Regular Meeting

Introduction

• Regular meeting of the Newark Unified School District Board of Education held on January 19, 2023.
• Key themes: Staff transitions, student safety initiatives, audit compliance, and equity-focused curriculum updates.

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Agenda Items

Board Operations & Adjustments

• Description:
  • Agenda modified to reorder closed session items and consent agenda discussions.
• Decisions made:
  • Agenda approved with adjustments.

Student Reports

• Description:
  • Newark Memorial High School: Highlighted upcoming events (Sadie’s Dance, Black History Month activities, athletics).
  • Bridgepoint: Noted wellness retreats and student council initiatives.
• Decisions made:
  • No formal action taken.

Staff Spotlight: Lucia Gutierrez

• Description:
  • Recognition of Lucia Gutierrez, outgoing Executive Assistant to the Superintendent, for improving board governance and community engagement.
• Decisions made:
  • No formal action taken.

Kennedy Elementary Presentation

• Description:
  • Principal Jaime Soria presented academic data, PBIS initiatives, and facility projects (e.g., playground upgrades, fence installation).
  • Student council members showcased leadership in organizing food drives and cultural events.
• Decisions made:
  • No formal action taken.

Quarterly Contracts & Purchase Orders

• Description:
  • Concerns raised about a $20,000 contract for website maintenance with Jeffrey Vu, citing lack of business licenses and procurement compliance.
  • Monthly purchase order report included $841,000 for Birch Grove Primary parking lot redesign.
• Decisions made:
  • Contracts and purchase orders approved (3-2 vote).

Birch Grove Primary Parking Lot Improvements

• Description:
  • $841,000 project to address traffic congestion, pedestrian safety, and ADA compliance. Community input emphasized urgent safety needs.
• Decisions made:
  • Approved (3-2 vote).

2021-22 Audit Report

• Description:
  • Audit findings included:
    • Procurement violations: Late purchase orders and unlicensed contractors.
    • Independent study compliance: 75% of sampled agreements lacked required elements, risking $1M in funding.
    • Unduplicated pupil count error: $4,900 adjustment.
• Decisions made:
  • Report accepted. Corrective actions planned.

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Public Comments

• Key themes:
  • Budget transparency: Requests for updates on COVID relief (ESSER III) spending, including delayed shade structures.
  • Equity concerns: Calls for Latinx representation in board appointments and culturally responsive policies.
  • Contract oversight: Criticisms of no-bid contracts and insufficient vendor qualifications.

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Follow-Up and Commitments

• Audit compliance: District to address procurement processes and independent study documentation by June 2023.
• LCAP revisions: Community feedback sessions scheduled for February 2023 to inform 2023-24 priorities.
• Facilities planning: Commitment to develop a prioritized, district-wide capital improvement plan by Q2 2023.

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Conclusion

• Meeting advanced safety and equity priorities (e.g., Birch Grove parking lot, Kennedy fence) but highlighted governance challenges in procurement and fiscal oversight.
• Next steps include audit corrective actions, LCAP community engagement, and facilities prioritization.

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Target Audience Notes:

• Parents/Guardians: Safety upgrades (parking lots, fences) directly impact student well-being.
• Teachers/Staff: LCAP feedback opportunities and audit findings may influence resource allocations.
• Community: Transparency in capital projects and budget decisions remains a recurring concern.

[109] Nancy Thomas: Good evening. The regular meeting of the Board of Education for Thursday, January 19th is called to order. Ms. Gutierrez, would you call the roll, please?

[121] SPEAKER_44: Board Member Nguyen? Here. Board Member Jones? Here. Board Member Zhang?

[125] SPEAKER_09: Here.

[126] SPEAKER_44: Vice President Hill? Here. President Thomas? Here. All present?

[131] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we will talk about approving of the agenda. I have a superintendent. You had an announcement in that regard?

[142] Mark Triplett: Yes, thank you, board president, and good evening to the board and to staff and audience at home. Yeah, we do want to pull one item. And sorry, you could scroll down to this, Ms. Dela Cruz. We would like to pull 15.2, new secondary courses for 2023-24, please. And we'll be bringing it back at the following meeting.

[179] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I would like to move a few things on the agenda, if it's all right. I would like to move item 3.6, conference with legal counsel to be the first closed session agenda item. Also, I would ask that we move 16.1, pulled consent agenda items to immediately following the approval of non-consent agenda items. Is that OK with everyone?

[214] Bowen Zhang: Can you repeat what you said about the consent?

[219] Nancy Thomas: OK. 16.1, which is pulled consent agenda items, I would like that item to immediately follow the approval of non-consent agenda items. Where are they? Not non-consent. Consent. Consent agenda items, right. Non-personnel, I meant.

[240] Bowen Zhang: Non-personnel.

[241] Nancy Thomas: Non-personnel, I was, I wrote it down wrong.

[244] Kat Jones: Moving 16 to in front of 13.

[247] Bowen Zhang: This is for the, so people can answer the question and go home.

[252] Nancy Thomas: Well, so people, that for pulled consent agenda items are discussed right after we approve the rest of the consent agenda items.

[269] Bowen Zhang: Is this to create convenience for the relevant personnel so they can answer our questions and go home, rather than waiting until the end of the meeting to answer our questions?

[282] Nancy Thomas: More so, I think it's a matter of not bifurcating the consent agenda so that when you pull the consent agenda items, you pull them, and then you immediately vote on the consent agenda items that have not been pulled, and then you discuss each one of the pulled agenda items. It does make it more convenient for people that do pull. Is that all right for everyone? Okay, I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

[317] SPEAKER_42: I move to approve the agenda item with the modifications.

[322] Phuong Nguyen: Item 3.6, conference with legal counsel in closed session to be moved up to as the first item in closed session and moving item 16.1, pulled consent items to be after approval of the consent non-personal items.

[346] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Do I have a second?

[350] Cary Knoop: I'll second.

[352] Nancy Thomas: Please hold. I'm not signed in, so could I vote? OK. Would you do a roll call, please?

[363] SPEAKER_44: Board Member Nguyen? Yes. Board Member Jones?

[369] SPEAKER_09: Yes.

[369] SPEAKER_44: Board Member Zhang? Yes. Board Member Hill? Board Member Thomas.

[375] Nancy Thomas: Yes. Okay. Ms. Gutierrez, would you set me up? I forgot my login. Having said that, we are getting ready to go into closed session. And in closed session, we will be discussing conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation. complaint against employee, public employee discipline dismissal release, conference with labor negotiators regarding NTA and CSCA, and conference with labor negotiators, employee group NEWMA, underrepresented supervisors, and contracted management. Is there any public comment on this item? Seeing none, we'll recess to closed session. Good evening, everyone. This is the January 19th, 2023 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 of the following symptoms. Loss of taste or smell, difficulty breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, cough, headache, sore throat, runny nose. for additional information on COVID-19, please go to the Newark Unified website. We have just returned from closed session and with two actions. First, the board accepted claim number 612529 for the amount of $2,680. Motion made by member Zhang and seconded by member Jones with a vote of three yes, two no with member Hill and member Nguyen. Voting no. Second, the board rejected claim number 615419. Motion by member Zhang and seconded by member Nguyen with a vote of five yes. I understand we have some students from Kennedy School who will lead us in the pledge. Please come forward. And the flag is over there.

[7801] SPEAKER_46: Thank you. That was very well done.

[7803] SPEAKER_39: So next, we have student reports. Superintendent?

[7831] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Thomas. Good evening to the board and to staff and families, students. So who do we have, Ms. Gutierrez, to first up?

[7841] SPEAKER_44: We don't have any from the junior high, but we do have from high school and from the Bridgepoint. We'll start off with our high school.

[7853] Diego Torres: Yeah, it's on. OK. Good evening, Superintendent Triplett, executive cabinet, board members, and the community. I hope everyone is well rested and doing well after that much needed break. To start off the new year, the school has been planning many wonderful events and there were some great successes to end 2022. To end the year, the staff had a great community bonding party hosted by PTSA. The administration is beyond thankful for the dedication that PTSA put into hosting the party. PTSA got gifts for all the teachers and food for all the staff. Thank you, PTSA, for all that you do for the NUSD community. The school has revised its site council budget. They have approved multiple spendings that will benefit the school in many ways. NMHS will now have funding for a student score the students stole. So the students can show off their cougar pie with brand new merch. The teachers got the funding for supplies that they requested. December also saw some cougars being honored as Very Important Cougars, or VIC for short. Those awarded as Very Important Cougars got to enjoy some Starbucks as a gift from the administration for demonstrating positive, prideful behavior. The administration wants to encourage positive experiences and they can't wait to award this month's VICs. January and February are very busy months. Election season is upon us. There are great candidates preparing to give speeches in front of the whole student body, make posters, and campaign. It is always exciting to see all the unique and cool slogans and posters that are made. Students are very creative these days. To get the upperclassmen connected with the freshmen, Lean Crew will be hosting a rock painting event next week. Another upcoming event is our Sadie's Dance. This year's theme is a secret garden and the attire is semi-formal. Tickets will go on sale next week. Tickets are $10 with the ASB seal and $15 without the ASB seal. Included in the ticket are a dessert bar and unforgettable memories. There is also a Senior Cruise coming up. The Senior Cruise is a three-hour cruise on a private yacht around San Francisco Bay. It is a cocktail-themed or as a cocktail semi-formal attire with a dessert buffet and drinks. It will take place on Friday, February 24th and tickets will be $80 and they go on sale next week. One event that we are excited about hosting is Hats Week. Hats means hands across time and space and is a jam-packed week that will take place in March. That week is full of cultural dress-up days and lunchtime activities to get the students excited about their culture and provide the opportunity to learn about other cultures. There is a food fair that week, which is a great way for clubs to fundraise and an amazing opportunity for students to try foods from different cultures. The week ends with our Hath Assembly that showcases dances from many different cultures. Something that I would like to highlight is our shoe collection drive hosted by sophomore Joy Lee. The drive started yesterday and is ending on January 27th. If you want to get rid of any unwanted shoes that have no holes, then please drop them off in front of the activities office in the comments. This is a great way to do something for the environment, as all the shoes will go to the nonprofit Souls for Souls. Next month is Black History Month. February 10th is Black Lives Matter Day, and to honor that day, our BSU, Black Student Union Club, is planning to have a gallery walk with the history of the Black Lives Matter movement and pictures slash information of people who passed away due to police brutality. Activists will be highlighted, and the history of Black Lives Matters will be showcased. With athletics, basketball, soccer, and wrestling have been practicing and competing as they are preparing for the NFL tournament. The spring sports registration is now open. If your child would like to participate in a spring sport, then please sign up on Family ID. Registration will close on February 3rd. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Coach K. The Student Athletic Advisory Committee, also known as SAC, is going to start up again February 15th. SAC is a club dedicated to student-athletes around the league to improve sportsmanship and get the athletes involved in the community. What is also happening in February that is currently being planned is Special Olympics, which will take place on February 17th. The Athletics Department would like to invite all of you this Saturday, January 21st at 6.30 in the Commons for our 7th induction ceremony into the Newark Ring of Honor Athletics Hall of Fame as we induct multiple people. I'd like to end this report by wishing that everyone had a smooth transition back to school, and that we all close out the year strong. Thank you.

[8121] SPEAKER_44: Our second is from Bridgepoint.

[8122] SPEAKER_39: Good evening superintendent Triplett, board members, and cabinet members. I'm Alexis Bonco-Bear. I'm a Bridgepoint junior, but I hope to graduate this term. Both Crossroads and Bridgepoint are welcome several new students. Bridgepoint is now home to 84 students. Bridgepoint also has three older graduates. Congratulations. Bridgepoint hosted our third annual wellness retreat on their first day back to school. We took part in mindfulness, art therapy, and games. Our second quarter of our assembly is coming soon. Thank you for your support.

[8164] Nancy Thomas: Thank you very much. We appreciate our student reports. Thank you. Next, we are, before we move on to the next few items, I'm the new president this year, and I may be a little nervous tonight, so bear with me. We will be following what we call a modified version of Robert's Rules of Order, which means that instead of calling on each board member separately to input. I will be asking for them to raise their hands and make comments. I'm also asking that to move the meetings along even a little more quickly that we allow the president to thank our presenters on behalf of the entire board so that they don't all have to thank you individually. They want to and it would they do that and they've done that in the past but in When I earlier when I was on the board, we kind of allowed the president to do that With the board members making comments that are germane or questions, which is always appropriate. Okay, so next we move on to our Staff spotlight superintendent.

[8244] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Thank you president Thomas. Could we put the Slide deck up, please. Ms. Gutierrez. Yes, staff spotlight. So this evening we have a special staff spotlight and this is for one person in particular and the drama is starting here. Go ahead, Ms. Gutierrez. Next slide. And that's Ms. Gutierrez. So Ms. Gutierrez, who has been the executive assistant to myself and the board since I've been working here, is departing. And so we're really sad to see her go, but we also want to really celebrate all of the contributions that she's made to the district, to students, families, community staff, So I'm going to read a little something here. So this evening, NUSD would like to spotlight the outgoing executive assistant to the superintendent and board, Lucia Gutierrez. She's a proud graduate of NUSD and has dedicated herself to positively contributing to the Newark community. She serves on a number of community boards and has given her time to impact the Newark community in many, many wonderful ways. Ms. Gutierrez has made outstanding contributions to our district. During her tenure as executive assistant to the superintendent, she has dramatically improved our systems and structures for both board governance and for how we support our schools, our families and our community. She has gone above and beyond in her service to our families and students. So Ms. Gutierrez, we will greatly miss you. We know you're not going far. We know you're still going to be around. And so we'll call on you. But we will, I think I speak for everyone, that we'll really miss you. And we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

[8367] Nancy Thomas: This is certainly one situation where everyone on the board is invited to speak to Ms. Gutierrez. Student board member?

[8378] Diego Torres: Thank you. Yeah, it's definitely going to be very different and very upsetting to see Ms. Gutierrez go. She was the first one that I actually spoke to when I got elected. And she helped me through the process of learning how to become a board member and everything I need to learn. And she helped me set up the training that I went to. And it's been really helpful. And it's been really great to work with her. She's very communicative. And she's very get forward. And I love it about her. And I'm just going to be so sad that she's going to be gone. And I hope whatever life brings to her that she does well in it. Thank you.

[8411] Phuong Nguyen: Don't cry. So like student board member Torres had mentioned, she was the first person that reached out to him. Same thing, Ms. Gutierrez was, prior to being the executive assistant, she was also a former board member here. when I was elected, appointed, Ms. Gutierrez, as soon as I sat down, a note came by and she had passed on her personal phone number and it said, please reach out and let's connect and I just want to get to know you and show you the ropes. So I remember that fondly and I'm super proud of her in that position. She's worked tremendously hard so hard that a lot of people don't even recognize. And she's very deserving of all the good things that are going to go her way. So I will miss you tremendously. As you can see, I'm getting emotional. But you have been a tremendous part of our board. And not only that, but a friend and someone who is totally reliable, honorable, and not deserving of any negative hearsay that was out in the community so best wishes to you.

[8501] Kat Jones: I too was a new board member was greeted by Lucia and I really appreciated that always a smile on your face dedicated hard-working and wanting to make sure that you know I felt comfortable and I really appreciated that I know the relationship in this case has been very short but I very much appreciated it and so my best wishes to you

[8525] Bowen Zhang: I want to echo all my previous board members said, and thank you for your service both as a board member and as an executive assistant to the superintendent and particular to the board. And I'm glad that you continue going to be a newer resident. So I will expect you to continue to play an influential role in shaping our district and shaping our communities. And sometimes you can make a bigger impact not under the public spotlight, but under the public spotlight.

[8558] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez, for your service and for all your hard work, because I know you do work very hard, and wishing you the best in the next steps in your journey.

[8573] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. I remember when we appointed you, when I was on the board previously, and the good discussions we had in those times when I was on the board with you, and since then, especially now that I'm back on the board, I really appreciate everything you did to get us on boarded, to get us signed up to go down to CSBA convention and the future, the training we have and that's coming up. You've been very efficient and helpful. We're going to miss you, the staff is going to miss you and I wish you the best in everything that you plan to do going forward. Next, Superintendent, Kennedy Spotlight.

[8622] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Thomas. I am so excited to have Kennedy in the house tonight. So I'm going to turn it over to Principal Soria, but I think there's also some other fantastic Kennedy community members here, including some of our wonderful students. So I'm sure that we're in for a treat in terms of lots of things, learning lots of wonderful things about Kennedy.

[8647] SPEAKER_22: All right. Thank you. Good evening, board members, executive cabinet, and our families and students here today. I'm Jaime Soria, the principal at Kennedy Elementary, and I'm here to really talk about Kennedy, all the fantastic things that we got going on this year. With that, it is the mission of Kennedy Elementary School to ensure high levels of learning for all students and to foster a community built on respect for one another. The key word there is community. With our community, we have fantastic teachers, awesome support staff, our supportive families, and most of all, we have 470 fantastic, wonderful students that are very hardworking. With that being said, I thought it would be good to start off presenting some data and what we see here is data from 2017, 18, 19. Those years are significant because those are the years that we, pre-pandemic, pre-pandemic. And 2022, was a return to in-person learning. And we actually did take an assessment. And what we're seeing here is our Smarter Balanced assessment. This assessment is done the grade levels third through sixth grade. We did have sixth grade last year. We know that they moved on. But the data does reflect our sixth graders from last year. So what we're seeing there is English language arts and math overall score. So you could see pre-pandemic that it's in the form of a bar graph. The first cluster there, the first three bar graphs, you can see how Kennedy was performing overall. And 2019, the latest year pre-pandemic, our students were performing almost about 59.6%. So almost about 60% of our students were meeting the standard or exceeding. And last year, you can see that we fairly maintained that around 59%. So pretty much a balance there. And in math 2019, you can see that 56%, almost about 57% of our students were performing, meeting the standard or exceeding. And there was a slight decline in math. What I wanted to do was to drill down a little bit more with our grade level bands. Once again, it's third through sixth grade taking this assessment. And this is English language arts. And with that, three out of four grade levels did show growth. from 2019 pre-pandemic to last year. One example would be if we look at fifth grade, that cluster there, that in 2019, 57% of our students were standard met or exceeded, and fifth grade did have a growth to 63%. So that's an example. In math, where we saw that there was a slight decline, but two out of four grade levels did see a growth. And for instance, third grade, this show growth from 2019 to 2022. You can see in third grade, 60% of our students were standard met or exceeding in 2019, pre-pandemic. And then last year, we saw growth, it looks like 65% there. What I also wanted to present was our iReady. We see here it's fall data. We haven't yet taken our winter and spring, do anticipate to analyze this as a staff and drill down a little bit more. But you could see our students in the fall of 2022 that last column that 51 percent of our students are on or above grade level and this does include like our kindergarten through our fifth grade students. And you can see in comparison to years prior that we're pretty much maintaining a slight increase in reading. And then for math 45% of our students, kinder through fifth grade, are on or above grade level. And you can see that there was some growth comparison of last year as well. So our site focus is SEL and PBIS. SEL is short for an acronym for social emotional learning. We are implementing our character strong curriculum to support that. And last year we were exploring our lessons, this year we're definitely teaching, definitely teaching our lessons. And it is in really coordination. It partners well with our PBIS program, our behavior systems that we have. I'll talk a little bit more about the passport assemblies, how we are supporting our culture and climate with that. But how it parallels with our Character Strong curriculum and with SEL and PBIS is like through our character traits. I see here, we see posters here with character traits. That's actually from our Character Strong program. For instance, January, we are highlighting perseverance. And we put this out, like, in morning announcements. Our teachers are teaching lessons. We're modeling even fun ways, like in our Cafeteria Eagle Challenge, a friendly competition to exhibit behaviors in a setting, such as the cafeteria. And we're acknowledging our students through our PBIS, as an example. One thing I wanted to highlight was a focus with culture and climate that we have district-wide, as well as at the site level at Kennedy. is in the form of a PBIS Passports Assembly. This assembly is very unique in a way that we mentioned through our mission, like community, the key word. This is a community assembly where our students are fabulous, as you know. We have seen that our students respect our teachers, our office staff, such as myself, the principals. And they are respectful of all staff. But this is very unique, where we invite our support staff in all different settings because we know that students are in the classroom and they're also in all the settings such as cafeteria, playground, restrooms throughout the day. So what we do, we empower our support staff that when they go to the cafeteria, their teachers are not there. I'm roving around. It's actually our supervising staff, our lunch monitors that are there supervising and reinforcing the expectations. So with that being said, we invited our campus monitors and supervision staff to actually present the assembly. We had two rounds of it in August. Our students went around similar to like when we travel the country and you go to different countries, you get a passport. Same thing in the school. They're traveling through the different settings and they get to hear about the expectations about being safe, responsible and respectful in the cafeteria. And it looks variation, difference in the playground. And who's facilitating and presenting those is our campus monitors. So it's really important that we want our students to demonstrate that same level of respect to all of our staff. So I'm happy to speak more about that. But we just did a second round. I know our students were involved in there. You'll be hearing from them shortly. And we really emphasized what we're seeing this year. And we tailored it for behavioral refresher assembly. And we just did that last week. Our programs at Kennedy, although I want to talk about each one individually, because I'm proud of all of them, I wanted to highlight, I talked about PBS significantly, the other two bullets, cost and our mental health clinician. With that, our cost or coordination of service team really finds ways to support our students that are referred. And one thing that I wanted to highlight is how we're utilizing our mental health clinician, who's part-time, two days out of the week, And we're utilizing it in all three tier systems. Tier 3 level, our mental health clinician is working individually with students in counseling sessions. At the tier 2 level, in small groups, last year we had a lunch bunch group. And this year, we're really emphasizing at the tier 1 level. Similar to how we want great first instruction academically, very similar approach to how we want to support our social emotional learning at the tier 1 level. An example of that is that our teachers have identified needs, and our mental health clinician has went in and presented lessons, and really focuses on providing tools, such as tools to regulate emotions. And then also tools to how to handle conflict. So different tools is things that our students are being exposed to. So that's just an example of some of the programs that we have. Although I want to talk about others for the sake of time, I'm happy to reinforce, and we're proud of all of our programs at Kennedy. We also like to pause and just celebrate successes. And in the forum, we were happy to be participants in new work. And we did get acknowledged there. with the theme, it was Under the Sea, and that plaque there shows that we were best use of theme. So we were parading around, but we really looked like we were swimming out there. So it was awesome. We had a lot of energy. We had our chants going, and it was a fun way to celebrate that. We also acknowledge and celebrate our students' achievements. In the form, there's an example of our English learners. This is in coordination and collaboration with our ELAC committee, who host this. And we invite our students and celebrate that achievement of reclassification. And we invite the families. And that's an example that one of our family members created that board. And we provide them with the educational gift. And we acknowledge their achievement. And then once again, I said we acknowledge our students with our PBS, such as match with the principal and our student store. I also thought that it would be important for us to talk about the projects that we have going on here at Kennedy. One is we are currently hopeful to have a Kennedy fence in the future. And partnering with our district, we are in the process of our input session. So we currently had an input session with our staff And our district came over and we had an opportunity to provide input for a potential fence here at Kennedy. We also have dates scheduled for our community to provide input. And we have that scheduled one in the morning and one in the evening time. Another project that we have is our wish list funds that we have a little bit more than $40,000. And you can see there a timeline that we're in the process of gathering ideas and narrowing it down to improve school facilities. And you can see there with the phase, we're in January, February. We're in the process of narrowing down our items and ideas. And hopefully you'll see me in May on how we're going to utilize our wish list funds to improve our school. Another project that we've been wanting to do, I had this actually last year, was our playground paint project. And with that, we actually have a nice gift with our art and funds that we, art, funds and music funds that we can possibly utilize to support this. Now, we know that visitors on campus was, we were allowed back on campus this year. So we actually had that challenge last year that really couldn't follow through with this. But here we are gathering volunteers who are very eager and we're looking forward to actually what you see there are some examples that we want to do with our program, with our playground to make it really inviting. And what I want to do is just really just, you'll probably be getting invitation boards in the executive cabinet to some of the events that we have coming on here at Kennedy. We have our International Day. We're actually scheduling this one in March. There's a picture there to the far right. And that's really the theme is to celebrate and embrace our diversity. And our PTA has our walk-a-thon and art show in May. And I know a few of our board members have attended a lot of these events. So we'll be welcoming you there too. We'll have family night as well as me. Our teachers are going to be spearheading that. So we're pretty excited about that. And with that, I actually wanted to invite our special guest in the form of our executive counsel. So can you, young ladies, come on up. And they have a fantastic presentation. They're going to talk a little bit about their experience with student council.

[9398] SPEAKER_35: Hi, I'm Kalena and I am Kennedy's Elementary Student Council President. Kennedy Elementary Student Council is a group of 30 awesome and creative fourth and fifth grade students who meet weekly to discuss and organize activities that we believe will help our school to be the best school. For instance, in October we organized Red Ribbon Week, which focused on making healthy choices for our body while having fun spirit days to reinforce the message. For example, I'm Too Bright for Drugs was one of the days and the students wore neon colors and sunglasses.

