Regular Meeting

Introduction

• Date: February 16, 2023
• Location: Newark Unified School District (NUSD) Boardroom (in-person and virtual attendance)
• Key Themes: Leadership transitions, curriculum updates, fiscal accountability, and community engagement.

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Agenda Items

Board Member Farewell & Recognition

• Description: Recognition of outgoing Board Member Bowen Zhang for 4 years of service.
  • Highlighted contributions: Fiscal stewardship during the pandemic, support for dual-language programs, and advocacy for STEM initiatives.
  • Decisions/Actions: Presented with a certificate and flowers; no formal action taken.

Interim Superintendent Employment Agreement

• Description: Discussion and approval of Michael Milliken’s interim superintendent contract.
  • Terms: $1,095/day (up to $87,000 total), health benefits, and mileage reimbursement.
  • Decisions/Actions:
    • Approved 3-2 (Nguyen and Zhang opposed).
    • Milliken emphasized goals of stability, communication, and supporting staff.

ELA Curriculum Review Process

• Description: Update on K-8 English Language Arts curriculum evaluation.
  • Key Points:
    • Staff surveys distributed to assess curriculum effectiveness.
    • Potential pilot program or supplemental materials to address gaps (e.g., phonics, equity for ELLs).
  • Timeline:
    • Survey results to be reviewed March 8; community input session in March.
  • Decisions/Actions: No formal action taken.

Warrant Report Controversy

• Description: Member Hill raised concerns about a vendor (Jeffrey Vu) lacking business licenses and legitimacy.
  • Key Points:
    • Alleged conflicts with California labor codes and improper contractor classification.
    • Motion to withhold payment failed; warrant report approved 4-2 (Hill and Jones opposed).

Policy Update: Tobacco Use (BP/AR 5131.62)

• Description: Adoption of updated policy aligning with state law and 2PAY grant requirements.
  • Decisions/Actions: Approved unanimously.

Superintendent Search Firm Proposals

• Description: Review of proposals from McPherson & Jacobson, Leadership Associates, and HYA.
  • Key Points:
    • Technical difficulties disrupted McPherson & Jacobson’s Zoom presentation.
    • Board requested in-person presentations before deciding.
  • Decisions/Actions: Item tabled; special meeting scheduled for further review.

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Public Comments

• Key Themes:
  • Concerns about transparency in superintendent dismissal and interim hiring process.
  • Criticism of fiscal priorities (e.g., high interim superintendent pay vs. delayed technology purchases).
  • Support for Dr. Triplett and skepticism about board leadership changes.
  • Advocacy for equitable resources (e.g., mental health services, competitive teacher salaries).

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Follow-Up and Commitments

1. Superintendent Search: Special meeting to review search firm proposals in person.
2. Board Vacancy: Process to appoint a replacement for Member Zhang begins March 1.
3. Technology Purchases: Staff directed to reintroduce pulled Chromebook purchase item.
4. ELA Curriculum: Survey results and community input session in March.

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Conclusion

• Outcome: Leadership transition underway with interim superintendent appointment; focus on stabilizing district operations.
• Next Steps:
  • Address board vacancy and superintendent search.
  • Revisit technology funding and curriculum updates.
  • Foster community trust through transparent decision-making.

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Target Audience Notes:

• Parents/Guardians: Interim leadership and curriculum changes may impact student programs.
• Staff: Curriculum review and technology updates signal resource shifts.
• Community: Ongoing scrutiny of fiscal decisions and superintendent search transparency.

1. CALL TO ORDER

1.1 Meeting Practices and Information

[320] Nancy Thomas: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The February 16, 2023 regular meeting of the Board of Education is called to order. Newark Unified 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 if you have any COVID-related symptoms. Members of the public may observe the meeting via the NUSD YouTube channel, live transmission on Comcast channel 26, or in person here in the NUSD boardroom. Spanish translation will be available via Zoom. The public will have an opportunity to address the Board of Education regarding non-agendized and agendized items with a live audio-only comment via Zoom. and with advance notice and requested by email, a written comment by submitting a speaker card here in the room, or live in-person comments by submitting a speaker card with the executive assistant. Ms. Croce, roll call, please.

1.2 Roll Call

[390] Jodi Croce: Yes, thank you. Student member Torres is not present at this time. Member Nguyen? Here. Member Jones? Here. Member Zhang? Here. Vice President Hill? Here. And President Thomas? Here. Thank you.

2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

2.1 Approval of the Agenda

[407] Nancy Thomas: Next, we move to the approval of the agenda. Does anyone wish to pull any items? Yes?

[414] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I'd like to pull all of the minutes, 10.9 through 10.15. There are some items that were missed on some of the minutes. And I would just ask that I would like staff to review them and give you guys an opportunity to finish making the corrections.

[433] Nancy Thomas: OK. 10.9 through 10.15. So only the consent agenda items Well, any agenda item now gets pulled. OK.

[457] Bowen Zhang: All right. OK, so we're removing it, but we're not pulling out protection.

[464] Nancy Thomas: We're removing them, not removing them. Yeah, we're removing them. Removing them. Oh, that's good. OK. So next. Yes? 10.2.

[480] Kat Jones: Science camp for BGI, that is actually, I just received a text message from one of the fifth grade teachers. That is not their camp. That is not their week. So it's not for BGI. I don't know what school that is for.

[497] Nancy Thomas: So should we pull it entirely from the agenda, or do you want to make that comment during the meeting? In case it's a minor correction to the?

[508] Kat Jones: It might just be a correction of a school site. And if that's the case, then I can make the comment at that time and find out what the school site is. OK, so you pull it during the meeting.

[518] Phuong Nguyen: OK, great. Yeah, I can't see any of the attachments. I'm going to try a log out.

[526] Kat Jones: Can you? For this one? Yeah. Do you see the attachments?

[540] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Given that the field trip is in April, I suggest we just pull it, and we allow staff to do due diligence, make sure everything's set and ready to go, and we'll bring it in two weeks.

[549] Kat Jones: That sounds great.

[551] Nancy Thomas: So to reiterate, we are pulling 10.2 and 10.9 through 10.15. Yes. With that, I would entertain a motion for approval of the agenda with those adjustments.

[570] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve.

[571] Nancy Thomas: I'll second that. Made by member Nguyen, seconded by member Jones. Please vote. Ms. Croce, I should be.

[596] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Yes, voting's open.

[598] Cary Knoop: Thank you.

[613] Nancy Thomas: We aren't seeing it on our screen.

[620] Jodi Croce: We can do a roll call vote. That's OK. I think it's opening now. My apologies. You should be able to see it. Thank you, Ms. Karchi.

[637] Leonor Rebosura: And one more.

[640] Jodi Croce: Remember when yours didn't register?

[644] Phuong Nguyen: It went through. I had voted already. OK. It was a yes.

[649] Jodi Croce: OK. Thank you. Five ayes.

2.2 Public Comment on Closed Session Items

2.3 Recess to Closed Session

4. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS

[657] Nancy Thomas: Ms. Croce, are there any public comment on closed session items? There were none. Seeing none, we will be recessing to closed session, where we will discuss 3.1, public employee discipline dismissal release. 3.2, Conference with Labor Negotiators, Employee Organizations, NTA and CSEA, Conference with Labor Negotiators, Employee Groups, NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors and Contracted Management, Conference with Legal Counsel, Anticipated Litigation, one case, Public Employee Appointment, Employment, Employment, Title, Interim Superintendent. With that, we're recessed for closed session. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the February 16th regular meeting of the Newark Board of Education. We have just returned from closed session. No actions were taken. Please join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

5. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

4.1 Report of Closed Session Actions

5.1 Pledge of Allegiance

[4072] Aiden Hill: which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

6. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

6.1 Recognition of the Outgoing Board Member

[4087] Nancy Thomas: Well, this is quite an occasion. We have had Member Nguyen Zhang with us now for three and a half years? Four years. Four years. And it's time for him to move on and move to another town. And we are dearly going to miss him. So I would open it up for staff and board members to recognize Member Zhang for his service and to wish him well as he moves on. So let's start with that. Student board member, Diego.

[4135] Diego Torres: OK, I feel a little bit bad, because I didn't actually write anything up. But it still had the same outcome. I'm like, you know, again, another person leaving. I feel like that's a trend here. But I'm so sad to see you go, because it was a fun time sitting next to you, especially all the fun conversations we had. You told me about the AI. typing bar, which I'd never heard about. And then I was like, oh, what is this? And now it's like really a big thing. So I was like, oh, so he knew about it first. And then he told me. And then now I'm just like very interested in it, actually. And so I'm very proud of all the work that he's done for the board. And I'm very happy that I got to serve with him. And I'm very sad that he's going to leave. But I know that whatever light brings on him, he's going to do well. Thank you.

[4183] Phuong Nguyen: Student board member Torres, have you been using chat GPT?

[4187] Diego Torres: No, because I'm like, no, I can't. I did look at it.

[4190] Phuong Nguyen: Are you sure you didn't use it for your college entrance exam?

[4195] Diego Torres: No, that wasn't like November.

[4196] Phuong Nguyen: I wish so. No, I'm just teasing. I'm glad that you had a wonderful rapport with member Zhang. I also did as well. And I just wanted to thank member Zhang for your dedicated service to our students and our community the last four years. You were appointed in January 2019 and I joined you shortly after in September of 2019. We were both elected together in 2020 and I will always cherish the support and daily reminder you gave me throughout campaigning. You pushed me hard daily to get out and walk door-to-door and for that I am grateful. It has been an honor and privilege to serve with you. We have had a to make some really difficult decisions together, along with member Martinez on school consolidation and restructuring the district's finances to help eliminate the past structural deficit. We also supported Superintendent Triplett and staff through the pandemic, distance learning, and bringing students back to in-person learning when our neighboring districts did not. Together, we have worked diligently with Superintendent Triplett and staff to move this district forward. You have contributed to the positive progress, which included the spending of the remaining bond monies on facility improvements at the school sites, approving the STAR Academy and environmental literacy and dual language immersion initiatives. You also were present at site PTA meetings and listened to our community members. Thank you for supporting the students by donating to coding and rocketry initiatives, giving student students feedback on their coding projects as you are a strong advocate for 21st century learning. I am especially sad to see you go. I will miss our occasional chats. I am grateful for the friendship that we have established through our common interest in helping to serve our students and the Newark community. Thank you again for your service and I wish you all the best as you move on to your next adventure.

[4321] Kat Jones: I just want to say that I do appreciate everything that you have done during your time here. You have definitely had an impact on the board and decisions that have been made. And as a teacher and now a board member, working alongside now, but hearing from you in the past as a teacher, and I have really appreciated the insight and your knowledge and your ability to just see things so clearly. So thank you very much and good luck.

[4356] Bowen Zhang: So I do have a prepared remark that I want to directly address to the students, but I will, so I will let everybody finish first.

[4362] Nancy Thomas: Thanks.

[4362] Aiden Hill: Okay, thank you. So thank you Member Sean. So you preceded me. As you mentioned, you've been on the board for four years. And I know that you've gone through a lot since then. You were on before the pandemic, and then through the pandemic, and going through unchartered territory, and then, as Member Nguyen had mentioned, the whole return to in-person and the challenges. And so we faced a lot of challenges. And you played a number of different roles through that, including acting as president, but also just, I know that you've made a lot of effort to try to get additional information from the community and also from other districts to bake into our decision-making process. And so it's been greatly appreciated and wish you the best in the next steps of your journey. And who knows, maybe we'll hear about future service up in, is it Redwood Shores? Okay, all right, so thank you.

[4430] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Bo. And I was so pleased to be part of the board when we appointed you and when I worked with you earlier. We were tackling really difficult issues. But most recently, we've also been working together on several different but difficult and equally challenging issues, your questions and your comments have always added to the conversation here at the dais and brought a needed perspective to the discussions. So thank you for your service to the district and best wishes for your future endeavors, Obon. We do have one person from the audience that would like to comment, Mr. J. Rodriguez.

[4478] Ray Rodriguez: Just a good man you guys picked right there. Good evening. Bowen, the toughest thing that I had to deal with after you came on was pronouncing your name. And Zhang, or Sean, or anyway, I was looking at member Thomas when we were, President Thomas, when we were picking you and when you decided to put in, and I'm wondering Why is this young man, no kids in the school, not that much history with Newark Unified, want to serve on the school board? And I think you've mentioned that a lot of people have said being on the school board is probably the worst position you can ever have. But you became highly recommended by my good friend who just passed away recently, Mrs. Vivian Thompson, Larson, Mrs. Larson, and also Mayor Nagy and a bunch of others. So it was a pleasure working with you. A little upset at you for beating my, I think, almost 20-year mark of having the most votes in an election. And you just went past me, OK? And you've been a blessing, in my opinion. You've been a blessing to Newark Unified, to our kids, and to the board. Very professional, hardworking, always made board meetings. And you're always available. And we've gone through. different superintendents, bringing on a new superintendent, and through pandemic and everything, and you stuck right in there and helped us get through it. So I just want you to know how much I appreciate you and your service. And I want to congratulate you on your new, just recently getting married, not too long ago. And I brought some C's candy. It's nuts and chews. I hope you like it. It's mostly for your wife, but if you want to have some, you can. And I bring them in. Anyway, Bowen, you're awesome. Thank you again for your service. And hopefully, this isn't the last. In your new community, you'll make yourself available. I'm sure you will. And I'm sure you're going to be serving kids somewhere else. Because what you have to offer is just too much to set aside. You need to stay involved. I appreciate you very much. Thank you.

[4633] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Before you give your message to students, because I think that's a really appropriate way to end your tenure is speaking directly to students, staff do have some words that we'd like to share as well. I want to start by sharing a little bit just about you, because I think your history has really contributed to your tenure as a board member here. You moved to the United States with your family in 2005 at the age of 17. You spent more than a decade of your career in the tech industry working for various startups that eventually became household names. You currently work for a cloud data platform company called Snowflake. You have your bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley. I won't hold that against you. No, I'm joking. No emails, please. With a double major in applied math and computer science. And you earned your master's degree from Carnegie Mellon University. Because of those experiences, some of these accomplishments that you have done in NUSD really speak to your personal history. So things like sitting on more than 17% reserve now as a budget in NUSD when you first started as a board member, that certainly was not the case. You successfully helped the district navigate the pandemic, supported us in our really reflecting on our math pathways and the needs of students, starting our first dual language program, and how important that is to our community. You sat on SELPA and liaison committees. And most importantly, that STEM initiative that you supported, attending every STAR Lab presentation I think we've offered here as a district, really gaining momentum around rocketry coding and maker spaces. And so we appreciate you deeply for your service. We do have a certificate and some flowers here that we'd love to bestow upon you. And then we would love to hear what you have to say to our students. So if we could just give a round of applause, please.

