends and our students and our teachers. So I think, and that's it. And thank you to all of our staff and our teachers. We are halfway through September. So we've been in school for more than a full month. And lots of things are happening and are continuing to happen, great things. And so I just want to appreciate everybody's hard work and dedication to our students and our families. So thank you. On to Board of Education Committee reports. Are there anything to report out from ROP? Member Rendell?

[17684] Terrence Grindall: Nothing to report.

[17686] Phuong Nguyen: Anything from SELPA member? Nothing. Anything from EBIC member Marquez? None at this time. Anything from the Audit Committee member Hill? No. There is nothing to report out from the Bond Parcel Tax Committee and we do not have anything to report out from the NUSD Liaison Committee, correct? Thank you, Member Grindel. Okay, and on to Board of Education requests. Student Board Member Torres, do you have any tonight? No. Member Zhang?

[17716] Bowen Zhang: So a couple weeks ago, I asked the superintendent and his team to research into the basic aid district funding. So today, I'm withdrawing the request. I no longer need that.

[17728] Phuong Nguyen: Wait, can you state it again?

[17729] Bowen Zhang: So a couple weeks ago, remember, I asked the team to research how a district turned into basic aid. And... Oh, basic aid. Basic aid, like, or community-funded district. I'm withdrawing that request. I no longer need that.

[17743] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, thank you. Member Marquez, any requests at this time?

[17751] SPEAKER_30: Minute this time, thank you. Member Hill?

[17754] Aiden Hill: Yeah, I have three, so I'll take them one at a time, since we, you know, we potentially have to... Member, we have to get out of here by 10, remember?

[17762] Phuong Nguyen: I know. That was your goal.

[17763] Aiden Hill: Yep. So the first one is so in Superintendent Triplett's report on this evening, he mentioned the heat wave. I appreciate that. And it was big, right? But I'd like to request that, you know, I know that infrastructure was stressed everywhere. But, you know, when those things happen, it's always good to kind of go and check. and make sure that everything's functioning, there weren't any issues. I mean, I did hear some, you know, kind of rumblings that there might've been some areas where we were having air conditioning challenges. I don't know the details of that, but it would be nice to have a report coming back saying we've had people now go back and inspect. and make sure if everything's great and operating great, fine. If there's areas where we need to go in and fix some things, better to do it now rather than in the next heat wave. So that's my request, is to have a report done that shows us the status of our air conditioning units.

[17826] Phuong Nguyen: Any other board members?

[17828] Bowen Zhang: Can you repeat your request? I think I only hear you talking, didn't hear your request.

[17833] Aiden Hill: So my request is that we have the staff go out and basically do an audit of our air conditioning infrastructure right now. So we've just gone through a major heat wave. And so to have us go back out and look at all the air conditioning units and make sure that they've all been functioning properly, they're good to go. Or if there's any issues, we can correct them now in the winter versus waiting until the next summer.

[17858] Terrence Grindall: Can I ask staff a point of clarification? Isn't that part of your normal activities to check and confirm that the air conditioning systems are working? Or is it necessary for the board to ask for a report?

[17873] Mark Triplett: Yeah, we're doing that almost on a daily basis. We're reviewing the Sizerco and then sending out support to fix any issues. So there was things that needed to be addressed during the heat wave. And we have new units that are continuing to be tweaked and adjusted. And so we've been doing that every day.

[17902] Aiden Hill: So then a report should be pretty easy to generate.

[17908] Terrence Grindall: Because staff's doing this work on an ongoing basis, I don't support the requirement of a report.

[17915] Bowen Zhang: I also have a question. So did Measure G replace all our HVAC units?

[17920] Phuong Nguyen: Not all of it yet.

[17922] Mark Triplett: No, not all of our units. We had some units that are relatively new that we're not intending to replace. but did replace a vast majority of the units. And then, if you recall, we did have some units that, because of supply chain, we still need to replace. We've been waiting on the new units to come in, and we're anticipating that we'll have those replaced next summer.

