Regular Meeting

Introduction

• September 19, 2023 Regular Board Meeting focused on budget sustainability, staffing, technology upgrades, college/career readiness, after-school programs, and policy updates.
• Key themes included structural deficits, recruitment challenges, equity in curriculum access, and balancing student expression with academic standards.

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Agenda Items

Budget & Recruitment

• Structural Deficit:
  • District faces a $6.1 million deficit; proposed cuts include certificated staff reductions (16 FTE) and classified staff restructuring.
  • Budget Task Force: 15+ applicants to review priorities (e.g., mental health support, aides, technology).
• Recruitment Plan:
  • Focus on university partnerships, billboards, and residency programs to address vacancies.
  • Interim solutions: Staffing 6/5ths assignments and leveraging substitutes.

Technology (JET Report Update)

• Wi-Fi Infrastructure: Delayed installation at Newark Memorial High due to SSL certificate issues; Phase 1 rollout expected by late September.
• Device Management: Chromebook lifecycle extended to 2026; exploring replacements for staff devices.
• Trouble Ticket System: Evaluating upgrades for improved IT support responsiveness.

College & Career Readiness (Part 1)

• AP Courses:
  • 34% of students took AP exams in 2022-23; fee waivers increased test participation by 38%.
  • Focus on equity: Targeted outreach for underrepresented groups (e.g., Black, Hispanic students).
• A-G Completion:
  • 84% of courses offered are A-G approved, but pass rates lag (80% overall, 73% for Hispanic students).
  • Strategies: Counselor PD, grade calibration, and AmeriCorps tutoring partnerships.

After-School Programs (Think Together)

• Expansion: Serves 750 students daily (up from 200 in 2021-22) across 7 sites via ELOP/ASES funds.
• Quality Metrics: CDE-aligned assessments and stakeholder surveys to track program impact.
• Next Steps: Addressing waitlists and exploring fee-based models for non-UDL students.

Dress Code Policy (Second Reading)

• Revisions Proposed:
  • Specificity on headwear (e.g., no double-layered coverings), midriff exposure (≤4 inches), and shoe safety (no spikes).
  • Board Debate: Balancing student autonomy with enforceability; third reading scheduled for October.

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Public Comments

• Key Themes:
  • Transparency in AP data reporting (request for detailed 5-year summaries by course).
  • Concerns about dress code enforcement and potential disruptions (e.g., hats, revealing clothing).
  • Support for expanded after-school programs and equity-focused recruitment.

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Follow-Up & Commitments

1. Budget Task Force: Launch with community/staff input to prioritize cuts and revenue strategies.
2. Recruitment Workshop: Detailed plan presentation at October retreat.
3. Technology Upgrades: Network audit and trouble ticket system RFP by December.
4. SEWA MOU: Progress report on AmeriCorps tutoring efficacy by February 2024.
5. Dress Code: Final vote after ASB feedback and third reading in October.

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Conclusion

• Immediate Priorities: Finalizing budget reductions, staffing recruitment, and Wi-Fi implementation.
• Next Meeting: October 17, 2023, with focus on CTE pathways, SBAC readiness, and strategic planning updates.
• Student-Centered Focus: Continued emphasis on equity, college/career access, and community partnerships.

1. CALL TO ORDER

[163] Nancy Thomas: to the September 19th, 2023 regular meeting of the Board of Education. Ms. Sachs, please roll call.

1.2 Roll Call

[173] Jennifer Sachs: Yes. Student member Joy Lee is absent. Member Nguyen?

[179] Phuong Nguyen: Here.

[180] Jennifer Sachs: Member Plancarte? Here. Member Jones?

[182] Nancy Thomas: Here.

[183] Jennifer Sachs: Member Hill is absent. Member Hill will be late. Will be late. Okay, thank you. And President Thomas?

1.3 Public Comment on Closed Session Items

1.4 Recess to Closed Session

[190] Nancy Thomas: Here. Thank you. Is there anyone wishing to address us on closed session items? No. OK. Seeing none, we will be recessing to closed session, where we will discuss public employee discipline dismissal release, conference with labor negotiators, employee organizations, NTA and CSEA, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation case, Byrd versus NUSD, and ratification and approval of TK enrollment. Having said that, we're recessed. Five students. Member Nguyen moved and Member Jones seconded. Member Thomas was the descending vote. And since I was the descending vote, I'd like to explain that I felt it was an unfair process and that the opportunity for entering TK was only open to people that knew about the opportunity and it was not open to all. So with that, let's have the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

4. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

4.1 Pledge of Allegiance

[5086] 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

[5104] Nancy Thomas: Next on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. I don't see any request to pull any items. She has mine. Thank you.

[5117] Kat Jones: Member Jones would like to pull 12.17 please.

[5132] Nancy Thomas: Address code. Actually I think you would be pulling it from consent at the time.

[5141] Kat Jones: Alright I'll pull it from consent at the time.

[5143] Nancy Thomas: It will still be on the agenda. We won't pull it from the agenda entirely.

[5147] Kat Jones: Correct. Okay, sorry, yeah.

[5149] Nancy Thomas: So with that, may I have a motion?

[5152] Carina Plancarte: I'll make a motion to approve.

[5157] Nancy Thomas: I second. Motion has been made and seconded to approve the agenda. Please vote. For those that wonder why it takes a while from the time that we call for the vote and the time the vote is taken, It's because the system, we do this automatically and we don't vote except on our screens when it comes up.

[5197] Jennifer Sachs: Student board member, how do you vote?

[5201] Joy Lee: Yes.

[5206] Jennifer Sachs: Six aye.

8. PUBLIC COMMENT

8.1 Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

[5208] Nancy Thomas: Motion passes, six aye. Thank you. Next we move on to public comment on non-agenda items.

8.2 Public Comment on Agenda Items

[5216] Penny DeLeon: We do have public comment. I think they're on the agenda, but she can decide where to put them.

[5223] Nancy Thomas: OK, these are items that are on the agenda. Do we have anyone from the audience that would like to speak to non-agenda items? Your mic. Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on non-agenda items? Seeing none, is there any of these three people that have asked to speak on agenda items would they like to speak now rather than when the item comes up? Seeing none, we will bring these up when the items come up later. So next, we move on to the superintendent's report.

6. STUDENT REPORT

[5268] Jennifer Sachs: We had item 6.1 student board member report. After the approval of the agenda.

[5275] Nancy Thomas: I am so sorry. Student board member, we have one board member from the high school, Ms. Lee. I miss that completely. Me too.

6.1 Student Board Member Report

[5299] Joy Lee: Okay, good, hi. Good evening board, executive cabinet, and community. My name is Joy Lee and I am here on behalf of Newark Memorial High School students to share the student board report. So, our first food fair of the year was filled with anticipation from students to get some good food. As students stood in line to grab tickets, club officers rushed to get their stands ready for students to come and support their clubs. Some popular foods were raisin canes, churros, sliders, mac and cheese, and boba. With this year having 34 clubs participate, there was a lot to choose from and I think everybody got some good food. ASB held a Where's Waldo event for their ninth graders. During brunch and lunch, students looked around for the hidden Waldos around the school. It was a good experience as students, as freshmen, were able to explore the school with the incentive of winning a prize if they found a Waldo. Prizes included fidget toys, a small snack, and even a homecoming ticket. Lastly, National Hispanic Heritage Month started last Friday, where students were invited to dance in the quad filled with dance in the quad and music filled the school as we celebrated Hispanic culture. So now I will announce exciting upcoming events for the month of September. If you would like to write these down, now is the time. So our memory filled Newark Memorial High School yearbook for 2023 to 2024 is now on sale for the price of 85. The price will go up on November 1st. So go to www.yearbooksordercenter.com. and insert the code 6332. OK, and then something big is coming up. Newark Memorial High School will be hosting our Trunk or Treat event on Saturday, October 28 from 11 AM to 4 PM. We're looking for car volunteers to decorate their car trunks in a fun and spooky theme and bring unopened candy to hand out to kids. Trunk or Treat is also looking for vendors. So for those listening, please spread the word. If interested, you can search tinyurl.com slash nmhstrunkortreat23. Next, Cougar Camp sign-ups are still open, but will be closing this Thursday. So please sign up. Cougar Camp is a camp where elementary students will come to Newark Memorial High School and rotate through a variety of sports and activities. It is a great experience for elementary students to interact with high school students and get a peek at their future high school. The cost is $20 and it's on September 23rd, Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. To sign up, you can check out your school's Parent Square or the Newark Memorial High School Activities Instagram page. And also, we have our sport home games for September. So please come out and support our sports teams. It means a lot when people come. Thank you for listening, and I hope everyone can attend and support our school so that we can continue to make it something we Cougars can continue to be proud of. Thank you.

7. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

[5493] Nancy Thomas: We have anyone from the junior high or the continuation high school. Employee organizations I see that we have and he represented. Break it down.

7.1 Employee Organizations

[5515] Cheri Villa: School board members and the rest of our Newark community, my name is Cheri Villa and I'm president of our NTA. First off, Superintendent DeLeon and Mr. Burrell, thank you. You both are a breath of fresh air for our school district. When situations and needs have come up, both of you have been... Could you please speak into the microphone?

[5536] Nancy Thomas: I don't know if everyone's picking you up.

[5538] Cheri Villa: Right. As situations and needs have come up or have been presented to you, the collaboration with NTA is much appreciated, so thank you. I do have just three things to bring up tonight in addition. So in regards to the updated dress code policy, while we don't make or update board policy with what is the worst that could happen, in mind the possibility of situations that our NT members will face, hopefully that number will be small. The second one, the vacancies that we still have across the board at all sites in NUSD. Several of our NTA members at the secondary level have agreed to give up their preparation period and teach six-fifths. The junior high in-house number is just over 150 preparation period loss. And in the elementary level, the mispreps for science and PE teachers are being pulled to teach classes. Again, or what's our plan B? We can get together and talk about that helping with that. Last one is the aid for our para or aid support in our special ed classes for elementary and secondary. Well, I know they are CSEA members, but their work directly does, they work directly with our NTA members. So the lack of support or people available as aides throughout our district We need to have those conversations, not for next year, but for this year. Other than that, thank you. Thank you.

[5647] Penny DeLeon: Thank you, Ms. Villa.

9. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

[5651] Nancy Thomas: Well, we already covered out of order the public comment, so we move on to the superintendent report. Okay. Dr. DeLeon.

9.1 Superintendent Report

[5660] Penny DeLeon: Yes, thank you, President Thomas, members of the board, and our wonderful staff, and members of the community. It's good to see all of you here tonight. So tonight, I'm going to ask Mr. Burrell to address the vacancy situation. But before I do that, I want to talk about our budget a little bit. Next board meeting, we are going to have this letter approved, which is the letter approving our adopted budget. I brought this tonight with plans of reading this, but then Marie reminded me that it'll be on the next meeting for approval, and I'll read it then. The reason I brought this is because our approval of the board, our approval of adopted budget has a very stern warning from the county office of education about our budget. and what needs to be cut from our budget. And the reason I'm bringing that up, this is a hard conversation. But the way I'm approaching it so far is I'm going out to sites, and I'm talking to teachers. I'm talking to staff. You may or may not know, but I've begun my subs with a soup. Subs with a soup is where I go out to sites, and I'll be doing this in departments as well. But I go out to sites. We bring lunch from educators, we bring subs, and I sit down at the table and I ask teachers to tell me what's on their mind. They get to ask questions, comments, concerns, anything they have, and I just sit there and I answer transparently, honestly, and with full appreciation of all the hard work they're doing. There are times when I go to Subs for the Soup and people have grave concerns like now. The vacancies are a grave concern. The budget is a grave concern. What I always promise them is that I can't always tell you what you want to hear, but I'll always tell you the truth. That's what you can count on from me. I'll tell you what's going on. It's not always going to be fun. So in light of the fact that we know we're going to have to work on our budget and make some some cuts and hopefully increase some revenue over the next three years, both ends. And you know we're convening a budget task force, and I'm very excited to announce that we have probably about 15 people who've already applied to be on our budget task force. And a couple more probably that'll be on there. As we embark on that, I'm using my subs with a soup, and I will also be sending out a survey to ask this question of teachers. Knowing that there are going to be cuts, If you had to answer, please don't cut this, what would it be? As practitioners, as the people who have our children's learning in their hands every day, in my view, the most important opinions, what would you want us not to cut? When it comes to like, what's your priority? What do we need to keep? And as I do that, a few things keep coming up as I talk to teachers. And I talk to teachers, even when I'm not at Subs of the Soup, I talk to teachers and I ask them these things. And I'll be sending that question out to teachers just to ask that one question, answer that one question. Here's what I'm hearing so far. A couple of things are coming up. I'm hearing that, as we all know, coming out of the pandemic, behaviors are intense. They're begging me to please not cut, and if I could possibly find a way to prioritize more assistance of behaviorists, counselors, and campus monitors, they would appreciate it at all levels. That's a huge one. The next thing that they're telling me is whatever we can do to ensure that they have support with their English learners, and they're special education students, and that we have aides. They're begging me for aides over and over again. These are our people. These are our teachers. They're our practitioners. They're in the ranks. And I'll tell you what the third thing is. And you're going to hear about it a little bit more tonight. The third thing is, is can we please have more support with our technology? We are almost a one-to-one district. I heard there are a couple classrooms where we don't have carts. pretty much one-to-one. We're going to have a replacement cycle in 2024. That's our next year to have it. They don't have, they feel like they don't have, that we have great techs, they're just not enough. And so they have to wait a long time before they can get assistance with devices. And when you're a teacher, and I will tell you, as I talk to teachers, A lot of them, after they came out of the pandemic, they saw how awesome the integration of technology was. And they're using it. And they're using their smart boards. And they're using their presentation stations. And when they go down, any of that tech goes down, it's tough. So those are the three things that are sort of coming up over and over and over. Like, oh my gosh, we need behaviorists, monitors, campus monitors, aides, and tech help, tech support. It's what they're telling me. Now, I'm sure more things will come up as we go through this process, because I'm going to send it out to everybody. But those are the three, like, I keep marking, I keep, like, putting little checks next to the same ones that keep coming up, right? So, hence the report tonight, and we're going to talk a little bit about the idea of, in a situation, an environment where you have to cut, how do you add in other places? Well, it's called prioritization. And it's called doing what's best for learning. Am I right? That's what we're going to talk about. So just wanted to kind of set you up for that tonight. And then this letter will be read out at the next meeting. OK? So thank you. And at this point, I am going to turn it over to Mr. Burrell, who's going to talk to you a little bit about the plans we've begun for recruitment. We'll have more at the board workshop. But he just wanted to do a cursory overview. you.

