Regular Meeting

Introduction

• April 20, 2023 Regular Meeting: Held in-person and streamed via YouTube/Comcast Channel 26. Key themes included academic program updates (SEAL, special education), labor negotiations, facilities improvements, and student achievement highlights.

Agenda Items

Coyote Hills Elementary Spotlight

• Description: Principal Christy Palomino presented academic and community initiatives:
  • PBIS: School-wide behavioral expectations, praise tickets, and tiered interventions reduced referrals.
  • SEAL Program: 17 SEAL-trained teachers drove literacy/math gains (iReady scores rose 10% in reading, 11% in math).
  • Community Engagement: Gallery walks, cross-age buddies, and STEAM events (e.g., Black History Wax Museum).
• Decisions made: No formal action taken.

SEAL Program Update

• Description: Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL) coaches highlighted:
  • Impact: Reduced long-term English learner risk through language-rich classrooms and family engagement (e.g., bilingual gallery walks).
  • Professional Development: 35 teachers trained since 2019; 4–5th grade cohort to complete training in 2024.
• Decisions made: No formal action. Board requested longitudinal data on SEAL’s academic impact.

Special Education Overview

• Description: Director Olivia Rangel shared:
  • Services: 13.8% of NUSD students have IEPs (above state average). Disproportionality addressed via revised SST processes and UDL training.
  • Challenges: Staffing shortages ($2M contract for speech services) and rising NPS costs.
  • Goals: Streamline transitions (e.g., Bridgepoint TAL program) and expand parent advocacy.
• Decisions made: No formal action.

HVAC Phase 2 Bid Award

• Description: $744,000 contract awarded to Rodan Builders for Newark Junior High HVAC replacements (9 units).
• Decisions made: Approved 6-0.

NTA Collective Bargaining Agreement

• Description: Three-year agreement ratified by 98.8% of NTA members:
  • Salary Increases: 10% retroactive (2022-23), 2% (July 2023), 4% (January 2024).
• Decisions made: Approved 5-0 (student member abstained).

Public Comments

• Key themes:
  • Rocketry Club: Requested $10,000 for nationals travel; district pledged promotional support.
  • HVAC Concerns: Cindy Parks urged stricter warranty enforcement for recent HVAC installations.

Follow-Up and Commitments

• Rocketry Club: District to promote fundraiser via website/social media.
• HVAC Warranty Compliance: Facilities team to review contractor accountability processes.
• Policy Updates: Board liaisons (Thomas/Jones) to review CSBA-recommended policy revisions in June.
• Study Session: Surplus property discussion scheduled for May 18.

Conclusion

• Outcomes: NTA agreement ratified, HVAC bid approved, and equity-focused academic programs (SEAL, special education) prioritized.
• Next Steps: Policy updates (August), SEAL/special education data reviews, and continued community collaboration.

1. CALL TO ORDER

[141] Jodi Croce: Yes, we can begin.

1.1 Meeting Practices and Information

[147] Nancy Thomas: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the April 20th, 2023 regular meeting of the Board of Education. NUSD has opened its boardroom for in-person meetings and will follow the state's and Alameda County's safety guidelines for public meetings. Please refrain from attending in-person meetings if you have any COVID symptoms. Members of the public may observe the meeting via Newark Unified School District YouTube channel, live transmission on Comcast channel 26, or in person at the NUSD boardroom. Spanish translation will be available via Zoom. Ms. Croce, would you please call the roll?

1.2 Roll Call

[193] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Student Member Torres is not present. Member Nguyen? Here. Member Plancarte? Here. Member Jones? Here. Member Hill? Here. And Member Thomas? Here.

1.3 Public Comment on Closed Session Items

[205] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Are there any people wishing to comment on closed session items?

[212] Jodi Croce: There is no public comment request.

1.4 Recess to Closed Session

3. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS

3.1 Report of Closed Session Actions

4. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

[215] Nancy Thomas: Okay. Therefore, we will be recessing to closed session where we will I have conference with labor negotiators regarding NTA and CSEA, conference with labor negotiators, employee group NEWMA, unrepresented supervisors, and contracted management. conference with legal counsel regarding anticipated litigation, conference with legal counsel regarding existing litigation, and conference with the labor negotiator, contracted management, assistant superintendent of educational services, and chief business official. And one more item, student expulsion. And student expulsion. With that, we are recessed to closed session. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The April 20, 2023 regular meeting of the Board of Education is now in session. The board has just returned from closed session. And for item number 2.3, anticipated litigation settlement agreement, a motion to approve was made by member Nguyen and seconded by member Hill. And the vote was 5 to 0 in favor. After this meeting, we will reconvene to closed session after this meeting is adjourned. Please join me in the pledge.

4.1 Pledge of Allegiance

[4576] Aiden Hill: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

5. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

5.1 Approval of the Agenda

[4596] Nancy Thomas: Unless a member would like to pull any item from the agenda, I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

[4609] Aiden Hill: I move to approve the agenda.

[4610] Kat Jones: I'll second.

[4612] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill moves to approve. Member Jones seconds. Please vote. Student.

[4626] Jodi Croce: Thank you.

[4628] Diego Torres: Yes.

[4640] Jodi Croce: Thank you. Votes are in. Six ayes.

6. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

6.1 Staff Spotlight

[4643] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, I will turn this over to the superintendent. We have a school spotlight.

6.2 School Spotlight: Coyote Hills Elementary

[4650] Michael Milliken: That's correct. We have a school spotlight, no staff spotlight tonight. Assistant Superintendent Pierce, do you want to introduce our speaker?

[4659] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Absolutely. I would love to introduce the principal of Coyote Hills Elementary, Christy Palomino.

[4670] SPEAKER_28: Thank you so much. Good evening members of the board, Superintendent Milliken and Executive Cabinet. My name is Christy Pelamino, and I am the proud principal of Coyote Hills Elementary. I am here tonight to share the amazing community we are creating daily at Coyote Hills. But before we get started, I must introduce some incredible members of our Coyote Hills team that make the magic happen daily. So we have Kim Nickerson, a SEAL coach in attendance, Mikayla Ashmore, SEAL coach, Brandi Wicks, our K1 teacher, Mel Villo, fourth grade teacher, Delight Evans-Vasquez, third grade teacher, Audrey Trotter, our RSP teacher, and her hopeful TK son, James, Helena Rodriguez, third grade, Maggie Carcamo, our bilingual intervention aide, Rachel Bloom, our SRT, Toya Lemus, our office manager and daughter, Araya, and Rosa Diaz, our attendance clerk and son, Leo. Next slide, please. In order to create a positive and safe space for learning at Coyote Hills, we are a PBIS school. Some of the projects our PBIS team continues to revise and deepen are our school-wide behavioral expectations and flowchart. We have many ways we pump the positive at Coyote Hills, such as positive praise tickets, which are redeemed at the PBIS store on the first Friday of each month. A new positive is that each week tables in the cafeteria earn points and eat lunch outside. Also, we gather every Tuesday as a school community for Monday morning minute announcements. Finally, we have implemented check-in and check-out as a tier two strategy. Next slide, please. Here you see our positive praises and the PBIS store where students visit to redeem for prizes. Another way we publicly recognize our students. During our morning minute, we give shout outs to the classes who are recognized by our staff. These are just some of the positive praises for this year. Next slide, please. Data truly drives our interventions in PBIS. As you can see, 85% of our students have received zero or one referrals. 10.7% have received two to five referrals. 4.15% have received six or more referrals. When our student receives referrals, they get the help they need, thereby creating a positive climate at school. Next slide, please. Coyote Hills is a SEAL Sobrato Early Academic Language School. 17 of our teachers are SEAL trained, including our RSP and science teachers. You will hear more about SEAL from our incredible SEAL coaches, Kim Nickerson and Mikayla Ashmore, along with Abbey Keirns later this evening. SEAL strategies elevate rigor and academic language through the daily use of songs and chants, draw and labels, vocabulary and context, language function walls, focus walls. SentenceFrame supports students with the language needed to participate fully, increasing student engagement. All of our students are immersed in academic language on a daily basis. There is a higher ratio of student talk than teacher talk. When you walk into our classrooms during a SEAL lesson, the student engagement is stellar. Learning comes alive with SEAL. One of our EL students had struggled since kindergarten. This year, he is in a SEAL classroom. One day, he made a connection to the SEAL module and told a personal story as he felt seen and heard in his learning community. Every whole child is seen and heard as SEAL creates a safe space for learning. SEAL classrooms are joyful and curious, but not just for the students. Our teachers have committed to a full training and according to our SEAL trainers, they are implementing at a faster and deeper pace than other districts. Next slide, please. Each module culminates with a gallery walk. During a gallery walk, families are invited into the classroom and each student teaches their family what they have learned. Students are invited to teach in their home language. At our open house, every classroom held a gallery walk and the amount of teaching that happened by the students was truly impressive. Recently, Coyote Hills was asked to participate in a SEAL panel regarding gallery walks. Our next step in our SEAL journey is to learn more about family engagement by attending a SEAL family partnership training on May 2nd. Next slide, please. We have a few other glows I would like to celebrate. Fourth grade held a wax museum for black history where the school and families had a chance to come and learn from. Each student became that person taking on their perspective, sharing important events from their life. We also have a green team that keeps our school on the right track as environmental stewards. Another glow is our cross age buddies. This provides opportunities to build a strong supportive community. Finally, our Coyote's Garden, named by two students, is beginning to blossom, as you can see in the top two pictures. This is due to the dedication of community volunteers and the Optimist Club. Next slide, please. Every Tuesday morning begins with the morning minute. We gather together, inviting families to join us, dance, hear announcements, have seal celebrations and positive praise shout outs Students participate in the assembly as well. We all look forward to Tuesday mornings. As you might notice in the pictures, the final part of our fence was installed over spring break. Several parents have thanked me for the fence as they feel relieved about leaving their kids at school in a safe space. So thank you very much to the board for that. Next slide, please. i-Ready is one of our formative assessment measures. Kindergarten through fifth grade takes the i-Ready test three times a year, fall, winter, and spring. As you can see, in the fall, 21 percent of our students scored in green, which is mid or above grade level. Jumping to winter, we increased to 32 percent, a significant increase of 11 percent. There was also a decrease in our yellow band, which is one grade level below by 2 percent. However, the most encouraging piece comes from our students scoring two or more grade levels below. There was an 8% decrease. That means our students are making noticeable gains in mathematics. Next slide, please. One thing we are very proud of is the reading growth from fall to winter. Specifically, in the fall, 30% of our students met or exceeded grade level standards. Juxtaposing this with winter, approximately 40% of our students met or exceeded standards. We attribute this to a very clear focus on SEAL and literacy strategies, including Readers and Writers Workshop. Next slide, please. We love, love, love our Coyote Hills community where everyone is welcome. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to share the amazing work and joy of learning and growing together at Coyote Hills Elementary.

[5197] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Any comments from the board?

[5201] Diego Torres: I would like to say thank you for that wonderful presentation. I learned a lot, actually, about Coyote Hills. Yeah, I liked it a lot, too. I like the big emphasis on the community. I'm kind of jealous that I'm not there every Tuesday morning to see all that dancing. I feel like I could have a lot of fun there with all of them, and I really like the gallery walk, too. I feel like that's a really cool idea. I think this is the first time I've ever heard of it, so I'm really happy to see that. And I'm happy to just see all the visuals, too, of all the students just learning. And it looks like a really fun place to be at. So I thank you and applaud the efforts that you give every day to your students. Thank you.

[5233] SPEAKER_31: Thank you.

[5234] Phuong Nguyen: Hi, Miss Palomino. Hi. Hi. Can you please give us a little overview on the back wall here?

[5242] SPEAKER_28: Absolutely. So on the back wall, we have samples of our seal, draw, and label of individual identities. That's in the top right up there. Some I am poems, where the students create work on their identity as well through I am poems next to the art. I think it's towards the right. Some seal art, circle art, which is towards the left from our last pie steam week. Some narrative input charts, circle art from our MOCA art teacher that comes, all classes have received two lessons from our MOCA art teacher, and we're going to continue that next year. And some art and reading comprehension.

[5283] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. So I just wanted to say that Coyote Hills has a special place in my heart. I can't talk about you guys without getting emotional. And it's partially because I've had wonderful teachers there teaching my own children when it was previously Graham. But I love the fact that You have really brought the Snow and Graham community together, and now you guys are truly Coyote Hills. So I just want to applaud you, Christy, Ms. Palmino, for all the hard work that you have done bringing the team together. I know that it was difficult at times, and you guys have persevered and continue to work really hard. And I just really want to appreciate your entire staff, those that really continue to do do all the hard work and really help improve, as you can see, that you guys have made definite progress in this last quarter from last fall to this winter. So congratulations. Thank you.

[5349] Kat Jones: Jones? I also just, I love seeing the back wall. I was going to ask what Diego had asked about the back wall and kind of explain a little bit. So that was great you did that. And it's just nice to be able to see what's going on on the campus. And thank you for all your hard work.

[5366] Jodi Croce: Thank you.

[5368] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill.

[5369] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Ms. Palomino, for your presentation. Thank you to you and your staff for all the work you're doing.

[5374] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I'd like to say Ms. Jones and I had the opportunity to go to the open house at Schilling. And of course, they also have SEAL. Yes. You know, seeing your pictures and what we saw at Schilling last night really is impressive. So congratulations on your academic growth. And a shout out to Ms. Bloom. She showed us her classroom at Schilling. And I'm sure her science room at Coyote Hills is every bit as good.

[5407] SPEAKER_28: Yes, it is. Star Wars theme for STEAM Week, May 1st through 5th. May the 4th be with you.

[5416] Nancy Thomas: May the 4th be with you. OK. Well, thank you very much.

[5420] Julienne Sumodobila: Thank you.

[5425] Carina Plancarte: Yes? And I just also want to thank you so much for the presentation. And I celebrate the academic achievement that you've accomplished via the SEAL program. That's incredible. And seeing the scores is great. Thank you so much for presenting the data.

[5439] SPEAKER_28: You're welcome. Thank you.

[5441] Nancy Thomas: your staff.

[5442] SPEAKER_28: Yes, thank you to all of the who are here tonight and all of those watching.

[5453] SPEAKER_31: Thank you.

7. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

7.1 Employee Organizations

[5454] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. So next, do we have any employee organizations that wish to address the board?

[5472] Jodi Croce: None of the organizations had an update tonight. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

8. PUBLIC COMMENT

8.1 Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

[5478] Nancy Thomas: So, we move on to public comment on non-agenda items. And we have two speakers who are going to be showing us a video. And so, because of that, we're giving them each three minutes. So, that will be six minutes. It's Isaac Pinedo and Zaina Ansari. Welcome.

[5505] SPEAKER_29: Hi, we're general members of Newark Memorial's rocketry team. Newark Memorial Rocketry is a STEM club at our school. And here we have a short video that tells you about what we do. And after that, we're going to move on to our main topic, the main reason why we're here. But for now, just watch the video. Thank you.

[5536] SPEAKER_32: Nicole, you want to hit pause on that so we can start from the beginning?