[17951] Aiden Hill: I'd just like to remind Member Grindel that when we had the Challenger disaster, it was It was an oversight to not check the O-rings. So might be smart for us in the leadership position to have a report.

[17970] Terrence Grindall: Staff is checking the O-rings.

[17974] Phuong Nguyen: OK. So with that, there is no majority on that request. Member Hill, what's your second one?

[17981] Aiden Hill: So the second request is a broad one. And so like this evening we had a bunch of people come in to make public comment right and it becomes more obvious When as we've sort of consolidate all this stuff Versus having them do public comment individually, but the the request is it's so part of our goals I mean, it's always been a goal, but we started to talk about it tonight is engagement and and two-way communication. And I can speak on the fact that when I have been on the other side of the dais, when I've been a member of the public, I've been busy. I've been reluctant, oftentimes, to come to meetings and ask questions or make requests. But that gets even worse. I guess the motivation gets even more reduced if you feel that you're just talking into an echo chamber and that you're coming and asking questions or making statements and then you have no idea whether the people on this side are receiving and are doing anything about it. And so I'd like to make a broader request that says every time we have a public speaker that comes in and has a question or makes some kind of request that we have staff prepare a report just like they do when we do our agendas every couple of weeks. And if we have questions, we send the questions to staff and they come back with clarifications. I think it would be very helpful for, as these questions come up, for staff to actually provide a response to that. And then we, as well as the community, can decide, OK, is this issue, is it clear, has it been resolved, or is there further action needed? And so that's my request, that we start to have two-way communication rather than just having one way. And I think it's not clear to the community whether we're hearing them and we're responding.

[18104] Bowen Zhang: I think this request is a little bit too broad because some public comment I think does worry, does want to follow up. Some of the other public comments are probably not some. We shouldn't be following up on every single public comment.

[18127] Aiden Hill: The last request is a very specific one. So a couple of weeks ago, I mean, I shouldn't say a couple of weeks, like two board meetings prior, there was a young lady that came up and spoke, and I believe she's at the high school. I believe she's a student at the high school. I think that, I won't speak for my fellow board members, but at least for me, it was very difficult to hear what she was saying. But I got the sense that there was, you know, something bad that had happened and that she was coming to discuss it and, you know, and it was sort of a, you know, reaching out for help. And so my request is that we direct Dr. Superintendent to, I mean, Dr. Tripa to engage with the student understand in more detail what the issues are, and then report back to the board in closed session about what we can do to potentially help her with her issues.

[18189] Bowen Zhang: Was that the time I was in Boston?

[18193] Aiden Hill: It might have been. She's a young lady that came up, and it was hard to hear her.

[18201] Terrence Grindall: Question for staff, you are familiar with that. You are familiar with that situation?

[18206] Mark Triplett: Yes. So please know that we take things like this extremely seriously and that the staff has followed up with regard to situations like this.

[18225] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Dr. Sheplett. President? President? Yes, Member Marquez.

[18231] SPEAKER_30: So with my fellow board member bringing up that particular situation, earlier on I had also mentioned that sometimes the community members or people that are in the audience mistake or silence. possibly for not understanding or even using the term ignorance. And for my 18 years plus in education, there are certain safeguards, both for the student, the family, as well as the school board and the school district that fall into place. So as a member of the community, if they choose to come up and share that information, please understand that for those of us that have the expertise or those of them spending more positions long enough to know what those safeguards are, that are certain things that we cannot comment in public. Acknowledgement can be made and thank the person for doing so, but please clearly understand that to protect the student as well as everything that is going on with regards to what she shared, it's to protect her confidentiality as well as the school district and her family.

[18294] Aiden Hill: And I want to make a clarification because I was not asking that we discuss this issue in open session. What I was saying is that she came and shared, you know, again, it was hard for me to hear the specifics, but it sounded like it was a very important issue. And so I'm requesting that, you know, again, if we haven't followed up with that, that we need to follow up with it. And it would be great to hear in closed session, right, where the public is not privy, just to understand what the issue is and how we're addressing it.

