Regular Meeting

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[312] Phuong Nguyen: Good evening and welcome to the October 20th, 2022 regular meeting of the Board of Education. 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 COVID-related symptoms. To 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 is available via Zoom. In regards to 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 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. With that, roll call, please.

[395] SPEAKER_36: Board member Zong. Here. Board member Hill. Here. Vice President Grindel. Here. President Nguyen. Here. All present?

[402] Phuong Nguyen: All present. A meeting is called to order at 6.01 PM. On to closed session. Are there any public comments on closed session time? Thank you. Approval of the agenda. Oh, yes. I forgot to approve the agenda. Thank you, Vice President Grindel. May I get a motion to approve the agenda, please?

[426] Bowen Zhang: I move to approve the agenda.

[428] Phuong Nguyen: I'll second. Motion made by Member Zhang, seconded by Member Grindel. How do you vote, Member Zhang?

[434] SPEAKER_20: Yes.

[434] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel? Yes. I'm also yes. Four ayes. Okay, now we are on to closed session and there are no public comments for closed session items. So in closed session we will be Discussing Item 3.2, Public Employee Discipline Dismissal Release. Item 3.3, Conference with Labor Negotiators. Item 3.4, Conference with Labor, I'm sorry, Item 3.3, Conference with Labor Negotiators, NTA and CSCA. Item 3.4, Conference with Labor Negotiators, Employee Group NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors and Contracted Employees. and contracted management human resources executive director. Item 3.5, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation. And then we are now recessing to closed session. Thank you.

[3707] SPEAKER_38: Reporting in progress. Reporting stopped.

[4068] Phuong Nguyen: Good evening, everyone, and thank you for coming tonight. We are back from closed session. I do have one item to report out in closed session. On item 3.5, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation. In closed session, the board accepted the claim for stolen items at Bridgepoint. Claim number 611978 with a unanimous vote. Thank you. On to Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. Would one of our students like to lead the Pledge of Allegiance? One of our students here tonight. Go ahead. Thank you so much. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

[4132] SPEAKER_14: and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[4143] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you so much. On to item 6.1, school spotlight, Crossroads Independent Studies. Welcome.

[4155] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. Good evening to the board members and staff and audience, community members. We are delighted to start this evening off with a fantastic presentation from Ms. Calderon, who is the principal of Bridgepoint and Crossroads and the adult learning. And so tonight, she's here to, in particular, to present around about Bridgepoint.

[4181] Nicole Izant: Crossroads.

[4182] Mark Triplett: Sorry. Crossroads. It's hard to keep track. OK. Thank you. I'll turn it over to you, Ms. Calderon.

[4189] SPEAKER_31: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. And so good evening, President Nguyen, board members, cabinet members, community members. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. So I'm going to be talking about Crossroads Independent Study Program, but I would be remiss if I didn't thank Miss Pierce-Davis for doing such a wonderful job providing the update about Crossroads recently. So I will hopefully not replicate the information that she shared and give you more kind of a principal's perspective or a more kind of behind the scenes kind of lens tonight. So Crossroads Independent Study Program continues to be our independent program that we've hosted at McGregor Alt Ed campus for many years. Our motto continues to be that we provide a personalized education in a caring environment. So these numbers are ever fluctuating. I know that when Miss Pierce-Davis presented, they were a little different and they're actually already a little different today. But as of last week, we had 59 students enrolled, including a kindergartner, two first graders, a second grader. four third-graders, six fourth-graders, and two fifth-graders, and they comprise our Crossroads Elementary part of the program. And then our secondary students, our six to 12 students, four sixth-graders, two seventh, two eighth, three ninth-graders, six tenth, 13 eleventh-graders, and 13 seniors. And I did some I went through these numbers. We have some additional students with some more in the queue. So we are going to be receiving two additional elementary students and two additional middle schoolers and an additional high schooler in probably by tomorrow at the latest by Monday. So there are the demand continues. We are doing rolling admissions still. And I thought it was interesting that 84% of enrolled Crossroads students are returning Crossroads students. So they were with us last year or possibly even before that. So it's just interesting that the majority had been in the program and decided to stay. I know that last, during Ms. Pierce's presentation, there was reference to the higher numbers that were projected and that we experienced. So during the 21-22 school year, we served, at some point in the year, 282 students. That was 161 elementary students and 121 secondary students. So obviously a pretty big difference between those 282 and the 61 that we are currently serving. So this should have been part of my May presentation to you all about crossroads. This is data from last year's cohorts. We saw, and looking at this now in retrospect, I probably should have brought the fall scores as well. We saw some good scores in math, in ELA, and gains made between the fall administration and the winter administration. And that, you know, obviously was with last year's model where our elementary students in particular benefited from the larger program and a very different kind of instructional model. And we will be administering the I-Ready very soon. in preparation for parent teacher conferences. So it'll be interesting to see what those scores look like, especially because the cohort is now quite, you know, a lot smaller and it is a different instructional model. But we were very proud of these scores last year. So academics in action, I'm sure you're wondering what does it look like to do elementary school or high school in an independent study model. And so it continues to be unique to this year. So what we're doing this year is we are combining grade level group instruction along with that asynchronous independent work. You know, we use the same curriculum at elementary that our sister schools use, such as Big Ideas Math, SAVA Social Studies, and FOSS Science. I was actually in third grade math earlier this week, and it was delightful. So that even though it was a very small group, the teacher was doing his very best virtually to engage each of those students. They were all participating. It was wonderful to be in the classroom with them and to see that even though they're not together on that daily basis, or actually they are, the groups are in smaller cohorts. And he also does a daily meeting where I've been in those meetings as well. And so even though there are multiple grade levels. Just wonderful to know that the students, even though they're in different grades and independent, still have that opportunity to work together. And of course, our secondary students continue to work in ingenuity, which was discussed in Ms. Pierce-Davis's presentation. So I hope my video plays. I know that you were delighted in May to hear from one of our elementary students. And so we had a new volunteer. This is one of our third graders. She took it upon herself. They do a school newspaper. And so she took it upon herself. She wanted to do a video about the newspaper. She's created her own Google site so that the students can always access the different features. She does a word jumble. I'll let her explain. So I hope this plays. And so this is our third grader. One of our third graders.

[4521] SPEAKER_15: Hello. I am Kylie. I have split the whole newsletter in two so kids can read the right level for them. From T-E-K-E slash K to second grade are the grades where I think I try to give them news for the morning. But I do random news stories that are right for third-graders to read this. In one, I talk about how much cooking costs. And another one is about what happens in the wall and tells you how to call the janitors. And this part of my speech is about word jumbles. I want to give word jumbles to people who finish reading two of my stories or more. But after he read enough or he yelled at me about it and finished one jumbo, I'll not give them the last jumbo until they finish another two of their toys. I also made my newspaper because I thought if it was nice, I would get more fans and attention. But I also saw my good eye, and I wanted to do something like this. This is also about another little eye. I'm going to tell you about another part of my speech. It's about how my sight works. My sight, it works by, when you tap kindly,

[4652] SPEAKER_31: That is just the young lady talking about her website, which she sent me a link to. I didn't know how to link it to the slides. And I don't know what I did just now to the slides. Keep going. There we go. So climate and culture at Crossroads. So SEL, our social-emotional learning, is embedded in our elementary program. And then with our secondary students, the middle schoolers have their own weekly SEL community building synchronous meeting. And then the high school students have their own SEL synchronous meeting. And I know that that was a question that came up for Ms. Pierce-Davis. you know, are the students isolated? And like I said, we do try to take these opportunities for them to build community. Ms. Pierce-Davis spent some time talking about our tiered re-engagement strategies. And so these will culminate in SSTs. But right now what we're doing is we're providing weekly updates to parents about student participation and attendance. And phone calls, I'm engaging in phone calls. The teacher is setting up Zoom meetings. And then if students still don't engage, we will start setting up SST meetings. So we are actually approaching that. The next bullet there is cost. Over 56% of our current cost referrals are for crossroads students and they are specifically around attendance and academic engagement. So if we have concerns about students not logging in to sessions and doing work, we are putting in cost referrals so that we can do home visits and also connect them to other resources. So we're not gonna wait, we're going to act swiftly to make sure that students are getting supports. And then communication wise, you know, Crossroads is included in our weekly video announcements. And so they're included along with the other programs that Alt Ed as part of our YouTube channel. And pictured there are our two teachers, both our elementary and secondary teachers, who are both veteran Newark Unified teachers and have been with Crossroads, you know, through my tenure and actually predate me. And so I appreciate the hard work that they've done to continue the program and provide a quality community for our students. Our coyotes, we are the coyotes, have always been part of the alternative education graduation. So these are some of our students at last year's ceremony, including there on the right. We do a student of the year. So each program provides a student of the year. We don't do valedictorians, but the student of the year is chosen by staff. And so on the right there is last year's student of the year, Ms. Kaylee Gray. So thank you so much for your attention this evening. I know it is safe. This is a save the date. So we want you to join us for our promotion and graduation ceremonies. We will, even though it's an 100% virtual program, we do in-person. Outdoor, we did outdoor. We'll see what this year brings. Celebration. So our elementary students will be celebrated on Tuesday, May 30th at 11 a.m. And our seniors will be honored for the first time since I've been principal here on Saturday at noon, June 3rd. We hope you can join us.

[4854] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Calderon. Any comments from student board member?

[4861] Diego Torres: It was a well put presentation. I'm glad to see the work that is being done at this site. Thank you.

[4866] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Zhang.

[4869] Bowen Zhang: Thank you for the great work. I really look forward to one day touring the campus.

[4874] Phuong Nguyen: You are always welcome. Member Hill.

[4878] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Ms. Calderon. And thank you to you and your team for all the work that you're doing.

[4883] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you.

[4886] Terrence Grindall: I'm going to echo my fellow board members. Thank you, Ms. Calderon, for the presentation. It was excellent. I particularly enjoyed the video of the student. Thank you for that. And also for the advance notice of the graduation. That's very helpful. We had some schedule conflicts last year, so thank you. We can plan ahead. Thank you.

[4906] Phuong Nguyen: Great. Thank you so much, Ms. Calderon, for all your hard work at both classrooms and at Bridgepoint and the adult ed also. And then thank you again for inviting us early this year. It's always a fun ceremony. And the families there, we really were able to connect with them. And it's just great to see so much love and admiration that the students have for you and your staff. So thank you so much for that.

[4935] SPEAKER_31: And thank you for your support.

[4938] Phuong Nguyen: Have a good night. On to employee organizations. Tonight we have NTA, Mr. Sean Abruzzi.

[4953] Carina Plancarte: Welcome.

[4959] Sean Abruzzi: Welcome. Thank you. So NTA's update is to talk a little bit about what happened at the beginning of the school year and where we are now. In August, we had a little rocky start. Some of the things that were not provided to NTA or some of our students were textbooks. We had some HVAC units and some classrooms not working. And Wi-Fi at some sites were not working in some classrooms. Now, most of our students have textbooks or the communication on progress of textbooks being delivered. Most HVAC units are working in classrooms. Wi-Fi is still not working, but the communication on progress should be communicated to NT members in a near future. NTA and NHD are working on solving some of the above issues mentioned. Yes, some of these above mentioned issues should have been solved in August, but again, you know, It is what it is. NTA's job is to teach our students. NUS's job is to provide an environment so NTA could do their job effectively. The district and the board, we need to provide an environment so that we can start keeping our teachers in this district. One of the things that I have seen and heard on the radio as I come into work every single day is that we are across California. Four out of 10 teachers are leaving this profession. And not only is this district hurting, all other districts are hurting, but we need to sit there and start listening to what our teachers are saying and start providing the stuff that they need so that they can feel like they are being appreciated and want to stay in this district. Thank you, and I appreciate all that.

[5071] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Mr. Abruzzi.

[5077] SPEAKER_36: Next one is NEWMA. Ms. Ashley Acosta, you may begin.

[5084] SPEAKER_22: President Nguyen, Board of Trustees, and Executive Cabinet members, on behalf of our NEWMA board, I want to once again thank our NEWMA team, our NTA team, and our CSCA team members for their continued effort and dedication to keeping our school safe, healthy, and positively productive. Every October, people all over the world show their support for everyone affected by breast cancer. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and an annual campaign to raise awareness about the impact breast cancer has on many people in the United States. As we continue this school year, we want to ensure that we continue to lead with student-focused decisions in mind. We thank you for all your support and dedication to our community. Thank you.

[5129] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Acosta. Any other speakers? Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. On to public comment on non-agenda items. We have several speakers. Our first speaker tonight is Todd Tokupo. Sorry, I pronounced your last name wrong. Oh, thanks.

[5155] SPEAKER_08: Hi, good evening to the board, superintendent, teachers, students, staff, and community members here. My name is Taja Cubo. I'm a parent at Newark Memorial High School. One thing that I'm sure that everyone here can agree upon is the importance of STEM education and excellence within our district. One concern that we currently have is at the high school right now, we do have a lack of full-time science teachers. And I say this with recognition that Dr. Runhog and the administration have done a very great job, a very active job of trying to make sure we have full-time subs. in all of these positions, but we should acknowledge that some of the subs are teaching areas that they do not have an expertise in, and often these are areas like AP Physics, AP Bio, that do require very specialized skills. So basically, my being here is kind of a plea to everyone here. Please support the administration with giving support for the students for this year so they can have the appropriate ability to have as much success as possible going into things like AP testing, things like their college prep, and then also your support so that we can get ahead of the curve and look to hire appropriate teachers for next school year. Dr. Triplett, you and I, we had a conversation last year about some other areas in the school, and I do appreciate the proactivity there as well. But I think it's something to serve not just the high school, the students, but for everyone else. I think this is one thing that we would really just appreciate everyone here giving their support to the administration and to the science program in particular, making sure that we have a staff going into next year.

[5267] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you so much, Mr. Takupo. Our next speaker, Mr. Sean Clinton. Welcome.

[5286] SPEAKER_17: Good evening. I'm here because you failed once again to comply with the California Public Records Act. I have some documents I'd like to present to Dr. Triplett. Can I please hand those over? Is it OK to hand them off? The public should be aware that Dr. Triplett, on behalf of NUSD, was just served with a lawsuit. Thank you.

[5312] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Mr. Clinton. Our next speaker, Ms. Gretchen Kava.

[5323] SPEAKER_28: Welcome. Hi. My name is Gretchen Kava, and I've worked in the Newark Unified School District for 27 years. I've taught at Kennedy for the entire career. There have been many ups and downs over the years, but never have I experienced such subpar conditions that I do this year. I can talk about so many things that are wrong at Kennedy such as the fact that there are several teachers at Kennedy that do not have working keys for their classrooms or other buildings that they need to access during the day. Kennedy is the only school without fencing for protection. Several students have run off campus many times this year. We do not have a phone in one of the rooms that service students. All of these are safety issues and have all been brought to the attention of the district office multiple times. Let me remind you that we have been in school for over two months. However, my focus tonight is that we have been without a permanent teacher in our SDC K2 class. This has caused the principal to step into the role as teacher and made him unavailable to perform his duties as site administrator many times. Therefore, teachers and students have been left on their own to deal with unsafe conditions. We have constantly been told that the district is here to support us. This support was severely lacking until emails were sent directly to HR. We then received some support. However, that support is not scheduled to be long term. The staff have been told by HR to choose between two choices. The first choice being that we will not have an available site administrator because he'll be the interim teacher in the unstaffed SDC class. The second choice being that the Kennedy teachers will be expected to rotate through the SDC classroom each day as substitute teachers to free up our administrator. Both of these choices are obviously unacceptable. We are not qualified to provide special ed services to students and do not have proper safety training to restrain students if needed. We need our administrator to be able to do his job and address inappropriate behavior. We currently have someone from the district in the SDC class until October 31st. As nice as it is to have a sub to cover the SDC class, it is only until October 31st, and this is not a long-term solution for our site. What is going to happen then? Well, this is going to put more pressure on teachers again, and teachers are already losing their preps because the district does not provide enough substitutes for regular classroom teachers. This year over 15 teacher absences were not filled by district so far and required Kennedy staff to cover for the absent teacher. We need our teachers to teach the grade or subject they were hired to teach and the district needs to hire qualified subs to cover teacher absences. Kennedy students deserve a site administrator to be able to keep them safe. They also deserve teachers that have the ability to plan and prepare quality lessons for their classes, not be pulled to fill in other classrooms. The challenges we have faced so far this year are great. We have more behavior issues and academic disparities than ever before and fully loaded classes as a result of the school closures. We need our district to start supporting us and to provide personnel to staff our schools. As another colleague at Kennedy said it best, we are just expected to keep going like nothing is wrong. Our preps are being taken left and right, but we are still expected to participate in professional development on multiple days. We keep being thanked for stepping up, but when is someone going to say enough is enough and cancel some Friday meetings? We are screaming that we need time, but it appears that no one is hearing us. I know that we are not the only school feeling this way. There are far too many people in the administration that forget we work for these children. Without them, we would be pointless. The teachers seem to know that, the principal seems to know that, but the district office can't comprehend the fact that our job is first and foremost the students of Newer Funified. Thank you.

[5533] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Hava. Our next speaker is Ms. Parks. Welcome, Ms. Parks.