[6054] Steve Burrell: Thank you. Thank you. And thank you. This bill for the information and vacancies will continue to be a top priority since I've joined. Newark it's been a hiring it's been a priority focus. And I know that you've asked for information of a comprehensive recruitment plan for the study session that's coming up. Dr. DeLeon will share with everybody. Really exciting, last weekend got a chance to be a part of the booth at Newark Days, so my first Newark Days, and what an amazing event to be a part of. I see some familiar faces that I saw there at the event. But we were passing out flyers and going through, Dr. DeLeon and I We're going to be side by side all the time because we're just passing those out to every single booth. We weren't waiting for people to come to us, we were going to them and we were talking to various people and I mean even the small amounts make a difference because yesterday in our district office we had a gentleman come in and say we met you at the Newark days and you asked if we would substitute and I am here. And with that, we have, you'll see on the personnel report, we have had half a dozen new subs just recently in the month of September alone. So the efforts, it's a mix between the efforts of our staff and working together and the work that we're doing here. So these are just some recruitments that are ongoing in job boards, recruitment fairs, Again, our continued work with Jen around local branding. I know currently recruitment fairs are Alameda County Office of Ed, Cal State East Bay, looking at the various job boards. But the key to the plan that will be submitted will be what will be expanded upon these types of things. So these are some of the things that are in place. I did throw billboards up there because that's something that we're looking You know, I drive from San Jose up to the 880 and I see lots of digital billboards, so we are looking into how we can get our brand up on 880 and just keep drawing people our way. We do have a number of partnerships with universities already in regards to student teaching. And student teaching is often a great pipeline that allows for incoming candidates to fall in love with our district. students, teachers who come through the programs and work for a district will oftentimes put them first as a place that they'd want to work because they've already invested that year with us, know our schools, know our culture, and know what we have to offer. Some of the expanded portions will be looking into how can we increase our interim programs that we have in place. And also the idea of what might a residency program look like. Again, these are paid positions, but they'd be teachers filling positions that are currently vacant that would be, so it's not necessarily an additional cost. It would be just, we're able to pay instead of student teaching for free, bringing people that could work with us as interns. Future ideas, definitely expanding the local marketing the potential of opening up our own recruitment events and doing so early in hopes of identifying what our vacancies are, especially our high-need vacancies early, and inviting people in just to meet with us. You know, that's an opportunity. Evaluate, I know in previous districts that I've worked at, I've gone to other statewide recruitment events outside of the Bay Area, as well as I know districts that will go out of state. The former superintendent I worked with last was recruited from Minnesota. She came out to beautiful California. She ended up in Stockton, but beautiful California and continued to enjoy and continues to live in California at this point, but also look at increasing our university partnerships as well. Another element that goes into the recruitment is, again, being able to not only attract and retain staff, so future conversations with the board can be around competitive compensation, the ideas of signing bonuses, referral systems, health benefits, workforce housing. Again, this isn't something that can happen overnight, and it takes prudence and forethought in what it could be, but these are the types of conversations that help. The state of education across the country continues to make national news, and it can be compounded in the Bay Area, I think because of our cost of living, and we all feel that. Looking at ways, again, to brand our district as a place to be, as well as looking at other types of incentives that will help bring people are things that we'll continue to discuss. I think next steps, and this will be part in hopes of providing the plan, is really evaluating the scope of what we're capable of doing, mapping out priorities, But more importantly, having a timeline for the year and how we are going to work to get our efforts done. So coordinate those efforts and then continue to brainstorm ideas. So after the board meeting here, I was going to send this over for further ideas, as you said, about partnering and plan Bs, but to get input from our labor group. So this will be going out to NTA and CSEA as well to get input going forward. But we'll have a comprehensive report ready in two weeks.

[6441] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Thank you. Any questions or comments from board? Thank you. Member Hill.

[6453] Aiden Hill: Thank you, Mr. Burrell. And, you know, I understand how essential this work is. And it sounds like you're going to have more information for us when we meet for our or retreat or offsite. And so this is something that I think we've been, I guess there have been signs that this has been coming, right, the challenges that we've had around retention, and now we're seeing it, and so now we have to respond. And I think that, you know, a lot of the things that you've laid out here are going to be important elements. The one thing, though, that I think we should also really consider is So for right now, I think we're going to face challenges in competing with other districts in the typical areas. So salary, benefits, that kind of thing. So in the short term, not the long term, in the short term, we're going to have challenges. And I think what we should think about, and I'm hoping that we can have this as a topic for our offsite, is I think as a part of our recruiting efforts, We need to, we need to, different people use different terms, but we could call it, you know, how do we make Newark and NUSD the employer of choice, right? And so, what are the elements that would attract teachers to come here and to stay here? And, you know, and so, and I think that we, just as Superintendent DeLeon had She's been doing her listening tour and finding out, well, okay, if we're going to have to cut things, okay, what really matters to you, right? And so I think you gave us a good list. But I think we ought to do the same thing around either existing teachers, you know, what really matters to you? What are some things that we could do that really matter to keep you here? And then also for new recruits, so whether they're coming through the CSUs or wherever, You know, what would be a differentiator for you to come to Newark versus to go somewhere else? Because I think that that's our marketing message, right? That's what we're selling. You know, just saying that we have openings, that's not going to be compelling enough, right? We have to have a compelling message. So look forward to that conversation in a couple of weeks. And by the way, I mean, you've mentioned looking at the pipelines from the various teacher credentialing programs. So, I graduated from San Jose State. So, if you need somebody to tag along and twist some arms, just let me know.

[6629] Steve Burrell: Absolutely.

[6630] Aiden Hill: Thank you.

[6631] Steve Burrell: We have some good contacts there.

[6633] Nancy Thomas: Speaking of university partnerships, Dr. Pierce-Davis and I are both graduates of Stanford. And my daughter, who's a teacher, has enrolled into the Stanford STEP program. So I think that would be an excellent place to look for potential recruits.

[6654] Steve Burrell: Thank you. Yes. That has been brought up as well. So I look forward to sharing more.

[6659] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[6661] Carina Plancarte: Can I say something? Yeah. I just also wanted to say thank you so much, Dr. DeLeon, for doing your listening tours and for all of the work that's going into putting together a very robust plan. Because yes, we do need to recruit teachers. But absolutely, we also need to retain them. And just figuring out what the needs are, what the needs are that our teachers are missing in order for them to do a good job. I think that's going to do great strides for us to continue to retain our teachers. So I just really want to say thank you so much to both of you for doing that and for taking on the efforts because we've got to do right by our new teachers and obviously by our teachers who've been with us for a really long time. So thank you.

10. STAFF REPORT

10.1 Information & Technology: JET Report Update

[6711] Nancy Thomas: You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we move on to the 10.3, the Information and Technology Jet Report update.

[6722] Penny DeLeon: Superintendent? At this time, I'd like to call up our Network Systems Manager, Paul Rose, who is going to review the latest version of the Jet Report, which is sort of an update on where we are so far. And at this time, Mr. Rose, take it away.

[6746] Paul Rose: Good evening, members of the board, Executive Cabinet, and Dr. DeLeon. As Dr. DeLeon just said, we're going to be giving a brief recap of the JET report. And I believe we have Andrea Bennett, who is the Executive Director of CITE, available via Zoom. She'll give us a quick kind of update of who CITE is and what the JET report is about.

[6793] Penny DeLeon: Maybe we should tell her. Maybe she could hear us. We can't hear you or see you yet on the big screen so we're going to Mr. Rose is going to help us with that. If you could just pause. Thank you. She's there.

[6824] Jennifer Sachs: If you can just please leave and rejoin the Zoom webinar. Sometimes that'll fix the issue. We appreciate it.

[6863] Carina Plancarte: Can you hear me now? Hi, can you hear me?

[6891] Jennifer Sachs: Yes, we can hear you. Thank you. Give us just one moment. OK. Thank you. OK, you ready? One second. We're waiting on one more. Thank you, you're all set.

[6928] Andrea Bennett: Okay, thank you so much. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there in person tonight with you all. My name is Andrea Bennett, I'm the executive director for CITE, which stands for California IT and Education. And CITE and CUE are non-profit organizations dedicated to the education community here in California. We designed this review program to provide recommendations to school districts, that we're going to do is we're going to work collaboratively with the district. Around technology and education. Technology to help improve process and policy that will then improve the use and maintenance of technology in districts. The review is not a audit such as that it would be. But rather what we do is work including a survey that goes to all staff in the district so that we can get as much data as possible before we make any recommendations. We recruit individuals currently working in PK-12 technology and in education technology environments who all have years of experience. In addition, the staff from both site and Q are part of the team and provide kind of a statewide perspective. We worked with the staff here at Newark Unified and found everyone to be very dedicated to the district and willing to help with the assessment. Since the report was delivered, the staff have followed several of the recommendations given in the report. And tonight is an update on what's been completed and what's still left to be done. And I'm here to answer any questions of the original report should they surface. And with that, I will turn it back over to Paul.

[7038] Paul Rose: All right, thank you. Like Andrea just said, that gave a brief recap of the report. We won't actually be going over the report, because we'd be here another hour, and I don't think anybody wants that. So these slides will just give a quick update on some of the progress on some of the items that were in the report and some of the next steps. So this first slide will be addressing the logistical part of the report, some of the items in there. Some of the updates are that we have, oops, I'm sorry, I got my wrong page here. That we have completed the Wi-Fi audit that was listed in the report and we actually, from the findings in the report or the audit, We found that our current Wi-Fi system was outdated and just not capable to provide the level of service that the amount of devices and the nature of the devices that were connecting to it. So we are currently, and this is actually jumping ahead a little bit, we are actually in the process of getting a new Wi-Fi system due to the Wi-Fi audit. Another item that we completed via and item in the report was updating the automated student account onboarding system so that it more integrates with our student information system so that student accounts are more readily available when students start on the first day of school. Another item that we addressed was migrating Synergy, our student information system, into the cloud for increased security and reliability so that we didn't have to worry about when there were issues with the Wi-Fi or other things that they affected the student information system when it was on site versus now in the cloud. Also, it gives us better security. Some of our next steps that we have to address in the logistical categories is completing a network audit to make sure that, just like the Wi-Fi audit, that we are making sure that our network is optimally configured for usage and traffic We need to draft up a timeline or a checklist for CALPADS related deadlines and tasks so that we can improve and streamline our state reporting. And the last item here on the logistical is researching replacements or upgrades for the current IT trouble ticket system as well as the network monitoring system so that we can have better functionality on the troubled ticket system, as well as more in-depth network monitoring so we can know when things are happening, in some cases maybe before they happen. All right. The next topic to address is the staffing part of the report. We have added a second student information system CALPADS position via LCAP. They assist with supporting student information system tickets as well as the CALPADS state reporting. We are also exploring neighboring districts to review their IT department org and make up for comparison job titles. And that will also be addressed on the next slide. Some of our next steps in the staffing part are to create updated job descriptions for current staff. Some of the descriptions are as old as 20 years old, as well as coming up with new job descriptions for potential new staff. And then the report also suggests updating the IT lead role to a CTO or a Chief Technology Officer. This just goes into some of the comparisons that we did of neighboring districts and their makeups. And then the last slide that addresses the, hold on, let me see. Part of the report is the hardware and equipment. Some of the items that we have addressed and completed from the report are we have You know, via the Wi-Fi audit, we have completed quotes and are in the process of ordering and installing the new Wi-Fi system. We replaced our core server infrastructure with a new system in the 21-22 school year. We have ordered and updated the battery backup system for the data center, which will provide power in case of a blackout. So we have, I believe, between 3 to 5 hours of backup power for our servers and such before we lose functionality. We have inventoried all of the district Chromebooks in the fall of 2022. We upgraded the previous phone system in the summer of 2022 that was addressed in the report and we kind of made sure that was one of the first things addressed due to potential emergency, you know, the impact it could have in an emergency if the phone system wasn't functioning like expected. Last spring, we replaced 1,800 of the student end-of-life Chromebooks. Some of the next steps in the hardware and equipment part of the report. are looking at the replacement of staff Chromebooks. Originally, they were set to expire in June of 2024. We just recently found out in the last week or two that Google has extended that, and they will actually be end of life in 2026. So that gives us a little more time to actually research some replacement devices, maybe possibly even demoing some models to see if they can meet the requirements that we need for our staff. This next slide, I believe, Dr. Pierce can address.