[4773] Kat Jones: One for the good of the group. There you go. There we go.

[4776] Marie dela Cruz: I think you needed to give him a digital file.

[4802] Bowen Zhang: So when I first got on the board, I made it very clear that I was here for the students. So I think it will be fitting for me to directly address the students before my last school board meeting. So students, today I want to offer you just three pieces of advice that I learned along the way. Not a big deal, just three pieces of advice. The first thing I want to discuss with you is about handling failures in life. Life brings many disappointments, setbacks, and failures. How you handle them determines where you are going in your life. When I first moved to this country, I only spent one year and a half in high school. By the time when I applied to colleges, my limited credits earned in California public school made me ineligible to apply to any UCs. Still, with a stellar academic record, I applied to some dream colleges such as MIT, Princeton, and University of Pennsylvania. And due to the highly competitive nature of the admission processes at these schools, I failed to get into any of them. And I was devastated. My only option at that time was to enroll in a local community college and hope to transfer to a top UC in two years. And in the next two years, I put aside my disappointment from my failure and instead focused my energy on excelling in every course I took in the college. I felt like a student that always had a lot of proof as a new immigrant. And two years later, I graduated from a local community college as a summa cum laude and was heading to Berkeley as a math major. Life sometimes throws curveball at you. Right before I entered Berkeley, my family, just like millions of American families in 2008, lost our home in the middle of the financial crisis. We were technically homeless. I suddenly felt that an enormous obligation to my family fell squarely on my shoulder, since I was the hope of the family. I told my dad to get a job that just paid and ran a small place nearby. Once I got out of Berkeley, I would take care of the rest. Again, I was a student with a lot at stake in my studies. And unlike many other students where college is merely a social experience, it mattered a lot more to me. Throughout my years at Berkeley, I only attended party twice. Instead, I stayed late night in the computer lab to finish my assignment and get ahead in my study. As a result, I knew what Berkeley looked like 3 a.m. in the morning. I knew what Berkeley looked like at 4 a.m. in the morning. And I knew what Berkeley looked like at 5 a.m. in the morning. One semester before my graduation, I landed a job that paid me $85,000 when most of my fellow students had no job prospect in the shadow of the financial crisis. And one year later, in 2012, I became a homeowner in Newark. If you think my life from this point on will just be cruising along, then you are very mistaken. After working for several years, I decided to go back to get my master's degree. And in the middle of my study, I took a leap of absence to start a company with my former co-worker. We were essentially building the TikTok before TikTok was a thing. As a first-time entrepreneur, I made so many rookie mistakes, and in 2017, my company failed spectacularly. That failure was well-known throughout my social circle and professional circle. I felt I was publicly humiliated and publicly embarrassed. My school sent me an ultimatum, and I had to go back. Trying my best not to think about the embarrassment, I again focused on my study and honing my skills. And this time, due to my unique background of being an engineer and an entrepreneur, I landed a job again at a fast-growing cloud computing company called Snowflake way before my graduation, and the rest is history. Students, when getting knocked down in life, don't be depressed. Take it as a learning experience and try to grow from it. You learn and grow way more from failures than from successes and victories. And for this reason, it's far better to experience failure at a younger age than at an older age. Failures make you humble and curious. Sometimes, failures are inevitable when you try to challenge yourself to go to the new level. If you never failed, then you never tried. And what doesn't kill you can indeed make you stronger. which will lead to the second topic I want to discuss with you tonight, which is about gains and losses. Back to my new employer, after I joined them, the company was growing rapidly. In the middle of the pandemic, our company became a public traded company, at that time, the biggest software IPO in history. When our stock made the public debut, my shares in the company were worth around 10 million, and I was 32. Yes, at the age of 32, I had a net worth of more than $10 million. However, after experiencing the ups and downs in life, I didn't get too caught up in the moment. Rather, I treated merely as a mile marker in the marathon. And no marathon runner will cheer or celebrate just because he or she passes a mile marker. I continue as usual to develop my skills as a professional during my day job. and continue to faithfully execute my duty on the school board. Nothing really changed for me. And then came 2022, when historic inflation prompted the Fed to raise interest rates, which caused a steep decline in the stock market. In a short span of six months, I lost almost half of my fortune. However, I wasn't bothered at all. The huge swing in fortune didn't impact my emotions much. I kept doing what I'm doing. Life in the short run is a swinging machine because it swings like a pendulum in any direction with or without good reasons. But in the long run, life is a weighing machine since it displays exactly how much you weigh. Students, your long-term fortune is the cumulative result of your daily actions and decision-making. If you develop good habits and have discipline, in the long run, you will be fine regardless what happens in the short run. And for me, as long as I keep growing my skill set, it's only a matter of time before I recover all my lost fortunes. The last but not the least topic I want to talk to you about is focusing on the only things that truly matter. Sorry to inform you, you're growing up in a world that has way more noises and distractions than the one I was raised in. Therefore, it's critically important for you to focus on things that truly matter. Humans have limited energy. We are not designed as a species to do many things well simultaneously. But we are designed as a species to do one or two things extremely well. Identify the things that matter the most, and everything else is really just a distraction. For me, wearing fancy clothes or driving fancy cars doesn't matter. It didn't matter to me before I got onto the school board, because none of you knew who I was. It doesn't matter to me after I get onto the school board because a lot of you know who I am. For you, the number of likes you get on social media and TikTok doesn't matter. And doing well at school is the only thing that matters. Everything else is distraction. Focus brings clarity and eliminates noises. It prevents you from being complacent when things are going well and prevents you from being depressed during tougher times. It helps you insulate yourself on the short-term gains and losses that you surely will experience in life. Focus on the things that truly matter in your life so you don't live in the results of other people's thinking. Your life is so short, so don't bother wasting your time living somebody else's life. Stay focused and stay curious, and I wish you all the best in your future. Thank you.

7. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

7.1 Employee Organizations

[5340] Nancy Thomas: Well, thank you, Bowen. That was just not for the students only. I think it's for all of us. So next, we move on to Employee Organizations, NTA, Mr. Abruzzi.

[5376] Sean Abruzzi: Boardman Nunzall, I wish you luck on your future endeavors, and thank you for your service for Newark School Board. Good evening, board. The February 6 actions of the board to remove the superintendent may or may not have been a surprise to many, however it had happened. In moving forward, the Newark Teachers Association supports the board act to seeking a new superintendent. In seeking a new superintendent, NTA believes that the board will do what is necessary to see that the Newark students deserve the best. We believe that this new direction will allow Newark to invest in quality teachers for every student by providing professional pay to attract and keep the best educators in Newark and to prove the respect educators are given in order to retain and attract the best. Entei also believes that the board needs to invest in equitable support for students because students deserve to have an adequate nurse, mental health services, counselors, and support staff. Entei also believes that the board needs to invest in great schools for our community because students need a classroom that is properly ventilated, heated, cold, because great schools can support Newark students and their families. It's unfortunate that this change happened in the middle of negotiations. We strongly believe that the board needs to direct their team, its team, to reach a tentative agreement that will allow Newark to retain our current staff who are waiting to determine whether they should stay or seek employment elsewhere. An agreement will allow Newark to recruit highly qualified educators by providing a competitive salary. With the new board, we will be, there will be a new direction, a new investment because Newark teachers, Newark students deserve the best. We are hoping that we get this can be taken care of. And thank you for the time. Bye.

[5511] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Mr. Abruzzi. Do we have anyone from CSEA?

[5516] Jodi Croce: No one from CSEA. Excuse me, no one from CSEA and nobody from NEWMA.

8. PUBLIC COMMENT

8.1 Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

[5523] Nancy Thomas: Nobody from NEWMA. OK, thank you. Next, we move on to public comment on non-agenda items. And we have several speakers. Ms. Lucia Gutierrez.

[5556] Maria Huffer: All right.

[5558] SPEAKER_28: Member Zhang, thank you for your service. Congratulations and best of luck on your future endeavors. So it is my understanding that there are changes that have been made to the agenda structure, which is also very interesting because I recall Aiden stating that stating over and over during Member Nguyen's presidency that she was not allowed to make changes to the agenda without prior discussion with the board and approval from the board. It's interesting how certain rules only apply to certain people. Now that Aiden has found his accomplices to get to do whatever he wants, he and the board majority are in his favor. However, Nancy, I thought you were better than that. being that you and your sixth board member are such sticklers about the rules, I would think the same rules would apply to everyone. But I see that is not the case. Well, as a member of this community, I insist that you play all by the same rule that you preach. And I disagree with you changing the structure of the agenda. And when it comes to public comment, it should be when it comes to public comment, the public should be given the opportunity to comment on the changes that are going to be provided at the agenda. During Member Nguyen's presidency, the decision to change the structure was done to be more inclusive of the community, allow people to participate in the board meetings, and allow them to have a voice about the decisions that are going to be affecting their students. Staff assisted in the decision to help this change. And they actually did it with you in mind, Nancy. They acknowledged Acknowledging that you would like to follow what other districts are doing, they did that. They looked at other districts and tried to follow a path. Yet you were still not happy because your sixth board member did not like the change. So instead of considering the opinion of the community as a whole, and all you do is care about is your friends. I hope today that you follow your own rules and discuss changes regarding the agenda structure before you make changes on your own whim. Thank you.

[5704] Nancy Thomas: Mr. Eric Tam.

[5716] SPEAKER_38: Hello. Hi. Hi board, new members and old. Yeah, member Zhang, just wanted to say first, thank you for everything. I think we agreed to disagree on many things about policy, but I understand your heart. I think I still remember the times when you voted no against the populace or the majority. One for the marketing and one for the changes to the auditing committee. So I really appreciate that. I know that your heart is for the students and your speech shows that. So thank you. Came here to say thank you. I guess a couple of things since I have more time. It was very interesting on Thursday to hear a very passionate crowd. First, I also am for fiscal responsibility and transparency. So, you know, if the board can release the redacted version of the investigation, I'd be all for it. At the same time, I would love to have my CPRAs completed, you know, That'd be applying rules and laws to everybody. That's the same. And hopefully, the new superintendent or interim superintendent will help me. I guess I was also the guy who had too much time to research into HVACs. But since you guys mentioned the HVACs, I would love to read the verdict from the class action lawsuit, if you guys weren't sure. So it was actually thrown out in March of 2022, but the district judge said, Garner identified several potential misrepresentations, so he successfully states a fraudulent misrepresentation claim, but his other claims are faulty, so I must dismiss them. If Garner wants to amend those flaws, he should amend. Keeping everyone updated. There was a second class action lawsuit that was filed in December 2022. Why I bring that up is because I think it was interesting how community members were dismissed when those claims were brought to the board and staff. And it's good to kind of have a district judge actually judge the data and claims by and rule that there were faulty issues. And I would love to, thank you, just see those final CPRAs to understand kind of what was publicly said to the community and what was actually, yeah, done. So thank you so much.

[5890] Nancy Thomas: Brian Foster.

[5909] SPEAKER_06: Thank you, President Thomas and members of the board. First, I want to say, Member Zhang, I agree with everything you said with your message to the students, and I hope that the school district adopts them. I come to you once again to update you on the status of the district's actions against me. I am presenting to your new leadership on the board and here on staff an opportunity to correct an injustice that the district is perpetrating on me and which is endangering my teaching credential with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the CTC. On July 27th of last year, your in-house counsel sent district administrators, but not me, the results of their investigation declaring that I created a hostile work environment for certain district staff members based solely on my public comments to you before this board. Almost a week later, on August 2nd, the district voluntarily granted my request for a release from my contract, and we both wished each other well. That same day, I entered into a teaching contract with another district. A week later, on August 9th, your staff mailed to me a summary of the investigation, but even as of today, you've never sent me a copy of the investigation report itself, which made it impossible for me to respond to its conclusions. Three weeks later, on August 23rd, the district mailed to me a notice that they informed, your staff informed the CTC that I resigned my position in order to avoid your internal investigation, which had already concluded by the time I requested my release from my contract but by which they had withheld that information they had withheld from me. Your district's letter put into motion a review of my credential by the CTC. I was in my second full week of teaching in my new district, which, by the way, supports me in this cause. Rather than send me a copy of their extensive filing with the CTC, your staff sent me only a summary notice of what they had done. On January 30th, I learned that the CTC will be hearing my case in mid-March and may take action against me, including revocation of my teaching credential. Fortunately, the CTC itself sent me your original staff copies of the complaint against me, which seemed to have been written by an unnamed attorney, as well as your in-house counsel's investigation report. Your investigator did not provide a single piece of evidence to prove any of my public statements as false. In fact, your investigator did not cite, identify, or articulate a single sentence, phrase, or clause, not one, that I actually made. She never asked me to provide any evidence to corroborate or substantiate anything that I said before you in public comments. That evidence I still have, and I'm still prepared to give that to you. I urge you to read the original complaint in the investigation report. You will find that there's no basis of fact within that report. I actually then encourage you also to contact the CTC, administratively or otherwise, to have them rescind, withdraw, or modify the comments or the allegations that the district has against me. Thank you.

8.2 Public Comment on Agenda Items

[6084] Nancy Thomas: And we have no online comments. We have two comments on agenda items.

[6099] Jodi Croce: I believe Mr. Rodriguez also had a non-agenda.

[6102] Nancy Thomas: Oh, Mr. Rodriguez, please come forward.