[5553] Cindy Parks: Thank you, Ms. Cava. And let me continue, although this wasn't a part of my original speech, but let me continue about the SDC. You had this similar problem at Bunker last year with a student. You had a parent that came here in December of last year with the same complaint. from Bunker, and you ended up moving that student over to Lincoln, the students need to have continuity of instruction. These students have particular needs. That's the reason they're in an SDC class. By having a rotating teacher, that is not acceptable. That is not providing them with the educational needs to further their career in whatever field they choose to do and you're starting them off on the wrong foot. Let me start with what I was going to start with. Let me continue with what I was going to start with. I believe trust, honesty, integrity, respect, accountability are key attributes any employee look for in an employer. How do you think it makes a CSCA member feel when they initially look at the district and CSCA complete negotiation for 2022 through 2025 successor agreement sent out by HR, and they spot the bolded and underlined 16% total increase to salary? That's what it says. Most were probably over the moon ecstatic until they looked at the chart, which provided a different picture. of only a 10% total increase to salary. There is a 3% to 3% off schedule checks that are bonuses that would be issued in August. That is not a salary increase. That is a bonus. I know some employees were confused. You don't earn the respect of your employees by providing misleading information, especially information concerning someone's salary. Also, On Monday, I copied all of you on my email to Ms. Gutierrez concerning my September 8th, 2022 CPRA request for three easily retrievable reports I annually request. What is contained in those reports that is causing them to be withheld? Please instruct the superintendent to provide those reports tomorrow. Or let me remind you of Mr. Clinton's documents.

[5696] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Park. Our next speaker, Ms. Angela Silvera.

[5706] SPEAKER_10: Welcome.

[5710] SPEAKER_37: Hi, everyone. I'm coming to you today about two main things, which seem very menial compared to what I've heard so far. But I come to you again today to talk about emergency supplies. If there was an emergency, there was a shooting, there was something horrific that happened at any one of our schools, there are no emergency supplies provided for any of the children. And to me, here's there's these children, they're already scared. They are frightened that they're locked in a room or locked away. And there's no way for the teacher to give them a snack or a water or anything like that during the lockdown. To me, this seems like a very trivial cost that could allow for a lot of calmness, maybe, in parents' minds. So I would appreciate it if that could be put on an agenda or something to try to remedy. The second thing I wanted to talk to you about was our water bottle refill station. OK, we don't have one at Lincoln. In fact, I don't believe any of the schools have water bottle refill stations. But on June 19, 2019, the district approved a $3,000 grant for Lincoln Elementary to get a water bottle refill station. That's three years ago. I understand that things take time in government, but to me, three years seems really wild to, or seems way too long to take to get a water bottle refill station, especially since with Mrs. Angela Ehrlich, we had picked the position, we had picked the product. But another school, I believe it's Coyote Hills, had purchased the product and got told no, they couldn't put it in. I know last year, Newark Junior High School was willing to pay for water bottle refill stations. And again, it just got dead stopped. At the beginning of last year, I emailed Susan Condon and Ms. Dela Cruz, and I believe Mr. Triplett, and I didn't hear anything. This year, again, the beginning of the year, I emailed Mr. Triplett and my principal. Mr. Triplett said, you'll hear back from your principal. This is months later. We're still waiting. And I'm just thinking about the fact that the district has earned interest on this $3,000. I know it's not much in the grand scheme of your budget, but to me, water, They have done studies that show that drinking water before exams increases academic performance. When your brain is 75% water, if it's full, get a full tank, you're going to do better, just like your car will. So please get these installed, actually at all the schools, but Lincoln, since we have the money with you guys. Thank you.

[5903] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Alvara. Our next speaker is Ms. Elisa Martinez. Welcome.

[5914] Elisa Martinez: Good evening, President Nguyen. Sorry, much shorter. Good evening, President Nguyen, Board, Superintendent Triplett, and Executive Cabinet. Happy Thursday. I am here to just thank everyone for all the hard work. It's not been easy, but I have two kids, and yes, there are things that sometimes are frustrating, but I am so fortunate to belong to this community of Newark Unified. I'm actually wearing a T-shirt from my daughter's first grade, so it's 10 years ago, she's a junior now. Mrs. Knight, who retired last year, one of the most wonderful teachers, And Mrs. Jorgens, if you're watching, if I would have fit into the Camp Skeeter one, I would have layered that shirt too. But my point is that it's a tough, it's a tough time. And every single one of you, every single teacher, every single staff member, Mr. Jesus in maintenance, all of you guys I know are working hard. And everybody is struggling to fill those open seats. I get it. And I really value your efforts. I value our principal in the junior high and in the high school who are making an effort to communicate to us. I value the wonderful work that was done to create our middle school. That for some reason there's negative nonsense out there that it was a horrible botched job. Who are these people? Do they have kids in our school? I wonder, because I think myself and a lot of parents don't feel that way. We're very happy to see our kids thriving at drop-off, at pick-up. So thank you so much for that. There were a few other things I wanted to say, but given some of the speakers here, I am a parent, and I do worry about how you all are spending your time. So I know a couple of years ago, you all published who is making all these public records requests. I would love to get a report, not for me, but for all the parents that want to know. You know, do these folks even have kids in our school? Because at the end of the day, it's taking resources and time that you all should be dedicating to our kids. Finally, and bringing it back to a more positive topic, the high school production of Clue will start on November the 4th. Please reserve your seats. I have a couple flyers. I'll leave them out. A code that you can scan so you could reserve cash only. But anyway, the kids are super excited. A ton of work has gone into it. So I really invite you to join them, to make donations, because it's a bit of a costly production. So thank you so much.

[6103] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Martinez.

[6113] SPEAKER_36: Sorry, President Nguyen. I have one more online question. Comment queue. This comment is coming from Mr. Eric Tam. You may begin. Hi, I guess I wanted to address Ms.

[6126] SPEAKER_11: Martinez's last comment. Maybe she should reread the California Public Records Act. I don't think there's a clause in there where you have to be a parent in order to file a Public Records Act. So I'd love to see that statement, if that's true. But going straight to it. First, I want to just say thank you, Member Marquez, for her service. I wish her the best. Tonight, I want to talk about $170,000 spend for the marketing agency. I am really frustrated that we prioritize marketing spend versus supporting our teachers after hearing Ms. Connie Persaud's last meeting and the other speakers tonight. Member Marquez encouraged us to Oh, sorry. Member Marquez encouraged us to use facts and not stories. Therefore, I encourage everyone watching to go watch the June 16th, 2022 board meeting, timestamp five hours, 22 minutes and 30 seconds. You can see for yourself who said what during the original discussion. On the meeting, when the contract was approved, Member Grindle described our social media strategy as ineffective and scattered. I agree, Member Grindle. And USD's social media assets were ineffective. So common sense would be if it's not working, we should stop, right? So how come the board keeps approving the warrants that give money to Mr. Jeff Vu for tens of thousands of dollars a year, including the 2022 year to 23 for $15,000 as a marketing consultant? Second, student member Torres, did you know that as part of the above contracts, we have spent close to $50,000 on social media assets creation in the past two years? NUSD has created multiple social media videos for DLI, Star Academy, and other programs, yet the Gabi research shows close to a 17-point drop in satisfaction in the past two years. And finally, Dr. Triplett spoke to that the marketing campaign will also help with our retention and hiring problems. For it, on page six on the Presidio scope of work contract, they write, we also recommend conducting research to identify why potential staff would want to reallocate to NUSD. Does that mean we have done the survey and research, or do we have to pay more for research? Can I just ask a common HR practice question? Why are we not just using the $170,000 to pay for hiring bonuses so that people will want to join? In conclusion, how many teachers have to use their own money to pay for supplies, and how many teachers have to work overtime to help students? And now tonight, we hear that we don't even have a full-time science teacher at the science high school. Doesn't it feel like we have our priorities all wrong? We can spend $170,000 on social media, but not on our teachers. Thank you.

[6292] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you Mr. Tam. On to public comment on agenda items. Ms. Parks. You will be speaking on five items. 11.4, 11.16, 11.12, 15.1, and 15.2. And for those that don't know, you have to speak all at once.

[6325] Cindy Parks: Everything that's on the agenda, you've got to hit it at once. 11.4, the attachment to the agenda, 11.4, is an engagement letter from the attorney firm Myers-Knave to President Wynne and is dated October 6, The scope of service is to conduct an investigation to determine if disclosure of information violated the Brown Act or any other privileged NUSD investigation. This investigation will include fact-finding analysis, assessment of legal risk, and recommendations. We will make our best effort to conclude this investigation within the 30 days of commencement. Our work is limited to such services. We will provide additional legal services at your request provided we agree to perform that additional work. Government Code Section 54963 states that a person may not disclose confidential information that has been acquired by being presented in a closed session. Also, confidential information means communication made in closed session that is specifically related to the basis for the legislative body of the local agency to meet lawfully in closed session. The violation of the section may be addressed by the use of such remedies as a referral of the member of the legislative body who will willfully disclose competent confidential information in violation of this section to the grand jury. How much will be spent in legal fees to investigate this issue? Hopefully in the 30 day time period. Are you conducting this investigation due to the records I received from the ACOE redacted by an attorney from Lozano Smith, which recounted known Newark Unified School District concerns? How does this relate to the engagement of legal services email from the same firm dated October 17th to President Wynn, which was removed from the website? I assume it was inadvertently posted. The scope of engagement for that second email is to provide governance related counsel and investigate matters as requested. When will that engagement letter come to the board? It sounds like those who speak up with valid concerns are subject to a witch hunt in order to silence the whistleblower. Item 11.12, which is board policy 4000. In this concepts and roles policy, it says the superintendent has primary responsibility for overseeing the district's personnel system. To support this effort, the board shall approve a framework for sound hiring practices. I hope the board receives this framework for sound hiring practices soon. because I don't see hiring practices have turned out too well lately. It also states that the board recognizes that every employee has a stake in the district's successful operation. The board encourages all district employees to express their ideas, concerns, and proposals related to the improvement of working conditions and the total educational program. The superintendent or designee shall establish procedures whereby he or she will receive and consider employee suggestions and submit them when appropriate for consideration by the board. I hope the employee suggestions are received as contributions to help the district be successful and are not being used against the employee as a retaliation effort. 11.16 is the quarterly contract report. Although the listing of the month has been removed, it should be for July, August, and September. Listed is the contract for school services of California in the amount of $48,000 for the organizational review of HR. I hope you took the time to review the contracts and noticed that the contract with school services was executed by Dr. Triplett and the representative from school services back in December of 2021. Why is a contract executed 10 months ago just being brought to you now for ratification? Education code 17605 indicates a governing board can delegate to any officer or employee the authority to purchase supplies, equipment or services. It also indicates that all transactions entered into by the officer or employee shall be reviewed by the governing board every 60 days. Eight months after the contract was executed, the purchase order was created on July 7th. And the warrant was issued five days later on July 13th for $14,400. Clearly the work had commenced prior to the creation of the purchase order on July 7th. Let me remind you of the audit finding from Christy White concerning the Kramer Workplace Investigation Warrant issued on 10-8-21 with a PO date of 10-6-21. And in their audit findings, they said that the purchase order should have been processed prior to the work performed. All of this confirms the need for a written internal control process, which Ms.dela Cruz admitted at last week's Audit Committee meeting the district does not have. I hope you will ask why there has been such a delay in bringing this contract forward and support the writing of a draft for an internal control process. 15.5, organizational review of the human resources and business department. Says the recommended action is for the board to accept the report. The purpose is to provide the board with a presentation from school services of California Organizational Review and for the board to accept the report. What report? The only thing attached to this agenda item is a presentation from school services that was attached yesterday morning. Yesterday morning, not when the agenda was posted on Monday, yesterday morning. There still is no, when I last looked, there was still no report. Even if it was posted at three o'clock today, how was the public and how were you supposed to review the report, which this agenda item says you're going to accept and approve?

[6764] Marie dela Cruz: That's it.

[6773] Cindy Parks: Finally, 15.2, resolution for independent study. This item concerns Newark Unified School District adopting a new mathematics course progression for grades six through 12 during the 21-22 academic year. Five eighth grade students enrolled in Algebra I during their seventh grade year in 21-22 have requested access to the geometry course during their eighth grade year, 22-23. These five students take eighth grade geometry using the same platform that we offer traditional independent students attending Crossroads, which is imagine learning or ingenuity. Your resolution concludes with now therefore be it resolved that the board does hereby provide public notice and certification that the use of imagine learning ingenuity curriculum and support documentation meet the requirements of the 22-23 school year for those eighth graders in geometry. Let me ask you the million dollar question. What math instruction has these students received for the last 10 weeks prior to this resolution? Also, how does this meet education code 51747.5? because it says the independent study by each pupil shall be coordinated, evaluated, and notwithstanding subdivision A of section 46-300, shall be under the general supervision of an employee of the local educational agency who possesses a valid certification document or an emergency credential registered as required by law. Just so that we're on the same page, I'm not 100% sure who the teacher is, but Ms. Hodges is the independent study teacher for a secondary campus over at Crossroads. I don't know if she's the one doing it or not, but her credentials in social studies. It seems this resolution is stating for this course that NUSD is operating this geometry course via imagine or ingenuity as an independent study program on the Newark Junior High campus. Is that what allows Ms., I mean, if Ms. Hodges is overseeing the project, I mean, we don't even know, I mean, she's not credentialed in that subject matter in math. And what allows her is that she's on the crossroads in alternative ed. Finally, how are these students enrolled in an independent study program when they're enrolled at the junior high? I hope you'll ask some follow-up questions to that resolution and get some clarification on exactly how this has been done because I've never heard where somebody's been enrolled in two programs in this district prior.

[6956] Phuong Nguyen: Ms. Angela Silvera, on agenda item 9.1 and 11.9. Oh, just 11.9, yeah. Thank you.

[6968] SPEAKER_37: Hi, everybody again. I just wanted to say one thing about the complaints concerning instructional materials. My son is in fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary, and he still does not have a math textbook or math consumable. Ariel Dolowich did say that they were ordered in time, and I understand that. But I also don't know or don't believe that the district then, when they realized only fifth grade still does not have math consumables to utilize, did they go to the teachers and say, where are you at in your pacing? What supplies do you need? Instead, it was on the teacher to go to the district and request the items. And although I understand putting it on the teacher, because that is kind of an easy to slough off to them, it's also not really fair to them because the material should have been there day one. And the fact that we then, as parents, get told your child still doesn't have a math consumable. We don't know when it will come. It's really frustrating. Mr. Delovich did say that they would hopefully be here by October 21st, but I haven't heard if they have arrived or if you guys have gotten them yet. And I understand that you're supposed to go through a process for complaints And I was just believing that the district was providing these copies. And as I had said at another board meeting, I just really truly do hope that the district is providing funds to all of the teachers if they use their own copy code to not hurt them from being able to make other copies because they're making their math copies. Because that to me seems very unfair when it was I understand it was a supply chain issue. I get that. But it still isn't the teacher's fault. And yet they're getting penalized for something. And in return for that, my child is getting penalized for that. I do appreciate that the next chapter's copies were provided that next day after there were It was brought up to the district and I thank you to graphics for that, that they hustled and got it. But I don't know what other fifth grade teachers are in the same boat. And again, is the district going to them or is it that they have to go to the district when really the district should have provided in the first place? Thank you.

[7124] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Silvera. On to agenda item 10.2, personnel report. Dr. Triplett? Oh, sorry, it's a consent item. Would any board members like to pull? OK, are there any other onto agenda item 11.1? Are there any consent agenda items that any board member would like to pull tonight? Member Hill?

[7177] Aiden Hill: 11.4 and 11.16, please, 16. 11.4 and 11.16, OK. May I get a motion to approve?

[7192] Phuong Nguyen: the remaining consent agenda items.

[7198] SPEAKER_20: So moved. All seconded?

[7200] Phuong Nguyen: Motion made by member Grindel, seconded by member Zhang. Student board member, how do you vote?

[7207] SPEAKER_10: Yes. Thank you.

[7214] Phuong Nguyen: Please vote on board docs. Thank you.

[7222] Nancy Thomas: Four yeas.

[7223] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. On to item 12.1, superintendent report. Dr. Triplett.

[7247] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you. Before I start, I do want to say, we really are intending to celebrate our permanent status teachers this evening. But since the power report was pulled, if any teacher does need to leave early, I totally understand. I do just want to appreciate the teachers that have achieved tenure, permanent status. This is really exciting.

[7273] Phuong Nguyen: Actually, Dr. Triplett, I'd like to make, if you don't mind, I would like to address the PAL report right now so that we can recognize our teachers, if that's OK. So the floor is yours, Member Hill, on agenda item 10.2.

[7296] Aiden Hill: Thank you. Yeah, I just I had a question for Miss Ingham-Watters. So since I've just recently gone through this whole process, that's what kind of spurred my question. So I noticed that we are we have a status that we're calling probationary zero. But it's it's my understanding that that that that status actually doesn't exist, that there's like a temporary status. But that's sort of a totally different. So could you explain that?

[7324] SPEAKER_38: Sure, probationary zero status is used for interns.

[7330] Aiden Hill: I got it. Thank you.

[7331] SPEAKER_38: You're welcome.

[7336] Aiden Hill: Thank you. I make the motion to approve item 12.1. I'll second.

[7341] Phuong Nguyen: Motion made by Member Hill, seconded by Member Grindel. Please vote on board docs. Thank you, Member Hill.

[7364] Nancy Thomas: OK, 4 yays.

[7365] SPEAKER_26: Yay.

[7368] Joy Lee: Congratulations.

[7374] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Thank you, board. And we just want to take a moment to have a little ceremony here. I appreciate being willing to move this up so that our teachers don't have to wait around till later. We have a list of teachers that are being celebrated for permanent status. That's tenure. A really significant achievement. And it's something that we take really seriously. And the tenure process is a really rigorous process. It means something to become tenured in NUSD. This is not a rubber stamp. And so what we have, the folks that we have before us, we really want to celebrate because these are teachers who have achieved this status. And so what we have tonight, I'm going to say their names. And if they're present, then they could come up. Is that right, Ms. Ingham-Watters? We have a certificate and a flower, and we also want to have a chance to take pictures. So if you'll indulge me here. So our first teacher, Akela Almada. Just to make this process better, we're all going to stand out here, and then we can read them out. Oh, here we go. Fist bumps. Here we go.