[5542] Michael Milliken: You want me to start again? Yeah. Can we get the ball?

[5544] SPEAKER_32: Can you take it off and hold it?

[5568] Jodi Croce: Let me turn that to the beginning. Okay, we'll try full screen.

[5583] Jodi Croce: Let's try it one more time.

[5598] SPEAKER_32: Welcome to Newark Memorial Rocketry. We're a group of high schoolers from a small town called Newark in California's Silicon Valley participating in T.A.R.C. this year. What exactly is T.A.R.C. may you ask? Well, T.A.R.C. stands for the American Rocketry Challenge, a national competition for middle and high school students all across the United States.

[5616] SPEAKER_29: The goal of T.A.R.C. is to inspire the next generation of future aerospace engineers. It challenges them to design, build, and launch model rockets at the specific time and And if your team does well, you might get to compete in the National Finals in what's known as the Amazing Finals.

[5636] SPEAKER_32: Now that you know what tech is, it's time to introduce you to the rest of our team. Come inside our newly renovated Star Labs, where we do all of our building. In our Star Labs, we complete all of our rocket building and teach new members how the process works. And if it just takes two teams,

[5657] SPEAKER_35: I really like getting involved in project building and just learning the basic concepts of being taught when building projects.

[5688] SPEAKER_32: That's what the talk's all about.

[5704] Jodi Croce: Inspiring the next generation of rocket scientists who have a lot of fun while they're doing it.

[5712] SPEAKER_29: VP of a ketchup company. I'm about to use Grand Emily. Okay, thank you. So as you may have seen in our video, we're competing in TARC, which stands for the American Rural Country Challenge. And we qualify for nationals. Which means we were the top 100 teams out of 800 in the US. And as such, we have to go to Washington DC to compete. But that does cost a lot. And like plane tickets are $900, hotel fees per person, per person, each way? Yeah. Oh, round trip. OK. Still, that's a lot. And there's seven people going, so that's like, oh, that's a lot. I'm not going to do the math. And we have to pay for food, rental cars, hotel fees, a lot more.

[5776] SPEAKER_13: So I'm Isaac Pinedo. I'm the treasurer of our Rocketry Club, and I'm in charge of the GoFundMe. So the GoFundMe, we need approval. And we also need around, I think, $10,000 for the GoFundMe to pay for plane tickets, hotel booking, rental car, basic necessities like water, chairs. We just need a lot of money, and we're hoping that the community and the board can help us with providing that money so we can go to nationals, hopefully win. And yeah, from there, just see how far we can get with Rocketry, hopefully going internationals if we can. So if you want to donate, My email is ipaneto2006 at gmail.com. And we also have an Instagram, which is NMHS Rocketry. And we post frequently there about our activities, what we do. And we also update how it's going in nationals. So this year, we'll keep you updated about what's going on. And yeah. If you have any questions, now's the time to ask.

[5860] Phuong Nguyen: Congratulations on making nationals. That's huge. And I know that you guys went, or a different team last year went. And so really excited for all of you guys to be able to have this experience. And if you can repeat your email address slowly and spell out the whole.

[5884] SPEAKER_13: I-P-I-N-E-D. IPINEDO2006 at gmail.com.

[5900] Nancy Thomas: OK, great. Perhaps we can put that on the district Facebook page and website and see if we can get it on parents of NUSD. A lot of parents do that. I had the opportunity to learn about this the other night when I was at the PTSA meeting at the high school. And I threw in $100, and I would challenge my board members to join and give whatever they can. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments?

[5938] Carina Plancarte: Yes, sure. This is incredible, and I feel very honored to be here in your presence. This is amazing, and challenge accepted. All right.

[5947] Michael Milliken: So I can't promise we'll put your email on the website, but we'll try to let everybody know about your accomplishments and your fundraiser.

[5959] Nancy Thomas: And we can always, you can always direct, have them direct the checks to the high school care of the, yeah, Brocketry, but it's SBA. I mean, ASB, got it backwards.

[5976] Aiden Hill: And then just clarification, you've set up a GoFundMe page.

[5980] SPEAKER_13: We're working on setting up a GoFundMe. We just need approval, and then we can set it up.

[5985] Aiden Hill: Approval from the district? Yep. OK. All right. I mean, I don't know if we can.

[5991] Michael Milliken: We can't conduct business in an impromptu fashion like this.

[5994] Aiden Hill: But we will follow up. Sure. And then that way, we can avoid the email issue. But you can post the GoFundMe link, and then people can contribute, potentially.

[6005] Michael Milliken: We can follow up and we recognize the board's interest in supporting this. Sure.

[6010] Nancy Thomas: Yep. Thank you.

[6011] SPEAKER_13: Thank you. Any other questions?

[6014] Phuong Nguyen: Good luck. Thank you. Congratulations.

[6017] SPEAKER_15: Thank you very much.

8.2 Public Comment on Agenda Items

[6027] Nancy Thomas: Next, we have public comment on agenda items. Ms. Cindy Parks would like to talk about 12.1, the HVAC phase 2. OK, we'll have her come when the item is called. Superintendent.

9. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

9.1 Superintendent Report

[6051] Michael Milliken: We know many of you came for the Coyote Hills presentation. We're going to be here for a couple hours, so there's no expectation that everyone stay. If you're here for a specific speaker, thank you. And, okay, yes, we also have a SEAL presentation. I got it. I'm starting to read the room. All right. Ms. Pierce, a lot of our updates for the board have to do with Ed Services. So you took the lead on that. Thanks for doing that. And I'll hand the mic to you.

10. STAFF REPORT

[6086] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Of course. Yes, they're here. They're ready for the next exciting presentation from SEAL. I would like to take a moment, though, while we're bringing this up to say, I didn't say this earlier, but I mean this wholeheartedly. The challenges that Coyote Hills Elementary faced last year were pretty significant. The staff that is in this room, I know you got a little emotional earlier, but I also sort of got emotional just sort of seeing how you all stood up for each other just being here tonight. I've just... You guys are amazing. Thank you so much. So you really are our staff spotlight tonight and we just really appreciate everything that you do. Okay. I'm going to keep it together. I promise. All right. Moving on, we just, we are in the process. We are underway with curriculum adoption for ELA. We are getting representatives from each grade level across the district. More information will be coming out about this soon, but sort of you can see the you are here. We've still got a long way to go, but we are trying to select the two publisher materials that we would then be piloted over the course of next year. So we will continue to update you as we move forward on this timeline. But for now, we just want you to know it's underway and we're getting started. We just had the Rocketry Club come to us. I also wanted to do, I can't put a student email up there, but I certainly can put Mr. Goldsmith's email up there. So if you are interested in supporting the Rocketry Club, you can also email Mr. Goldsmith or the school. And again, checks can be made out to Rocketry ASB if you don't want to wait on their GoFundMe. Speaking of which, we have our STAR program, really our STEAM program, that starts TK-12. And so this is some robotics that's happening at our middle school. Again, as we start to go all the way down in terms of our maker spaces and our STEAM computational thinking habits of practice and mind, we're starting early. So I continue to share some of this great work. Speaking of which, this is our sixth grade mathematics students who are actually engaging, as you can see, with equivalent expressions. So again, just thinking about how we are starting early. And we've shared a lot of some of the work that we've done with our kinders and our first graders and second graders. And I also wanted to share some of the work that we're doing at our middle school and our high school as well. We also had the Heart and Hustle Awards. So these are future Newark Memorial High School stars, where during the camp that was held at Newark Memorial High School for softball, there were two awards that were given out to some of our little ones. And they were called Heart and Hustle Awards. And so they threw out the first pitch of our Newark Memorial High School softball game. They ran the bases. And I just wanted to share this sort of heartwarming event, since not all of us could be there. Similarly, we have Cougar Camp coming up. This is a fundraiser for our leadership. I'm sure member Torres can tell us a little bit more if you're interested. And this happens on April 22nd. So this is coming up if you're interested. The proceeds go towards leadership at the high school. It's a really fun event. We encourage everyone to attend. If you're interested in where we are with our stadium and track project as well, there will be a community meeting at 6.30 p.m. at Newark Memorial High School Library. Come, learn more, use your voice. We'll be excited to see you there. And, oh, did I say, what did I say? I'm sorry, may, thank you. And that is it. We're keeping it short.

[6305] Nancy Thomas: I hope everyone had a really restful and rejuvenating spring break Last week and we're excited to start our process of closing out the year and finishing strong Thank you My only question is that Cougar camp is coming up in two days and it's not very expensive can can folks just show up or how can how can they quickly let you know that they want their child to attend?

[6335] Diego Torres: Oh, if they want to sign up to attend?

[6337] Nancy Thomas: Pardon?

[6337] Diego Torres: Wait, like you're asking if they want to sign up to attend?

[6340] Nancy Thomas: Well, we're just telling them now, and I know there's room available. Yeah, there is. So how can people in two days, how can they let you know they want to go?

[6351] Diego Torres: So there's actually a form that you can fill out. I think we have the form. On our Instagram, I think that's the best way probably to access the forum right now that I can think of on top of my head. There's probably other ways to access it, but the Instagram is probably the best one. And our Instagram is NMHS Activities. So there's a form that you can fill out, and then it has all the information. It goes in more in depth, too. And I actually have it open, too. So if anyone is interested, they can ask me.

[6375] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Superintendent or staff report.

10.1 SEAL Programming (Sobrato Early Academic Literacy)

[6388] Nicole Pierce-Davis: All right, without further ado, our SEAL presentation is ready. We'd love to give you an update on all of this work. I'd like to first introduce Ms. Abbey Keirns, who will then introduce the rest of the team. Come on up. Ms. Ashmore and Ms. Nickerson, would you like to join her now? Or I should have waited for the appropriate introductions.

[6411] Abbey Keirns: Good evening, Board of Trustees, and a warm welcome to Trustee Plancarte and Executive Cabinet. So I'm going to be presenting on Sobrato Early Academic Language Program. I presented last year around this time. So the Sobrato name just refers to the funding source when it was initially established. I just want to clarify that. don't wanna play, make all my language clear, sorry. Let's see, today we're really excited to be presenting tonight and I'm very happy to be presenting alongside Kim Nickerson who is a 25 year veteran in our district and focuses on the upper elementaries and also happy to present with Mikayla Ashmore, who's got nine years of experience and primarily focuses on the primaries. So tonight I'll share a little bit of background on SEAL, the investment, the implementation status, and some of the impact we see so far. I just want to clarify that this is informational, no decisions required by the board tonight. So, all right. OK, so here's just a comparison between the SEAL model organizational mission and our NUSD mission. And I'd just like to point out the alignment. We are there about high quality education. We are about inspiring all kids to achieve their full potential. I think the emphasis here would be to point out that they're focused on the prevention of long term English learners. And similarly, we're focused on all kids achieving their full potential. So just quickly pointing out that we have 19% of our English learners are long-term English learners. That means they've been an English learner for six or more years. And 8% of our students are at risk of becoming a long-term English learner, meaning they're in their fourth or fifth year. So this is an important group for us to serve to be able to achieve our mission. So just a quick slide about the research base for the SEAL model. It's rooted at the intersection of research and educational equity developed by Dr. Lori Olson, who is one of the kind of founder, one of the key authors of the ELD framework. The organization's been instrumental in a lot of statewide policy, including the EL roadmap, and their work is expanding across the state. So currently 113 schools and 24 districts do this model. Not all of our schools are SEAL schools. We are intentional about that. Two of our schools which are Schilling and Coyote Hills have high concentrations of English learners and low-income students and so we're trying to show here in this slide that those schools are significantly above the district average of 20% and 40% in those two categories. So for Schilling they have 40% English learners and 60% low-income students. And Coyote Hills has 28% and 50%, respectively. So we are inequity-focused in this initiative and just want to make sure we're centering on serving the places where there's the highest concentration of need. So what does the program look like currently? There's two phases of the work happening simultaneously. We have our TK3 program that launched in 2019, and we just launched the 4-5 cohort last year. So we are almost done with training all the teachers in our TK3 cohort. Not a small feat. And we're going to be celebrating their graduation, in a sense, from the program next week. You're welcome to attend. And our four or five teachers will graduate from the program at this time next year. So we wanna just show that there's a significant number of teachers that we've trained. However, because of different factors, not all of those teachers are still with us. So for one of the reasons is we launched the program in 2019, we had four schools and since then have consolidated down to two. And in that process, we lost 11 teachers out of the 35 in this group. And then also, we've had a significant amount of turnover. But the third reason, I think, is kind of an exciting one, which is two of our still-trained teachers have become the administrators at the school. So that's a good reason. So next, we're going to look at the impact of the program, specifically on the relationship between the impact on kids, the impact on teachers, and the impact on the broader school community and the community at large. And I will invite Michaela and Kim up to the podium.

[6700] SPEAKER_03: So our focus for achievement today is on the student story, and the information and lived experiences we often miss when we look at only numbers. So this is a story about a boy who represents every potential long-term English learner. In our system since kindergarten, he kept very quiet through first grade. He spent second grade in distance learning, Upon reentering school in third grade, he continued to remain silent during lessons and not participate in even partner discussions. Then last January, his teacher began her SEAL training and started implementing strategies in both social studies and science. It wasn't until Summer Bridge, where he was immersed in SEAL strategies, did he finally find his voice. He began participating in small groups on day three, and by day five, he was raising his hand to share his thinking with the class. Now, in fourth grade, with his teacher using similar SEAL strategies, this student has completely transformed into a student who participates in classroom discussions regularly, filled with academic language. With consistent implementation of SEAL strategies between all his teachers, Mrs. Irwin, Mrs. Trotter, and Ms. Bloom, we are serving his language needs as well as his individualized educational goals. However, it's more than just consistency. These SEAL strategies are designed for English language learners to make content more comprehensible and give them the language to participate.

[6817] SPEAKER_39: Hi, I have the pleasure of talking to you about the impact that SEAL has on our teachers. So professional learning can be broken down into a three-part cycle. That first part is our module training, and that's professional development given by SEAL. It's six sessions over the course of two years, and some of those topics include oral academic language, collaborative practices, and the world in the classroom. Following a module training, Kim and myself put on a unit development day for each of our grade levels. During this time, we bring all of our teachers together. We start the day by grounding ourselves in the standards and framework, and then our teachers are able to create resources based on the strategies they were taught at our module training. Unit development days have become integral part of our training because it imprints the training our teachers have just received while they're developing a unit that they can begin to use in the next couple of weeks. Following a unit development day, we get to our favorite part, which is collaboration and coaching. At this point, Kim and myself prep the units for the teachers. And then we are able to deliver them. We try to align that best with a collaboration grade level meeting in which they map out what the next six weeks of the unit will look like. We ask them any of the parts that they would like us to demo or model for them and put that down on our calendar. But we also send out a weekly coaching schedule that they can sign up for continued support. At this point, then the cycle starts over. We would have another module training followed by unit development day and then our favorite part of collaboration. and coaching. a good part. We get to highlight some of the things that Newark Unified has done so far this year. As mentioned before, our fourth and fifth grade teachers have started their SEAL training this year. Last month, they've just received module three training, which means that they have one more year of training. We look forward to continuing their learning. Cohort two has module six training on April 25th and 26th. And on April 26th at approximately 2 p.m. they will receive their certificate of completion, which we would love for any of you if you can. I know your schedule is busy to attend. We get to say individual kind words about each of the teachers and then they will get their certificate. And we're just really proud of the hard work that they've put in through the pandemic and everything in between. Since we are implementing SEAL at Schilling and Coyote Hills TK all the way up to fifth grade, SEAL has become a site initiative at each of those sites. and within our contract we have professional development for site initiative and so our wonderful principals have given us two Fridays so far this year to work with our teachers on Friday. This picture right here is a group of our second grade teachers and they are brainstorming first what is happening inside of their unit but next about collaborative practices that their students will be able to do. The goal for that is that the teams of students would be able to do these collaborative practices while a teacher pulls their designated ELD lessons or small groups. And then last but not least, we are moving towards SEAL's sustainability model, which building upon the foundation Newer Unified has created and the well-established cycle we're currently on, we will be able to train and onboard new teachers at a lower cost. And this will start next school year.