[7396] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Sure, I can jump in there. So the final piece was around technology, really integration into curriculum and pedagogy. In this regard, we have maintained support with classroom technology integration, especially since the pandemic, and really targeted our computer science content at all three levels, elementary, middle, and high school. We're also reviewing how we integrate. So we are discontinuing things like Seesaw when we're not seeing it being used by a substantial amount of our staff and replacing it with things like California Colleges, which will help our high school students starting in middle school do some long-term college and career planning support. So we're reviewing those on a need basis. Next steps here are to consider Some of the recommendations in the report around transformational instruction model, as well as utilizing professional development days and resources to enhance integration. We want to be, you know, careful here because every report that's focused on that thing is going to recommend that we do PD on that thing. And so we do want to be careful that we keep in mind the board's, the goals for us and make sure that anything that we do bring to professional development is aligned to those goals. So just a quick caveat there for that final bullet.

[7470] Penny DeLeon: Thank you. Can I add something really quick there to the final bullet? Paul and Nicole to maintain this slide on here because I was really excited to see the JET report included Sonny Magana's work. We used him in Oxnard Union and he began his career with instructional technology and really transformed it into a sort of next level instruction and how do we get there and less about technology and more about How do we increase student achievement through really creative lesson planning, critical thinking, and using the latest technology as a tool to that piece? And I only mentioned that and wanted to leave that in here. As we look at goals 1A and 1B, instruction becomes really important. But OK, I was at a big high school district. Sometimes really excited, I mean really hard to get people excited about instruction and PD and those kinds of things. Sonny's transformational model and PD was one of the first times where the teachers were begging for more and asked if we could do a contract for him to come back and he ended up being there for like three or more years in our district coming back every year. So they, and then they, and then we did trainer of trainers, and they kind of ran, the teachers ran with it. And it really transformed the instruction in the high school classrooms, and I think it would in any classroom. So that's the only reason I left that on there, so that we begin to think about 1A and 1B. There are some really great things that can be done with technology and instruction, and so it can enhance it.

[7587] Paul Rose: Thank you. So this next slide, while not exactly, okay, hold on. So this next slide, while not exactly outlined in the JET report, we wanted to take the opportunity to update the board and the community on the Wi-Fi project. Currently, we had a couple setbacks, so it took a little longer to get the hardware than we had originally planned. We currently have the hardware. We are in the testing and configuration and testing phase. The initial plan was to have started installation at the high school this week. Unfortunately, we ran into a couple unexpected issues with the testing. So we are currently waiting for a SSL security certificate to be delivered to us so that we can install it into the system, continue with our testing. And we hope, knock on wood, hope to start installing at the high school maybe this weekend or possibly as early as next week. So wanted to kind of let everybody kind of give an update on that. Also, what we're calling Phase 2, which would be the rest of the district, is dependent on Phase 1 finishing. So once we're done with Memorial, we'll then reach out to the vendor that has Phase 2, and then we will plan the schedule for installing the access points, the Wi-Fi, at the rest of the sites. The final slide is just a recap of summary of next steps that were listed in the JET report that we have yet to complete. So one of the items is to complete a network audit like the Wi-Fi audit just to make sure that our network is running at tip-top shape. Once again, these are mainly recaps. Drafting the checklist and timeline for CALPADS deadlines and tasks so everybody knows when those are needed. researching the upgrades for the trouble ticket system and network monitoring system, creating and updating the job descriptions, replacement of the staff Chromebooks and continuing to update the board and community on the Wi-Fi.

[7718] Nicole Pierce-Davis: And if there's any questions we also have Miss Bennett who's still on the line and Mr. Rose if you can stand up there a little longer in case there's any questions.

[7729] Phuong Nguyen: I just have, thank you for the update and the clarification on when the Wi-Fi's will be installed and addressing the delay. I appreciate that. And I just have one quick question in regards to the backup batteries for the servers. The district doesn't have a generator UPS.

[7753] Paul Rose: No, we looked into it, but because I guess from what I'm understanding during COVID, the cost of generators and the parts and such have doubled and tripled. So the couple quotes that I'd gotten were outrageously unaffordable.

[7769] Phuong Nguyen: Okay. I understand that with the backup batteries, knowing because I've been in the industry for a long time, The backup battery is only good for several hours, and sometimes we could be down potentially much longer than that, and then that also degrades the system. So I would recommend to the superintendent and to staff to look into possibly getting a UPS generator. So that's my one input. So the backup batteries are UPS, but just a generator. Yeah, basically a generator for the district, especially so that all of our computers and servers and network equipment, when it goes down, the generator will pick it up automatically, and there's no surge and breakdown. Because if we do switch over to backup batteries, It's fine. It won't surge the servers, but if the backup batteries fail, then... The backup batteries have a finite run time. Yeah.

[7836] Paul Rose: The generator, as long as there's fuel, it'll keep running. Oh, I see.

[7839] Phuong Nguyen: Yeah. So there is a difference, and it can help prolong the outages. So I just wanted to see if that's a possibility. Thank you. Thank you for the report. I really appreciate it, Mr. Oster.

[7851] Nancy Thomas: Any other board members?

[7856] Kat Jones: I have a question regarding, and it's not specific necessarily to the report, but it's specific to the topic. Do we still have hotspots left from distance learning or?

[7871] Paul Rose: We have a few, but they're primarily for the independent study program.

[7875] Kat Jones: Okay. Great. That answers my other question. Thanks.

[7880] Carina Plancarte: Thank you so much for the report. I really appreciate seeing this. One thing that sticks out to me, and I'm really happy to see that, is the researching of a potential replacement for the current IT trouble ticket system. As we were talking earlier this evening, it's so important to continue to retain our teachers What a better way than to provide them with great customer service when things happen? And I would just like to just throw out that could we think about collaboration and do we currently have something that maintenance and operations uses a ticket system to? that could be tied into one because I've seen that before at prior workplaces where I've been at where there's one ticket system that can service company-wide and granted, you know, each department is assigned to their own items that they would be looking over. So it wouldn't be that the ownership of all the ticketing systems would fall under IT, but basically you'd be broken into, you know, IT is overseeing the support that the teachers are requesting in regards to the technology. And then, like, for instance, maintenance operations, they are on the hook for overseeing things that need to be repaired. at the sites or if the AC is not working in the classroom or such, right, to see if there could be some collaboration with that. And also if, you know, within that, I know that we need the staffing in place because we, you know, in order to service these tickets that are coming in, we need to have the appropriate staffing so that they can go out. And I'd love to, you know, and this is obviously further down the road, but to even, Do we have this already? And if we don't have it, could we also include service level agreements that are robust and that include timelines, expected timelines of delivery and communication so that staff who are experiencing whatever issue they're having, they've received communication of what the timeline looks like and then possibly the expected time of completion. And if there is a delay, if they could also receive you know, some communication with that. But again, I understand we have to, we have to be fully staffed and, you know, other things have to be put into place. But what a wonderful thing to see here, to have, to enhance our customer service, you know, for our teachers and the, you know, the pains that they're experiencing with certain things. Thank you.

[8052] Nancy Thomas: Yeah. Member Hill.

[8054] Aiden Hill: So a question and then a comment on the topic that Dr. DeLeon brought up. And so the question is, you talked about Chromebooks and I read an article recently and I don't remember whether it was in the San Jose Mercury News or in Wall Street Journal or where, but they were talking about the whole issue of Chromebooks and that like initially the way that Google sold this whole idea was, you know, hey these are cheap devices and and we can provide them out and then when they expire, you know, then you just swap them out, etc. But what the articles were talking about or the article was talking about was that actually these things end up expiring a lot quicker than you think and that sometimes even when you get a replacement apparently the clock's already been ticking and so you know you think you might have four years and you end up only having two and so it becomes just like this whole big cycle and so in some ways it may be more expensive and more disruptive than having a different platform that maybe you maintain yourself and try to eke a little bit more life out of. And as Member Plancarte was talking about I understand that we're resource constrained, right, and that this isn't something that you can easily go and investigate, but, you know, do you have any thoughts about, you know, should we at some point investigate looking at, you know, whether we should continue to use Chromebooks as a platform or whether we should maybe experiment with some other things so that we can get longer life and maybe better bang for the buck?

[8150] Paul Rose: I think I've read some of the articles you're referring to. I think, I can't speak for Google, but I think that's why they're actually starting to extend some of the life of the current Chromebooks is because they are finding that there are perfectly fine Chromebooks ending up in the e-waste landfills just because of the hard date that Google set for the end of life. So I think that's part of why Google's kind of easing up on that a little bit. I know some districts are kind of starting to investigate maybe looking at a alternative to Chromebooks. I know right now a lot of it comes down to kind of cost. You know, Chromebooks are the affordable solution. For us, it would also come down to staff. You know, if there's, you know, if Google's the, you know, easy to support solution, there may be other ones out there, but they may require more time and, you know, more effort to administer. But it is something that should be looked into at least.

[8205] Aiden Hill: I mean, and again, I understand that this is sort of a medium to longer term topic, right? But just wanted to, um, you know, kind of at least approach the subject and then, and then going back to what, what, uh, Dr. Deleon was mentioning about it's, it's sunny Magana. Is that what you, how you said it? Okay. So, so this past weekend I, um, I needed to go to a statewide future business leaders of America conference where they were bringing all of the, chapter advisors together to sort of compare notes about the program and to talk about, you know, what's in store for this year. And the reason I bring this up is that, so as a teacher, I was dreading going to this conference because, like, I already have lots of things to do and that this was just going to be a big time sink. But they were smart, and what they did was, is that although there were some things that we had to talk about from a planning perspective, they had a whole bunch of sessions around tools, electronic tools, that we can access that not only apply to FBLA, but apply to us being teachers. And so, and I think that, again, obviously we need to put a plan together and It takes some resources, but maybe not as much as we think. And if we can get the tools in the hands of teachers, I mean, I really think that that's, I mean, just speaking as a teacher, I would much rather have a tool that is going to help me put a lesson plan together versus sitting through a long meeting. And so if we can start to explore that, because I think it will have a direct impact, potentially a direct impact, on the goals that we're trying to achieve.

[8315] Nancy Thomas: Yes. Well, I have a few questions and comments myself. The original JET report, January 2022, talked about quick wins, immediate wins, short-term wins, and long-term wins. Well, the quick, immediate, and short-term wins were supposed to have been accomplished in six months, and now we're over 18 months out. We still have things to look at, like staffing. What is the timeline and what is the configuration for staffing? That may be more in Dr. DeLeon's bailiwick. But, you know, things like the trouble ticket system, we've had 18 months. How's it working? Is the current system not adequate? And, you know, what steps and what timeline? do we have to take care of that trouble ticket system? And how is the inventory system working? We talked about how many, that all the Chromebooks were inventoried, but this district has historically been called upon by our auditors and FCMAT and others that we don't have a good inventory system for our assets. So we've tagged all of these Chromebooks, but are we keeping track to them? How well are they? Are we tracking them? Are they coming back? How many of them are having to be replaced? So all of these things, I think the board would like kind of assurances that everything is in planning, and there is plans and timelines to accomplish everything that the JET report is asking us to do.

[8419] Paul Rose: And a lot of these are at least, in the very least, in the planning phases, unfortunately, for lack of a better way to put it, given our limited staffing, some of the larger projects like the phone system, the Wi-Fi, those are pretty large projects. So the other ones are on my very long to-do list. But once we kind of check off the bigger ones, those are definitely on, you know, the to-do list.

[8442] Nancy Thomas: Dr. Tandian? Yeah.

[8445] Penny DeLeon: Oh, yeah. Member Wendt.

[8448] Phuong Nguyen: Yes. I just really want to emphasize the phone project was a huge project. you know, updating Synergy this past summer. That's a big deal, too, bringing that into the cloud. And so, I mean, they have been tasked with a lot, and even, and then the Wi-Fi project, that's a big project, with making sure that they have the network servers in place, and also, and then getting all of the equipment, right? And that piece has been delayed, so, but now the SSL cert, But I was like, oh, that was, I mean, that's going to take a couple of days to get that because you have to register it. They have to get called back from the state. I mean, there's steps that they have to follow and it takes some time. And then hopefully we'll be able to test and it'll go well. You guys don't have anything to run into and then you can install the access points and we can see some jamming, you know, network access, Wi-Fi access at the high school. that we have in comparison to others because you know for the 5 to the district was that we really need to really beef up our IT department because IT is always going to be a part of decision making moving forward. So to me it's really, it's critical to invest in IT, so.

[8553] Nancy Thomas: Did you want to say anything? I do.