[7466] SPEAKER_37: They're going to stand right there.

[7470] Mark Triplett: Perfect. Thanks, Ms. Almada. Next is Travis Bravo. Next is Jessica Cantiller. And we have Mariela Cervantes.

[7499] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Taylor Cocole.

[7506] Mark Triplett: Sylvia Garrett. Manju Goyal. Christine Hanohano. Destiny Isaac. Scott Jorgens. Shelby Ortiz. Perry Quinn, oh sorry, Quinn Perry. Athena Radcliffe. Nefertari Royston. Justin Starratt. Fluin Toscano. And Kristen Ortola. One more round of applause for everyone.

[7627] SPEAKER_08: Congratulations, y'all.

[7649] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Dr. Triplett, for allowing us to commence with congratulating our tenured teachers. Once again, congratulations to you all. Thank you again. With that, we will start with the superintendent report again. Thank you. Back to you, Dr. Triplett.

[7672] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. All right, well, I'm going to try to go pretty quickly over this first part of the superintendent's report, because I have some fabulous guest stars that are joining me tonight from Newark Memorial High School that are going to be invited to be a part of the superintendent report. So why don't we get started? Ms. Gutierrez? So first wanted to just do a regular sharing of the enrollment. So as you can see, we've had in the last two weeks, had a little bit of a decline in our elementary totals. So that's on the far right as compared to the projections. We're still above projections in elementary school, but had a little bit of a dip from two weeks ago. The junior high, you can see we're holding steady at about, well, 1,050. We did lose three students there. Memorial, we have a sizable amount of students that have actually shifted over to Bridgepoint. So you can see the number went from 1,534 two weeks ago to, or 10, yeah, two weeks ago, to 1,517. this past week, but then you can also see that the numbers at Bridgepoint have increased, and this is something that happens every year as students working with counselors and administration determine that Bridgepoint is a good option for them. And then we have a slight decline in the number of students in our virtual Crossroads program. Next slide. Wanted to just update the board we as we all know we have board elections coming up with that with a general election And I wanted to just let the board know that I've reached out to all four of the board candidates offered to meet with them individually And I have had two of the board candidates that have taken me up on the offer. So we've had some good conversation and And so that is ongoing. We wanted to just be available to engage with all the candidates if they so wished. Walk, bike, and roll happened on the 12th. It was a fantastic event. I want to thank President Nguyen for being involved at both Coyote Hills and at the Junior High. You see a couple pictures. The one on the left is a parent, as well as Principal Piekowski, who were out there celebrating. And there was lots of great stuff for the students. The photo in the middle is from Coyote Hills, where there was a great walk, bike, and roll to school. That's a teacher, Ms. Villo, who was there. She was giving out treats to students as they came in. And then on the right, you can see our honorable mayor. He was there at the junior high, taking some selfies with some of the students who were taking celebrity photos. And that was really awesome, too. Next slide, please. I mentioned to the board prior that our fall assessment window has already begun. It ends on November 1st. And when we do conclude with the assessment window, if we go to the next slide, please, Ms. Gutierrez. We really, one of our big priorities is assessment for learning and what we mean by that is utilizing assessment to really inform teaching practice. And so we are really excited to be focusing professional development in the upcoming weeks on supporting teachers to really analyze their data in a collaborative way and supporting each other around analyzing the data and then looking to to how it informs their daily practice. We also have elementary school parent-teacher conferences coming up. You can see there on the right side, that's our calendar. November 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th will be minimum days where the teachers will be engaging with parents for a parent-teacher conference in elementary school. Next slide. And all right, that was pretty quick. Not too bad, Superintendent Triplett, four minutes. Want to invite up three fantastic school leaders from Memorial High School. We have Meher Ndolia, Lindia To, and Liam Sarmiento. These three are members of the Environment Club. And they approached me, what was it, students, maybe about three weeks ago or so, with student board member Torres to talk about, excuse me, to talk about a plan they had to address a challenge that they were seeing at the high school. So they've been working, doing a lot of work, a lot of planning, a lot of thinking about what are some ways to address the recycling and really improve recycling at the high school. And so I'm going to turn it over to them to talk a little bit about their plans, what they discovered, what they're planning, and how we're collaborating.

[7989] SPEAKER_14: Good evening, everyone. We're the Environment Club from NMHS.

[7996] SPEAKER_48: I'm Meheran Dholia. I'm a co-president for the Environment Club.

[8001] SPEAKER_14: I'm Liam, the second co-president of the Environment Club.

[8005] SPEAKER_04: And I'm Lyndia, the co-VP of this club.

[8009] SPEAKER_48: And we want to present our plan to implement air cycling program in the school.

[8019] SPEAKER_14: So we saw an issue of a lot of stuff that could be recycled being thrown into the trash. So we decided to do something about it, hence the recycling program. This will help decrease the waste of the school while also increasing environmental responsibility of the school. Now it is true that a lot of food is also being trashed, as you can see all those packaged waffles and those completely good apples. But if everything goes well with the recycling program, then we also plan to implement a composting program as well. And it'll also help get NMHS to the modern era, as not many schools have large-scale recycling programs in them. Now, this thing isn't going to run by itself. And consultants already have a lot on the plates. So we're enlisting the help of volunteers to help run this program. Students will be able to get volunteer hours while saving the environment at the same time.

[8074] SPEAKER_48: Hi, again. I'm Meher. And I want to talk a little more about what this is going to look like on campus realistically. We want to mimic the concentration of the trash cans throughout the school with our recycling bin placement. We're probably going to do a three to one ratio. So our plan is to place five recycling bins in the cafeteria because that's where there's the most lunch activity and therefore the most waste. And the other 10 will be scattered around elsewhere on campus. This number can be adjusted at any time based on the recycling activity we see at Newark Memorial. We're going to start the program off with just the five in the cafeteria to kind of gauge the activity and use we see for a few weeks. And once we get our students and our volunteers familiar with our system, then we will add the last 10 remaining recycling bins and effectively complete the program. We know that students will not be perfect when it comes to recycling, so we aim to reduce any mistakes and increase efficiency. We are enlisting our volunteers to make infographics to put around the school and otherwise spreading the news of recycling do's and don'ts at Newark. One such example of an infographic can be shown on the screen. Every Friday when emptying out the bins, we will skim over the contents to check for non-recyclables. We also will clean whatever food residue is left on those recyclables so they can be easily processed.

[8170] SPEAKER_04: As much as we would like to pull this off ourselves as the Environment Club, we also need the help of everyone at our school. And this is effective through spreading awareness through school announcements, our social media, and our website. So currently we have a Remind, a Discord, and an Instagram Up that's available to everyone at NMHS so we can help inform and spread awareness on how to properly recycle items. We also are drafting a website that holds information about our club and updates on our future programs, such as the composting program, as Liam mentioned before. We're also doing research on reaching out to third-party programs that could help support us in our endeavors, such as SEWA International and the National High School Climate Forum. So we want this recycling program to not only be a one-time thing and just disappear after we graduate, but we want to create a solid foundation so that it could stay there permanently. We also want it to be replicable across all campuses in the Newark district, such as the elementary schools and the middle school. Once we create the solid foundation, we're also planning to create the compost program, which is essential because of the excessive food waste. We also want to create a TerraCycle program so that we can recycle things that aren't normally recyclable, such as sauce packets and bags. Thank you so much for listening.

[8260] SPEAKER_48: If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let us know.

[8264] SPEAKER_14: Thank you. I'm sorry. No, no, go ahead. And as always, thank you for listening, and good night.

[8278] Phuong Nguyen: Don't leave just yet. We're going to start off with our student board member, Diego Torres, with comments or questions.

[8286] Diego Torres: I love that presentation a lot. I think you identified a problem at our school and you are finding a solution, which is what we need at our school. And Liam, I have a question for you. Can you tell us about your hat that you made? Because you didn't.

[8298] SPEAKER_14: Because we were all intrigued by it. Oh, yeah. So I saw these bucket hats at Ikea. And I'm like, wait a minute. Those could be made out of chip bags. So then I went around to school collecting chip bags. And I had to clean, cut, and wash them, and then iron them out into shapes. And then once I taped it all together, I got this nice thing. So yeah.

[8323] Phuong Nguyen: Remember to tag BTS on that, you know?

[8327] SPEAKER_14: Of course.

[8328] Bowen Zhang: I mean, yeah, thank you for the wonderful work. It's very exciting to see young people taking, really taking on the issue that matters to them the most, because they will be the one inheriting the planet. And I guess, can you explain again, Mr. Sarmento, if I'm right, that what's made of your hat looks like the package of the chips or something?

[8351] SPEAKER_14: Oh, yeah. It's literally just made of chip bags and a bit of tape.

[8356] Bowen Zhang: Another thing is that if my memory serves me right, do you have a sister that graduated two years ago? Oh, yes. Yeah. You know, you know, you really look like your sister.

[8365] SPEAKER_14: Oh, really?

[8366] Bowen Zhang: I mean, just I believe she was a valedictorian. But during the pandemic, we just never got a chance to really shake her hand, shake the entire class of that. And hopefully we got a chance to shake your hand when you when you graduate.

[8381] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang, Member Hill.

[8384] Aiden Hill: Thank you, team. Great presentation and great initiative. And again, I just want to congratulate you because a lot of people think about things, but they don't take action, but you're actually taking action. And so that's wonderful. One question for you, I think you hit on it a little bit, but for old folks like me that grew up in a time when recycling was just starting, a lot of times we can get confused by the various options. Just out of curiosity, what are some of the strategies that you're gonna use to make sure that people put the right things in the right bins?

[8420] SPEAKER_14: Well, as we said before, we're going to be using volunteers. And they're going to be designing infographics to help people know what to recycle. I have this beautiful infographic of a hair maid over here. And for example, the type of food recycling that's recyclable are stuff like salad containers, milk cartons, and other things like that, and water bottles. And it's really simple to get into too, so. Great. Thank you.

[8451] Terrence Grindall: Member Grindel. It's a wonderful presentation and it's exciting to see you guys taking the initiative on your own. Don't be shy about asking us for help and as you go forward with your The garbage or the waste program for the city has some resources that can help you. So it's great that you're working on this on your own. And as you identify needs, as you move towards composting, please reach out so we can build, help strengthen this self-initiated program, which is really wonderful. So thank you.

[8493] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you for the presentation. It was wonderful. And also, I hope that you guys will be able to meet your goal of modeling this for all the other schools in the district. So good luck to you guys, and I know that you will succeed in that. And then lastly, have you set up any fundraising components for your initiative?

[8520] SPEAKER_48: Some of the things that we're going to do in the near future, next week is the high school's food fair, and we're going to be selling hot chocolate there. Some other things are selling Liam's bucket hats, garage sales, that kind of thing for fundraising.

[8536] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you.

[8539] Mark Triplett: Thanks, y'all. Y'all make us really proud. And it's been great working with you on this. And I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you'd like to come back maybe later in the year and report out on how it's been going, right?

[8551] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, that would be wonderful. Thank you. Perfect. Thank you, Dr. Triplett and students for the presentation. And then on to item 13. Point one, staffing challenges and strategies, Dr. Triplett.

[8580] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. So I'll turn it over to Ms. Ingham-Watters in a second. But this is an agenda item based on a request from, I believe it was board member Jeon, to get an update on the challenges and the strategies for addressing staffing this year. Miss Ingham-Watters has gone out to the podium.

[8601] SPEAKER_38: I can see everyone much better. I don't know. It just feels better to present from here. So yes, like you said, Dr. Triplett, this is on a request from the board. So I'd like to give some information about Newark Unified's staffing situation, current vacancies, and then strategies that we've implemented and will continue to. As you know, We do have a nationwide teacher shortage. According to a study out of Brown University in a study called, is there a national teacher shortage? A systematic examination of reports of teacher shortages in the United States that reports that there is at least 36,500 to 53,000 vacant positions across the United States. In addition, up to 163,000 underqualified individuals filling positions in the United States. In California, statewide, it's anywhere from 24,000 to 50,000 teacher shortages in California. Studies say that teachers are quitting the profession due to uncompetitive pay, the COVID conditions of the last several years and burnout. So this is not a situation unique to Newark Unified and we will continue to work hard in addressing these challenges. So the first slide that I'd like to cover to provide the board information is a snapshot of our current vacancies. The first slide shows certificated positions. And I've split the data up between elementary and secondary, further gen ed classes, and special education classes. So as you can see in our elementary general education classes, we have one current vacancy. And it's filled right now with a long-term sub. A candidate is being interviewed this week for that position. So that's all elementary district-wide. We have one long-term sub at elementary gen ed. For special education classes at the elementary level, we have five vacancies. We have long-term subs in two of those. And we have contracted three teachers for this year. Moving to secondary, you see a little bit higher numbers. In secondary general education, we have eight total vacancies. We have three at Newark Junior High School and five at Newark Memorial High School. All three at the junior high are filled with long-term subs, and all five at Newark Memorial High School are filled with long-term subs. In secondary special education level classes, we have three vacancies. One is being filled with a long-term sub. That is the position mentioned earlier tonight, the SDC class at Kennedy. We have currently the program specialist out of the special ed office, Mr. Daniels, has been working in the classroom the entire month of October. We have secured a long-term sub for this position. And I'd like to share another detail. She began last week kind of checking out the classroom. This week, she is shadowing Mr. Daniels. He is leading and she is supporting to learn the needs of the students and the processes that are in class. Next week, they will both be there as well. This time, the long-term sub will be leading the class and the program specialist, Mr. Daniels, will be supporting her on the back end. So although we recognize this was an extremely tough situation, we feel very very relieved that there's an adequate transition plan with this long-term sub that is willing to take over the classroom. So we're very excited. And I would like to thank the Special Education Department and Olivia Rangel, the director, for all of the support, in particular, with that vacancy at Kennedy Elementary. I apologize. The whole Kennedy story was for elementary. So let me go ahead and summarize secondary. We have three current vacancies. We have a long-term sub in one position. We have a contracted teacher in one position. We do have one true vacancy, but we do have an offer out this week to a candidate. We have other vacancies such as elementary TOSA positions and the high school position of teacher librarian. I left them outside of this data point because they are not the teacher of record for, you know, a class, a daily class. So that is our snapshot of vacancies as of today. The second gives an overview of where we have vacancies in our classified staff. You can see we have some short term sub coverage with our clerical vacancies, as well as our food service assistants. We do have maintenance vacancies. You'll see a very large number, should not be a surprise for our special education aides. We have 12 contracted and we have 11 vacant. Bilingual classroom aids are challenging to fill. We have three vacancies there and we have one secondary campus monitor vacancy. So my focus tonight on the strategies and supports will be focused on certificated struggles and vacancies and what the district's done and will continue to do to support this. So the first slide is all about what we're doing to increase our sub pool. So as you know, and thank you to the board for increasing the sub rates for Newark, we now stand at 220 days, $220 per day, and 250 per day starting on day six. We have seen an increase to our substitute pool, as you can see on the PAL reports every other week. We're starting to do an increase in sub recruitment and marketing. That includes social media, posters at every site, flyers at all of the sites for parents and visitors. We have waivers that are available for people who may want to be a sub. Maybe they haven't taken their basic skills test. There's a waiver that allows them to get started without that. at the beginning, as well as they're working towards their bachelor's requirements. We also have long-term absences, and we're able to break up those long-term positions in day-to-day subs. So sometimes it's hard for someone to commit for a long job, but we'll break those apart and get them filled day by day. So we're supporting our high absence rate on our low sub pool with some of these strategies. The HR department and principals are working closely and collaboratively to continue recruitment and hiring. That is keeping our postings current on EdJoin, reposting them regularly so they go to the top of the list. We jump on screening and interviewing and starting that process continually. We have recruited retirees and part-time staff to return and support and substitute for us. Of course, we do have and have a need for site-based coverage by in-house substituting by teachers and administrators take part in that as well. We also have an extra option called a six-fifths. That's at the secondary level where a teacher can take on an extra period of teaching. And using this agreement with NTA, we were actually able to fill two vacant positions, one at the junior high school. Enough teachers signed up to and agreed to take that sixth period. to cover one vacancy at the junior high and likewise one open classroom at the high school. So those are filled with our current teachers who are teaching sixth period and their FTE is adjusted to 1.2. Because we do have a lot of long-term subs, the department chairs and grade level teams are really supporting those long-term substitutes with lesson plans and pacing and collaborating together. District office staff and administrators will also step in when they're available. And we do know the toll of in-house subbing, especially right at the very beginning of the year. And so we are currently negotiating an in-house substitution rate and an MOU with our teachers association. So that concludes my staff report to give you a little insight on where Newark Unified stands within this national teacher shortage.

[9223] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Ingham-Watters. Any questions or comments from the student board member, Torres?

[9232] Diego Torres: So with these long-term subs and these plans that they're getting, So for department chairs, are they providing day-to-day plans, or is it just a weekly plan? And it's just like, OK, here's the lesson plan. Go teach it now. Are these long-term subs actually qualified to teach some of these subjects, or are they just given a lesson plan from the department chair and saying, here, teach it?