[9439] SPEAKER_37: Hi, I'm Amelia, Kennedy Elementary Student Council Vice President. We also organize activities that help our Newark community. In December, we ran a canned food drive where we collected 2,000 pounds of food for the Viola Blythe Foundation. This year, our generosity committee is planning on organizing an animal toy drive to support our local animal shelter.

[9463] SPEAKER_36: Hi, I'm Carly, the student council secretary. Every month, we organize a spirit day where Kennedy students come dressed in that theme, like pajama day. Each year, we try to think of new Spirit Days that we haven't had before. This month's Spirit Day will be a brand new Spirit Day called Bring Anything But a Backpack Day. We are looking forward to see the many ways students bring their materials to school not using a backpack. Spirit Days are a really fun way to build school spirit.

[9498] SPEAKER_35: Hi, I'm Hannah, the Student Council Treasurer. You probably have noticed my friends talk about different committees. All 30 of our student council members are part of a committee. We have five committees all together. Each committee has a focus, like STEAM committee. That committee will come up with a STEAM activity for the whole school to participate in. Last year, the STEAM committee came up with a bridge building challenge. The student council provided each class with popsicle sticks, glue, and string. The classes could only use those items. You would have been impressed with the bridges that were created, and boy, were they strong too.

[9535] SPEAKER_37: We also wanted to share with you why we believe being a part of Student Council is important and meaningful. I like being a part of Student Council because I get to plan spirit days for the school and I get to grow as a leader.

[9548] SPEAKER_36: I like being in Student Council because it is a great way to grow and show my leadership skills. It also helps students meet and work with other students that they normally wouldn't work with.

[9561] SPEAKER_35: Being part of the Student Council is a wonderful experience and being part of the Executive Council is even better. I enjoy being part of the Student Council because it helps me with my leadership skills. Not only this, but the Student Council makes the school more fun with the activities we plan. The Student Council program is amazing because it's about getting students to work together to help our school and our community. For me, I love Student Council because I can contribute my voice and ideas to make a positive change and fun activities.

[9595] SPEAKER_37: As you can see, the Kennedy Elementary Student Council keeps very busy making Kennedy the best place to be through a variety of activities that help build our school community and help the Newark community as well. Thank you for listening!

[9623] Nancy Thomas: Thank you very, very much.

[9626] SPEAKER_35: We have a song we'd like to share. OK.

[9628] SPEAKER_36: America, America, America, America, land of hope and liberty.

[9646] SPEAKER_39: Freedom rings from every mountain, from sea to sea.

[9652] Nancy Thomas: All right. Thank you. Would you please? They're great, aren't they?

[9670] SPEAKER_22: They are fifth graders. Yeah, they are fifth graders. Yeah, Kenny, you can see that energy.

[9675] Nancy Thomas: Yes, you sure can. Would you please talk about the back wall? Sure.

[9682] SPEAKER_22: Yeah, definitely. So you see there, pretty much the theme is like winter theme. You can see a lot of art projects and a lot of lessons that we have. So with that, with the art, you see like in the form of penguins and Even like a mitten that was actually displayed with a book there in kindergarten. That poster that you see in pink where students are putting posters that's like elements of a story that's actually from kindergarten. And they're identifying important events in the forms of like pictures and their teachers like reading aloud. It's pretty engaging. And then they actually extended the activity. In the far right there, you see the mittens that they actually presented that. And then you see some math there in the form of caterpillars, where our second grade students are learning about place value, and displaying it, and really exhibiting it there. So definitely a lot of artwork, art. I know I mentioned it in the programs. I wasn't able to highlight everything. Art is definitely a covenant enrichment activity that I really, really appreciate. There's definitely more that we have, but at the same time, that's just a few of the great things that we have going on at Kennedy.

[9746] Nancy Thomas: Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you. Does any board member wish to ask a question or make a comment?

[9756] Kat Jones: I'd just like to say that I've really enjoyed seeing the students get up and to present. That was fabulous. Thanks, girls.

[9767] Nancy Thomas: Member Torres?

[9768] Diego Torres: Yeah, I would like to echo that comment as well. It was very organized. I wish I could be that organized. The rotation, the dancing was on cue. It was well executed. I loved it all. So I like the engagement that you have with the staff on the campus. I feel like we've heard from multiple elementary schools, and I'm glad to hear that there's multiple ways that the staff is involved, because we don't really hear that often. And if we can go back to one of the slides, the one about the projects. Are students going to be allowed to share their voices in this? Because I see that we have staff input and community input, but I was just questioning if students are going to have a chance to give their input as well.

[9813] SPEAKER_22: Yeah, that's a good idea. Definitely. As of now, most of the input sessions that I've had have been mostly with our community, families, and our staff. But that's definitely something to consider. Are you talking about for all the Kennedy fans and the wish list fans?

[9830] Diego Torres: Yeah. Yeah. If we can get students involved, too, since they go to the school for five years.

[9835] SPEAKER_22: Yeah. 100%. Yeah. And you can see the leadership skills. We definitely have. Thank you for that. OK. Thank you.

[9843] Nancy Thomas: Yes.

[9845] Phuong Nguyen: Again I'd also like to echo member Jones and student board member on the school's student council members they were excellent and did a wonderful job and you guys have great composure and very articulate so you guys are already ahead of the game so that's amazing and I wanted to comment on the passport I love the fact that you have your supporting staff and supervisor staff and the campus monitors presenting at those areas in the school and really reinforcing, having them reinforce to the students the behavior that you guys want to model because they're the ones that are interacting with the students the most. So I would really love that if we could model that across the district too for other schools. So thank you for that.

[9897] Nancy Thomas: I particularly enjoy seeing that you are moving forward on the wish list funds, because I know those were funds that were designated three, four years ago. And I remember they were kind of for a patio straight shade structure. But it looks like you're going through a nice process to finally be able to utilize those funds out of Fund 40. Thank you. The Fund 40 is the sale of Russian School.

[9928] Aiden Hill: So thank you, Mr. Soria. Could we go back to the part in the presentation where we were looking at the Smarter Balance Assessment? So I have two questions, one related to this and then the other related to IREDI. So just out of curiosity, right, there's a gap between 2019 and 2022. Is that just because we weren't administering Smarter Balanced in those years? Yes. OK, perfect. OK, so that was the question for that. And then if we could go to iReady, which you had your stacked bar chart. Not that one. There you go. So just out of curiosity, so in the green area, right, so we're basically performing on or above So we had a little dip, but then we're making progress. But in the area where we're below, it is getting a little worse. And it seems that where those changes are occurring is in the middle, right? So in the sort of one grade level below. And so I'm just curious what your theories are about what's going on and then what's needed to address these issues.

[10011] SPEAKER_22: Yeah, so there's definitely a lot going on that we're really uncovering. And sometimes it is in the individual basis as well, too. But we do know that we still I feel that there's still a ripple effect with the pandemic, especially when students were in distance learning, learning on a computer. There is like one of our focus is not just academic. We know the whole child, social, emotional learning and behavior, that there is some impact with that as well. Some of it is, you know, depending on the grade levels, there's a lot of new concepts as well that students are still learning. But as far as that, we've had those conversations internally. It really depends on the students. We see that there is a need for literacy, and we see that impacting a lot with math. So a lot of our focus Even though you saw our scores, we're a little bit higher in our reading, but we do see, we do know the correlation with reading and math. So we are seeing our students, an example would be like focus. A lot of times that the questions are not just one step questions, sometimes there are multiple steps. So it's really trying to understand and really understand the question, what is it being asked in the assessment? We've talked a lot about that, trying to prepare our students. So with that, the theories can be very extreme. But at the same time, we haven't yet pinpointed. That's where a lot of it has been qualitative data. Now that we are kind of coming back and we actually can look at that quantitative data, those theories are going to change. to have a concrete answer. I apologize for that. I don't have one, but that's part of us being able to analyze the data, take it back to our teachers, and what are we seeing? Yeah.

[10131] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Mr. Soria, and thank you to your school council assistance. Nice job. Yeah, thank you.

[10140] Nancy Thomas: Thank you very much.

[10142] SPEAKER_22: All right, thank you.

[10152] Nancy Thomas: Next superintendent, do we have employee organizations here?

[10161] Mark Triplett: Yes, President Thomas, I believe we're on 8.1, employee organizations, and I believe we do have some, Ms.

[10166] SPEAKER_44: Gutierrez. Yes, we have NTA in person.

[10182] Sean Abruzzi: It's always nice to see students at that level.

[10189] Nancy Thomas: Welcome, Mr. Bruce. Hello, everyone.

[10193] Sean Abruzzi: Hello, everyone. Board, exec board, thank you. NTA update. NTA has a couple of things. One of our first is the community. NTA needs the community to help in building up the sub pool. By getting the district sub pool up, we'll give NTA members the press back. Preps are important for giving teachers time to prepare lessons, call parents, and for NTA members to stay energized. NTA needs a community to volunteer at all elementary sites. By volunteering, you help keep teachers in the district and get firsthand insight on how the district is being run. The other thing about NTA I'd like to bring up is, the verse of long-term sub and certified teachers. A long-term sub is not required to do lesson planning, grading, or contact parents about their child's progress in the classroom. A certified teacher is required to do lesson plans, grading, and contact parents about their child's progress in a classroom. One of the things that NT is noticing through this district is that we are losing those teachers, and we're replacing them with long-term subs. That is an injustice, not only to the students at the secondary level, but also at the students at the elementary level. The pandemic has done one thing, made teachers in high demand. Highly qualified teachers are going to districts with smaller class sizes and high paying districts. How will this board and this district keep recruiting highly qualified teachers? Gutierrez, it is always proud to see one of our students be so successful. I want to wish you luck on your future and always know that you always have new work to fall back on. It's always encouraging to see, and it always brings NTA members proud to see the people that come through our school system be successful, just like Miss Egan Waters. So I want to thank the board, and hopefully that we can sit there and make this a destination school district. I really, really am hoping that this is going to happen this school year, because we're losing our window. And our window is closing. We are losing the 23 year old veteran teachers. We're losing our core. They are retiring and they're going. How are you going to keep someone like me who's been in this issue for 23 plus years? How? When I can go over to San Mateo or some of these other districts. I live in San Francisco. I have members that live in Berkeley that are looking. for other jobs. I need this board. I need this district to start helping us retain people. Thank you.

[10385] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we're moving on to President. Oh, do we have someone?

[10395] SPEAKER_44: Our next speaker is Nima. Oh, sorry. You may begin.

[10400] SPEAKER_41: Good evening, President Thomas, Board of Trustees, and executive cabinet members. I apologize for not being in there in person to greet you this evening. Undue, unforeseen circumstances have me joining virtually this evening. We had a great day of learning upon returning from winter break with our teachers. Our very own NEWMA members presented sessions around language foundations. universal design for variable learners and occupational therapy to help our teachers create a toolbox of strategies for students that may have sensory needs. It was great to see our NEWMA staff leading these learning opportunities. We are in the process of awarding our administrator of the year awards for NEWMA. And this year we have eight NEWMA members that will be moving on to the AXA region six selection process. We look forward to celebrating the amazing leaders in NUSD and beyond. Our schools are also reviewing, updating, and revamping our comprehensive school safety plans. Principals have worked with our partners at Newark PD to get alignment where possible and finalize the plans with the site council input. Also, the 100th school day is next week. NEWMA wants to recognize the hard work and dedication of all our members, as well as everybody that touches the lives of our Newark learners. We have little learners working on their first 100-day project. We have parents trying to figure out what they may have 100 items of at home that can be glued down. And we all get to fondly think about those 100-day memories. Thank you.

[10513] Nancy Thomas: Okay, that's it. Next, we're moving on to public comment on non-agenda items. Ms. Parks.

[10535] Cindy Parks: Good evening. Tonight, I'd like to ask a favor. In the fall of 2021, The community was surveyed to ask what to do with the SR3 money. There were multiple meetings that were held at various different locations. Mr. Dolowich headed up some of those meetings. The community was asked, what do you think this money should go towards? They got a lot of different answers. In October of 2021, you approved a plan. Have you seen a plan since? Do you know where the money went? I would ask you to ask for an update. On the plan, there was $700,000 that was allocated for shade structures. I've been asking various people, what happened to those shade structures? And I haven't gotten a solid answer. I've seen brief updates given by Mr. Caputo that it's planning, pending, planning, pending, but no real I mean, they consulted principals and things like that, but no real solid answers to where those shade structures are. And I'd ask that you ask for an update on that plan, not only for that, but for the whole plan that you voted to adopt. It just seems like if you're going to put the time and effort into approving a plan, you should also review to make sure that your wishes were carried out. Thank you. Thank you.

[10628] Nancy Thomas: Ms. Lopez?

[10641] Guadalupe Lopez: Good evening, board members and administrative staff. Tonight, I would like to remind all of you the student body you represent. Newark Unified School District is composed of about 2% Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, 3% African-American, 5% mixed races, 9% Filipino, 10% white, 17% Asian, and 53% Latinx. It is crucial you acknowledge the various races and ethnicities of our students because it will help you guide the policies that you approve as well as the practices and programs you move forward with. My concern is that with most of you not having children in the district and not understanding the cultural differences, you will not be able to adequately represent all of our students, especially the 53%. I urge you to please look at your actions and reflect if you're really representing this student body. In the near future, you will be appointing a new board member. It is extremely important you appoint someone of Latinx descent. Someone that understand their culture, the challenges they face, and to provide the support needed to succeed academically and to move them into a higher education. I also would like to thank the assistant superintendent for having all of our students at the forefront. for understanding their cultural differences and for implementing program and services that will help our students strive in their environment. And lastly, but not least, I would like to thank Ms. Gutierrez for the hard work and the difference she made on this district. And I wish her the best of her new endeavors. Thank you.

[10765] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we have public comment on agenda items. Oh, did we have anyone from online?

[10783] SPEAKER_44: Not in this one, but in the next agendized, yes.

[10785] Nancy Thomas: We do have one online. OK. Ms. Parks, you have four here. If you would prefer, you can make those public comments during the agenda item itself, or you can make them now. What would be your pleasure? Yeah, you can do it now.

[10811] Cindy Parks: The first item I'd like to address is item 12.22, which is the quarterly contracts. The quarterly contract, there's a sole contract for Jeffrey Vu. The contract date is 10-1 of 22 through 12-31 of 22. It was executed on 10-4 of 22 by both Mr. Vu and Ms.dela Cruz. The PO date though is not until November 21st, 2022, seven weeks later, three days after the cutoff that would have made the December meeting. The contract and PO date is also an issue in that it is one of the highlighted items in the audit report that you will be receiving this evening. Your audit exception number 01 for last year. Because it does, one of the audit exceptions does say that the funds should be encumbered for proper budgetary purposes prior to purchases of goods or services, which is what the PO does. The work that is spelled out in the contract says that he's going to be maintaining the website and training, update the website information transferred from the original mitigation, and add on ongoing updates as needed for the 22-23 year. Yet, your website right now still has Terrence Grendel's picture. It does not even have the new seated board members that were seated a month ago, and it still has Member Nguyen as president. what updates have been done. Another item is the item number nine on the contract. For this contract, the language has been changed as far as the licenses and permits. And I don't understand why more attention wasn't paid to, because there have been concerns about this vendor in the past. why some of these things weren't addressed and made sure that they were in compliance, especially with the audit exception with the, like I said, the contract date versus the PO date. But that's what I wanted to bring up regarding that issue. So I hope that you will also follow up on that when you get to that item. The next item I'd like to bring to your attention is 12.24, which is the monthly purchase order report. On the very back page, there's PO changes. So where normally you have your PO number, and you have your vendor, and the description, and the fund, and the account, this one has groups where there are chunks, and I'm not sure exactly how it It's very odd. Let's just put it this way. I don't remember ever seeing this before. You've got these PO changes. I would ask that you ask for a reason for why these changes are being made. I remember that there were changes with the bond when we were receiving our quarterly finance reports, that there were things that were transferred. And we were told by the auditor that that shouldn't be taking place, that there shouldn't be all things that are approved and then shifted because that, you know, you don't, we want to leave things the way they were. You want to be able to have a paper trail. But anyhow, I asked that you would ask about that last page on the monthly report. The last, oh, go ahead. The next item is 15.3, which is the BGP parking lot improvement. I have to say this was quite shocking. I had seen that there was a purchase order that was done in the May-June timeframe for $21,200. And so far, $8,400 in warrants have been spent for the BGP parking lot upgrade. In this item, it's for $841,000, and it's a complete redesign of the parking lot. saying that there are issues. Well, I think if any of you drive past any of the elementary sites during the release of school or in the mornings and when they're arriving, I think that every parking lot is chaotic. I mean, I know what it was like at Lincoln. In fact, I live so close to Lincoln, I try to avoid just people pulling in the parking lot, they back up Benton Court and everything. So it is normal then this is just something that's happening. So where are the incidences? I've never ever heard of an incident at that facility. So I would ask you is it something that's happened that drives an $841,000 parking lot remodel? $841,000? It says that it's going to be new fencing. Fencing was just put in at BGP in 2019. It was $30,000 you just spent on fencing. What does this all mean? And you just approved $6 million for a track and field that came out of the blue. Where are the meetings to be held to actually say, this is how much money we have in capital improvement? Where are all the plans? What are all the things you want to do? You've talked about having the swimming pool. You've talked about internet stuff that needs to be done. All of these things that needed to be done, but where's the priority list? And $841,000 for a parking lot. I would just ask that you get some clearer direction before you approve this project. Thank you. How many bathrooms could be fixed for that? The next item is 15.4. This is the audit report that you just are receiving this evening. I hope later this evening when the 21-22 audit report is being considered, you will ask Mr. Montgomery to answer the following two questions. On page 64, this page indicates the instructional minutes for each grade level. Why are the kindergarten actual instruction minutes significantly higher than grades one through six? They should be far less. Since the first three weeks of school, the kinder kids only go for half a day. Also, why aren't the instructional minutes for grades one through three the same as the minutes for grades four through six? The bell schedule is the same. On page 69, why was Elisa Martinez listed as a board member? Alicia Marquez served as a board member during most of that fiscal year. Members of the board, why does Newark Unified have a second year with significant audit findings? For months, Member Hill has pointed out issues with contracts, the lack of a proper procurement process and internal controls. Lo and behold, it's audit finding number one. Audit finding number two concerns the lack of properly signed independent study contracts. I brought the contract issue to your attention at the August 5th, 2021 meeting when you revised BP and AR 6158. I also expressed my concern about the program being implemented correctly. How come 75% of the initial samples for the independent study agreements did not contain the required elements in Ed Code Section 51-747? This report projects the error extrapolated across the population of the independent study program will cost the district $1 million. Finding number three is an adjustment to the unduplicated pupil count again. Luckily, this time it's just under $5,000, not the $440,000 it was last year. As the 22-23 regular football season has come to a close, owners and management of the losing teams are firing their coaches as they believe the team's success is being hindered by the coach's leadership on the field. Here in Newark, we also want a winning team. We want a quality school staff who are paid a comparative wage for this area quality curriculum with high academic standards, safe school climate and facilities so our children, or in my case, grandchildren, have every opportunity afforded them, in other words, to win. during their K-12 educational life. I believe those outcomes won't happen under deficit leadership that has vindictive domineering with a sole focus of superficial areas and refuses to recognize basic operational concepts. These characteristics have led to the last two years of audit containing significant findings and large financial remedies. I ask, please ask Mr. Montgomery my two questions and consider my comments. Thank you.

[11374] SPEAKER_44: President, the next two comments are online.

[11377] Nancy Thomas: OK. Thank you.

[11380] SPEAKER_44: The next comment is from Michael Menina on item number 15.3, Birch Grove Primary parking lot. You may begin.

[11390] SPEAKER_18: Hi there. Thank you, board members, and good evening. I am a BGP patent. Today, I'm here regarding that agenda item 15.3 to urge the board to approve the proposal to update the BGP parking lot. The proposed improvements will provide an obvious and significant streamline of school drop-off and pick-up, ingress and egress to the school, thus reducing traffic congestion on the Main Street, Smith Street. However, I understand that speed of pick-up and drop-off and reducing traffic congestion alone are not significant drivers enough for approval, so I want to emphasize that the need for the changes is the safety of pedestrians and especially our elementary student pedestrians. and that is the primary need. Clear and obvious walkways for students and for drivers to observe those walking students are updates that are critical to the plan. It's understood that these pickup times can be chaotic all around, but we must ensure the safety of our smallest students in the district who are most at risk of driver carelessness. It's a problem that can be addressed by the parking lot redesign. It's a much needed improvement, and I strongly urge the board to approve it. Thank you all.

[11464] SPEAKER_44: Thank you. The next comment is from Ms. Vicenta Ditto. You may begin.

[11474] SPEAKER_41: Good evening again, President Thomas, members of the board, executive cabinet, and to our community. I am thrilled to be addressing you tonight on a very important and long overdue project at Birch Grove Primary. Our school community has undergone many changes since the parking lot at BGP was last updated. And I know board member Jones knows exactly what I'm talking about. A couple of these changes include making the campus a primary campus requiring more traffic at drop-off and pickup as our little bulldogs don't walk or ride alone to school. We have also seen a large number of new students joining BGP from the furthest reaches of our attendance boundaries as the new developments in Sanctuary Village are being finished and occupied. We are also proud to be serving many families from outside our attendance boundaries and outside our school district that have made BGP a destination school for early childhood and primary education. However, all of this does mean more traffic for our school. I hope you understand that this isn't just about having a new parking lot surface. Although that is a huge bonus for those of us that drive through it daily or twice a day, as our suspension and alignment are at risk every time we drive through there. This really is about the safety of our students and community members. I daily watch students be crossed by adults through parked cars without looking to see if there are other cars nearby. Daily, we have students and families crossing through the loading zone where cars are not in park and sometimes roll forward. We have a high traffic area at the end of the loading zone where there is no curb. The driving surface is flush to the sidewalk and cars have no physical barrier to the pedestrian walkway. The walkways at the vehicle entrance and exit are not ADA compliant and our families with strollers or mobility devices have to either walk through the street or the parking areas to utilize ramps? How long are we gonna put off the improvements needed for the safety of students? How many cars have to be involved in accidents in the parking lot before we make changes? How long are we willing to put the health and safety of our four to seven year old kids at risk? I'm here to speak to my community and on behalf of my community. Our Bulldogs deserve a safe path to school. Please support us in providing the safe path, starting in our parking lot. Thank you.

[11642] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. So next on the agenda is the consent agenda for personnel items. Does any board member want to pull any of those items? If not, I would entertain a motion.

[11662] Bowen Zhang: I move that we approve the consent agenda, personnel items.

[11668] Nancy Thomas: A second?

[11668] Kat Jones: I'll second.

[11678] Nancy Thomas: I'll second that. Motion made by Member Zhang, seconded by Member Jones. Please vote.

[11689] SPEAKER_44: Member Nguyen, we're doing personnel items and we're waiting for your vote. Thank you. OK, we have four yes, one no. No from Member Hill.

[11722] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Member Hill, I think usually when there is someone voting in opposition, they have taken the opportunity to make a comment.

[11740] Aiden Hill: I have issues with the PAL, but I am not going to go into the details of it here. Thank you.

[11746] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. OK, next we move on to consent agenda on non-personnel items. Would any board member like to pull an item? Member Hill?

[11764] Aiden Hill: Just give me one second here. Yes, so I would like to pull 12.21, which is the Williams Act item, 12.22, which is the contracts topic, 12.23. Actually, I'm not going to pull 12.23. So strike that. And then finally, 12.24, purchase orders. Thank you.

[11798] Nancy Thomas: Is there? Any other board member that would like to pull an item? Yes, Ms. Jones. Yes?

[11803] Kat Jones: May I ask a question regarding one? Because I'm not sure if I would pull it or not. If I have a question, should I pull it? Yes, I think you should pull it. Then I'd like to pull 12.6, please.

[11823] Nancy Thomas: So I would like to entertain a motion 12.1, excuse me, 12.2 to 12.5, 12.7 to 12.20, and 12.23. And 12.25. I'll make the motion. Motion by Member Zhang. I'll second it. Second by Member Nguyen.

[11870] SPEAKER_46: Oh, I'm sorry.

[11872] Nancy Thomas: You know, I forgot the board member. I am so sorry, student board member Torres. Yes. Yeah, this is a personnel. The non-personnel you don't vote on, but you do vote on this. And your vote is yes. OK, thank you. Keep me honest here.

[11888] SPEAKER_44: All votes are in. We have unanimous yes.

[11892] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. OK, so next we go to 12.6, Ohlone Connections dual enrollment. Ms. Jones?

[11900] SPEAKER_44: I'm sorry, President. You moved the discussion of the consent items, the agenda item. So at this point, you would be discussing the pulled items 12.6, 12.21, 12.22, 12.24. Yes, you did that.

[11918] Nancy Thomas: Right, I did that at the beginning of the meeting. I moved the discussion of the. So that would happen now. So now we are discussing the pulled items. Correct. Yes. OK. So that's why I'm calling on Member Jones to ask her question on 12.6.

[11939] Kat Jones: So my question on 12.6 has to do with the textbooks that the students use. In one place, and I apologize because I did not mark up my copy, in one place it says that the district will pay for it. In another place it says the student needs to pay for it. And I'd like to have the clarification on who would be paying for the textbooks, the students' textbooks? Would it be the student themselves at Ohlone or would it be the district because they are actual students of the district itself?