[6114] Ray Rodriguez: Good evening, President Thomas, Vice President Hill, board members, student board member Torres, so great to see you. Just a little guy. And interim superintendent staff. I came here to say goodbye, I mean, to thank Bowen for his time. But since I'm here, I wanted to address the three board members that decided to to dismiss Dr. Triplett, a good man. We're going to be embarking on a new superintendent search pretty soon. First, I want to address Member Thomas. You have a history of being very difficult on prior board, I mean superintendents. My hope is that that's in your past and when you do choose the new superintendent, which in my opinion is the most important thing a board does, you'll pick somebody and then you'll allow her to do a great job and then stay out of her way and no micromanaging. And to the new board members or to the other two board members that voted to let Dr. Triplett go, My hope is that you, if you haven't done so already, you look at the grand jury report from years ago and you do your best to not duplicate what was done then and choose somebody, get the community involved, hire a good superintendent search firm and choose somebody that you really can't get behind and support that person and allow her to run the district the best way possible. Again, choosing a superintendent for a board is the most important thing you can do, that in my opinion. And allowing that person to run the district without micromanaging is something that we all wish for. Keep the community involved in the search, allow the community to have input in who they want to be our new leader, and then just Do what's in your heart, and vote for the person you think is going to be the best for our district. OK? Thank you. Thank you very much.

[6262] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. OK, next we move to public comment on agenda items. Item 13.3, Ms. Gutierrez, you wanted to speak to that item. And 13.3 is the employment agreement review discussion and approval of the interim superintendent's employment agreement.

[6291] SPEAKER_28: With regards to the appointment of the interim superintendent, Board, once again, you do not surprise me. Nickel and diming when it comes to things that involve the students in a positive way, but throwing money away when it comes to satisfying your will. As compared to Dr. Triplett, you will be paying the interim superintendent $50,000, over $50,000 more. He will only be working three days a week also. So why hire an interim? Why not allow Ms. Pierce-Davis to do the work that she is more than qualified to do? She knows the process, she knows the programs, and she also knows the community. On top of paying this interim, you will also be wasting more money with the search firm. Wasting students' money. Nancy, you supposedly say and preach on being fiscally responsible. You are putting NUSD back into the deficit that you promised everybody you would be getting out of. And TA wants a raise. I don't know where that money is going to be coming from, because it's all getting wasted here. Without you, Nancy, we actually got NUSD out of the deficit. Now it's coming back. To Mr. Milliken, as far as the community knows, you are just another one of Nancy's buddies, here to satisfy her best wishes. She selected you behind closed doors without explaining to the community the process. Please understand that this board pushed out the previous superintendent because they did not like him, not because he was not he was doing a bad job. So the community is not happy with their actions. Well, that of the board majority. I hope you work well with staff and allow them to continue to do the work that they have been tirelessly doing. I hope that you do your job as a superintendent and lead the district in a positive direction and help this board understand the role.

[6409] Nancy Thomas: Mr. Steers, you also wanted to speak on 13.5, consideration of guiding principles.

[6417] SPEAKER_28: OK. This agenda item was actually very interesting and funny coming from who it was coming from. That being said, the agenda item is all about defining management styles for the CEO. This is overstepping your role once again. The board interviews the superintendent and can judge their management styles based on those interviews. After you select a candidate, you allow them to do their job and allow them to manage the staff based on their experience. You then evaluate their job. You evaluate that superintendent and see if they're doing a good job. You don't tell him how to do it. You don't tell him what to do. If the board is bringing this agenda item to reflect on themselves and to see how they will manage the only one employee that they have, OK. But if you're bringing this agenda item to tell the superintendent how to do their job, you are once again overstepping. As a previous speaker said, there is a grand jury report regarding the actions that are not allowed. And this board is doing a lot of those same steps. So my understanding is you guys have all read it. I think you probably should reread it again and actually take a really close look at it. Thank you.

[6495] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we move on to the consent agenda. Personnel items.

[6509] Jodi Croce: I'm sorry. Excuse me. Mr. Fink, I believe, also had a comment.

[6513] Nancy Thomas: Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. I'm sorry. My mistake. Mr. Fink.

[6523] SPEAKER_14: Waited all that time. He almost skipped me. I'm sorry. No problem. First of all, board, thank you for your service. The community does not realize how hard you work, how much goes into this for such little appreciation. And I think that's evident sometimes in the things that I've seen on public comments, both here and before you and online. So I just want to get off by saying thank you. I have been a resident and homeowner in this community for 40 years, almost 40 years, long enough that I remember voting for Mr. Rodriguez his first time around. So it's been a while. I've watched many. board members come and go and I've watched many superintendents come and go. This is a cycle. This is what happens. It's unfortunate sometimes that you're put into a position especially you new board members coming in faced with a lot of decisions to make behind closed doors. The community does not always understand these processes. I was also I'm retired from the city of San Mateo and presented myself many times before closed door sessions. I understand how difficult it is how the Brown Act operates and how you guys are forced into making decisions that the community wishes to know more of. So before you is this decision tonight. You had a 3 2 vote previously on Dr. Triplett's situation. Now before you have a situation are you going to band together to move forward. You've made the decision. I think that's appropriate. That's a closed door personnel decision tonight. I encourage the board to band together to put aside these past difficult times and move forward for the community for the kids. This is what we need. I applaud you for taking the step to my view bring in a major league pitcher paying a lot of money for him. but somebody who's going to come in here, stabilize, and move this district forward while you search for the right candidate that can take us for a longer term. Please band together. Let's work together. I appreciate your time.

[6654] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. So now we move on to consent personnel agenda items. Lexie Superton, will you be handling that?

[6676] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Thank you so much. As you know, our our normal executive director of Human Resources has been out this week on leave. She will be back next week. So please, no one get upset by the empty seat. We do have the wonderful Jesse Serna here with us today. And so if you do have any questions, he is sitting in the audience to answer any questions regarding the personnel report or any of the items in this category.

[6705] Phuong Nguyen: Since we didn't pull any of the items, I'd like to make a motion to approve items 9.2 and 9.3.

[6711] Nancy Thomas: The items 9.2 and 9.3 have been put on. Do we have a second to that motion?

[6725] Bowen Zhang: I'll second the motion.

[6726] Nancy Thomas: Motion by member Nguyen and seconded by member Jeanne. Please vote.

[6755] Jodi Croce: Member Wayne, did you cast your vote? Yes. Was it a yay?

[6761] Phuong Nguyen: I hit yay, but it keeps tagging it as an abstention, so I just changed it again.

9. CONSENT AGENDA: PERSONNEL ITEMS (Approved on Consent)

9.1 PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote (Approved on Consent)

9.2 Personnel Report (Approved on Consent)

9.3 Release of Temporary Certificated Employees (Approved on Consent)

[6770] Jodi Croce: Thank you. All the votes are in. Five ayes.

[6772] Nancy Thomas: Five ayes. Thank you. Next, we move on to consent agenda non-personnel items. Several items have been pulled from the consent agenda, 10.2, field trip, and 10.9 through 10.15. Those are minutes of previous meetings. So is there any board member that wants to pull any of the consent agenda items?

[6808] Aiden Hill: I'd like to pull item 10.7, the warrant report. Thank you.

[6819] Nancy Thomas: I would entertain a motion to approve item 10.1, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.8. I move to approve. So without a 10.1. 10.1 is not an item. It's a placeholder.

[6831] Phuong Nguyen: So we're approving items 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.8. 10.8.

[6848] Bowen Zhang: I will second that.

[6849] Nancy Thomas: And member Zhang, you seconded that. Please vote.

[6853] Phuong Nguyen: Student board member.

[6855] Nancy Thomas: Oh, student board member, your preference. I have this sign right here. It says student board member. I like that. Student board member, your preferential vote. Yes. Yes. OK. Please vote.

10. CONSENT AGENDA: NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS

10.1 PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

10.3 FIELD TRIP: Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Memorial High School students to travel San Francisco to celebrate Prom. (Approved on Consent)

10.4 School Accountability Report Card (SARCs) (Approved on Consent)

10.5 Comprehensive School Safety Plans (CSSP) (Approved on Consent)

10.6 RESOLUTION 2022.23.21 Declaring Surplus Equipment (Approved on Consent)

[6881] Jodi Croce: Is that working? Your vote is aye. Yay. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Votes are in. Six ayes.

[6891] Nancy Thomas: Six ayes. OK. Member Hill, you pulled 10.7.

10.7 REPORT: Warrant Report for January 2023

[6900] Aiden Hill: Yes, thank you, President Thomas. So I noticed as I was going through the warrant report that there was a warrant for Mr. Jeffrey Vu for $8,000. And as the board may recall, I have expressed concerns around Mr. Vu as a vendor. I do not believe he is a legitimate vendor. And as I shared in prior sessions, according to Government Code section 53060, which is on the independent contractor Contract itself. It says that basically we are by signing this contract Contracting for the furnishing of special services and advice in financial economic accounting engineering legal and administrative matters with persons specially specially trained experienced and competent to perform such services and on the contract that states that the contractor has been specially trained and But there's been no proof that that's been provided. And as I mentioned before, again, at least from the research that I've done, it seems that Mr. Boo has primarily been an employee at the Oakland Unified School District. He doesn't have any experience offering these services as a vendor. But one other point that is not on the contract, but is a part of California law, is when you're an independent contractor, you need to meet a number of tests. And so according to California Labor Code 2750.3A1C, you can only classify someone as an independent contractor if the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as that involved and the work performed. And as some may recall, I was an independent contractor. I had my own business for 17 years. I'm very familiar with these requirements. And customarily engaged really means that you have what's called a going concern. You have a legitimate business and you do a number of things to provide proof of that. So you have a business presence, you have a storefront, you have a website. And and the other thing that you do is you have a business license and I think that there's been some confusion Around when I say business license what that means but let me just state that what it means is is that any business in California and quite frankly in any state that wants to do business needs to register with the city to say I'm a business and and I need to operate here and you need and I need you to provide me a license and And that's a demonstration that not only am I legitimate, but also, most importantly, that I'm going to pay my taxes. And so legitimate businesses pay their taxes. As I've mentioned before, based on a search of Mr. Vu's background, he does not have these business licenses. But the reason I'm raising all this right now is I've come into additional information. Some of it has been based on internet research, but some of it has been based on information that we've gotten from staff that is very concerning and that is causing me to think that we really need to table approving this warrant for Mr. Vu. And the information that has caused concern for me, and I'm going to pass this information out to everybody so that you have a copy. So in going out to Mr. Vu's Facebook page it appears that It's not clear exactly, but it appears that he quit his job at Oakland USD probably around May of last year. And it appears that he has been traveling the world. And if you go look at page two of the handout that I've provided here, he's talking about how, and this was posted on November of this past year, this week I celebrated year of global travel, of personal growth, supportive friendships, et cetera. And then if you go to the next page and you look at, this post was on January 13th of this year. It shows Mr. Vu and he states, I'm a traveling artist connecting you to the world through the power of story and visual element. And he goes on to say, in my former life, I was an educator and a school principal until all that collapsed and I didn't know who I was anymore. I'm going to shorten it up. And so the challenge that we're seeing here is that if you look at his Facebook posts, he's all over the world. He's in Prague. He's in Turkey. He's in Japan. Point of order. And so, excuse me, I'm making a statement. And so my concern is.

[7238] Phuong Nguyen: If it's really inappropriate, you're stalker.

[7240] Aiden Hill: So it's not, because the issue is that he's not a legitimate vendor. And if we look at his.

[7247] Nancy Thomas: I'll call for the question.

[7249] Aiden Hill: And so if you can please allow me to finish. The concern that I have is that.

[7256] Phuong Nguyen: Point of order, President Thomas. Point of order.

[7261] Nancy Thomas: What is your point of order?

[7263] Phuong Nguyen: Does he have a clarifying question regarding the warrant? He is not. He is basically vilifying one of our vendors in public. Point of order.

[7271] Nancy Thomas: So I would like, I also made a motion. I said, call for the question. And that is a motion that the board.

[7281] Aiden Hill: So then I would like to make a motion.

[7284] Nancy Thomas: My motion has to be passed before any other motion. And call for the question asks for a vote of whether or not we should stop discussion on this item. So let's do a voice vote or a poll vote. Do we want to stop discussion on this item?

[7306] Phuong Nguyen: I move that we stop discussion on this item. Make it a second, please.

[7312] Nancy Thomas: Do I have a second?

[7314] Diego Torres: I'll second that.

[7315] Nancy Thomas: OK. Student member, how do you vote? Yes. Nguyen? Yes. Member Jones?

[7328] Kat Jones: Yes.

[7330] Nancy Thomas: Member Zhang? Yes. Member Hill?

[7334] Aiden Hill: I would like to finish, but it sounds like I've been outvoted.

[7337] Nancy Thomas: And my vote is yes.

[7339] Aiden Hill: So then I'd like to make a motion regarding this.

[7342] Jodi Croce: Excuse me. I'm sorry. I just want to be clear. Member Hill, was that a no vote? It was no. It was no. Thank you.

[7348] Aiden Hill: So we've ended discussion. So I would like to make a motion that we approve the warrant report, but that we do not approve the warrant for Mr. Vu because we need to investigate whether we're actually getting the services that have been committed in the contract or whether we're not being appropriately billed. And so that's my motion.

[7376] Nancy Thomas: Is there a second? If not, I invite a motion.

[7388] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve the warrant report. May I get a second, please?

[7395] Bowen Zhang: I will second that.

[7398] Nancy Thomas: It's been moved and seconded, moved by member Nguyen and seconded by members John that we approve the warrant report. Please vote.

[7428] Phuong Nguyen: I'm a yes. I don't know why it's not registering my vote.

[7431] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Jones. Member Jones. Oh, I'm sorry. You're still thinking. My apologies. Student member Torres.

[7442] Diego Torres: Yes.

[7447] Jodi Croce: OK. Thank you. The votes are in. Let's see. One, two, three ayes. Student member Torres is the fourth aye. Two noes. Thank you. And who are the no's? Excuse me, no by member Hill and no by member Jones.

10.8 REPORT: Donations Report (Approved on Consent)

[7466] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. So next, I would invite our acting superintendent to read the donations report.

[7478] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Thank you. This is one of the. More fun aspects of this job. So we do have some donations, and we want to be very grateful to those donors. And so I'm going to go ahead and read these out. We have $6,974.75 for Birch Grove Intermediate. The donor is Jean P. Ficklin, and this is specified for the arts program. This was given on November 16, 2022. We also have the donation of four mini iPads, four keyboards, four wireless headphones, four protective tablet cases, four gift cards for iPads, athletic ball pump, athletic mesh ball bag, a basketball, junior football, volleyball, athletic electronic whistle, set of 10 athletic field cones, all for McGregor. The donation date here was December 19, 2022. And this is the donor is Autism Yesterday and Today. And this is for our TAL program. We also have $300 for Newark Junior High on December 21, 2022. The donor was NJHS PTSA. And the specified purpose for this is the classroom mini grant. And this is for our math program. Finally, we have $300 for Newark Junior High School on December 21, 2022, again, by our NJHS PTSA. And this was for another classroom mini grant specified for our sixth grade. So if we can all just give a quick thank you to our donors for their generosity.

11. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

11.1 Acting Superintendent Report

[7578] Nancy Thomas: Thank you very much. Well next we move on to the acting superintendent report.

[7585] Nicole Pierce-Davis: All right, thank you. Tonight I'd like to just share with you a little bit of all of the amazing things that are happening here in Newark. This is a little bit on the lighter side tonight. It felt timely and appropriate. And so, Jodi, if you don't mind just clicking through for me. All right. First, I want to start by acknowledging that it is Black History Month, February, but that Black history, like all of our diverse cultures in the United States, as we talked a little bit about, even with Member Zhang just starting immigrating into our country this year, it is important that we celebrate our history every month, to be clear. But we do spend a little extra attention in February, making sure that we uplift the figure. So I just want to make sure I represent that. As always, we do, oh, we have our enrollment. Go ahead. You're fine. We have started enrollment started February 7th We are off to a great start. I just want to remind our families Please go and register our priority window ends March 7th. And so now is the time do not wait go in Our website has all the information you need and if you still need support Go ahead and email enroll at Newark unified org and we will get you the assistance that you need in both English and in Spanish Our enrollment update our numbers are here. I did a little bit differently. So you do see them by school here As you can see, we're still about a hundred students lower than projected But that number has gone a little bit up as we start to see families that move back into our community after the holiday Since our enrollment doesn't look like that's been updated Can you go to the Could you go ahead and refresh, just make sure it's updated? Thank you. Oh, nope, it looks like it's not there, that's okay. I will do it from memory as best as I possibly can, but community, please don't hold me to these numbers as I am doing it from memory. So since we've opened up registration on February 6th, February 7th, we've had a total of about A couple hundred new registrations, new student registrations. Most of those are in transitional kindergarten and kindergarten programs, as to be expected. But that's definitely a much faster start than we had last year, and so that's really good news. We also have about a total of about a little over 1,000, so about 1,300 of our student registrations for this year. So we still have about 3,000 some odd families go register, especially get in before that March 7th window. All right, in case we still have questions that come up about transitional kindergarten, so our dates are here. These flyers have been posted in each of our windows of our elementary schools as well. We are offering transitional kindergarten at every elementary school in Newark. And so again, we encourage our families to apply. Those are the birthdates. But as you know, there are times where we do allow students a little earlier than the birthdate into transitional kindergarten as well. And we've done that in the past. But please, please, please, Go ahead and enroll. All right, it is National School Counseling Week. We missed this announcement last superintendent report, and our counselors are critical to the work that we do in Newark. And so I wanted to take a moment to honor them and their work that they do. In the next few slides, you're going to actually see some of that incredible work. So we're going to keep Moving forward, we've got our FAFSA Dream Act applications. There is a March 2nd deadline. And so our counselors are actually hosting a financial aid support night at Newark Memorial High School for all of our secondary students on February 22nd from 5 to 7 30. If you have not submitted your Dream Act or your FAFSA application, please get the support you need. We're only at about 31% right now of completion for Newark Memorial High School and about 20% for Bridgepoint Crossroads. Families and so we we absolutely want to support and getting that number higher And the personnel are available to you We also have our career technical education a night coming up very soon This will be Friday February 17th, so that is tomorrow from 6 to 7 p.m. It's virtual so you can do it from the very comfort of your home the information right there at CTE night and ITE and And if you have any questions at all, just reach out to us at the district office. I was with Member Thomas at the brunch that we had at Mission Valley ROP just last week and we had a student, Luis Carranza, who just really blew us away with his understanding of CTE, right? And really just how he represented Newark. And so we want to encourage as many families as possible to understand what a resource we do have in our Mission Valley ROP Center. We also have a college and career fair coming up. If you are interested in being a presenter, please contact our coordinator of access and equity, Heather Decker. Her information is right there. She also happens to be in the audience tonight. We are planning this for May 11th. This is a district-wide, so even though it's held at Newark Memorial High School, it will be a district-wide event. And we're really excited to kick this off as well. Again, just so many amazing activities I couldn't help but share. Tomorrow we have Special Olympics, February 17th again. It'll start 9 a.m. in the morning. This is an incredible event and we are hosting at Newark Memorial and after COVID sort of disrupted some of our hosting events, we're excited to bring it back. Very exciting. We also have already kicked off our project to inspire. This is Cabe. So this particular workshop is presented in Spanish for our Spanish-speaking families. We do similar presentations in English as well, but to be able to bring this back this year was Was really a feat right now. We are fully booked so every seat is filled and we but we have a waitlist and we want to make sure that you get on the waitlist if you're interested because that will give us the information we need to offer it again next year if it's a desirable we also have Veronica Torres leading that work. She's from our community. And so again, I really encourage people to reach out to Ashley Acosta Her information is right there. If you are interested in participating Finally, I just want to give a little bit of update around our STEM initiative, both our STAR Academy, as we think about our computational thinking side, as well as our environmental literacy. We're going to move. Thank you. First, we have robotics in action in our junior high. Again, we're going to move through these slides a little bit on the fast side, but I just want to share just sometimes you need to see it in action. You need to see our students. You need to see what they're up to. This is our outdoor learning at Crabbe Cove. We've got nine first grade classrooms have already visited Crabbe Cove as part of our initiative. And we have five more preparing to go. So again, they share with us. They're learning. They share with us. You can see how excited they are as they go through the activities. This particular kiddo's reflection I had to sort of bring out because it was particularly beautiful. And so really the work that we're doing with our environmental literacy is hitting, again, all of our students really TK through 12. Our next one shows Monterey Bay Aquariums. We're back to the junior high here. All sixth grade classrooms, including our SDC classrooms, visited Monterey Bay Aquarium in December. And then we also have some maker spaces and some early computational thinking happening in our younger grades as well. So this is actually a kindergarten first grade classroom at Coyote Hills Elementary. You can see them sort of applying their algorithmic thinking with coding and programming. And we do that by sort of incorporating some of the unplugged activities that you see there. Here's another classroom in fourth grade, and there you see them practicing. What you see there on the grids is you sort of have them practicing the testers, the bots, and the programmers, thinking about what is the type of thinking that it takes to get into a code reference. And that middle student there actually just came to Newark from outside of the country, and already you see he's jumping right into the work. without having a problem at all. And so this was really a moment where not only did we get to see the brilliance of our TOSA, Ms. Kim, but we also just saw how universal computer science can be. We also have some attendance challenges. Again, I'm so sorry you're missing the notes here. I'm not sure what happened with the presentation, but we'll go ahead and fix that for next time. We do have some attendance challenges. We're trying to get our attendance back up. I know with COVID, we sort of got into a frame of mind of staying home, and we should continue to stay home if we're not feeling well. I don't want to encourage us not to. But it's also important that we try to schedule our appointments outside of regularly school hours. And so we've got a couple initiatives coming up. One will be an elementary March Madness tournament for the month of March where schools and classes compete to get the best attendance. We also have some activities happening at Newark Memorial High School as well as the junior high. We sort of have a spring fever dance where we're offering tickets or we're offering early admittance to students who maintain high attendance. So we're rolling that out in February and March.

[8183] Jodi Croce: And finally, I think that is your final.

[8199] Nicole Pierce-Davis: OK. So I am, because it does seem like you've got an old presentation, not sure what happened there. But because you do have an old presentation, we have really exciting news. That I am going to let the community be waiting bating breath for for our next superintendent report Because I think it needs its due diligence I will just say it really celebrates one of our community members who has gotten a state award for her service and Again, we're gonna celebrate her a lot this year So this won't be the first or last you hear about it But I'm gonna go ahead and wait because I want to make sure she gets her due diligence Thank you so much

[8242] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Very good report.

[8245] Phuong Nguyen: Ms. Pierce, can you give us the time for the Special Olympics tomorrow?

[8250] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Opening ceremony is 9 AM.

[8252] Kat Jones: Thank you. May I add one correction to one of your slides? Ms. Musial teaches third grade. And it said fourth up there.

[8261] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Thank you. I believe we had Ms. Pauline Kim was in that classroom. So possibly, yeah, we'll make sure we get that right. Thank you.

12. STAFF REPORT

12.1 STAFF REPORT: ELA K-8 Curriculum

[8272] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, Acting Superintendent, would you like to introduce the staff report?

[8281] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Yeah, so this came as a request from the board to understand a little bit more about what process we were using around our ELA curriculum. So I'd like to invite up our Director of Teaching and Learning, Ariel Dolowich, as well as our Coordinator of Access and Equity, Heather Decker, who can go through the process that's already in way and give us a little bit more information.

[8303] SPEAKER_04: Great. Good evening, members of the board. Nice to see everyone. This evening's presentation is in response to a direct request with respect to the district's ELA 8 curriculum. For tonight, our outcomes include the following. One, to provide a detailed account of the timeline and process that has occurred with respect to the Curriculum and Assessment Council to date with respect to that curriculum. And second, to outline clear next steps for the Curriculum and Assessment Council to take based on survey staff results related to the curriculum. A little background and inquiry with respect to this. So concerns have been raised over the last few years by both staff and community members with respect to the English Language Arts curriculum. I will detail more specifically those concerns on the next slide. Thus far, we've convened five Curriculum and Assessment Council meetings, more than the required allotment, and we have a few more to go. During four of those, we've allocated significant time to engage with Curriculum and Assessment Council with respect to getting their input, having them generate the questions, and then finally receiving their approval for the actual survey. At this point, I do want to be clear, no determination has yet been made. But I do want to point out that past adoptions, in order of the most recent backwards, history adoption, 2021-22, science, grade 7 and 8, June of 2020, and then big ideas, math, 2018-19. So English language arts would be the logical next adoption. Our intent, however, is to be responsive to feedback from our staff and community and consider a potential pilot in the fall of 2023. And we'll detail this evening an if then timeline based on the staff feedback. Do want to outline some of the concerns, preliminary staff input, as well as community input. that the current ELA curriculum is viewed by some as not comprehensive to the actual California Common Core standards. In other words, some view it as more philosophical rather than concrete in terms of lesson designs or ways to engage at the lower grades with respect to developmentally appropriate text. Also, some teachers specific to phonics at the lower grades have been supplementing with Fontas and Pinel. That's an additional instructional material. And then finally, new teachers, whether it's new teacher orientation or subsequent feedback from new teachers, have requested a more sequential curriculum. And this has surfaced at Curriculum and Assessment Council in terms of providing something more tangible for students to interact with. So I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Decker, our coordinator of college and access, to detail the steps that we've taken thus far, and then where we're going from here.

[8504] SPEAKER_26: Thank you, Ariel. Good evening board, NUSD staff, and community members watching from here and afar. I'm going to go over our timeline of events. so far and the next steps based on the feedback on our English language arts curriculum. As Ariel mentioned, the Curriculum and Assessment Council has met five times this year so far and in four of these meetings has dedicated significant time on the topic of our K-8 curriculum. including readings regarding research on our current ELA curriculum. In order to better understand the satisfaction and experience of all teachers working with this curriculum, the council developed a feedback survey for our staff. Over the last three meetings, the council provided questions and feedback regarding this survey and how to best gather the information to make a decision for the next steps. Questions on these surveys that the council created included, how satisfied are you with the current ELA curriculum? What aspects are and are not working for your students, including phonics, meaning making, vocabulary development, et cetera? How is the curriculum meeting the needs of your students, including dual language immersion students, SEAL, English language learners, students with IEPs, and students with intervention needs? and what additional resources or materials are needed to support the current ELA curriculum. Principals have received this information about the survey at their information sessions and the survey was sent out via email to K-8 staff throughout the district this month. Principals will be scheduling 10 minutes in their upcoming staff meetings to provide context and feedback on the process and give people time to fill out the survey within those meetings for anyone who hasn't filled out the survey yet. Ariel and I have offered to be in attendance for these meetings to answer any questions. As of this morning, about 50 staff have already completed the survey. After the survey has been completed by staff, Arielle and I will tabulate the results and present them to the Curriculum Assessment Council on their March 8th meeting. From there, the Curriculum Assessment Council will review the results and make a recommendation moving forward to the Ed Services team. A community engagement session with families and community members will take place in March once the Curriculum Council has made a decision about next steps. This will allow families to give input on their experiences with their student around the current ELA curriculum, which we can use to either pilot a program or find supplemental materials based on the Curriculum Council's decision. From there, the process will go one of two ways. At the top of our timeline chart, If it is recommended by the Curriculum Council that we pilot a new ELA curriculum, an adoption committee will be formed and we'll work to review options and select a pilot program. As Ariel mentioned, we are hoping to pilot a curriculum by next year in 2023-2024. At the bottom of our timeline, if the recommendation is to maintain our current curriculum, the Ed Services team along with the Curriculum Council will identify what supplemental materials may be needed and what PD needs to be offered to support staff. Board engagement and approval will happen after we pilot a curriculum and are making a recommendation for adoption. Costs associated with piloting a new ELA curriculum will be minimal. Most pilot curriculum materials are provided free by the providers. There will be a small cost to the district to be able to time card teachers interested in being on the Curriculum Adoption Committee, but there are already grant funds set aside to be able to cover this cost. We are excited about the process so far and are eager to review the staff feedback from this survey. We are happy to answer any questions you may have at this time.

[8749] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen.

[8750] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you President Thomas. Thank you both for the presentation and the very detailed out timeline of the of a possible new curriculum adoption. And I just my question is are do you guys already have in mind what new curriculum you would like or would like to pilot or you're waiting for recommendation from the committee?

[8778] SPEAKER_26: We are waiting for recommendation from the committee before we start making those determinations. They have not made suggestions at this point in time. OK, thank you.

[8787] Kat Jones: I just wanted to say thank you very much. I was the one that requested this, and I really, really appreciate seeing this and the timeline. I'm thrilled. I'm really happy with it. As a teacher for so long in the district, and being a part of many pilots, this is really exciting to me. And I love how you are taking that timeline and either showing us the potential for a new curriculum adoption or what you'll do in maintaining the current curriculum and how to support that. So thank you very much for a thorough job.