[9254] SPEAKER_38: So there were a couple of questions in there. I don't think I would be able to answer at the site level, you know, how department chairs are working with the staff within their department. I'm sure it varies site to site. But you did bring up a good point in speaking to the public speaker earlier today. Although we're excited that we have most all of our vacancies filled with long-term subs, They do have a valid credential from the teaching commission, but it's to be a sub. It's not to teach necessarily AP biology. Thank you.

[9293] Phuong Nguyen: Members on?

[9294] Bowen Zhang: So for the secondary general education, the five and Memorial High three at the junior high, these are currently vacant or they have eight subs there?

[9305] SPEAKER_38: They are currently vacant, but we have long-term subs who are committed to the assignment that are doing grades, communicating with parents, collaborating with their grade levels. So you'll still see those postings on EdJoin. If candidates apply with the appropriate credential, we're going to be on it very fast to try to have the classroom covered with a correctly credentialed teacher.

[9334] Bowen Zhang: Another thing about strategy is are we going to, are we reaching out to those academies where the people are getting their teaching credentials and about to graduate from the academy to be a teacher?

[9347] SPEAKER_38: Yeah, so we do have a lot of connections with the universities to take in student teachers, interns, and otherwise partner. At this point in the year, we're not going to find a lot of those folks because they're in their studies. But that's really part of our recruitment plan as we go into this next year, January, February, or student teachers who are currently doing their studies, we want to continue that pipeline for them upon completion of their studies.

[9384] Mark Triplett: And if I may, I think actually in these conditions, thinking about the substitute long-term substitutes as a potential place to recruit permanent teachers is something that not only are we considering, but I think we've actually had some success there in the past. Is that right? That's true.

[9405] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill?

[9407] Aiden Hill: No questions. Thank you, Ms. Waters.

[9409] Phuong Nguyen: Member Grindel?

[9410] Terrence Grindall: Yes. So is this six-fifths plan something you intend to do on an ongoing basis? I would imagine it creates a lot of stress for the teachers not having a prep period. So this is more of a stopgap, not to use the word. It's not something that you're going to be utilizing. Because I can imagine for some teachers, it's an advantage. They're getting paid for an extra class. But that's not something you want to do in the ongoing basis.

[9442] SPEAKER_38: You're correct. That is not our go-to solution for filling vacancies, not at all. It is contractual language that we can utilize. It involves the agreement of the teacher, the agreement of the NTA president, and we put it all in an agreement. It is certainly not an excuse for us to not recruit and not try to hire. But we do get to the situation where there aren't any new candidates. The teachers are getting pulled. for their subject area a lot on a daily basis. And so at some point, they do and will consider taking on that extra period and adjusting their FTE to a 1.2. and then just take it on for the year instead of kind of being called on a daily basis to do in-house subbing. But you're 100% right. We do not want to go in that direction because we know it's a big ask. Even though teachers are getting paid, we're tired. You know, teachers are tired by 3 o'clock.

[9507] Terrence Grindall: You mentioned burnout as a big problem that could feed that fire. Another question I have is, it's, well, personally, I work as a substitute for a different district, and I wonder if there's any professional development plans for substitutes, particularly to make them feel more part of the community. Sometimes it feels like, you know, as a sub, that you're kind of a free agent. You come in and cover a hole. I'd hope, given the community we have in Newark, that there's some work in that direction or that you're contemplating it. Hopefully that question made sense.

[9550] SPEAKER_38: It made perfect sense, and that is one of our projects that the HR department wants to work out a little bit thoroughly and comprehensively, a substitute orientation, whether it's a video, a handbook, an in-person orientation on a monthly basis. That's kind of a longer-term project for us, but we identify that that could really... There's a lot of competition. I could drive to Fremont in five minutes and the whole thing, but we want them to feel that small community feeling and get to know the staff. And so I think that is a project for us. We're not sure kind of what the actual product will look like, but we definitely want to make those connections with our substitutes.

[9594] Terrence Grindall: Well, I think I think I think whatever you do, even the attempt will be appreciated and make people feel more part of the district and also feed into your you're using that as a farm system as well. So thank you.

[9607] Mark Triplett: Yeah, I was just going to add, we also invited our long term subs to participate in the professional development that we do.

[9614] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Thank you, Member Grindel. Thank you. Missing waters. I don't have any questions, but I just wanted to thank you for the report and just to give us an understanding of what the vacancies are in the district and where we're at right now. So it's much appreciated. So thank you. You're welcome.

[9640] SPEAKER_36: President Nguyen? If I may interrupt, it seems like we might have not recorded a vote. Do you mind if we go back to the consent non-personnel items? Yes. I do have a motion by Vice President Grindahl and second by Member Zhang.

[9654] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[9654] SPEAKER_36: Would you mind taking a roll call vote?

[9656] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. I don't mind. We don't mind. Student board member, how do you vote? These are for the non-personnel consent agenda items.

[9668] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[9669] Phuong Nguyen: Member Zhang? Yes. Member Hill? Yes. Member Grindel? Yes. I'm also yes. Thank you. Thank you for the clarification. On to item 14.1, district goals and objectives. Dr. Triplett.

[9685] Mark Triplett: Okay. Thank you, President Nguyen. And I think Ms. Gutierrez, do you have that? Let's see. Let me see if I can get that. Make sure that you probably could pull it right off of the, yeah, off of the agenda item. Hopefully the formatting is right there. Yep. I think that'll do it. Great. So we're bringing this back tonight. This is the goals and objectives for the district that we've brought to the board a number of times at this point. We had a study session in September and then had a Staff had a chance to revise based on some feedback from the board and then present it again on October 6th where we got some more feedback from board members. And so we're now bringing this back to the board for approval. I do want to just go over some of the process, because it is a little bit different this year. We're trying to really streamline it and continue to improve this whole goal development process. So at this point, we're presenting the goals, and then with the idea that from here, Then we can really begin to build out corresponding outcomes that are smart, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-sensitive, and equitable. But I think last year we had a little bit of a challenge of bouncing back and forth between goals, objectives, and measurable outcomes, and so we're trying to do this a little bit different. Like I said, on the 15th, brought forth a draft, and then you all were able to give input. Staff has worked considerably since then, and now we're bringing these back. If the board chooses to approve these, then we would go back, the team would go back and generate measurable outcomes for each of these goals and objectives. And then we bring that back to the board for further input and approval. Next slide, please. So I've gone over these before, so I'm not going to spend too much time, because I know the board is familiar, but I did want to point out a few things. One is there was a suggestion that we really, because we are shifting away from the fiscal crisis that we had a couple of years ago, and we were able to really make some hard decisions, and get the budget in a much better place. We shifted the goal to goal one to be the instructional excellence for equity goal, but the other ones are still in the same order. Next slide. And the next one. And so, you see this, we, underneath Instructional Excellence for Equity, we have the STEAM objective, continuing to deepen the expansion of the STEAM initiative, TK12, including the STAR Academy, Environmental Literacy, Art Programming, as well as the math progressions. Next one. And then our ongoing focus on social-emotional learning, providing a social-emotional learning curriculum and designated instructional time for students and staff to develop and practice SEL competencies. And then the third instructional excellence for equity goal focused on college and career readiness, really focusing on our English language learners and supporting them within a number of our programs, the SEAL program, dual language immersion, as well as really continuing to build out our English language development instruction, both integrated and designated. And then as we've been talking about tonight, we know that recruitment and development and retention of highly qualified educators is a real critical priority. And so we have two objectives here. The first one being really focusing our ongoing resources to offer a competitive salary increase within the constraints of a multi-year balanced budget. I know that was feedback from board members around making sure that we're not just thinking about this year's balanced budget, but a balanced budget moving forward. Next slide. And then the second one, of course, being the importance of implementing a plan that supports all staff to grow professionally through professional development and coaching. We know that all of us continuing to be ongoing learners is the way that we're going to really transform our district. And then here within fiscal vitality, we talked about leveraging one-time funds for deferred needs. Next one. And then under communication, really moving forward with the marketing campaign. as well as community engagement sessions on a number of topics that are important to the community. And then lastly, within exceptional learning facilities, really moving forward with this time-sensitive focus on hiring a consultant for addressing our surplus property utilization. And then lastly, the community-based engagement process in order to identify our highest priority capital projects for our comprehensive middle and high schools. And those are the goals and objectives. Welcome comments and then we're recommending that the board approve these.

[10078] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Any comments or questions from student board member Torres?

[10085] Diego Torres: Not at this moment.

[10086] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Jung?

[10090] Bowen Zhang: So I guess this year, we changed the format a little bit. We approved the goal first, and then there will be measurement come back. We'll approve second time. Is that what's going to happen?

[10100] Mark Triplett: We'll bring back, based on these goals and objectives, we'll bring back measurable outcomes for the board to weigh in on and then hopefully approve.

[10109] Bowen Zhang: Okay. So last time we talked about narrowing down the goals, right? Because we don't want to have peanut butter spreading too thin, right? So from two weeks ago, is there any goal that got eliminated that we narrowed down? Because it still feels like we have quite a bit of goal that you have a lot of things you need to cover, right?

[10133] Mark Triplett: Yeah, we did narrow. I know that that was the suggestion in the first study session, and we narrowed from there. But we do have a lot of work to do, and we don't want to, I think, just being, I think there's importance in, as an organization, really articulating the things that we are doing and making sure that then all of our work throughout the system is really focused on these critical areas.

[10167] Bowen Zhang: So obviously, we're not going to be seeing the measurable outcome. But can you provide some example about, for example, in Go 1A, the social and emotional learning? What could be some example of a measurable outcome that you're going to be providing? And what would be some of the sample measurable outcome for college and career readiness?

[10193] Mark Triplett: Yeah, so like I said, we were hoping present these, we've had some engagement with the staff, and then come back with measurable outcomes. So I wouldn't want to just throw out some possible ones right now. I would want to really give it some good thought and make sure that they are smart, that they are specific and measurable and achievable, time-sensitive, et cetera. But you can see in that goal, for example, the social-emotional learning, it's really about implementing a curriculum and prioritizing time for students and staff to develop and practice these competencies. And so, you know, it would be within that realm.

[10242] Bowen Zhang: Okay, I guess follow-up, like the timeline, do you expect the board to be looking at or approving the measurable outcome for the next board meeting or the board for like a month from today?

[10253] Mark Triplett: Yes, my goal is within November.

[10259] SPEAKER_36: My apologies for the interruption. Member Zhang, if you don't mind getting closer to the microphone. Thank you.

[10266] Phuong Nguyen: Any other questions or comments, Member Zhang? Member Hill?

[10271] Aiden Hill: Thank you. Yeah, and to Member Zhang's point, so I do remember in our last meeting when we reviewed goals that you had specifically asked to weed down the number. And I had that presentation, but it looks like we actually didn't weed it down. We went up by one. So we had 10 goals last time. We have 11 this time. My concern with, again, this process is we've said that we're going to use the SMART methodology to put goals together, and yet we're really deviating from that. And just to remind people in the public, in terms of the acronym and what it stands for, so SMART goals stand for S, Specific, M, Measurable, A, Achievable or Attainable, R, Relevant, and T, Time-based. And so all good goals should basically be addressing those five different categories. And I think that the challenge that we have with the current goals is, You know, when I look at a number of them, I mean, specific is really about the outcome itself. And the idea is that in order to, you've got to envision a specific outcome before you can put the other pieces together. But when I look at a number of the goals, I mean, for example, like when I look at goal 1A, objective one, the description is continue to deepen the expansion. So that's really not specific. It's very vague. And if I go and I flip over to goal 1A, objective 3, it says, expand and deepen access for English learners. Again, I really don't know what that means. That's not specific. And there are other examples. The challenge then becomes, if you don't have a specific outcome, then it becomes very difficult to measure it. And so again, you're not going to be able to achieve your M. And if you can't measure it, then there's no way that you can understand whether it's attainable or not, because you need to understand where you are and where you're trying to go and whether it is a realistic goal. But then finally, on the R part, and this is the part where I'm most concerned, I think that we're missing a bunch of categories here. And so, you know, the elephant in the room, and we've been talking about it since our first planning session, has been test scores. And yet, and we know that this is a problem. It's been a problem for many years. And quite frankly, it's a major driver of our enrollment challenges. And yet, we don't see any mention of test scores or how we're going to tackle that. So that's one gap. And then there's others, right? There's no real looking at fiscal accountability, and we've certainly seen through the audit process this year, and I'll be speaking a little bit more about this later, that there are a number of findings related to how we're handling key financial processes. No discussion of that, and yet there's a lot of work that needs to be done. And then there's school safety, and there's a variety of other ones. So I really think that this is not ready for I mean, I think we have more work to do here. So that's my perspective. Thank you.

[10473] Phuong Nguyen: Member Grindel.

[10475] Terrence Grindall: Yes, well, I like the approach of coming to an agreement on the goals and then figuring out a way to measure those goals. So I support that idea. We have to climb a mountain and at some point we want to be on a ledge where we, instead of sliding up and down the face of El Capitan. So I think this sort of is that ledge that we're able to document where we want to go with goals. And with the understanding that we'll be working over the next few weeks to really refine the measurement of these goals. So I support this approach, I appreciate the modifications in terms of, and I know it's It's largely symbolic because we have four major goal areas. However, I did want to see the instructional excellence be on top because that really is a high priority for me. So I appreciate the, you know, humoring me in that regard. Because it does, each number, the number isn't exactly a priority, but I did want to make that clear. And I also, I think that the goal, the goal 1B is very important, that educators are where the rubber meets the road in this whole process. And I'm sorry. Yeah, it's one of the objective two, particularly with the professional development and coaching for our staff. I've heard anecdotes of a lack of reviews and coaching for staff in the past. And the way we're going to be improving our schools and making them excellent is by continuing to support our educators. And so I strongly support that effort. And so that's really the key. But I do, I don't have any problems with the goals as they are set. I am interested in how we move from here to a specific and measurable goals and measurement techniques. But I think we should, get ourselves camped on the ledge with these goals and make it clear to our organization where we want to go, and then dig deep into finding measurable goals. So thank you.

[10644] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Grindel. So with that, yes, Student Board Member.

[10650] Diego Torres: Sorry, I had some questions. So one of the goals, I think it's goal three, it says build the structures and systems for an effective two-way communication with students, staff, and families. So I wonder, is there any way that the community can maybe get involved with these goals, maybe hear some of their input, because if you want to build a communication with the families, I think this would be a great way to start, hear what they want to know about the goals, and I wonder if there's any way for that to happen. And then also with Goal 4, is to create safe, attractive, and inviting learning facilities in appearance of schools. So that would be something, because I know earlier we heard about a complaint of there's no water filtering stations at one of the schools. So I was wondering if that would be a part of Goal 4.

[10695] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you, student member Torres. That's right, yeah, the goal for objective two, conduct a community-based engagement process to identify the highest priority capital projects for our comprehensive middle and high schools. That would fall into that category. And in fact, we have started to engage a community, as you know, both students and staff, and we're planning an upcoming engagement with families. with regard to the highest priority capital projects at the high school, and something that has come up in both staff and student engagements has been the water stations. So it's really valuable. We wanted to, we really wanted to articulate this goal in a way that is responsive both to the community and to the board, because I know the board had mentioned that in order for us to bring forth the most important capital projects, the board felt it was really important to engage and hear from the community. And so that's, we're taking that approach of utilizing this year to really be methodical and engage in that way. So yeah, I think that what you're referring to, Board Member Torres, is both goal four and then also goal, what is that, goal three.

[10783] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Superintendent Triplett.

[10786] Bowen Zhang: So with that, I just want to add, obviously, in the following session, we'll be approving the measurables. But I will say, ultimately, that what member would know that some of these can be symbolic. But ultimately, when we're evaluating the superintendent, each individual board member will probably have quite wide latitude to decide how you evaluate the superintendent. I mean, this is not the only measurement that we'll be looking at. Correct.

[10812] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang. So my only comments is that, yes, I've had this conversation with Dr. Triplett on our one-on-one and also articulated the fact that maybe it would be a better idea if we did narrow down some of the goals. But after talking to him and understanding that he wanted to make sure that these goals, you know, are out there for for us to understand that these are the things that we really need to work on as a district. So in that sense, and then with the measurables coming up, for us to be able to have input and also community input in that, and then vote on it to make the final outcome of the district goals and objectives, I think I am good with approving these goals at this time. With that said, may I get a motion to approve the goals?

[10870] Terrence Grindall: Yeah, I'd like to make a short statement and then a motion. Just that this is an annual process. These goals are not chiseled into a hunk of granite that are unmovable as circumstances change and as we go forward. Again, we're not setting a 10-year plan. This is an annual plan, and I do agree with Board Member Torres. that it'd be great to, when we go through this process next year, that when it comes to the goal setting itself, we find a way to get some public input on that process. But again, understanding this is not chiseled in granite. We can make changes as we go along if we need to. This provides us direction, a roadmap, so to speak. And so based on that, I want to recommend that we approve the goals as presented.

[10930] Phuong Nguyen: May I get a second, please?

[10931] SPEAKER_20: I'll second that.

[10935] Phuong Nguyen: Please vote on board docs. Student board member, how do you vote?

[10939] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[10939] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you.

[10953] SPEAKER_36: We have three yeas with member Hale voting no.

[10956] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. On to new business, item 15.1, organizational review, human resources and business department. Dr. Triplett.

[10967] Mark Triplett: Okay, thank you very much, President Nguyen. So this agenda item, we have a, a guest speaker from school services who's joining us, Ms. Danielle. And I believe I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Ingham-Watters in a minute. But we just wanted to bring forth this to the board, not for approval, but to accept this really in-depth and thorough report. Clearly, we have a lot of areas where we need to continue to grow and improve, and we recognize that getting the help of an outside expert, such as Ms. Connolly, and school services would be really helpful in us digging into what are the things that are going well in a given department, in this case, human resources, and then what are things that we could continue to improve upon. And so school services did a really amazing job of diving really deep into this. And I'll turn it over to Miss Ingham-Watters to add anything else.