[8556] Penny DeLeon: I just have a clarifying question. Paul, out of curiosity, when you said that Google was able to extend the life by two years. Is that similar to like, for example, when you purchase an iPhone, you know it's going to have a certain life, and I'm not kidding you, like the minute before the next one comes out, your phone starts to mess up, and it feels like it's a bit of a conspiracy, right? like they're doing that, they're doing it. They're pushing down something to make your phone go off, right? Are you suggesting that, like, does Google have the ability? I mean, so when the Chromebooks have end of life, I thought it was because the actual hardware doesn't work anymore, or is it because they just stop supporting it and make us

[8605] Paul Rose: by another one, kind of like the iPhone. I can never remember what it stands for, auto update expiration. It's not so much that the hardware stops working, it's that they stop supporting and stop giving operating system updates. And there are certain apps that require a minimum operating system to function.

[8631] Penny DeLeon: I always thought it was because they because they were so inexpensive, they weren't necessarily well-made or didn't have the best parts, and so they would just break down. I didn't realize it's because they could like just intentionally say, oh, we're not support. That's just wrong.

[8646] Paul Rose: There are a few apps that require a minimum operating system that once you hit the AUE, you can't go past that certain operating system that Google set it at. And therefore, the Chromebooks for all intents and purposes are kind of unusable after that.

[8661] Jennifer Sachs: Well, thank you, Paul. Thank you.

[8663] Penny DeLeon: Thank you so much. You did a great job on that, by the way. Thank you, and thank you for our site people.

10.2 College & Career Readiness Measure (Part I)

[8670] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. OK. Next, we move on to item 10.2, College and Career Readiness Measure, Part 1. And we have a public speaker, Ms. Parks. Oh. It's through the Chrome browser. It's through the Chrome browser.

[8696] Cindy Parks: Good evening. While I appreciate the advanced placement update. The data is not drilled down enough for the board in the community to get the full picture. The 5 year score summary by course which wasn't included list all of the courses, the number of tests administered by the course and the results broken down by the 5 point rubric score. The information provided only highlights the success of ethnicity and significant groups. I hope the full five-year summary AP report will be shared with the board, because I think it gives you that full picture that you would be wanting to see. Thank you.

[8739] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Superintendent? Yes, thank you.

[8743] Penny DeLeon: Thank you so much, and we can absolutely provide that. At this point, I'm going to invite Heather Decker, our coordinator of equity and access to come on up and do her report. But what I did want to say is we have named this report, College and Career Readiness, to align to the same title as the dashboard indicators. So it's no longer the CTE report. This is all, so this is why it's a two-part report because we will cover all eight indicators between the two reports because that is what we are held responsible for. And honestly, I will say, and knowing this because I've been working with Heather on asking for certain kinds of data and just since I've been here, our access to data here is difficult with our particular platform. I'll say that. It's extremely difficult. We'll talk later about different student information systems that we probably need to go out to RFP or RFQ for. Heather did an absolutely amazing job trying to, because I'm going to tell you, when I asked Heather, I said, could we get these data by SED, social economically disadvantaged, can we get it by EL, can we get it by foster youth, can we get it by And of course, that's not a significant subgroup, so we couldn't. But that is not readily available in our system. We can't tag anything like that. She had to go one by one by one to get that data, like each individual child to get the data. So for us, I'm just going to get on my platform right now. This is critical. College and career readiness is really, to me, the fruition of everything we do from PK up. To do this, we have to have a data-rich district, which means we have to be able to access data. And she had to do Yeoman's work. So I just want to give it up for Heather in advance to even pull these data. And she's doing a really great job. So thank you so much, and take it away.

[8881] Heather Decker: Awesome. Thank you. It's really hard here.

[8885] Penny DeLeon: It's really hard here. It's hard.

[8887] Heather Decker: So greetings, board members, executive cabinet, and our community here in Afar. I'm the coordinator of equity and access here for Newark unified I will be doing a college and career readiness update this is part one of 2. I do want to give a special shout out to people who helped me put this together as doctor daily on said data was. a big learning curve for me over the last few weeks. I am not a data analyst by trade, but I feel like I'm at least 5% better than I was before I started. But I definitely want to thank our data team, our counselors, our ed services team, and all the people that answered my phone calls over the weekends to help me learn different formulas for calculating data. But let's get into it. So first, we want to talk about our district overarching goals. You are all very familiar because you helped write them. But for those people who are at home or not as familiar with our overarching goals for this year, our goal number one, as usual, has to do with student achievement. This year, there is a sub-goal or goal 1B. that focuses on college and career preparedness. We want to increase our college and career preparedness rate by a minimum of 2% overall and 5% for any subgroup below the overall average. This will be pulled from the California student, the California dashboard. They have college and career readiness measures that are a part of that. And so today we're going to go through a few of those measures, but I want to give you kind of an overview of the goal to start with. So our agenda, we will talk about what those college and career readiness indicators are. In our part one today, we're going to focus on AP enrollment, test taking, and exam pass rates, as well as A through G course enrollment and pass rates. We'll also give some next steps and have some time for Q&A. So the first thing we want to look at is really understanding what the college and career readiness indicators are. How are we being measured? the California Department of Education. The California is looking to evaluate students as being prepared in 8 different ways. So a student can be prepared by. Qualifying on any of these 8 measures they only need one to be counted as prepared for our data. So going to each of these number one they can pass. Both or they can score four or higher on two or more IB exams. Newark Unified doesn't offer international baccalaureate, so we don't have any IB exams for our district. They can also pass two semester-long college courses with a C-minus or better. They can also be awarded by the state the seal of biliteracy and score three or higher on the SBAC English section. They can participate in two years of military leadership program, like junior ROTC, and score a three or higher on one of the SBAC subjects and a two or higher on the second. Newark Unified doesn't offer junior ROTC, so that is one of the areas that we will not be evaluated for in our district. The last two areas are a little bit more complicated, so that's seven and eight on your chart. The first one is CTE pathway. So if a student completes a CTE pathway and scores three or higher in one aspect area, or two or higher in the second, or one semester of college credit with a C or higher, then they are considered prepared. So they have to do both parts if they get a CTE pathway. The last one is A through G requirements. So if they complete the A through G requirements with a C or higher, they also need one of the other four sub areas combined. So scoring three or higher on one SBAC area and two or higher on another, one semester of college credit, a score of three or higher on one AP exam, or to complete a CTE pathway. So that's the overview of all the eight areas. The last time the California dashboard was updated for the college and career measures was in 2019. Since then, it has not posted new results for college and career preparedness because SBAC has been inconsistent with COVID the last few years. So they have not updated the college and career readiness since 2019. So when you see the data, when we look at the overview, that's where we're going to be starting from. So here is the 2019 dashboard data. This compares the last three years that the dashboard was pulled together for our students. As you can see in 2019, we had 35% of our students that were marked as prepared. 13.3% of our students were approaching prepared, so had like one or some of the measures. And 51.7% students were not prepared. This is an increase in not prepared and a decrease in prepared in 2019. So that's where we left off the last time with the dashboard. The dashboard also provides a chart by ethnicity and significant subgroup. I will say this chart is a little bit confusing because the percentages and the numbers they use is out of all the students that were prepared, what percent of them were this subgroup? She doesn't tell me how many students were in that group, what's the actual number, what does it make up of the class. It's just of the 100% of students, the total number of students that were paired, how many of them fell into these categories. But I did want to provide this to just kind of give an overview scope of where it was the last time they looked at us in 2019.

[9236] Penny DeLeon: Could I stop, just put a pin in it for one second, Heather, right here. So this actually, even though it doesn't tell us everything we want to know about N, this is important because we start looking at real disproportionality. So you're looking to see if the percentage in a particular group is aligned to the percentage that are prepared or more so or less so. And that is a really important conversation that we're going to begin to have as a district. Thank you, Heather.

[9262] Heather Decker: Absolutely. So moving forward in this presentation and in the future presentations, I'll be diving deeper into each way these students are classified as prepared and where we're at now with those indicators and some of the things that we're going to be doing. So our first piece is AP courses. So I wanted to provide you with a list of what our current AP offerings are at Newark Memorial. There are up to 20 AP classes available for students in a variety of subject areas at Newark Memorial. Currently, there are no AP classes available at Bridgepoint or Crossroads.

[9302] Penny DeLeon: But we will someday.

[9304] Heather Decker: Yes. So these are the courses that are available, variety of others. Some of our newest ones was AP PreCalculus, which we added last year. As we look at our AP testing rates for five years, this slide shows the number of seats filled by students in AP classes. So Dr. DeLeon asked us to drill down in this way because sometimes the reports provide us how many students are in AP classes. But that doesn't tell me if one student takes five classes, that's a significant difference in looking at the data. So we really drilled it down to enrollments, how many seats are being filled by students in AP classes. So as you can see, over time, the number has increased from year to year. And even this year, we've increased since last year.

[9361] Penny DeLeon: we're going to be able to do that.

[9363] Heather Decker: Absolutely. At the bottom the chart you will see is the percentage of the test that were taken out of all the tests that could have been taken so of all the seats that were there. How many tests were taken. And how many percentage of those tests that were passed. As we're all And so I'm not surprised there's a fluctuation in some of these tests being taken in the pass rates from year to year. You can see that there is an increase, as I said, in AP seats or AP enrollments. There's a decrease in tests taken, but there's a slight increase in tests being passed. So that data is there. We're going to drill into it a little bit more as we keep going forward. we're going to continue to look at the data. And if you would like the data miss Park had mentioned about the individual courses I do have that and can provide that to you readily. I do have available it will not be in the slides, but I do have that available for you. All right. So as we we're going to talk a little bit about the AP exam. As we can see here there's a similar drops in test being taken from 2021 22. 2223. For all significant groups with the biggest drops being with students and I with I E P's. As part of the a 3 G improvement grant we set funds aside to help reduce the costs of taking the AP exams. For students who qualify for free And with the exam reduction, it costs them only $15 for a test. The counselors and staff at all the school sites worked really hard to get the information out there about how to bring that letter into the accounting office, how to qualify for those things, what paperwork they can fill out to be able to qualify for it. we did have an increase in the number of tests that were ordered via that fee waiver last year was a 38% increase in number of tests that were used via that fee waiver so getting that word out does matter. We have the counselors right now working to try to increase the number of benefit forms that are being filled out so even more kids can qualify for that fee waiver so that we can do all those pieces. Usually test registration comes around October, November. So right now is that key time. So we've already started talking about those things to increase those students having access to these test fee waivers. While we know there's still ways to get more texts taken, You know, we know that not every student that could qualify for a fee waiver is actually using it, because there is some pieces about them, like needing to bring a letter to an office to show that they qualify. And sometimes that's hard navigating that system. So we're looking at trying to ways to make smooth or streamline that process. Sarah Kaiser and Child Nutrition has been really great about being like, here's my email. Have them email me. I will send them a letter right away. They can have it. I will process it super fast. So shout out to Sarah for doing that. last year, and she's already emailed us back this year, like, I'm ready to start again. Here's my email. So we're going to work on that specifically, because I know it's an area that matters a lot for the A through G grant.

[9568] Penny DeLeon: Heather, could I just add one thing really quickly, too? In the questions that the board sent after I sent the agenda, after we did the agenda, there were questions about how could we increase the test-taking percentage. That is a really heavy-duty thing to do. I can tell you different districts have done different things. One way it can be done is if the district sets aside their A through G grant money or other monies to ensure that the students are able to pay for it. Like you just say it's paid for, so it becomes basically a requirement of the class. If you're going to take it, you take the test because we're going to pay for it. That's what we did in my previous district. And our test taking went through the roof because there was not a culture of taking the test, or certain kids just didn't take the tests. And we wanted to make sure that not only students who got fee waivers took them, but every child who wanted. Because sometimes students are taking several, and at $100 a pop, it becomes expensive for everybody. And so that is just one way that we set aside money to be able to do that. And we went through the roof in terms of test taking. And the more kids that take, the more that are prepared, and also your pass rate starts to go up. So just wanted to put it out there that we're already beginning to think of ways of how we can do that.

[9654] Heather Decker: Did it change? Yes, it did. We look at tests taken by ethnicity, you will see an uptick in the number of African-American and black students who are taking the exam, but the group as a whole has some of the lowest amounts of tests taken since 2019. So that is going to be an area that we're going to want to focus on to ensure equity of access to these exams. We are already looking at enrollment numbers and trying to evaluate who's enrolling in our AP classes, who's enrolling in our honors classes. We want to make sure that everyone has access to these things. And targeting conversations with students and families when they're thinking about enrollment of like, hey, you really should be in these classes. Yes, you can do this. You can take these tests. We're here to support you. Drilling further, we want to look at, now that we've talked about all the tests that are being taken, we want to talk about how many, what percentages of students are passing them. students who are low socioeconomic status. So we some similar dips in test passing since 2019 to 2020, but we should note that students as a whole had a 2% increase in passing from 2122 to 2223 and 4% for students who are low socioeconomic status. So there is some growth. We also just know that some of the high numbers work during pre we're going to continue to go by ethnicity. We're going to continue to increase the number of students who are taking pass rates for AP exams on this piece. If we continue to go by ethnicity. Almost all groups saw slight increase in their pass rate from 2122 to 2223. We hope that over time we will see the scores continue to increase across all

[9766] Penny DeLeon: Do we want to stop here for just a second and see if board members have any questions on AP? Do you want to do that or wait until the very end? You want to do AP first or no? OK.

[9775] Jennifer Sachs: All right.