[18326] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill. I think the superintendent and staff have that situation under control and have reached out to the individual and have spoken to to her. And so and in any situation like that, our staff is proactive in making those decisions. So I don't think that. Right now, we do not have majority on the request, correct? That's it for me. Thank you. Member Grindel, any requests at this time?

[18363] SPEAKER_20: No.

[18364] Phuong Nguyen: I also do not have any other requests except for everybody. I think we have an hour left for Newark Day's $1 ride. So let's adjourn and go out there.

[18377] Mark Triplett: Oh, I apologize, President Nguyen, but I- Oh, wait.

[18381] Phuong Nguyen: We have a superintendent including Tom. I'm sorry.

[18384] Mark Triplett: So I can speak?

[18385] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I do. I do.

[18387] Mark Triplett: Since we have an hour, I'll just occupy the time for an hour, and then we can all go. I do want to just conclude with a couple of appreciations and a statement. One, really appreciating student board member Diego Torres. This week, we had the pleasure of collaborating with him on engagement with students at Memorial with regard to really hearing their voice around what facilities improvements they were really eager to see at the school. And Member Torres, you just did such a great job, your leadership and your organization. And I just really appreciate collaborating with you and looking forward to continuing that. So thank you. I also want to appreciate Ms. Gutierrez, who has done an incredible amount of work behind the scenes in preparation for Newark Days and our participation in Newark Days. It's not just her hard work, but I really believe that she's I hope you don't mind me speaking for you, Ms. Gutierrez, and interpreting your actions, but that she has a lifetime of experiencing Newark Days and what it meant to her as a young person. And I really see in all of her preparations the love to really want our kids to have those same kind of joyous experiences at Newark Days. So thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. And lastly, I do want to comment on the board member making personal false accusations towards me. So we've repeatedly heard false accusations about conflict of interest. And I'm frustrated because I know that this board member is well aware of the legal review that determined that there's no conflict of interest. I'm also frustrated because I know that that board member is well aware that when he took it to the county, that the county found no cause for pursuing any of his false accusations. And so, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry board member. I do not disrespect you when you're speaking and you've repeatedly tonight disrespected both me and other board members when they're speaking. So I please ask you to control yourself when others are speaking so that you can be as respectful as we are to you. So as I was saying, it is disturbing that this board member has, despite multiple times being advised that there's no conflict of interest, both from legal and from the county, that he has chosen to continue these false accusations. And so I just want to conclude with that, and not just for my sake, but also for my staff's sake. So thank you.

[18568] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Superintendent Triplett. With that, I... I'll move that we adjourn the meeting. Thank you. I'm lost for words. Thank you. Make it a motion. Motion made by Member Rendell. I second the adjournment. How do you vote, student board member?

[18588] SPEAKER_24: Yes.

[18589] Phuong Nguyen: Member Jean? Yes. Member Marquez? Yes member Hill yes member and now yes, I'm also yes 6 ayes meeting adjourned at 10 oh 5.

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:

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, Bowen Zhang
Not Present at Vote: Aiden Hill, Alicia Marquez

3. STUDY SESSION

2022-23 District Goals and Objectives

Type Discussion

PURPOSE:

The superintendent, Dr. Triplett, will share with the Board a draft of the 2022-23 District Goals and Objectives for the Newark Unified School District in order to get input from the Board.

BACKGROUND:

BP 0200 - "As part of the Governing Board's responsibility to set the direction for the school district, the Board shall adopt long-term goals focused on the achievement of all district students. The district's goals shall be aligned with the district's vision, mission, philosophy, and priorities."

I. Review Purpose of the Creation and Adoption of District Goals and Objectives 1. To provide clear direction, coherence, and accountability regarding area(s) of focus for the District.