[11972] Nancy Thomas: Superintendent.

[11974] Mark Triplett: Thank you. So I'm going to have Mr. Dolowich, who's the director of teaching and learning, come up and answer this question.

[11981] SPEAKER_21: All right. Good evening, members of the board. I was one of the lead members in designing this MOU. So just a little context and background. So dual enrollment, we have two semester courses, one Chicano Studies with a focus on culture, the other a Chicano History. They're both loaded with 32 students. They're taught by an Ohlone instructor at Newark Memorial High School. And the Ohlone Connections is taught by a Newark Unified School District teacher who teaches four courses at the Ohlone campus. And then students have the option to enroll. in a course at Ohlone. So that's a key distinction. I'll speak to that. For the dual enrollment Chicano Studies and Chicano History 11.3 NUSD, we purchased the textbooks. In actuality, they're novels. So we purchased a class set for the students taught by the Ohlone instructor. For item 10, students enrolled in Ohlone Connections, If they choose to enroll in an Ohlone course, then the students are responsible for purchasing the college textbooks. That's the distinction. For dual enrollment, we purposely did not want to identify only the courses on page 19 because we didn't want to limit the possibility of expanding courses in the future. So that's the difference if it is If it is an NUSD course with Ohlone, specifically dual enrollment, then we fund the novels. But if the student chooses to be separate from Newark Unified and enroll at Ohlone College, then they're responsible for those books.

[12095] Kat Jones: Thank you for the clarification.

[12097] Nancy Thomas: Any further questions for this item? If not, I would entertain a motion

[12103] Kat Jones: I motion that we pass. I motion that we pass this. 12.6. 12.6, yes, on the learning connections and dual enrollment.

[12114] Nancy Thomas: Second. Seconded by Member Hill. Please vote.

[12123] SPEAKER_09: Yes.

[12129] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Member Torres. Please just speak up every time.

[12144] SPEAKER_44: Okay, we have a unanimous yes.

[12147] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, member Hill has pulled item 12.21 report, Williams uniform complaint quarterly report.

[12160] Aiden Hill: Yes, thank you. I just would like to know, hold on a second, let me find it here. So two complaints around textbooks and instructional materials, and those have been resolved. Just out of curiosity, what were they?

[12187] Mark Triplett: Miss Ingham-Watters, do you want to answer that?

[12191] Catheerine Ingham-Watters: Both complaints were regarding a shipment of Spanish language math textbooks at Schilling Elementary School.

[12199] Aiden Hill: OK. OK, great. That's it. Thank you.

[12204] Nancy Thomas: I'd entertain a motion.

[12206] SPEAKER_42: I move to approve.

[12207] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen moves to approve.

[12209] SPEAKER_46: I second.

[12210] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill seconds. Please. Student board member. Student board member.

[12214] SPEAKER_09: Yes.

[12216] Nancy Thomas: Please vote.

[12219] SPEAKER_42: You're getting there.

[12229] Nancy Thomas: Sorry. I was off the screen.

[12235] SPEAKER_44: We have unanimous yes.

[12237] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, monthly purchase order report. Member Hill, pick that. Item 12.24. No, no, no. 12.22. Oh, sorry. 12.22, quarterly report on contracts. Member Hill.

[12256] Aiden Hill: Thank you, President Thomas. Board, I'm requesting that we refuse to ratify the current independent contractor agreement with Jeffrey Vu. As I've discussed in prior board meetings, Mr. Vu is the person Superintendent Triplett has awarded numerous no-bid contracts for video production services and recently marketing services. Now we're being asked to approve a $20,000 lump sum contract for a whole new line of work, website maintenance and training. As I mentioned in prior board meetings, Mr. Vu is a full-time employee at the Oakland Unified School District and is in violation of numerous contract requirements laid out in NUSD's Standard Independent Contractor Agreement. First, the preamble to our contract references Government Code 53060, which states that the district is authorized to, quote, contract for the furnishing of special services and advice in financial, economic, accounting, engineering, legal, and administrative matters with persons specially trained, experienced, competent to perform such services." Not only has Mr. Vu failed to provide documentation that he is specially trained, experienced, and competent in the prior provision of video production or marketing services, but I find it highly doubtful that in the past few months he has also become specially trained, experienced, and competent in the provision of website maintenance and training, a completely different field. Secondly, Under Section 9 of our contract, contractors are required to, quote, obtain and keep in force all licenses, permits, and certificates necessary for the performance of this agreement, end quote. For the past two years that we have been contracting with Mr. Vu, he has never had the required business licenses, neither in his tax domicile of Oakland nor here in Newark, in violation of every agreement we have entered into with him. I'm even more troubled, however, that in this current independent contractor agreement, apparently someone on our staff has gone in and changed our contractual language to make an accommodation for Mr. Boo's lack of a business license. Section 9 of this new contract reads, quote, contractors shall obtain and keep in force throughout the term of this agreement all qualifications-based or professional licenses, permits, and certificates necessary for the performance of services." Are we now being asked to water down our procurement contract language to permit contracting with Superintendent Triplett's personal friends? This is not only unethical, but it is illegal. We need to stop this practice of hiring and paying unqualified vendors based on favoritism. In the end, the only people who are enriched are cronies with inside connections versus the kids, parents, and community who are paying for and receiving these substandard services. For this reason, and given the clear violations of our independent contractor agreement, I am requesting that we do not ratify the contract before us. And I would like to hand out an attachment to the board So the attachments that I passed out show an example of an earlier contract from Mr. Vu with the original language in section 9 talking about a requirement and this should be for all contractors and this actually protects us from a legal perspective when we asked that they keep all licenses, including business licenses, in force. So that was the original language, but apparently at some point somebody changed it recently. And so now the new language, and that's on the second attachment, you can see the changes where it changed from all licenses to now all qualifications-based or professional licenses. And I also, the last two pages are screenshots from this afternoon. from the Oakland business license database searching for Jeff Vu, because that's what we identify him in our contract in terms of his business name. And I was not able to locate a business license in Oakland's business license database as of this afternoon, and it's been the case for the entire past couple of years. And the second page, I did a search in Newark's business license database. And again, there was no license that was found under the name of Jeff Vu. So again, I don't think that Mr. Vu is a legitimate contractor. And so therefore, we cannot approve his contract.

[12560] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I would ask the board and ask Mr. Hill. I spoke with the superintendent earlier today, and this issue came up. Can we ask the superintendent to respond

[12578] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Thomas. So, yeah, a lot to respond to there. First of all, I just want to point out that this 12.22 report on quarterly report on contracts, the board is not being asked to approve nor ratify this. The board is being asked to receive the quarterly report. So, just to be clear about that. With regard to this individual and this this particular contract so some of well, I guess I'll start here There was similar false allegations that were brought forth by board member Hill in the past and because of that we The district to ensure that we were in fact doing everything correctly had a number of different attorneys review and the the contract here as well as other contracts that board member Hill were was making allegations about and we shared the the legal memos with regard to these allegations with all board members at the time board member Jones and board member Thomas were not on this board so I took the the initiative to share it with them now that they are on the board. So in both of those legal memos, the analysis was that there is no wrongdoing, there is no conflict of interest, and there is no impropriety with regard to independent contractors. And in fact, we are following everything that we're supposed to in these cases. All board members have that, including board member Hill, and he's had that for quite some time. In terms of the allegation or the factually incorrect statements that Jeff Vu in particular is a full-time teacher and Oakland Unified School District, that's just patently false. But even if he was, that would not preclude him from being involved in an independent contract with our district. In fact, lots of teachers or other staff members who are full-time employed take it upon themselves to do work outside of the regular business day. And so in this particular case, Board member Hill just doesn't have his facts correct because Mr. Vu is not a full-time employee. But even if he was, that wouldn't matter because an independent contractor is someone who is able to work independently of another job that they have. In terms of some of the other false accusations, There's comments about the change in the contractual language in particular for this contract. So allow me to give a little bit of background there. So based on all of the false allegations, we did work with our attorneys to review our independent contractor template. And we worked with a attorney firm that this board is quite familiar with, the Lozano's, Lozano firm. And that firm did review our contract. And while they thought that the template was fine, in order to clarify some confusions that some members of the public and Board Member Hill seemed to have, they did recommend a change in the language with regard to licenses. Because the intention of that section of an independent contractor agreement is not a business license. The intention has always been for appropriate licenses within the field of the work that's being done. In the case of website design or marketing, there are no licenses required to be a marketer. There are no licenses required to be a website designer. However, that leads me to the other false allegation, which is Board Member Hill continuing to insist that this individual has zero background in the field of marketing, design, and anything creative. In fact, although it's not necessary for us to share this here, I will just in the spirit of transparency. This individual received a degree in marketing. He's an expert in marketing. And marketing includes website design. And not only that, he also happens to have experience in education. He has been a teacher. He's been a principal and he's been a district office staff member. To have the level of experience when you're both a marketer and you graduated as a marketer as well as an educator with decades of experience in public education is almost impossible to find. But what an amazing skill set for us to be able to utilize. And so I'm proud that we have been utilizing this individual's services because his work is extraordinary. And I must say, he actually works for much less than many people in that field of work, including currently the other marketing firm that we have, Presidio. They're much more expensive. So I hope that clarifies some of the false allegations that keep being perpetuated.

[12927] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, before I call on Member Hill again, do any of you want to make a comment? Because I do. OK. So I'm confused when you say we are accepting the quarterly report, because I believe that the policy says that we need to ratify, and ratify means to approve.

[12953] Mark Triplett: Ms. Andela Cruz, can you clarify? Anybody misspoke about that? Please clarify.

[12960] Marie dela Cruz: The recommendation that's on the agenda does say the recommendation is that the Board of Education receives the quarterly report on contracts. These contracts have been approved as authorized by the board, by the designees, superintendents, because it is within the dollar threshold that has been set.

[12983] Nancy Thomas: So I believe that the board policy, as I recall it, says that the board must approve all contracts. That means contracts that have been approved previously by the superintendent need to be ratified by the board. We can come back to that later, but that's why we're voting on it. And I would hope that the members would vote on it with the idea that they are ratifying the contract, not just accepting. contract.

[13015] Aiden Hill: And Ed Code 17604, which our bylaws reference, require that all contracts be ratified by the board. That's what Ed Code 17604 says. And 17605 says all contracts must be ratified within 60 days.

[13032] Nancy Thomas: OK. In the order in trying to move the board forward, Member Hill, would you maybe succinctly respond if you want. Otherwise, I would ask for someone to call for the question.

[13047] Aiden Hill: So again, I don't think that Superintendent Triplett's explanation is correct. So according to Transparent California, which shows all public employees, Mr. Vu shows up as an employee at Oakland Unified School District. I did not say he was a teacher. But it shows that he's an employee, some kind of administrator. But the more important issue is, it's two things. Number one, according to the government code that's cited in our independent contract, you need to show demonstrated expertise. And having a degree in something is not demonstrated expertise. But because there's a lot of people that have degrees in things, but they don't end up working in that field.

[13099] Aiden Hill: But if I may, just the last point. So regarding the business licenses, so it is a requirement that you have business licenses. Dr. Triplett has indicated that he is hired, and he hired on his own recognizance. We, the board, did not authorize him to do this. Two attorneys, one was Lozano-Smith, the other was Fagan-Friedman, and I don't remember their last name. But I believe that they were not given proper guidance on the questions. And the board has refused to release these legal memos, the prior board. But if we release the legal memos and you actually look at what the lawyers have written, they do not exonerate Mr. Vu whatsoever. They do not say that he has the required expertise. They say if he has the required expertise, then certain things are permissible. Yeah. And so bottom line, we really need actually a second opinion on this. And I'm going to be making a request later on during the request section. Because again, the prior attorney, I don't think he has sufficient procurement experience. And this is a very serious issue. And we're talking about, at this point, I think we've paid Mr. Vu over $100,000. And so we need to have really a truly independent person looking at this. Thank you.

[13195] Nancy Thomas: Mr. Lynch?

[13197] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, President Thomas. Just a clarifying question to the superintendent. All the current marketing stuff that is on Instagram right now and the videos that were produced for the Star Academy and the dual language immersion, Mr. Vu has been part of that, correct?

[13214] Mark Triplett: Yes, everything that was done last year, all the videos and the prior year as well, those were all his work. It's really exceptional.

[13222] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I would agree that. What he has brought forth really do indicate that Mr. Vu does have the expertise to help the district build a brand. So that's my comment.

[13234] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I would entertain a motion.

[13238] SPEAKER_42: I move to approve.

[13239] Bowen Zhang: I will second that.

[13243] Nancy Thomas: The motion was made by Member Nguyen to approve and second.

[13247] Aiden Hill: I believe that I motioned first that.

[13251] Nancy Thomas: Oh, that's true.

[13253] SPEAKER_44: Point of order there was there was a request at this one.

[13256] Nancy Thomas: There was a request but not a motion member Hill Okay So it's the seconded by member John Student member Taurus, how do you vote? Yes Please vote

[13302] SPEAKER_44: All votes are in, and I have two nos from Member Hill and President Thomas, and three yays.

[13311] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we will be moving on. Let's see, we have one more, don't we? Monthly. Item 12.24, monthly purchase order report.

[13339] Aiden Hill: Yes, thank you. So I am requesting, again, that there are a couple of purchase orders that, again, I don't think are appropriate. One is Mr. Vu. So we've seen his contract. Here's the associated purchase order. And as has been indicated by members of the public who've been looking at this, you know, theoretically this work is done and yet we don't have any, you know, clear deliverables. It doesn't look like, I mean, there's lots of mistakes. It's very concerning. Not the work of a specially trained professional. So I'm asking that we pull this and not approve this. And I'm also asking that we table for right now, the purchase orders for RGM Kramer. So there are four of them. One for $136,220. Another one for $24,704. Another one for $41,884. And another one for $5,072. So these are purchase orders almost in excess of $200,000. They tie to the contract that I had identified in the last meeting is problematic because it appears that it needed to go out for a competitive bid and it has not. And we're asking to have a legal expert in procurement take a look at this. I don't think it's appropriate to be approving these purchase orders until we've had this expert actually look at and verify whether or not this needs to go back out to bid. So those items I'm also asking that we table, that we not approve. And then finally, the last page on page nine, and this is brought up by a member of the public, there are a whole bunch of purchase order changes. And in my experience in working in procurement over many years, this is an area that people pay very close attention to. Because what it indicates is, you know, you've entered into a contract with a vendor with an assumption that they're going to get a certain amount of work done in a certain amount of time for a certain amount of money. And then when all of a sudden that doesn't happen and they're submitting a PO change to say, well, we need more money, it indicates that something's out of control and it needs to be looked at very carefully. The challenge that we have here is that we've got, like there's one contract that's getting increased by, I mean, there's $160,000, $100,000. There's another one for general fund professional services, $215,000. We have no idea who these vendors are. We have no idea why these PO changes are being brought forth. It would be incredibly fiscally irresponsible to be approving. It's a total PO change of $574,000. $316.71. So my request is that we pull those, and I'm sorry, let me rephrase it. It's a request, and I'm making a motion that we pull these items, and we table them, and then we come back later to look at them.

[13553] SPEAKER_44: Clarity for the minutes. At this point, member Hill, are you asking to pull the entire report or just particular items?

[13558] Aiden Hill: Just those specific items that I cited. So there's no issue with that. I don't understand what the issue is.

[13568] SPEAKER_44: The issue is just in regards to the report of the attachment. You have a report as a whole.

[13573] Aiden Hill: So I'm asking that we do not approve those items that I cited, but that we approve the remainder of the report.

[13588] Nancy Thomas: I'd like to say that I think that our responsibility is to either approve the entire report or not approve the entire report.

[13602] Aiden Hill: Can you please explain where that rationale comes from? If we identify one thing that's wrong,

[13611] Nancy Thomas: That's what I mean. If you identify something that's wrong, we can table it or not approve it, and it would come back.

[13618] Aiden Hill: So we're saying, again, respectfully, President, I don't see how we can hold all of these other purchase orders hostage when we have issues with a select few. That doesn't seem to be the intent to me.

[13633] Nancy Thomas: Remember when?

[13634] Phuong Nguyen: I'd like to make a suggestion. I know that this report came to us as moving forward with all of the purchase orders. These are vendors waiting to be paid. And I don't think that it's appropriate for us right now to nitpick at the report. What we can do as a board is make a policy change if you want to have approval of POs prior to whatever. But for this purpose tonight, for this report and approving it, I think that we should be able to go ahead and approve this. And if we want to make discussions about changes and how we bring forth purchase orders at a later date, we can do that. But I just feel like what Member Hill's comments are is getting into the weeds of what staff is doing. And we're here just for the oversight part, and we shouldn't be doing that.

[13688] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Any other board member want to make a comment? Member Jones.

[13694] Kat Jones: My question has to do with the changes that are on page 9 and what what's the reason that there are these changes just for my clarification and understanding like for instance the third one down for electricity the change is a hundred and sixty thousand dollar change And some of them are more expensive, some of them are less expensive. Could you explain how that changes from the original POs, please?

[13729] Mark Triplett: I can tell you the one major one, the one for $215,000.

[13743] Marie dela Cruz: That one I did look at because it was a significant amount and that item was actually a board approved contract. So what happens sometimes is that we take an amendment to the board so there's a contract to be amended and then following that we have to increase the purchase order. So this particular one was board approved. It was an amendment to a wellness contract. In other cases we may set up a P.O. for example for electricity for the year. But if the trend looks like the invoices are coming in higher for the year, then we have to increase the PO to cover the rest of the year invoices.

[13783] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. One last comment. And we get these items, and actually we got this agenda packet early this time. And if these are posing questions, they should have been asked to the superintendent and staff prior to the board meeting. Just a reminder that we should practice that. Thank you.

[13803] Nancy Thomas: We have a motion on the floor. Yes.

[13809] Aiden Hill: Thank you. So again, I don't believe that the purpose of the board is to rubber stamp what's put in front of it, in front of us. And the idea that we have to do an up or down vote on this report seems preposterous to me. Our role is to provide fiduciary oversight. And it would not, just as it would not be proper to hold legitimate purchase orders hostage because they're legitimate purchase orders, but it would not, but it's also not appropriate to be approving purchase orders that have questions next to them. And the part that I find interesting because I don't think that this process has ever been articulated anywhere that I've seen either in our board handbook the bylaws, any CSBA guidance. And I would say that if we're going to take this approach, should we be taking the same approach to consent agenda items? And so we're going to do an up and down vote on whether everything in the consent agenda gets approved or everything doesn't.

[13880] Nancy Thomas: I would like to call for the question. Calling for the question, according to Robertson's rules that we're hoping to follow says that the board can vote to suspend discussion. I'm finished. Do I have a second? Seconded by member Nguyen. Please use a hand vote. Do you agree? All agree that we will suspend discussion. So then the motion is before the board from member Hill that we pull items that he mentioned from this report and approve the rest of the report. Is there a second for that?

[13922] Bowen Zhang: So President Thomas, did you moment ago said that this is either the entire thing or nothing?

[13929] SPEAKER_44: Point of order. At this point, there was a motion that was passed to suspend discussion. The motion on the table is from Member Hill to approve the report except for the selected items that he mentioned. We have a motion and President is calling for a second. The board pleases.

[13948] Nancy Thomas: Not hearing a second, the motion dies.

[13951] SPEAKER_42: Thank you. I move to approve the monthly purchase order report.

[13957] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen moves to approve the purchase report.

[13961] Bowen Zhang: I will second that.

[13963] Nancy Thomas: Member Zhang seconds. Student member.

[13966] SPEAKER_09: Yes.

[13967] Nancy Thomas: Yes. Please vote.

[13988] SPEAKER_44: Just we have one more member Jones. If you'd like, you can call out your vote. Oh, sorry, you're thinking I apologize.

[14001] Kat Jones: I have it.

[14002] SPEAKER_44: I'm just. No worries, take your time.

[14005] Kat Jones: Not. I mean, I want to abstain. I don't know if I can do that or not.

[14010] SPEAKER_44: Unfortunately, abstentions are only allowed if there is a conflict of interest.

[14014] Nancy Thomas: OK, I believe that's I'm not sure that's true. We can discuss it later.

[14032] Kat Jones: I apologize. I don't know what my hesitancy is to say yes. But I have that sense. So I'm going to vote no. Sorry.

[14048] SPEAKER_44: All votes are in. At this point, we have a no from Member Hill and a no from Member Jones. We have three yeas.

[14059] Nancy Thomas: Maybe just take board president privilege just to say these are serious issues that Member Hill brings up. And I hope we have a discussion during board requests on how to resolve some of these issues, OK? Thank you. Next, we'll move on to the superintendent report.

[14089] Mark Triplett: All right. Thank you, President Thomas. So here is the superintendent's report for this evening. And we will start with our regular enrollment update. So you can see this most recent enrollment numbers are from the 10th of January. I won't spend too much time on this, but you can see that as I report every month, we're seeing a little bit of fluctuation. The numbers are a little bit down right after the new year. My understanding from their enrollment team is that during the break, we do have some people that, some students that have taken an extended break, despite our encouragement that that's not a healthy practice. And so then, In some cases, the extended break was such that they're actually temporarily dropped because we thought that they were not coming back. And then I believe since the 10th that we have had a return of students. And so at the next report, hopefully we'll see a slight change there. But these are the numbers. You can see a little increase at Bridgepoint, which we expect around this time of year. That number has been growing since September. And likewise, then that influences the numbers at Memorial. And that you can see the crossroads numbers are fluctuating a little bit, but mostly holding steady within the 60 range. Next slide. Wanted to just give an update, not on the weather, because I'm not a weatherman. I have no idea what the weather looks like for tomorrow. But just to let you all know that, of course, the impact of these recent storms was a cause for concern for our facilities and for our schools. And fortunately, we did not have to close, even temporarily, any of our schools. So they're all able to stay open safely We have had some issues with rain and and leaking from the roofs And so those are things that our team is incredibly diligently Addressing as it comes and there are some it has highlighted some areas some facilities where There's actually more severe needs with regard to leaks But fortunately all of our schools have been able to safely stay open And I did want to just appreciate our MOT team for all of the work that they've done since before winter break, just handling all of these weather issues and staying on top of repairs, et cetera. Likewise, I want to just give a COVID update. So as I'm sure you've probably noticed in the news, there was a fear and a concern from the health department that we would see a dramatic spike in COVID as well as other airborne illnesses during the holidays and return from the holidays. I'm happy to report that as of yet, while there continues to be COVID cases, of course, we haven't seen the level of dramatic spike that has happened in past years. So that's a good thing. I want to encourage everyone to continue to practice the safety measures. I'm in schools multiple times a week, and I see students able students and adults making choices around whether they want to wear masks or not and making sure that they are in fact washing their hands regularly, et cetera. So I'm really proud of all of our staff and students for practicing safe COVID safety. I wanted to update the board on the enrollment season that we're kicking off shortly. And we started with the first thing that we start with is our Dual Language Immersion Program interest forms. So we started that process on January 10th, accepting interest forms for the Dual Language Immersion Program. Because there's an added step to the Dual Language Immersion Program for our families, we start this process a little bit earlier than the rest of the enrollment season. Since the 10th, we have been getting applications and interest. And it's really exciting. I believe in just the nine days since we opened the process, we've had, I believe, 15 or 18 interest forms filled out from families, both online and in paper. Next slide. Also wanted to share with the board about our January 9th professional development day for the elementary school staff teachers So I think it was referenced earlier by one of our speakers But we we started the the new year off January 9th Monday with a really exciting professional development day the secondary we had negotiated with the With our labor partners for the secondary to have a grading day on that day because the semester was ending And so they were doing that. Meanwhile, the elementary school, these are the goals of our professional development day that we had, which was co-planned by both district staff, ed services team, as well as some teachers and coaches and others. So we had a couple of different targets for the day. support teachers with how culturally responsive teaching supports diverse ranges of learners, thinking through that. And then secondly, as offering an opportunity for teachers to plan on linguistically and developmentally responsive lessons using the following focus practices. One being a focus on English language learners and two being a focus on special education students. So teachers brought lesson plans and then as well as getting input, then they also had an opportunity to do some planning with grade level peers across schools. So it was really exciting. Here you see we held this in our new STAR Lab, the revised STAR Lab. So that was great to be able to use that space. And I think teachers really appreciated that. And here you see some more pictures. On the left, this is actually the library at Memorial. That's where the special ed presentation was, giving strategies for teachers around how to address the needs of students with special needs in the classroom. On the right side was some of the engagement with regard to English language learners. And there's opportunity for teachers to be sharing and moving around the room and looking at best practices. And I wanted to share a little bit of the feedback from these sessions. So we had three objectives up there. This first one, how well do you feel we met the first outcome, which was theory to practice around culturally responsive teaching. We had 47, I believe, responses, which we really hope to get more responses. We're always really trying to encourage folks to fill out the survey. And so from one to five, and you can see that the majority of the folks really felt like it was either a four or five, some threes, and then a handful of twos with this target. Next slide. Second target was around the opportunity to plan linguistically and developmentally responsive lessons focused on English language learners. And so you see there the responses for that target and how well folks felt like they had had that opportunity. And then lastly, this was with regard to special education and the opportunity to plan there. Notice that there is a little bit of higher mark on the three. And it's interesting because we also had, we got anecdotal feedback, comments from the teachers. And actually, teachers responded really positively to the special education section. But there was a moment in the special ed training where there was some direct instruction happening. And with an interest in time, the presenters said, well, we could go to the planning part. Or do you want to continue to hear more strategies? And the groups really emphasized that they wanted to continue to hear more strategies. So I think that's why we see a slightly different response there, because there was less planning time. And it was really more input in terms of strategies. But overall, really positive. And then, of course, some areas where we can continue to improve. One of the areas was, well, number one, teachers always wanting more planning time and so thinking how we were going to, how we'll continue to structure the time that way. And then number two, we did hear folks really appreciating learning from each other, their colleagues. And so one of the things we did on the survey is ask if there was people who were interested in the future in co-planning and collaborating on the the PDs for the rest of the year. And we have some responses there, so we're really looking forward to working with those folks who want to be a part of it. And then lastly, I believe this is the last slide, I wanted to share out where we are with part of our enrollment campaign. So I believe I shared with this team the elementary school promotional video. We also have a secondary promotional video that we're starting to blast out. And so I just wanted to share it here. This is the work of Presidio, our marketing partners. Miss Gutierrez, are you able to, oh, sorry, I didn't tell you. You have to click the reddish letters up above.