[7037] SPEAKER_03: All right. One final impact that we would love to share with you is something we heard earlier. The SEAL strategy that we finally got to implement because of the pandemic, which is the gallery walk. As Mrs. Palomino talked about earlier, the gallery walk is an activity at the end of a unit, which allows students to summarize their learning and continue using the vocabulary and knowledge that they have been developing as they share with their families, and or other students. What we have witnessed in all of those gallery walks is students owning their learning, literally teaching their families. And we know what they say, the highest level of understanding is the ability to teach someone else. The picture on the far left is of a student who was taught rigorous social studies content with high academic vocabulary in English. Now, he is translating his learning into Spanish so that his family can participate in his education. We saw this across the board in many home languages. And in my opinion, that's actually the highest form of learning. The picture next to it is of a third grader taking on a teaching role with her kindergarten buddy. Another student who is very quiet and timid, this third grader beamed with pride. She stood up tall as she explained what words meant, elaborated on ideas, and gave examples to help her buddy understand the content. The environments being cultivated in our CL classrooms ensure both that children and their families feel accepted and included.

[7158] Abbey Keirns: So looking ahead, I just have to pause and celebrate the work of the coaches and the school leaders in this. So Michaela and Kim, you have been incredible at the curriculum development, holding the vision, bringing people into the vision, prioritizing, and for school leaders, inspiring people, holding us up to high expectations, creating the space for people to come together. It's impossible to do this work without people who step up in this way. So as we move forward, we're going to become more dependent on the leadership of you all, because we are going to be moving away from SEALs assistance and direct support. So you'll see in the LCAP, about $35,000 for an upcoming contract to finish out the training. You'll also see a portion of one of our coaches' salaries. The other portions come from Title III dollars, as well as our Educator Effectiveness Grant funds. So that is it for today, and I just wanted to make sure we had a moment to celebrate and look forward to some great work coming for our students. Thank you.

[7233] Nancy Thomas: Comments? Ms.

[7234] Phuong Nguyen: Nguyen? Well, since the student board member and I are debating whether or not he's going to go first, he graciously allowed me to. So thank you, student board member Torres. I just want to say thank you again. I know last year when you presented, your team presented this to us, it was I was really inspired and was emotional about it. But just to see the progress that everybody's been making and the empowerment that you, Ms. Nickerson, and Ms. Ashmore have empowered the rest of the team and the teachers that you're training. But that empowerment not only is extending through the teaching staff. It is also, more importantly, the empowerment and the confidence in the students and their ability to read and comprehend and then also teach their family and friends what they've learned. So that says a lot. And I just want to really congratulate you all on all your hard work. And thank you. And I hope that SEAL continues to be a growing success. So thank you.

[7310] Kat Jones: I have a question for Kim and Michaela. Are you both of you on both campuses, or do you focus on one campus each? How does that work?

[7321] SPEAKER_39: Hi. Hi. So originally, we were at two sites each. And then it went down to me having two sites and Kim having Coyote Hills as the merge. And then this year, since we brought on 4-5, I am TK to 2, and Kim is 3-4-5. Great.

[7339] Kat Jones: Thank you so much.

[7342] Aiden Hill: Member Hill? So thank you, Ms. Kearns, Ms. Ashmore, and Ms. Nickerson. And I understand that this is challenging work. And I can see that you're putting in a lot of effort, and that's greatly appreciated. The question I have for all of you is, how can we measure progress and success with this program?

[7365] Abbey Keirns: Thanks. I know that the metrics, the numerics are missing from this. So I'm ready to address it. So we did do a comparison of SEAL versus non-SEAL classrooms. And so we are specifically interested in looking at growth. And the preliminary data suggests that there is a higher rate at which students are growing in SEAL classrooms. Well, I want to say preliminary for a couple reasons. One is that we know all of our SEAL teachers are not fully trained. And so any growth that's happening is happening even prior to doing full implementation of the program. Secondly, when we got into the numerics, there was some students that didn't have a fall and a winter score. And it was enough that I felt a little bit nervous about, not nervous, but just felt like it was an incomplete data set. So, for example, we had 275 students with scores in the fall, and we had 397 students with scores in the winter, and that was a pretty significant difference. Part of that is kindergarten, but yeah. When you say scores? Oh, I-Ready scores specifically, because that's our formative data on reading.

[7436] Aiden Hill: Okay.

[7437] Abbey Keirns: Yeah, pardon me.

[7437] Aiden Hill: And the reason why I ask this question is, believe me, I mean, so as a fellow teacher, I understand the challenges. And I've also lived through COVID, as you have, and have been faced with learning loss. And when I was going through my induction, and I completed that last year, I had two different induction teachers, one my first year, second one my second year. And my second year, you know, you have to establish learning goals. And I said, well, you know, it seems to me that one of the big issues that we're facing right now is I was seeing a lack of engagement on the part of kids. And I said, you know, we need to figure out how we can improve engagement. And fortunately, my induction mentor was a science teacher. And she said, great. How do we measure that? And then, basically, we brainstormed. And we talked about ways that we could actually put together some customized metrics to measure that. And it looked at sort of, you know, pre doing certain work and then implementing the change and then seeing what happened. And then looking at certain measurements. Some of it was how, you know, how many people participated initially, how many people were participating later. And then you mentioned things like academic language. You know, those are other elements that you could put into a rubric and say how much were our people using academic language pre and then kind of along the way. And so I would just encourage you that as you continue forward with this to the degree that we can get really granular around this, I think everybody's gonna benefit. But understand the difficulty of doing that. And so, again, you're doing God's work, so thank you.

[7538] Nancy Thomas: So Ms. Jones and I had the opportunity to visit SEAL classrooms at Schilling the other night. And it was amazing to look at the vocabulary on every single wall and to see the gallery walk wall. and to see students talking to their parents and showing them their work. And so it's all things that you touched upon. So it just seems to me that a little bit I'm reading about science of reading, building that vocabulary is critical. And I just saw a lot of vocabulary. I noticed you mentioned that there was a summer bridge program. Is there going to be one this year? Yes. So how many?

[7581] Abbey Keirns: It will run for two weeks. We have approximately nine teachers participating. It will take place at Schilling, and it will service about, let's see, I don't know how many kids per class, but I think about 15 kids per class, about 15 students per class.

[7597] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, and when you were talking about the I-Ready and the lack of scores, it made me think of the last presentation we had on I-Ready, and maybe, maybe Ms. Nicole can talk about that, but it isn't already something that every student should be taking. And why the discrepancy? That's my question, I guess.

[7625] Nicole Pierce-Davis: I can touch on that a little bit, but I don't want to speculate too much without Mr. Dolowich here. As Ms. Karen said, part of our kinder scores, our kinders do not take the fall. Some of it is just movement in and out of the district. And some of it is we've got new teachers coming in and sometimes the assessments just don't happen the way that we should. I will say that was an area that we reflected on and I'm hoping that you can see that in terms of continuous improvement, that was by far improved upon for our mid-year scores, right? We had much more students taking the test. We recognized that and sort of identified it and labeled it as sort of a problem of practice and we improved upon it in winter. And I shouldn't, I say we meaning the beautiful teachers, the teachers we see in the room here today. But we didn't sort of shy away from it, right? We didn't say, OK, well, we hit it head on, and I think you're seeing improvement now. Because the only way we're going to measure success and growth is if we actually take the assessments that we're putting so much time and energy into. Exactly.

[7687] Nancy Thomas: And I would like to echo what Member Hill was saying about making sure we're deliberate about measuring our impact. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[7701] Phuong Nguyen: Student board member would like to comment. President Thomas.

[7705] Diego Torres: I would just like to say that this is my first time ever learning about this program. I didn't really go to I didn't go to Schillinger or Coyote Hills. I went to BGI and I didn't have any understanding of what this program was before today. And so learning about this program it was really interesting to know like how it works and the ways that the students learn from this. And I just want to say, like, I hope you guys are incredibly proud of the work you do. Because knowing that students are proud of their work and showing other students is really incredible. Because I know for me, like, it's hard to be happy about my work. I'm just like, it's whatever. And I don't really like to talk about it. So it's really incredible to see other students teach their parents, teach their siblings about it. Because I know that is something that's really hard to do. And so to have them openly be proud about their work is wonderful to see. So I hope you're all incredibly proud of your hard work that you do. And I hope to see this program expand. So thank you.

[7764] Nancy Thomas: So next, we move on to item 10.2, special education update.

10.2 Special Education Update

[7770] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Nicole? This was a direct request from the board to provide. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Coyote Hills. Appreciate you. Thank you, SEAL. This was a request from the board to provide a special education overview, sort of a general summary, and so that's what we have our Director of Special Education, Ms. Rangel, doing here tonight. We hope to be able to give you that overview, answer any questions you may have, and then if we need to provide additional information, we can do so. I do want to just give a special thanks to Ms. Rangel. I know last year, our director of special education was in and out due to health reasons. It was quite challenging to keep the department going. And it's just been really nice to have Ms. Rangel here this year. So without further ado, come on up.