[8825] Nancy Thomas: Thank you for that feedback. I would like to say thank you as well. It looks like you have a good plan going forward next year.

[8834] SPEAKER_26: Thank you very much.

13. NEW BUSINESS

13.1 POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 5131.62 and Administrative Regulation 5131.62 - Tobacco

[8838] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next under new business, we have a policy update, board policy and regulation 5131.62, tobacco. Do you want to introduce that, please?

[8860] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Yeah, so this board policy update is, Timely, it is one on the list that the board has requested that we update. And we are following CSBA guidance on this one. So there are no changes. If there's any questions, I can answer any.

[8878] Nancy Thomas: Any questions?

[8880] Phuong Nguyen: No. I'd like to motion to approve item 13.1.

[8885] Kat Jones: I'll second that.

[8887] Nancy Thomas: I do have a question. I probably should have asked it. I noticed under program evaluation, there's an optional section. And that is, if we take 2PAY money, that we are required to do the, every two years, we have the California Healthy Kids Survey. So that's going to continue, and that optional paragraph is included. It's at the bottom of page, or on page 3.

[8917] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Yes, so we will continue with our 2PAY program. and we will continue to offer our California Healthy Kids Survey. In fact, that is a good plug because that will be coming out very soon. We're trying to get it out to our families earlier this year. Great, thank you.

[8931] Nancy Thomas: Okay, the motion has been made by Member Nguyen, I believe, and seconded by Member Zhang, was it? Member Jones. Member Jones, thank you, that we approve policy and regulation 5131.62. Please vote.

[8968] Diego Torres: Yes.

[8970] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Oh, I did it again. Everwine? Thank you. Six ayes. Thank you. Thank you.

13.2 EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT: Verbal Summary of the Financial Terms of the Interim Superintendent's Employment Agreement

[8977] Nancy Thomas: Sorry, Member Torres. I don't know if I'll ever get there right. OK, next, we have the employment agreement, the verbal summary of the financial terms of the interim superintendent's employment agreement. So I'm going to read out. that verbal summary. The board will consider approving an employment agreement for Michael Milliken to serve as the interim superintendent of Newark Unified School District for the remainder of the 2022-23 school year. The agreement for the interim superintendent will commence on February 13, 2023, and terminate on June 30, 2023, or upon the employment of a permanent superintendent, whichever comes first. A summary of the financial terms are as follows. The base salary of the interim superintendent will be $1,095 per day, not to exceed $87,000. The interim superintendent is entitled to the same health insurance coverage that the district provides to other certificated administrative employees in the district. The superintendent shall be reimbursed for the use of his personal vehicle for the district business at the IRS rate. And next, we move on to 13.3, Employment Agreement Review, Discussion, and Approval of the Interim Superintendent's Employment Agreement. And so I would open that up to the board for discussion. If there's no further discussion, I would entertain a motion.

13.3 EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT: Review, Discussion and Approval of the Interim Superintendent's Employment Agreement

[9091] Kat Jones: I motion to approve the employment agreement.

[9094] Aiden Hill: I second.

[9097] Nancy Thomas: Please vote.

[9102] Jodi Croce: Yes, voting's open. Thank you.

[9104] Nancy Thomas: Student board member, I believe you can't vote because this is a personnel item. Is that true? You can make a comment, though. Yes, certainly.

[9120] Phuong Nguyen: Member Nguyen. I'm a no. And I'll explain later.

[9125] Jodi Croce: Thank you. The votes are in. Three ayes, two noes. No by Member Nguyen and no by Member Zhang.

[9133] Bowen Zhang: Wait a minute. I didn't vote no. I voted to abstain because obviously this is a very long-term impact thing. I would let my replacement to deal with this. I didn't vote no on that. I abstain.

[9146] Jodi Croce: You abstain, thank you. May I have the members re-vote, please? So, member Zhang, you're trying to abstain?

[9165] Bowen Zhang: Yeah, I click on abstain.

[9167] Jodi Croce: It keeps bouncing you to nay.

[9172] Phuong Nguyen: And I'm a nay and it keeps bouncing me to abstention.

[9175] Jodi Croce: Oh my goodness. So with the online voting having a problem, shall we do a roll call vote?

[9182] Nancy Thomas: Let's do a roll call vote starting with member Nguyen.

[9185] Phuong Nguyen: No.

[9188] Bowen Zhang: Yes. I abstain because I do think the incoming whatever superintendent deserve my silence since I won't be here when he shows up.

[9200] Aiden Hill: Yes.

[9201] Nancy Thomas: And yes.

[9203] Phuong Nguyen: Well, I have a comment before you. Sure. before you make yours. So I had time to reflect after last Monday's special meeting and the announcement of superintendent's resignation. I was recharged and reminded in leadership training a few days later at my regular 8 to 5 that the actions and decisions of the board majority, President Thomas, Member Hill, and Member Jones is not good leadership. In fact, their actions are what micromanagers do out of fear, which in turn creates more fear about doubt and doubt in our community. These are characteristics that they possess, which are those of a micromanager and not a leader. They want to drive employees, use employees, command them, misuse their authority, and generate fear. Member Hill has consistently been doing this since his term started in 2020, and we were reminded of how he has made students feel uncomfortable last week during public comment. To the two new board members who's chosen to align with Member Hill, you made your decisions based on what? You didn't even have proper time to truly work and build a relationship with Superintendent Triplett. True leaders would have taken the time to see every side of the story before they decide. Your short-sightedness is not leadership. These three board members lack leadership and do not know that leading is a privilege and fundamentally, It is about people development. It is about observing and evaluating before you act. It is about caring for those in your charge to nurture and grow, motivate and empower. It is about building trust, leading by example, encouraging innovation, thinking, and taking risks. The superintendent is our one employee that we need to work with collaboratively so that he, she can grow and be empowered to lead their team the same way. Our current board majority do not have the capacity for transformational leadership. The other thing they praise themselves so highly for is their transparency. Well, where is the transparency when it comes to the decisions they drive? We still don't know the actual fiscal impact of the superintendent's resignation agreement. What is the total cost of the 12-month lump sum payment and the 12-month full benefits? They easily pass that without having to disclose that to the public. But they won't approve much-needed computers for our students without inventory of assets. Which is more pressing and important? Approval of resignation payout? of a well-liked and beloved administrator or approval of much-needed computer equipment to close the achievement gap for students. A transformational leader would know that it is the approval of computer equipment that is the most pressing and important, which was not brought back tonight for approval and will once again be delayed. Our students' standardized test scores will be negatively affected by your bad decision-making as micromanagers and not leaders. Your actions go against the district's vision and mission. And to you, Dr. Milliken, I voted against the approval of your agreement because I do not agree with the process that has gotten us here today. And I also believe that we have a very capable assistant superintendent in Ms. Pierce who should have been given the opportunity to be interim. With that said, I do look forward to working with you and building a relationship these next couple of months. Because based on your resume and your interview, I do believe that your leadership style aligns with mine. So thank you.

[9423] Nancy Thomas: I would invite Dr. Milliken to come forward and introduce himself to the community, please.

[9438] Michael Milliken: I thank you for hiring me. I understand your reason for voting against. I understand your reason for abstaining. Trustee Zhang, good luck in Redwood Shores. I was principal at Belmont Redwood Shores. So if you need any introductions or if I can help in any way, please let me know. I want to thank the board for this opportunity. I realize that I'm coming in in difficult circumstances, but I want you to know that I take this role seriously. I will give it my best. I will listen. I will focus on communication, transparency, making sure that I am connecting the board with staff. I'm working with our employees, that I am collaborative And I'm supporting the good work of the capable employees that you have. I had a bit of a soft start this week and tagged along with Ms. Pierce, soon to be Dr. Pierce. She turned in her dissertation earlier this week, so congratulations. Congratulations, Nicole. You have great people here. I look forward to reconnecting with the folks I know in Newark. I look forward to visiting school sites. I look forward to connecting and listening to your community. My role here will be to provide stability, to support the good work that's taking place, and to facilitate a comprehensive and thoughtful transition to the permanent superintendent. when that hopefully happens later this spring. So again, thanks for the opportunity. I'm honored and I take it seriously and I look forward to getting to know people and hitting the ground running. Thank you.

13.4 Public Employment (Gov. Code, § 54957, subd. (b)(1) Title: Superintendent Search

[9581] Nancy Thomas: So next, we move on to the next step in this process, correct? Where on item 13.5? 13.4. Yeah, the superintendent search. Ms.

[9600] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Pierce? All right. For this, we do have three potential proposals here for you tonight. I'm going to go ahead and invite our interim Executive Director of Human Resources, if you will, subbing in for Ms. Catheerine Ingham-Watters. Again, she'll be back next week, but he's going to take us through the proposals that we have.

[9627] SPEAKER_16: Good evening, President Thomas, members of the board, members of staff. My name is Jeff Cerna. I'm a retired Chief Human Resources Officer And I've been asked to come out and help a little bit while Catherine's been out. So thank you for, again, also allowing me to be here for the last couple of weeks. I was asked by staff to reach out to three firms to submit proposals to conduct your superintendent search. We reached out to the California School Board Association, whose partner, business partner, with respect to executive searches is McPherson and Jacobson. We've also reached out to Leadership Associates and to HYA. We reached out to them last Wednesday, and we asked them to submit proposals to you, and they have since done so. I believe you have in your possession three proposals. McPherson and Jacobson, as well as Leadership Associates, have staff available this evening. Via zoom should you like a presentation from them and to be able to answer any question ask any questions that you may have ask of them? Hya was unavailable to present this evening that they're in travel right now, but also say that They would be available if you have questions if you'd like the content contact them directly I I've also reviewed their proposal and can answer any question that I can answer for them with respect to their proposal. So with that, I'm not sure how... Your acting superintendent would like to proceed. We have the two firms available right now. The first one would be McPherson and Jacobson. They're now available via Zoom should you wish a presentation. We've asked them to do a very short presentation, about a five minute presentation, kind of just summarizing their proposal and then allowing you to ask some questions from them. Do you have any questions for me? Okay.

[9766] Jodi Croce: OK, so on Zoom, we have Daniel Moraro. Sorry if I mispronounced that. And Bill Hewitt. And gentlemen, you are live. Are you able to speak? What's going on? Test, test. Can you try again? There we are. Can you try again, please? Test, test. Either Bill or Dan, can you say something? I see you're trying to speak, Dan. Dan, try again. I can hear him here. Trying the different speakers. You know what? I was going to say, if you don't mind, could we just, whoops, if we could have you answer questions on leadership associates while I get this taken care of, that'd be great. Thank you.

[9862] SPEAKER_16: That's right.

[9923] Jodi Croce: Dan, Dan, thank you.

[9972] SPEAKER_19: Hello.

[9976] Jodi Croce: Thank you for your patience. My apologies. Hello. Just a little bit loud. Hello. Thank you, Dan and Bill. You can go ahead and get started. I have your presentation up.

[10074] SPEAKER_19: Hello.

[10078] Jodi Croce: Hello there. Hello. We can hear you now. Thank you. Hello. Go go ahead.

[10090] SPEAKER_35: Hello.

[10123] SPEAKER_19: Hello? Hello?

[10125] Jodi Croce: Thank you.

[10126] SPEAKER_35: Yes.

[10136] Jodi Croce: Dan, are you able to hear us? We can hear you now.

[10140] SPEAKER_19: Hello?

[10141] SPEAKER_35: I think I'll take that as a no.

[10143] SPEAKER_19: Well, it's working.

[10146] Nancy Thomas: Maybe call them and tell them to just talk.

[10150] SPEAKER_19: Hello there. Hello? Hello? Yes, it's showing it's working. Well, good. You can hear me. And the chat is telling me it's disabled. Do you want to? submit their questions to me via chat.

[10192] Jodi Croce: We could do that.

[10198] SPEAKER_19: OK, I'll go ahead. I don't know if they're seeing my slides or anything. So hello there. I'm Daniel Morrell. I'm one of the consultants with MacPherson and Jacobson. Bill and I learned about this earlier this afternoon. So we both had other commitments. As a matter of fact, I'm talking to you from Texas. I'm here at the AASA conference where I'll be presenting. And I'm delighted to be able to present to you. Some of you may be from before. OK, things are happening on my screen. I don't know what's going on. And Bill was not, although I just saw his name pop up, was not going to be able to make it tonight. He's in the midst of another activity. So you got me. You do have the proposal, and I do understand that we're limited on time. So I think the most important part to get to are probably the five phases of the search. You have in the proposal a diagram that shows that. And the first phase to go through would be, in fact, identifying criteria timeline. The second is stakeholder meetings. And you will help us identify the stakeholders. We'll develop an application and recruit and advertise. The third phase is to evaluate reference checks. And we go quite deep with the reference checks. And then develop interview questions. The fourth is to identify candidates for the interview. interview candidates and stakeholder interviews. And then the fifth phase is after you've hired the superintendent. And the most important job you have is to hire the superintendent. We don't hire, we search for talent for you to review and assess. to determine who you want as your next superintendent. Once hired, we don't walk away. We are still there. We will request a meeting with the board and your new superintendent to establish performance objectives. We also have a guarantee that if for some reason something happens during the first two years, we will come back and redo the search at the cost of expenses only. We are a national firm, and we are involved in many different ways. You have the PowerPoint there, and again, I don't know if it's on the screen. I mocked up a possible timeline with the ending point being your June 1st regular meeting. That's when you have to appoint superintendent. You can't do it at a special meeting. So working with that, I worked backwards. And you see that the early part of March, We need to sit down and meet together to set up the criteria, to develop the timeline, et cetera, et cetera. We offer you as a board to determine the way you want to do the interview. There's the traditional board interview. The board interviews the finalist and makes the selection. And or the board can do the interview a social interaction. What we're trying to do is set something up informally with you and your finalists so that you get to meet the individual on another level. And then the final process is, in fact, an open process where if you as a board decide, you can have stakeholder groups do an interview, the board interviews, and then you make the selection. We can still work in that social interaction piece. We typically have these. Process you will also get for those folks that you have determined are your finalists. They will do a video interview so that you can see them even before you actually meet them for the interview. You have the cost of the proposal in your hands, and that includes four weeks of advertising at EdCal, 60 days of advertising on EdJoin. And then a day, it says, for stakeholder meetings. I have yet, in the searches I've been working with on McPherson and Jacobson, we go much more than a day and keep talking to the office that we need to change that. But note that you will get more than a day. And then we also do online stakeholder input surveys. I've already mentioned the video interviews. We then, with the folks that you are considering as serious candidates, we do the criminal, financial, and credential verification background for you. The additional cost may be if there's additional fees for the consultants. I live fairly local to you, so I would always be driving in and out. And so there won't be that expense. There will be some mileage, what have you. Sometimes you as a board also decide to do a broader search or advertising than what we have in the proposal. And that will sometimes add to the expense. I have done, and this would be the eighth search that I will have done for McPherson and Jacobson. I myself have been a superintendent. I've also been a state administrator for a school district. And in being truly transparent, and a couple of you already know this because you've met me before, I was actually your interim assistant superintendent for HR a number of years ago. I also have another connection. I've had family live in Newark. And my daughter's first teaching job was there in Newark. So I have a connection to Newark. The difference for us is we worked at being very transparent at all times, very transparent. We have a reputation of sustaining superintendents in those roles. An earlier slide shows that, and maybe I should go back to that. And we have high involvement of stakeholders. So we do hear from your community. You will get a complete report from our meetings with stakeholders. And the candidates tend to use that report as they consider applying, et cetera. And then we're committed to making sure that first year is a positive year for your new superintendent, your district, and yourself. Going back to our sustainability, over 75% of superintendents we've placed are still in place for the past five years. For 10 years, we've got a 50% rate, as well as for 15 years. That's a quick overview. I see I've been asked if I can share. No, I don't have any controls here that allows me to share my desktop at all. So I apologize for that. I'll share what's going on. I can't even turn my own camera on. So with that, I'll take any questions that you may have. And I'm not able to hear you any longer. I was hearing you earlier in the meeting, but I'm no longer able to hear you. So if somebody would put them in the chat, I'll respond.