[11037] SPEAKER_38: No, we're just appreciative of Danielle Connelly's, it's getting late for me, work with our department and the business department to provide recommendations, which she'll be highlighting this evening. It has been, An interesting process and we're excited for potential work to come to support our employees and support our families and students.

[11067] Mark Triplett: Also, I'm sorry, can I say one more thing? Sorry. Just wanted to articulate that this is sort of, I would say, in some ways, the beginning of the process. Because what is in this, a very thorough report, are recommendations. And so, what we want to do moving forward is build a plan for how do we continue to transform the department based on these recommendations. So, that's what's being presented tonight.

[11094] SPEAKER_03: Excellent. Thank you. Good evening or good night, depending on if you're a night owl or morning person. My name is Danielle Conley, and it is really a pleasure to be here tonight to share with you some of the highlights of this very comprehensive and detailed report. Good evening, Governing Board, and to the district staff, and then the Newark Unified Community members who are sitting behind me. They're committed all the way through. School Services of California, we are a consulting company. We specialize in public schools and we do a lot of work in the fiscal area, also with human resources and some legislative governmental relations and lobbying on behalf of public schools as well. Prior to my life here in school services, I spent 18 years in various school districts. All of those years were spent in human resources departments, partnering and working with the business services department, especially in the topics that we're going to talk about tonight. So before I jump into some of the key observations and recommendations, I wanted to provide a little context about this report. This report is an assessment and analysis based on operations. It is not an audit, and it's certainly not an evaluation of the employees who are sitting in the seat doing this hard work. As you know, there are a lot of difficulties and a lot of functions that happen in an HR and business department, but we are narrowly focused in some key areas. for this particular work. So as you can see here, we examined employee health and welfare benefits. We looked at position control practices. For those of you who aren't familiar with that term, position control is an internal management system where the district budget, where payroll function, and HR, and they all come together in an integrated way to manage the personnel for the district. It's very complicated and oftentimes a common area of challenge for many districts in California. We also looked at HR policies, procedures, and then employee recruitment and selection and hiring. We did that by visiting with the district. We did some field work. We interviewed the employees who are in the business and HR department, and then also some of the partner departments at the district office, in addition to the customers that the department serves, so the site administrators and some of the labor partners as well. We looked at documentation and we focused really on the function of those departments. Now, in terms of why I said this isn't an audit. We didn't, the district approached us and said we know we are challenged with recruitment. We've heard about this all night, so it wasn't like we are exploring is this actually a problem. This work is focused on why is this a problem and how do we fix it and an implementation plan moving forward. So I just wanted to make that very clear distinction between what this report is all about. Now, when I go into the overall observations. The report is very detailed, so I extracted just a couple of talking points in each area, but I want to note that I do have the report in front of me, and so if anyone has any detailed questions, I will be ready to answer those. We've talked a lot tonight about the recruitment struggles. I do want to note we've talked a lot about the teacher pipeline, and we should continue to do that, but what is happening right now throughout this state is a staffing crisis, and that's not an over-exaggeration. We've talked about the pipeline for a very long time, but this has grown to classified employment. And then we're also seeing this within our administrative and supervisor ranks, because if you don't have qualified teachers, qualified teachers work their way into administration. So this is really a comprehensive problem. This has been going on over time. And what the pandemic did is it increased the attrition rates for many districts. That happened here in this district. The pandemic also increased the number of leaves. These factors and these details drive staffing needs. In addition, we have temporary emergency funding that is meant to increase staffing temporarily and also sustain staffing and that increased staffing needs. So what this HR department was faced with during the pandemic is almost doubling the number of new hires. So your new hires were outpacing your attrition rates based on all of these factors. And we've heard about that tonight. So those challenges were going into the pandemic already with difficulty, and then the pandemic just really magnified that. And again, this is an unfortunate circumstance that many are focused. on addressing because it really is a statewide problem. As we think about the recommendations here though, the teacher pipeline is not within the control of anyone in this room, right? The state is dedicating a lot of funding to build that, but what we're focused on is internal operations that can help make recruitment practices more effective. So I want to focus on the key areas of the HR department staffing. And the reason why is in order to achieve operational efficiency, you've got to have the organizational structure that serves the needs of the district. The staffing should be allocated at a level that can effectively operate. strong procedures and policies that are in process, and effective communication practices. So starting with that baseline foundation, I want to take a look real quick at the HR department positions. On this slide, you see here that it says six full-time employment or FTE. That's how we describe staffing. Some key observations during field work, the HR manager positions were either vacant at the time or the incumbent was unavailable. And the staff secretary one position is actually listed under HR, but that particular position is serving as the receptionist, and about 80 to 90% of that position's time is spent taking incoming customers and dealing with student matters and educational services matters. And so what that does is it provides a false sense of FTE because you actually don't have those positions functioning as true HR positions. So there was a lot of shifting transitions and changes that deeply impacts the department's ability to meet the recruitment needs and all of the other requirements and compliance factors that HR is required to focus on. Another element of this report was a comparative examination. So these districts that you see here on the top row, these were districts that were similar in size, similar to student demographics. and so we were able to gather their staffing data for their HR department only. You see that the positions in the comparative table here are listed by their job classification with executive management. The district was out of alignment in terms of the management positions, and that was because the HR manager positions are classified as classified management positions, but I'll note in a slide or two in a minute that they weren't truly serving supervisory evaluative functioning managers, and that's pulling the executive director position into doing some more of that work. You'll also see the department staffing, which in HR is the highly analytical, highly technical work. You usually see a personnel specialist or an HR generalist. We see here that the district's HR department doesn't have any staffing in that area. That's a critically important observation because the department is struggling with the operational aspects. of so much of the work. And so one of the reasons is attributed to some of the staffing and how it is organized in the department. When we take the enrollment and divide it by the FTE, we come up with a ratio. And the lower your ratio, that means the higher you're staffed. So when you just look at this and just do the simple math, the district is ranked second, which means it has the second highest staffing allocation in this particular group. But if you recall that previous slide, They really don't because we subtract the district receptionist and then all the transitions of the staffing during this last year, they were probably operating, I would estimate, at two and a half, three FTE. And when you look at that realistic calculation, you see why that staffing is causing some significant stress within the department. So, as I already noted, the executive director position is getting pulled down into some of the department operations just because of the staffing deficiencies in that middle band. The HR manager positions, they're not truly functioning as evaluating supervising managers, and so that is a recommendation I make to take a further look at those. The substitute placement clerk position, the job description was last updated in 1995, and it really just truly does not depict what the experience is in a modern HR office. And again, the staff secretary one position is not truly functioning as an HR position. So I make some recommendations here, which I'll get to a recommended org chart in just a second. I recommend that the district consider reorganizing the department and taking a look at those job descriptions, the role and the function of any position in any organization is conveyed and communicated by the appropriate job title and then the appropriate duties described. The district is also utilizing a temporary staffing resource in terms of having a substitute come in and provide these additional support areas. And because that has been going on, there is certainly a justification to consider that to be made in a permanent way. So here is the teeny tiny org chart that none of us can see those bullets, but I'll just tell you what they say and it's bigger in the report. This is the biggest we could get it on the slide. But you have your executive director position that's overseeing the department with the administrative assistant. There is no change there. You see here that I recommend to restructure the two HR manager positions. with one of them being a director of operations, HR, just due to this critical need in this area in terms of department operations to help support recruitment, selection, onboarding, and some of the other areas. The other HR manager position restructured as an HR generalist, which is more aligned with what we usually see as an industry standard, and again, to help support employees, sites, some of these essential functional areas. Substitute placement clerk remains the same, and then we have the recommended new position, which has really been temporary over a sustained period of time. In terms of recruitment and onboarding, We already know about the first bullet. We've talked about that all night. That's the reason why I'm here. In terms of why this is happening, the district has sustained a lot of vacancies, and I already kind of opened up with that as well. But due to these high numbers of unfilled positions, and we heard about some of the stressors earlier today, we've got principals working in classrooms, The hiring process is bottlenecking. It's taking weeks if not months to complete. And these are things that the district can control if the departments have the resources and staffing and training necessary to push this work over the finish line. The district is in a good position right now to plan and address recruitment for 23-24. We are outside of the certificated recruitment season. So this is something that the district would plan to address right now moving forward to get ready for the spring. In terms of recruitment and onboarding, I know HR is already working on a comprehensive recruitment plan. They've already jumped into action. HR and business are very eager to set forth with many of these recommendations. In addition, there are some hiring barriers in the process. Just simple operational things don't cost anything but just a change in practice to help lift some obstacles that are in place when it comes to hiring new employees. In terms of position control, the internal management system, there wasn't a lot of shared written standards and workflows. So that's one of, of course, the corresponding recommendations. There were differing perspectives in terms of what is position control. This is a very common circumstance when we work with school districts and whose role. with it to manage position control. And so I worked a lot with staff and there's a lot of narrative in the report about position control being an integrated and shared responsibility. And there are some various misunderstandings about, you know, who's supposed to be doing what. But this ultimately impacts the new hire process. And that's why this is important as we talk about recruitment. Because the more effective and efficient we're managing our positions and personnel, the better we are at hiring. So, of course, the first recommendation is to create those shared internal written procedures and practices. And we need some training. We can't expect staff to perform at an exceptional level if we're not providing them with the tools and resources they need to do their job. And so we have a significant need for training on the escape position control system. And we definitely have staff who are eager to do that as well. In terms of creating that accountability and sense of customer service, HR and business should work together to start establishing those in those areas. Again, recognizing that HR has been through a considerable staffing transition right now, and it is difficult to do that when you don't have consistent staffing in place. So as far as just some closing thoughts that I'll leave you with, included in the report is the implementation plan for these recommendations. But no recommendation is more important than the other. It's just that you simply can't be strategic if you don't have staffing and if you don't have written procedures. So they're all very important. And in terms of the implementation plan, It is broken down into three sections. Some of them are just ongoing. It took a long time to get to this moment where the district is now, and it will take some time to move out of this moment. And with that, I somehow got to the end of the presentation, and I'm available and ready for questions if there are any.

[12099] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Connelly. Any questions or comments from our student board member, student board member Torres? Not at this moment. Thank you.

[12109] Bowen Zhang: So I don't really have questions, but I have some comments. So I generally have four points that I want to make. First of all, before I make my comment, this report is actually out for the board Monday. So we do have 72 hours to review this. I mean, for the 97-page report. So the comment I want to make is, When I first see this agenda item, this is more like the operation of the district. So I was a bit surprised that the board will actually look at that because generally we would say the board doesn't really get involved into the daily operation of the district. But given that it brought into the board discussion, so I would not make the four comments from a perspective of a board member. I would make the four comments or any advice or suggestion, whatever you want to call it, from a perspective of a person that with a sizable compensation in the private sector. So this will be what I learned from the private sector. So the first thing, I did look at a report talking about a communication between the HR department and whatever the services department. What I observed from other organizations, successful organizations, and sometimes within this district is the interdepartmental communication usually oftentimes results from lack of what you call lateral or horizontal communication between department heads. This is not specific to Newark Unified. I mean, many of the organizations where you have interdepartmental collaboration, generally what happens is the two supposed to be talking, two division heads or whatever team lead are supposed to be talking to each other generally move up the chain to let their common boss or whatever to communicate where they ended up not really owning the product. That's why oftentimes when I was interviewing at my job for any tech lead or very high level positions, I will ask the question, what do you think is the most important stakeholder or the most important working relationship you're going to have? Oftentimes the ideal answer I want to hear is not my teammate or my direct report. It's not the team lead from the other department or the team lead from the other team. So that's sort of, it is a challenge in many organizations, but I think we do need to improve and increase the horizontal communication, which It's very related to a second phenomenon that oftentimes I see from people in not successful organizations, which is oftentimes team leader or whatever individual members have a difficulty distinguishing between escalating up versus delegating up. You escalate up because you are being blocked. You want to remove the dependency. But you do not delegate your job up. You own it. That is your product. You are the leader. When you are blocked, don't escalate to your boss. You escalate to your boss will remove the dependency to unblock yourself. Your boss is not there to do your job. So escalate up, don't delegate up. And the third thing I want to make on the hiring thing about the HR department is I think Miss Ingram has been pretty recent in this position. She's building up the organization. At some point of all, when you're restructuring or whatever, building out the organization, You will be, there will be a point where you will need to be reckoned with a philosophical choice when it comes to hiring, which is do you hire by strength or do you hire by lack of weakness? So that will be a choice that at some point I'm pretty sure you will need to be reckoned with to make that decision. Obviously, the board is not in no position to tell you which philosophical path you want to take. And the last point I want to make, which is in many ways related hiring process that I guess the board and the public comment has been talking about really for a while, which is how do we improve our hiring process? How do we retain qualified educators? So I feel like based on my years of observation, oftentimes organizations make the mistake thinking the interview process or your hiring procedure is what determines the quality of your hire. But in reality, Excellent organization had great hiring because they focus on expanding the universe of the applicant pool. The universe of the applicant pools matters a lot more than your internal hiring process and interview process. If you expand and improve the universe of your applicant pools, in the most extreme case, you can roll a dice and still end up hiring somebody that's really good. If you don't improve and expand the universe of the applicant pool, meaning the people that bother to apply to your position. You can have the best and most rigorous interview process, you will still end up having a mediocre hire. So how do you improve and expand the universe of the applicant pool? That's something you do on a daily basis to improve the culture, to build a welcoming environment, and including when candidate checking out a board meeting, they look at the board meeting, the public meeting, they realize this is a great place, I want to come. So it's incumbent upon all of us not just the hiring committee, not just the panelists, to actually ended up expanding and improving the universe of our African pool to make people feel welcome at this place. Being of sex at the interview process and hiring procedure without working hard to improve and expand the universe of African pools is seeing the trees and missing the forest. So that's the point I want to make.

[12446] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang. Member Hill, any questions or comments?

[12450] Aiden Hill: And thank you, Ms. Connelly. I appreciate your work and your experience. And then President Nguyen, when you're ready, I just would like to make a modified motion regarding this. So since the public hasn't had a chance to see the report itself and be able to provide comment or input to us, I'd like to table the acceptance of this. I think we've had good discussion, but table the acceptance so that the public can see and then we could bring it back in the next

[12479] Elisa Martinez: the next meeting and approve it.

[12498] SPEAKER_36: President Nguyen, if you'd like, you could finish comments and then go back to the motions.

[12503] Terrence Grindall: That's what I was going to say.

[12504] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. Let's finish up the comments and then we'll go back to the motion. Thank you.

[12511] Terrence Grindall: I want to, is that okay?

[12514] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. Please, Member Grindel, you have the floor.

[12518] Terrence Grindall: Thank you. I wanted to understand the Staff Secretary 1 position that was serving essentially as a receptionist and was folded under HR but not really doing much HR work, I mean, based on your review. And so where does that position land with the flowchart that you have indicated? Is that position go to another department or does that position, is that position one of the boxes? I was having a hard time understanding that.

[12551] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we couldn't see the boxes, which probably didn't help us. But that recommendation is in the report. And it is recommended that the district consider reassigning the position to a department that it frequently is engaging and supporting. So typically, we see the receptionist position assigned either in educational services, maybe for student services, or perhaps in the superintendent's office, because it takes a lot of community communication, it really just depends internally on where the position best serves. It could still sit in HR, but it shouldn't be counted as supporting that human resources function. So that's really just that note there. So if the district decided, well, we don't really have anywhere else to assign the position, it's doing fine here. It can go back on that org, but I just wanted to visually arrange the positions that way to really illustrate HR functional support.

[12608] Terrence Grindall: No, I understand. So that would mean that person, it could be folded under the manager, but really you're not counting it as part of the FTEs that are assigned to HR functioning. Is that correct? That's correct, yeah. And so in that regard, it's it seems like right now, I mean, we have we have a lot of vacancies and and really are. Ingham-Watters is rebuilding this department. I don't know if that's a fair statement, but I'm going to say it anyway. And we have a lot of vacancies and a lot of transition that's occurring. So right now we have three and a half something positions operating. And what your recommendation is is to have six, which puts us near the bottom in terms of ratio per enrollment. Is that is that because we are experiencing such a transition right now that that you'd expect other similar agencies to go through that or is there something else that would make Newark need to have more staff per enrollment than other places? Sorry if that's a big question.

[12679] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I just wanted to go back to the slide because I think it's easier than trying to memorize. But the thing about comparative staffing, in school districts we work in a comparable world. We look at salary comparisons, we look at staffing comparisons. The thing to remember about staffing comparisons is that it's one chapter in the book because each of these districts has a very different story. They have very different circumstances and they serve different employee and student populations in addition to their geographic location. So there's all of these different factors to feed into this decision. But I think that it's important as you consider staffing in terms of is this the correct allocation? And what I really focus on is not exactly the overall FTEs, I think it's important, but I really looked at the bands of support that you have within. This data came in after I had visited with the district and was really kind of focusing on these operational difficulties and the absence of this technical support within the department. And then I said, wow, look at these other districts here offer three and two. And that really helped me come to this recommendation. So it didn't exactly develop the recommendation, but it helped. And then it helps the administrative team and the board really determine what is the right staffing for us. And you know that you are in this incredibly challenging moment right now. And as you think about moving forward and how are we going to address the staffing challenge, you know, think about those things that it relates to supporting that work.