[9777] Heather Decker: Good. OK. A through G courses. So we're going to look at the enrollments and the pass rates for A through G courses in our district. On this slide, you can see over the last three years, the total number of A through G and non-A through G courses at Newark Memorial High School. It is important to note that courses at Bridgepoint are not A through G approved. So we will focus solely on Newark Memorial High School. Technically, Crossroads courses, because they're offered through Edgenuity, are A through G approved through Edgenuity. But Crossroads doesn't have an A through G list because it's not WASC accredited. We can go on further later. Over the three years, you can see we offered about 80% of A through G courses each year. So of all of our courses, 80% of them were A through G courses. we're not going to be able to do that. This varies based on enrollment numbers needing to reduce our fte that sometimes that number went a little bit lower than 80, but it's about 80 every time. This This led to. Decisions being made based on enrollment or requests by students on which a P classes are a 3 G We also saw some consolidation of classes, such as like music courses from having several different band classes to only having one type of band or one type of choir. This can also be affected by students who choose to sign up for A through G approved CTE classes through ROP. While A through G courses may be offered at ROP, if none of the students chose to enroll in them, they wouldn't be included in this data. So it wouldn't be counted as a class offered if nobody signed up for it. Going down by subject area, looking at courses offered, you can see what percentage of all the courses that were offered were in each A through G subject area in the last three years. There's a higher rate for art and electives. But that's mostly because students need more of those. You need an elective class every year. As you get into junior and senior year, you have more options, more slots in your day that you can fill with art or electives. So there tends to be more of those courses offered. For example, they need 60 credits of electives and 10 credits of art. So that's a lot that they would need to get over time. But I wanted to drill even further and talk about sections because we might have a lot of... you know, a very difference in art having a lot of courses being offered. But section by section, it actually becomes more consistent. But looking at overall, about 78% of our sections offered during the school day are A through G, and about 20% are non-A through G. That's been consistent over time. So we've been doing well about making sure the majority of our classes that we are offering through the day are A through G. And this is what I was speaking to about cross-subject areas. While we had more art classes before, it's actually pretty consistent about the number of a percentage of sections that are being offered by each subject area. And distribution is pretty even. Language, world language is a little bit lower because they technically for A through G only need two years of that. Well, many of our students actually do take more and we offer more, but that's why that number might be a little bit less than some of the other areas. So we want to look at A through G enrollment by significant groups. On average for the last five years, students have had about an 84% of their courses being A through G. So on the average student, about 84% of their classes are A through G. For our students with IEPs, this number is slightly lower because a portion of them enroll in some of our basic classes, which cannot be A through G approved. So that's based on their levels coming in. If we look at by ethnicity, you will see about the same across the board, except for there is about a 3% difference and a lower number for our African-American and black students. But across the board, we're pretty close in that about 84, 85% of our students are taking, or 84 to 85% of their classes are E through G. When we look at passing rate, this is actually an area that we really want to do some work on. We really want to think about next steps. This is one of the big things that I wanted to be campaigning for, and I know Dr. DeLeon and Dr. Pierce are feeling as well. When we talk about passing for A through G courses, we're talking about C minus or higher. We know for graduation, a D counts for credit, and a student can graduate with a D. But for A through G requirements, I want to remind us again, they have to get a C minus or higher. And so if we're looking at these rates and noticing that they're lower than the number of classes that they're taking, they have a lower pass rate than we might expect, part of that has to do with some of our conversations about students needing to be pushed and teachers teaching for at least the C and higher to be able to fall into these categories. we're going to continue to see a higher pass rate. It's important to note that we do see a higher pass rate in 2020 on these charts because a lot of schools are giving out credit no credit. There is less variation in the pass and pass fail letter grade pieces. So a higher number of students got passing grades on those pieces. We switch back to letter grades in person grades dropped but have risen by all groups over time. We hope they will continue to rise back to pre we're breaking it down by ethnicity group, we're hitting on an average of about 80% passing with 2 of our subgroups being slightly lower with African-American being 2% lower than average and Hispanic being 7% lower than the average. Students in these groups will be focused on targeted subgroups in our efforts this year. So continue to have those conversations. We will be having them with all students, but just noting that when we're going through and trying to see if there's ways that we can support students to have more equitable support in passing their classes.

[10168] Nicole Pierce-Davis: And if I can just real quick, just to draw a connection to a previous presentation provided by Special Education Director Olivia Rangel, what we're seeing is a disproportionality of students, specifically African-American students and Hispanic students qualifying for IEPs in our district. And so when you saw the data before around that slight decrease, when we sort of categorize students in that way, then they are less likely to take those A to G courses, right? So this data between presentations connects. And I just wanted to draw that connection.

[10200] Heather Decker: Yeah. And there's definitely overlaps in these subgroups, as we all know. Students can fall into many different groups across the boards. Diving in even more in response to some questions that have come up recently about our A through G courses, I wanted to offer a detailed list So this year, the only courses that were not A through G approved are the ones that are on this slide. Every other course that we have offered this year is A through G approved. The courses on this list that are not A through G approved, which are on the side, are either basic classes, so those tend to be students that have IEPs, ELD courses, physical education courses, and a limited number of CTE courses like construction and automotive that cannot be A through G approved. So just don't fall into a category. I've highlighted three courses on the list that could potentially be A through G approved, two of which are ROP classes that I've already spoken to Dr. Cliff at ROP about, hey, can you guys submit this for A through G approval? And so he's looking into it. Once they submit it for A through G approval, then we'll add it to our list as well. The only classes on this list that we might be able to have a conversation with over this year is our advanced physical education class. I've seen other districts get this A through G approved as an advanced personal fitness class. It would be a pretty easy move with the courses it's currently written. So I'm happy to talk to people about that. But that's the only course on this list that could be A through G approved, that isn't, that's within our control. Everything else that we can get A through G approved is. In addition, I want to note that on here, all MCA and STAR Academy courses are A through G approved. All MCA and STAR Academy courses are A through G approved. Specifically, here is the suggested course pathway for MCA. I have noted on here what A through G area each of them is. So every course in MCA is A through G approved. And once again, with STAR Academy, let's make sure that we're talking about this as a series of classes and not an actual CPA partnership academy. The three courses that fall under STAR are AP Computer Science Principles, AP Computer Science A, and Aerospace Engineering, which we approved last year. All three of those are A through G approved. So once again, Dr. DeLeon, as you've said several times, all these courses are A through G approved. The only ones that are not are that list.

[10361] Penny DeLeon: Yes, and I do also, thank you Heather, and I do also want to add that for STAR, we're actually considering renaming it so that people don't get confused and think it's a CPA, because people do think it's a California Partnership Academy and it's like a true academy when it's not. But another, but the most exciting piece is that our ROP is going to help us pick up, they're going to provide the fundamental courses leading into AP Computer Science for us and pick up a whole bunch of expenses from what is now called Star Academy, but I think we're going to kind of reinvent the name of that. But in any case, that's a really great boon for that piece. And they're going to pay for us to get Java certification for our students and potentially Cisco. for our students. So really good news on that.

[10419] Heather Decker: On that front. Because that was definitely a part of the conversation about STAR Academy in the past was how do we make this relevant outside of our school district. And so those industry certifications can definitely do that. So if you want to talk about next steps, I don't have a cute slide for my next steps, but I'll let you know the things that are happening right now with our counselors. So number one, we're having counselor professional development on all the indicators. Last week, we had our monthly counselor meeting. I meet with them every single month. We did our first big overview of all the indicators. And October 2nd, when we have our PD day, I will have an entire day to work with them on diving into each of these data measures and start thinking about initiatives that they're already doing, how do we expand it, initiatives that they haven't tried yet but want to, what can we do, how can we get more groups, and then looking at this whole thing through the ends of equity. Big of this has to do with equity. So those are counselor PDs. Those are already up and running, but will continue throughout this year. I'm also going to partner with Dr. DeLeon. We're going to do a site PD at Newark Memorial to make sure that all of our staff, all of our teachers understand these things, understand the importance of students taking the AP exams and passing the AP exams and getting Cs or higher on their classes and what that means. D is not enough. How are we pushing? So we're having those conversations are already starting to come into play. We're encouraging signups for the AP exams. As I said before, our counselors are having those conversations with students. They're getting them to fill out their ed benefit forms. They're like, hey, the deadline's coming. Let's help you get your letter so you can bring it to the accounting office. You can get this fee waiver. So those things are happening for our students already. We're also going to be starting our strategic planning committee soon. We're going to be looking at these initiatives with a variety of stakeholders to really talk about how we can push these levers. And counselors are already in the middle of having one-on-one conversations with our students about grades. Quarter one progress report grades are already out. And so they're already, I talked with them on Monday, those one-on-ones are already started happening. So I want to give them a big shout out to the Newark Memorial Counseling Team. They are one counselor down right now, and they are picking it up and making sure that every single student still gets the same level of love and care as they have been. That's no small feat, especially when we're trying to have these one-on-one conversations with students, with families, figuring out the why. for these pieces. I know the APs at Newark Memorial are also starting to have these conversations as well. So this work is happening. Next time when we get to meet together, which I'm very excited about in October, we'll be talking about CTE, we'll be talking about SBAC, and we'll be talking about state seal of biliteracy. So those are the next three areas that we'll talk about at our next meeting. I will open it at this time for questions or comments. Thank you.

[10591] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you miss Decker, always a pleasure when you're presenting to us and the data and all the information that you give us. I really appreciate the work that you do and really pushing to make sure that our students are A through G, meeting A through G requirements and that's huge. And as I was looking across to Dr. DeLeon earlier when you mentioned about IB classes, I would love for us to be able to get IB courses here at Newark Memorial. I don't know if other schools around here in our Tri-City area is providing it, so if we can get on that too, that would be awesome, Superintendent DeLeon.

[10638] Heather Decker: Yeah, I think the only concern with bringing some of those on is that we're starting to stretch, right? Oh, of course. Like people are being pulled. Do I take IB? Do I take honors? Do I take AP? Do I take CTE? Do I do this? No.

[10649] Phuong Nguyen: Being mindful, of course. But I mean, in the process of us being able to build on all of these things, I would really love it if we would consider it.

[10661] Nancy Thomas: Explore it for sure. I think our student board member has some thoughts.

[10665] Joy Lee: I would love to have IB courses offered at our school. Because I was researching for some of them. And I know a lot of them are like, on the other side of the country and like when they offer and there's not a lot here.

[10676] Heather Decker: So is there a particular IB courses that you'd be excited about? Huh? Is there a particular IB courses you'd be excited about?

[10683] Joy Lee: Not at the moment, but yeah.

[10686] Heather Decker: Yeah. My only experience with IB was when I was in high school. So that was a little while ago. Um, I was at Irvington in Fremont and they were doing the IP IB exam for theater. And I thought that was really interesting because there is no like theater a, as far as I remember. So really thinking about what are the courses that maybe AP doesn't offer, but IB might be able to offer an exam for, and thinking about we can add those pieces in there, because that'd be really cool if we could get IB exams for our theater kids, because go performing arts. But that's just my own plug. But yeah. But thank you for bringing that up. I definitely want to learn more about IB. We can attract people.

[10722] Nancy Thomas: Ms. Decker, thank you so much for Well, I still have a question. No, it's OK. So we can give you a head. Thank you. This is great information that you pulled out. I love to see that we've looked at trying to get all of our courses A through G. I like to see the section slide where they show that our students are taking lots of courses in the various A through G areas. So that's really encouraging. The question I have is, of course, the end result in terms of A through G is to increase the number of our graduates for A through G. And I think if my memory is correct, in 2022, 43% of our graduates were A through G, 43. What was it in 2023?

[10779] Heather Decker: I don't know that we have that data yet in front of me. I definitely don't have it in front of me, and I'm not sure if we've pulled that. It will come out in the dashboard data, obviously, but we won't see that until December or January. I can work on trying to get that for you for the next board meeting, but it isn't something I have in front of me right now.

[10794] Nancy Thomas: So what's your sense about with the work we've done so far over the last year and a half, did we really see more students passing courses at C or better? taking all the courses they need to qualify?

[10814] Heather Decker: I don't have the data in front of me so I don't want to theorize and throw out information that I don't have. I have been working on this since last year, which would have just been a senior class. So it's only one year of data to influence. So that's really hard to say. I think if I was going to focus on this, I would really, like I said before, that C passing rate, that conversation will make a huge difference if we can get everybody on the same page of why that's important, how to do that, the levels of responsibility, the student responsibility, teacher responsibility, school responsibility. How are we working to support those things? I think that would make a huge difference.

[10853] Nancy Thomas: Have we tracked that over the last year? The DF data?

[10857] Heather Decker: The CPASSing data, has that improved? I'm not sure about improvement on top of my head. I'm not saying that it hasn't. I just don't know it off the top of my head. I can provide that data at the next one. I did pull it for previous. We changed the topic. So I do have some of that data for you and can provide more at the next meeting.

[10875] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Member Hill.

[10879] Aiden Hill: So thank you, Ms. Decker, for a great presentation in a topic that ties directly to what we say is our most important goal, which is academic achievement. So I have two requests. I guess it's kind of directed to the district as a whole. And then one quick question, one short question. So the requests are, so you talked about how the college and career readiness from a state perspective hasn't been measured since 2019. So who knows when it's going to start again?

[10913] Jennifer Sachs: This year. It will be available in December. Is it for sure? Yes.