[10686] Bowen Zhang: So yeah, just obviously, I will be abstaining on this again for tonight. But last time when we did that, that before the pandemic, the presenter actually showed up in person to present to the board. See, in the chat, it says you will add questions to the chat. You have a feeling about who they are in person because this is the firm you'll be working with for several months to search for a superintendent, to find a superintendent.

[10706] SPEAKER_19: On my end, the chat is disabled, but I am able to see what's posted.

[10711] Bowen Zhang: To onboard a superintendent and to train with the board. This is not somebody you just talk to him for 10 minutes and done. So I don't know whether I mean, obviously, like I said, I will be abstaining on this vote. But if I were the board, I need to make a decision. We scheduled a special meeting. I didn't see them in person last time. So I would recommend tabling this tonight if they're not able to show up in person.

[10738] SPEAKER_16: I'm sorry. I didn't hear the question.

[10739] Nancy Thomas: Well, the comment is that in the past, at a special meeting, we have brought We have gotten a chance to meet person-to-person and get a feel for what they are like. This has been rather rushed. Understandably so, because we are just kind of behind the curve. I guess, and member Zhang is recommending that we table this. And you've been working with the firm, so if we were to table this, could we get a special meeting where we could get them in person? That's the question. Or what's your thought?

[10783] SPEAKER_16: Yeah, I understand your concern and your question. And I think that's the typical protocol and process by which selecting a search firm. This is an important decision that you will be making. So I'm of the opinion it's better to go slow and do it right rather than going fast and get it wrong.

[10804] Nicole Pierce-Davis: And ultimately this really is the board's decision. This is an agenda item. You can choose to postpone you can choose to move forward. I think there are pros and cons that on both sides to this and I just want to be clear you are on a tight timeline here. And so to make a decision today means you can start the time you can start the timeline. Ultimately again there is no pressure coming from staff one way or the other. It is your decision as the board to move at the pace that you feel most comfortable. These are the top, really the top three search firms in the Bay Area. And so you do have quite a good selection here. But again, there's no pressure coming from staff one way or the other. This ultimately is the board's decision.

[10848] Nancy Thomas: Mr. Torres.

[10850] Diego Torres: So I agree with Member Zhang. I do believe that they probably are the best three, but that presentation was, like, really broken, and it's no one's fault. Like, I don't want to put the blame on anyone. I just wish that, like, maybe they can come in person to present, and maybe we can actually, like, hear what they're saying, because it was, like, really a little difficult to kind of follow along, and I don't think we should make, like, a really big decision like this, because this is for a superintendent, and I don't think we should make a really big decision in such a short amount of time, especially, like, given the presentation we were just, we received.

[10887] Kat Jones: I too feel that that it's not appropriate for us to take action on this tonight. I don't feel like we've had enough. I know I haven't had enough time to really digest the three proposals next to each other. It's a lot to have received so quickly and it is a big decision and I would I would prefer to wait at this point.

[10914] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen.

[10915] Phuong Nguyen: I'm also in agreement.

[10917] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill.

[10920] Aiden Hill: I'm in agreement. I think we should bring them in person and see if we can expedite that. Thank you.

[10926] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, I'm also in agreement. I think these are three fine firms. I don't think we would go wrong with any one of them, but I think We deserve and they deserve to be able to talk to us in person. And if it's over Zoom, it needs to be working so we can meet them in person and see their faces and everything. So if we can set that up early next week, I would hope that we ask them if they can come in. And we just need 24 hours to schedule a special meeting. So that would be my recommendation. Is there any day next week that the board members would not be able to be here?

[10969] Phuong Nguyen: I cannot be here Tuesday night. Pardon? I'm not available Tuesday night.

[10976] Nancy Thomas: I think I'm available the other nights. I would make myself available.

[10989] Aiden Hill: So do we want to make a motion to table this and reconvene or reschedule it?

[10996] Nancy Thomas: Yeah. And could you send a message to Mr. Moreno? Is that his name? That because of the section called difficulties and ask if we can reschedule for next week Wednesday, maybe?

[11017] SPEAKER_16: I would be more than happy. I have their cell phone numbers and I can reach out to them this evening and let them know that, you know, due to some technical difficulties and some other interests of the board, that this matter will be rescheduled for next week. As a retired chief HR officer, I would only suggest to you that you move this along quickly. This is a season for a recruitment time. So, again, my only recommendation is you do this within a relatively short period of time. So Wednesday works? But I'd be happy to reach out to the firms and let them know that it's being tabled and will be rescheduled for some time next week.

[11056] Nancy Thomas: I think Wednesday's the earliest we can do it. OK. Great. Thank you. So I would entertain a motion.

[11064] Bowen Zhang: Do we really need a motion to table something? I think we can just move on. Oh, I guess we don't.

13.5 Consideration of Guiding Principles

[11069] Nancy Thomas: We can just move on. OK. The next item on the agenda is a Item brought to us by Member Hill for discussion, and it's to discuss guiding principles that can be referenced as a framework to build the best district possible.

[11089] Aiden Hill: Thank you, President Thomas. So this past weekend, many of us watched the Super Bowl. Some watched it for the commercials. Others watched it for the halftime show with Rihanna. and a few watched it as an excuse to bring friends close. But deep down, many of us watched it because it is a celebration of greatness. After countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, the two best teams in the NFL came together to showcase what they had become, and it was magnificent. Every year, we live vicariously through these triumphs, and if we are honest, secretly hope to reach our own personal version of this success. More importantly, we all pray that our kids achieve this and even more in their own lives. The burning question is, how do we make success happen? How do we make our dreams a reality? How do we build a school district that equips our students to overcome obstacles and march victoriously into the end zone? How do we move from being good to being great? We need a roadmap. Anyone who has studied great teams knows that they are a product of great cultures. And great cultures form guiding principles that serve both to chart a course as well as to hold teams accountable for producing results. The good news is that there is a roadmap for building a culture of success. We in NUSD just need to have the humility to learn from those who have already taken this journey and muster the courage and conviction to follow in their footsteps. Jim Collins, a researcher out of Stanford, has studied this process and back in 2001 wrote a book called Good to Great to describe organizations that made this leap. In his initial work, he analyzed almost 1,500 companies to crack the good to great code. Shortly afterwards, however, he discovered that more than a third of the people who were picking up his book were from non-business professions. And so in 2005, he produced a monograph entitled Good to Great in the Social Sectors, and later in 2019, released an additional update called Turning the Flywheel. These concepts have since penetrated into parts of our educational system, and where they have taken hold have produced remarkable success. We can do the same. At a high level, Collins describes four stages an organization must go through to achieve greatness. The first involves getting the right leaders in place and the right people on the team. The next step involves adopting disciplined thought, where you confront the brutal facts regarding your current situation, while also envisioning what your future greatness will look like. Next comes disciplined action, where consistent, applied effort turns the flywheel and ultimately produces great outcomes. And finally, the last stage focuses on the steps you take to maintain and nurture the culture of success you have now created. As Collins describes, producing greatness takes multiple rotations of the flywheel. I ask that this agenda item be brought forward this evening as a first step in breaking the inertia and getting the conversation started. After I finish, I will pass out copies of articles that discuss how good to great concepts can be applied in an educational context. For those who are interested in learning more, I recommend that you visit jimcollins.com or pick up copies of his work, some of which has been translated into Spanish, off of amazon.com. And finally, after digesting some of this, I would welcome feedback from you and the community regarding whether this approach is something we should further explore in a future study session. Achieving greatness is a process, and I am hoping if we all lean our shoulders into the flywheel, we will produce success beyond our wildest dreams. And again, I'm bringing this forward merely as a discussion point. I'm not asking for any action at this point. I'm just asking that we all do a little bit of research into this, consider it, and then bring this back at a future time. Thank you.

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

[11350] Nancy Thomas: Any comments by board members? I would like to thank you, Member Hill, for bringing this forward. I've read Jim Collins' book twice. And I think there are lessons to be learned in it. And so I look forward to having more discussions in the future. So next, we move on to Board of Education Committee Reports, Requests, and Announcements. This time, I won't forget you, Member Torres.

14.1 Board of Education Recognitions and Announcements

[11405] Diego Torres: Some announcements. Well, the Special Olympics is tomorrow, which was already highlighted. And then there's an eighth grade parent night next Wednesday. So I hope that parents, the eighth graders, go to the high school and get some information on what their children are gonna learn at the high school.

[11419] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Member Nguyen.

[11423] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, President Thomas. I would just like to acknowledge and thank Ms. Bloom for her public comment last Monday regarding the systemic issues of bad decision making by the board all these years. And it wasn't a reflection of Dr. Triplett, and his efforts, we have had a revolving door and instability of superintendents. And stating that, and she also stated that there's been positive progress and that positive progress shouldn't be overlooked. And she's correct. Progress over time is what creates tremendous outcomes. Things just don't instantly happen overnight. But if we keep getting rid of those that make progress, We are the only ones hurting the district and our students. So I just wanted to remind the public that, and especially our majority board right now. And then in honor of Black History Month, I want to end it with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This is a great reminder for all of us, but especially for my self-serving fellow board members, member Zhang excluded, of course. I leave you with this. Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others? Thank you. Thank you.

[11512] Nancy Thomas: Member Jones. No, it's time.

[11516] Bowen Zhang: Member Zhang. I just wish everybody have a great long weekend.

[11520] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill.

[11522] Aiden Hill: Echoing Member Zhang, just wishing everybody a happy President's Day or President's Week, depending on your circumstances. Thank you.

[11531] Nancy Thomas: And I plan to attend Black History event at the high school tomorrow night, where they're featuring black businesses, I believe. And we'll attend with Member Jones.

[11545] Phuong Nguyen: Actually, I have one more comment, if you don't mind, Member Thomas. I just wanted to, yesterday at Lincoln Elementary School, they had the Young Authors Award handed out to all the grade levels, which was, one, an amazing event. And it was great to see our young writers all with smiles and their families out celebrating them. And I just want to congratulate all the winners again. They were well-deserved. And it was wonderful to see our young kids inspired by reading and writing. So thank you.

[11580] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, and Rutores.

[11581] Diego Torres: Also, and then today I was at the junior high for Puente interviews. And their BridgePoint students were there as well. And they were giving us some very helpful information 6th, 7th, and 8th graders about the dangers of smoking. And I thought that was really important. And I'm glad to see that the interactions between the two schools and the kids and the junior high kids were very engaged. And they were so happy to play with, because they had games as well. And the lines were ridiculously long. And it was so great to see all these kids so energized. And it was great to see that Bridgepoint put in this effort and put in the time to give this wonderful presentation to the students. And I would also like to thank the wonderful staff over here, because I know that I could tell it's not an easy job to be over there. So I thank you for everything that you're doing tonight. So thank you.

[11629] Phuong Nguyen: Yes, I also echo that. Thank you, Ms. Croce, and also Ms. Pim for filling in. And it is a hard job, and hopefully we have been gracious towards you and your efforts. But we really appreciate you. Thank you.

14.2 Board of Education Committee Reports

[11643] Nancy Thomas: And I'd like to echo that. Thank you, all of you. Yes, thank you. Committee reports. Does anyone have a committee report? I attended an ROP meeting last week on Thursday. Also, I attended the ROP, what's called the Educators Brunch. Yeah, and the great turnout, great presentation, great chance to visit. classrooms to see the various programs that they're offering. And all I can say is ROP is a great organization that's doing great things with our students. And finally, board requests. Member Torres.

14.3 Board of Education Requests

[11693] Diego Torres: I do have a request. I just want to know why we changed the agenda order in this new way that we're doing it.

[11700] Nancy Thomas: I don't understand what we changed. I was listening, and I'm thinking, what did we change?

[11707] Phuong Nguyen: You were going to take comments on the actual items. I think that was.

[11711] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, and I didn't do that.

[11714] Phuong Nguyen: Yeah, after the fact. You were going to allow it, but I think you didn't do it. That's correct.

[11720] Nancy Thomas: Yeah. So that's the only thing I didn't do is change something that was changed.

[11725] Bowen Zhang: Oh, I think what happened from this meeting is we pulled a consent calendar, and we immediately discussed that. In the prior meetings, we wait until there's this designated session. After new business, we discuss the poll.

[11739] Nancy Thomas: Yeah. That was something that, you know, if you think about it, wasn't a change from our, you know, what our methods of operation bylaw says is that, and the tradition was that we discussed the polled items and vote on them right after the, consented items. So I was confused. I didn't know what I changed.