[7820] Olivia Rangel: Got to lower it a little bit. Good evening, Board President Thomas, board members, Dr. Milliken, Executive Cabinet, and community. I'm proud here tonight to present to you our special education overview at your request, and I hope that I can answer any questions you may have. So here's a small overview of our special education department. We are a tiny department at the district office, but mighty as we go into the schools. I am the director of special education. My role is really around working with the state on new initiatives, implementing them, new legal guidance, compliance, training and hiring. I then have my program specialist who really works on our procedures and processes. I'm in charge of communicating them and he's in charge of ensuring that they're occurring. We also have our administrative assistant, and she's really the backbone of our department. She is the one who worries about contracts and reminds me of budget and reminds me of all the important things, services. And she's been doing it for a long time. And also, she's a great support to me. Finally, we have, well, nope, not finally. We have our administrative secretary. So in special education, we have our own data system separate from Synergy. It's called SACE. And her role is to really review records, maintain records, clerical end of stays, and provide support. We also have our district nurse who's in charge of providing health procedural training to our staff who helps with students who have 504s or IEPs and have health or medical procedures that are needed. She also is in charge of vision and hearing screenings for students with IEPs solely. I'm going to talk about the service providers in a minute, because they deserve their own slide. So how does special education start? Of course, it starts with assessment. We cannot put a child in special education until an assessment is completed with parent consent. Now, anyone can really refer a student to special education through an SST process, a parent request, teacher, even doctors, and we will consider this assessment, and we have 15 days to consider that assessment. In that time, our school psychologists and team members look at records, review records, and see if the concerns are educationally related. We also wanna make sure that there aren't Concerns that aren't being addressed prior to assessment. So for example, if there's a language barrier, if there is an attendance concern. So we may ask the team to look back and look at SST process, see what might be other items that are impacting the student. But of course, we have to make sure to respond and assess when there is an educationally related concern. This is the breakdown. So in order to qualify for special education, there are 13 eligibility categories. Obviously, there's not 13 listed here, because currently we have no one that is deaf and blind at the same time. That is one together. Traumatic brain injury or a visual impairment. But primarily, we serve students with specific learning disability. My apologies, the words cut off. Speech and language impairment. autism, and other health impairment. And then you can read that there's orthopedically impaired, multiple disabilities, but you must have one of these qualifications to obtain an IEP. All right, I just wanted to make sure you are aware, I'm sure you all are, of IDEA. And this is the legal language that ensures that we are providing free and appropriate public education to our students and ensuring that we are addressing any barriers of learning as it impacts their education. So after these assessments are completed, the eligibility is determined. We look at the assessments to determine what services are needed. And so this is when I talk about our small but mighty group. Here are just some of the services we offer in special education. And again, all of these are based on assessment. We had some of our educational specialists here. We have nursing. Maybe the student needs individual intensive supports, behavioral supports. Each of these service providers ensures that the students are meeting goals, are receiving services to address those goals, and remove the barriers to their academics. We have, our main component that we offer is our educational and academic instruction. So I wanted to provide a brief overview, and this is probably the longest slide, so bear with me, around our different academic models across the district. We do have a preschool. It is our only preschool in Newark Unified. So there are three classes that are non-categorical. And so all of our students who are assessed in the preschool do spend two weeks on our site to receive their assessment. And at that time, they're either decided that, oh, they only need speech services and they can attend our speech only at BGP, or they do need the intensive SDC program in hopes that we can provide early intervention for them to be able to be more successful as they go into kinder. Then they also, at times, do not qualify. It may be, you know, it just might not be a match at their current preschool or the parent is seeing something in the home that's not happening in the school. From there, our preschool team then recommends to elementary. We do have our student's elementary resource program that looks like push in to the classroom or pull out. This is at the student's home school. So no one will be reassigned because we do have resource specialist program at each school site. Now if a child needs more intensive academic services, we do have special day classes. There are three different levels of specialty class. And so really, it's mild to moderate. We work in acronyms, so bear with me. And S is moderate to severe. And this year, we're beginning an autism-specific program. So our two mild-moderate programs are currently at Lincoln and Kennedy. Our autism-specific, which is shifting into next year, is at Birch Grove Primary. And Coyote Hills houses our moderate-severe program. Now, this is based on need and can change. So we may reduce SDC classes or find the need for another. So this is not permanent. And I know over the years, you've probably seen it move and shift at different school sites. As students move into secondary, we do have a resource program. In our pullout model, we call strategy structures and support. And we named it that so that students don't stand out when they're holding their, their brand new schedule they're excited to follow. And really that class is intended to provide students with supports to achieve their IEP goals, address executive functioning concerns, scaffold and support them with their homework. So yeah, it's a newer program and that's what we offer at both the junior high and the high school as well as pushing to classes as appropriate. Our secondaries also host mild, moderate, and moderate severe classes. Our students in secondary specifically at the high school and mild, moderate are on diploma track. They are expected to reach the 230 units as appropriate per their IEP. But their classes are taking the essential standards and reducing it down to meet their needs. We introduced at the secondary site a new concept, which is called the BLAST program. BLAST stands for Behavioral Learning and Social Teaching. This is one of our classes that is intended to address our students who need more counseling support, who may need more behavioral learning, more structured support in order to be successful. And that is both at the junior high and the high school. Now, if you aren't aware, we have to serve our students with special needs until they obtain a diploma or until they turn 22. So some of our students, specifically in the moderate-severe, and I know you brought, Ms. Jones, you brought up the new state legislature, which we could talk about in a moment, but typically our students in moderate-severe graduate with something called a Certificate of Completion, and we serve them until they're 22. And so at that point, they've aged out of the high school, they receive a certificate of attendance, and they move to our Bridgepoint Campus. And at our Bridgepoint Campus, we have the TAL program, which stands for Transition to Adult Living and Learning. And the students start to do a lot less academics and actually go into the community. They work with Roundtable and CVS. And the goal is that they are hired there when they turn 22. So we're really trying to get them ready for being a part of their community. OK. Of course. The IEP team is extremely important because while a child can stay in mild-moderate, that's not always the case. They may make progress and move to RSP. And every year we reevaluate their goals, their progress, and make adjustments to their accommodations, modifications, different services as needed and as they grow. And really, we need the right people at the table to have that conversation. And yes, there are required members, such as the parent, a general education teacher, and administrator. But there are also service providers and special educators that are at the table as well. And it takes the whole team to really see the different sides of the student to provide them the education that they deserve. As any department, we have our areas of growth as well. When I took on this role as the director, I had this goal in mind of community collaboration and compliance. And really, I saw the need to kind of bring our community back together, be able to address their needs, as well as have our team, our special ed and our general education team members collaborate more, and then finally address some compliance issues, because that's really my role. But I am going to talk about ways that we've done that this year, as well as the other four areas of focus, which are areas of disproportionality, staffing, budget and transitions. Okay, so we are in our third year of disproportionality in this specific area. And the area is over identified, sorry, over identification of our Hispanic and Latino students as specific learning disability. So the state does provide us this data. They provide us specific case studies of students and their IEPs, recommendations on things we should look at, and questions to think about. And then our job is to create a plan. And so I'll talk about that plan a little bit later. And we submit it to the state, and they review it, and they approve, and we move from there. Another area not identified necessarily by the state, but it's interesting to look at is we are over identifying students with special needs. So as you can see the state average is 12.7% and we are currently identifying 13.8% of our population to be students with special needs. I did want to include our SELPA partners because in our SELPA is Fremont and New Haven, and we do align practices. We do trainings together for families, trainings together for staff, and they are significantly below our percentage. So really just looking at what are our processes and procedures, ensuring that we're complying with legal law as well as making the right decisions at each IEP to determine what's going on here. What other ways can we support them prior? So some of the strategies that we have in our plan to remedy this disproportionality is we are redefining our SST process. Currently, it looks very different at each school site. So we're streamlining with one way of, one form on the SST process. online platform. Currently, we're still paper and pen for SST processes. So we have included in SACE the second part of the package, which is called SST and beyond. And it really just ensures that we're trying interventions, keeping track of those interventions, and seeing how our students progress with those interventions prior to identifying them for assessment. The rollout will happen and training will happen next year. This was our year of planning. And then also, of course, training our staff. That means not just our teachers, but our administrators as well on how to navigate this new process. In addition, when our psychologists assess, we used to use a discrepancy model for specific learning disability, and now we're looking more at patterns of strengths and weaknesses. So in the last couple years, all of our psychologists, our three psychologists that are districts, they have been trained in patterns of strengths and weaknesses along with their peers in New Haven and Fremont to really align practices on, you know, is it just a discrepancy or is there a real pattern that is happening here? Another area of growth is our staffing and budget. And I put them on the same slide, and you'll soon see why. But they are definitely impacting one another. Obviously, there is a nationwide shortage of teachers, but especially special educators. And I say educators instead of teachers because the shortage doesn't just stop with teachers. It is our paraprofessionals. It is our speech and language therapists, even our psychologists. And so, of course, that has a larger impact on the budget because we are required to provide services to our students. We then have to find another means to provide those services, which is through contracts. So a large impact on the budget are around contracts for vacancies and services. In addition, we have our NPS and residentials, which is also a requirement. If we feel we cannot serve them within the school site, we do look at another way of serving them. But we do try our best to keep them in the least restrictive environment, which is their school, as well as transportation. And I did create a grid that I'll get into in the next one. I also want to say that the impacts of COVID, I think, you know, I heard Mr. Hill, you talk about learning loss, and there has been a lot of learning loss. And so sometimes that looks like this kid is not catching up. Are they? And it's hard to determine, is it a special education issue or is it impacts of COVID? And so really training and providing our staff with measures to look at early interventions before moving to assessment. So again, some other areas and ways we are addressing this is resetting the protocols and procedures. I think during the pandemic, it got, just for example, counseling. I'll talk about counseling a little bit. we've seen an increase in mental health needs. Now, is that always a special education and a mentally, I mean, an educationally related concern, or is it a lower level tier one that the impacts of COVID were different, right? So just making sure our staff is trained at looking at what is actually educationally related and what is something that can be addressed outside of the IEP. Training on those protocols with staff. In collaboration with HR, we've worked on hiring, posting early, interviewing as soon as they apply, and putting forth applicants that are viable. And then also, I just want to talk a little bit about legislation day. So I heard Ms. Nguyen at the last meeting, you're like, what can we do? Because obviously, the budget for special education is not just not enough for Newark, it's statewide and it's a problem. So we do have a very involved parent, Ms. Vianos Vega, and she has been an advocate for her child for many years since I started as the program specialist, and we've worked well together. And so I said, hey, you are so passionate about this, why don't we go together to Sacramento? And so it's legislation day, and so on May 3rd, we will be heading up there together with a translator for her, and we will be advocating to our senators for more funding for special education students. OK. So here is a brief overview of, and let me just step back a little bit. So in this pie chart, we did remove current NUSD classified and certificated staff. So this is without those, with those removed, what does the funding look like? And so 61% of our funding is contracted vacancies and services. Transportation is another large cost, and so is non-public school and RTCs. Now, some of those, even if we do hire, the services in particular will not go away, because we do have some small services that we don't need a person, a full FTE for, or even a part-time FTE for, such as physical therapy, audiology, and others like that. All right, another area of focus is staff training. And this is just one slide that you can look at on your own around all the training we provided. But one of our proudest was in January, we did provide universal design for learning for all general education teachers. And we provided that support to really talk about tier 1 and tier 2 supports, as well as small accommodations and modifications to support our students, our general education students before recommending them for special needs. The last area of growth was around transitions. Our parents in our first couple of meetings, they said it was really, really rough. As a mom who just went through putting her child in middle school, I understand. with a general education student, you're worried about all the things to come. Well, imagine if your child has autism. So I really listened to the parents, and they said, we just need to understand what is offered at different levels. What does a transition IEP look like? So we did, with their feedback, we did earlier projections to support our staff in knowing where students may go, what is available out there before they held the meetings with the parents and made those determinations. We also had timely better with our timely communication. And then I did provide the transition town hall. This is a link. So if our parents want to see about transition, it was about an hour and a half long meeting where parents were able to really obtain all the information they needed for those meetings. We also held a number of SELPA trainings provided to the parents, and then coffee with the director. All right, this is my last slide. Lastly, we want to encourage parent involvement. So we do have a community advisory committee through our SELPA in which our parents can participate. The community advisory committee wants to hear from our parents, so this is also a link to our assessment survey to see what our parents need. I have my final directors meeting coming up. I listed some SELPA trainings, but I want to end with the two major events. One is our Special Olympics event at James Logan High School, May 5th. And I want to encourage our families. We have the Sarah Awards, which is Special Education Recognition Awards. And we want to encourage our families to nominate anyone who supports their child with special needs. In the past, we've had our best drivers, our office managers. So it doesn't just have to be a special educator, it can be anyone. All right, that ends my presentation. Thank you so much for your time.

[9128] Richelle Piechowski: Thank you.

[9133] Nancy Thomas: Comments by the board?

[9136] Maria Huffer: Ms. Wynn?

[9137] Phuong Nguyen: You want to go first? I've been going first. Thank you. Ms. Rangel, for the presentation, I just really want to commend you and your staff. I know that you once, you're in this position now for a full year? Almost. Almost a full year. And I love the fact that, you know, you took the time to reassess the program and have really, really made a huge effort to turning the program around. And I just really want to commend you and your staff for that. especially because in the parent and family advocacy and the transition, my cousin, my nephew is in the program. for preschool and she really, really appreciates the timely communication and all of that, all the early projections that you guys have been working with families on. And that has been a huge difference. I truly believe that builds, you know, solid relationships with family and trust. So I just wanted to say thank you for that. And then lastly, I just wanted to really give a shout out to Ms. Jeanette. He's in her class. And Avery is autistic and he was nonverbal from the ages of seven. well, from birth to three. And when he got into Ms. Jeanette's class, that's when he started to really blossom and started to vocalize. And now he's just a talking parent, which is great to see him shine and thrive. So that's due to the love and care that your staff has. So I just wanted to thank them.

[9238] Maria Huffer: Thank you. Thank you so much. I'll share that with them. Member Hill.

[9244] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Ms. Rangel, for the presentation. Two questions. If we could go to slide 10. That's the next one up. There you go. So, yeah, disproportionality, right? So I think, you know, what you're hitting at here is that, unfortunately, when it comes to special education, that sometimes you have students that have, that English is not their native language. And so therefore, they have additional learning challenges, and sometimes those get misdiagnosed as special education issues rather than learning issues. Am I kind of summarizing that correctly?

[9290] Olivia Rangel: It could be that but it could also just be we could be misdiagnosing for other reasons maybe attendance or Okay, so not not just language.

[9299] Aiden Hill: Okay, but that but that basically there's some percentage of kids that get improperly diagnosed as special ed when they really shouldn't and and what you and you said that and data supports this across the state that that oftentimes Latino, you know, people that are a part of the Latino community have a higher representation, right, in that. And so you kind of note that. But since I am always interested in numbers, I just sort of did a back-of-the-envelope analysis and I just wanted to confirm, you know, directionally correct. So what I think you're saying with this slide is that on average what the state is seeing is that there should be, you know, roughly 12.7% of people of kids that are classified as special ed were 13.8, so we're 1.1% above. And so if we then take and just apply that to our numbers, And so let's say attendance is roughly, I mean, our enrollment's roughly 4,900. Take that, divide that by half, because roughly 50% of our kids are of Latino heritage. And then multiply that by the additional 1%. So we're talking about roughly about probably an additional 26 kids or so that we think are potentially misdiagnosed. Is that what those numbers are saying? And I know that I'm kind of putting you on the spot, but does that sound directionally correct?

[9385] Olivia Rangel: That was very quick math, so I had a hard time following.

[9387] Michael Milliken: For me, I would do the 1.1 across the entire population. OK. So 1% of 5,000 is 50. And the disproportionality has to do with the red and the blue. So for example, if you look at all our students in the top chart, You know, if you add our Hispanic Latino population to our Asian population, you get roughly three quarters. Well, when you look at the students who are diagnosed, not diagnosed, but have an IEP in the lower chart, you see a lot more blue and a lot less red. Right.

[9432] Aiden Hill: So on a percentage basis, you're saying that of all students, Hispanic account for 52%. But students with special needs, is it 64%?

[9442] Michael Milliken: Correct. Right. And so that's the disproportionality that the state is seeing, that they're seeing, yes, I mean, compared to the state average, we're over-diagnosing our entire population. But when you break it down by race and ethnicity, you might say were, you know, our Asians with IEPs are considerably a smaller percentage of the pie than the overall population. So, relatively to the overall population, we're under identifying our Asians and over identifying our Hispanic and Latinos if you would expect, like I believe the state expects, your students with IEPs to reflect your overall population if you were to break it down by race and ethnicity. Is that, am I?

[9500] Nicole Pierce-Davis: That is correct. OK. And just to provide a little historical analysis here, we've done that for three years in a row. not just for students that identify as Latinx or Hispanic. In previous years, we were over-identifying African-American students. We have since resolved that between last year and this year, but now this persists, right? Probably in part due to language barrier that does cause that that is that is a cost but historically the disproportionality or the over identification of specific students of specific of color specifically Have been over identified now for three years in a row okay, and so and again, I apologize, but just it's always helpful for me to understand the numbers and so that that that

[9548] Aiden Hill: Second bullet point over identification of students. So what we're saying is of the students that have been classified as special needs Historically in the state 12% of or almost 13% have been have been misdiagnosed Right. So this I mean, it's not what we're saying or

[9569] Michael Milliken: We're saying that overall, 12.7% of all the students in the state have an IEP. OK. And that in our district, 13.8% of our overall population have an IEP. So just as a point of comparison for the state average, that's not to say that the state average is what we ought to be aiming at. It's just a point of reference. And that's why I believe Director Rangel added Fremont and New Haven for additional points of reference because it seems to me we ought to be aiming for, you know, 10% rather than 12.7.

[9609] Aiden Hill: And so what we're saying there or what I think I'm hearing is that According to the state, on average, you're going to have 12.7% of your population classified as specialists. Yeah, having an IEP. Having an IEP. And even within that percentage, there's probably some disproportionality. We just don't.

[9633] Michael Milliken: Oh, I would expect that there's disproportionality at the state level, too.

[9637] Olivia Rangel: Oh, absolutely. And I'll just even say this. In Fremont, while their percentage of special education is low, they're disproportionate in six other areas. So it is really all relative. But I do appreciate you trying to dig down to understand.

[9653] Aiden Hill: Right. But in essence, even with their baked in disproportionality at a state level, we're still 1% above that, right? Which is the total number. Correct. Which isn't. So we don't know, right? But again, we're higher than the average. Why is that, right? And disproportionality could be.

[9679] Michael Milliken: I think the way we're thinking of it is, yes, disproportionality could be a cause. And, you know, typically how districts approach this is they say to themselves, how could we make our general ed program more inclusive and supportive so that fewer students are referred for a special education assessment. And so that goes to universal design for learning, right?

[9711] Olivia Rangel: And the SST process that we're bringing on, as well as I'm hearing them talk about Schilling and Coyote Hills and the SEAL update, I know anecdotally that we've had less requests for assessment from those two school sites. So those are the data points that, you know, when you ask for a data point from them, I was thinking back there. I'd love to go up there and say, let's look at assessments, requests for assessments. Because it is also, we have to address some of the teaching as well.

[9738] Aiden Hill: So that leads to my second question. And I'm sorry to belabor this, but just like this is a super, super, in my opinion, a super important point, not just for learning, but also for the budget. Because if we go to the next slide, so my question is, I know anecdotally, we haven't I don't think the board has been presented you know a specific financial analysis here but that anecdotally you know we end up referring a lot of our special needs situations we outsource it I forget what the term is right but we contract contracting it okay so we can't satisfy it internally so my my question is and maybe this is something that we could get you know more briefing on later on is How do we compare in terms of the state averages around, you know, how much do we have to contract out versus the state average? And then what do we think are the drivers of that if we are above in terms of contracting out? What do we think are potentially the root causes and what might be some mitigations that we could put in? Because ultimately the challenge is that if we are above some type of average, and we're in a structural deficit. It's just, again, we're robbing Peter to pay Paul. How can we figure out how to solve this problem and reduce this budget exposure. And I'm not expecting an answer to that.