[10915] Aiden Hill: OK. But as a fallback, I think we ought to think about, is there a way that we can create our own proxy tracking of this? Because I don't think it would be too hard. And obviously, it's something that's important and we care about. So that's request number one. Request number two is, I think the data is very interesting, but I think what would be even more helpful in terms of improving or making improvements is, can we do some benchmarking with some other districts? And so, you know, I know that Dr. DeLeon has said that, you know, that high school people are competitive, and I would agree with that, and I think that given our our performance in sports, that we have a competitive spirit, and how do we tap into that, right? And so how do we, because I think the minute that we see, oh, well, like that school's doing slightly better, well, we can outdo them, right? And then we can get somebody like our student member to help coordinate that and so really, you know, get some excitement. So I think, you know, is there a way going forward that we can have some benchmarking that really, really encourages people to say, okay, we're going to try to be the best. So that's request number two. The short question is, do we only have one CTE pathway, or are we just?

[11000] Heather Decker: No, we have 23 CTE pathways.

[11001] Aiden Hill: Okay, so we're just not covering that today.

[11004] Heather Decker: Correct.

[11004] Aiden Hill: We're going to talk about that next time. Part two. Okay. And then the last question is, I understand the focus on A to G, which I think is great, The question is, is how do we make sure that we improve enrollment and participation and meeting the requirements, but also not succumb to great inflation? So how can we put in guardrails that protect the integrity? And I don't know if you have any thoughts on those topics right now.

[11039] Penny DeLeon: I do. I would have an entire board presentation on my thoughts on grading for mastery, grade calibration, and grading honestly versus grade inflation, pobrecito syndrome, all of those things that happen at high schools. But a lot of it has to do with, there's a really great book called Grading for Equity. which is amazing. It's kind of, whenever you go through that book with teachers, it's life transforming. And so we can talk about that. I'd like to do, we could do maybe another presentation and just talk about the topic of grading and how do we avoid inflation. Part of it too has to do with benchmarking, common formative assessments, calibrating with each other during our PLC times. All of those pieces need to be in place so that there isn't a tendency to inflate. But we do need to talk about that because I think what people need to remember and understand is that in NUSD, we have A through G as our graduation requirements. And so if we are only have 43% and that's a grad requirement, that means we have a significant number of Ds and Fs because the kids are graduating. Our grad rate isn't 43. That means we got a ton of Ds.

[11115] Aiden Hill: Right. But that's my concern. Right. So that's my concern because if we saw from an 11th grade CAS perspective, that test scores were high, and yet, you know, we had, you know, a lower A through G passing rate, that would indicate to me that we're being too tough. Okay? But it's the other way. And so my concern is that we have We have been pushing students through, right? We've been artificially inflating our graduation rates and that these people are not going out prepared, right? And so that's so, and I think that the standardized tests are in some ways a calibration of that. And so I want us to be really careful and really pay attention to that because at the end of the day, right? Our students are going to be competing not only against other students here in the Bay Area, in the state, in the country, but internationally. I think that we ought to set high standards and we shouldn't compromise.

[11183] Heather Decker: Can I speak to that for a second? Sure. I worked in high school for 15 years. At my previous school, we did a lot of work on star testing when star testing was the cast, which was the thing. We did a lot of rallies and getting kids excited about it. And you talked about like, oh, let's compare them to other districts. what I found in my own work, what actually worked with students. is figuring out why it was helpful for them as an individual. So for example, with SBAC for 11th graders, if they can pass high enough with that, they get out of remedial math and English. That saves them money. That keeps them out of early start classes in the summer, which keeps them out of summer school, which also saves them money. So if you can make this test, this thing relevant to them, then your scores will actually go up. Right now, the tests aren't relevant to them. So you probably are actually seeing lower test scores because students don't realize why it matters.

[11236] Aiden Hill: And Miss Decker, you're raising an important point. Yeah. And so in my class where I teach business, one of the units that I teach is goals. And so to walk the talk, I told the kids, OK, we're talking about SMART goals. And I said, well, why don't we look at what our district in USD has put together in terms of our SMART goals? And so I pulled those up and showed them as an example. One of the kids gave me a very surprising response. They said, well, so you're measuring casts. And they said, but do you know? that we're not really incentivized to do well on that. Yeah, absolutely. So I think, like you say, we need to be thinking about how we incentivize performance there.

[11283] Heather Decker: Yeah. And so we've been talking with the counselors, and that's part of what work that I will be doing over the next few sessions with them, is like, hey, CASPP is coming up in March. One of the things we used to do in our other district was have specific meetings with our 11th graders before CASPP started and going, this matters to you as a person. Yes, it matters to us as a district. It matters to us as a school, state, whatever. But it matters to you as an individual. This is why you take it. This is why you release your score on the test, because you have to check a box to do that. We put little notes in the classroom, don't forget to release your score. that mattered to them individually because I spoke it to them, right? So we're going to do that with counselors this year, have that conversation with them, have that conversation with teachers, right? Like teachers can talk to the kids and be like, hey, this actually matters to you as the individual just as much as it adds to our district because that makes a difference, right? Those competitive, like are we competitive with other districts? We can look at that, right? I would want to make sure we're looking at similar school districts, right? We're not looking at ones that have you know, more means or less means than us or different, you know, demographic breakup, because that definitely influences things. And we can use that competitive edge. But when we make it personally for them, like, even with all of these indicators, if we can tell them, like, hey, doing these things makes you more prepared for that day after graduation, this gives you a leg up in college, a leg up in careers, all those things that matters to you, then they're more likely to do the things. Right now, I just don't know how much they know. And so this is a lot of an information campaign this year with students, with families, with teachers, with staff, to get them to figure out why it's important to them and how we can all move the needle on those pieces.

[11383] Aiden Hill: But just getting to the point about benchmarking, because I want to make sure that my you know, my request is clear. So, I would suggest that we pick a couple of different schools that come from potentially, that represent different characteristics, but one of them should be the highest performing period, right? We do not want to have our kids suffer from low expectations. Anybody can be the best, but we have to set the goal to do it.

[11418] Penny DeLeon: It has to do with high expectations. And I think the great piece is, too, that you will have a strategic plan coming. And Dr. Pierce-Davis and Ms. Decker and I spoke about how when we do the strategic plan, we really have to drill down to sort of three, four real priority action steps we're going to take that are going to help us do exactly that. One of those has to do with grading. Right? Calibrating grading, mastery grading. I mean, we have to address grading. There's no doubt we have to. Another thing is making achievement important at our sites. Incentivizing, making it personal. All of those things. So, you're hitting the nail on the head. This conversation are the things that we're going to address in our strategic plan. We know we can't do everything, but we can do some things. We can do some things and do them well and come back and report. And I can tell you the grading one, that's big. That's big. It's a biggie. Am I right, Dr. Pierce-David? Oh, yes. Because it's really a teacher conversation. And they got to own it. And we want them to own it. So we're going to embark on that. And that's going to come. You're going to get that strategic plan.

[11503] Joy Lee: I don't know, but this is just like an idea. Like you said, the CASPP is coming up and you want to talk to the 11th graders. I know last year, I think last year, like 12th graders, high-performing 12th graders, they were given like a presentation in the library about like, oh, like what's coming up for them and like what opportunities they have for being like in the top like something percent. I think that would be great to have that conversation with all the 11th graders in an assembly. And I think hearing that I know me and my peers would we would love to know like what's offered because so far at least from my knowledge what we know of CASPP is like they're just they're just want to know like where our level is at so that they can compare us to like the whole country. That's just our only thing so. Our thing would be like, why try?

[11557] Heather Decker: Absolutely.

[11561] Aiden Hill: Hold on a second. Whenever I see a metric put in front of me, if I don't see a metric, I don't care. If I see a metric and somebody else tells me that they're better than me, that's a challenge. I want us to have that spirit. Right? So, I want us to say, you know what, we can do better.

[11588] Phuong Nguyen: I think that she is definitely correct. I mean, you have to tie it to why does it impact me, like specifically. And to all of our kids, just with even everything that, you know, they're learning right now, even our teachers, you know, like reaching out to a kid and letting them know, someone who's underperforming, that yes, you know, This stuff matters. You're setting up yourself for opportunity. You're setting yourself up for options, right? And a lot of times our kids don't know that because they're just focused on the moment, the present. And giving them that extra push and to understand the big why to do certain things, it will challenge them. I mean, it will force them to get out there and give it their all.

[11641] Joy Lee: And like you said, competition is amazingly great. It definitely motivates us, but there's also students in our school who have, they don't see any reason to comp, to compete with like Fremont schools like next to us. Cause they're already just like, it feels like they're like so high above us in terms of like, at least that's how it feels like, but at this moment, that's how it feels like. And so, And so once we get to that point of where we're able to slowly begin to compete with them, I think bringing up those statistics would definitely motivate us. Member Hill?

[11680] Aiden Hill: President Thomas, can you loan to student member Lee the book that I gave you from Coach Bill Walsh?

[11687] Phuong Nguyen: No, you gave that to me.

[11689] Aiden Hill: I actually gave it to all of us. So remember when. Yes.

[11693] Joy Lee: Miss, please.

[11694] Nancy Thomas: I would love to read. Miss Lee, we will get you that book. I think we got a lot of finish this. And thank you so much. All right. 10.3. After-school programming. Thank you for sticking around. Sorry it's so late.

10.3 After School Programming Staff Report

[11734] Penny DeLeon: Okay, at this point I'm going to introduce Dr. Nicole Pierce-Davis who's going to talk to us about this report.

[11742] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Thank you. I'm really excited to introduce Mr. Richard Tran, who supports our Bay Area wide program. But before we do, we've had a lot of community questions about, if you don't mind just going to the next slide real fast. We've had a lot of community questions about the differences of funding. And so I just wanted to take a quick moment to kind of clarify that for our community. So in the past, we've used after school education and safety program funds called ACES. There's very specific requirements. They are specific to school sites. So school sites, typically Title I schools, are allocated those dollars. They are expected to offer after-school programming through 180 instructional days. And then ADA, so average daily attendance, is required to maintain that funding over time. We've recently, within the last year, received ELOP funds, Expanded Learning Opportunity Program funds, which really is district-funded. So the district gets these funds, and it's really based on UPP counts, so unduplicated counts. Those are ELs, foster youth, and houseless populations. The expectation here is that students receive a nine-hour instructional day plus 30 non-instructional days. So this carries into the summer. This could also be during breaks and things like that. And really offering an access, specifically prioritizing our UPP students, is prioritized over ADA. Not to say that it's not important, it's just prioritized. So when we are braiding funds, that's a term we like to use, we often adhere to the more rigorous grant requirements at all sites in order to provide alignment and also to make sure we can pass the audit. So that being said, I am going to introduce Mr. Richard Tran who supports our after school programming here with Think Together. And I want to say has been a really tremendous partner in this work. We noted some areas for growth. We've expanded the program pretty significantly from Just a few sites to across the board and staffing was an area of concern. And as you know, staffing has been an issue district-wide, statewide, nationwide. And I really felt like we got some preferential treatment this year with staffing. And we really did an incredible job. So I just want to thank him before we get started.