[14698] SPEAKER_35: BC Newark started out of my college project.

[14700] Nicole Pierce-Davis: I mean, I have some, are we? What is this?

[14709] SPEAKER_42: The cover is all red.

[14751] Mark Triplett: All right. You notice it's very short. That's intentional. These are called sizzle reels. And they're meant to be really brief and just capture people's interest. And then people can dig in more by going to a website or other areas to learn more about the wonderful things we have going on. And that is the superintendent report for this evening.

[14771] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, superintendent. Is there any comments or questions from board members? Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry.

[14781] Bowen Zhang: So that I guess that the video, the promotional video, probably reach a wide enough audience that YouTube decides to monetize. I guess this is the first time we see monetization of our own video by YouTube. So I guess that's a milestone. That means you really reach a certain audience number because YouTube doesn't just randomly monetize every video on there.

[14806] Aiden Hill: Yes, thank you. the enrollment numbers please. I'm sorry I didn't bring my glasses so the last total enrollment four nine five five so what it says okay thank you

[14844] Phuong Nguyen: Since we're on that enrollment update page, just a thought. I know that a lot of families in our community do take extended break because of their culture. Is there a possibility for us to, in the future, to review our district-wide class schedule, I mean calendar, to see if we could possibly make a change to that so that it doesn't get affected as badly.

[14875] Mark Triplett: Could you say more about that, board member? Do you mean making it longer?

[14880] Phuong Nguyen: No, no, no. Not making it longer, but I think the dates were changed recently for this year. So I know that a lot of our families do go out of country to celebrate Christmas with their families and stuff like that, and moving it a week before like we had before I think it's it's also kind of helps our family to organize and and Purchase tickets at a reasonable price like things like that like those kinds of accommodations that not necessarily We're still taking the same amount of time off. It's just when we're placing, you know that the leave We're making a conscious effort to you know, think of our population

[14926] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you for the clarification. Yeah, I will say that one we the creation of the calendar is a Negotiated actually, I don't know if it's technically negotiated, but it's something that we work with our labor partners on and so it does take quite quite a long time and Because we want to make sure that we're creating something that's going to work for everybody it is a challenge because I think what happens is no matter when the break is, the families know that the tickets are cheaper before the official break because then less people are traveling, right, because the break hasn't happened yet. So inevitably, folks buy a ticket before the actual break because they're realizing that the prices will go up during the break regardless of when the break is.

[14979] Phuong Nguyen: It affects our ADA.

[14982] Mark Triplett: Yeah, but we do bring those to the board. I think we have the calendars approved for the next two more years. This one was interesting because there was a number of our neighboring districts that actually had a different calendar this year.

[15001] Mark Triplett: count across school districts as much and it's interesting it would be fascinating for someone to do a project but they looked at it did that impact different attendances in different districts to some some degree.

[15015] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill.

[15016] Aiden Hill: Yeah thank you again I apologize I didn't bring my glasses but so the last enrollment from 12-14 was 4983 current enrollment from Newark Junior High School and Newark Memorial High School. Am I reading those numbers correctly?

[15046] Mark Triplett: There's a reduction in the numbers in elementary. There's a reduction in the, a smaller reduction, I'm just doing the math in my head here, a smaller reduction at the junior high. And then there's a reduction of approximately, what is that, eight students at the high school. There is a reduction in all three grade levels. It looks like the, actually they're around the same. I think the elementary is eight students. Sorry, I'm doing it like on the fly here. Oh, 12, sorry. Roughly the same.

[15084] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Thank you. Superintendent, moving on to staff reports.

[15091] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Thomas. So first report, 14.1, we have our partners here from Mission Valley ROP. They like to come every year to give a presentation, explain a little bit about the wonderful program that they have that offers opportunities for our kids, as well as kids in our neighboring districts. And so I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent, Superintendent Hanson.

[15123] SPEAKER_03: Good evening. Thank you for allowing us to come and do a presentation, Superintendent Kriblet. Thank you, board. Thank you, cabinet. Periodically, we like to visit our JPA partners, New Haven, Newark, Fremont, and do a very cursory introduction to what technical ed programming is available, some details about what we do, where we do it, how we pay for it, just the fundamentals essentially. So we want to do that tonight. Thank you for a few minutes. It's always nice to review mission statements. We have one. We love it. Mission Valley ROP provides relevant career technical education by preparing students for employment in college through industry standard tools, training, and experience. That is, in a nutshell, what we do. We credential teachers through the state based on industry expertise, basically a work history that's recent. K-12 districts do with credentialing classroom teachers is quite a bit different, actually. Teachers are credentialed based on degrees, based on finishing a teacher training program, and in-class teacher training. What gets technical ed teachers credentialed is a industry history. of working in an industry sector. And then we will hire them and immediately induct them and put them in teacher training. So some of the order is a little bit different. Some of the coursework is identical. But for the most part, the purview and the focus of core instruction, which K-12 districts are up to here with is quite a bit different than what we go through to credential and place teachers in classrooms. So for example, we have four employees that are Mission Valley ROP employees that have positions at Newark Memorial High School. So they teach CTE coursework at Memorial. Students don't have to travel to take it. It's some of the more common coursework, culinary arts, art media, entertainment courses, marketing, and business classes. So those courses are far more common that they're far easier to enroll at a comprehensive high school in nearly any town. Courses like construction, law one, the fire science academy, the first responder course, courses that are far more specialized that are just as legitimate but are a little more difficult to populate and enroll, we do those types of courses at the Mission Valley ROTC Center in Fremont. So the bus that comes by Memorial that travels to the center and back twice a day come to deliver students to us that multiples at the 10 school sites that we serve. So this is a good example of the last time I was here was to celebrate the nomination of Jonathan Sebanian for Teacher of the Year. He is a fine example of fulfilling this mission statement at Memorial. He has a fairly interesting work experience in marketing, and he happens to have a degree, but that's not what he was credentialed for technical ed based upon. So he's a great example. He works all day at Memorial every day of the year on the schedule. Students wouldn't necessarily know that he wasn't a Newark employee, but he's a Mission Valley ROP employee. So just as some examples of the industry sectors that we are involved in. Art, media, entertainment, building, construction, trades, education, child development, family services, finance, business, marketing, health science, and medical technology. We do a whole suite of health science and medical technology coursework at the center. It's pretty intensive. We have hundreds of students that participate in internships and placements at the end of the year. Hospitality, tourism, recreation, that essentially is our culinary arts program stretching across many schools. Newark is one of them. Information communication technologies, public service and transportation. We have lately invested heavily in many of these sectors. I'm just opening a welding program. It's a reboot. We, for many, many years, and until about 15 years ago, had a welding shop functioning at the center. And we lost our instructor. It closed. And lots of other things happened that resulted in not having a welding program. Well, just in recent years, we've been fortunate enough to gather the resources to do a reboot, to fix the building, to remodel, and to reestablish a joinery program there. And we're going to share the program in a number of ways in the community. However, students are going to be able to get a welding experience and competencies out of this classroom, once again, starting next year. So that's pretty exciting. Go ahead. Thank you. When we come and talk to you about programming and industry sectors and teachers and all of this exciting stuff, You may be wondering, hmm, how does this stuff get paid for? Well, we have essentially two buckets of funds that we use to get through the year. One is passed through from our member districts. Newark, New Haven, and Fremont all participate in passing through a fixed amount of money that is currently, it's agreed to through June 30 of 2025. And those percentages are historically accurate. And what we do, we put a lot of time and effort into making sure that those percentage numbers reflect enrollment and expenditures. And that's between sites, you know, the high school bridge point and the center for all three districts. So the only variance really is would be Fremont having five different comprehensive high schools. We wouldn't spend the exact same number of dollars at each of those schools. But altogether, Fremont would end up being 65% of our expenditures and enrollment. Go ahead, next. So for many years, technical ed in the state has been in a good position. But it has changed how we've been able to finance each individual year. State budgets for seven or eight years now have had individual one-year only grant opportunities. And it's quite a bit of money statewide. It's well over $400 million between the K-12 strong workforce program, which is a strong workforce money that is, it's a K-12 component. It's not the adult component, but K-12 districts and ROPs and county offices make individual applications for pathway improvement, development, and establishment funds. So we have been doing that. There's also a $300 million, it's currently $300 million, the CTE incentive grant. We apply for that as well annually and we have been fortunate enough to be awarded quite a bit of money in the past eight years and it has basically ended up subsidizing and having us not come back to member districts and saying everything's costing more, everything's more expensive, our employees, our benefits, keeping the lights on, our rental, our reimbursement to districts for teachers that we use that have CTE credentials, all of those things. So at this point, Our funding is essentially 30% coming from one-time grants that are still active. The governor's proposal for July 1 still includes all of those grants. So for the time being, things look pretty good for us. OK, student enrollment. This is really, I think, what what we're here to talk about, and that's students and student achievement in Pathways. With me is Dr. Cliff Adams-Hart. He's the Director of Educational Services at the center. He's been instrumental in collecting student data, achievement benchmarks, and so forth. And I'm going to invite him to the podium to talk to you a little bit about that.

[15722] SPEAKER_20: Thank you, Superintendent Hanson. Thank you, Superintendent Triplett, board, Members of the cabinet, you see on this slide here, we just want to give you a big snapshot of what's happening at the JPA, all three districts that we serve, and then I'm going to break it down a little bit to specifically to Newark Unified School District. Right now, we have just over 4,000 students attending CTE classes that are sponsored or provided by Mission Valley ROP. About 940 plus students are at the center. That's about the max we can hold. And then the rest of them, the rest of the students, about 3,100 of them are at the seven campuses and the alternative continuation campuses. What this means for Newark, we currently have 592 Newark Unified School District students attending a CTE class either at the center, which is about 155 of them. So 155 students get on the bus or drive, go across the freeway, to the Mission Valley RP Center there on Blacow and Stevenson, and then about 403 that attend classes on the Newark Memorial Campus with the four instructors that Superintendent Hanson mentioned. We have about 34 students that attend our CTE class at Bridgepoint. So we're excited to be able to have those students take those programs, get the CTE learning experience and the opportunities they have to gain some of those skills that they there. Part of the program we have is our industry connections. All of our programs and pathways are connected to industry in those sectors that Superintendent Hanson briefly went over. One of the great things about these programs is that it's connected to industry. Each of our programs has an industry advisory panel. They meet at least annually. The industry advisors provide various things. I think there were probably a slide or two ahead. There we go. They provide classroom speakers. Guest speakers come in, speak to them about their industry. They help provide internship opportunities for students. This helps greatly with them and their hands-on experience. They participate in program pathway meetings. They provide feedback on curriculum, industry standards, new equipment, and they're able to provide this information to our instructors to keep our instructors who have industry experience up to date and state of the art. Next slide, please. Last year, we had 3,668 students earn certificates of completion. Over 2,500 of them earned industry level certifications. These are a little bit different. When a student completes an MBRP program, they successfully pass it, complete it, they get a certificate of completion. On the back of that certificate is all the industry skills that they obtained in that class. On top of that, they're able to get industry certified certificates. A common one would be like the food handler safety certificate, CPR. HIPAA trained. We have a number of testing a testing service and other ways that we can have students gain industry level certification. So a lot of time they're taking exams through third party vendors to be able to get these certificates. These all add to their completion certificate which makes them valuable in the job market. Last year we did about 18000 internship hours with our students at various organizations companies hospitals and clinics around the Tri-City area. Next slide, please. In 2015, MVRP offered 23 UC A to G credit courses. This year, it's up to 45. We have about 60 courses and pathways that we offer, so over three quarters of them are A to G recognized. Last year, 473 Newark Unified School District students completed an ADG course through Mission Valley ROP. We also have college articulated courses. Back in 2015, we had 163 students enroll in an Envera PCT course receiving college credit, with 616 college credits earned. This past year, at the end of 2022, it was 2,047 students earning 74,000, excuse me, 7,417 college credits. That translates into dollars to families at $46 to $48 a unit. That can be quite a savings. Out of that, Newark Unified School District, 284 students earned college credit for 1,041 units earned. Something that we're very excited about. We continue to offer to strengthen our programs. We're constantly looking at articulation at community colleges and universities around us as well as A to G programs. The articulation process for students is they actually have to enroll in the college before they can get the credit. And so we have our program coordinators that visit every class throughout the school year and actually fill out the college applications with them. And so it's quite a task to get him to get out there to do that with all these students. But it's great and it's well worth it. We have Mr. Hanson mentioned our newest program. We do have an instructor. We have a building. We have equipment. It's our welding and metal joinery. We are excited about this. This is something I think that even Ms. Dela Cruz years ago maybe even had a hand in trying to get this off the ground with us. We do have an instructor now. We do have a few students, but we're really excited to be able to bring this on online next year on the 23-24 school year. We're It's an in-demand field. You can probably right here in Newark go down Cherry Boulevard and see a number of signs that say welders wanted. There will be some certification processes going through and we are happy to be able to collaborate with a number of the industry partners around us to make sure that this program meets industry standards. Our instructor is certified by AWS and he is also a certified tester so he can be able to test them and certify them as they come out of the program. We're very happy and excited to bring this on board and look forward to having, we have an educator's brunch coming up in February where we're going to invite all of you to be able to attend that and be able to tour the facility, but especially to see our newest program. We appreciate your time. I know it's getting late, but we'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

[16158] Jodi Croce: Member Nguyen.

[16160] Phuong Nguyen: I don't have a question, but I just wanted to I just wanted to mention the outcomes that you guys had for 2022. I love the fact that there was 18,720 internship hours completed. That's huge. For any of our students who are able to get workplace experience in a job or in a trade, I think that's so important, especially if that's what they're you know, passionate about and are able to make a living out of. So that to me speaks a lot, a huge volume. And then also the fact that you guys have been able to increase the number of courses that are A through G requirements, credit courses, that's wonderful. So thank you for partnering with us and and working with our students and making sure that trade pathways are available for our students and their futures. So thank you. Thank you.

[16230] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Anyone else? Oh, member Hill.

[16236] Aiden Hill: So yeah, thank you, gentlemen, and really support your program. I think it's great. By the way, I'm a business CD teacher in Cupertino High School. I have a question for you, though. So you mentioned welding. I think that's wonderful. And I don't know if people know, but we have a welder shortage. And literally, if you get a small, short amount of training, you can go out. And I think the starting salary is $140,000, something like that. It depends on the area. So that's great. But one question I have for you is, I'm a California native. I've been living down on Silicon Valley since the 90s. When I first moved down here, you could throw a rock and you could hit a machine shop. You could hit a metal bending shop. You could hit a wiring and harness shop. You could hit a plating shop. All those skills or all those industries, sadly, have gone offshore. But I think that recently, given a lot of the COVID issues and other issues, people are reevaluating outsourcing supply chains to other countries. And I'm wondering if you have any plans in your roadmap to look at bringing back things like some type of machine shop work, some type of metal bending to prepare, because I suspect that some of those industries are going to get revived. And those are good jobs. So just out of curiosity.

[16324] SPEAKER_20: Thank you. That is actually part of the curriculum, a part of that in the welding and metal joinery, metal fabrication, metal bending, manufacturing. Great.

[16333] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other questions? Well, we really appreciate this presentation. And I personally want to thank you for your welcoming me today to my first ROP meeting. And you're doing a great job.

[16349] SPEAKER_20: Thank you, President Thomas. Thank you.

[16357] Nancy Thomas: Superintendent.

[16359] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Thomas. And thank you to our Mission Valley partners. I need to make a motion.

[16365] Aiden Hill: So we're at 930 right now. So I'd like to make a motion. Again, I know that nobody's happy about this. Hopefully we can do it earlier. But I'd like to make a motion that we extend our time period to midnight. Just to be on the safe side. Under promise, over deliver.

[16385] Nancy Thomas: We're going slow, so I agree. So I'll second that.

[16397] SPEAKER_09: Yes.

[16401] Phuong Nguyen: I got you, Nancy. Don't worry.

[16402] Elisa Martinez: Thank you. Yeah.

[16405] Kat Jones: Do we have to do it on screen? Oh, never mind.

[16418] SPEAKER_44: Unanimous yes.

[16419] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. OK. Superintendent.

[16425] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Thomas. So this next item, 2022 dashboard and CASP results. I'm going to ask the Director of Teaching and Learning, Mr. Dulles, to come to the podium and present. As you recall, the board asked to get an update from staff with regard to the results. We did present the results very early in the year. I believe it was in September when the preliminary results came out. But I think because of the return from COVID, the state has been a little delayed in getting out the full dashboard. And now that it's been released right before the winter break, we are really excited to come and present. You'll notice, like we try to do with data, is there's some highlights, there's some really successes, and then there's a lot of areas that really helps to inform what we do next. So that's how we like to use data, not as a punitive measure, but rather as what has been successful that we want to keep doing and grow on, and then where do we still need to grow and how do we go about doing it based on what the data is telling us. So with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Dolowich.

[16501] SPEAKER_21: All right, thank you. Good evening, members of the board. For tonight's presentation, I'll provide an overview of the California School Dashboard, an overview of Newark's performance in each measure, an overview of Newark's 2021-22 CASP results per board request, and like Dr. Triplett mentioned, in the fall, there's a preliminary presentation, and then I'll identify implications and next steps for us as a district and also for school leaders. Do just want to say a note, This is the first summative set of data that's come out since the pandemic. And although we're not going to see the gains that we would all hope, I think it definitely deserves note that it's not more of a significant decline. I just want to recognize the staff and our teachers for the last two years and our school leaders for holding down the fort. So California School Dashboard is our state's accountability and continuous improvement system. three points. It is more than a single number so it's not based on a single test score. There's multiple measures that we'll review here this evening. It does come with an equity lens so it shines a spotlight on significant subgroups and so How do we then, at the school level, support them and give extra attention to the subgroups that need it? And then finally, it informs our local decision making. So with reviewing budget decisions, resources, and setting goals, including professional development, it informs what we do as district and site leaders. So there are six state measures and five local measures. The dashboard was updated. December 16th, 2022. This is what's known as a status year. Before, you can see that multicolored meter on the bottom right, and you can actually see a little clip of it towards the top. It used to look like that. It will revert back to that next year, but not this year. This year is a status year because we've had two years without data. And so what you're about to see is what the state refers to as purple cell phone bars. essentially bar graph, ranging from very low to very high. With all of them, with the exception of two, you want to be high or very high. The two that I'll note are reverse goals, and I'll mention them when we come upon them. So this is our landing page. This is public to anyone. If you Google California dashboard and you put in Newark Unified, you will see this at the very top. There are also state summaries, so you can compare percentages for Newark. So the top four and the ones on the left with the purple bars, those are the six state measures. I'll go through each of those briefly. And then the bottom four. And the one noted basics, teachers, instructional materials, facilities. And then the bottom four, implementation of standards, parent family engagement, local climate survey, and access to a broad course of study. Those are the local indicators. In mid-October, I lead a group that submits a comprehensive report to the state. The state can determine that we do not meet. in some cases they do for districts. The good news is we met all of the local measures per the state this year. So that was submitted this year. I'm going to take us through the state measures. So with the exception of college and career indicator, five were reported by the state. College and career indicator is based on 11th grade students and 11th grade students this past year are now 12th graders. So we do not have any college or career information. The first time we'll get a data report by the state for college and career will be next school year. English learner progress, I met with the Alameda County Office of Education last week and they advised when we conducted an analysis with English learner progress to look at the top two bars of that bar graph. So if you look at 44.1% and 4.7% that yields 48.8% just to give, that shows English learners that have made gains towards language proficiency or they've maintained a level four, those top two bars. If you want to juxtapose that with the state average, the state average is 50.3%. So we're just under the state average when it comes to English learner progress. You heard the professional development that we focused on January 9th with language functions led by none other than Ms. Cairns over here. That's an example of how we're intentionally taking this data and trying to apply it for teachers to then embed it in future lessons. Also, just to note, with respect to EL progress, I just want to make a note, we have new instructional aid to the junior high. We have ELD flex time at the junior high. There's some actionable items. And this year, you may be aware, there's an entirely new ELD curriculum at Newark Memorial High School. All connected examples of actionable items that we're using this data to try to further it. College and career readiness, I mentioned no district has college and career readiness this year. Again, it's based off of this past year's 11th graders. So when they graduate this year, we'll have data for their college or their career, and we'll receive information. Chronic absenteeism, this is one of those reverse goals. So you actually do not want to be high in chronic absenteeism. You want to be low for the obvious reason that you don't want students Absent it is reported in grades K through 8, but I will say Tony Thurman state superintendent recently came out with a very comprehensive report. This is the measure that the state is doing the worst in in fact, the state average is 30% and so Newark unified 15.9 percent were well below the state average nevertheless you can see that there are significant subgroups. And that equity report on the bottom right corresponds with those subgroups in those categories. One concrete example, we have weekly enrollment meetings. The coordinator for pupil services has a plan of action for February where there's going to be weekly competition across the district. And he's going to monitor celebrations and 90 to 100% of perfect attendance. That's an example of how he's honing in on trying to monitor student names and student data with respect to those subgroups. Graduation rate, quite simply, we're just above the state average. In fact, over the last three years, the state average went from 83% to 87%. We're at 88.1%. And then you can see, again, with significant subgroups, who's graduating at a higher rate versus others. So that's something to consider. Our suspension rate, that is the other measure that's a reverse goal. So you want to be low or medium, 3.3% suspended. And that takes into account students who are either suspended once. If they have multiple suspensions, they're only counted once. The state average is 3.1%. I will say our assistant superintendent, Ms. Pierce, the very beginning of the year, she sent out staff-wide and did a training with all of the principals, a comprehensive updated discipline and intervention matrix. So it's a very specific way that we're using suspension data and educating our leaders when it's appropriate and when it's not appropriate to suspend or have a child outside of the classroom. It's definitely a work in progress. But the updated matrix is brand new for the district this year. The academic indicator, I'm going to spend the majority of my time per board request, because this takes into account those SBAC and CASP results. So specifically, grades 3 through 8 and grade 11. Mathematics is a challenge state and nationwide. Nevertheless, that's an area that I'm going to discuss in detail this evening. English language arts, we're a little bit higher. Just to point out, however, the state average is, in fact, 12.2 points below standard for English language arts. So we're just above that. And then for mathematics, even more of a challenge, the state average is 52 points below, and we're 40 points below. So we will show that in comparison also to districts in our county, just so that you have an idea towards the end of this presentation. And I'm happy to return to any of these items, because I know it contains a lot of detail, but just want to be cognizant of pacing. So we're going to jump into English language arts and mathematics. English language arts, you can see for yourself the breakdown. And that's going to be a consistent theme for us this evening. with respect to subgroups that we need to really focus on providing more intensive support, both in the classroom and outside of the classroom, school-wide. Mathematics, very similar in terms of the subgroup breakdown, in terms of low, medium, high, very high. So this gives you a comparison, and I think you saw Mr. Soria's presentation, similar in the sense that we're missing two years of data. And so we wanted to give you a reference point to look at the five-year comparison. Generally, a flat line. You can see there's a little bit of growth in English language arts. It's something to be celebrated. Five years ago, for mathematics, we're just under a percentage point above where we were five years ago. So one thing to note, I started this presentation, not a significant decline, and some districts experienced that the last two years based on what we went through. That's something to recognize, but we want to drill down and be even more specific with our data. But that gives you that overview, and you'll see that each on its own slide for ELA and math. So same with ELA here. You can see just a little bit closer right before the pandemic. And then the first set of data after the pandemic, identical. There are pros and cons, and we'll get into those momentarily. You can see a little bit more of a breakdown. And there's recognition for our initially fluent students, as well as our reclassified fluent students. But you can see that some of the other significant subgroups, we have work to be done. And so we want to make intentional decisions about the data we're receiving. Again, this is one set of data from the spring, particularly May of last year. If you look at some other significant groups, although quite low, you can see generally trending in the correct direction for English learners and special education. And we have a new special education curriculum with Imagine Learning that's been utilized. And you can see those original all students bars repeating the same information you saw previously. If you go a little bit further with ethnicity, you can see a breakdown here in terms of trending ethnicities that have improved over time. and then some that have fluctuated or relatively flatlined over the years. For English language arts and also mathematics, we're going to see third grade that is generally a highlight to be celebrated for third grade. And you can see some success as well in fifth grade, of course, 2019 and 2022, there's a little bit of a dip, but generally fifth grade holding its own. And you can see the percentages that correspond with those grade levels. Typically, as you go up through the secondary grades and we assess up to grade eight and then also grade 11, usually you see a little bit less engagement with standardized testing across the state. Not so with our 11th graders. So they've taken what they've learned from 7th and 8th grade. You can see that they're improving upon those final percentages when you look, for example, at that blue bar 2022 for each of those respective grade levels. Math is obviously a content area of more challenge. And we're going to see that here. So again, general flat line for mathematics. Again, one would think with two years of online learning and then coming back and going back to online learning and then ultimately remaining in person that we may have seen even more of a steep decline. We didn't. The numbers are a little bit lower. when you look at the mathematics for significant subgroups in this bar. And again, mathematics proves to be a content area of challenge. The all students is repetitive of what you saw on one of those first slides. And you can see a little bit of growth with special education fluctuation with socioeconomically disadvantaged. And then a breakdown by ethnicity. And I think you heard percentages that comprise the ethnicities in our district earlier this evening. And you can see here that it is undeniably an area of challenge. some different ethnicities succeeding at a higher clip based on this data. Third through sixth at the elementary level, last year before sixth grade moved to the junior high. And you can see third grade is definitely something to be celebrated and lessons to be learned. And there's more progress in fourth grade with mathematics than there was compared to ELA for the same grade level. And then I think a pretty clear message with respect to secondary mathematics. And that's definitely going to enter into our conversation in terms of implications and next steps. And you can see, generally, mathematics there declining over the course of the years as they go through the secondary grades. This is actually a point of reference. And just to note, when we look at a comparison with other districts, and you can see the color code of the districts at the bottom, two things to note, demographics and socioeconomic status. So it's not apples to apples. For instance, if you looked at Hayward, we are exceeding Hayward in both English language arts and math. Interesting to note, for example, in mathematics, we're actually just above New Haven, which is a new development. So that's something to be celebrated there. And again, size of district. resources, demographics, and socioeconomic status play a big role. So just some summary of the results before we touch upon implications. And I'm happy to respond to any questions. You can see our three district instructional priorities. And we are aligning professional development with that. Definitely want to recognize third grade in both English language arts and math. With respect to secondary, a few things to note. I just want to discuss items, goals and actions. One, at the end of last year, the board updated the math pathways. When this was assessed, There were two cohorts of students, one algebra and two geometry at the junior high level before we met with leaders in other districts and updated the pathways. Those students took math seven and math eight. In other words, they were assessed on standards, but they were taking a course that did not effectively instruct them on those standards. So, we updated those math progressions. Geometry now lives at the high school. It's something to note because if you're an algebra student, no matter how great your skills are or how accelerated you are in math, at the end of the year, if you're in seventh grade and you're taking algebra, you're not necessarily being assessed on the standards that you were instructed. So, it's something to note. This is the first year ever with sixth grade at the junior high. Sixth grade has core classes. Core classes, they have more time with their math teacher than they've had before, specific to that content area. And built in, we have ELD flex for our English learners. We also have academic flex for mathematics. And so we're monitoring that. One thing to note, and Mr. Soria discussed iReady, We did a comparison in Ed Services, the I-Ready fall assessment from last year to the I-Ready fall assessment this year on a formative assessment level. And just to say, in last year, in sixth grade, 34% of students were achieving or exceeding at the green bar. 34% were in the red. This year, 40% are meeting or exceeding in the green And 28% are in the red. So from the fall assessment to the fall assessment, with our sixth graders, there's a 6% improvement. And iReady typically corresponds with CASP results. So we're monitoring that data. And we're very curious to see, in terms of those structural changes at sixth grade, how that affect. Every school this year has instructional leadership team The junior high, for example, has their math chair on the instructional leadership team. In March, they're conducting mathematics common assessment. So that's one actual item that we're doing to yield results in preparation for CASP. We also have a small but mighty team in ed services, and previously, that team was prioritizing their time at the elementary school across the district. Now with respect to the data, we're strengthening their ability to be at the junior high and the high school on a more regular basis. That's another item that we're conducting. And then just a theme in that third bullet. So this is a status year. Next year it'll revert back to that multicolored meter. And so One of those themes is that the dashboard results, again, not significant improvements across the board, but nevertheless not a sharp decline either. And so some of those things I mentioned, the bottom bullets with the core classes, academic flex, we have an updated math progression that is new. And again, students, for instance, that were both algebra and geometry last year, they were assessed on math seven and math eight. That will not happen this year. And then we have district initiatives and professional development that are tailored towards the results you just saw. So the other implications, just to note, so we've reviewed the disaggregated data with all of our principals. We've had a district-wide PD with iReady. You heard, again, from Mr. Soria, there are three diagnostics. We've already had the fall diagnostic. The winter is upcoming. So they're using data at the site to drill down the student names. We do have iReady at the sixth grade. I met with a junior high principal today, and they're interested in having iReady for both seventh and eighth grade so that they can do more work as a math department with iReady. We have that brand new STAR Lab and a STEAM initiative, TK through 12, and we're monitoring and supporting the mathematics progression, because that's definitely a point of data that jumped out at us. And then, as you know, dual language, immersion, is expanding, and we have SEAL that we're looking to replicate English learner practices beyond just Schilling and Coyote Hills, but to take that district wide, specific to our over 20% English learner population. And then we've led, with our Director of Special Projects, reclassification support and celebration. So those are some of those actionable items where we're not just sitting on the data, but we're making intentional decisions to address data points that jumped out at us. So that concludes my presentation for this evening. And I'm happy to respond to any questions.