II. Underlying Assumptions 1. The governance team and staff need clear goals and objectives to prioritize resources and effectively measure progress toward goals. 2. Consistency of goals over time is necessary to deepen the work throughout the district, realize desired outcomes, and make course corrections based on lessons learned. 3. Corresponding objectives need to be SMARTE (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Sensitive, and Equitable)

III. Timeline for Board Approval 1. Superintendent will recommend 2022-23 Goals and Objectives for community and Board input on Thursday, September 15, 2022. 2. Superintendent will make revisions based on community and Board input and present them to the Board for approval on October 6, 2022.

File Attachments Copy of Board Study Session 9.15.22.pdf (3,011 KB)

4. 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

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.

5. 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.

6. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

Pledge of Allegiance

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

The Governance Team will recite the Pledge of Allegiance

7. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

Latinx Heritage Month Celebration

Type Information PURPOSE:

The Schilling Elementary Ballet Folklorico will perform for the Board and community in celebration of Latinx Heritage Month commencing on September 15, 2022, through October 15, 2022.

BACKGROUND:

Latinx (Hispanic) Heritage Month heritage began as Hispanic Heritage Week. Hispanic Week was established by legislation sponsored by Rep. Edward R. Roybal of Los Angeles and was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968. In 1988, the commemorative week was expanded to a month (September 15 to October 15) by President Ronald Reagan. September 15 was chosen as the starting point for the commemoration because it is the anniversary of the Cry of Dolores (early morning, 16 September 1810), which marked the start of the Mexican War of Independence and thus resulted (in 1821) in independence for the New Spain Colony (now Mexico and the Central American nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua) which became the Federal Republic of Central America. Mexico, most Central American countries, and Chile commemorate their independence from Spain on September 15, September 16, and September 18, respectively.

Hispanic Heritage Week was first proclaimed by President Johnson in 1968 in Presidential Proclamation 3869. Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan gave annual proclamations for Hispanic Heritage Week between 1969 and 1988. National Hispanic Heritage Month was first proclaimed by President George H. W. Bush on September 14, 1989, in Presidential Proclamation 6021. Since 1989, all Presidents have given a Presidential Proclamation to mark Hispanic Heritage Month.

ROP Teacher of the Year Recognition

Type Information PURPOSE:

The purpose of this agenda item is to recognize and celebrate Mr. Jonathan Sabangan, ROP teacher at NMHS, for receiving the Teacher of the Year award.

BACKGROUND:

Mr. Jonathan Sabangan has been working with the Newark Memorial High School community since 2014. He currently teaches a variety of ROP business classes, including Sports & Entertainment Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Business and Professional Development.

As a business instructor, Mr. Sabangan supports students to make a smooth transition from the classroom into the working world by utilizing the core keys of 21st-century learning. His curriculum includes classroom presentations, weekly speech and debate exercises, and bi-annual "employee professional" finals. Mr. Sabangan was nominated and selected as the ROP Teacher of the Year and will be celebrated at the County level in October 2022.

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. 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

11. CONSENT AGENDA: PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is 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.

K12 Workforce Pathway Coordinator (OCCD) Position & Job Description

Type Action

Preferred Date Sep 15, 2022

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $130,000.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source K12 Strong Workforce Program Grant

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the K12 Workforce Pathway Action Coordinator position and job description as presented. PURPOSE:

To approve the Strong Workforce Program K12 Pathway Coordinator position and job description.

BACKGROUND:

The Board approved the K12 Workforce Pathway Coordinator LEA Host Contract (Ohlone CCD) at the September 1, 2022 board meeting. This 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 is Newark Unified School District as of September 1, 2022.

This position will serve Mission Valley ROP, Fremont, Newark, and New Haven school districts, in providing technical assistance to implement and improve career technical education courses, programs, and pathways. This partnership is an opportunity to further our own Educational Services' work on improving college and career readiness data at our secondary schools.

File Attachments K12 Pathway Coordinator (Ohlone CCD) - Job Description.pdf (115 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the K12 Workforce Pathway Coordinator position and job description 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

Personnel Report

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 15, 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, resignation, leaves, and retirements are routinely submitted to the Board for ratification.