[9826] Michael Milliken: No, and the short answer to that, at least as I understand it, oftentimes we contract out when we can't fill a posting, right? So what's a service provider, for example, right now for which you contract out?

[9842] Olivia Rangel: Speech and language. So one of our contracts, Ascend Rehab Services, they are a $2 million contract that is for speech and language services only.

[9854] Michael Milliken: Right. So that can sometimes be a, I don't know that it's fair to look at our contracted services vis-a-vis the state because labor markets are more regional than statewide, right? So maybe that would be something we look at across the county or across the Bay Area. But, you know, one of the things you've done or are about to do tonight is to pay more competitively and then hopefully we can attract our own speech and language. Do you call them pathologists here? not my favorite term, but yes, speech and language pathologists, and attract them so that we can hire them in-house. And even at a, you know, the increased compensation that we're now going to be offering next year to our in-house people, that will still be less expensive than the contracted out service.

[9922] Aiden Hill: Yeah, I mean, so I understand. And so I mean, and that's what I think would be a really helpful, maybe follow up analysis is to be able to say, OK, here's the here's X amount that we're we're spending on contract services. let's now do a pie chart and let's identify what are the categories. And so if the biggest one turns out to be speech and language development, and that accounts for, you know, I don't know, $200,000, whatever the, you know, probably more. Maybe it's a half a million bucks, right? And if we say, if we can get the, if we can go out and hire somebody to do that and provide those services, and the cost to us is half of that is $130,000 or whatever it is. I don't know what it is. then we're going to be able to theoretically recoup that money or not expend that money. And that money goes back into the general fund. But what would be helpful is to actually really be able to say, you know, and to start to, you know, eat away at the pie and to say, what are the things where we're understaffed or whatever the root cause is? And then how do we put targeted initiatives in place to go attack that and address that so that we then don't have to contract out?

[9991] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill is referring to my question as well. If you go to the next, you ask more than two questions. We have a limit of two questions, and he's taken up an inordinate amount. So my question is getting at this slide. And this is exactly what Member Hill is talking about. You look at the contracted vacancies and services. Let's break that down. Is it teachers, or is it pathologists, speech pathologists? And how are we going to minimize that big chunk? And the other one is NPS. And that seems to be too costly for our district. How do those two slices of the pie, the contracted vacancies and the NPS, how do they compare with Fremont and New Haven, for example?

[10044] Michael Milliken: I don't know that we are ready with all the comparative analyses. We'll look for opportunities to improve. In my experience, if you can't hire people to do the services you're legally obliged to provide to students with IEPs, then you've got to figure out another way to do it. And the most straightforward way is contracting out. That's the way the districts I've worked with previously have done it. You know, we could, you know, reach out to our network and Fremont and New Haven and see what they're doing. But, you know, we, you know, we're interested in getting better and controlling costs. But, you know, for me, the first, our first and foremost obligation is to serve the students that we have that have IEPs. and then collaborate between special education and the general education program so that we, and obviously HR where we're trying to do hiring and be competitive and recruit, but to make sure that our general education program is as inclusive as possible so that we're making fewer overall assessments and then being mindful of the disproportionality. Nicole, you wanted to say something.

[10131] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Yeah, I do want to say this. This has become a top priority for chief academic officers as well for Alameda County. So this was raised by fellow districts. We are now coming together as sort of a community of practice around this for two reasons. One, we're all having to contract out. And so what we're trying to do is get agreements between districts around the cost of contracting out so that we're not all vying for the same services. That's one of our reasons. Two, we want to compare sort of the quality of these different contracted services. So rather than us each competing, which we've done for the last year, we're taking a new approach this spring and into next year around how do we work together. Now we'll see how this is, we're all, this is new territory, so we'll see how this works. But it is something that's been raised across the county. So when you talked about regional concerns, this is absolutely regional concern. But I do just want to put, again, an exclamation mark, or whatever you want to call it, on what Dr. Milliken just said. What we're trying to get at here is, if we can get quality gen ed services, we do want to drive that percentage down if possible. We don't want to do it at the risk of not identifying a student who needs the support. We never want to do that. But if we are noticing disproportionality and we're noticing that those data pieces it is it's a red flag and we need to be concerned about that. And so I think that's the work that we've been putting in at services and then within our district and then I think we also have some work to do across the county and Newark has absolutely been a partner in that work.

[10226] Nancy Thomas: Thank you very much. That was very informative.

[10229] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Can you count me in for May 3rd?

[10233] Richelle Piechowski: Yes. Yes, I will.

[10234] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you.

11. OLD BUSINESS

11.1 Guidance on Updating Board Policies

[10240] Michael Milliken: Thank you, Director Rangel. We appreciate your time tonight and the energy and leadership and commitment that you've brought to your role all year long. Thank you. Next we move on to old business and 11.1 guidance on updating board policies superintendent Thank you, so yes, we I'd like the board's guidance on this Nancy's you recall when I first took the position as interim you shared with me your interest in getting our board policies updated. And I said, one thing at a time, let me get oriented a little bit and find out where the bathroom is and those kinds of things. And then we, you know, have hit our stride and feel comfortable about, you know, our plans for next year. And I definitely wanted to bring this back to the board to get your advice, you know, Good news is we've already updated a good third of the policies that need updating. We have another two-thirds to go. Basically, we would like to continue with this work. We plan to partner with CSBA strategically to get them to be a second set of eyes to look over our work and make sure that we are truly caught up by next or by this August when we hope to be but you know in the short term what we would plan to do is rename the policies that need renaming, delete the policies that need deleting, and then for those that need a closer review we would be doing that in June. At that point, you know, we would expect to consult with a couple of board liaisons if you are amenable to that approach and then bring all of those policy revisions and updates from the June work to a first and second reading in August and have you review and approve them in a series of two meetings in August.

[10392] Nancy Thomas: Input from the other board members? I've given my input to Dr. Milliken several times.

[10400] Michael Milliken: Don't forget the paper, too.

[10402] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, I made a copy of every single policy that's missing because it has a wrong title. And I've given that to Dr. Milliken so he can make sure that the new title is really what the policy is about.

[10425] Kat Jones: I guess my feeling is that if you guys are comfortable with continuing with the way that it's gone, that if it's been working for you, then I would say let's continue to go that way. I really like the idea of a couple board members as liaisons to kind of go through it so that not everyone is having to read all of them.

[10457] Nancy Thomas: I agree with that. The only other input I had, and I think Dr. Milliken agrees, is that it's important that all the board members, when we are updating a policy, we get to see a markup of the old policy. Member Hill?

[10475] Aiden Hill: Go ahead. Yeah, I mean, I understand the fact that this work hasn't been done for a while, and so there's a backlog. But at the same time, I think it's a very important topic because these are, it's not CSBA policies, right? It's not district staff policies. It's board policies, right? And so we're an elected body and this is one of the key things that we make decisions on. And CSBA is an advisor to this, and certainly a respected advisor. But at the end of the day, I think that the reason that we've been elected is to provide definitely input and oversight. And I would agree that we don't want to have meetings ad nauseum. But the only concern that I have is I think that we really do need to have, as you're suggesting, maybe a smaller committee that works with staff on these and does get into the details and, as appropriate, escalates certain policies to the board level for discussion and you know and review because sometimes there are certain things that really the whole board needs to weigh in on. And so if we can have that kind of structure where we have a couple of people who the board has asked to serve as committee members to be involved in this and then to bubble up issues that that the whole board really needs to discuss. I mean, I'm fine with that.

[10577] Carina Plancarte: I just want to echo what you said. I think it's very important that we do designate a committee of board members and then if there are issues, you know, we bring them up and we collectively review them.

[10595] Diego Torres: I would just like to say that I don't know who said it, but someone said it, which I thought it was a great idea, is that, yeah, I think we should make a committee because I know for some of us that, like, or I know I'm just speaking for me, that it's really hard to go through, like, each policy one by one and see what needs fixing and stuff. So I do think that a committee would probably be the best, someone who can just designate their time to these policies. But I would still like to see the markups and the changes between one policy from the old to the new. So that's what I would just say, just to see the visual, what changed from policy to policy.

[10628] Nancy Thomas: Ms. Nguyen?

[10631] Phuong Nguyen: I don't have an issue with having a committee liaison. I mean, two members as liaisons to review the language and update the policies. But I just wanted to really, if we I don't necessarily think that the two committee members or the liaison board members that we appoint should be making any changes that are really not suggested or recommended by CSBA. So as closely to CSBA language as possible is what I would recommend, that we just don't go off the rails and make our own things without the rest of the board identifying it or understanding it. So that's my only concern.

[10685] Aiden Hill: And I would echo Ms. Member Nguyen's comments. So I think we should have full transparency. And again, we use CSB as the starting point. But if there are changes, I think that everybody ought to see what the changes are, where they're coming from. And if there are certain board members that feel strongly about something, that that be brought before the board to discuss and decide.

[10709] Michael Milliken: And how I'm envisioning this is oftentimes the CSB update will say, you know, option one or option two. Staff would recommend one of those two options, right, based upon the programs we have, our current practices, those kinds of things. the two board liaisons and the entire board would be able to see both option one and option two and which option we recommend. Now, I think the role of those two liaisons is not necessarily to sit there right with me as I'm picking option one or option two, unless you want to spend a week in June in my office. And that can be arranged, but rather You know, then once we take a first pass at it, here are the decisions we made, choices we made, whatever, we pass that along to those liaisons. They take a look. They pull out a handful that they feel as though the board ought to discuss, perhaps in a more substantive way. But then, you know, when we get to August, again, it's not a please pass these 100 policies in a single meeting, right? You have a first reading. And then you have the second reading and the action at the second meeting. At any point in that time, you know, any individual board member can ask that any individual board policy or a group of them get pulled out for more substantive discussion. So we're not expecting the two liaisons to be a rubber stamp, nor are we expecting the board to be a rubber stamp. And our commitment to you is to be transparent with regard to our recommendations.

[10818] Nancy Thomas: I would like to add, if I may, that there is one group of policies or the bylaws that I think the liaison should do hands-on and of course bring it to the board if there's any changes or suggestions.

[10839] Aiden Hill: And then I would just say, Dr. Milliken as a follow-up is and just echoing again and what I think it's already been said is that I just think we want to have full transparency around the process and so we're gonna we're gonna expect to see CSBA as the first cut right where they're coming in and based on their experience and talking with a variety of districts saying here's updates that need to occur or here's new policies that need to be considered and that almost that's sort of the de facto but then if staff has a viewpoint on that okay that's that's fine but we would want to be able to see transparency around here's staff's recommended edits. If the committee also says, well, we have some additional inputs that you would see another set of changes there, red lines. And so then ultimately the board can then see, OK, here's all the recommendations. Do I agree or does this need further discussion?

[10898] Michael Milliken: Understood.

[10899] Nancy Thomas: There are some policies that I think have been written by CSBA and we haven't picked up on. And I shared one with Ms. Pierce, Dr. Pierce, and that would be like the equity policy. So I don't know if having, I'm sorry, I've got to take my medication. But so those, I think, working with, working with CSB, they may be able to find policies that we just don't have, not just the ones that we need to update.

[10935] Michael Milliken: I will say, though, publicly, that when it comes to board policy, more is not necessarily better. Very few teachers, very few principals say to themselves, I have a challenge of practice that I need to tackle. let me go check board policy. Typically, you know, board policy is what people refer to when they're really mad and things are going bad. And so those board policies aren't always your friend. And so, you know, it's, for me, there will be times when, you know, okay, board policy is required, but there will be times when board policy is optional. In those cases, we may recommend that the board have a policy that's optional, and we may recommend that it not have a policy that's optional. So, you know, we'll give a rationale for that and do our best to explain. But please know that that's our thinking, too, is we're going to also try to have a filter of whether or not the district is better off with a given policy.

[11019] Jodi Croce: Anyone else?

[11020] Phuong Nguyen: No, I just wanted to thank Dr. Milliken for making that point. I think it's really important that staff really does have the first set of eyes on making changes to the policy that's recommended by CSBA and that, you know, we also do our due diligence. But it ultimately, you know, they run the district day in and day out. So they know if certain things apply and don't apply. So thank you.

[11048] Nancy Thomas: And I'd like to just add that, of course, there are policies that are required because of changes in the law and that we need to be aware of. So we need to make sure that we're identifying those.

[11062] Michael Milliken: Thank you. Then this doesn't need to be an action, but we would want to know who would be our two liaisons for this. Work again, this is expected to take place in June. If it's getting late and you'd rather revisit this at the next meeting, we can. But if it's, since we're discussing this topic and folks have wrapped their heads around it a little bit, if you have thoughts about who might be those two liaisons.

[11094] Nancy Thomas: I'd like to volunteer, given my interest.

[11105] Kat Jones: I would also be willing to be part of that.

[11111] Nancy Thomas: Anyone else want to? We can do a roll shamble or whatever we do.

[11119] Phuong Nguyen: Rock, paper, scissors? No, just kidding. Rock, paper, scissors? No, it's yours.

[11125] Nancy Thomas: I think we've got our liaisons.

[11127] Michael Milliken: OK, thank you.

12. NEW BUSINESS

12.1 CONTRACT: Bid Award of Phase 2 HVAC Replacement Project at Newark Junior High School

[11131] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we move on to new business, 12.1 bid award of phase 2 HVAC replacement. And we have a public speaker on this, Ms.

[11144] Michael Milliken: Parks. Would you like to hear the staff's presentation? And then Ms. Parks can speak so that she can, if she cares to, comment on anything brought up at the, OK, wonderful.

[11162] Nancy Thomas: Yes, thank you.

[11166] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Milliken. So the purpose of this board item is to award a contract for our HVAC project, the New Work Junior High Phase 2 replacement project. We've been working on this project for the last couple of years and it started out in, you know, early 2020 just before the COVID pandemic hit and at the time it was part of the Measure G bond projects and the board had allocated about $3.3 million to the project. And as the COVID pandemic hit, the project grew and it emerged and so the budget really expanded to our other facilities funds including Fund 25, our developer fees, as well as Fund 40, which is also what we call our Russian Fund. So we've completed Phase 1. We were replacing about 321 units of our 485 total. And we're now in Phase 2. And the reason why we had to separate it is because we had some units that needed to go through DSA. And then the majority of the units, they were mostly rooftop units that we could just replace with new equipment. And so this phase of the project, we went out to bid. We had some contractors attend our pre-bid conference, and we received two bids. One of the bidders withdrew due to a clerical error. And the one that we're recommending is from Rodan Builders, and their bid was, 744,000 bids have been reviewed, and we're hoping to award the contract so they can start the project as soon as school ends. And it is for junior high for nine units. The other two bids that We opened for the elementary schools as well as the high school. Those are still being vetted. The elementary schools, we only got one bid. So we're working with one loan bidder to make sure that the amounts are reasonable and responsible. The high school, we're waiting for DSA approval. Are there any questions?