[12786] Terrence Grindall: Yeah, thank you. And then just a comment, and then I'll hand it over. Just that understanding that we're in this transitional period, but I am a little concerned about being, having more staffing assigned per enrollment than other similar agencies. So I just, I would, I'd caution that we don't, that maybe there's a temporary position, maybe there's a reevaluation of that as we get through this crisis. I'm just a little concerned about being on the generous, I don't want to say fat, so I want to say on the generous side of that.

[12825] SPEAKER_03: Yes, I completely understand that. And when you factor out the receptionist position, we're not, the recommendation doesn't add FTEs because I completely understand that concern and that is definitely justifiable. It's really a restructuring of what you already have. So you already have those two management positions and it's retitling, restructuring the staffing that you have. That's the other thing. We don't want to just throw positions at the problem and hope that it solves it. That's not a good strategy. We really want to think about the work and the needs of the district and assign staffing accordingly. And that's really where that recommendation lies. Now, whatever the team decides as they look at it and say, this is what we can tolerate, this is what we can do, then that may look a little different. But the bullets in terms of the sample work assignments of each of those positions also illustrates multi-level support within the department. Whereas right now we have a lot of duties that are just assigned to this one position. And so if that position is vacated or if they're absent, there's no backup plan or cross training here and we're not providing this consistent support. And so that reconfiguration also provides that. Thank you.

[12909] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Connolly. I'm going to try and keep this short. I really do appreciate your detailed report. Coming from where, as an IT for the last 22 years and implementing systems for our local cities across departments, I can understand how the lack of communication between departments, especially when, you know, payroll is so big and it's running all the numbers and it's paying out staff and where HR can get lost. You know, HR systems can get lost in there. Interdepartmental operations are so important, and the communication that happens between those departments are integral to have all the processes in place to be able to be efficient, to be able to make sure that staff is doing exactly what it is that they're supposed to be doing. So I really appreciate your report, and I really appreciate the fact that you pointed out all the recommendations, the analytical part of it, and the recommendations, and then prioritizing how to put these, make the recommendations, I can't talk right now, but basically put all the steps together so that our staff is able to correct the situation and improve the department and aligning with best practices.

[13004] SPEAKER_03: So I really appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. And now that you said that, I do want to note that the teams are already in motion. We've met a couple of times about the recommendations and the business office under the leadership of your business leader and your HR leader are very eager to set forth with some of these recommendations that, like I said, are just a change in practice. And so I really want to recognize the teams as they're marching through these challenges ahead. So. Yeah.

[13036] Phuong Nguyen: And it's really clear cut with the organization chart and the expectations and the roles and responsibilities of each of the positions. So I think we're headed in a good direction. Good start, so thank you. I agree, thank you. Okay, so with that, back to the motion on the floor. Member Hill wanted motion that we bring this back at the next meeting because it wasn't posted, but I would like to get clarification from the superintendent as to why the report wasn't posted.

[13071] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you, President Nguyen. So, you know, this is the action here is just to accept the report. Our intention is to put the full report in the supplemental documents that will be available to all the public. And what we really, we wanted to be conscious of having the opportunity for Ms. Connolly to present first so that there was some context that could be provided to this really, really elaborate report. So that's the idea there. And we have every intention to post the full report available to the public.

[13115] Phuong Nguyen: Do we have a second? Okay. The motion died.

[13124] Terrence Grindall: I'd make a motion to accept the report.

[13127] Phuong Nguyen: Motion to accept the report made by Member Grindel. May I have a second, please?

[13131] SPEAKER_20: I'll second that.

[13132] Phuong Nguyen: Seconded by Member Zhang. Student Board Member, how do you vote?

[13137] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[13138] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Please vote on Board Talks.

[13160] SPEAKER_36: Thank you all. Votes are in. I have three yeas and one nay from Member Hill.

[13166] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Okay, on to item 15.2 Resolution Certifying Course-Based Independent Study Curriculum. Oh yes.

[13178] Aiden Hill: Can we extend our time to 11 o'clock since

[13182] Phuong Nguyen: Oh yes, we're cutting it close. Thank you for the reminder. Member Hill motion made by member Hill may get a second, please.

[13190] Bowen Zhang: I'll second it with the expectation that we should finish by 1030.

[13193] Phuong Nguyen: OK, thank you.

[13194] Terrence Grindall: So our student further explanation that super if the student student board member needs to depart, that's perfectly fine.

[13204] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. We will be extending the meeting to 11. Thank you. A motion made by Member Hill, seconded by Member Zhang. And I have four yeas. Thank you. On to item 15.2, resolution 2022.23.12, certifying course-based independent study curriculum. Dr. Strickland.

[13234] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Nguyen. So, Ms. Pierce is going to explain a little bit more about this, but essentially this is a unique situation where we have a small group of students who, in the junior high, who have been on the pathway of taking geometry in eighth grade. And as the board will recall, last year we went through an extremely thorough process engaging stakeholders, family, staff, et cetera, around a new math pathway. So this is basically, these students are grandfathered into that because they were already on the path to take geometry in eighth grade. And I'll turn it over to Ms. Pierce to explain a little bit more about this process.

[13282] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Thank you. So absolutely. As Dr. Triplett said, we did adopt a new math progressions last year. It has a lot of engagement from our families from our department chairs for the board approved. and so on. We do have five students left who are eligible for geometry in eighth grade. There is a, I want to make sure that the public understands two things. So one, we did find an error on the resolution after posting, so I do have, the correct one is now online and available for all to see. I do have it in paper form if anybody needs a copy in the audience or if anybody at the board needs a copy as well. Thank you so much for passing this out. There is a difference between course-based independent study and traditional independent study. So our intention is not to start a new program here in Newark Unified School District, but make sure that we do our due diligence to support those five students who are eligible to take geometry and again are sort of grandfathered in. We truly do owe it to those students. So that is our intention here. Part of that process, though, for course-based independent study is slightly different than traditional independent study. And as you know, we have adopted now two board policies in so many years. The policies for independent study are changing quickly and adapting quickly. as we went through COVID. And so we were really intentional about how we went through the process this year. We were one of the first districts to adopt the new board policy after CSBA came out with their updates. We actually notified Alameda County that the updates were available so they could update the rest of the districts in Alameda County. At their first possible board meeting, we adopted that new board policy, and now this is the second step for the course-based independent study. And part of those requirements are to have a resolution explaining that the minutes are similar, making sure that it is of the same rigor. And in our case, we're choosing to use the same program we use for our crossroads independent study. It's the same program, although it is just the course of geometry. These students are taking this course through a regular period, so it's the exact same minutes of other students. They are supported by both a credentialed staff member as well as a counselor who meets with them daily to ensure they're staying up with their coursework. We have checked in with them. It seems like they're doing quite well, and the parents are very happy about this solution for them. So we're excited to be able to offer this. I'm happy to answer any questions. I think most of the information is right here for you. I do want to make sure that part of the annual certification includes, again, equivalent daily instructional minutes. We have effectively calculated these out. So out of total, and I can give you the exact minutes for every single day on the calendar, but in total, they will meet 9,134 minutes as required. And if students pass, they will be eligible to enroll in Algebra II. Moving forward, we don't anticipate offering this program, but again, we feel like it is our responsibility to support these students in their academic paths.

[13473] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Nicole Pierce. Any comments or questions by our student board member? No? Member Zhang? No? Member Hill?

[13487] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Ms. Pierce. Yes, two questions. So, and thank you, Dr. Triplett. I know that I'd asked a question about wearing it code. It specifies that, you know, we need a resolution to address this situation. So thank you for sending that information. So, there's a clarification that I'd like to understand and then also a question. So, the clarification is, so this resolution applies only to these eight students, is it eight, right? Five. Oh, sorry, five students for this academic year. Okay.

[13529] Nicole Pierce-Davis: You are correct, yes.

[13531] Aiden Hill: And then the question is, is since we are going to be using a genuity, so who is the teacher of record, you know, and are they certified in, you know, math, geometry, you know, in turn to provide proper supervision of this?

[13545] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Yes. So right now they are scheduled to one of our assistant principals with counselor support. So the counselor provides the daily contact and meets with the students daily in their section. And then the synchronous instruction is provided by a combination of both the counselor and the assistant principal.

[13566] Aiden Hill: And they're certified in this area?

[13568] Nicole Pierce-Davis: They are credentialed.

[13569] Aiden Hill: OK. All right. Thank you.

[13572] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill. Member Grindel.

[13576] Terrence Grindall: I want to compliment staff on addressing this difficult, you know, this sort of difficult grandfathered in situation. I think it's same rigor. It's happy students, happy parents. It's a couple, it's a bunch of wins altogether. I compliment you for, being flexible and helping these students in their in their path. So that's all I wanted to say.

[13607] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Thank you Member Grindel. I'm also I also would like to echo Member Grindel's comment in And very grateful that staff was able to make sure that our students didn't have to repeat algebra again. And I know for a fact, I do have one of my friend's daughters in the class, and she's really enjoying it and thriving in the class. So just want to appreciate staff for really making sure that these five students were able to continue on their math journey. So thank you. With that, may I get a motion to approve the resolution?

[13650] Bowen Zhang: I move to approve the resolution.

[13652] Phuong Nguyen: Motion made by member Zhang.

[13656] Terrence Grindall: I'll second.

[13656] Phuong Nguyen: Seconded by member Grindel. Student board member, how do you vote? Yes. Thank you. Board members, please vote on board docs. We have four yeas. Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. On to item 16.1, our pooled consent agenda items, starting with 11.4. Member Hill, you have the floor.

[13689] Aiden Hill: Thank you. So this is regarding the Myers-Nath contract. So I'm voting not to approve this. And the reason I'm voting no is that we are being asked to approve an investigation where the board and the district have no jurisdiction. This is a matter that should be investigated by the grand jury and potentially the district attorney for proper adjudication. As everyone knows, you cannot investigate yourself. Thank you.

[13718] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill. With that, any other comments or questions? Yes. Member Grindel?

[13725] Terrence Grindall: I'm going to be voting for this investigation. The investigation is not limited just to the criminal actions, but to violations of our governance handbook and other policies as well. And so this is the appropriate way for us to get to the bottom of whether or not there was a violation, and so we can take proper action. And so that's why I'm in support of this. I'll be happy to make the motion when it's time.

[13754] Phuong Nguyen: Any other comments? Okay. Would you like to make the motion?

[13761] Terrence Grindall: I'd like to approve this item. Recommend that the Board of Education approve the agreement with Meyers. It's Nave, by the way. Yes. Meyers-Nave.

[13771] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. May I get a second?

[13773] SPEAKER_20: I'll second it.

[13774] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang. Motion made by Member Grindel, seconded by Member Zhang. Student Board Member, how do you vote?

[13781] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[13782] Phuong Nguyen: Member Zhang? Oh, sorry, vote on Bortox.

[13793] SPEAKER_36: I have three yeas and one no by Member Hill.

[13797] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. On to 11.16, Member Hill.

[13806] Aiden Hill: Thank you. So this is regarding the quarterly contracts. Hold on a second. Yeah, quarterly report on contracts. So as was brought up earlier during public comment, so the school services contract, and we saw the fruits of that this evening. So I guess, Mike, so as we have been talking about over the past year, I'll be talking about it again during my audit committee report. You know, we have issues in how we are requesting and authorizing contracts. And the question that, and it's my recollection, I don't have an ed code in front of me, but I know for certain that all contracts, regardless of the amount, all contracts must be ratified by the board. And I believe it's a minimum of within a 90-day period, and I believe that it's actually even more frequent, but I don't have that ed code in front of me. And so my question is, is why is it that this contract was executed in December of last year and now fully 10 months later it's being brought before the board? So that's question one. And then question two, and this relates again to challenges in our procurement process and internal controls. It's my understanding that the purchase order connected with this contract was executed in, I believe, July of this period, so a full six months later. And I believe that the warrants of the invoice coming in for that came in 13 days later. And so obviously, school services did not conduct all of their work in a 13-day period. And so we've got a serious breakdown in terms of how we authorize work. And effectively, we're asking vendors to go and do work without proper board approval and proper purchase orders in place. And this is a major no-no. So I'd like to understand why this has happened yet again.

[13951] Marie dela Cruz: So for this particular contract, although it was signed in December, the work didn't actually start until, I want to say May, because there were a lot of different activities going on with the March 15 deadline and some other challenges with staffing not being available to conduct interviews. In terms of the PO and the payment that was made, it was actually just a partial payment. The full payment that was made in the warrant report, I believe, was about $14,000. So part of that was just for the portion of the work that they did, because the report was just completed. The PO. Can't really tell you exactly what happened, but I would venture to guess that it was the staffing, you know, and just not getting it processed as maybe we should have when we signed the contract and, you know, between the work that, the gap between when the contract was signed and when the work actually started.

[14034] Aiden Hill: And just, again, to clarify, it's your recollection that the work started in May, but the work started before there was a purchase order in place?

[14045] Marie dela Cruz: Well, the contract was authorized, and the follow-up with the purchase order was delayed, yes.

[14054] Aiden Hill: You can't begin where, I mean, it's basically the purchase order really is like the formal contract, you know, to move forward with work. That's kind of the official handshake. So the larger contract is sort of, you know, kind of a master services type of agreement. But the purchase order actually, you know, guarantees the mounts, et cetera. Yeah, and I know exactly what I'm talking about. And so, yeah, I do. And so, yeah, you have to have a purchase order in place before you can begin work. Yes, that's correct.

[14088] Phuong Nguyen: So... Member Grindell?

[14099] Terrence Grindall: Well, we had a contract and work began based on that contract. And before any payment was made, the purchase order was completed, is that correct?

[14109] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, that is correct. Thank you.

[14110] Aiden Hill: Yeah, it's a violation of the 40-way match.

[14113] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, thank you. With that, I make a motion to approve the agenda item 11.6, quarterly report on contracts. May I get a second, please?

[14129] SPEAKER_20: I'll second it.

[14131] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang. Student board member, how do you vote?

[14134] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[14145] SPEAKER_36: I have three yeas and one no from Member Hill.

[14149] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. On to Board of Education Recognitions and Announcements. Student Board Member Torres.

[14161] Diego Torres: a recognition. I would like to recognize my leadership teacher, Ms. Canales. She is wonderful. She is so supportive, and I love her so much. She's the reason why, like, I'm here, like, doing what I'm doing, and why the students have all these events that are going on. And I feel like she's so underappreciated at our school. So I just want to appreciate her, because she is amazing.

[14182] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you.

[14183] Diego Torres: And also, we're having a Día de los Muertos event, like that Puente is holding. at our school and we're partnering up with the Newark Junior High Puente program. And it's going to be next Friday from 5.30 to 7.30 in the school, like by the stage. So if you would like to come, please.

[14203] Phuong Nguyen: And are you guys having another trick or treat event?

[14206] Diego Torres: Oh, yeah. It's called Trunk or Treat. So it's on the 31st, which is on Halloween. And basically what we do is we get cars, local cars, like they're pretty nice. And we get students that have cars. to come in the parking lot by the basketball hoop, by like the football field, and we invite kids from the community to come trick-or-treat with them. So the cars are decorated, and there's going to be games that the kids can play too.

[14230] Phuong Nguyen: And the time?

[14232] Diego Torres: The time, I want to say it's from 4 to 7.

[14233] Phuong Nguyen: OK, great. Thank you so much. Member Zhang?

[14238] Bowen Zhang: So I will not be here for the next meeting, the first meeting of November. I will not be here because I'm getting married at the end of the month. Yay, congratulations! So the reason I mention that is today we toured a high school campus and obviously one of the classes we toured is the AP Physics class. And just like Superintendent has told me beforehand, we had the SOP over SOP. And obviously walking to a classroom, that was not really the ideal classroom situation that I want to see. And I'm glad that we have a more stable long-term staff for that, such a critical class, AP Physics, which is the gateway class for anybody that wants to go to engineering school or engineering program. So the reason I raise this issue is because by mid-November, in my memory certainly well, that the kids and the parents will need to make a decision whether they want to sign up for the AP exam. Without a certainty and a stability of having a stable staff or teacher, I think it will be a very tough decision for the kids to make whether they want to take AP exam next year or not. If they don't, that's literally a waste of time for the entire year. If they do sign up by mid-November, they need to be assured that there is a stable teaching, that they actually can master the knowledge they have in order to take the exam. And that deadline will happen, I guess, before I come back from my two-week vacation. So I hope that hope that we can really get that sorted out because I think that is a very serious issue and the student, I will say today, it's fair to say that that's not the ideal classroom I want to see when I tour the campus today. That's it.

[14352] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang, and congratulations on your pending nuptials. We're very excited for you.

[14357] Terrence Grindall: Congratulations.

[14360] Phuong Nguyen: Where's our invitation? I'm lost in the mail. It's all right. Member Hill.

[14372] Aiden Hill: Yes, I want to make an announcement. So board and Newark Unified School District stakeholders, on April 18, 2022, I sent a complaint to the Alameda County Office of Education, ACOE, regarding a number of concerning irregularities I was witnessing in our district. On August 26, 2022, I received a reply back from the ACOE indicating that Ms. Cindy Parks had filed a California Public Records Act request regarding my correspondence with the ACOE and was provided with a partially redacted version of my complaint. The ACOE email to me also included a copy of this redacted document. In the spirit of transparency, I am now releasing this document and this statement to you and the general public for inspection. At this juncture, I would also like to take the opportunity to provide additional clarification regarding my complaint. When I first sent this communication to the ACOE in April of 2022, I stated that the board had never been informed regarding former Principal Burt's filing of a discrimination complaint against Superintendent Triplett. This statement was incorrect. After reviewing my NUSD board email, I learned that on March 5, 2021, former President Zhang had sent an email to the board regarding Principal Bird's complaint and that he was authorizing an investigation into the matter. As I noted in my own complaint, however, per Education Code 35163 and 35164, Former President Zhang did not have the authority to unilaterally approve this investigation, and he had a duty to call a special meeting with the board to discuss this matter and vote on the appropriate next steps. Setting that aside, however, as I stated in my complaint, in my opinion, it was Superintendent Triplett and his staff who bore primary responsibility for the subsequent manipulation and concealment of this investigation, to which, in the end, former President Zhang also fell victim. Thank you for your attention regarding this matter and your ongoing support in calling for increased transparency and accountability in the Newark Unified School District.