[11766] Phuong Nguyen: OK. President Thomas, can I add on to your ROP statement? Sure. There is a CTE, or Career Technical Education, info session night, February 17th, tomorrow night, from 6 to 7 PM. And there is a link for the Zoom. There's a Zoom link, and it has been publicized and sent home to families via email. So I just wanted to remind parents to go ahead and log in if their students want to register for any ROP classes next year.

[11798] Nancy Thomas: That's a good idea. Any other committee reports or requests? Yes, Member Jones.

[11810] Kat Jones: I have a request that when we make contracts with vendors that there is an explanation of the work that is intended to be done. I just in several contracts that I have seen I haven't noticed where it's been like really specifically laid out. Maybe I'm missing it but it's something that I think is important for the board to know that when we're approving a contract that we know exactly what work is going to be accomplished. The other item that I wanted to bring up is regarding TOSA positions and the timing of those. And my understanding is that they're one-year contracts. And so is it something that we would bring or that would be brought forward in terms of each year that the application process is opened up to the whole teacher population in terms of if anybody else wants to apply for those positions so that there's actually an application period.

[11888] Phuong Nguyen: Hold on. So after each request, there needs to be a majority of the board approval before whether or not it's going to be brought back. Do you mind just clarifying the request?

[11910] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Is the request for us to bring this as like a staff report? Is the request to bring the item to a one-to-one meeting?

[11925] Kat Jones: Okay, I apologize. I guess they're both really questions that I need to ask one-on-one. So ignore my requests at this point.

[11939] Phuong Nguyen: I have one request. I would like for staff to bring back the computers, the Chromebook agenda item that was previously pulled or shelved. I would really like to see that we were able to approve the purchase of those computers for our students because we do need them for testing purposes. or if you can bring that back.

[11967] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill? Wait. Oh, I'm sorry.

[11971] Phuong Nguyen: Do I have two other members who are in agreement with that?

[11975] Kat Jones: I'm in agreement. Yes, I would agree with that.

[11978] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you.

[11981] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill?

[11985] Aiden Hill: I have two requests. So the first one is, so Member Zhang, today is his last meeting and we need to start an appointment process and I know that CSBA has put together a document that sort of advises boards on an appointment process. It's really not an appointment process, it's a vacancy process. And I think that it provides some good background. We would probably need to customize it for our purposes. But my request is that we work with staff to schedule a meeting to possibly a study session or maybe a special session to talk about how we set up a vacancy process to fill the vacancy. And maybe we can combine it with the meeting next week. I'm not sure.

[12044] Nancy Thomas: That makes sense. I appreciate that.

[12047] Aiden Hill: And just a quick clarification, just a logistical thing. We can't officially start until member Zhang has submitted his documents to the county. Has that already been done?

[12061] Bowen Zhang: No. Oh, OK. Yeah, because in the meeting, I announced my departure. I said, end of this month. So after doing research, it's just you send an email saying, resign effectively today, then done.

[12076] Aiden Hill: OK. Great. OK. Would it be possible for you just to let somebody know so that we know that? Yeah. OK. Great.

[12082] Bowen Zhang: Well, you definitely can start a process on March 1st, because I made the public announcement.

[12088] Aiden Hill: OK.

[12088] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. So did I hear you say that you put in your resignation effective today? He's going.

[12096] Bowen Zhang: Oh, February 28th. February 28th. OK. Thank you.

[12101] Aiden Hill: So do we have support for holding a session to plan for filling the vacancy? OK, great. And then the second request is, so Brian Foster came here this evening, and he's made prior appearances. But he first came here basically expressing concern around APEC's and how APICS was being used in the schools. And he made a few appearances. But ultimately, I think that there was resistance or not an interest in pursuing that. But then, quite frankly, there were actions that seem, at least from my perspective, to have been taken in retaliation afterwards. And I think that he's given us information And if you all recall back in May, as these were starting to emerge, I had warned the board and the district that it is illegal to retaliate against whistleblowers. And yet, we've ignored this. And I think that we're now in legal jeopardy. And again, even if we weren't, we shouldn't be allowing the use of legal resources against people who are speaking out, who have concerns about things that are going on in the district. We should be listening to what their concerns are rather than trying to retaliate against them. And so my request is that we have a We have a meeting in closed session to discuss the Brian Foster. I mean, he says that there's been an investigation. It's now been reported to the CTC. Apparently, he's going to potentially lose his license. This is all very troubling. And I think that we need to talk about this as a board. So that's my request.

[12221] Phuong Nguyen: Again, that's overreaching on our part as a board. I'm not in agreement. We've already allowed staff to do their due diligence and investigation on this personnel issue. And basically, you're going against that. So just wanted to let you know.

[12243] Aiden Hill: I don't think that we've seen the details of this.

[12247] Phuong Nguyen: Again, it's a personnel issue.

[12248] Aiden Hill: Which we're responsible for.

[12250] Phuong Nguyen: You're getting into the weeds, member Hill. Which we're responsible for. Yes, our one employee is the superintendent.

[12257] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I feel that The superintendent should drive anything of this nature.

[12268] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you, President Thomas. I am in agreement with you.

[12273] Nancy Thomas: OK, so any other comments? Member Jones? I have two requests. One is we decided at our board meeting when we did our beginning of the year board What did they call it? Organizational meeting. Organizational meeting. That's what I was looking for. That we would have a different calendar, a different day of the week to meet beginning in the next fiscal year. And so I think we need to have a calendar brought forward for approval, calendar dates for the rest of the year. We have calendar dates through June or July. So we need it for the second half of the year. And sometimes we even take it through the beginning of the first half of the next year. And the other thing is that with member Zhang leaving the board, we don't have an ROP alternate, ROP member alternate. And so I would hope that we could put that on the agenda and that one of the board members would volunteer to be that. alternate, and perhaps save that to see if the new member when we appoint one wants to take that role. So those are my... Yeah, the calendar, is everyone okay with the calendar? Is everyone okay with the alternate? Okay. So, given that, order of business is. No, I don't think so. We're just giving direction. So next, it's the acting superintendent's closing remarks.

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

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

[12396] Nicole Pierce-Davis: All right. Well, tonight and really this week has not been without its glitches for But, you know, I think that we have really focused on the big things this week. And so while there has been some technical difficulties tonight, you know, we've got multiple people holding multiple positions. And I think, again, despite those glitches, what I'm really proud about is that we focused on rebuilding relationships, establishing new relationships, and really holding up our community. So I just want to thank the board for the opportunity this week. And I'm sure I'll have more opportunities, especially working with our new interim superintendent. And so I appreciate you. And again, I want to end just by thanking Member Zhang for his service, for the beautiful speech tonight. And we wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors.

16. ADJOURNMENT

16.2 Adjournment

[12455] Nancy Thomas: With that, I would entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting.

[12459] Diego Torres: I'll motion to adjourn the meeting.

[12463] Nancy Thomas: I'll second that. Motion by member Torres, second by member Jean to adjourn the meeting. Please vote. Voting is open. Can I just make it unanimous?

[12483] Diego Torres: Yes, it is unanimous.

[12485] Nancy Thomas: Meeting adjourned.

3. CLOSED SESSION (Closed Session)

3.1 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE/DISMISSAL/RELEASE (Gov. Code, § 54957, subd. (b)(1)) (Closed Session)

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

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

3.4 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Gov. Code, § 54956.9, subd. (d)[(2) or (3)]: One case (Closed Session)

3.5 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT/EMPLOYMENT (Gov. Code, § 54957, subd. (b)(1) Title: Interim Superintendent (Closed Session)

10.2 FIELD TRIP: Curricular, Overnight Trip for Birch Grove Intermediate Elementary fifth grade class to travel to Alliance Redwoods (Removed by Board)

10.9 MINUTES: Minutes of the December 15, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

10.10 MINUTES: Minutes of the December 21, 2022, Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

10.11 Minutes of the January 19, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

10.12 Minutes of the January 31, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

10.13 MINUTES: Minutes of the February 2, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

10.14 Minutes of the February 2, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

10.15 MINUTES: Minutes of the February 6, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

16.1 PLACEHOLDER - Extend Meeting (Not Found)

[320] 1. CALL TO ORDER

[320] 1.1 Meeting Practices and Information

[390] 1.2 Roll Call

[407] 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

[407] 2.1 Approval of the Agenda

[657] 2.2 Public Comment on Closed Session Items

[657] 2.3 Recess to Closed Session

[657] 4. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS

[666] 5. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

[667] 4.1 Report of Closed Session Actions

[678] 5.1 Pledge of Allegiance

[4087] 6. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

[4087] 6.1 Recognition of the Outgoing Board Member

[5340] 7. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

[5340] 7.1 Employee Organizations

[5523] 8. PUBLIC COMMENT

[5523] 8.1 Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

[6084] 8.2 Public Comment on Agenda Items

[6769] 9. CONSENT AGENDA: PERSONNEL ITEMS (Approved on Consent)

[6769] 9.1 PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote (Approved on Consent)

[6769] 9.2 Personnel Report (Approved on Consent)

[6769] 9.3 Release of Temporary Certificated Employees (Approved on Consent)

[6881] 10. CONSENT AGENDA: NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS

[6881] 10.1 PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

[6881] 10.3 FIELD TRIP: Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Memorial High School students to travel San Francisco to celebrate Prom. (Approved on Consent)

[6881] 10.4 School Accountability Report Card (SARCs) (Approved on Consent)

[6881] 10.5 Comprehensive School Safety Plans (CSSP) (Approved on Consent)

[6881] 10.6 RESOLUTION 2022.23.21 Declaring Surplus Equipment (Approved on Consent)

[6900] 10.7 REPORT: Warrant Report for January 2023

[7466] 10.8 REPORT: Donations Report (Approved on Consent)

[7578] 11. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

[7578] 11.1 Acting Superintendent Report

[8272] 12. STAFF REPORT

[8272] 12.1 STAFF REPORT: ELA K-8 Curriculum

[8838] 13. NEW BUSINESS

[8838] 13.1 POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 5131.62 and Administrative Regulation 5131.62 - Tobacco

[8977] 13.2 EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT: Verbal Summary of the Financial Terms of the Interim Superintendent's Employment Agreement

[9091] 13.3 EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT: Review, Discussion and Approval of the Interim Superintendent's Employment Agreement

[9581] 13.4 Public Employment (Gov. Code, § 54957, subd. (b)(1) Title: Superintendent Search

[11069] 13.5 Consideration of Guiding Principles

[11350] 14. BOARD OF EDUCATION: COMMITTEE REPORTS, REQUESTS, AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

[11405] 14.1 Board of Education Recognitions and Announcements

[11643] 14.2 Board of Education Committee Reports

[11693] 14.3 Board of Education Requests

[12396] 15. SUPERINTENDENT'S CONCLUDING COMMENTS, UPDATES FOR THE BOARD AND FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS

[12396] 15.1 Acting Superintendent's Concluding Comments, Updates, and Future Agenda Items

[12455] 16. ADJOURNMENT

[12455] 16.2 Adjournment

[99999] 3. CLOSED SESSION (Closed Session)

[99999] 3.1 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE/DISMISSAL/RELEASE (Gov. Code, § 54957, subd. (b)(1)) (Closed Session)

[99999] 3.2 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS (Gov. Code, § 54957.6, subd. (a)): Employee Organizations - NTA and CSEA (Closed Session)

[99999] 3.3 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS (Gov. Code, § 54957.6, subd. (a)): Employee Group - NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors, and Contracted Management (Closed Session)

[99999] 3.4 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Gov. Code, § 54956.9, subd. (d)[(2) or (3)]: One case (Closed Session)

[99999] 3.5 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT/EMPLOYMENT (Gov. Code, § 54957, subd. (b)(1) Title: Interim Superintendent (Closed Session)

[99999] 10.2 FIELD TRIP: Curricular, Overnight Trip for Birch Grove Intermediate Elementary fifth grade class to travel to Alliance Redwoods (Removed by Board)

[99999] 10.9 MINUTES: Minutes of the December 15, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

[99999] 10.10 MINUTES: Minutes of the December 21, 2022, Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

[99999] 10.11 Minutes of the January 19, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

[99999] 10.12 Minutes of the January 31, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

[99999] 10.13 MINUTES: Minutes of the February 2, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

[99999] 10.14 Minutes of the February 2, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

[99999] 10.15 MINUTES: Minutes of the February 6, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Removed by Board)

[99999] 16.1 PLACEHOLDER - Extend Meeting (Not Found)

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, except items 10.9-10.15 and 10.2.

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

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, or with live in-person comments by submitting a speaker-card with the Executive Assistant.

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.

3. CLOSED SESSION

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

Type Action, Information, Procedural

PURPOSE:

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

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

Type Action, Information, Procedural PURPOSE:

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

The employee organizations include NTA & CSEA.

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

Type Action, Discussion, Procedural PURPOSE:

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

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

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

Type Action, Discussion, Procedural PURPOSE:

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

PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT/EMPLOYMENT (Gov. Code, � 54957, subd. (b) (1) Title: Interim Superintendent

Type PURPOSE:

Information may be provided by the agency negotiator, the Board of Education with assistance from legal firm Lozano Smith.

4. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS

Report of Closed Session Actions

Type Action, Procedural

PURPOSE:

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

5. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

Pledge of Allegiance

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

The Governance Team will recite the Pledge of Allegiance

6. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

Recognition of the Outgoing Board Member

Type Information

PURPOSE:

The Board will recognize the outgoing Board Member, Bowen Zhang.

BACKGROUND:

We congratulate, commend, and express our deep gratitude and appreciation to Bowen Zhang for his service to the school district and community and the Board of Education extends its sincere appreciation and best wishes for future endeavors.

7. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

Employee Organizations

Type Information PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

1. NTA: Sean Abruzzi

2. CSEA: Maria Huffer

3. NEWMA: Vicenta Ditto

8. PUBLIC COMMENT

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

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

9. 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.

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

Personnel Report

Type Action

Absolute Date Feb 16, 2023

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

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

BACKGROUND:

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

File Attachments HR PAL 02-16-2023.pdf (165 KB)

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

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

Release of Temporary Certificated Employees

Type Action

Absolute Date Feb 16, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the release of Temporary Action Certificated Employees. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to consider approval of the release of Temporary Certificated Employees.