[11318] Michael Milliken: I would recommend maybe that now we go to public comment.

[11322] Nancy Thomas: Ms.

[11322] Diego Torres: Parks. If you don't mind me asking, what's DSA?

[11326] Marie dela Cruz: Oh, that is the Division of the State Architect. They review school projects to make sure that they meet all safety and life and fire requirements.

[11339] Cindy Parks: Thank you. Good evening. On April 7th, the Bond Oversight Committee toured some of the school sites and some of the projects that were done. When we went on our tour at the high school, we went into a room that it just had the transformer replaced on a recently replaced HVAC unit. Apparently, the warranty calls were made, and they did not receive calls back. And due to your Williams Act violations, remember that, you just had that, and there was a question, what were these for? And it was brought up that it was for a transformer. So what I'm trying to point out here is that, and I know, well, back when you had all the roofing issues, and maybe some of you weren't privy to all of that, but early on, there were some issues at the high school with some of the roofing, back and forth about whether there were leaks in the new roof, and was it the people that were putting in the HVACs after the roofs that damaged it? Anyhow, you've put hard-earned money into some of these facilities, and I would encourage you to do the follow-up, not only on this phase two, but in all of your projects to ensure that this money that's being spent, if there are issues with it, that the warranty procedures are followed so that you're not having to pay for the cost of a new part, the cost of labor of our technician on HVAC, and would it invalidate the warranty by having someone having to replace? I also understand the balance of you've got a Williams Act violation, and you've got to deal with that. But these units need to be working properly. So just more cost efficient types of making sure that you're watching all the money and that once you put the product in, that the work is done correctly and that the units are working and warranties can be utilized if that is an option. Thank you.

[11476] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Ms. Parks. So I will open this up to board discussion or questions. If not, yeah, Member Hill.

[11497] Aiden Hill: Yeah, so I understand that we've gone through a lot of challenging times. And not only did we have aging infrastructure that we've had to deal with, but the need to deal with that got accelerated because of COVID. And sometimes when you have to move quickly, it requires sometimes you're maybe moving faster than you'd like to. But one of the challenges that I have had throughout this process, and I've articulated this in prior meetings, is as a former project manager, I just don't always feel like this has been well-managed project and I think that a lot of the comments that have come from the public in the past and a lot of the Public Records Act requests etc are an indication that there there are concerns around how this is being managed and I understand that some of this is out of our control where when the state says the DSA needs to get involved and they're operating in their own timeline and and the fact that it There's not inflation and then a year later, you know, we've got inflation running at eight nine percent that obviously that's going to cause cost increases, but I just would really I really think that we ought to do a some type of debrief after this is all done or a at some point to just say sort of what went right with this project and how we handled it and what were things that could have gone better and how can we implement that in future major projects. So that's my comment.

[11608] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. If there's no further comments, I would entertain a motion.

[11616] SPEAKER_31: I move to approve.

[11620] Kat Jones: I move to second.

[11622] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen moves to approve. Member Jones seconds that we approve the item 12.1 bid award for phase 2 HVAC replacement.

[11637] Jodi Croce: Student member, how do you vote?

[11640] Diego Torres: Yes.

[11647] Nancy Thomas: Board members, please vote.

[11649] Jodi Croce: Votes are in. Six aye. Thank you.

12.2 Ratify Collective Bargaining Agreement with Newark Teachers Association

[11659] Nancy Thomas: Gratify the collective bargaining agreement with Newark Teachers Association. Superintendent?

[11667] Michael Milliken: We're calling Catherine out of the bullpen. Catherine? OK. Thank you so much. No, this is my mic. I'll let you introduce this important and historic item.

[11689] SPEAKER_19: Yes, this is a very exciting night. So on our new business this evening is to highlight several rounds of negotiations between the Teachers Association and district representatives. We were able to reach a tentative agreement on March 31st for a three-year agreement. That included updated articles regarding association rights, work year, work day, class size, evaluation, reassignment and transfer, leaves, compensation, safety, special education, technology, term and renegotiation, and three memos of understanding. As it relates to compensation, probably the most talked about article, for 22-23 school year, a 10% increase for salary schedules retroactive to July 1, 2022, and for the 23-24 school year, effective July 1, 23, all bargaining unit salary schedules shall be increased by 2% and then effective January 1 of 2024, an additional ongoing salary increase by 4%. Dr. Milliken said this is historic to have a 16% salary increase over two years. And we are excited that this will help retain our excellent educators as well as support our recruiting efforts for openings as we work towards next fall. So with this item, it does have all of the tentative agreements. It also has the documents from the County Office of Education. And we're also happy to report that the NTA membership ratified the agreement by a 98.8% vote of approval on April 5th. And so we're excited for this final leg of board ratification.

[11822] Nancy Thomas: Thank you, Ms. Waters. Board's comment? I'm good. OK. May we have a motion?

[11840] Kat Jones: I will definitely make the motion to accept this with great excitement for our educators that are in the district.

[11850] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I second that. Member Jones makes the motion. Member Nguyen seconds.

[11862] Jodi Croce: And this is personnel, so no.

[11865] Nancy Thomas: That's right. OK. So please vote.

[11878] Jodi Croce: Sorry. President Thomas, how do you vote? cut you off.

[11887] Nancy Thomas: It didn't. I've hit yay, but I vote yes.

[11891] Jodi Croce: OK. Thank you. I can fix that. So we have five ayes. Thank you.

[11903] SPEAKER_19: Thank you very much. I would also just like to close by thanking NTA leadership, in particular Cheri Villa, the lead negotiator for NTA, as well as and their entire team for the collaborative work that we completed together. And a special thank you for the district team that was part of the district side. So we're excited to see this move forward. Thank you.

[11929] Michael Milliken: Thank you, Catherine. Thank you also for your leadership.

[11932] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. We appreciate it. Yes, definitely. OK, next we move on to the consent agenda, non-personnel items, or personnel items. And again, the student member does not vote on personnel items.

[11949] SPEAKER_31: I move to approve.

[11950] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen moves to approve. I move to second. Member Jones moves to second. Please vote.

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

13.1 Personnel Report (Approved on Consent)

[11973] Jodi Croce: Voter in, five aye.

14. CONSENT AGENDA: NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS (Approved on Consent)

14.1 PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote (Approved on Consent)

14.2 FIELD TRIP: Curricular and Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Junior High School Band and Choir to travel to Oakland, CA. (Approved on Consent)

14.3 FIELD TRIP: Curricular and Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Junior High School Band and Choir to travel to Fairfield, CA and Vallejo, CA. (Approved on Consent)

14.4 FIELD TRIP: Non-Curricular Trip for Kennedy Elementary Fifth Grade Class to travel to Santa Clara, CA (Approved on Consent)

14.5 Board Members Signature Card - Mid Year Revision (Approved on Consent)

14.6 CONTRACT: Addendum to the Contract with ProCare Therapy (Approved on Consent)

14.7 REPORT: Warrant Report for March 2023 (Approved on Consent)

14.9 MINUTES: Minutes of the March 2, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

14.10 MINUTES: Minutes of the March 6, 2023 Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

14.11 MINUTES: Minutes of the March 16, 2023 Regualr Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

14.12 MINUTES: Minutes of the April 3, 2023 Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

14.13 MINUTES: Minutes of the April 5, 2023 Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

[11976] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Item 14, consent agenda on non-personnel items. Does any board member of the board wish to pull any of these items? If not, I would ask for a motion.

[11993] Phuong Nguyen: I move to approve item 14.2 to 14.13. I will second that.

[12002] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen votes to approve item 14.2 through 14.13. And Member Jones seconds. Please vote.

[12013] Jodi Croce: Student member, how do you vote?

[12015] Marie dela Cruz: Yes.

[12025] Jodi Croce: Votes are in. Six aye.

[12032] Nancy Thomas: It was brought to my attention that we usually read the titles of all the. No, the donations. I'm sorry. Oh, the donations. OK, I thought. We have a donation report. I know in some districts, they read out every single. Yeah, I know.

14.8 REPORT: Donations Report

[12048] Nancy Thomas: 14.8 is the donations. 14.8, I would ask that staff tell us about those.

[12056] Michael Milliken: Marie? Or you want me to? I'm happy to. All right. So thank you for your vote to accept this. I'd like to recognize a donation of $500 for Schilling Elementary from the California Retired Teachers Association, Division 91. A $490 donation to the TAL Program from California Retired Teachers Association, Division 91 as well. $250 to Newark Junior High School from Jennifer Steele and Timothy Westbrook. $50 for Kennedy from Blackbaud Giving Fund. $414 to Newark Junior High from Custom Link, LLC. $1,500 for MOT from Mohamed Rafique, doing business as AR Towing and Transportation. An Epson projector for Newark Memorial High School from Brian Taylor. A $1,350 donation to Coyote Hills from the Newark Educational Foundation. Copy paper for staff for Kennedy Elementary from Stephanie Alves. Rolls of colored butcher paper for Kennedy from Ann Williams. $25 for the junior high from Music Elementary. and $13,662 for Lincoln Elementary from PALS. P-A-L-S is the acronym. Thank you for the reminder, Marie. Appreciate it.

15. STUDENT EXPULSION

15.1 Student Expulsion (Ed Code. § 48918) Case# e2223-03

[12160] Nancy Thomas: Thank you very much. I'd like to also mention and thank the Educational Foundation and Cargill Salt for their donations to Science Camp. So the Coyote Hills Donation will be going towards Science Camp. OK, next, the board will vote on 15.1, student expulsions, case number 82223-03. I would ask for a motion to accept the staff recommendation

[12205] SPEAKER_31: I move to approve.

[12207] Nancy Thomas: I second. OK. It's been made by member Nguyen and seconded by member Hill that we accept the staff recommendation for the student expulsion. The student member does not vote. Please vote.

[12236] Jodi Croce: Hello, Turin. Five ayes.

16. BOARD OF EDUCATION: COMMITTEE REPORTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, REQUESTS, DEBRIEF AND DISCUSSION

16.1 Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief and Discussion

[12239] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Now as we get toward the end of the meeting, it's Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief, and Discussion. So let's begin with student member Torres.

[12258] Diego Torres: First, I would like to Just shout out the Newark Memorial Band, because Wednesday they were actually at the Oakland A's game, and they performed the National Anthem. And they were on the stage. I know they were incredibly excited about that. You can check some videos out. They have it on their Instagram, MHS Band. It's really cool to see, because there is a good group of kids who really were passionate about band, and so they got to perform the National Anthem. And there was a lot of their classmates as well. Some of the classes went out there to the A's game, watched them perform. And they were on the Jumbotron. It was really cool. Kind of made me jealous, like, oh, I wish I was in bands. I can perform with the Oakland A's. Yeah, so that was something that was really cool that I would like to shout out, because I know that was a really cool experience for them, and they were all so happy. And then the Rocketry Club, obviously they were here, and I just like to see all the work that they do. I walk into their space, and I'm just, it's just blown away, because there's so much, there's so many materials, and it's really confusing to learn it all, but there's a lot. So I know they're really hard working with that. And then I would just like to shout out my class officers, Class of 2023, because I know they've been working really hard with the final event of the year. I know we have grad night coming up that they're working hard to fundraise with the Nurture the Nature Night Market, which is next Saturday. So if you can all attend, that would be really amazing, too. And I know that they are working hard. And I would just like to thank everyone at our school, too, for working so hard after spring break.

[12341] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[12344] Phuong Nguyen: Just welcome back families and students from spring break. I hope that everyone had a nice relaxing time and enjoyed their families and got to really have some quality downtime. And I would just like to congratulate all the teachers and the staff for working collaboratively on the negotiations for NTA. What a amazing historical increase that the district was able to provide to our teachers and staff. So that's, I'm really happy about that. So I'm happy for the teachers and for our students and for the staff. So that's it.

[12383] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Is it Plancarte or? Plancarte. Ms. Plancarte.

[12397] Carina Plancarte: You got it. So I just, it's my first meeting. sitting in, and I'm very excited to be here. And I am so, so happy for all of our teachers. They are so deserving. And I wish we could give them more. But this is just amazing, and it's a huge win, and it's a great start. And I hope that they feel valued, and that they feel respected, and that they feel appreciated, because I I always try my best with my kids' teachers and their site staff to always ensure that I'm very thankful and I'm very grateful that they're doing such an amazing job. And I just feel that starting out at this point as a board member where there has been such a huge win for our teachers is just incredible and I'm very excited and it just feels like Maybe it's giving some new energy to all of this. And I'm just very proud of that. And I'm thankful. And I'm grateful to be here. And I will try to do my best to always ensure that we work collaboratively so that we always focus on student achievement.

[12479] Kat Jones: Thank you. I, too, am really excited for all the hard work that went into the negotiations and excited for the teachers And they work really hard and they do really deserve this. And I have no committee updates, but I did have a question. Do we want to look at the board committees and have member Plancarte be a part of that or do that at another time? I will make that my request for next time.

[12528] Aiden Hill: So echoing my fellow board members, I just wanted to congratulate the teachers in the district on this recent collective bargaining agreement. And again, I think that the intent is to really show the teachers that we care and that we want you to help us be the best that we can be. And we want to acknowledge that. So that's the first comment. And then the second comment following up on member Nguyen. So welcome back, everybody, from spring break. And as a fellow teacher, wishing you the strength to take everything over the next month and a half or a little bit less over the finish line. So just thinking good thoughts for you.

[12575] Phuong Nguyen: Member Nguyen. All right, just one more, because I know the kids are getting ready to study for their AP exams. It's coming up in May. And I just want to wish them well. And just try your best. That's all you can hope for. And you will succeed. So work hard.

[12594] Nancy Thomas: Great. Well, great things are happening in NUSD. And our NTA agreement is among the best. And regarding my assignments. Our OP meeting was canceled this month. It had a light agenda, so it will be handled next month. Also, the liaison meeting with the city was also canceled. I'd like to thank the A's for hosting our and the high school band for the great job they did. I enjoyed visiting the newer Memorial High I had a chance to attend the PTSA meeting held in the star lab. I got a chance to see again the good work that's being done there. The Schilling open house was amazing. My request, it's dovetails with yours, member Jones, we need to considered as part of the agenda next time. That's superintendent.

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

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

[12673] Michael Milliken: Sure. So no comments of substance, but you did ask at the last meeting to schedule a study session for surplus property. and you recommended that that be scheduled for May. In the past, we don't expect this to be, you know, much more than an hour-long meeting. So the question to you all is, you know, you have regularly scheduled meetings on May 4 and May 18. Would you like to meet for an hour for a study session before one of those meetings, or would you like to have an off Cycle Thursday afternoon Thursday evening meeting say on May 11 Which is the Thursday in between those two meetings, you know, we probably want to stay away from the last Week of that month just because of the Memorial Day holiday and you know things are going to get busier and busier as we approach the end of the year So those were my thoughts, you know May 4 May 18, either before the regularly scheduled meeting, or if you'd rather have an off schedule meeting, we could arrange that as well on the Thursday in between.