[14511] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill, Member Grindel.

[14515] Terrence Grindall: Alright, living in Newark is awesome. We have a Diwali celebration coming up. There's actually three locations in Newark. I feel bad directing you to any one of them, but happy Diwali to our community and enjoy one of the celebrations that are occurring. In addition, at the Magnolia Plaza near Mexico Tortilla Factory. There'll be a celebration of Dia de los Muertos on Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. Weather looks like it's going to be fantastic like it usually is in Newark and wanted to bring that to the community's attention as well. And that's all I have right now. Just happy Diwali and happy Well, it's kind of hard to say happy day of the dead, but why not? Feliz Dia de los Muertos.

[14576] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Grindel. I echo Member Grindel's statements and announcements and recognition. I also wanted to make a brief statement. The comments that Member Hill stated are his alone. They do not represent the board as a whole. And I do think that he is definitely out of line in making those comments. And there's a reason why we are looking into whether or not our practices in regards to his statements are in violation of Brown Act and of our own governing board policies. That's all I want to say on that. But in terms of announcements and recognition, I just really want to appreciate Mayor Al Nagy for coming out and supporting our students at Bike, Walk, and Roll. It was a fun event. And also our police department and our parent volunteers for the event. And there was actually a raffle. a bike raffle at the junior high. I don't know who the winner is, but I thought that was great. And also, along with that, the police department also had raffles for bike helmets for the students. So just want to appreciate them and coming out and really supporting our students. And also, I want to appreciate Ms. Martinez for being here tonight. And I also want to give recognition to all of our theater students and give another shout out to their production starting on November 4th, correct? And so please come out and support our theater students and their production and have a good time. And with that, that's it. Thank you again to staff and everyone, our teachers, our students. It's, you know, the first couple of months of school and everybody's been persevering and working hard. And I hope that everyone continues to to put in the work and continue to do great and be a great support for all of our students. So thank you. On to Item 17.2, Board of Education Committee Reports. Any report from Mission ROP?

[14723] Terrence Grindall: No. Nothing to report at this time.

[14727] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Anything from SELPA, Member Young? No. No. And anything from EPIC, Member Hill?

[14735] Aiden Hill: I'm not even looped into this right now, so I don't have a status.

[14742] Phuong Nguyen: OK, thank you. And for the Audit Committee, Member Hill?

[14747] Aiden Hill: Yes, I have an update. I want to make a statement, and let me give you guys some of the statement and information. So if you could pass this down and make sure Dr. Tripp has a copy. OK. So Board, regarding the Audit Committee report, I would like to share the following. So as you may recall from prior discussions, one of the audit committee's charter responsibilities is to review the adequacy of the district's internal controls and review with the chief business officer key internal controls and how they will be tested during the annual audit. This is considered a standard function on any audit committee. And for those of you who are not accountants, an internal control system describes methods and procedures that are concerned with the authorization of transactions, the safeguarding of assets, and the accuracy of the financial records. The end goals of an internal control system are to ensure the integrity of the financial and accounting information, to promote accountability, and to prevent fraud. For the past four months, the Audit Committee has been having extensive discussions with NUSD staff regarding our internal control system, and it's requested on multiple occasions to get a list of NUSD's key controls. On our October 11th audit committee meeting, Chief Business Officer David Cruz shared with the committee that our district has no documented internal controls. This situation puts the district at significant financial risk. As a consequence, audit committee members Aaron Weisz and Steve Young have asked that I bring forward the following request to the board. We are requesting that the district establish a time frame for first putting together a preliminary list of key controls and then an estimation of the level of effort to properly document these controls and their underlying processes. The assembly of the initial key control list should be fairly straightforward for anyone with finance and accounting experience and shouldn't take more than a few hours of work. We are requesting that this preliminary list be documented in the third column of the internal controls matrix Member White shared in the last meeting. And this is attached in this document. Member White's, I'm sorry, Member White's is a certified public accountant and a former auditor. We would then like Chief Business Officer Dela Cruz to also provide a level of effort to document these controls and processes and a target schedule to complete this work, similar to what is currently being employed to update the backlog of board policies we covered in an earlier agenda item. This schedule could then be brought back to the board for discussion and subsequent approval slash action. In addition, we are requesting that the board adopt Auditor Christy White's July 13th interim audit recommendations including the best practice recommendations around establishing purchasing clerk and internal auditor positions, as well as processes supporting fixed asset management and a fraud tip line. And I included a couple of their pages from their interim report in this as well. So we thank you in advance for the support and guaranteeing we put solid systems and resources in place to help the district. and that stakeholders ensure financial integrity and protect against potential waste, fraud, and abuse. And just a footnote, I understand that when Ms. Croce had put together the agenda for our last meeting, she failed to put together under committee requests, she failed to make it an action. It was a discussion. So therefore, I am relaying the sentiments that the committee has shared. And I'm happy under the board requests, I can reread this or we could just refer to this document. But that's the request that I'm putting forward on behalf of the discussions that we had. Thank you.

[14985] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Hill. Any updates from the Bond Parcel Tax Committee? There is none. Oh, I'm sorry. Ms.dela Cruz, would you like to make a clarification?

[15000] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, I just want to clarify what Mr. Hill said about, I said there was no documented internal controls. What I said was that there was no internal controls list in the form that they were asking. We do have internal controls that they're embedded in our procedures, which are documented. We've provided the documentation, our desk procedures to the audit committee and I think at the request of Mr. Hill, including the policies associated with our procedures. So the statement that I said we had no documented internal controls is incorrect. And the other thing, about Ms. Croce failed to make on the agenda the action item, we send the agenda to Mr. Hill a few days in advance before it's actually posted, and he reviews it and gives his okay and approves it before we post anything.

[15065] Aiden Hill: This was sent to me less than 24 hours, and it was actually sent to me the same night that a board meeting was happening. And so again, please don't you know, it's it's your guys responsibility for making sure that the agenda is set up correctly So and again, this was a standing item and it's pretty obvious that committee requests is an action item, but nevertheless miss Mr. Cruz you are mischaracterizing the discussions that happened in the audit committee and we have a We have two other witnesses that can validate that. Point of order. It's not inappropriate.

[15104] Mark Triplett: I'm allowed to be attacking my staff. Yes, you are.

[15109] Aiden Hill: Point of order. Point of order. This is an incorrect statement.

[15114] Phuong Nguyen: OK, thank you. On to bond and parcel tax committee. We do not have an update on that. And then for the city of Newark liaison and NUSD liaison committee, member Grindel.

[15129] Terrence Grindall: Unfortunately, the meeting had to be rescheduled, and I believe we're working on rescheduling it now. So it has not been rescheduled yet, unless it looks like the superintendent wants to give me an update.

[15143] Mark Triplett: I understand from the city that the intention is to just hold the sequential meeting, which I believe is in January.

[15151] Phuong Nguyen: OK. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent Triplett. Thank you, Member Grindel. On to item 17.3, Board of Education requests. Student Board member, do you have any requests at this time?

[15166] Diego Torres: I just request that the high school get some better Wi-Fi. It's kind of bad, and for my computer science class, like, we're all on the computers the whole day, and it takes like 20 minutes just for something to load, and it's kind of difficult to do the work when the whole work is on the computers. That's all.

[15183] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you for letting us know. I know that last year we did have those issues at the high school. Is there a second phase for us to correct the issue?

[15195] Mark Triplett: Yes. I know this is an ongoing, very frustrating experience. So we'd be happy if the board member Torres would like, or the board would like, to do a staff report on the progress. We are in the middle of trying to secure an agency to help us to identify additional problems that are continuing to exist. So, happy to share out about that.

[15224] Terrence Grindall: Okay, great. So, sounds like that was a request from Board Member Torres.

[15229] Phuong Nguyen: Yes.

[15229] Terrence Grindall: And I'm in support of it.

[15230] Phuong Nguyen: I am also. Thank you. Please get that report together, Dr. Triplett, for Student Board Member Torres.

[15237] Aiden Hill: Right away.

[15238] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Zhang?

[15241] Bowen Zhang: I don't have a request. I just have a follow-up request for the board that, like I said, by mid-November, the kids need to make a decision whether they want to take the AP Physics exam or not. So I hope you follow up on that. I think the stability and certainty of teaching is about student success. And when it comes to student success, this is no joke.

[15263] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Member Zhang. Member Ho?

[15268] Aiden Hill: Yes, thank you. So again, I'll just reiterate my request and I'll summarize it. So the request is that we ask Ms. Dela Cruz to put together a list of key controls, because so far a list has not been provided to us. So that's request number one. And then request number two is that we adopt the recommendations that the interim recommendations that Christy White, our auditor, has provided. in their interim updates. So, that's my request.

[15314] Phuong Nguyen: So, do we have consensus on the first item? A mean majority? No? Okay. Do we have majority on the second?

[15325] Terrence Grindall: I have a comment on the second request, if that's okay. I would like to see an evaluation by staff of what implementing those interim findings would mean. I'm not set on implementing an interim finding rather than waiting for the whole report, but I would appreciate a brief report from staff at a future meeting that lays out what it would take or what the staff's thinking is in terms of resources about the interim findings that were made, and not necessarily to bring it for action, but to have an update on how that would work. I'd like to see that if there's any other support.

[15374] Phuong Nguyen: I don't want to modify Member Hill's request, so if you could hold off on your request, that would be great.

[15386] Michael Milliken: Sure.

[15389] Phuong Nguyen: So, there doesn't seem to be a majority for the second request either. So, Member Grindel, would you like to modify Member Hill's?

[15397] Terrence Grindall: Well, I'll just make it separate so it's simpler. I'd like to ask staff to talk about what it would take or what their opinion is about implementing the interim findings that were indicated. in the interim report.

[15420] Bowen Zhang: So what is the interim report you were talking about?

[15423] Phuong Nguyen: The interim audit report.

[15426] Terrence Grindall: There's an interim audit report that identified some issues, some staff needs, a change in the location of the of the whistleblower number, things like that, that are not gigantic issues, but they do have staff, they do have financial implications. So I'd like to hear from staff about whether or not, you know, in a report, whether or not this is something we should implement quicker or wait for the full audit.

[15458] Aiden Hill: I would agree that changing the fraud line is is not major, but some of the other findings, you know, particularly as it relates to internal controls around purchasing, and they explicitly called out that it is not appropriate to be initiating work without a purchase order in place. So, that's a pretty major finding and an important thing to address.

[15486] Terrence Grindall: So, I guess I would ask, is there support for my

[15491] Phuong Nguyen: For my... We have two. Just two? Just two, sorry. I think we can just wait for the interim report and then staff will determine based on budgeting process whether or not we can be able to meet some of those needs based off of the interim report.

[15514] Mark Triplett: The final, yeah, the final report.

[15515] Phuong Nguyen: I'm sorry, the final report. Thank you for the correction, Member Hill.

[15520] Terrence Grindall: I don't have any other requests.

[15521] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. I don't have any requests this time, but I will have a request next time. So be prepared. No, I'm just kidding. With that.

[15535] Terrence Grindall: Although I do have a request. I do think that our student board members should have a chance to make a motion or something. It's before we close the meeting.

[15544] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. I expect him to make that motion tonight. Be ready. Thank you. Okay. With that, I'm going to pass it on to Superintendent for his concluding remarks. Thank you.

[15559] Mark Triplett: Thank you. I'll keep them short. So I just want to appreciate some of the folks here in this room. Member Jun, first of all, congratulations. That threw me for a loop. That's exciting. But I also really want to appreciate you for the visit today, how you're engaging with students and questions you're asking. And I also wanted to appreciate one of our teachers, Chef, who we had the pleasure of going into his class and watching the students as they're learning how to make pies. Very, very cool class. It's so engaging. And then, President Nguyen, I want to appreciate you for walk and roll, and being willing to walk from school to school with me, and all the work that went into it. I think you really pushed us as a district to make sure that we were participating in that activity coming out of COVID, and such a valuable thing to build community, to really promote exercise, being outdoors, and it was a lot of fun. So thank you.

[15626] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you Superintendent Triplett. Yes, I just want to say that I think it's really important that we do have several community events throughout the year. We don't, we haven't had any because of COVID. And I think that I would like this for us to be an annual event and then keep building on it if we can. That would be great. And then also, it's also a good way to partner with the city of Newark and have their participation. So overall, I think it's a wonderful event. So thank you.

[15664] Mark Triplett: Oh, and I neglected to appreciate Ohlone board member for being part of Walk and Roll as well. It was great to see her out there.

[15672] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, of course. OK, with that, student board member, I need a motion to adjourn the meeting.

[15681] Diego Torres: Motion to adjourn the meeting.

[15683] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. May I get a second?

[15684] SPEAKER_20: I'll second that.

[15686] Phuong Nguyen: Motion made by student board member Torres, seconded by member Zhang. Student board member, how do you vote?

[15692] SPEAKER_10: Yes.

[15693] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Board members, please vote. I have four yeas. Thank you. Meeting adjourned at 10.17 p.m. Repeat the 10.30.

1. CALL TO ORDER

Meeting Practices and Information

Type Procedural IN-PERSON MEETING INFORMATION:

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

OBSERVE THE BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING:

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

PUBLIC COMMENT:

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

Roll Call

Type Procedural TRUSTEES:

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

STUDENT BOARD MEMBER:

Diego Torres

2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Approval of the Agenda

Type Action

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

PURPOSE:

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

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

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

3. CLOSED SESSION

Public Comment on Closed Session Items

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

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

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

Type Action, Information, Procedural

PURPOSE:

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

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

Type Action, Information, Procedural PURPOSE:

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

The employee organizations include NTA & CSEA.

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

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: Three cases

Recess to Closed Session

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

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

4. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS

Report of Closed Session Actions

Type Action, Procedural

PURPOSE:

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

5. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

Pledge of Allegiance

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

The Governance Team will recite the Pledge of Allegiance

6. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

School Spotlight: Crossroads Independent Studies

Type Information PURPOSE:

The School Spotlight gives the Board of Education and the public an opportunity to hear the highlights, achievements, and initiatives at each school from the principals.

BACKGROUND:

The presentation and information will be provided by the Crossroads Independent Studies' Principal, Julie Calderon

File Attachments Crossroads 2022 School Spotlight.pdf (3,145 KB)

7. 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

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. CONSENT AGENDA: PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

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

PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

Personnel Report

Type Action

Absolute Date Oct 20, 2022

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

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

BACKGROUND:

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

File Attachments HR PAL 10-20-2022.pdf (370 KB)

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

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

11. CONSENT AGENDA: NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

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

PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

Motion & Voting It is recommended that the Board of Education approve, under one consented vote, the agenda items under Consent Non- Personnel, except for agenda items: 11.4, 11.16

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

FIELD TRIP: Curricular, Overnight Trip for Coyote Hills fifth grade class to travel to Pigeon Point, Pescadero, CA

Type Action

Absolute Date Oct 20, 2022

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $8,580.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Student Fundraising & Donations, ASB, & LCAP 3.6

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the overnight trip for Coyote Action Hills fifth grade class to travel to Pigeon Point, Pescadero, CA. PURPOSE:

The Coyote Hills Elementary community requests permission to take fifth grade students on a curricular, overnight field trip. Students will travel to Pigeon Point, Pescadero, CA. for an outdoor science education camp. Transportation will be by chartered bus. Students will investigate and observe environmental phenomenon in an outdoor science school. Students will be taught concepts from NGSS standards with hands-on experiences. Students will build community through cabin group activities.

     School: Coyote Hills Elementary
     Dates: October 31 - November 2, 2022
     Location: Pigeon Point, Pescadero, CA.

Chaperones for Science Camp:

    The ratio of adults to students on school-sponsored trips shall be based on the following formula:
           K-3 1 adult for every 5-8 students
           4-9 1 adult for every 10 students
           10-12 1 adult for every 10 students where strict supervision is required (tours, theaters, etc.)

    Overnight trip supervision must be gender appropriate. However, in the event that the supervisors, who stay overnight in
    proximity to students, are of a gender other than that group of campers, adequate planning, and preparation of campers
    and the physical arrangements of the camp shall be made to ensure optimal safety and privacy of students (AR 6153).

No student will be denied due to a lack of funds.

BACKGROUND:

According to Board Policy, all trips in excess of 100 miles, non-curricular trips, and overnight trips require Board approval. The site principal and sixth grade teachers request permission to take students on an overnight curricular trip to attend an outdoor education/science camp program that is articulated with grade level curriculum. The programs are taught by credentialed staff members and camp staff and are viewed by the sites as a valuable part of the students' educational experience.

FIELD TRIP: Athletic Trip, Overnight, Round Trip Distance Over 125 Miles Field Trip: Newark Memorial HS Boys Basketball Team to Clovis CA.

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $2,600.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Athletics 103, Athletic ASB, NM Boosters

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves Newark Memorial High School Action Varsity Boys' Basketball Team's trip to Clovis, CA. PURPOSE:

The NMHS Principal and Athletic Director request permission to take students on an athletic and overnight trip to Clovis, CA for the 2022 Children's Hospital Tip-Off Invitational Basketball Tournament.