[17936] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Board members? Ms. Jones?

[17945] Kat Jones: You mentioned that the MAF TOSA, do we have currently one or two MAF TOSAs? Currently one. OK. And she's spending more time now at the secondary level?

[17958] SPEAKER_21: That's in transition.

[17960] Kat Jones: OK. Have you considered, if you're going to make that transition to secondary, have you considered a secondary teacher to do that that's more familiar with 6 through 12 curriculum?

[17973] SPEAKER_21: That's absolutely a reasonable consideration. So the math toast and I specifically met with the math department chairs at Newark Memorial High School. And we've been on the campus more frequently. That would be something, of course, there are costs that come with that. But based on this data, it makes all the sense in the world to reallocate time and energy towards the secondary schools.

[18010] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Mr. Dulowicz. Yeah, just one question on that. If we could go back to the overview page, the landing page. Yeah, go. There you go. So just some clarification. So on the college and career readiness metric, so is no one in the state being measured on that one? Correct. OK, and when do they project that they're going to start measurements again?

[18044] SPEAKER_21: Next year. Next year? Yeah. OK. It's based on last year's 11th graders.

[18051] Aiden Hill: OK, great. And then the other ones where it says standard met, is that just a temporary process? Or are they going to start converting that into more of a of a metric like the other ones?

[18073] SPEAKER_21: Yeah, great question. So annually, by October 15th, I submit a comprehensive report to the state. And typically, they determine whether it's met or not met. And that's going to continue. If we go back, just mentioning, so these are the five local measures you're referring to. And the five local measures, are based on all the information that I submit in my role to the state. And I do not believe that's going to change.

[18109] Aiden Hill: OK, so for the state, they're just going to continue with for those measures, either met or not met. Correct.

[18115] Nancy Thomas: OK, thank you.

[18120] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Mr. Dulwich. Just a quick question on chronic absenteeism. Did the state take into consideration absence students being out with COVID this last year?

[18136] SPEAKER_21: That's actually an interesting question. And I looked into that. And unfortunately, it includes both excused and unexcused absences. So it includes COVID or if a student's route because of quarantine. And so, you know, what that really reinforces is that the pandemic hit certain subgroups harder than others. And unfortunately, both excused and unexcused absences are included in chronic absenteeism.

[18169] Phuong Nguyen: Great. Thank you. And then one last thing. I know that, you know, we did have a corrected math pathway a lot last year. And then I'm glad that you pointed out that the seventh grade students who are in algebra and eighth grade students who are in geometry, they weren't being tested on the standards. So that was a great point that you brought up. But along that line, can you also list any other positive initiatives that the district has been doing to help improve scores moving forward?

[18206] SPEAKER_21: Sure. Specific to math?

[18209] Phuong Nguyen: Both math and ELA.

[18211] SPEAKER_21: Sure. Well, there's been a number of professional development where it's been across the grade levels. For mathematics, like I mentioned with the instructional leadership teams, we have department leads on those teams, and we're looking at formative assessments. I think the other thing, just to mention in full transparency, is the importance of engagement for our students and working with engagement strategies. that secondary teachers have been intentional on implementing. And I think could benefit from additional support in terms of making the content and the material come alive as students go through the secondary levels. So that's a work in progress, but that's been a part of that instructional leadership team. Great.

[18262] SPEAKER_42: Thank you so much.

[18264] Nancy Thomas: Any other? Yes. Yes.

[18269] Bowen Zhang: So I want to reiterate what I said a couple months ago when the result first became public, which I agree with you. I am more satisfied with the math performance than English language are because of that new development that for the first time ever that we surpassed New Haven when it comes to mathematics. I think this probably is the first time in the past 56 years. And obviously the other thing is the sobering thing about this report is Newark unified just like any other district in the state and in the nation that we have significant achievement gaps among different ethnicities and races. And I think it's particular after the pandemic, I see the gap. If you really do a multi-race comparison compared to three, four years ago, that gap only widens compared to several years ago. I think it's incumbent upon the district to really focus on our effort to close the achievement gap among different ethnicities and races, and obviously for a society and country as diverse as we are, that kind of achievement gap in the long run is not really sustainable for a multiracial society.

[18342] SPEAKER_21: Well said.

[18345] Nancy Thomas: Okay, could you go back to the slide that showed sixth grade, seventh grade math? Absolutely. That's a pretty dramatic change over the five years in the students that are proficient and above in math. Have you looked at that? I mean, that seems like an outlier.

[18380] SPEAKER_21: Yeah, and are you specific seventh grade? So before, and in reference to that math progression, accelerated seventh graders were in algebra and accelerated eighth graders were in geometry. That's not aligned with the California mathematics framework. And I've spoken to district leaders all over Alameda County, even in Foster City. And unfortunately, those students in algebra and geometry nevertheless still take the Math 7 and Math 8 assessments. And so, unfortunately, it's not doing a service for them or for the district with respect to those results. I don't think that is it in its entirety. And I think there's more training, I think, and more support, intentional support, because you can see, for instance, seventh grade, right? That's a notable trend. That speaks to not only content and foundational skills, but the engagement piece. I think over time that we need to put all creative options on the table when it comes to engaging our students in mathematics.

[18472] Nancy Thomas: I looked at cohorts between 2019 and 2022, and quite a dip at the secondary level, especially. Anyway, thank you very much. Oh, yes, student member.

[18486] Diego Torres: I would like to speak on the math part because I was one of the students who took algebra in 7th grade and then geometry in 8th grade. And the tests that you're tested on are very different than what we learned. And it's very true for what you're saying because the Algebra 1 and Math 7 are completely different maths. There's some similarities, but they're very different topics. And geometry is a special math in itself because you learn about like shapes and proofs and all that stuff. And then the math aid is completely different. Like you don't learn anything from that. So the tests itself are very, when I got those tests, it was like, whoa, like I haven't seen this in a while. I haven't learned this in a while. And it's very difficult to take those tests when you're in geometry taking a math aid test. So I can understand why those test scores are like that because I was one of those kids and I think I'm probably one of those bars.

[18533] SPEAKER_46: I don't know which one.

[18536] Diego Torres: Probably in a lot of those actually.

[18538] SPEAKER_21: Yeah, thank you, Diego. I think our hypothesis is there's that element of moving those courses. So the majority, as recommended by the state, are being assessed on the standards they're actually taught, number one. And number two, we're doubling down in sixth grade. So they have more time in core classes with their math teacher, and then they have an academic flex period. And so part of our hypothesis is that those sixth graders When they move to seventh grade, now at the same school, are going to yield results over the course. But we need to couple it. Yeah.

[18577] Nancy Thomas: Oh. Yes, please.

[18580] Kat Jones: Have you thought about offering the algebra and the geometry as electives? So they have to take Math 7. And if they want to take algebra as their elective, I mean, I'm just throwing out something that's really different for those kids who want that challenge who are looking, you know.

[18598] SPEAKER_21: Yeah. And speaking, I mean, that's it. Like I said, all options should be on the table when we look at what's best for our students. We still have an accelerated option. We have a math seven, eight compressed. That's for seventh graders. And then they go into algebra in eighth grade. So there is an accelerated option of the junior high. And then we have a new pathway at the high school. That's something to consider. I guess the one consideration would be if they double up on math, then they're letting go of an elective.

[18632] Nancy Thomas: Yes, that would be their choice. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yes, thank you.

[18642] Mark Triplett: And thank you again, Mr. Dulowicz for that. So next up, this is the mid-year updater on the LCAP, and Ms. Kearns, our Director of Special Projects, is here and is going to be presenting on this. It's really, really glad that she's been able to pull together this information and give us a really informative meet your progress report, because it's really valuable to hear what money has been spent in what areas.

[18671] Penny DeLeon: How many beloved holiday traditions have been upended by the pandemic? I don't know where that came from.

[18677] Mark Triplett: Oh, wow. I think that's my cue that I should stop talking. So I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Kearns.

[18685] Vicenta Ditto: Thanks. Good evening. How's everyone doing?

[18697] SPEAKER_26: I don't think so. Oh, that's weird. An audio clip was added to this for some reason. I have no idea how that happened. I see it now, though. Pardon me. How is everybody doing? It's a late evening.

[18712] Abbey Keirns: I'm really happy to be here. Director of Special Projects Abbey Keirns, just appreciation for the time. for the trustees and the executive cabinet. I want to start by just saying an appreciation to the people who helped me put this together. So the business office, Marie de la Cruz and Kim Lola were instrumental in helping me pull reports together. And the entire Ed Services team gave input on what the actions have taken place so far. So it just was a real, you know, family effort. And it's important to acknowledge that before we begin. So just three things I want to accomplish in this presentation is one, to make sure that I go over just a big broad overview of what is the LCAP and the LCFF dollars. I always feel like these are great opportunities to inform the public, not just the board, about what all this money and this plan is about. And then secondly, I'm going to go over current spending on each action item and the status of that action item. And then I'm going to talk about our plans for soliciting community feedback in the annual revision. So what is LCFF and LCAP? So California public schools receive state funding through the local control funding formula. Very briefly, the goal of LCFF is to ensure every student succeeds, especially students that are typically historically left behind. And those students are defined as unduplicated students by the state. And the subgroups there are low income English learner and foster youth. And so I just like to make sure that these dollars are just dedicated to those kids, and we have to keep that in mind as we're talking about the work. So the fiscal update I want to offer is that we had an increase in the available funds for the supplemental concentration dollars that are in LCFF. That is a result of a change in our unduplicated pupil count, or UPC as it's listed here. So it's an increase of $604,000. Yay. OK. And so next here is a view of the LCAP goals and the percentage of the LCFF supplemental concentration dollars as they lay out in the goals. So for example, goal one, we're spending 53% of our LCFF supplemental concentration funds on student achievement. 25% on engagement in school climate, and 21% on conditions of learning. And so this is an update on how much we've spent so far. So there are 17 actions in Goal 1. The total allocated here is $3 million, a little over $3 million. It's, again, 53% of the overall LCAP dollars. A lot of it. So that's really great. We want to expend to zero every year. And we weren't this far along at this time last year. So I really like to see we're almost fully expended. We're up to 93%. So let's look at goal two. Goal two has nine actions, a smaller set of actions related to this goal area. It's $1.3 million, 26% of our total LCAP funds. And we've spent 61%. And sorry, I just want to give a clarification. What I mean by spent is it's either encumbered or expensed. And then fiscal update on goal three is an area goal three. We have 11 actions, 1.6 million. It's 21% of the overall LCAP allocation. And we've expended 56%. Okay, so just to flag, we are, have other resources kind of in the mix here. So we have our Educator Effectiveness Block Grant that will continue until 2025. We have the ELOP funds that are continuing indefinitely that are really helping us out with some fantastic after school and summer programming. We have the recent Arts and Music Instructional Materials Discretionary Block Grant, which we hope the governor's budget will not diminish. We've heard some stuff about that. And the A to G completion improvement grant dollars that will also be with us until 2025. The newest allocation is a learning recovery grant, which is about $6 million. And we have, the state does not require that we bring it to the board. They do have a template. And they do suggest we incorporate it into our LCAP planning. So, you know, to come essentially. So let's dig into the actions. I'm gonna get very detailed here, so please, I hope you'll bear with me. I won't bore you to tears, but I think it's important to go through each of these, and I'll try to be brief, but without being too overly concise. I think the highlights on this screen, so this is, again, goal one, student achievement, is that we are in the places Let me just describe what you're seeing on the screen. So on the left side here, you'll see a color, which is green or yellow or red. Green being it's underway. We are on track to expend and we're on track to deliver that strategy. The second column is a description as it as it exists in or the title of the strategy from the LCAP. The third column is what was budgeted against what was spent as of interim one. And then the last column is a description if any notation is needed about what's going on. So in the first one, for example, this is in part for my position. We are overspent in that because there was an increase, a cost of living increase that was not budgeted at the time when the LCAP was made because it was, I think it was unknown at that point what the cost of living increase was going to be. So academic support fully expended on the academic support for students with disabilities. Academic counselors all hired. A little bit underspent there, but we've completed that. SEAL model support, we're on track. We've completed training for TK3 and 4-5. And TK3 just finished their second to last module training. And dual language immersion program, we are actually overspent in this category, which was intended for the curriculum purchase specifically for DLI. OK, so instructional leadership team development, this has a lower budget. We are on track to spend. All schools are sending in monthly time cards. So what you see expended here is actually just for the months of October and November. This report is representing, again, interim one. So by December, we hadn't received December time cards yet. College career support ROP, this is kind of a perennial item in our LCAP. The SPSA expenses, we're a little bit over the SPSA expense in this area, which doesn't mean we're over budgeted. So I'm just going to pause and explain a little bit about the way we allocate the SPSA dollars. So this is our site funds. So every school gets an allocation annually to decide with their site council how they're going to budget for the host of expenses meeting their site's goals. So in this, we take a chunk of the LCAP and we sort of divide it equally into three equal parts. So what you'll see here is you'll see an item in goal 1, 2, and 3 that are perfectly equal for 28. But schools don't spend perfectly equal in goal 1, goal 2, goal 3. Like we saw in our own LCAP, we're spending more in goal 1. So that's why we see more being expensed to goal one because schools, like we are, are spending more on student achievement. OK. So college career support, we're fully hired, almost perfectly on budget there. The next item, 1.16, this is for initial LPAC testing. We are going to continue to use this item to support testing, and most of that testing happens in the spring. Mentor-teacher stipends, this amount is allocated at the end of the year, which is why you don't see it expensed here yet, but it will be. EL liaisons, we're a little bit over. Again, cost of the positions was higher than originally budgeted, in part because of the increase in the CSCA contract that was approved at a later date. And then the last item here in goal one, which is 1.19, it's yellow. because we are sort of trying to pivot and have a new strategy. Our initial strategy was to hire three intervention teachers. We were not able to hire for that. We pivoted and we offered to all teachers the opportunity to do after school tutoring for an hourly wage. We've had kind of a minimal response. Five teachers have responded. So we're pivoting again because we want to expense this for the services that it's intended for. So we're in the process of plan C. And then goal two, school climate. We're on track here. Fully hired for all those positions. PBIS, there's an allocation to each school site and school sites are drawing down throughout the year. Parent involvement and translation support. This is again, some district level translation services as well as an allocation for each school site. Data management system. perfectly on track there. I think there's a couple more expenses coming in, but we should be right on budget. Parent workshops, the PO and contract is coming in as we speak. So that should be expended. Again, here's the SPSA. Yellow here because we're just monitoring. that by March that those sites are fully planning to spend all of their allocations. And I know that's something that the business office is planning to meet with schools this month to make sure they have a strategy for spending. Tutoring mental health, a wellness together contract, a slight increase to hours for the mental health clinicians. And that's what that acronym is there. Communication platform and technology support. We are launching ParentSquare. And we have an IT technician hired. As we increase the parent, if we decide to increase the ParentSquare pilot, we expect that to go up as well. Manager of parent engagement. That role is continuing. And now we're on to goal three. So class size reduction is a continuation of the perennial item. Program manager of science, staffed, and again, a slight increase there as a result of, I think, a cost of living increase. Library hours, almost perfectly on target. We're expecting to expense the rest through the award books allocation. Biliteracy awards recognition, that also happens in the spring, so we haven't really expensed anything there. Science education. The science camps are underway in the spring, so each school has an equity allocation or equity formula for the allocation. STEAM initiative, we're moving along, we have a plan for spending on all of the items in the STEAM initiative, but this is all that's been expensed so far, which includes a VEX robotics class curriculum. And then SPSA expenses, this one is, I should have that one as yellow, 3.12 should be yellow, because it's just another one we're monitoring in terms of making sure sites are spending down their allocations. And I think the last one here is about the increase in base pay, which you approved in August, which is moving from a 180 to a 220. So the LCAP will pay for that gap difference. So just again, with the advisory, input is number one. So I just want to show where we are and along a timeline. We did a review of mid-year data in December, which was essentially what you just saw. We also did an initial review of data this past meeting on Tuesday, and I shared the dashboard data with them. And then we are going to launch consulting with the community in February, pulling together an aggregate of the commentary March so that we can do revisions and review and then be ready for public hearing and approval by April, sorry, by June. So just a quick visual of the process. Each school site will host two events in the month of February to collect community input. We'll also have a video that's in two languages and feedback survey in multiple languages. We then kind of consolidate everything. We bring that consolidated set back to the LCAP. And they help us sort of sort and make meaning of what the data is telling us. That then gets shared back out with the DLAC and ELAC and SSCs for additional input. And then we kind of make the final call about where we want to prioritize. And that is it. I'm sorry. I feel like I just auctioneered style this evening.

[19540] Nancy Thomas: No, that's great. running behind, I think. And so I'm glad you went through that rather quickly. OK. Member Nguyen.

[19551] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, Ms. Kearns. I just have one question and one feedback. So on the budgeted items, on the items that are over budgeted, how is it being offset?

[19563] Abbey Keirns: Yes, so I'm going to bring us back to the additional $604 So I think we'll start with this. But there are other places where we are underspent. If we don't have a strategy for spending, we'll also look at that. But I think we first will draw from this additional dollars that we hadn't planned on being able to have this, not a windfall per se, but this additional dollars.

[19591] Phuong Nguyen: Great. And then since you brought back that slide, what is our current UPC count? If not, we can get it at the next board meeting.

[19603] Elisa Martinez: Yeah.

[19604] Abbey Keirns: Sorry. I know what our unduplicated count is for TK6 because I was just doing it with ELOP. So I know that 616 last time I checked but.

[19616] Phuong Nguyen: Please bring it back next time. Thank you. And then just a comment. I just wanted to appreciate you and the committee all the parents that are involved and the teachers and staff who are committed to helping this process. This has been a huge improvement over the prior years, and that is due to your leadership. And I just wanted to say thank you for all the hard work and dedication to you and the advisory committee. Thank you.

[19648] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Any other comments? If not, I have one in that, or a question. The CPSA underspending, I just went into my mind that, could that be due to the teachers and staff being so overworked with lack of substitute teachers and things like that? They just haven't had the time to spend the money?

[19674] Abbey Keirns: What is it? Yeah, what I noticed is in schools where the CIPSAs primarily allocated the funds for positions, Schools are almost fully expensed. Well, those are the ones actually, they're continuing positions that they had previously. And so those are sort of easy to spend down. In some cases, it maybe was a new position that they couldn't hire for and they have to sort of pivot in a new direction. That makes sense.

[19696] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Thank you very much.

[19698] Phuong Nguyen: One more comment. And in regards to the SPSA and the SEC committees, at all the schools. I just wanted to, because we just recently had a PTSA meeting with the high school, and I wanted to commend Dr. Rich for working with the SEC committee to allocate funds and asking teachers to come, or department chairs to come and present what they wanted funds to be allocated for, and it got approved. So I thought that was great. Thank you.

[19733] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. So let me get back. Student member Torres, I know it's awful late if you have to.

[19742] SPEAKER_46: OK.

[19746] Nancy Thomas: So now we go on to new business, 15.1 assignment of a special education teacher.

[19754] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Thomas. So this is a unique situation. I'm going to have Ms. Catherine Ingham-Watters walk us through this.

[19763] Catheerine Ingham-Watters: So we have a teacher at Schilling Elementary who has been in an intern program. And she is currently teaching special education at Schilling. She has yet to pass one test for her university to recommend her for her credential. And she has plans to take it momentarily. But we want to make sure that she is credentialed correctly. And so we're asking for board approval for a short-term staff permit. so that she can continue in her assignment through the end of the year while she finishes up her test and then her university will apply on her behalf for her preliminary credential.