[11874] Richard Tran: Thank you, Dr. Pierce. Good evening, everyone, executive cabinet, members of the community, members of the board. My name is Richard Tran. I'm the general manager for Think Together's Bay Area region. And I think together, actually, sorry, clicking and reading at the same time. Here we go. But I think together we believe that education is the single most important factor in helping young people achieve their full potential. And we're committed to supporting all of the schools in Newark where we currently serve by providing high quality after school programs and summer break programs. So firstly, just wanted to start by saying thank you to everyone for your time, but also for your partnership and the opportunity to change the odds for kids here in Newark. I just introduced myself. But I also would be remiss if I don't introduce my team out here as well. So Leanne Correa is my director of program and operations. She's really my right hand in supporting our programs and operations and ensuring that they're happening with fidelity out in the field. And then Blanca Silva is our quality assurance coach. And she's really the boots on the ground. So she's out there literally every afternoon visiting the sites, doing observations, providing support and feedback to the sites. Also working with the principals, checking in, getting feedback, working with Dr. Pierce-Davis and OFI to get some feedback on how we can respond and continue to improve our programs. So research consistently demonstrates that the quality of our expanded learning programs are really directly correlated with the strength of the partnerships between the district, the schools, and the provider. And before I really get into kind of the overview of some of the numbers, some of our program pieces, I wanted to just share a quick story of our collective impact and the work that we do. On the slide is a testimonial from one of our parents over at Schilling. It's really about a student named Gabriel. So I'm not going to read you the slide, but I'll just have it as a backdrop while I tell you the story. But a couple years ago, Gabriel was in a pretty devastating car accident. not in our program at that time, was having a lot of trouble at school, both academically, feeling like he belonged, was getting bullied. And so last school year, his parents enrolled him into our program as a way to help develop his social skills. And it's been really awesome to see the transformation in Gabriel. So he went from not feeling like he belonged and not feeling like he was in really fit in at school to really being a centerpiece of our community and think together over at Schilling. We've seen improvement in his grades. He hustles every day to finish his homework early so he can help our TK and Kinders with their homework. And it's been really great to see him really move from from really being on the periphery right to the center of our programs, right to the center of the school community. So during the midst of the craziness of a school year launch, I just wanted to slow down a little bit, zoom in, talk about kind of what the impact means for each of our students in Newark. To zoom right back out. This is the growth that we've seen, the growth that we've done really together in Newark in partnership with the district, but with the ACES funding and the ELOP funding. So if you look back to 21-22 school year, we really operated primarily the ACES grant, right? And so we were serving about 200 students per day across the board. We had an ELOP site Lincoln, but that was really in March and it was kind of a small pilot to to start. If you look at where we are this year, we're serving about 750 students per day and we're at seven schools across the district. So with the ELOP funds, we were able to provide programming at BGP, BGI, Kennedy, and Lincoln. And if you look at summer 22 versus summer 23, we really were able to quadruple the amount of students that we were able to serve over this summer, which is really exciting. Last summer was more normal summer, so we were able to get them out there do a field trip to a science center. So it's been great to see the growth over the years. And obviously, we want to thank you for your partnership for that. Knowing that ELOP has arrived, we've done some planning kind of initially to make sure that we had more seats and more staff to begin the school year because we knew there was going to be an increased level of interest and then we also had an increased capacity to serve the students. So across the board, if you take a look at our enrollment year over year, it has increased across the board by about 20 or 30. the interest that we anticipated is actually even greater than we had initially thought. So we are, I'm working with Dr. Pierce-Davis to add even more staff slots to our current program so that none of our students, there's no wait list across the board, so they'll be zeroed out. So this is our current enrollment. Looking at October in just a couple weeks here, we're projected to clear all the wait lists across the board. And if you look at year over year enrollment, we're really looking at upwards of a site like Schilling, which is like 100 plus more students this year than we were able to serve last year, which is really exciting. Alright, so those are kind of our program like by numbers. Our actual program itself I wanted to talk about a little bit. So I think Together specializes in designing programs that align with the California afterschool and summer learning principles. So that's learning that is active, that's meaningful, that's collaborative, that develops mastery and also expands horizons. So when we're designing our program, our activities and our experience for our students. This is really the primary piece that we're thinking about. And then we also know that our impact on students is really augmented and amplified by our partnership with the district and with the schools, right? So for us, it's really important not only to have a strong program design, but make sure that we are strongly aligned with the district, have shared data and strategies for implementation across PBIS, the focus areas for academics, and also effective and consistent communication. As we're serving more students than ever, it's super important for us. We're hyper-focused on ensuring that the conditions for a high-quality and successful after-school program are in place and are being cultivated. We know that that starts really with the staffing, right, and making sure that we have caring and well-trained staff across the board. As Dr. Pierce-Davis mentioned, if we look back to 21-22, staffing was a big challenge for us in the after-school realm. It kind of was across the board. for us particularly at Think Together. At Think Together, we have made organization-wide investments in staffing solutions to ensure that we're never in that position again. So actually, starting this school year, we were 100% staffed at every level. So our quality assurance coach, our site coordinators, our program leaders, that includes the additional slots in the year-over-year growth. And then we're also well-positioned to really add immediately staff members across the board so we can unload those wait lists across the board. With the onset of new staff, we know that the staff need to be well trained and so we've also re... revamped and redesigned the way we train our staff. So initially, our training at the beginning had more pieces to it, but we really wanted to crystallize what are the three big components that every program leader needs to be successful to really execute a high quality program. And so for us, that is really strong routines and procedures in the classroom, building relational capacity with the students to build trust, healthy boundaries, to support with challenging behaviors. on the back of code that's more challenging than ever in the classroom setting. And then the last piece is lesson facilitation. We could have really strong curriculum, but if our staff don't know how to engage the students in that curriculum, then it's kind of all for naught. So we've also taken a look at our program design and refreshed critical components around that and have a lot of units of study that really are designed to be not only more engaging, but also more grade level appropriate. So we've really kind of chunked it out into three different levels for Newark. So we're looking at early elementary, so that's TK through two, middle elementary, which is like third through fifth, third through sixth, and then middle school as well. what should program look like and feel like at those levels and what should those focus areas be for those particular grades, right? So TK through second, for example, a lot more broken up, a lot of stations and rotations, a lot more manipulatives, right? Focusing on numeracy and phonemes for like the, for the little ones to really practice their reading, building a strong foundation for the rest of the school year, right? Whereas middle school, they're a little bit more independent. We'll do clubs, a lot more student choice built into the framework of our programming. As well as during our homework time, we'll incorporate GPA checks, helping them kind of be self-sufficient in that, keeping track of that. We'll keep track of that and help guide them along the way as well. A day in the life at Think Together looks roughly like this. So this is just an example of our program schedule. Our program has three core components that kind of happen every day. And so that's homework support or academic achievement portion. During the academic achievement portion, obviously we're supporting our students with homework, trying to get that done. We also have different stations for when students finish their homework. So if students finish their homework, don't have homework for that particular day. We also have stations that really focus on supporting math and ELA, right? So again, for TK through two, if we're looking at early elementary, we want to make sure that really makes sense. So some of the stations for math might be calendar math, right? Just teaching them with things that they kind of interact with every day, like what pieces they can learn and also just like practicing reading and doing reading circles and things like that. So that's our academic achievement. Physical activity, of course, we want to be promoting healthy choices and healthy behaviors. And then our academic enrichment, so additional STEM, VAPA, different educational opportunities for them in our program. A lot to be excited for, for sure, for this year. And we remain committed to continuous quality improvement. So as we're continuing to expand our programming and our reach in Newark, we know that that's a really big responsibility for us, right? We need to do it well. And so we don't want to be succeeding by accident or having high quality programs by accident. So I want to share with you kind of what that looks like for us and what our process is to continue to improve our programs and to deliver on the the type of programming that we know our students deserve. So I'll try to go through this as quickly as possible. So there's going to be three kind of main pillars that we go through in terms of data collection, evaluation, and then planning as a result. I do want to note that this is separate from really our daily expectation of coaching and support that our supervisors give out at the site. So our site coordinators are out there in the field every day supporting our program leaders, documenting their observations, providing feedback, Our quality assurance coach is doing the same thing. My director is doing the same thing. I'm doing the same thing as well. So there's a continuous feedback loop there of like kind of that developmental piece. But we also have assessment pieces where we can analyze data, look at it year over year, look at it kind of throughout the year as how we can help improve our programs. The first part of that is the quality self-assessment tool. This is a CDE-based tool that really focuses on 11 program quality elements, so anything from program design to program administration and finance, community partnerships, and it really assesses them at four different levels, level one being just beginning to four being exceptionally proficient and where you're essentially a model site where you can bring in other expanded learning providers, to come learn kind of best practices at your site. So for this plan, we start this every fall. We'll begin the assessment. We'll invite the principals to be a part of the assessment process. 11 elements is kind of a lot, so we'll send it to them and say, hey, if you want to chime in on any of these, let us know. We'll take a look. We'll review. We'll complete the assessment. We'll analyze and say, hey, based on the 11 areas that we analyzed, there's like three really key areas where there's big opportunities for us. We might select the two biggest priorities to focus on for the year, so our focus isn't too scattered. We'll create a QPIP, which is a Quality Program Improvement Plan. We'll review that again with the principal, make sure that's approved. Once that's approved at the principal level, we'll share that with the district, so Dr. Pierce-Davis and Ofi Malero, and we'll say, hey, here's the seven plans that we came up with, here's our focus areas, do you guys have any feedback for us? Once that's finalize and approve, we will create that as a living document and we'll revisit that plan throughout the year, make highlights, that'll be a shared document between us, the district, and the site administrators so that they can see the progress along the way. The next part is what we call the CPA, which I won't use because I heard it used earlier as an acronym, but we call it the core program assessment. So, this is essentially somewhat mirrors the quality self-assessment tool from CDE, but it has some very specific pieces to think together as well. So, essentially, the QSAC kind of sets the bar here of saying, hey, here's kind of the baseline quality that we're expecting to see in any of our expanded learning programs. And our core program assessment is essentially saying, like, Yeah, and then we're kind of setting the bar up here. Like, this is what we expect to see in a Think Together program, right? From our safety, from our coaching, across the board. So it's about 10 pages across the board. I didn't want to share all 10 with you, but happy to share a copy with you if you'd be interested in taking a look. The way it works is essentially it happens kind of in two rounds. The first round is done by the district's own quality assurance coach. So they will assess all of their sites in order to get a proficient, so it's proficient in progress, non-evident, or kind of omit based on if it's relevant or not at that particular site. So you can't get, so the way our scoring works is that the data has to be backed up and has to be essentially triangulated, right? It can't just be that this quality assurance coach is walking onto the site and saying, hey, site coordinator, do you do this, this, this, and this? And the site coordinator says, oh, I do all that stuff, right? So we really try to get in there. We're looking at documents. We're looking at program schedules. We're interviewing students. We're talking to the principal saying, hey, we're expected to do this. Are you seeing this during this time? Hey, here's our PBIS. Here's our behavior support. Asking the students, do you know what that means? What happens when you? make a choice that maybe you could have made better, like what's that conversation like? When you do something really good, like how are you rewarded in program? So we really dig in to see what that looks like. And then we'll do a round two, and then we'll invite an assessor from our organization that's outside of the district. So someone who doesn't live kind of the day-to-day Newark programming to see, hey, are we aligned here? And have we made improvements based on round one? And so that kind of will turn into a monthly work plan. So based on the assessment, we'll take a look and say, hey, we have, you know, maybe out of a score of 10, we have a 7, right? We have four areas that we know we need to work on. How do we want to prioritize this, right? Kind of month over month. where, Rahel, you referenced SMART goals. That's essentially how we do our monthly work plans, right? So if you say you want to increase student engagement, what does that actually look like and how are we going to do that? Are we going to provide professional development to the staff? Are we going to give more student choice in kind of the way we design our curriculum and our clubs? And so really kind of working on that month to month. And so that helps move the needle from point A to point B to make sure that we're continuously improving there. Our last piece is really our partner feedback survey. And so this will go out once, maybe twice a year, depending on the initial feedback. But we'll always do around once everyone. This will go to all of the principals and to our district partner. And really just saying, hey, how are we doing formally? Obviously, there's informal check-ins we meet regularly. But it's just an opportunity to kind of put on paper what the feedback is. Are you satisfied in these areas? Is there any kind of general feedback you have for us? Are you happy with the program and the level of responsiveness from our team to the extent that you may recommend us to another district or another principal, right? And so these are actually our results from round one for last year. So a lot of green, right? But my eye as a general manager, I'm seeing the red. So I'm saying, hey, we have three principals out there who are saying, they're not sure if they would recommend this. And then there's also some areas of dissatisfaction. So what we do with that is review it, thank the principals and say, hey, thank you so much, we appreciate your feedback. Here's the areas that you outlined for us, and here's over the course of the next 13 weeks how we're going to address these three pieces. So if it's staff professionalism, student engagement, consistency of staffing, We'll work on that week over week, and this is a literal example from Kennedy from last year, because they had the most, right? It was like a newer, larger site, so it had some challenges to begin with. So really being intentional about that, that's again a living document that we share, and then These are our round two results from last year. So the sites that gave us dissatisfactory across the board in most of the categories gave us green. And so we were able to see, hey, you gave us this feedback. We responded to it. And then hopefully you are feeling that we've made improvements in these areas and that we are responding to the needs and the concerns of the site. So that is what I have. I know I kind of went through a lot. I know Dr. Pierce has a couple of slides, but I don't know if there's any questions.

[12945] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Well, I'm going to let you close, so if you could just go to the next slide real fast for me. So just to, one of the things that you, the board, asked for is really how do we assess whether or not this program is working. And so I hope you can see the focus of tonight's presentation was really on that. Just to summarize, there's really the external rubric that we're looking at that comes directly from the California Department of Education that helps develop the QPIP. Then there's the internal rubric, really thinking about the core program from Think Together. Then there's the control staffing and continuous improvement plans that are ongoing. And then they also triangulate that with partner feedback from site administrators. And they'll do a round two if we're not satisfied with round one. On the next slide we did note some areas of strength and growth and I think it's important that we're transparent with our community about that areas of strength really were the expansion given the new funding sources that was you know, three sites, three to four sites. So that was a pretty big feat that's been accomplished in the last year or so. Overall program quality has been ranked pretty high, partner satisfaction, and then really the staffing and recruitment from last year to this year has greatly improved. We did note, you know, part of growing pains are some areas for opportunity. The biggest area for opportunity is really communication, communication and time, excuse me. community, communication, and timelines. The new ELOP requirements, along with some good news for Think Together, where we had some staff get promoted, which is always good news, but sometimes right when we're starting a program, when those promotions happen, there is some disruption. And so one of the things that we need to improve upon for next year is getting super clear on when communication is happening. and reaching out to every single unduplicated student, not once, not twice, but three times. So this is not just sending out an email saying, this program is open to you. We are physically calling each individual family, and if they don't answer the phone, we're calling them again and again and again. And so that takes some months, as you can imagine. And so we want to get super clear on what that timeline is and then publicize it widely so people know kind of what we're working on. That's one area for improvement and then the other one is really if you looked at sort of where we allocated staff that was really started on an equity basis and now we're in a place because we have rollover funds that we can create a situation where we have zero waitlist kids. Anyone who sort of asked for a space can get a space. That being said, those rollover funds eventually will become depleted. And so we do need to start considering whether or not we want to move to a fee-based model for some of our areas that can afford it. That comes with its own challenges. I just want to be really upfront about that. Obviously, it would be on a sliding scale. Our unduplicated students would still have free access to after-school care. But these are some things that we're starting the conversation now because we will start sort of the campaign around this really second semester. It's earlier than I think people think. So the next steps on the final slide, and then I'm going to have the number three be for you, Mr. Tran, if that's okay. Continued program evaluation and improvement. Specifically, we really are going to focus on a communication timeline for 24-25 programming. We're going to discuss the transition to a, possibly a transition to a fee-based program. And then number three.