[12762] Phuong Nguyen: I would like to have it before the meeting, just so that we aren't scheduling any more special meetings.

[12772] Cindy Parks: I have the same preference.

[12776] Kat Jones: For me, the 18th is better than the 4th, but I can make the 4th work.

[12782] Nancy Thomas: I'm OK with the 4th.

[12785] Michael Milliken: How about the 18th? Are you OK with the 18th as well? Yes. Great. OK. Works for me. Appreciate your feedback there. Just want to make sure I'm scheduling things that work for you all. So thank you so much. All I have, anyone else?

[12806] Nancy Thomas: Could I add something? An hour, it seems we get a late start. I'm wondering if we could start an hour, give an hour and a half for that meeting instead of just an hour. Can you make it, Member Hill?

[12826] Aiden Hill: My class doesn't get out until 3.50.

[12830] Nancy Thomas: OK.

[12834] Michael Milliken: Well, we can, if we don't get everything done in the hour, we'll take another stab at it. We can schedule more time.

[12843] Nancy Thomas: Okay, sounds good.

[12845] Michael Milliken: Thank you. Marie or Nicole, anything? Any concluding comments? I think that's it from us.

[12851] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. 930, 933, that's another good early time to close out our regular meeting. retiring or reconvening to closed session.

[12870] Michael Milliken: But just a clarifying point, the board does not plan to take any action in closed session, just a discussion on one of the topics we didn't get to finish a discussion on. And we'll make sure, Jody, that we report out that time to you at the next regularly scheduled meeting. But we're not expecting it to take too much time.

18. ADJOURNMENT

18.2 Adjournment

[12895] Nancy Thomas: May I have a motion to adjourn?

[12899] SPEAKER_31: I move to adjourn.

[12903] Jodi Croce: I second.

[12904] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen moves to adjourn. Member Polancarte seconds. Please vote.

[12921] Jodi Croce: Student member, how do you vote?

[12922] Diego Torres: Yes.

[12928] Michael Milliken: We're closing open session.

[12931] Nancy Thomas: Adjourning to closed session.

[12940] Jodi Croce: Votes are in. Six ayes.

[12953] Michael Milliken: OK. Thanks, Jody. Appreciate it.

[12957] Nicole Pierce-Davis: You didn't report it as a settlement. Yes, I did.

[12973] Nancy Thomas: Well, we had three reports.

2. CLOSED SESSION (Closed Session)

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

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

2.3 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION (Closed Session)

2.4 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - EXISTING LITIGATION (Gov. Code, § 54956.9, subd. (d)(1)) (Closed Session)

2.5 Conference with Labor Negotiator (GC 54957.6) Contracted Management - Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services and Chief Business Official (Closed Session)

2.6 STUDENT EXPULSION (Ed. Code, § 48918) (Closed Session)

18.1 PLACEHOLDER - Extend Meeting (Removed by Board)

[141] 1. CALL TO ORDER

[147] 1.1 Meeting Practices and Information

[193] 1.2 Roll Call

[205] 1.3 Public Comment on Closed Session Items

[215] 1.4 Recess to Closed Session

[215] 3. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS

[215] 3.1 Report of Closed Session Actions

[215] 4. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

[4576] 4.1 Pledge of Allegiance

[4596] 5. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

[4596] 5.1 Approval of the Agenda

[4643] 6. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

[4643] 6.1 Staff Spotlight

[4650] 6.2 School Spotlight: Coyote Hills Elementary

[5454] 7. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

[5454] 7.1 Employee Organizations

[5478] 8. PUBLIC COMMENT

[5478] 8.1 Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

[6027] 8.2 Public Comment on Agenda Items

[6051] 9. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

[6051] 9.1 Superintendent Report

[6086] 10. STAFF REPORT

[6388] 10.1 SEAL Programming (Sobrato Early Academic Literacy)

[7770] 10.2 Special Education Update

[10240] 11. OLD BUSINESS

[10240] 11.1 Guidance on Updating Board Policies

[11131] 12. NEW BUSINESS

[11131] 12.1 CONTRACT: Bid Award of Phase 2 HVAC Replacement Project at Newark Junior High School

[11659] 12.2 Ratify Collective Bargaining Agreement with Newark Teachers Association

[11973] 13. CONSENT AGENDA: PERSONNEL ITEMS (Approved on Consent)

[11973] 13.1 Personnel Report (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14. CONSENT AGENDA: NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.1 PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.2 FIELD TRIP: Curricular and Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Junior High School Band and Choir to travel to Oakland, CA. (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.3 FIELD TRIP: Curricular and Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Junior High School Band and Choir to travel to Fairfield, CA and Vallejo, CA. (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.4 FIELD TRIP: Non-Curricular Trip for Kennedy Elementary Fifth Grade Class to travel to Santa Clara, CA (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.5 Board Members Signature Card - Mid Year Revision (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.6 CONTRACT: Addendum to the Contract with ProCare Therapy (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.7 REPORT: Warrant Report for March 2023 (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.9 MINUTES: Minutes of the March 2, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.10 MINUTES: Minutes of the March 6, 2023 Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.11 MINUTES: Minutes of the March 16, 2023 Regualr Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.12 MINUTES: Minutes of the April 3, 2023 Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

[11976] 14.13 MINUTES: Minutes of the April 5, 2023 Special Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

[12048] 14.8 REPORT: Donations Report

[12160] 15. STUDENT EXPULSION

[12160] 15.1 Student Expulsion (Ed Code. § 48918) Case# e2223-03

[12239] 16. BOARD OF EDUCATION: COMMITTEE REPORTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, REQUESTS, DEBRIEF AND DISCUSSION

[12239] 16.1 Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief and Discussion

[12673] 17. SUPERINTENDENT'S CONCLUDING COMMENTS, UPDATES FOR THE BOARD AND FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS

[12673] 17.1 Superintendent's Concluding Comments, Updates, and Future Agenda Items

[12895] 18. ADJOURNMENT

[12895] 18.2 Adjournment

[99999] 2. CLOSED SESSION (Closed Session)

[99999] 2.1 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS (Gov. Code, § 54957.6, subd. (a): Employee Organizations - NTA and CSEA) (Closed Session)

[99999] 2.2 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS (Gov. Code, § 54957.6, subd. (a)): Employee Group - NEWMA, Unrepresented Supervisors, and Contracted Management (Closed Session)

[99999] 2.3 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION (Closed Session)

[99999] 2.4 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - EXISTING LITIGATION (Gov. Code, § 54956.9, subd. (d)(1)) (Closed Session)

[99999] 2.5 Conference with Labor Negotiator (GC 54957.6) Contracted Management - Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services and Chief Business Official (Closed Session)

[99999] 2.6 STUDENT EXPULSION (Ed. Code, § 48918) (Closed Session)

[99999] 18.1 PLACEHOLDER - Extend Meeting (Removed by Board)

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 Katherine Jones Member Carina V. Plancarte

STUDENT BOARD MEMBER:

Member Diego Torres

Public Comment on Closed Session Items

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

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

If a constituent wishes to address the Board on any agenda item: In-Person Comment: please submit a completed speaker card to the Board's Executive Assistant before the start of the meeting, or prior to the calling of the section for public comment. Audio-Only Virtual Comment: please fill out a virtual speaker card via email at PUBLICCOMMENT@newarkunified.org by 1:00 PM the day of the meeting. Please label your email as " AUDIO-ONLY PUBLIC COMMENT" and include your name as it will appear on Zoom, your phone number, email address, and the agenda item number related to your comment.

Please see detailed instructions for public comment on the link: http://go.boarddocs.com/ca/nusd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=C4Q2D4019F40

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.

2. CLOSED SESSION

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

Type Action, Information, Procedural

PURPOSE:

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

The employee organizations include NTA & CSEA.

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

Type Action, Discussion, Procedural PURPOSE:

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

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

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

Type Action, Discussion, Procedural PURPOSE:

Information may be provided regarding significant exposure to litigation pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 54956.9: Two Cases: Alternative Dispute Resolution-ADR and Keenan Claim 615419.

CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL � EXISTING LITIGATION (Gov. Code, � 54956.9, subd. (d)(1))

Type Action, Information, Procedural PURPOSE:

To discuss the following case(s): OAH Case No. 2023020144, OAH Case No. 2022120182, and OAH Case No. 2023030525.

Conference with Labor Negotiator (GC 54957.6) Contracted Management - Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services and Chief Business Official

Type Discussion, Information Information will be provided by the Interim Superintendent and Executive Director of Human Resources.

STUDENT EXPULSION (Ed. Code, � 48918)

Type Discussion, Information, Procedural PURPOSE:

For the Board to review the Stipulation Expulsion Agreement.

BACKGROUND:

A Stipulation Expulsion Agreement meeting was held on April 12, 2023. A Stipulation Expulsion Meeting was conducted in accordance with Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 5144.1 and, if applicable, 5144.2 for students with disabilities.

The Board will discuss this in closed session and then take action in open session (agenda item 15.1). The administration asks for approval of the recommendation for Case# e2223-03 (Ed Code. � 48918).

3. 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.

4. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

Pledge of Allegiance

Type Procedural PURPOSE:

The Governance Team will recite the Pledge of Allegiance

5. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Approval of the Agenda

Type Action

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

PURPOSE:

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

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

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

6. RECOGNITIONS AND CELEBRATIONS

Staff Spotlight

Type Information PURPOSE:

To recognize the wonderful accomplishments of our NUSD Team.

BACKGROUND:

The presentation will be provided by the Superintendent.

School Spotlight: Coyote Hills Elementary

Type Information PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

The presentation and information will be provided by Principal Coyote Hills Elementary, Kristi Palomino.

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

2. CSEA

3. NEWMA

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 tries to make it convenient for members of the community to express their views to the Board.

If a constituent wishes to address the Board on any agenda item: In-Person Comment: please submit a completed speaker card to the Board's Executive Assistant before the start of the meeting, or prior to the calling of the section for public comment. Audio-Only Virtual Comment: please fill out a virtual speaker card via email at PUBLICCOMMENT@newarkunified.org by 1:00 PM the day of the meeting. Please label your email as " AUDIO-ONLY PUBLIC COMMENT" and include your name as it will appear on Zoom, your phone number, email address, and the agenda item number related to your comment.

Please see detailed instructions for public comment on the link: 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 tries to make it convenient for members of the community to express their views to the Board.

If a constituent wishes to address the Board on any agenda item: In-Person Comment: please submit a completed speaker card to the Board's Executive Assistant before the start of the meeting, or prior to the calling of the section for public comment. Audio-Only Virtual Comment: please fill out a virtual speaker card via email at PUBLICCOMMENT@newarkunified.org by 1:00 PM the day of the meeting. Please label your email as " AUDIO-ONLY PUBLIC COMMENT" and include your name as it will appear on Zoom, your phone number, email address, and the agenda item number related to your comment.

Please see detailed instructions for public comment on the link: http://go.boarddocs.com/ca/nusd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=C4Q2D4019F40

9. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

Superintendent Report

Type Information

PURPOSE:

The Interim 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 Interim Superintendent

10. STAFF REPORT

SEAL Programming (Sobrato Early Academic Literacy)

Type Reports PURPOSE:

To provide an update on the SEAL program implementation and the impact of this program on teacher practices and student achievement.

BACKGROUND:

Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL) has been a partner organization, working with NUSD since 2019. The work has supported English Language and Dual Language Learners to make significant strides in developing the academic language skills necessary for high academic academic achievement. The partnership started with grades TK-3 and expanded to include grades 4-5 at our elementary schools with the highest concentration of students that are English Learners and come from low-income households. The work has been transformational for students and teachers, alike. Looking ahead, we hope to continue to sustain the program through ongoing professional learning and to consider expansion into additional grade levels and/or schools.

File Attachments NUSD SEAL Program Board Presentation 2023.04.20.pdf (3,795 KB)

Special Education Update

Type Information PURPOSE:

To provide an overview of the Special Education Department including services, staff, programs, areas of growth, and upcoming events.

BACKGROUND:

This presentation comes as a board request. The presentation will provide a brief overview of Special Education in Newark Unified School District. Special education services are provided to students aged preschool through twenty-two years of age in Newark Unified. California provides specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities. This instruction is provided in a variety of settings that allow students to be educated with their peers as much as possible; that is, in the least restrictive environment. Special education services are available in a variety of settings, including preschool, regular classrooms, classrooms that emphasize specially designed instruction, the community, and the work environment.

File Attachments Board of Education SPED.pdf (3,327 KB)

11. OLD BUSINESS

Guidance on Updating Board Policies

Type Discussion PURPOSE:

To provide guidance to staff regarding the updating of NUSD's Board Policies.

BACKGROUND:

NUSD relies on the California School Boards Association (CSBA) to keep its board policies up to date. We pay to use CSBA's GAMUT online portal to digitally store and catalog our policies, and we subscribe to a CSBA service to send us recommended policy updates based upon changes in federal law, state law, and state education code. A few years ago, NUSD migrated from the old GAMUT system to the new GAMUT system, which created some problems with NUSD's policies. Moreover, the previous superintendent Dr. Triplett and staff discovered that NUSD hadn't consistently reviewed and acted upon the recommended updates from CSBA. This is not uncommon. As a point of reference, Belmont-Redwood Shores had fallen so far behind on its policy maintenance when I (Michael Milliken) started there, we chose to work with CSBA to start over and adopt the entire recommended CSBA policy portfolio, tailored to our district by senior staff and an ad hoc board subcommittee during a multi-day workshop.

At the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, NUSD staff consulted remotely with CSBA to review the District's board policies. The review identified that of NUSD's approximate total of 340 board policies (BP's) and administrative regulations (AR's), 240 were identified to be updated. In some cases, the updates include new policy titles and/or new recommended language. In other cases, NUSD has policies that are unique or that CSBA no longer has listed in their recommended policy portfolio. To date this school year, 84 (35%) of those 240 identified policies have been updated and approved by the Board. This leaves approximately 156 policies (65%) to be updated.

Staff would like to continue this work, with the goal of getting NUSD's policies entirely current by August 2023. Additionally, staff suggests that the Board identify two Members to serve as policy liaisons so that staff can consult with Board representatives as needed, and those liaisons may provide an initial review of these 150+ policies. An alternative approach to update NUSD's board policies would be to meet with a CSBA policy consultant in person to for a 3-day intensive workshop. Staff seeks Board guidance on how best to update NUSD's board policies, and if the Board chooses to follow staff's suggested course of action, we ask that two Members be identified to serve as policy liaisons.

12. NEW BUSINESS

CONTRACT: Bid Award of Phase 2 HVAC Replacement Project at Newark Junior High School

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $744,000.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Fund 25 Capital Facilities Fund

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the bid award to contract with Action Rodan Builders for Phase 2 of the Newark Junior High School HVAC Replacement Project. PURPOSE:

To award a contract to Rodan Builders for Phase 2 of the Newark Junior High School (NJHS) HVAC Replacement Project.