File Attachments HR PAL 09-15-2022 (2).pdf (218 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratify the personnel report as presented.

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

12. CONSENT AGENDA: NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves, 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 The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves, under one consented vote, the agenda items under Consent Non-Personnel, except for agenda items: 12.2, 12.3, 12.5

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

Newark Junior High School 2022-2023 School Site Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA)

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Budgeted Yes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Newark Junior High School Action 2022-2023 School Plan for Student Achievement. PURPOSE:

This 2022-23 School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) is coming forward for Board approval. The SPSA serves as the organizer for an individual school's improvement process. The plan is developed with a deep understanding of the root causes of student academic challenges and identifies and implements research-based instructional strategies to raise the achievement of students who are not yet proficient by state standards.

The plan: Builds on a premise that students are capable of learning with effective instruction. Includes school goals aligned with activities and goals included in the LCAP to maximize school reform efforts. Is based on verifiable data analysis. Focuses on student achievement and academic interventions. Implements high leverage school improvement actions. Directs resources where they will most directly improve student academic achievement. Ensures all resources are aligned to serve identified students' needs. Uses research-based strategies. Implements strategic coordination of resources.

BACKGROUND:

The School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) is a plan of action to improve student academic performance by coordinating all educational services and resources. Pursuant to California Education Code Section 64001, schools that receive state and federal funds are required to consolidate all school plans into an SPSA.

It is the goal of the Newark Unified School District (NUSD) to provide equitable opportunities to each of our students and school sites. Each site-specific SPSA and the district-wide Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) is a roadmap created in partnership with all district stakeholders to achieve our vision and mission:

NUSD Vision: The Newark Unified School District, in partnership with the community, will be a model of world-class education that develops the unique abilities of every student.

NUSD Mission: The Newark Unified School District will inspire and educate all students to achieve their full potential and be responsible, respectful, and productive citizens.

Each school site aligns its SPSA action items to our 3 LCAP goals:

     Goal 1: Promote a culture of instructional excellence and continuous improvement that results in students achieving their full
     potential and graduating college and career-ready.
     Goal 2: Promote a culture of community and partnership among the parents, students, staff, and NUSD community as a whole
     that results in an increase in parent involvement, student participation, and a positive school climate.
     Goal 3: Establish exceptional learning conditions and an environment that promotes trust, respect, and acceptance, and results in
     students and families feeling safe, welcomed, and valued members of NUSD.

Data Analysis: School-level goals are informed by data. Each goal area includes data analysis on current measures across student subgroups, and on outcome measures to determine progress. Local and State data are used to develop each goal.

Evaluating Progress: The SSC agendized a meeting to review Dashboard data and measure the impact of actions on student achievement. The principal and staff evaluate academic progress a minimum of three times a year through an academic Professional Learning Community (PLC) model with benchmark data.

Role of School Advisory Committees: California Education Code Section 64001 requires that the School Site Council (SSC) develop the SPSA. The SSC's responsibilities include approving the plan, recommending it to the local governing board for approval, monitoring its implementation, and evaluating the effectiveness of the plan at least annually. The SSC must seek the review, advice, and certification of applicable advisory committees, including the English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC).

File Attachments 2022_School_Plan_for_Student_Achievement_Newark_Junior_High_School_20220829.pdf (984 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Newark Junior High School 2022-2023 School Plan for Student Achievement.

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

Reach Institute for School Leadership Partner School MOU and Intern Teacher Credential Program MOU

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 15, 2022

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Reach Institute for School Action Leadership Partner School MOU and Intern Teacher Credential Program MOU. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is for the Board of Education to approve the Reach Institute for School Leadership Partner School MOU and Intern Teacher Credential Program MOU.

BACKGROUND:

The District works closely with institutions of higher education (IHE) to create pipelines for qualified teaching staff. Memorandums of Understanding must be in place in order for an intern from the Reach Institute for School Leadership to be employed.