BACKGROUND:

The Newark Memorial High School Varsity Basketball Team has been invited to return to the 2022 Children's Hospital Tip-Off Invitational Basketball Tournament. This is a highly competitive tournament, which provides athletes with an opportunity to compete at a high in a well recognized positive environment and gives them the opportunity to serve Children's Hospital.

     Date: December 1-3
     Location: Clovis North High School

According to Board Policy 6153, all trips in excess of 125 miles, athletic trips, and overnight trips require Board approval. Newark Memorial High School Principal and Athletic Director request permission to take the Newark Memorial High School Varsity Basketball team on an athletic trip to Clovis, CA. Requirements met: Grade K-3, one adult for every 5-8 students; Grades 4-12, one adult for every 10 students; Board Policy requires at least two adults on every trip regardless of the number of students (BP 6153 and AR 6153) Overnight trip supervision must be gender appropriate No student will be denied due to a lack of funds

CONTRACT: Meyers Nave

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the agreement with Meyers Action Nave. PURPOSE:

To approve the legal service agreement with Meyers Nave.

BACKGROUND:

Meyers Nave will provide legal and, upon request, non-legal consultant services on the Board's and/or District's behalf.

File Attachments Signed 2002.10.06 NUSD Engagement Letter (2).pdf (2,717 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the agreement with Mayers Nave.

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

RESOLUTION 2022.23.11 - Notice of Completion for HVAC Units Replacement Phase 1, Increment 1 Project: Birch Grove Primary, Kennedy, Coyote Hills and Schilling

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves Resolution 2022.23.11 and Action authorize the filing of a Notice of Completion (NOC) with the County Recorder of Alameda County for HVAC Units Replacement at Birch Grove Primary, Kennedy, Coyote Hills, and Schilling by S&H Construction Inc. PURPOSE:

To authorize the filing of a Notice of Completion (NOC) with the County Recorder of Alameda County.

BACKGROUND:

On August 5, 2021, the Board of Trustees awarded a contract to S&H Construction Inc. for HVAC Units Replacement at Birch Grove Primary, Kennedy, Coyote Hills, and Schilling Project in the amount of $2,993,000.

On March 17, 2022, the Board of Trustees approved Change Order #1 in the credit amount of $(2,777.76) for a total contract amount and final expenditure of $2,990,222,24.

All contract items, Punchlist, and project closeout items have been satisfied. Accordingly, Staff requests acceptance of the project which will allow filing a Notice of Completion with the County and permit the release of retention thirty-five (35) days after approval.

File Attachments Resolution 2022.23.11 NOC HVAC Phase 1 Increment 1_BGP Kennedy Coyote Hills Schilling.pdf (11 KB) Birch Grove Notice of Completion-HVAC.pdf (73 KB) John F Kennedy Notice of Completion-HVAC.pdf (74 KB) Coyote Hills Notice of Completion-HVAC.pdf (73 KB) Schilling Notice of Completion-HVAC.pdf (73 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 0460 and Administrative Regulation 0460 - Local Control And Accountability Plan

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy 0460 Action and Administrative Regulation 0460 - Local Control And Accountability Plan. PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

This is the first reading of the attached policy. The language is sanctioned by the California School Board Association. California School Board Association notations can be seen in the documents for the benefit of the Board. These notations will be removed from the final, Board approved policies. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice. If any revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading.

Board Policy 0460 - Local Control And Accountability Plan The NUSD board policy has not been revised since 2015. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

Administrative Regulation 0460 - Local Control And Accountability Plan The NUSD administrative regulation has not been revised since 2015. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

File Attachments Recommended CSBA BP 0460 Local Control And Accountability Plan.pdf (450 KB)

Recommended CSBA AR 0460 Local Control And Accountability Plan.pdf (313 KB) Exisitng NUSD AR 0460 Local Control And Accountability Plan.pdf (82 KB) Exisitng NUSD BP 0460 Local Control And Accountability Plan.pdf (81 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 0500 - Accountability

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy 0500 - Action Accountability. PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

This is the first reading of the attached policy. The language is sanctioned by the California School Board Association. California School Board Association notations can be seen in the documents for the benefit of the Board. These notations will be removed from the final, Board approved policies. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice. If any revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading.

Board Policy 0500 - Accountability The NUSD board policy has not been revised since 2014. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

File Attachments Exisitng NUSD BP 0500 Accountability.pdf (63 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 0500 Accountability.pdf (283 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 1000 - Concepts And Roles (Community Relations)

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy 1000 - Action Concepts And Roles (Community Relations). PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

This is the first reading of the attached policy. The language is sanctioned by the California School Board Association. California School Board Association notations can be seen in the documents for the benefit of the Board. These notations will be removed from the final, Board approved policies. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice. If any revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading.

Board Policy 1000 - Concepts And Roles The NUSD board policy has not been revised since 1995. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

File Attachments Exisiting NUSD BP 1000 Concepts And Roles.pdf (47 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 1000 Concepts And Roles.pdf (127 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 1312.2 and Administrative Regulation 1312.2 Complaints Concerning Instructional Materials

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Oct 20, 2022

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board approves the updated Board Policy 4161.1 and Action Administrative Regulation 4161.1 - Complaints Concerning Instructional Materials. PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

This is the first reading of the attached policy and regulation. The language is sanctioned by the California School Board Association. California School Board Association notations can be seen in the documents for the benefit of the Board. These notations will be removed from the final, Board approved policy and regulation. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice. If any revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy and/or regulation will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading

The policy and regulation have not been updated by the district since the Board of Education adopted the policy and regulation on 01/20/2004. CSBA recommended policy updates include new language encouraging parents/guardians to discuss concerns with their child's teacher and clarifies that complaints regarding the sufficiency of instructional materials will be resolved using the Williams Uniform Complaint Procedures. The regulation has been reorganized to include specific steps in the complaint investigation process including informal complaints, formal written complaints, and the Superintendent's option to create a review committee. The updated exhibit refers complainants to the Williams Uniform Complaint Procedures and deletes the requirement that complainants explain the thesis of the work and detail the opinion of literary critics.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 1312.2 Complaints Concerning Instructional Materials 10-20-2022.pdf (46 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 1312.2 Complaints Concerning Instructional Materials 10-20-2022.pdf (120 KB) Existing NUSD AR 1312.2 Complaints Concerning Instructional Materials 10-20-2022.pdf (48 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 1312.2 Complaints Concerning Instructional Materials 10-20-2022.pdf (112 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 3110: Transfer of Funds

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education adopt Board Policy 3110 and remove Action Administrative Regulation 3110: Transfer of Funds. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to review the recommendation from the California School Board Association, approve the adoption of the board policy and remove the administrative regulation.

BACKGROUND:

This is the first reading of the attached policy. The language is sanctioned by the California School Board Association. California School Board Association notations can be seen in the documents for the benefit of the Board. These notations will be removed from the final Board approved policies. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice. If any revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading.

Board Policy 3110: Transfer of Funds This will be the first adoption of this board policy. The language reflects the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

Administrative Regulation 3110: Transfer of Funds (Delete AR; Add BP 7/09) Material formerly in this regulation is now incorporated into the new policy. The new policy reflects NEW LAWS (SBX3 4 and ABX4 2) which grant districts flexibility to transfer funds for "Tier 3" categorical programs and requires, as a condition of receipt of the funds, that the Board first hold a public hearing in order to hear testimony from the public, approve or disapprove the proposed use of the funding, and make explicit the purposes for which the funds will be used. The policy also contains language directing the Board to discuss the district's goals for student learning during the hearing and requiring the Superintendent to regularly report to the Board about the district's exercise of flexibility. Material formerly in regulation re: temporary transfers and loans and permanent transfers between funds, will be shortened to reference law and incorporated into policy.

File Attachments Existing NUSD Regulation 3110 Transfer Of Funds.pdf (160 KB) Recommended CSBA Policy 3110 Transfer Of Funds 10-20-2022.pdf (207 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 3515.4: Recovery for Property Loss or Damage

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the updated Board Policy 3515.4 Action and adopt the Administrative Regulation 3515.4: Recovery For Property Loss Or Damage. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to review the recommended changes and approve the updated board policy and adopt the administrative regulation.

BACKGROUND:

This is the first reading of the attached policy. The language is sanctioned by the California School Board Association. California School Board Association notations can be seen in the documents for the benefit of the Board. These notations will be removed from the final, Board approved policies. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice. If any revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading.

Board Policy 3515.4 - Recovery For Property Loss Or Damage The NUSD board policy has not been revised since 1996. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

Administrative Regulation 3515.4 - Recovery For Property Loss Or Damage The NUSD administrative regulation has not been adopted. The language is from the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 3515.4 Recovery For Property Loss Or Damage 10-20-2022.pdf (103 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 3515.4 Recovery For Property Loss Or Damage 10-20-2022.pdf (180 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 3515.4 Recovery For Property Loss Or Damage 10-20-2022.pdf (154 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 4000 - Concepts and Roles (Personnel)

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board approves the updated Board Policy 4000 - Concepts Action and Roles (Personnel). PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

This is the first reading of the attached policy. The language is sanctioned by the California School Board Association. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice. If any revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading. The Board of Education adopted this policy on 04/16/1996, shortly before CSBA came out with a recommended update on 10/01/1996. There have been no new recommended updates from CSBA since then.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 4000 Concepts And Roles 10-20-2022.pdf (49 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 4000 Concepts And Roles 10-20-2022.pdf (110 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 4113 and Administrative Regulation 4113- Assignment

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy 4113 Action and Administrative Regulation 4113- Assignment. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to review the recommended changes and approve the updated board policy and administrative regulation

BACKGROUND:

This is the first reading of the attached policy. The language is sanctioned by the California School Board Association. California School Board Association notations can be seen in the documents for the benefit of the Board. These notations will be removed from the final, Board approved policies. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice. If any revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading.

Board Policy 4113- Assignment The NUSD board policy has not been revised since 1996. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

Administrative Regulation 4113- Assignment The NUSD administrative regulation has not been revised since 1996. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

File Attachments Exisitng NUSD BP 4113 Assignment.pdf (48 KB) Exisiting NUSD AR 4113 Assignment.pdf (62 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4113 Assignment.pdf (261 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 4113 Assignment.pdf (269 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 7000: Concepts and Roles (Facilities)

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the updated Board Policy 7000: Action Concepts and Roles (Facilities). PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

This is the first reading of the attached policy. The language is sanctioned by the California School Board Association. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice. If any revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading.

Board Policy 7000: Concepts and Roles The NUSD board policy has not been revised since 1996. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

Administrative Regulation There is no regulation.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 7000 Concepts and Roles 10-20-2022.pdf (116 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 7000 Concepts And Roles 10-20-2022.pdf (70 KB)

Warrant Report for September 2022

Type Action

Fiscal Impact No

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

The purpose of this item is to present warrants, for the total amount of $2,359,574.64, made from District funds for September 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 September 2022.pdf (374 KB)

Quarterly Report on Contracts - FY 2022-23

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source General Fund

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratifies the contracts on the Quarterly Action Report. PURPOSE:

These quarterly reports on contracts are submitted to the Board for review.

BACKGROUND:

The Board has requested a report of all contracts for services over $10,000 be reviewed by the Board on a quarterly basis. This report only includes contracts that have not been previously approved by the Board.

Contracts are on file in the Business Office.

File Attachments Quarterly Contract Report Q1 22-23_10-20-2022.pdf (12 KB) SCHOOL~2.PDF (8,192 KB) Sunbelt_22-23_Hard of Hearing_fully executed.pdf (357 KB) JR Consulting_Jeff Rios_2022-23_fully executed.pdf (123 KB) Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services_2017-07-01 to 2020-06-30_and ongoing_fully executed.pdf (837 KB) Autism Partnership_22-23_fully executed.pdf (394 KB) One Acess Medical Transportation Contract 22-23_fully executed.pdf (273 KB) UpFront Interpreting_2022-23_fully executed.pdf (435 KB) ACTS_Newark Contract 22-23 SIGNED.pdf (4,046 KB) School Services of California (SSC) Business & HR Organizational Review Agreement_fully executed.pdf (756 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratifies the contracts on the Quarterly Report.

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

Minutes of the October 6, 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 October 6, Action 2022 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the October 6, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the October 6, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

Minutes of the October 3, 2022 Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approved the minutes of the October 3, Action 2022, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the October 3, 2022, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the October 3, 2022, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

12. 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 10.20.22.pdf (4,532 KB)

13. STAFF REPORT

Staffing Challenges and Strategies

Type Discussion, Information PURPOSE:

To provide the Board with information regarding Staffing Challenges and Strategies.

BACKGROUND:

At the request of the Board, this staff report will provide the District's staffing vacancies and strategies that have been implemented to mitigate the impact on our classrooms and staff. The Executive Director of Human Resources, Cathreene Ingham-Watters, will present.

File Attachments Staff Report. Staffing. 10.20.22.pdf (849 KB)

14. OLD BUSINESS

District Goals and Objectives

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the 2022-23 District Goals and Action Objectives. PURPOSE:

The superintendent, Dr. Triplett, will share with the Board the updated 2022-23 District Goals and Objectives for the Newark Unified School District for Board approval.

BACKGROUND:

The 2022-23 District Goals and Objectives for the Newark Unified School District were presented to the Board during a study session at the September 15, 2022, regular Board of Education meeting, and a revised draft was presented at the October 6, 2022, regular Board of Education meeting for additional input. A recommended approval from the Board will be requested tonight. After approval and at a later meeting, the superintendent will present a draft of the measurable outcomes for Board input.

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 the 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 outcomes need to be SMARTE (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Sensitive, and Equitable)

III. Timeline for Board Approval 1. Superintendent recommended 2022-23 Goals and Objectives for community and Board input on Thursday, September 15, 2022. 2. Superintendent made revisions based on community and Board input and present them to the Board for additional input on October 6, 2022. 3. The updated 22-23 Goals and Objectives will be presented to the Board for approval on October 20, 2022. 4. Superintendent and Team will generate measurable outcomes for each articulated goal/objective to be presented at a subsequent Board meeting.

File Attachments District Goals & Objectives Board Presentation 10.20.22.pdf (1,385 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the 2022-23 District Goals and Objectives.

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

15. NEW BUSINESS

Organizational Review- Human Resources and Business Departments

Type Action

Preferred Date Oct 20, 2022

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education accepts the report. Action PURPOSE:

To provide the Board with a presentation of the School Services of California Organizational Review and for the Board to accept the report.

BACKGROUND:

School Services of California Inc. (SSC) conducted an Organizational Review of the Human Resources (HR) and Business Services Departments specific to the District's operations in the following areas: employee health and welfare benefits programs; employee recruitment, selection, hiring, and onboarding; HR general policies and procedures; and position control. The objective of the review was to assess the existing organizational structure and the described functions within the departments. Throughout the review and evaluation, SSC offered findings and recommendations, where appropriate, for organizational changes to improve communication and operational efficiencies.

File Attachments FINAL - SSC Org Review Board Presentation - Newark USD 10-20-22.pdf (260 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education accepts the report.

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

Resolution 2022.23.12 Certifying Course-based Independent Study Curriculum

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves Resolution 2022.23.12 - Action Certifying Course-based Independent Study Curriculum (8th Grade Geometry). PURPOSE:

School districts are required annually to certify their course-based independent study curriculum through a board resolution as certified by the LEA to be of the same rigor, educational quality, and intellectual challenge substantially equivalent to in-person instruction and classroom-based courses.

BACKGROUND:

The LEA's governing board must adopt a policy at a public meeting that complies with the requirements of Ed. Code 51749.5. CSBA released recommended language for Independent Study Board Policy and Administrative Regulation in late September. Shortly thereafter, on October 6, 2022, NUSD updated language to reflect these recommendations.

Per adopted Independent Study BP/AR, the course-based independent study must be annually certified by a resolution from the LEA's governing board to be of the same rigor, educational quality, and intellectual challenge substantially equivalent to in-person instruction and equivalent classroom-based courses, and are aligned to all relevant local and state content standards.

Newark Unified School District adopted a new mathematics course progression for grades 6-12 during the 2021-2022 academic school year based on current mathematics instructional research and stakeholder input. However, 5 (five) eighth-grade students enrolled in Algebra I during their 7th-grade year in 2021-2022 have requested access to the subsequent Geometry course during their eighth-grade year in 2022-2023. These 5 students will take 8th-grade Geometry using the same platform that we offer traditional independent study students attending the Crossroads secondary program (Imagine Learning, Edgenuity Geometry Course).

Given BP/AR updates, as attached, we request certification on behalf of staff and students to complete their 8th-grade Geometry coursework using the curriculum provided by Imagine Learning, Edgenuity Geometry Coursework. In addition, students will receive additional independent study support as outlined by the newly adopted BP/AR 6158 (Independent Study).

File Attachments Updated AR 6158 Independent Study (1).pdf (197 KB) Updated BP 6158 Independent Study.pdf (339 KB) Resolution No. 2022.23.06 - Certifying Course-Based Independent Study Curriculum (1).pdf (202 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves Resolution 2022.23.12 - Certifying Course-based Independent Study Curriculum (8th Grade Geometry).

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

18. 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.

19. 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 11:00 P.M.

Motion by Aiden Hill, second by Bowen Zhang.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Terrence Grindall, Aiden Hill, 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 10:17pm. (motion was made by member TORRES)

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

No minutes available.