BACKGROUND:

We have been working on replacing 321 HVAC units throughout the district since early 2020, which is the majority of our HVAC units. The District has a total of 485 HVAC units. About 25% (117 units) were replaced in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Another 47 units do not need replacing because they have been individually replaced or are located at closed schools. This has left 321 units to be replaced, which was broken into two phases: (1) the 276 units that could be replaced without review and permitting by the Division of the State Architect (DSA), and (2) the 45 units that required DSA approval to replace. We have completed replacing the 276 units as part of phase 1. Now we are focusing on replacing the 45 units that are part of phase 2, which require DSA approval. The purpose of this item is to move forward on the HVAC units at NJHS part of Phase 2 (9 units).

This project (phase 1 and 2) started in 2020 just before the COVID pandemic hit as part of the Measure G bond improvement projects. The Board allocated an initial $3.3 million out of the Measure G bond funds towards HVAC upgrades and replacements. As COVID emerged, the project evolved and the budget expanded to the Capital Facilities Fund (revenue from Developer Fees) and Capital Outlay Reserves (aka Ruschin Fund) in order to replace as many units as possible to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff.

Phase 1, Increment 1 HVAC projects have been completed (99 units at BGP, Coyote Hills, Kennedy and Schilling). Phase 1, Increment 2 HVAC projects at NJHS and NMHS: all units have been installed, testing and balancing has been completed and final commissioning is in progress (177 units).

On February 17, 2022, the Board of Trustees reviewed the preliminary budget for the Phase 2 projects in the amount of $2,431,193. Since that time and the purchase of the Phase 1 equipment, there has been a dramatic increase in the cost of HVAC equipment ordered in March 2022. The Board was apprised of this increase at the April 7, 2022 meeting. We are still waiting for some of the HVAC units and miscellaneous components for this project to be delivered.

The addition of 4 additional HVAC units servicing Rooms G7 and G8 at NJHS were added to the project after the preliminary budget was provided. These units were discovered during the early design phase in the ceiling areas and do not have rooftop units like most of the district's schools. These units were not in the district's various inventories and apparently were never approved by the state. The classrooms have 4 failing heat pumps which require removal and replacement of the entire ceiling, lighting and ductwork. (This information regarding the units in Rooms G7 and G8 was provided to the Board at the April 7, 2022 meeting.) During the review and approval process with the Division of the State Architect, the addition of anchor posts on the roof for safety was also required. Together, the added scope increased the cost by approximately $380,000.

The Phase 2 of the Newark Junior High School HVAC Replacement Project has undergone a competitive bidding process. A Notice to Bidders was publicly advertised in the Argus Newspaper on January 20, 2023, and January 27, 2023. A mandatory pre-bid conference occurred on February 2,2023 where seven (7) contractors attended. Bids were publicly opened on March 23, 2023 and two (2) bids were received. One bidder, S&H Construction, requested to withdraw their bid due to a clerical error. The second lowest qualified bid was submitted by Rodan Builders at $744,000. Staff recommends the bid award to Rodan Builders for $744,000. The contract cost will be covered by Capital Facilities Fund 25 (Developer Fees).

Bid awards for Phase 2 HVAC Replacement Project for the elementary schools (5 units distributed across BGP, Coyote Hills, and Kennedy) and NMHS (31 units) will be presented to the Board at a future meeting. At present, we are still vetting the single bidder for the elementary school project, and the NMHS project has been successfully bid, but has yet to be approved by DSA, which is required before we award the project.

File Attachments Bid Results_NJHS HVAC Units Replacement - Phase 2_Revised.pdf (84 KB) S&H Construction Withdrawal Letter_Newark USD_HVAC Newark Junior High School.pdf (292 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the bid award to contract with Rodan Builders for Phase 2 of the Newark Junior High School HVAC Replacement Project.

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

Ratify Collective Bargaining Agreement with Newark Teachers Association

Type Action

Preferred Date Apr 20, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratify the Collective Bargaining Action Agreement with Newark Teachers Association. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to ratify the Collective Bargaining Agreement with Newark Teachers Association for 2022-2023, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025.

BACKGROUND:

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement with NTA sunset on June 30, 2022 resulting in both sides sunshining their reopeners for a successor agreement. Formal negotiations began on August 18, 2022. After several rounds of negotiations, we were able to reach a Tentative Agreement on March 31, 2023 for a three year agreement. The District submitted documentation to the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE) indicating that the District can afford this agreement. ACOE has reviewed the documentation and agreed to our findings. NTA membership ratified the agreement by a 98.8% vote to approve on April 5, 2023. With the approval of the Tentative Agreement, the District was able to submit the AB1200 documents to ACOE. During the 2023-2024 school year, both parties shall meet to negotiate for the 2024-2025 school year. The parties mutually agree to reopen negotiations on Article 13 (Compensation) and one additional article of each parties' choice.

The articles that updated in this agreement are: Article 3: Association Rights Article 6: Work Year Article 7: Work Day Article 8: Class Size Article 9: Evaluation and System of Educator Support Article 10: Reassignment/Transfer Article 11: Leaves Article 13: Compensation Article 14: Safety Article 18: Special Education Article 19: Technology Article 22: Term and Renegotiation Side Letter: Sixth Grade Core Class Size at Newark Junior High School Memorandum of Understanding: In-House Substituting for 2022-2023 Memorandum of Understanding: Crossroads Independent Studies Program (CISP) 2022-2023 School Year

NTA members will receive the following compensation: 2022-2023 School Year: 10% increase retroactive to July 1, 2022. 2023-2024 School Year: Effective July 1, 2023 all bargaining unit salary schedules shall be increased by 2%. Effective January 1, 2024 all bargaining unit salary schedules shall be increased by 4%.

Attached are the AB1200 documents outlining the financial impact of the agreement.

File Attachments NTA TAs 2023-2025.pdf (9,059 KB) AB1200_NTA 22-23-24_4-4-23_signed.pdf (250 KB) NUSD 2022-23 Second Interim Board Letter FINAL and AB1200 Review NTA.pdf (383 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratify the Collective Bargaining Agreement with Newark Teachers Association.

Motion by Katherine Jones, second by Phuong Nguyen.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Nancy Thomas, Aiden Hill, Phuong Nguyen, Katherine Jones, Carina V Plancarte
Abstain: Diego Torres

13. CONSENT AGENDA: PERSONNEL ITEMS

Personnel Report

Type Action

Absolute Date Apr 20, 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 04-20-2023.pdf (161 KB)

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

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Katherine Jones.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Nancy Thomas, Aiden Hill, Phuong Nguyen, Katherine Jones, Carina V Plancarte
Abstain: Diego Torres

14. 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.

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

FIELD TRIP: Curricular and Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Junior High School Band and Choir to travel to Oakland, CA.

Type Action

Absolute Date Apr 20, 2023

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $4,150.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source ASB funds

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education the approve the curricular and non- Action curricular trip for Newark Junior High School Band and Choir to travel to Oakland, CA.

PURPOSE:

The Newark Junior High School Principal requests permission to take Newark Junior High School Band and Choir on a fieldtrip to Oakland, CA. Transportation will be by chartered bus. This trip's purpose is in response to an invitation for the Band and Choir to perform the National Anthem before the start of the A's game.

     School: Newark Junior High School
     Dates: May 4, 2023 (subject to change)
     Location: Oakland, CA

Additional requirements are as follows:

     Grade K-3, one adult for every 5-8 students; Grades 4-12, one adult for every 10 students; Board Policy requires at least two adults
     on every trip regardless of the number of students (BP 6153 and AR 6153)
     No student will be denied due to a lack of funds

BACKGROUND:

According to Board Policy 6153, all trips in excess of 100 miles, non-curricular trips, and overnight trips require Board approval. Newark Junior High School Principal requests permission to take the Band and Choir to travel to Oakland, CA.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education the approve the curricular and non-curricular trip for Newark Junior High School Band and Choir to travel to Oakland, CA.

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

FIELD TRIP: Curricular and Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Junior High School Band and Choir to travel to Fairfield, CA and Vallejo, CA.

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $3,058.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source ASB funds

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the curricular and non-curricular Action trip for Newark Junior High School Band and Choir to travel to Fairfield, CA and Vallejo, CA.

PURPOSE:

The Newark Junior High School Principal requests permission to take Newark Junior High School Band and Choir on a Curricular and Non- Curricular Trip trip to to Fairfield, CA and Vallejo, CA. Transportation will be by chartered bus. This trip's purpose is to accept an invitation for the Band and Choir to travel to a local music festival to perform in competition and receive feedback from professionals and peers.

     School: Newark Junior High School
     Dates: May 13, 2023
     Location: Fairfield, CA and Vallejo, CA.

Chaperone requirements met

     Grade K-3, one adult for every 5-8 students; Grades 4-12, one adult for every 10 students; Board Policy requires at least two adults
     on every trip regardless of the number of students (BP 6153 and AR 6153)
     No student will be denied due to a lack of funds

BACKGROUND:

According to Board Policy 6153, all trips in excess of 100 miles, non-curricular trips, and overnight trips require Board approval. Newark Junior High School Principal requests permission to take the Band and Choir to travel to Fairfield, CA and Vallejo, CA.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the curricular and non-curricular trip for Newark Junior High School Band and Choir to travel to Fairfield, CA and Vallejo, CA.

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

FIELD TRIP: Non-Curricular Trip for Kennedy Elementary Fifth Grade Class to travel to Santa Clara, CA

Type Action

Preferred Date Apr 20, 2023

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $8,477.36

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Donations

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the non-curricular trip for Action Kennedy Elementary Fifth Grade Class to Santa Clara, CA.

PURPOSE:

The Kennedy Elementary Principal requests permission to take Kennedy Elementary fifth graders on a non-curricular trip to Great
America, Santa Clara, CA. Transportation will be by chartered bus. This trip is an End of Year trip for fifth-grade students.

        School: Kennedy Elementary
        Dates: May 12, 2023
        Location: Santa Clara, CA

Additional requirements include the following:

        Grade K-3, one adult for every 5-8 students; Grades 4-12, one adult for every 10 students; Board Policy requires at least two
        adults on every trip regardless of the number of students (BP 6153 and AR 6153)
        No student will be denied due to a lack of funds

BACKGROUND:

According to Board Policy 6153, all trips in excess of 100 miles, non-curricular trips, and overnight trips require Board approval.
Kennedy Elementary Principal requests permission to take Kennedy Elementary Fifth Grade Class on a non-curricular trip to Great
America in Santa Clara, CA.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the non-curricular trip for Kennedy Elementary Fifth Grade Class to Santa Clara, CA.

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

Board Members Signature Card - Mid Year Revision

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Signature Card Mid-Year Action Revision for Board Members as presented.

PURPOSE:

To update the signature card of Board Members as required by the Alameda County Office of Education.

BACKGROUND:

This is the "Signature Card" for Authorized Agents and Board Members kept on file at the Alameda County Office of Education. This is a mid- year revision to update a Board Member's signature.

File Attachments Plancarte, Carina_Board Member Mid-Year_2022-23.pdf (187 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Signature Card Mid-Year Revision for Board Members as presented.

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

CONTRACT: Addendum to the Contract with ProCare Therapy

Type Action

Preferred Date Apr 20, 2023

Absolute Date Apr 20, 2023

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $24,000.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Resource 6500 - Special Education and General Fund Contribution

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the Addendum to the Contract Action with ProCare Therapy. PURPOSE:

To ratify the Addendum to the Contract with ProCare Therapy for a registered nurse in the amount of $24,000.00.

BACKGROUND:

The original contract was approved by all parties on 12/15/22 for the period of 12/15/22 - 6/1/23. This Addendum is to add nursing services for hearing and vision screening.

File Attachments ProCare Therapy Addendum.pdf (29 KB)

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the Addendum to the Contract with ProCare Therapy.

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

REPORT: Warrant Report for March 2023

Type Action

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 $2,890,722.75, made from District funds for March 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 March 2023.pdf (417 KB)

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

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

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 to the donor by the Business Office for NUSD.

File Attachments Donations Summary Report 4-20-2023.pdf (30 KB)

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

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

MINUTES: Minutes of the March 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 March 2, 2023 Action Regular Meeting of the Board of Education.

Minutes View Minutes for Mar 2, 2023 - Regular Meeting of the Board of Education PURPOSE:

for the board to review and approve minutes of the March 2, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education.

BACKGROUND:

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

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the March 2, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education.

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

MINUTES: Minutes of the March 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 March 6, 2023 Action Special Meeting of the Board of Education.

Minutes View Minutes for Mar 6, 2023 - Special Meeting of the Board of Education PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the March 6, 2023 Special Meeting of the Board of Education.

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

MINUTES: Minutes of the March 16, 2023 Regualr Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the March 16, Action 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education.

Minutes View Minutes for Mar 16, 2023 - Regular Meeting of the Board of Education PURPOSE:

for the board to review and approve minutes of the March 16, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education.

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the March 16, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the March 16, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Katherine Jones.


Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Nancy Thomas, Aiden Hill, Phuong Nguyen, Katherine Jones, Diego Torres, Carina V Plancarte

MINUTES: Minutes of the April 3, 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 April 3, 2023 Action Special Meeting of the Board of Education.

Minutes View Minutes for Apr 3, 2023 - Special Meeting of the Board of Education PURPOSE:

for the board to review and approve minutes of the April 3, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education.

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the April 3, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the April 3, 2023 Special Meeting of the Board of Education.

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

MINUTES: Minutes of the April 5, 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 April 5, 2023 Action Special Meeting of the Board of Education.

Minutes View Minutes for Apr 5, 2023 - Special Meeting of the Board of Education PURPOSE:

for the board to review and approve minutes of the April 5, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education.

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the April 5, 2023, Special Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE.

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the April 5, 2023 Special Meeting of the Board of Education.

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

15. STUDENT EXPULSION

Student Expulsion (Ed Code. � 48918) Case# e2223-03

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the stipulation agreement Action regarding the expulsion case number e2223-03. PURPOSE:

For the Board to take action on expulsion case e2223-03.

BACKGROUND:

A Stipulation Expulsion Agreement meeting was held on April 12, 2023. A Stipulation Expulsion Meeting was conducted in accordance with Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 5144.1 and, if applicable, 5144.2 for students with disabilities. The administration asks for approval of this agreement for Case# e2223-03. (Ed Code. � 48918).

Motion & Voting The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the stipulation agreement regarding the expulsion case number e2223-03.

Motion by Phuong Nguyen, second by Aiden Hill.
Final Resolution: Motion Carries
Yea: Nancy Thomas, Aiden Hill, Phuong Nguyen, Katherine Jones, Carina V Plancarte
Abstain: Diego Torres

16. BOARD OF EDUCATION: COMMITTEE REPORTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, REQUESTS, DEBRIEF AND DISCUSSION

Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief and Discussion

                       AND DISCUSSION

Type Action, Discussion, Information

PURPOSE:

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

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

REQUESTS: 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.

DEBRIEF AND DISCUSSION: The Trustees may debrief and discuss items.

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. 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

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.

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

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

                       AGENDA REQUESTS

Type Information

PURPOSE:

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

18. 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 to closed session.

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

No minutes available.