These MOUs will support the District with the employment of one confirmed intern, Timothy Leonard, as a Social Science Teacher with Newark Junior High School. They will also open the pipeline to other qualified teaching candidates currently enrolled with the Reach Institute. Interns are able to learn, practice teaching, and fine-tune their craft under the direct supervision of a master teacher. The opportunity to intern in the District benefits both the student and the District.

There is no financial impact for the approval of these MOUs.

File Attachments 2022-23 Reach MOU INSTITUTION WIDE POLICES & AGREEMENT_Newark.pdf (207 KB) 2022-23 Reach MOU - Intern Program_Newark.pdf (421 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Reach Institute for School Leadership Partner School MOU and Intern Teacher Credential Program MOU.

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

Resolution 2022.23.05 - Adopting the 2021-22 and 2022-23 Gann Limit

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board adopt Resolution No. 2022.23.05 - Adopting the 2021- Action 22 and 2022-23 Gann Limit. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is for the Board to approve Resolution No. 2022.23.05, Adopting the 2021-22 and 2022-23 Gann Limit.

BACKGROUND:

The Gann limit was established by Proposition 4 in 1979. Simply put, the purpose of the limit is to keep per-person government spending under 1978�79 levels, adjusted for changes in population and inflation. For school districts, ADA is used to determine population. The limit is based on local property tax revenues and state aid received. If a school district's Gann limit is reduced, they do not lose funding.

School districts are required to adopt a resolution and file a Form GANN every year. Form GANN is part of the Unaudited Actuals SACS report submitted to the Alameda County Office of Education every year.

For reference, a School Services of California article and information from the California Department of Education (CDE), including FAQs, are attached.

File Attachments Calculating Your Annual Gann Limit _ SSC.pdf (75 KB) CDE What is the Gann Limit 9-15-2021.pdf (115 KB) Gann Limit_Resolution No. 2022.23.05.pdf (217 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. The public hearing was held on Sept. 1, 2022.

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 2022-23 Sufficiency of Material Resolutions 2022.23.06.pdf (96 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves Resolution 2022.23.06 - Sufficiency of Instructional Materials.

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

Resolution 2022.23.07 - Designating Certain General Funds as Committed Fund Balance for 2022-23

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education adopt Resolution 2022.23.07 Designating Action Certain General Funds as Committed Fund Balance for 2022-23 PURPOSE:

To approve the designations to the fund balance as presented in Resolution 2022.23.07 Designating Certain General Funds as Committed Fund Balance for 2022-23

BACKGROUND:

As a result of the balance in the Public School System Stabilization Account, the statutory limitation on school district reserves has been triggered for the 2022-23 budget period, pursuant to Education Code (EC) section 42127.01(e).

Beginning with the 2022-23 fiscal year, the district reserve cap requires that a school district's adopted or revised budget shall not contain a combined assigned or unassigned ending general fund balance of more than 10 percent of those funds. Assigned and unassigned balances within Fund 17 Special Reserve Fund for Emergency Purposes are included within the 10% reserve cap. Components of the fund balance designated as committed funds are not included in the 10% reserve cap.

On June 16, 2022, the Board adopted Resolution 2021.22.49 designating $5,869,876 in general funds as committed fund balance. Since the ending fund balance in the 2021-22 Unaudited Actuals resulted in an increase of about $6 million, the committed fund balance designations for 2022-23 need to be modified in order to maintain the 10% reserve cap required for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

File Attachments Resolution 2022.23.07 Committed Fund Balance for 2022-23 Fiscal Year.pdf (17 KB)

Warrant Report for August 2022

Type Action

Fiscal Impact No

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

The purpose of this item is to present warrants, for the total amount of $1,727,644.32, made from District funds for August 2022.