[19803] Nancy Thomas: Any clarifying questions? If not, I would entertain a motion.

[19810] Phuong Nguyen: I would move to approve item 15.1. I'll second 15.1.

[19812] Kat Jones: Member Fong, Member Nguyen.

[19820] Nancy Thomas: Moves to approve, and member Jones seconds. Please vote.

[19825] SPEAKER_44: Student board member?

[19827] Nancy Thomas: Yes. Student board member, yes.

[19844] SPEAKER_44: All votes in, all yes.

[19851] Nancy Thomas: Could I ask on the fly for an adjustment, because we have an outside speaker. Can we move 15.4 up to the next? And everyone agrees. OK. Oh, 15.3 has. Yeah, but I think 15.4 might take less time. Oh, oh, who's at home? Are the auditors not here? There's virtual. Oh, virtual. OK, well, then let's forget that I said that.

[19899] SPEAKER_46: OK, 15.2 is new secondary courses has been pulled, right?

[19902] Nancy Thomas: So 15.3. Thank you, President.

[19913] Mark Triplett: President Thomas. So I would like to call Ms. Denning up to the podium and say in advance, thank you, Ms. Denning, for waiting all of this time. It is a long night. We really appreciate you being here. So Ms. Dela Cruz will introduce us in a minute, but just wanted to say that This, I just want to appreciate the team for the process that brought this agenda item forward. The amount of engagement with community and staff with regard to this parking lot improvement project has been really, really tremendous. Over 100 people at Birch Grove Primary were engaged in different ways and helped in the design for this. And as you heard earlier with some public speakers, really focused on the safety of our young people, our youngest people, actually. And it is a significant cost, and you'll hear a little bit about breakdown of that. But I think we really can't put a dollar amount on the safety of our most vulnerable young people. And what I think happened here was what was hoped to be a much easier fix when the community started engaging in the process and we started unpacking the situation, realized that in order to not just put a layer of asphalt and patch up some holes, but in order to actually address some real safety concerns, It was going to cost more money because it needed to be a really full redesign. And so with that, I'll turn it over to Ms. Delacruz.

[20019] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Yes, this project actually started out as part of a project for the bond funds. But as we started to assess and look at the parking lot, it really was clear and that we discovered there were other issues that we really needed to address and it wasn't a simple seal and re-stripe kind of a project so that's why it's taken this long to kind of get to where we are which it did include several stakeholder engagements and because of that this whole process we have come up with, I think, a really good plan. And the scope of work actually has changed quite a bit. And I'm going to have Ms. Denny kind of go over some of the details.

[20082] SPEAKER_31: Good evening. So when we started this project out, we were expecting some patching of asphalt, seal coat, and striping like we had done on several projects. But as we dug in, we met with staff, and we learned about many of the safety issues with children crossing the parking lot. And then we engaged with a civil engineer, and he brought to our attention the code violations that we have and that the parking lot isn't meeting current accessible standards. We went through a process with stakeholders and got a lot of feedback to come up with some design solutions. Also, currently, the trash bins and dumpsters are located in a couple of parking spots. And they're on asphalt, which gets very damaged. Dumpsters, they really need to be on a concrete pad. So I'd like to show you, oh, actually I kind of wanted to go through, this is the existing site plan, the way it is now. And I'd like to just show, ooh. It's not going to work?

[20167] SPEAKER_44: The pointer. Okay. The laser.

[20172] SPEAKER_31: Okay.

[20173] SPEAKER_44: I can move the mouse if you want me to.

[20174] SPEAKER_31: Great, great. A big area where there's potential for collision and there's a lot of congestion is when cars come in, some people are parking right there and then they're coming in and backing out along with other people just driving through to drop off children. And also from all over the parking lot, a lot of children with their parents are just diagonally crossing the parking lot. They're not walking on the edges, which is why we're suggesting to install some four-foot high fences to corral people to go certain ways. So can we please go to the proposed plan? So this is the proposed plan, and this is plan D. We went through A, B, C, D. getting more and more feedback from stakeholders. And the main thing that this plan does is it separates parking from the drive loop. So you can see kind of a U on the outside. That's dedicated for parents to drop off and pick up their children. And then in the middle of the parking lot, we have just parking where, you know, predominantly staff can park there. We have a designated drop-off lane, which we don't really have now. In this, we've changed the location of accessible parking. Yep, thank you. And then we have a highly visible sidewalk right next to it. To the left, to the left. Right, right, right. Right there. So people can come out and then stay on a sidewalk. And if you go to the very lowest part of the drawing, yep, there's the trash enclosure. So now it's not just out in the middle of the parking lot. It's tucked away, and it's in a clear way for trucks can come straight in. pick up the trash, dump it, and they can back up and go around easily.

[20323] Marie dela Cruz: So at the very bottom... I just want to mention that currently what the trash collector has to do is go against the traffic in order to pick up the dumpsters, which is also very dangerous.

[20340] Guadalupe Lopez: Thank you.

[20343] SPEAKER_31: A big thing we're adding to add safety is at the very bottom, there's a new sidewalk. So, you know, some parents, they're parking on the street and walking in, and we're just making it easier for people to be safe. If you go along Smith and the sidewalk, we're proposing to put a four-foot-high ornamental fence there. That's going to keep people from walking across the parking lot and also perpendicular to that along the landscaping. Perpendicular, a little bit lower, please. A little lower in the white area. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a four foot high chain link fence there to keep people from walking directly across the parking lot. So we're doing a lot of circulation improvements for both vehicles and pedestrians. we're adding to an additional vehicle gate we're gonna have two new vehicle gates to help keep people from dumping trash on the weekends or off hours because that's also a problem. I think that's about it for the design. We can we can go over the yeah the budget really quickly. So a quick breakdown of the budget. We have $110,000 for soft costs, DSA fees, Division of the State Architect fees, bidding fees, design, professional fees. For the construction, we have $580,000. And I want to give you a quick explanation of that breakdown. because it includes removal and replacement of the asphalt, concrete and concrete curbs for the sidewalks, a small amount of landscaping, four foot high ornamental fence, four foot high chain link fence, two vehicle gates, trash enclosure, seal coat and striping, And also we've included a budgeted amount for potential underground utility issues. So our GM Kramer has put together this cost, this preliminary cost proposal, and we also ran it by our civil engineer, and he, you know, made some suggestions. And so, you know, until we have a full set of drawings, You know, that will inform us more of an accurate cost. And we'll know the true cost once we go out to bid. So yeah, testing and inspection is about $30,000. And then we've put in a fair amount of contingency because when we go to DSA, they might have comments that we'll need to do some changes. during construction, there's the potential to have changes. So we're just trying to cover all of our bases with that contingency amount.

[20562] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. So, yeah. Board member questions? Yes, member.

[20567] Kat Jones: Would you mind going back to the picture of the plan? Yeah, that one. On the, do you mind if I just get up and Would that be all right?

[20579] SPEAKER_44: Sorry, actually, because of the mic, that won't work.

[20582] Kat Jones: Never mind. OK, so on the left side of the picture, which backs up against the cafeteria wall, what is going to prevent parents from crossing there? Is there a fence, a four-foot fence, that would kind of come along the corner of that parking lot and down the left-hand side so that they have to go to the walkway? Do you understand my question? Like, what's preventing them from coming out where the corner is rounded? Am I making sense? OK, so yeah, this is great. So the four-foot fence, I see it there. It doesn't come all the way across, I take it, because kids have to get in the cars. So go across the top. And keep going. Now, that curve is where the cars curve around. What's in that corner there, the curve?

[20644] Kat Jones: OK. And then what's preventing parents from darting across right there? And coming all the way down that side of the parking lot that runs along the cafeteria, what's preventing parents from? cutting across in those cars that are against the curb. Anything?

[20666] SPEAKER_31: Just... Okay, so we are encouraging them to walk on the sidewalk.

[20677] Mark Triplett: Okay. Maybe if I could jump in. So the The curb there, those are all parked cars just to drop off. But people, in theory, students are getting out of those cars.

[20693] Kat Jones: Sorry, they're getting in and out so there can't be a fence where they're all lined up for pick up and drop off. I totally get that.

[20703] Mark Triplett: But there shouldn't be any adults or kids walking across traffic right there because they're being dropped off. There's more drop off than there used to be. And so hopefully there isn't students nor adults walking across the parking lot into traffic. Does that make sense? Was that your question?

[20724] Kat Jones: Shouldn't be. Yes, key word.

[20729] Marie dela Cruz: Are you referring to parents that choose to park and then walk their student to the school? Yeah. So that sidewalk there next to the, yep, right there, is where they're encouraged to cross. Encouraged. OK. Yeah.

[20745] SPEAKER_31: Yeah.

[20746] Mark Triplett: Exactly. But the other thing is they're actually encouraged not to park. So those middle areas is really for staff. Of course, we can't prohibit, I don't think, someone from parking, but there's not as many parking spaces, I believe. Is that correct? As previously, because that's intended for staff, and then families are really intended to be pulling up, dropping off, and pulling around.

[20776] Kat Jones: And expected pretty much to park on the street. I mean, parents will be encouraged to park on the street so that they can go around.

[20782] Mark Triplett: Yeah, exactly.

[20786] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen. Just one question.

[20789] Phuong Nguyen: For the flow of traffic, for drop-off, are they supposed to go through the first loop? Not the extended loop where the trash bin is. So if they go through the extended loop, they do cross over the crosswalk, correct?

[20806] Mark Triplett: Yes, and that is where they're encouraged to go. So they're not encouraged to go into the parking area. but that maybe Ms. Denning or Ms. Delacruz, you can speak a little bit more about that crosswalk there, but I think it's intentionally designed to really stand out and therefore be the only place where we're seeing crossing versus like currently where kids are crossing all over the place and behind cars and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, they would be crossing there.

[20836] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, so as the cars enter the parking lot, that whole lane on the right, all the way to the right curb, right there, right there. That's the whole drop off area. So you could have like 10 cars at a time, you know, continuously dropping off students in that loop.

[20854] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, but they continue through the loop, which means they cross, they have to cross the crosswalk.

[20859] Marie dela Cruz: No. So what would happen is that they would, they would stop right before that to drop off their students because most of the parents will, Usually stop where they see a gate or where the entrance is to the school because right now what happens is they're stopping right and not like Like that third spot or fourth spot right there because the gate to the school is right there Okay, so the main loop for drop-off is the short loop Yes, okay, and then I miss and the rest is an exit.

[20893] Mark Triplett: I'm sorry. I misspoke. So miss Delacruz Are you saying that the the internal? area where the cars are going to be down below, Ms. Gutierrez. Yeah, in there. The intention is for the cars to drive out that way?

[20907] Marie dela Cruz: No, no. Oh, good. I didn't think so. I'm sorry. I'm misunderstanding. The outside loop is where the cars would go in and out.

[20915] Phuong Nguyen: OK. So they're going to have to cross through the crosswalk? The cars? Yes. Yeah. OK. So to me, that's still a safety concern.

[20929] Marie dela Cruz: Because of the accessibility, because right now where it's at, if you look at the existing plan, the crosswalk is actually right there. You see it? Right there. That's really.

[20947] Mark Triplett: Could you go to the new plan for a second? Yeah, that crosswalk should actually only be utilized, it should be utilized much less frequently, but it'll be for cars that do park right there in those three spaces with the lattice right in between them. Yep, those ones right there. And I think that's for students who have, is that wheelchair accessible kind of things? Yeah. But the majority, hopefully, are actually dropping off in the drop-off area up above, or they're now walking, thank you Ms. Gutierrez, they're walking up that side area which was not available before. But I do think to your point, Board Member Nguyen, I think it's really important, is there will need to be a focus of supervision and traffic monitoring right at that crosswalk.

[21002] Phuong Nguyen: Just like the junior high.

[21003] Nancy Thomas: Yeah. Any other questions? Member Hill?

[21010] Aiden Hill: I don't have any questions for the presenter, but I would like to discuss this item when we're ready.

[21016] Nancy Thomas: Yes. I would entertain a motion. Student, this is for clarifying questions, and then we'll go on to a motion.

[21030] SPEAKER_09: So do you see the white part, like where the fencing is? Like above it? Yeah, what would that be? Concrete just concrete.

[21040] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, okay Is anyone ready to make motion so we're making a motion to discuss correct Right because that's what Rosenberg's rules of order say no after after clarifying questions Rosenberg So then I I'd like to

[21067] Aiden Hill: to make some comments about this agenda item then?

[21070] Nancy Thomas: During the discussion, you can.

[21072] Aiden Hill: OK, so you're saying the motion is to have a discussion?

[21076] Nancy Thomas: The motion and second is to then have a discussion.

[21081] Aiden Hill: OK, so to have a discussion about this.

[21082] Bowen Zhang: Well, General, I don't think you make motion before you have discussion. You finish all your discussion, you make the motion, and then you go to an up or down vote, and done, and move on to the next item.

[21092] Nancy Thomas: Well, we're going to have training on Rosenberg's rules, and I'll get trained at the same time. So we'll do it that way. OK, Mr. Hill.

[21099] Bowen Zhang: So I have a clarifying question. Yes, OK. So the sidewalk, based on what we're seeing here, there will be staff primarily parking in the parking lot. So would that be a reasonable inference that most of you that will be walking across the sidewalk will be staff rather than parents dropping off students?

[21118] Marie dela Cruz: That's right.

[21126] Nancy Thomas: Okay, Member Hill.

[21130] Aiden Hill: Thank you. So I passed out a copy of the five-year facilities maintenance plan that RGM Kramer did for us and presented last April. And this includes both deferred maintenance as well as capital improvement projects. And I didn't copy the whole plan, but I copied key elements. And remember, this is for the entire district. And if you look at the page after the title page, so it basically talks about funding sources to do everything. And if you'll notice that if we look across the different funds, according to our Jim Cramer, and there might be some slight differences since this presentation was given, but we're saying we have $24.5 million available for projects. And I'd like to remind the board that we've already, back in early December, consumed $6.5 million of that for the Newark Memorial High School field project. So with just one item on this list, that one item consumed 26% of the funding available for all of the projects. So that leaves $18 million remaining to work on all of our deferred maintenance and all the projects. So if you look at the next page that Mr. Cramer, I'm sorry, Mr. Caputo presented from RGM Cramer. So you look in and he identifies deferred maintenance projects, capital improvement projects. If you count down the categories, there's roughly 19 categories. And then you, and each school potentially has projects within these categories. So and there's 10 schools. And then if you count up all of the X's in the different boxes, which each one is conceivably a project, we're talking about 61 projects. So if I just do the simple math and I say we've got $18 million divided by 61, that's $295,000 per project. Obviously, you can see the real issues with this. So when this plan was put together, number one, there was never, ever any community engagement in the development of this list that we see. There were no meetings. There were no discussions. It was put together by RGM Cramer based on the prior report that had been developed back in 2017, 2018. So there was no community engagement and input at a community level. There was no prioritization of projects. And as you can see, there was no budget for any of these projects. And furthermore, there was no timing. So we have no idea. It's this five-year plan. We don't know which one comes first, which one comes second. Does one take a month? Does another one take a year and a half? So I wouldn't really call this a plan, because a plan usually has not only a very clear scope, but it has very clear budget around what you're trying to do, very clear timing, and most importantly, prioritization. And the way that we're approaching dealing with these projects is it's very haphazard. We're basically, it seems to me, looking at what we view as the latest emergency or the loudest voice that's screaming and saying this needs to be done. And I think that we want a real risk if we continue to follow this approach that we're potentially going to work on things that are maybe not the highest priority and then we're going to consume all of the money that we have and there are going to be a bunch of projects that can never get done and maybe some of them are very important. And so I think that we need to take a step back And we need to basically really go through a proper planning process for all of these potential projects across all the different schools, a prioritization of these, a costing of these, and then come up with a plan that says, we think this one should come first. It's going to cost this amount. It's going to start here. It's going to end here. But right now, we don't have that. Until we have that, I think that we're treading on dangerous ground and making these types of budget commitments. Thank you.

[21406] Nancy Thomas: Any other comments? If not, I have a comment. I couldn't agree more with Member Hill. This is a huge cost over what was originally scoped out at $200,000. It does address safety issues, and I agree with that. It's a very good plan, and I hope we can go forward with it. But my recommendation would be to do what Member Hill, take a breather, put this on hold, do what Member Hill says, is come with a better budgeted, better timeline, better looking. Prioritized? Yeah. So that we have some of the information that you have here, the scope for all these projects should not be starting at 200,000 and that's surprising us when it goes up to 800,000. So I'm all for holding off on this, knowing that we'll probably do it, but wait until we get that prioritized planning for all these projects. Yes, you may speak.

[21485] SPEAKER_46: Thank you. I'm sorry.

[21491] Nancy Thomas: He said, may I speak? Go ahead.

[21494] Mark Triplett: Thank you. I just want to comment on a few things. I think it'd be good for Ms. Dela Cruz to speak on the idea of community engagements and input. Because this, what we have here, the five year facilities maintenance plan did involve significant input. So in a second, I'd love for her to speak on that. But then also just the prioritization. The process that we've been going through is exactly that. It is prioritizing. We went through a rigorous process for really getting student, staff, and community input into what was the highest priority at the high school. That was a prioritization process. And likewise, the reason that this project needs to be prioritized is because our other schools did benefit already from paving and parking lot revitalization. And Birch Grove Primary was one of the only ones, I believe, that did not. And so they do need to be prioritized for that. But then I think the highest priority is really about safety. And we do need to be flexible as a district. And when issues emerge that are safety related, in good conscience, we have to address these kind of safety issues. Because God forbid, and we don't, we wait, and we delay and derail this, then we're going to I really shudder to think of what could happen if we continue to create unsafe conditions for our kids. But Ms. Delacruz, can you speak a little bit more about the community engagement process for the five-year facilities maintenance plan?

[21609] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, so when we started the five-year plan, we reached out to all of the schools, surveyed the principals and asked them, to speak to their community and come up with their top five priorities. So based on that, we came up with these priorities in terms of the deferred maintenance. And I believe when we presented this plan, we made it really clear and we referred to the entire facility's master plan in that there were over $600 million worth of projects in our master plan. And there was no way without going for another bond to even come close to doing all of the projects that are in our master plan. So we tried to prioritize, which we did based on engagements and surveys and speaking with the principals and coming up with a list that was workable within the next five years. And the fact that we presented the Budgets that were available in the various funds was to just simply point out our funds are limited It wasn't meant to say, you know, these are the funds that we have available to do all of these projects So it wasn't about taking, you know, the money that we presented saying, you know here's here's what we have available and then looking at this five-year plan and Assuming that we were going to do Everything on this five-year plan based on the money that was available without going for another bond or Finding other sources we we know that there's There's just not enough to do all of the projects that are on this five-year plan. So we're trying to prioritize based on the needs of the schools and what we have available at this time.

[21734] Nancy Thomas: Could I ask a question? When we approved the Kramer $197,000 construction management, there was a list attached to that of projects. This is one of the projects, and it came in way over what the original thought was that it would cost. I think we at least need to go and prioritize those projects, do a better job of scoping them out, timing them, costing them out, budgeting them against what the limited funds we already have in Fund 25 and Fund 40. I don't want to approve anything. I'm not saying I don't want to approve this, but I don't want to spend money on anything until we have the projects that we have chartered Kramer to do, have all of those projects, and maybe some of the ones that I mentioned in the memo to the superintendent that were dropped off of the list of the bond projects.

[21816] Marie dela Cruz: Well, okay, so if you look at the priorities in this deferred maintenance plan, the first line parking lot, BGP is on there. NJHS, Coyote Hills, Kennedy, and McGregor, those are the schools that we've already done the junior high. We're working on BGP. McGregor is on the list. And same thing with repairing the water fountains, replacing water bottle filling stations. We're working on that so that all the schools have that. So as we go through this priority, the site priorities that we've established based on engagement and community and input from the schools, we are working through this list based on what we have available. So I'm not sure I understand What else could we do? We are working off of this list. And the projects that we have listed are the lists that are planned for.

[21885] Nancy Thomas: Can I say something? I just want to take this group down memory lane. When we had Measure B, the bond, we went and did a fantastic job, but probably overspent at the high school for the commons, and the classroom projects never happened. When we did Measure G, we targeted $3 million for the high school science labs. That project never happened. I just think what's happening now is we are taking projects piecemeal. And whenever you involve as many people as you do, they're going to want the moon. I think we need a budget. We need all of those projects that We need a budget for all of them. We need them on a spreadsheet. We have never approved a budget for these expenditures. We need a budget before we move forward on any other project. This one, I think we can wait until that planning is done and bring it to the board for approval. That's my thought.

[21965] SPEAKER_09: Do we know how long that would take that process of getting all that information?

[21970] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you members. I think that's that's a really important point and Feel free to jump in there. Mr. Cruz, but I can tell you that The process of pricing things out and then on like digging into uncovering things that are unexpected Like has happened here with the Birch Cove primary It wouldn't be the end of this year I think it would be a multi-year project just to build a plan. And the challenge of that is you build a plan, and then by the time you're finished building that kind of a plan, you're gonna have to change that plan because things have changed, conditions have changed, urgent crises have come up that are more important than what's already on the plan. So I think, I understand where a couple of the board members are saying, but at the same time, the kids' safety can't wait. And we need to make sure that we are doing everything in our power to really address the most urgent

[22033] Phuong Nguyen: safety issues as they come up Thank you, um, so yes when I look at this five-year plan scope to me it's it's pretty much a wish list from the sites of what they hope that can be done in five years and based off of what their wish list is they've Helped you guys the district staff has worked with the sites and the community there to prioritize that list. So for them right now, BGP, their priority, and they know they have other asks, but this is their priority based on community input that they would like the parking lot be completed because of safety concerns like that. like what Superintendent Triplett had said. And then not only that, but yes, if we come up with a plan, it's going to take a lot longer. I mean, a full-blown plan like you wanted for each and every budgeted item, and then for us to prioritize it. Yes, moving parts, construction costs, everything we know today is going to be different. And therefore, the budget is going to be reassessed again. I understand that it's great to have a plan, but the plan has to be flexible. So thank you.

[22113] Kat Jones: Member Jones. Two questions. My first one is, has the board already approved the Kennedy fence and is that going in? Because I know they're the only elementary school that hadn't had a fence and I don't know where that is.

[22134] Marie dela Cruz: Yeah, we're in the preliminary stages of stakeholder engagements for the Kennedy fence. And again, that was one that evolved and became a priority because of community concerns. So whereas last year, maybe it may not have been at the top of the list, but because of recent events, it rose to the top. So now we're having to deal with it. Same thing with McGregor.

[22160] Mark Triplett: Yeah, sorry to interrupt. But to answer your question, the board has not approved that. anything there yet.

[22164] Kat Jones: OK. Yeah. That was really my question was was it approved because I know it's I understand the need at McGregor but the kids are littler at Kennedy. And so that would be a much higher priority if I was to say which one gets it. It's going to go with Kennedy. Yeah. Because I do believe in terms of student safety that that is a really critical one in terms of the parking lots at the other schools. Have any of those been completed at this point or is this still a wish list for them? Or we have we done anything with that, you know, I mean, I know BGI got a makeover but Since this was put together has has Coyote Hills Kennedy the junior high of the high school McGregor had any parking lot work done the junior high and the high school has So I'm just trying to find out kind of figure out what on the list has kind of been done What hasn't right just kind of look at the priorities Because I do agree that if I looked at all of BGP's, you know What items on their wish list? I think the parking lot is there the number one safety priority from you know, in my opinion Thank you.

[22244] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Member Jones. Could I just say, I think you bring up, you illustrate a really good point, too, because a year ago, the lack of a fence at Kennedy was a point of pride, right? You know, this is a community, we don't have fences. Anybody's welcome. And that was really beautiful. And I think that Kennedy really valued that at that time. But if we had stuck with a plan developed then, then we wouldn't have the flexibility to actually address what's changed, which is, unfortunately, our country has changed. And it's no longer, the community no longer feels like that's safe, nor a point of pride. They're now concerned that that's a safety issue. And we have to be able to pivot in that way based on safety needs. Because they're right, they need a fence. And that's one of our highest priorities right now.

[22295] Marie dela Cruz: I just want to comment. Regulations changed too. So a year ago, the Division of State Architect did not require a lot of these approvals for paving projects. And so now, they're a lot more, I guess, restricted on what they require with paving projects. So that's why the cost has increased as well.