BACKGROUND:

Each year temporary teachers are hired to fill positions for permanent staff that may be on a leave of absence, in a job share, or in a special assignment. Permanent teachers have the right to return the following year to an assignment for which they are credentialed. Temporary employees do not have automatic rehire rights and may be released by the district at the conclusion of their temporary contract.

File Attachments California Education Code.pdf (110 KB) 2022-2023 Temp Release List.pdf (145 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the release of Temporary Certificated Employees.

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

10. 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: except item 10.7.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Bowen Zhang.
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 Alliance Redwoods

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $36,497.18

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Family Donations

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the overnight trip for the Birch Action Grove Intermediate fifth grade class to travel to Alliance Redwoods. PURPOSE:

The Birch Grove Intermediate community requests permission to take fifth grade students on a curricular, overnight field trip. Students will travel to Alliance Redwoods, Occidental, CA for an outdoor science education camp. Students will spend time outdoors and indoors, learning about the environment and conservation. They will study animals, the land, and other topics over the week through hikes, class lessons, and discussions.

     School: Birch Grove Intermediate
     Dates: April 3 - April 6, 2023
     Location: Alliance Redwoods, Occidental, 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.

File Attachments Kennedy Elementary Science Camp.pdf (1,298 KB)

FIELD TRIP: Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Memorial High School students to travel San Francisco to celebrate Prom.

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $60,000.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Student ASB

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Newark Memorial High Action School students to travel San Francisco to celebrate Prom. PURPOSE:

The NMHS Principal and Classes of 2023 and 2024 request permission to take students on a non-curricular trip to travel San Francisco to celebrate Prom.

Prom is for the Class of 2023 and 2024 will celebrate their Prom.

    School: Newark Memorial
    Date: April 1, 2023
    Location: San Francisco, CA

BACKGROUND:

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

viewed by the sites as a valuable part of the students' educational experience.

File Attachments NMHS Prom.pdf (863 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Newark Memorial High School students to travel San Francisco to celebrate Prom.

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

School Accountability Report Card (SARCs)

Type Action

Preferred Date Feb 16, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the 2021-2022 School Action Accountability Report Cards. PURPOSE:

All public schools are required to prepare and distribute a Student Accountability Report Card (SARC) for the primary purpose of providing parents with data and information to make meaningful comparisons between schools. Specific items are required to be reported in the following categories: demographic information, school safety and climate for learning, academic data, school completion, class size, teacher and staff information, curriculum and instruction, and postsecondary preparation.

BACKGROUND:

SARCs are intended to provide the public with important information about each public school and to communicate a school's progress in achieving its goals.

File Attachments 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_Newark_Memorial_High_School_20230120.pdf (760 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_Newark_Junior_High_School_20230120.pdf (742 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_Lincoln_Elementary_School_20230120.pdf (734 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_John_F.Kennedy_Elementary_School_20230120.pdf (740 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_Crossroads_High_School_20230120.pdf (805 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_Coyote_Hills_Elementary_School_20230120.pdf (725 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_Bridgepoint_20230120.pdf (741 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_Birch_Grove_Primary_School_20230120.pdf (709 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_Birch_Grove_Intermediate_School_20230120.pdf (700 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_August_Schilling_Elementary_School_20230120.pdf (721 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card-Spanish_Newark_Memorial_High_School_20230128.pdf (852 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card-Spanish_August_Schilling_Elementary_School_20230128.pdf (816 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card-Spanish_Birch_Grove_Intermediate_School_20230128.pdf (774 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card-Spanish_Birch_Grove_Primary_School_20230128.pdf (783 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card-Spanish_Bridgepoint_20230128.pdf (833 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card-Spanish_Coyote_Hills_Elementary_School_20230128.pdf (814 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card-_Spanish_Crossroads_High_School_20230128.pdf (865 KB)

2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card_-_Spanish_John_F.Kennedy_Elementary_School_20230128.pdf (842 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card-Spanish_Lincoln_Elementary_School_20230128.pdf (840 KB) 2022_School_Accountability_Report_Card-_Spanish_Newark_Junior_High_School_20230128.pdf (831 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the 2021-2022 School Accountability Report Cards.

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

Comprehensive School Safety Plans (CSSP)

Type Action, Information

Absolute Date Feb 16, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve 2023-2024 Comprehensive Action School Safety Plans (CSSP) as presented. PURPOSE:

To approve the Comprehensive School Safety Plan (CSSP) for each Newark Unified School District school site; all plans are attached.

BACKGROUND:

A Comprehensive School Safety Plan (CSSP) is an annually-revised plan to develop strategies aimed at the prevention of, and education about, potential incidents involving crime and violence on the school campus. All California K-12 public schools must develop a CSSP that addresses the safety concerns identified through a systematic planning process in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, community leaders, parents, pupils, teachers, administrators, and other persons who may be interested in the prevention of campus crime and violence.

Per Education Code Section 32281, the School Site Council (SSC) develops and approves a comprehensive school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources of that particular school, or may delegate this responsibility to a school safety planning committee. Each school must review and update its plan by March 1 every year for submission to the California Department of Education (CDE).

The requirements and mandate for CSSPs are outlined in Education Code Sections 32280 - 32289 School Safety Plans.

File Attachments 23-24 NMHS Comprehensive School Safety Plan.pdf (2,666 KB) 23-24 BGP Comprehensive Site Safety Plan.pdf (1,782 KB) 23-24 BGI Comprehensive School Safety Plan.pdf (2,409 KB) 23-24 CHE Comprehensive School Safety Plan.pdf (2,196 KB) 23-24 Kennedy Comprehensive School Safety Plan.pdf (8,413 KB) 23-24 Lincoln Comprehensive School Safety Plan.pdf (3,710 KB) 23-24 Schilling Comprehensive School Safety Plan.pdf (1,816 KB) 23-24 MacGregor Comprehensive School Safety Plan.pdf (2,194 KB) 22-23 NJHS Comprehensive School Safety Plan.pdf (3,582 KB)

Motion & Voting

RESOLUTION 2022.23.21 Declaring Surplus Equipment

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves Resolution 2022.23.21 Action Declaring Surplus Equipment. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is to obtain Board approval of Resolution 2022.23.21 Declaring Surplus Equipment, which lists items to be declared as surplus equipment as recommended.

BACKGROUND:

Surplus materials will be disposed of per Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 3270 Sale And Disposal Of Books, Equipment And Supplies. Education Code, Section 17546 states that if the Governing Board, by a unanimous vote of those members present, finds that the property, whether one or more items, does not exceed the value of $2,500, it may be sold at private sale without advertising, by a District employee empowered for that purpose by the Board; the property may be donated to a charitable organization, or it may be disposed of in a public disposal facility.

The property as described in Resolution 2022.23.21 includes equipment used at Child Nutrition Services. Staff determined that items are beyond economical repair.

File Attachments Resolution 2022.23.21 Declaring Surplus Equipment.pdf (12 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves Resolution 2022.23.21 Declaring Surplus Equipment.

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

REPORT: Warrant Report for January 2023

Type Action

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Warrant Report as presented. Action Purpose: The purpose of this item is to present warrants, for the total amount of $2,239,605.16, made from District funds for January 2023.

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 January 2023.pdf (391 KB)

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

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: Donations Report

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source General Fund (Fund 010) Donations

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education accept the Donations Report as Action presented. Purpose: The purpose is to acknowledge receipt of donations to the District.

Background: Throughout the year community members, groups, parents and other individuals make monetary and in-kind (supplies and equipment) donations to NUSD. The exact nature of the source of the donation is submitted to the Business Office on a standard form. It is critical that any restrictions on the funding be indicated and the budget developed based on the donor restrictions. If there is no indication of the school or use of the funding, any proceeds or cash donations received are placed in the NUSD local revenue in the unrestricted general fund. It is recommended that the donations be processed through the Business Office and ultimately approved by the Board so that the funding can be publicly acknowledged and budgeted properly according to donor restrictions. There is acknowledged and budgeted properly according to donor restrictions. There is acknowledgement at the public Board meeting and a letter of thanks is sent ot the donor by the Business Office for NUSD.

File Attachments Summary of Donations_02-16-2023.pdf (20 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education accept the Donations Report as presented.

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

MINUTES: Minutes of the December 15, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the December 15, Action 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Edducation. PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the December 15, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the December 15, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

MINUTES: Minutes of the December 21, 2022, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the December 21, Action 2022, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the December 21, 2022, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the December 21, 2022, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

Minutes of the January 19, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the January 19, Action 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the January 19, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the January 19, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

Minutes of the January 31, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the January 31, Action 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the January 31, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the January 31, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

MINUTES: Minutes of the February 2, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the February 2, Action 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the February 2, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the February 2, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

Minutes of the February 2, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the February 2, Action 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education.

PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the February 2, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the February 2, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

MINUTES: Minutes of the February 6, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the February 6, Action 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve the minutes of the February 6, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the February 6, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE

11. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

Acting Superintendent Report

Type Information

PURPOSE:

The acting 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 Acting Superintendent.

12. STAFF REPORT

STAFF REPORT: ELA K-8 Curriculum

Type Information PURPOSE:

To share an update with the NUSD Board of Education and community about the inquiry process underway regarding the district's ELA K-8 curriculum and next steps.

BACKGROUND:

Newark Unified School District adopted Lucy Calkins English Language Arts curriculum in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic school years (Writing and Reading Units of Study, respectively). Concerns have been raised from community members and staff with respect to the efficacy of this curriculum. As a result, Ed Services has engaged with Curriculum and Assessment Council and K-8 staff in order to gather input and determine next steps.

File Attachments Staff Report_ ELA K-8 Curriculum.pdf (470 KB)

13. NEW BUSINESS

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 5131.62 and Administrative Regulation 5131.62 - Tobacco

Type Action, Procedural

Fiscal Impact No

Budgeted No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the updated Board Policy Action 5131.62 and Administrative Regulation 5131.62 - Tobacco 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 5131.62 - Tobacco 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 5131.62 - Tobacco 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 BP 5131.62 Tobacco.pdf (101 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 5131.62 Tobacco.pdf (316 KB) Existing NUSD AR 5131.62 Tobacco.pdf (66 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 5131.62 Tobacco.pdf (187 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the updated Board Policy 5131.62 and Administrative Regulation 5131.62 - Tobacco

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

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT: Verbal Summary of the Financial Terms of the Interim Superintendent's Employment Agreement

Type Information PURPOSE:

For the Board to provide a verbal summary of the financial terms of the Interim Superintendent's employment agreement.

BACKGROUND:

The Board will consider approving an Employment Agreement for Dr. Michael Milliken to serve as the Interim Superintendent of the Newark Unified School District for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year. The Agreement for the Interim Superintendent will commence on February 13, 2023, and terminate on June 30, 2023, or upon the employment of a permanent superintendent, whichever occurs first. A summary of the financial terms are as follows:

   1. The base salary of the Interim Superintendent will be $1095 per day not to exceed $87,000.
   2. The Interim Superintendent is entitled to the same health insurance coverage that the district provides to other
      certificated administrative employees in the district.
   3. The Superintendent shall be reimbursed for the use of his personal vehicle for district business at the IRS rate.

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT: Review, Discussion and Approval of the Interim Superintendent's Employment Agreement

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $87,600.00

Budget Source General Fund

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Interim Superintendent's Action Employment Agreement.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is for the Board to review, discuss, and approve the Interim Superintendent's Employment Agreement.

BACKGROUND:

At a special meeting of the board held on February 6, 2023 NUSD Board of Trustees interviewed and selected an Interim Superintendent. Attached you will find the employment agreement.

File Attachments Interim Superintendent Employment Agreement.pdf (96 KB)

Motion & Voting

Public Employment (Gov. Code, � 54957, subd. (b)(1) Title: Superintendent Search

Type Action

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education choose a search firm to assist in the Action selection of a Superintendent. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is for the Board to review, discuss, and choose from a selection of proposals, a search firm to assist in the selection of a Superintendent.

File Attachments Leadership Associates Proposal for Newark USD - 2-16-23.pdf (2,035 KB) Hazard Young Attea Associates Proposal for Newark USD - 2-16-23.pdf (1,409 KB) CSBA-McPherson & Jacobson Proposal for Newark USD 2-16-23.pdf (1,781 KB)

Consideration of Guiding Principles

Type Discussion PURPOSE:

For the Board of Education to discuss guiding principles that can be referenced as a framework to build the best district possible.

BACKGROUND:

Member Hill requests that the Board of Education consider the idea of embracing guiding principles that we can reference as we all work to build the best district possible. In his former life as a business consultant, he found a framework that many companies have used for this purpose from the work of Jim Collins, Stanford University, and is embodied in the book Good to Great. He would like to introduce this framework to the board and public, and potentially get approval to hold a future "guiding principles" study session to discuss NUSD's "North Star."

Member Hill has provided the following links for the board and public to delve more deeply into this content:

https://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/good-to-great.html

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others-ebook/dp/B0058DRUV6/ref=sr_1_1? crid=243DGBX3XZZYT&keywords=good+to+great+by+jim+collins&qid=1675984029&sprefix=good+to+great%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Spanish-Jim-Collins/dp/8417963170/ref=sr_1_3?crid=243DGBX3XZZYT&keywords=good+ to+great+by+jim+collins&qid=1675984029&sprefix=good+to+great%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-3

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

Board of Education Recognitions and Announcements

Type Information

PURPOSE:

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

Board of Education Committee Reports

Type Information PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

Board Committees 2022-23

Board Adopted on 12/15/2022 Representative Alternate

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

Regional Policy Board of Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) 1. Katherine Jones 1. Phuong Nguyen

Newark Teacher Induction Advisory Council (Formally EBIC) 1. Aiden Hill 1. Phuong Nguyen

Audit Committee 1. Aiden Hill2. Katherine Jones1. Phuong Nguyen

Bond/Parcel Tax Committee 1. Phuong Nguyen2. Katherine Jones1. Aiden Hill

                                                                    1. Phuong Nguyen

City of Newark � NUSD Liaison Committee 2. Nancy Thomas 1. Katherine Jones

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.

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

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

                       AGENDA REQUESTS

Type Information

PURPOSE:

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

16. ADJOURNMENT

PLACEHOLDER - Extend Meeting

Type Action

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

PURPOSE:

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

Adjournment

Type Action

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

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

This action will conclude the meeting.

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

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

No minutes available.