BACKGROUND:

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

File Attachments Warrant Report August 2022.pdf (370 KB)

Minutes of the September 1, 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 September Action 1, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the September 1, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the September 1, 20222, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

Minutes of the June 7, 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 June 7, Action 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the June 7, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the June 7, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

Minutes of the December 14, 2021, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the minutes of the December Action 14, 2021, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the December 14, 2021, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the December 14, 2021, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

13. 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 9.15.22.pdf (2,653 KB)

14. OLD BUSINESS

Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) Clarifying Questions

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratify the Newark Unified School District Action Clarifying Questions 2022-23 LCAP document submitted to the Alameda County Office of Education. PURPOSE:

After the annual review by the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE) of our proposed 22-23 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), NUSD received LCAP Clarifying Questions on August 15, 2022, with the expectation to respond to ACOE on or before August 30, 2022, and bring forth to the Board of Education shortly after that.

BACKGROUND:

This document and the revised LCAP template have been provided to ACOE and will be posted on our district website so that our stakeholders can access this information.

Ed Code 52070: (a) Not later than five days after adoption of a local control and accountability plan or annual update to a local control and accountability plan, the governing board of a school district shall file the local control and accountability plan or annual update to the local control and accountability plan with the county superintendent of schools.

(b) On or before August 15 of each year, the county superintendent of schools may seek clarification, in writing, from the governing board of a school district about the contents of the local control and accountability plan or annual update to the local control and accountability plan. Within 15 days the governing board of a school district shall respond, in writing, to requests for clarification.

File Attachments 2022_Local_Control_and_Accountability_Plan_Newark_Unified_School_District_20220830 (1).pdf (1,269 KB) Newark USD Clarifying Questions 22-23 LCAP BoE091522 (1).pdf (188 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratify the Newark Unified School District Clarifying Questions 2022-23 LCAP document submitted to the Alameda County Office of Education.

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

15. NEW BUSINESS

Resolution 2022.23.08 - Latinx Heritage Month

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education reaffirm Resolution 2022.23.08 - Latinx Action Heritage Month.

PURPOSE:

To reaffirm Resolution 2022.23.08 - Latinx Heritage Month, recognizing Latinx Heritage Month at NUSD from September 15 - October 15.

BACKGROUND:

At the October 7, 2021, regular Board of Education meeting, the Board approved Resolution 2021.22.08 recognizing Latinx Heritage Month at NUSD.

The proposed NUSD resolution is intended to recognize and celebrate the contributions of our Latinx, Hispanic, and Chicano community members, as well as draw attention to areas of improvement for Newark Unified School District with respect to its service to this community.

The resolution was originally drafted in partnership with the following community representatives: Newark Memorial High School Students Bridgepoint High School Students Newark Unified School District Educational Services Team Newark Unified School District Staff (Open Invitation) Community Organizations: Promotores, Avanzando, and Parent Focus Groups, including City Council Representative Sucy Collazo

File Attachments National Latinx Heritage Month Resolution 2022.23.08.pdf (445 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education reaffirm Resolution 2022.23.08 - Latinx Heritage Month.

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

Assignment of Yasmeen Sears as an English Teacher at Newark Junior High School on the Basis of a Credential Waiver, Effective August 8, 2022.

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 15, 2022

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the assignment of Yasmeen Action Sears as an English Teacher at Newark Junior High School on the Basis of a Credential Waiver, Effective August 8, 2022. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is for the Board of Education to approve the assignment of Yasmeen Sears as an English Teacher at Newark Junior High School on the Basis of a Credential Waiver, Effective August 8, 2022.

BACKGROUND:

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing requires employee assignments on the basis of a credential waiver to be presented to the governing board of the school district in a public meeting showing the name of the applicant, the specific assignment, and the fact that the assignment will be on the basis of a credential waiver.

Variable Term Waivers give the employer the ability to cover assignments when a fully qualified credentialed employee cannot be found. Waivers allow employers to meet staffing needs while searching for an individual who either holds an appropriate credential or qualifies for one of the available assignment options for the assignment. It also allows the individuals holding waivers to complete their credential requirements while serving in the classroom.