[22325] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[22328] Aiden Hill: So when R.G.M. Kramer presented this to us, and again let's look at the title page, Five-Year Facilities Maintenance Plan. It's not Five-Year Facilities Maintenance Wish List. It's Five-Year Facilities Maintenance Plan. And if you look at the page with the matrix on it, it doesn't say Wish List. It says Five-Year Plan Scope. and having been in project management for over 20 years, your scope indicates what you're going to do. And so, again, it's not a wish list. And my question is, is that if we're saying we're going through a priorities, a prioritization process, again, I'm kind of a simple guy, but a priority basically means this is number one, this is number two, This is number three, this is number 10. We don't see any of that. And then the other, and as I hear this process that's being described up here, which Mr. Kramer, Mr. Caputo never described in his discussion, it seems to be a very haphazard process because the challenge is that we're doing, it appears that we're having discussions at individual schools on a serial basis rather than on a parallel basis. So if you were really going to go and do, you know, a prioritization, you'd run all of these schools at the same time. You'd have workshops at every single school. You'd say, here are the potential projects. You need to come up with your top three. So you've got 10 different ones, 19 different ones. Here's your top three. And then you go scope those out, and you create a preliminary budget. And then you compare across sites. And then you see, do we have the right priorities? Are we practicing equity in terms of making sure that funds are allocated across the different schools? And then you go forward and you actually start to slot these and execute these. But we're not doing that at all. And quite frankly, we're making a bunch of excuses. But I will tell you that a best practice in project management is fail to plan, plan to fail. And that's what we're doing here.

[22475] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen? I don't have a comment.

[22478] Leonor Rebosura: Pardon? I don't have a comment.

[22481] Bowen Zhang: I guess my comment is, given the inflation and whatever the rising cost of construction, anybody who recently bought a house or remodeling a home probably has a good idea about how much it takes to remodel for a square foot of home. So the point is, if we eventually going to do this, are we confident that in one or two years, we ain't going to be paying more than a million for this? Right now, it's 860K for this. Maybe one or two years, it will be the price tag like that. Because I was saying the past three, four years, particularly during the pandemic, that the rising construction cost and the labor cost is probably not anything I've seen. in the past 10, 15 years. And trust me, I own multiple properties across the country. So I know one thing or two about construction costs.

[22541] SPEAKER_42: Well, yeah. I'd like to make a motion to approve.

[22547] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen said motion to approve.

[22549] Bowen Zhang: I will second that.

[22554] Nancy Thomas: Second by Member John, please vote.

[22561] SPEAKER_42: Student board member?

[22563] Nancy Thomas: Yes. Oh, there you go. I'll keep forgetting. I know I will.

[22588] SPEAKER_44: All votes are in. We have three yeas, two nos.

[22592] Guadalupe Lopez: A no from Member Hill and Member Thomas.

[22599] Nancy Thomas: OK, now we're moving on. The audit report.

[22605] Mark Triplett: Thank you, President Thomas. So I'm going to turn this over to Ms.dela Cruz. And then I believe we have someone from our audit audit firm on Zoom.

[22621] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you. So our 21-22 audit is complete and I just want to thank all of my staff for all the work that went into this and the auditing firm and their work as well. This is a year-long process and we've been able to do it virtually the last couple of years and been able to complete the work in a way that I think has been really productive for everybody. So tonight we have Mr. Montgomery to present our audit report. He'll go over the main points of the report. And we do have a few findings as well that he's going to review. So Mr. Montgomery, are you there?

[22681] SPEAKER_19: Yes, I'm right here. Can everyone hear me? Thank you.

[22686] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, we can hear you.

[22688] SPEAKER_19: Sounds good. Hello, everyone. My name is Kyle Montgomery. I'm a partner here with Christy White. And I'm here to present the annual independent audit report for the year ended June 30, 2022. As you can see, we have the audit report here in front of you in PDF format. It is a comprehensive audit report that comes in, you know, just under 100 pages this year. A lot of detailed information on the district's financial position for this particular fiscal year is included in the report along with additional supplementary information schedules and a few other items. Again, a lot of valuable information in here, but what we're going to do tonight is just focus on the results of the audit. I do encourage you to go through on your own time and review the report in full, as there is a lot of valuable information in here. But what we'll do is skip ahead to the summary of auditor's results, which is gonna be on page 80 of the report. That'll be PDF page 88. All right, so as you can see right here, this page is, divided into three sections. We have the financial statements, the federal awards, and state awards. The scope of our audit contains an opinion on each of those three areas. Each of those opinions is unmodified this year. That is the highest, best opinion that it can be issued at the end of an audit. As Marie mentioned, we do have a few findings to go over. We have one in the area of the financial statements, that's on internal controls over disbursements and that kind of cycle. And then in state awards, we have two state compliance findings to go over, one being in relation to independent study, and the second on unduplicated pupil counts. So we'll move ahead to the next page, which is where we'll go over that internal control finding over disbursements. So what we're looking for when we pull our sample of warrant disbursements is that everything kind of has proper pre-approvals, which is typically going to be indicated through the issuance approval and issuance of a purchase order. It also is the stage where the funds are encumbered for proper budgetary purposes prior to those goods or services being purchased. So the condition that we noted is that in 6 out of the 52 disbursements we tested, purchase orders were dated after the invoice date.

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 Nancy Thomas Vice President/Clerk Aiden Hill Member Phuong Nguyen Member Bowen Zhang Member Katherine Jones

STUDENT BOARD MEMBER:

Member Diego Torres

2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Approval of the Agenda

Type Action

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

PURPOSE:

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

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the agenda for this meeting with the following amendments: Staff recommends that item 15.2 be pulled and the President would like to move item 3.6 to be the first item discussed and 16.1 to immediately follow non-personnel consent items.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Katherine Jones.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Aiden Hill, Bowen Zhang, Katherine Jones, Nancy Thomas
Not Present at Vote: Diego Torres

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.

COMPLAINT AGAINST EMPLOYEE (Gov. Code, � 54957, subd. (b)(1))

Type Action, Discussion, Information PURPOSE:

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

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 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 [Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services]

Type Action, Discussion, Procedural PURPOSE:

Information may be provided by the agency negotiator, the Executive Director of Human Resources, and the Superintendent. Assistance from the legal firm 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. STUDENT REPORT

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

Type Information PURPOSE:

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

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

1. Newark Junior High School

2. Alternative Education

3. Newark Memorial High School

7. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

Staff Spotlight

Type Information PURPOSE:

To recognize the wonderful accomplishments of our NUSD Team.

BACKGROUND:

The presentation will be provided by the Superintendent.

School Spotlight: Kennedy Elementary

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 Kennedy Elementary Principal, Jaime Soria.

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. CONSENT AGENDA: PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

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

PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

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

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Katherine Jones.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Bowen Zhang, Katherine Jones, Nancy Thomas
Nay: Aiden Hill
Abstain: Diego Torres

MOU Between NTA and NUSD to Increase In-House Substitute Rates

Type Action

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the MOU between NTA and Action NUSD to increase the in-house substitute rates. PURPOSE:

The purpose is to increase the in-house substitute rates for the 2022-23 school year to help compensate for missed preparation periods.

BACKGROUND:

This year we have continued to experience an increase in the need for substitute teachers. When a substitute cannot be secured, per the Collective Bargaining Agreement with NTA, site administrators first ask for volunteers to in-house substitute. If there are no volunteers, a teacher is assigned to be an in-house substitute based on a rotating schedule. In-house substitutes are currently compensated $40 for their missed prep period. The MOU between NTA and NUSD would increase the rate from $40 to $70 per missed prep period, retroactively from August 10, 2022, and through the 2022-2023 school year. The District will continue to advertise for and attempt to recruit and hire substitutes, and shall not use the MOU to avoid filling any vacancies.

File Attachments Final NUSD NTA In-house MOU Final 12.14.2022.pdf (148 KB)

Personnel Report

Type Action

Absolute Date Jan 19, 2023

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

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

BACKGROUND:

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

File Attachments HR PAL 01-19-2023.pdf (147 KB)

12. 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: 12.6, 12.21, 12.22, 12.24

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Aiden Hill, Bowen Zhang, Diego Torres, Katherine Jones, Nancy Thomas

FIELD TRIP: Curricular, Overnight Trip for Birch Grove Intermediate Elementary fifth grade class to travel to Exploring New Horizons, Sempervirens Campus

Type Action

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Absolute Date Feb 16, 2023

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $33,500.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source LCAP 3.6, Student Donations, & 5th grade ASB funds

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the overnight trip for the Birch Action Grove Intermediate Elementary fifth grade class to travel to Explore New Horizons, Camp Sempervirens. PURPOSE:

The Birch Grove Intermediate Elementary community requests permission to take fifth grade students on a curricular, overnight field trip. Students will travel to Explore New Horizons, Camp Sempervirens, Scotts Valley, CA for an outdoor science education camp. Students will study science content standards for ecology, resources, life science, etc. while participating in team building activities with classmates and growing as individuals.

     School: Birch Grove Intermediate
     Dates: February 28, 2023 - March 3, 2023
     Location: Explore New Horizons, Camp Sempervirens, Scotts Valley, 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 fifth 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 Varsity Softball Team to Reno, Nevada.

Type Action

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Absolute Date Mar 16, 2023

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $2,880.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Athletics 103, Softball ASB, NM Boosters

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the overnight trip for the Action Newark Memorial High School softball team to attend the 2022 Reed High School Softball Tournament. PURPOSE:

The NMHS Principal and Athletic Director request permission to take students on an athletic and overnight trip to Reno, Nevada for the 2022 Reed High School Softball Tournament.

BACKGROUND:

The Newark Memorial High School Varsity Softball Team has been invited to return to the Reed High School Softball Tournament. This is a highly competitive invitation only tournament which we have been honored to attend for the past 11 years. Date: March 30- April 1 Location: Reed 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 Softball team on an athletic trip to Reed, Nevada. 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

GRANT: 2023-2026 Alameda County Health Care Services Agency Mental Health Services Act Partnership Program

Type Action

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $526,000.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source

                       Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission under the Mental Health
                       Services Act (MHSSA)

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratifies the contract with Alameda County Action Health Care Services Agency (HCSA) for Mental Health Services Act (MHSSA) Partnership Program services. PURPOSE:

The Board of Education accepted the letter of intent with HCSA for MHSSA Partnership Program services on December 5, 2022. Staff now seek ratification of the finalized contract.

Alameda County Health Care Services Agency (HCSA) intends to contract with Newark Unified School District for Mental Health Services Act (MHSSA) Partnership Program services that aim to expand access to school-based mental health services for children and youth. The total amount for the grant is expected to be $526,000 for the period between January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2026, with approximately $90,000 reserved for the remainder of the 2022-2023 academic school year.

Funds received from this grant will be allocated according to provisions of the funding source, such as hiring a new mental health clinician to support with services to non-medical students, parent and family workshops, professional development for staff, and funding for student health and wellness initiatives.

BACKGROUND:

School Health Initiatives are coordinated by the Center for Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC), the Health Care Services Agency (HCSA) partners with school districts across the county to fund and implement school health initiatives, which are aligned with Alameda County's Vision 2026 goal of health care for all. School Health Initiatives deliver direct health and wellness services, create positive school environments, and provide consultation to schools to ensure the health and well-being of students, families, and their communities. School Health initiatives are powerful because they go beyond single programs. They coordinate the relationships and resources of a community toward a shared vision: healthy students learn better.

Improved access to mental health services is foundational to supporting children and youth to develop into healthy, resilient adults. School-community mental health partnerships offer an opportunity to reach children and youth in an environment where they are comfortable and that is accessible. The purpose of the MHSSA is to establish additional mental health partnerships between county mental health or behavioral health departments and local education entities in order to provide increased access to mental health services in locations that are easily accessible to students and their families.

Funded by the State of California, the MHSSA services may include: at a minimum, services that are provided on school campuses, to the extent practicable, suicide prevention, drop-out prevention, placement assistance, continuum-of-care for students in need of ongoing services, and outreach to high-risk youth. High-risk youth shall include foster youth, youth who identify as LGBTQ+, and youth who have been expelled or suspended from school.

File Attachments Newark_USD_MHSSA_contract_FY22-23.pdf (16,181 KB)

SUBCONTRACT: EBAC (Alameda County Health Care Services Agency Mental Health Services Act Partnership Program)

Type Action

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $62,000.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Budget Source Mental Health Services Act (MHSSA) Partnership Program Grant

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratifies the subcontract with EBAC to fulfill Action agreements outlined in the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency (HCSA) for Mental Health Services Act (MHSSA) Partnership Program service agreement. PURPOSE:

The Board of Education accepted the letter of intent with HCSA for MHSSA Partnership Program services on December 5, 2022. Staff now seek ratification of the finalized subcontract for an additional EBAC mental health provider to be located at Newark Memorial High School and Bridgepoint High School. The cost of this subcontract is covered under the MHSSA grant.

Alameda County Health Care Services Agency (HCSA) intends to contract with Newark Unified School District for Mental Health Services Act (MHSSA) Partnership Program services that aim to expand access to school-based mental health services for children and youth. The total amount for the contract is expected to be $526,000 for the period between January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2026, with approximately $90,000 reserved for the remainder of the 2022-2023 academic school year. Funds will be allocated according to provisions of the funding source, such as hiring a new mental health clinician to support with services to non-medical students, parent and family workshops, professional development for staff, and funding for student health and wellness initiatives. As discussed on December 5, 2022, the district maintains a positive partnership with EBAC and has identified a clinician ready to serve NUSD youth. By partnering with EBAC, NUSD will increase student services, while minimizing the impact of additional reporting requirements.

BACKGROUND:

School Health Initiatives are coordinated by the Center for Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC), the Health Care Services Agency (HCSA) partners with school districts across the county to fund and implement school health initiatives, which are aligned with Alameda County's Vision 2026 goal of health care for all. School Health Initiatives deliver direct health and wellness services, create positive school environments, and provide consultation to schools to ensure the health and well-being of students, families, and their communities. School Health initiatives are powerful because they go beyond single programs. They coordinate the relationships and resources of a community toward a shared vision: healthy students learn better.

Improved access to mental health services is foundational to supporting children and youth to develop into healthy, resilient adults. School-community mental health partnerships offer an opportunity to reach children and youth in an environment where they are comfortable and that is accessible. The purpose of the MHSSA is to establish additional mental health partnerships between county mental health or behavioral health departments and local education entities in order to provide increased access to mental health services in locations that are easily accessible to students and their families.

Funded by the State of California, the MHSSA services may include: at a minimum, services that are provided on school campuses, to the extent practicable, suicide prevention, drop-out prevention, placement assistance, continuum-of-care for students in need of ongoing services, and outreach to high-risk youth. High-risk youth shall include foster youth, youth who identify as LGBTQ+, and youth who have been expelled or suspended from school.

File Attachments EBAC Newark MHSSA FY22-23 Contract.pdf (4,686 KB)

MOU: Ohlone Connections and Dual Enrollment

Type Action

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the Ohlone Community College Action District agreements for College Connections and Dual Enrollment.

PURPOSE:

This is an updated MOU with the new Ohlone Community College District administration (OCCD) that has been in place since the 2018-19 school year. These agreements continue to offer Newark Memorial High School students dual enrollment opportunities at Ohlone Community College. As our programs and partnership continue to evolve, it is important to update agreements. Sections were highlighted on each agreement to show where existing agreements were adjusted to reflect current practice.

BACKGROUND:

Newark Unified School District and the Ohlone College administration engaged in efforts to update the MOU currently in place in order to maintain our partnership and continue to offer Newark Unified students dual enrollment moving forward. Dual enrollment has proven to be an effective strategy to help advanced high school students begin college early. Dual enrollment also allows a broader range of students, particularly students from backgrounds for which a college education is not a given, to transition from high school to college.

NUSD and Ohlone are both committed to maintaining a strong partnership in alignment with Assembly Bill 288. With the new Ohlone administration in place, both dual enrollment and college connection agreements have been finalized for approval.

AB 288 was voted into law in the fall of 2015, with the intent to facilitate the development and promotion of K-12 and community college dual enrollment partnerships and programs that target a broader range of high school students.

File Attachments NUSD College Connection 22-24 (12.2022).pdf (172 KB) NUSD Dual Enrollment CCAP 22-24 (12.2022).pdf (304 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the Ohlone Community College District agreements for College Connections and Dual Enrollment.

Motion by Katherine Jones, second by Aiden Hill.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Aiden Hill, Bowen Zhang, Diego Torres, Katherine Jones, Nancy Thomas

LCAP Federal Addendum 2022-23

Type Action

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the LCAP Federal Addendum for Action 2022-23. PURPOSE:

To provide an annual update on the NUSD's use of Title funds in alignment with Federal requirements.

BACKGROUND:

The LCAP Federal Addendum is a requirement for Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) applying for Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) funding. Its purpose is to supplement the LCAP in order to ensure that LEAs meet the requirements and provisions of the ESSA. Per the CDE, ESSA funding should be strategically considered and planned for on a yearly basis. Thus, it is also their recommendation that LEAs review and update their LCAP Federal Addendum annually. Federal Addendum is reviewed through the Federal Program Monitoring process in the Supporting Effective Instruction Program Instrument and the English Learner Program Instrument.

File Attachments 2023_LCAP_Federal_Addendum_Newark_Unified_School_District_20230111.pdf (214 KB)

2023 School Attendance Review Board Panel Members

Type Action

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the proposed 2023 School Action Attendance Review Board list of Panel Members. PURPOSE:

To approve the proposed membership of the School Attendance Review Board panel for the 2023 calendar year.

BACKGROUND:

The School Attendance Review Board (SARB) addresses habitual truants, students irregular in attendance, and/or students who are habitually insubordinate or disorderly during attendance at school. The SARB reviews and investigates referrals from school sites at semi-monthly meetings and provides some case management and referrals to school and community-based organizations to address the cause of poor attendance or behaviors.

The SARB is chaired by the Coordinator of Pupil Services and is composed of personnel from the District and Tri-City municipal and community based organization representatives. In meeting with the student and family, the SARB Panel offers the services of their organizations, referrals to other organizations, and follow-up services. In some matters where services are exhausted, it is the SARB's responsibility to refer a case to the County District Attorney for mediation services or prosecution as a last resort.

The SARB Panel reviews student data and keeps student and family information confidential. The role of the SARB is described and outlined in California Education Code section 48263, et seq. Its mandate is further outlined in NUSD Board Policy 5113.1 Chronic Absence And Truancy, which is on this Board agenda for update.

School Attendance Review Board Ed Code 48321 (b) (1) Local school attendance review boards may include, but need not be limited to, all of the following: (A) A parent. (B) A representative of school districts. (C) A representative of the county probation department. (D) A representative of the county welfare department. (E) A representative of the county superintendent of schools. (F) A representative of law enforcement agencies. (G) A representative of community-based youth service centers. (H) A representative of school guidance personnel. (I) A representative of child welfare and attendance personnel. (J) A representative of school or county health care personnel. (K) A representative of school, county, or community mental health personnel. (L) A representative of the county district attorney's office. If more than one county is represented in a local school attendance review board, a representative from each county's district attorney's office may be included. (M) A representative of the county public defender's office. If more than one county is represented in a county school attendance review board, a representative from each county's public defender's office may be included. (2) Other persons or group representatives shall be appointed by the county board of education.

File Attachments

22-23 SARB Panel List.pdf (87 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 1230: School- Connected Organizations

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated board policy and Action administrative regulation 1230: School-Connected Organizations. 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 and Administrative Regulation 1230: School-Connected Organizations (BP/AR revised 5/16) Policy and regulation are updated to clarify the relationship between the district and a school-connected organization, such as a booster club, parent-teacher organization, or other nonstudent organization. The policy adds material regarding the establishment of such organizations as separate legal entities subject to their own bylaws and rules, delegates the responsibility to approve organizations' fundraisers to the superintendent or designee, and reflects the legal requirement that donations and participation in fundraising activities be voluntary. Regulation adds authority of the district to revoke an organization's authorization to conduct activities in the district when necessary and adds rules designed to maintain the organization's status as a separate entity from the district based on recommendations in the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team's guidebook updated in 2015.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 1230 School-Connected Organizations 1-19-2023.pdf (103 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 1230 School-Connected Organizations 1-19-2023.pdf (79 KB) Existing NUSD AR 1230 School-Connected Organizations 1-19-2023.pdf (157 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 1230 School-Connected Organizations 1-19-2023.pdf (77 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 1321: Solicitation Of Funds From And By Students

Type Action, Procedural

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updates to Board Policy and Action Administrative Regulation 1321: Solicitation Of Funds From And By Students. 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 1321: Solicitation Of Funds From And By Students 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.

Administrative Regulation 1321: Solicitation Of Funds From And By Students The NUSD administrative regulation 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 Existing NUSD BP 1321 Solicitation Of Funds From And By Students 01-19-2023.pdf (111 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 1321 Solicitation Of Funds From And By Students 01-19-2023.pdf (188 KB) Existing NUSD AR 1321 Solicitation Of Funds From And By Students 01-19-2023.pdf (106 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 1321 Solicitation Of Funds From And By Students 01-19-2023.pdf (178 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4118/4218 - Dismissal/Suspension/Disciplinary Action

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy and Action Administrative Regulation 4118/4218 - Dismissal/Suspension/Disciplinary Action. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to review the recommended changes and approve the updated Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4118/4218 - Dismissal/Suspension/Disciplinary Action.

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 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 and/or regulation will be brought back to the Board of Education for a second reading.

The 4000 section of the policy manual is further divided into employee classifications to allow for variations in language, if needed, according to Ed Code and/or the Collective Bargaining Agreement:

    4000s All employees
    4100s Certificated employees
    4200s Classified employees
    4300s Management, supervisory, and confidential employees

According to CSBA, to the extent that the policy is inconsistent with provisions of the collective bargaining agreement, the collective bargaining agreement would prevail.

Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4118 has not been revised by the district since 2015. Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4218 has not been revised by the district since 2020.

Board Policy 4118/4218 - Dismissal/Suspension/Disciplinary Action Policy updated to reflect NEW COURT DECISION (Kennedy v. Bremerton School District), in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that the district's decision not to rehire a high school coach who refused to follow district direction to refrain from offering prayers openly in the presence of students after football games, violated the employee's free exercise and free speech rights. The policy also updated to include language formerly in AR that prohibits the disciplining of any employee for protecting a student who is exercising a free speech or press right, and to clarify language within the "Procedures for Serious Disciplinary Proceedings" section in Board Policy 4218.

Administrative Regulation 4118/4218 - Dismissal/Suspension/Disciplinary Action Regulation updated to move, from AR to BP, material which prohibits the disciplining of an employee for acting to protect a student's right to free speech or press, and to make clarifying changes throughout.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 4118 DismissalSuspensionDisciplinary Action 01-19-2023.pdf (166 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 4118 DismissalSuspensionDisciplinary Action 01-19-2023.pdf (396 KB) Existing NUSD AR 4118 DismissalSuspensionDisciplinary Action 01-19-2023.pdf (192 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4118 DismissalSuspensionDisciplinary Action 01-19-2023.pdf (410 KB) Existing NUSD BP 4218 DismissalSuspensionDisciplinary Action 01-19-2023.pdf (200 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 4218 DismissalSuspensionDisciplinary Action 01-19-2023.pdf (381 KB) Existing NUSD AR 4218 DismissalSuspensionDisciplinary Action 01-19-2023.pdf (243 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4218 DismissalSuspensionDisciplinary Action 01-19-2023.pdf (423 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 5113.1 and Administrative Regulation 5113.1 - Chronic Absence And Truancy

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approveS the updated Board Policy and Action Administrative Regulation 5113.1 - Chronic Absence And Truancy 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 5113.1 - Chronic Absence And Truancy 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.

Administrative Regulation 5113.1 - Chronic Absence And Truancy The NUSD administrative regulation 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 Existing NUSD AR 5113.1 Chronic Absence And Truancy.pdf (171 KB) Exiting NUSD BP 5113.1 Chronic Absence And Truancy.pdf (101 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 5113.1 Chronic Absence And Truancy 01-19-2023.pdf (416 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 5113.1 Chronic Absence And Truancy 01-19-2023.pdf (216 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 5141.21 and Administrative Regulation 5141.21 - Administering Medication And Monitoring Health Conditions

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy and Action Administrative Regulation 5141.21 - Administering Medication And Monitoring Health Conditions PURPOSE:

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

Staff request board approval on the first reading of this new board policy, as it provides updates that will allow the district to move forward with applying for a standing order of naloxone from the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Naloxone Distribution Project (NDP) to receive free naloxone (Narcan�) kits. The NDP aims to address the opioid crisis by reducing opioid overdose deaths through the provision of free naloxone. If approved, volunteer staff will be trained on appropriate administration.

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 5141.21 - Administering Medication And Monitoring Health Conditions

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 5141.21 - Administering Medication And Monitoring Health Conditions 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 Existing NUSD AR 5141.21 Administering Medication And Monitoring Health Conditions.pdf (66 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 5141.21 Administering Medication And Monitoring Health Conditions 01-19-2023.pdf (563 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 5141.21 Administering Medication And Monitoring Health Conditions 01-19-2023.pdf (289 KB) Existing NUSD BP 5141.21 Administering Medication And Monitoring Health Conditions.pdf (63 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 3541.2 and Administrative Regulation 3541.2 - Transportation For Students With Disabilities

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy Action 3541.2 and rescinds Administrative Regulation 3541.2 Transportation For Students With Disabilities PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

This is the SECOND 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.

Board Policy 3541.2 Transportation for Students with Disabilities: The NUSD board policy has not been revised since 2007. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

Administrative Regulation 3541.2 Transportation for Students with Disabilities: The language in this policy is incorporated into the board policy and the administrative regulation has been rescinded by CSBA.