Yasmeen Sears successfully served as an English Teacher at Newark Junior High School during the 2021-2022 school year under a short-term staff permit. Since then, Yasmeen has completed her teaching program with Cal State East Bay. This waiver will allow Yasmeen to serve as an English Teacher while she works to complete the edTPA, a performance-based, subject-specific assessment. Upon completion of the edTPA, Cal State East Bay will submit the formal recommendation for a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English for Yasmeen Sears.

There is no financial impact on the approval of this waiver.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the assignment of Yasmeen Sears as an English Teacher at Newark Junior High School on the Basis of a Credential Waiver, Effective August 8, 2022.

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

Contract for Marketing Services

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $170,600.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source General Fund

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education award the contract for marketing services Action to Presidio Communications. PURPOSE:

The purpose is to award a marketing services contract to Presidio Communications.

BACKGROUND:

On July 6, 2022, staff initiated an RFP (Request for Proposal) process for marketing services 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.

The RFP (RFP #01-2022-23) was posted on the district's website and advertised in The Argus on July 15 and 22, 2022. Fourteen (14) RFP documents were mailed out and the district received eight (8) proposals which were due on July 28, 2022, at 2:00 PM. Proposals were received from:

    Twenty Fifth Hour Communications
    CESO Communications
    G&D Associates, LLC
    Geoffvu Media
    Holdsworth Communications
    Presidio Communications Inc
    Rhodes Branding
    Sounding Board Marketing & Communications

Proposals were reviewed and potential firms were interviewed.

File Attachments Presidio Communications, Inc_ICA Sept 2022-15.pdf (713 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education award the contract for marketing services to Presidio Communications.

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

2021-22 Unaudited Actuals Financial Report

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board approve the 2021-22 Unaudited Actuals Financial Action Report. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is for the Board to review and approve the 2021-22 Unaudited Actuals Financial Report.

BACKGROUND:

Assembly Bill 1200 requires that the prior year's unaudited actuals of revenues and expenditures be approved by the Board of Trustees (EC 42100). The unaudited actuals will be reviewed by independent auditors and presented in an annual independent audit report. The report includes the actual results of 2021-22 operations for all funds of the District and includes various supplemental schedules used to convert the District's fund-level statements into entity-wide statements in compliance with Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement #34 (GASB 34).

The District must close its books for the 2021-22 fiscal year by September 15, 2022, and submit the financial statement to the Alameda County Office of Education which will review the information and forward it to the state. This report is prepared using the state software in a format approved by the California Department of Education (Standardized Account Code Structure, known as SACS). Individual SACS report forms are prepared for each of the District's funds. The financials present the 2021-22 revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities, and fund balances by the fund.

File Attachments 21-22 UA Full Book.pdf (3,710 KB) Unaudited Actuals Board Presentation 2021_22.pdf (1,664 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board approve the 2021-22 Unaudited Actuals Financial Report.

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

16. 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.

17. BOARD MEMBER REQUESTS

Audit Committee Charter Review

Type Action, Discussion, Information PURPOSE:

For the Board to review the Audit Committee Charter, provide updates where needed, and approve a charter.

BACKGROUND:

The Board requested to bring the Audit Committee Charter to the Board for review and to provide updates if needed. On September 1, 2022, Member Marquez provided suggested edits and the Board requested to bring this item back. The Board will have the opportunity to review the current charter, request updates, and approve a revised charter.

File Attachments Marquez Proposed Changes - Audit-Committee_Charter-Matrix_Board-of-Ed - 09012022.pdf (132 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education accept and approve the recommended edits to the Audit Committee Charter.

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

Temporary Renaming of the Newark Junior High School

Type Discussion PURPOSE:

For the Board to discuss the possibility of renaming the Newark Junior High School for the 2022-23 school year.

BACKGROUND:

Member Grindall requested to agendized a Board discussion to have the Board temporarily change the name of the Newark Junior High School for the 2022-23 school year or until such time as a full community process can be concluded per Board policy.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education extends the meeting to 10:30 P.M.

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

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 at 10:05 P.M.

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

No minutes available.