BP/AR 3541.2 - Transportation for Students with Disabilities (5/16) (BP revised; AR deleted) Policy updated to clarify the policy's applicability to students receiving services pursuant to Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, add sample criteria for individualized education program (IEP) teams to use when determining a student's transportation needs, and add material re: the provision of information to IEP teams. Regulation deleted and material moved to BP re: provision of alternative transportation when a student is excluded from school bus transportation for a disciplinary or other reason, assurance that a contract with a nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency addresses transportation as necessary, and transportation of service animals.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 3541.2 Transportation For Students With Disabilities 01-19-2023.pdf (107 KB) Exsiting NUSD AR 3541.2 Transportation For Students With Disabilities 01-19-2023.pdf (114 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 3541.2 Transportation For Students With Disabilities 01-19-2023.pdf (196 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 4112 and Administrative Regulation 4112/4212 - Appointment and Conditions of Employment

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education rescinds Board Policy 4212 - Appointment Action and Conditions of Employment and approves the updated Administrative Regulation 4112/4212 - Appointment and Conditions of Employment. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to rescind Board Policy 4212 - Appointment and Conditions of Employment and approve the updated Administrative Regulation 4112/4212 - Appointment and Conditions of Employment.

BACKGROUND:

This is the SECOND reading of the attached policy and regulations. 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.

The 4000 section of the policy manual is further divided into employee classifications to allow for variations in language, if needed, according to Ed Code and/or the Collective Bargaining Agreement:

    4000s All employees
    4100s Certificated employees
    4200s Classified employees
    4300s Management, supervisory, and confidential employees

In this case, the language between Administrative Regulation 4112 and Administrative Regulation 4212 varies to reflect the legal conditions specific to the appointment of certificated employees and classified employees.

Board Policy 4212: The language formerly in this policy is now incorporated into the administrative regulation and the policy was rescinded per the California School Board Association.

Administrative Regulation 4112: The regulation has not been revised by the district since the Board adopted it on 11/30/2015. The language has been replaced to match the sample board regulations provided by the California School Board Association.

Administrative Regulation 4212: Regulation has not been revised by the district since the Board adopted it on 05/21/1996. The language has been replaced to match the sample board regulations provided by the California School Board Association.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 4212 Appointment And Conditions Of Employment 12-15-2022.pdf (88 KB)

Existing NUSD AR 4112 Appointment & Conditions of Employment 12-15-2022.pdf (141 KB) Existing NUSD AR 4212 Appointment & Conditions of Employment 12-15-2022.pdf (107 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4112 Appointment & Conditions of Employment 12-15-2022.pdf (215 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4212 Appointment & Conditions of Employment 12-15-2022.pdf (207 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4219.11/4319.11 - Sexual Harassment

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy and Action Administrative Regulation 4219.11/4319.11 - Sexual Harassment. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to review the recommended changes and approve the updated Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4219.11/4319.11 - Sexual Harassment.

BACKGROUND:

This is the SECOND 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 policies. The administration has reviewed the recommended updates for accuracy and made revisions to reflect district practice.

The 4000 section of the policy manual is further divided into employee classifications to allow for variations in language, if needed, according to Ed Code and/or the Collective Bargaining Agreement:

    4000s All employees
    4100s Certificated employees
    4200s Classified employees
    4300s Management, supervisory, and confidential employees

The district revised Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4119.11 - Sexual Harassment on February 4, 2021. Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4219.11 and 4319.11 should have been updated and taken to the Board at the same time, as the language in all three policies and regulations is exactly the same.

Policy updated to clarify that, in some instances, it may be necessary to concurrently review a sexual harassment complaint under both the Title IX sexual harassment complaint procedures and the district's procedure reflecting state law, as described in AR 4030 - Nondiscrimination in Employment, in order to meet the applicable timelines. Policy also adds the requirement to provide supportive measures to the respondent as well as the complainant.

Regulation updated to add section on "Definitions," including the federal definition of sexual harassment for purposes of applying the Title IX complaint procedures. Section identifying the Title IX Coordinator(s) moved and revised to reference CSBA's AR 4119.12/4219.12/4319.12 - Title IX Sexual Harassment Complaint Procedures. Section on "Notifications" adds federal requirement to disseminate the district's sexual harassment policy and procedures, along with the name and contact information of the Title IX Coordinator, by posting them in a prominent location on the district's web site and including them in any handbook provided to employees or employee organizations. New section on "Complaint Procedures" references the applicable procedures and the responsibility of the district to take prompt action to stop the sexual harassment, prevent recurrence, and address any continuing effects.

File Attachments

Existing NUSD BP 4219.11 Sexual Harassment 12-15-2022.pdf (131 KB) Existing NUSD BP 4319.11 Sexual Harassment 12-15-2022.pdf (133 KB) Existing NUSD AR 4219.11 Sexual Harassment 12-15-2022.pdf (143 KB) Existing NUSD AR 4319.11 Sexual Harassment 12-15-2022.pdf (199 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 4219.11 Sexual Harassment 12-15-2022.pdf (304 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 4319.11 Sexual Harassment 12-15-2022.pdf (348 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4219.11 Sexual Harassment 12-15-2022.pdf (481 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4319.11 Sexual Harassment 12-15-2022.pdf (502 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 5123 - Promotion/Acceleration/Retention

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy and Action Administrative Regulation 5123 - Promotion/Acceleration/Retention 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 SECOND 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.

Board Policy 5123 - Promotion/Acceleration/Retention The NUSD board policy has not been revised since 2007. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association. Highlighted language reflects District practice.

Administrative Regulation 5123 - Promotion/Acceleration/Retention The NUSD administrative regulation has not been revised since 2005. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

(BP revised 7/19) Policy updated to make minor revisions reflecting current law pertaining to the requirement to provide remedial instruction to students who are recommended for retention or are identified as being at risk for retention.

(BP/AR revised 12/13) MANDATED policy updated to reflect the mandate that the policy provides for students to be identified for retention as early in the school year, and as early in their school careers, as possible. The policy reflects NEW LAW (AB 484) which establishes a new state assessment system, impacting the indicators that may be used to identify a student for retention. The policy also reflects NEW LAW (AB 97) which redirects into the LCFF funding for supplemental instruction for students in grades 2-9 who have been retained or recommended for retention (without eliminating the district's responsibility to provide supplemental instruction for such students) and for students in grades 2-6 who have been identified as being at risk of retention. The policy contains material formerly in AR re: grade levels at which students will be identified for retention, subjects that will be used as the basis for identifying students for retention, responsibility for retention decisions when the student has more than one teacher, and requirement for an appeals process. MANDATED regulation updated to reflect the California Department of Education (CDE) recommendation re: the timing of approving a student's continuation in kindergarten for an additional year and to clarify the process for parent/guardian appeal of a teacher's decision to promote or retain a student.

(Revise BP 7/05) Updated MANDATED policy deletes material related to progress toward the high school exit examination which is covered in BP/AR 6162.52 - High School Exit Examination and makes other editorial changes. Note and legal references revised to reflect NEW LAW (AB 825 - categorical reform) establishing the Pupil Retention Block Grant which incorporates the purpose of optional supplemental instruction for students "at risk" of retention.

File Attachments Exising NUSD BP 5123 PromotionAccelerationRetention.pdf (100 KB) Existing NUSD AR 5123 PromotionAccelerationRetention.pdf (99 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 5123_ Promotion_Acceleration_Retention 01-19-2023.pdf (152 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 5123_ Promotion_Acceleration_Retention 01-19-2023.pdf (148 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 6159.3 - Appointment of Surrogate Parent for Special Education

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy and Action Administrative Regulation 6159.3 Appointment of Surrogate Parent for Special Education. 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 SECOND 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.

This will be the first adoption of this board policy and administrative regulation. The language reflects the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

BP/AR 6159.3: Appointment of Surrogate Parent for Special Education

(BP/AR 6159.3 - Revised 3/05) MANDATED policy and MANDATED regulation updated to reflect NEW FEDERAL LAW (IDEA Reauthorization), effective July 1, 2005. Material formerly in policy re: qualifications of a surrogate parent moved to regulation. Regulation reorganized and reflects NEW LAW which (1) requires the appointment of a surrogate for unaccompanied homeless youth and (2) requires districts to make a reasonable effort to appoint a surrogate within 30 days of the determination that a surrogate is needed. The regulation also contains a new section re: Termination of Appointment.

File Attachments Recommended CSBA AR 6159.3 Appointment Of Surrogate Parent For Special Education Students 01-19-2023.pdf (237 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 6159.3 Appointment Of Surrogate Parent For Special Education Students 01-19-2023.pdf (165 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 6164.6 and Administrative Regulation 6164.6 - Identification And Education Under Section 504

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Board Policy and Action Administrative Regulation 6164.6 Identification And Education Under Section 504. 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 SECOND 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.

The policy and regulation have not been updated by the district since the last revised date in 2014. Since then, CSBA has made the revisions listed below.

Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 6164.6 Identification And Education Under Section 504 (BP/AR revised 12/16) Policy updated to add requirements to address the needs of students with disabilities in the district's local control and accountability plan. Regulation updated to reflect NEW FEDERAL REGULATIONS (81 Fed. Reg. 53203) which primarily revise definitions used in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

File Attachments Existing NUSD AR 6164.6 Identification And Education Under Section 504 01-19-2023.pdf (128 KB) Existing NUSD BP 6164.6 Identification And Education Under Section 504 01-19-2023.pdf (110 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 6164.6 Identification And Education Under Section 504 01-19-2023.pdf (291 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 6164.6 Identification And Education Under Section 504 01-19-2023.pdf (159 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 6183 - Home and Hospital Instruction

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated Administrative Action Regulation 6183 Home and Hospital Instruction and rescind Board Policy 6183 Home and Hospital Instruction. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to review the recommended changes and approve the updated Administrative Regulation 6183 Home and Hospital Instruction and rescind Board Policy 6183 Home and Hospital Instruction.

BACKGROUND:

This is the SECOND 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.

Board Policy 6183 Home and Hospital Instruction: The language in this policy is incorporated into the administrative regulation and the policy was rescinded by CSBA.

(AR revised) Regulation reorganized and updated to reflect NEW LAW (AB 2109) which expands the parental notification to include information regarding student eligibility for individual instruction and the duration of such instruction, requires that individual instruction in a student's home begin within five days of determining a student's eligibility, provides that students receiving individual instruction in a hospital for a partial week are eligible to attend school on days that they are not at the hospital, and provides that the absences of a temporarily disabled student must be excused until the student is able to return to the regular school program.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 6183 Home And Hospital Instruction 01-19-2023.pdf (119 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 6183 Home And Hospital Instruction 01-19-2023.pdf (157 KB)

REPORT: Williams Uniform Complaint Quarterly Report October 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022

Type Action

Absolute Date Jan 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the Williams Uniform Complaint Action Quarterly Report for the period of October 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to receive and approve the Williams Uniform Complaint Quarterly Report for the period of October 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022.

BACKGROUND:

Education Code 35186 requires that the Superintendent of a school district report summarized data on the nature and resolution of all complaints filed under the Williams Uniform Complaint Procedures to the local Board of Education and the County Superintendent of Schools on a quarterly basis. The report must include the number of complaints by general area, the number of resolved and unresolved complaints, and be publicly presented at a regularly scheduled Board meeting. The attached report is presented to the Board for the period of October 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022.

File Attachments Q323 UCP Report.pdf (143 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the Williams Uniform Complaint Quarterly Report for the period of October 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Aiden Hill.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Aiden Hill, Bowen Zhang, Diego Torres, Katherine Jones, Nancy Thomas

REPORT: 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 receives the Quarterly Report on Action Contracts. 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 Q2 22-23_1-19-2023.pdf (8 KB) Geoff Vu_2022_fully executed_redacted.pdf (153 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education receives the Quarterly Report on Contracts.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Bowen Zhang.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Bowen Zhang, Diego Torres, Katherine Jones
Nay: Aiden Hill, Nancy Thomas

REPORT: Warrant Report for December 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 $2,362,993.15, made from District funds for December 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 December 2022.pdf (414 KB)

REPORT: Monthly Purchase Order Report

Type Action

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

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

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

File Attachments Monthly Purchase Order Report 01-19-2023.pdf (123 KB)

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

Added Motion:
Motion by President Thomas to suspend discussion.
Motion by Nancy Thomas, and Second by Phuong Nguyen
5 Yea

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Bowen Zhang.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Bowen Zhang, Diego Torres, Nancy Thomas
Nay: Aiden Hill, Katherine Jones

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

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Budgeted Yes

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

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

BACKGROUND:

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

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

VENDOR DATE PO NUMBER DESCRIPTION AMOUNT N/A *

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

13. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

Superintendent Report

Type Information

PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

The presentation and information will be provided by the Superintendent

File Attachments Superintendent's Report 1.19.23.pdf (3,098 KB)

14. STAFF REPORT

Mission Valley ROP Update

Type Information PURPOSE:

Mr. Tom Hanson, Superintendent of Mission Valley ROP will provide a program update.

BACKGROUND:

On a regular basis, an update regarding the program is provided to the Board from our partners at Mission Valley ROP.

File Attachments MVROP JPA CTE PROGRAM SERVICES PRESENTATION 2023_NUSD.pdf (1,651 KB)

2022 Dashboard & CAASPP Results

Type Information PURPOSE:

To share an update to the Board of Education and community about the Newark Unified School District's California School Dashboard results, which were released in December of 2022 by the California Department of Education. Preliminary CAASPP data was shared with the Board on August 22, 2022. This presentation will provide an overview of the public California Dashboard tool, an update on finalized CAASPP scores, and details on how results continue to inform district next steps.

BACKGROUND:

The California School Dashboard, the state's accountability and continuous improvement system, provides annual reports that display the performance of districts, schools, and student groups based on a set of state and local measures. These reports help districts and schools monitor student progress and identify strengths and areas in need of improvement.

File Attachments 2022 Dashboard & CAASPP - NUSD .pdf (2,928 KB)

LCAP Mid Year Update

Type Information PURPOSE:

To provide the Board of Education with an update on the use of federal and state funds as well as engagement, actions, and outcomes related to these funds.

BACKGROUND:

Staff will present the 2022-23 mid-year report to the NUSD governing board related to engagement on and implementation of the LCAP. It should be noted that in 2021-22, California Assembly Bill 130 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 required all LEAs to submit a Supplement to the Annual Update to the LCAP, and that this is no longer a requirement for 22-23 and future years. However, we continue this practice this year in order to keep the governing board and the public informed regarding progress on LCAP goals and actions. No board adoption is required until June with the 2022-23 LCAP.

File Attachments NUSD 2022-23 Mid-Year LCAP Report.pdf (1,451 KB)

15. NEW BUSINESS

Assignment of Yessenia Cerf-Arriola as a Special Education Teacher at Schilling Elementary on the Basis of a Short Term Staff Permit, Effective December 1, 2022.

Type Action

Absolute Date Jan 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the assignment of Yessenia Action Cerf-Arriola as a Special Education Teacher at Schilling Elementary on the basis of a Short Term Staff Permit, effective December 1, 2022. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is for the Board of Education to approve the assignment of Yessenia Cerf-Arriola as a Special Education Teacher at Schilling Elementary on the basis of a Short Term Staff Permit, effective December 1, 2022, due to the unavailability of a third-year extension of the intern program.

BACKGROUND:

Yessenia Cerf-Arriola has successfully served as a Special Education Teacher at Schilling Elementary since December of 2020 under an Intern Education Specialist Instruction Credential. Yessenia has completed her teaching program with Cal State East Bay and is working to complete the RICA, a reading instruction competence assessment measuring an individual's knowledge, skill, and ability relative to effective reading instruction. Upon completion of the RICA, Cal State East Bay will submit the formal recommendation for an Education Specialist Instruction Credential for Yessenia.

There is no financial impact on the approval of this emergency permit.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the assignment of Yessenia Cerf-Arriola as a Special Education Teacher at Schilling Elementary on the basis of a Short Term Staff Permit, effective December 1, 2022.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Katherine Jones.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Aiden Hill, Bowen Zhang, Diego Torres, Katherine Jones, Nancy Thomas

New Secondary Courses for 2023-24

Type Action

Preferred Date Jan 19, 2023

Absolute Date Feb 09, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the updated courses for the Action 2023-24 academic school year. PURPOSE:

For the 2023-24 school year, Ed Services and Newark Memorial High School, in alignment with Curriculum and Assessment Council, is recommending the following: Pre-Calculus AP course Aerospace Engineering course Change of name only for Math Analysis to Pre-Calculus (in alignment with CA Mathematics Framework)

BACKGROUND:

For the recommended new courses, Ed Services has partnered with staff from Newark Memorial High School to present and receive approval from Curriculum and Assessment Council. Please note the following: Effective for the 2023-24 school year, the AP College Board will offer an AP exam for Precalculus. Like many districts, Newark Unified intends to provide students an opportunity to take this exam by offering a Pre-Calculus AP course Aerospace Engineering, a `G' elective, will replace Astronomy/Aerospace/Rocketry (which is currently not A-G approved), thus allowing the course to count for college admissions. The new course will have an increased emphasis on engineering and design and eventually be folded into the STAR initiative In alignment with the Pre-Calculus AP course and the College Board, it is recommended for consistency purposes that all Math Analysis courses receive a name change to Pre-Calculus (i.e. Math Analysis and Blended Algebra 2/Math Analysis)

File Attachments New Secondary Courses 23-24 SY.pdf (1,290 KB)

Birch Grove Primary Elementary School Parking Lot Improvement Project

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $841,631.00

Budget Source Fund 25 Capital Facilities Fund

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Birch Grove Primary Action Elementary School Parking Lot Improvement Project. PURPOSE:

To approve the Birch Grove Primary Parking Lot Improvement Project and Preliminary Budget. Staff will come back with bid results and recommendation for bid award in the Spring 2023.

BACKGROUND:

The Birch Grove Primary Parking Lot paving is well beyond its useful life. The paving is cracked and causes tripping hazards as well as safety concerns with students walking across the parking lot in front of moving vehicles during drop-off and pick-up. There are potholes and drainage issues. The existing parking lot also has circulation issues with parked cars backing into the lane of parents dropping off. The new design of this parking lot is intended to address and alleviate these issues.

The District has held community engagement meetings with stakeholders including the School Site Council and Parent Teacher Association. We had initial meetings with both groups to get their feedback and followed up with a second round of meetings to share with them a conceptual design that addressed their concerns.

The scope of work for this project would include demolition of the existing paving, grading, drainage improvements, new paving, new trash enclosure, accessible parking and path of travel upgrades, concrete curbs and sidewalks, fencing, gates, paving seal coat and restriping. A preliminary budget has been developed in the amount of $841,631. During preliminary design the Civil Engineer will meet with DSA (Division of the State Architect) to review the scope of the project and address DSA requirements. A project contingency is included in the preliminary budget to address potential scope revisions required by DSA

This action item is to approve the Birch Grove Primary Parking Lot Improvement Project and preliminary project budget.

File Attachments J22070 BIRCH GROVE DSN-PLAN D (2) (1).pdf (258 KB) Preliminary Budget - BGP Paving 2023 01 11 R1.pdf (73 KB) BGP Parking Lot_Existing Site Plan.pdf (153 KB) NUSD BGP Parking Lot Board Meeting 1-19-2023.pptx.pdf (891 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Birch Grove Primary Elementary School Parking Lot Improvement Project.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Bowen Zhang.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Bowen Zhang, Diego Torres, Katherine Jones
Nay: Aiden Hill, Nancy Thomas

Audit Report for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2022

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education accepts the independent audit report for Action the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, as presented. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is for the Board to receive information about and accept the financial audit report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, as presented.

BACKGROUND:

In accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and Government Auditing Standards, the independent auditing firm of Christy White, Inc. has completed its audit of the combined financial statements of the Newark Unified School District for the year ending June 30, 2022. A representative from Christy White, Inc. will present the audit report to the Board for review.

The audit report is the financial document that all outside agencies review, county offices scrutinize, and bond rating agencies rely on. The District prepares all reports in the state-approved format, but the audit report is the document that is readily available to the public and is audited in accordance with Government Auditing Standards and the Guide for Annual Audits of K-12 Local Education Agencies and State Compliance Reporting.

The district's Audit Committee met and reviewed the audit report on January 10, 2023.

File Attachments Audit Report 21-22 Newark USD FINAL.pdf (798 KB) SAS Letter to Newark USD Board 2021-22.pdf (149 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education accepts the independent audit report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, as presented.

Motion by Bowen Zhang, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Aiden Hill, Bowen Zhang, Katherine Jones, Nancy Thomas
Not Present at Vote: Diego Torres

16. CONSENT AGENDA: PULLED AGENDA ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - Pulled Consent Agenda Items

Type Action

PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

17. BOARD MEMBER REQUESTS

POLICY UPDATE: Board Bylaw 9124 Attorney

Type Discussion PURPOSE:

The Board President requests that the Board review the existing policy and her recommended updates.

BACKGROUND:

On January 12, 2023, the Board President requested to add to the agenda a discussion to review existing Board Bylaw 9124 and the recommended updates provided by Member Hill. The Board members may review the attachments and discuss them.

Per the Board President: The CSBA Recommended Bylaw 9124 has an additional paragraph under "Contacting Legal Counsel" that allows the Board President or Superintendent to confer with district legal counsel at his/her discretion. The Board President recommends the CSBA paragraph be edited to require that the Board President must have the approval of a board majority to confer with legal counsel, except when a special or emergency meeting requires legal counsel attendance.

File Attachments NUSD Existing Board Bylaw 9124 - Attorney - Jan 19 2023.pdf (145 KB) Recommended CSBA BB 9124 - Attorney - 01-19-2023.pdf (85 KB) Board Member Recommended Updates - Board Bylaw 9124 Attorney.pdf (59 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Bylaw 9123.1 Vice President

Type Discussion PURPOSE:

The Board President requests that the Board review the existing policy and her recommended updates.

BACKGROUND:

Board Bylaw 9123.1: Vice President is a unique bylaw to Newark Unified School District, as the California School Board Association has incorporated this bylaw under Board Bylaw 9123: Clerk, describing the duties of the Clerk, which in NUSD's case the clerk is also the vice president.

On January 12, 2023, the Board President requested to add to the agenda a discussion to review existing Board Bylaw 9124 and the recommended updates provided by Member Hill. The Board members may review the attachments and discuss them.

Per the Board President: This Bylaw will codify the role of the Vice President in the preparation of the Board meeting agendas. The inclusion of the Vice President in the agenda setting meeting will add an additional perspective to the discussion and will support the transition of the Vice President should he/she be elected as president the following year.

File Attachments NUSD Existing Board Bylaw- 9123.1 ^Vice President - 01-19-23.pdf (94 KB) Recommended CSBA BB 9123 - Clerk - 01-19-2023.pdf (51 KB) Board Member Recommended Updated - Board Bylaw 9123.1 Vice President.pdf (34 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Bylaw 9300.11 Methods of Operation

Type Discussion PURPOSE:

The Board President requests that the Board review the existing policy and her recommended updates.

BACKGROUND:

Board Bylaw 9300.00: Methods of Operation is a unique bylaw to Newark Unified School District, and the California School Board Association does not have a similar policy or have a recommendation for this policy.

On January 12, 2023, the Board President requested to add to the agenda a discussion to review existing Board Bylaw 9124 and the recommended updates provided by Member Hill. The Board members may review the attachments and discuss them.

Per the Board President: This Bylaw describes the order of the meetings of the Board of Education. During the transfer of NUSD policies from the old CSBA GAMUT to the new GAMUT Policy Plus in October 2020, this bylaw was one of 63 policies that did not transfer cleanly to the new policy manual. Rather, it remained as a DRAFT in the new GAMUT and was not visible to the public. Two changes to this bylaw were made during that time without public comment, nor board discussion/approval. This agenda item seeks the board's input whether Board to ratify those unapproved bylaw changes, revert to the original bylaw, or recommend other changes to BB 9300.11

File Attachments Board Member Recommended Updates - Board Bylaw 9300.11 Methods of Operation.pdf (35 KB) NUSD Existing Board Bylaw 9300.11 ^Methods Of Operation - 01-19-23.pdf (92 KB)

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

Board of Education Recognitions and Announcements

Type Information

PURPOSE:

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

Board of Education Committee Reports

Type Information PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

Board Committees 2022-23

Mission Valley Regional Occupational Center/Program (ROC/P) Executive Board

Regional Policy Board of Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA)

Newark Teacher Induction Advisory Council (Formally EBIC)

Audit Committee

Bond/Parcel Tax Committee

City of Newark � NUSD Liaison Committee

Board of Education Requests

Type Action, Discussion, Information

PURPOSE:

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

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

BACKGROUND:

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

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

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

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

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

                       AGENDA REQUESTS

Type Information

PURPOSE:

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

20. ADJOURNMENT

PLACEHOLDER - Extend Meeting

Type Action

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

PURPOSE:

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

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education extends the meeting to 12:00 A.M.

Motion by Aiden Hill, second by Nancy Thomas.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Aiden Hill, Bowen Zhang, Diego Torres, Katherine Jones, Nancy Thomas

Adjournment

Type Action

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 11:56 pm.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Katherine Jones.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Phuong Nguyen, Aiden Hill, Bowen Zhang, Katherine Jones, Nancy Thomas
Not Present at Vote: Diego Torres

No minutes available.