[13146] Richard Tran: It's just an invitation to come check out our programs if you're interested. So, on 10-26, Thursday, basically a month from now, is our Lights On After School, which is a nationwide event to really highlight the importance and the impact of expanding learning across the country. We will have a site-specific event at each one of our sites. I will send you more specific details along the way if you are interested in actually coming to visit that site for that particular event. We'll also have a virtual organization-wide event with some legislative champions who will be joining us and sharing some of their thoughts around after school as well. So I can send you the information if you can join us virtually. But that's all I really had, but I wanted to open it up to any questions you may have. I know I went through a lot of different pieces of information.

[13189] Nancy Thomas: I'm glad to see Alex Lee is on there. He's our assemblyman.

[13198] Kat Jones: I just like to say that I really appreciated the thoroughness of the presentation and all the information. I have a granddaughter who's in the program at Kennedy and she absolutely loves it. So it's been good to kind of get this information with my personal perspective on it as well. So thank you so much. Yeah, of course.

[13217] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Member Nguyen. Thank you for the presentation, Mr. Tran. It was very thorough and I really appreciated the feedback, partnership feedback and assessment with the sites. And the only other thing I would ask, or I was wondering if I could ask, do you do surveys with parents also?

[13239] Richard Tran: You know what? We do parent and student surveys as well. As I was reviewing the deck for the millionth time this morning, I was like, I probably should have included that. But we do have a parent and student stakeholder survey that we do a lot across the board.

[13252] Phuong Nguyen: Great. I think that's really great. Thank you so much. Yeah, of course. Member Hill.

[13258] Aiden Hill: Yeah, thank you for the presentation. And just to clarify, again, I apologize for not being completely knowledgeable in this area, but the services that you're providing there, they're after-school programs, okay? And I think that we have on the closed, I'm sorry, the consent agenda, we've got two contracts that total like more than 2 million bucks for this year, right, for this academic year. And so the only thing I would say, and so thank you, Member Nguyen, for asking that question. Since it's after-school programming, of course we, the board, care about this. Of course the district cares about this. But I think that probably people that can give a really good impact or a good assessment, per Member Jones' comment, you know, are the parents, right? So they're, you know, in many respects the customers. So I think that providing You know, getting a survey and seeing those results I think is super important, and I think that we want to be able to use that as part of the evaluation, you know, as we consider services going forward.

[13330] Paul Rose: Yeah, of course.

[13333] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. I have a question. First of all, thank you so much for the program. Just all the descriptions and everything you went through, it's great, especially the assessment part, giving us feedback on how many students were served and the satisfaction surveys. I think that's really important data for us to collect on any program. Given this is funded by ELOP, at least the ELOP part of it, I was on the CDE website and I was reading some of the requirements, and the requirements are a nine-hour day. Can you speak to that?

[13371] Richard Tran: Yeah. So they reference a nine hour day. So what that means during the instructional day is really that we are kind of partnering with the schools and providing that after school care. So the six hours essentially by the instruction satisfy that nine hours. Outside of that, so part of our non-instructional day contracts are really our summer programs. We also still run a nine-hour program, but that's usually us from 8 o'clock to 5 o'clock. And so in terms of staffing, that's a good amount of staff and a good amount of hours, and then as well as curriculum supplies and all of that as well. So you'll see a non-instructional day contract, but that's for the full nine hours, and that'll be really supported by my team.

[13412] Nancy Thomas: So does that mean that students to get ADA or to get funding, our students have to be there for nine hours?

[13419] Richard Tran: So during the school year? During the school year, not necessarily. It's a bit nuanced. So if you're looking at the ACES legislation, historically has a lot of really stringent requirements around attendance. And as we've seen kind of the onset of ELOP, we really want to blend the program. So it feels like one program. Obviously, from a business standpoint, we'll talk about the numbers, the funding sources, how we're doing that. But for a parent, for a student, we want to make sure it just feels like one program to them, right? trying to differentiate. And so ELOP has a bit more, has lacks essentially on some of those requirements and is really focused, taking the focus from actual attendance to just offering the program and making sure that if anyone in the community is interested in having the program that they can have access to that program. And so we're kind of blending both of them. That's a long way of saying no. You don't necessarily need to be there for the full amount of time, but we do try to prioritize students who can attend most fully, because they have the greatest need, typically, and then it also allows them to benefit as much as possible from the program.

[13486] Nancy Thomas: So we won't have the state auditing us?

[13493] Richard Tran: You will, and we're prepared to pass that audit successfully, so they will take a look at it. Part of what they're looking at in the audit are several pieces. When you're looking at attendance in particular, they're wanting to see, hey, are we just offering access across the board to grade levels specified by the grant? So, they'll take a look at attendance sheets, rosters, that kind of thing. They'll also take a look at, hey, if your students aren't staying the whole time, is there a clear early release policy between the district and the provider that's being communicated to the parents, and is that being executed with fidelity, right? So, they don't want to see, hey, this is just a drop-in program that's treated like a daycare. But, hey, if there's a family need or another extracurricular activity, we don't want to we're not going to exclude that from a student just because they're participating in a program so we need to make sure that we're following those policies really clearly and with fidelity and we have the documentation. So, they will be checking for that and we do have documentation on file for that and a policy in place.

[13552] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you. Yeah. Member Wynn. So, I just have a follow-up clarification question because you had mentioned attendance. I know that my kids were participated in Part of it is that they were required to stay until 6 o'clock. But now you're saying because of the merge of the programs, it has been a little bit more flexible?

[13577] Richard Tran: Yeah, the language and the guidelines around that has loosened slightly. And I think that'll be part of it is to make sure that we're not being overly prohibitive right and so like if you're looking at ACES in years past it was very much students in seats for a certain and it was really looking at the number of hours that they were in those seats as well so you couldn't just check in be there for 30 minutes and that would count there was a certain number of hours that we were really taking a look at so as yeah As funding has been made available, some of that has kind of relaxed. And so we're, we just need to make sure that there's a clear early release policy on file and that a student is attending as fully as possible.

[13618] Phuong Nguyen: Okay, great. Cause we, we only did the program for one year because we weren't able to commit to the six o'clock cause they had extra, you know, they had piano lessons, they had gymnastics and so we had to pull them out on those days. But, and so that's why it was really hard. to be able to do that, but I understand. Now, I think what you laid out and what you provided for us, I think we definitely should post it on the website for families because I know that a lot of people are interested, our families are interested in the program, but they don't really know how it works. So I really appreciate this, so thank you.

[13656] Richard Tran: Yeah, definitely. So we don't want to exclude that from, or not have students be able to participate because of those things. And then with the legislation and just ensuring that we have a clear policy in place, we can allow more access for students.

[13670] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. Thanks, everyone. We're moving on to, oh. Member Hill has.

15.1 PLACEHOLDER - Extend Meeting

[13680] Aiden Hill: I'd like to make a motion that we extend the meeting to 11 o'clock.

[13683] Nancy Thomas: I was just about to ask for that. OK. Is there a second? I'll second. OK. Please vote to extend the meeting till 11 o'clock. Did we catch you off guard, Ms. Fax?

[13705] Jennifer Sachs: Please vote.

[13716] Nancy Thomas: Member Lee, your preferential vote? Yes. But if you have homework, certainly you can leave any time.

[13724] Penny DeLeon: She's got the dress code coming up. Oh. I want to be here.

[13728] Nancy Thomas: For the dress code.

[13729] Joy Lee: Also, it's heavy. OK. She's heavy. She's heavy.

[13733] Nancy Thomas: Just like a little doll. OK, great. Thank you for hanging in there. The dress code got pulled. No, it didn't get pulled. I told her, no, it's not pulled. OK. OK, six ayes, including the student's preferential vote. Next, we move on to the consent agenda for personnel items. I would entertain a motion for 11.2, personnel report.

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

11.1 PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote (Approved on Consent)

11.2 Personnel Report (Approved on Consent)

[13766] Jennifer Sachs: I'll make a motion.

[13769] Nancy Thomas: I'll second. Please vote. Oh, and member Lee does not vote on this.

[13776] No.

[13801] Jennifer Sachs: Member Nguyen.

[13802] Nancy Thomas: The member, oh, member Nguyen stepped away. So let's have a roll call vote for the rest of us. Or raise your hand. For what? Because did she vote? No.

[13817] Kat Jones: So let's have. We all did, though.

[13820] Nancy Thomas: Yeah, but she can't tally it, right?

[13824] Jennifer Sachs: I mean, I can put her not present.

[13826] Nancy Thomas: OK. OK. Yeah. Four ayes. Four ayes with member Nguyen, who has stepped away. OK. Motion passes. Next, we have two items to be pulled on the consent agenda. One is 12.9 of the CIWA MOU, and one is 12.17. That was pulled by member Jones and by another community member. So if there are any other.

[13862] Nicole Pierce-Davis: A community member pulled an item?

[13864] Nancy Thomas: Well, we pull the item if a community member wants to speak to it. So I would ask for a motion for 12.2 through 12.8 and 12.10 through 12.20.

[13870] Kat Jones: No, 12.16 and 12.18 and 12.20.

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

12.1 PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote (Approved on Consent)

12.2 Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) Clarifying Questions (Approved on Consent)

12.3 Resolution 2023.24.06 - Sufficiency of Instructional Materials (Approved on Consent)

12.4 California Department of Education Consolidated Application and Reporting System 2023-2024 Spring Data Collection (Approved on Consent)

12.5 Agreement with Think Together for After School Programming (ASES) (Approved on Consent)

12.6 Contract with Think Together for After-School Programming (ELO-P) (Approved on Consent)

12.7 Notre Dame de Namur University MOU and Agreement to Place Student Teachers (Approved on Consent)

12.8 Notre Dame de Namur University MOU and Agreement to Provide Education Specialist and Teaching Interns (Approved on Consent)

12.10 Contract with Shalom Staffing for Special Education Teacher (Approved on Consent)

12.11 Change Order #1 - Water Filling Stations (Approved on Consent)

12.12 POLICY UPDATE: Administrative Regulation 4161.8/4261.8/4361.8 - Family Care and Medical Leave (Approved on Consent)

12.13 POLICY UPDATE: Board Policies and Administrative Regulations to Rescind (Approved on Consent)

12.14 POLICY UDPATE: Administrative Regulation 4312.4 Tuberculosis Tests (Approved on Consent)

12.15 POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4161/4262/4361 Leaves (Approved on Consent)

12.16 POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 4312.1 Contracts (Approved on Consent)

12.18 FIELD TRIP : Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Middle School to travel to Santa Clara, CA (Approved on Consent)

12.19 MINUTES: Minutes of the August 15, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

12.20 MINUTES: Minutes of the September 5, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

[13893] Nancy Thomas: 12.16. I'd like to make a motion to vote on 12.2 through 12.8, 12.10 to 12.16, and 12.18 to 12.20.

[13897] Kat Jones: Please vote. Ms. Lee, what's your preferential vote? Yes.

[13925] Aiden Hill: Jay

[13926] Nancy Thomas: Jay, jay

[13939] SPEAKER_01: Jay

[13940] Kat Jones: Jay

12.9 MOU with SEWA

[13954] Nancy Thomas: There are 6. Five Yes. Thank you. 12.9 SEWA the mou Miss Parks.

[13972] Cindy Parks: Let me start off by saying that I'm very happy about the transparency about the program and that this mou is before you this evening for your approval. For the new board members last year at the September 15th board meeting, I asked board members if they had ever heard of a program called Aspire or SEWA. I hadn't until I saw a couple of postings on social media. I explained it's an afterschool tutoring homework help program for youth in underserved communities. At the time, this program was being offered at Schilling Elementary. Since I didn't know anything about the program or the organization, I looked up SEWA International. The vision statement says that we aspire to be pretty. Preeminent Hindu faith-based humanitarian organization that services selflessly and with compassion to create positive impact. I brought this to the board's attention that this organization had been operating at Schilling since the previous school year. I asked a few questions about the liability insurance, whether the individuals were being fingerprinted since they were interacting with Newark Unified students, and is there any additional cost to the district? Additionally, how does this program and Think Together coexist? I asked board members to follow up with the administration and request a public report about the program, receiving no answers to the questions. Since none of the board members asked for the information about the program, I did a public records request to get the agreement, liability insurance and confirmed the volunteer clearance process was being followed. I received the signed mou liability insurance and an excerpt from the volunteer board policy. The mou before you this evening is similar to the mou I received last year which is still in effect until 1231 of 23. The previous mou clearly shows SEWA was providing this service free of charge this one does not. It is not mentioned at all Does the district have the staffing resources to comply with the MOU list of district and school obligations which include. Appoint district staff as necessary to act as primary point of contact that the district staff will support Siwa in securing basic program needs, such as instructional space, access to student information, et cetera, as appropriate. Provide professional development to assist Siwa in aligning goals to the district common core curriculum as needed. I hope you inquire as to whether the district has the required staff resources. Find out how students are selected, how many are serviced, what data is being collected to support the utilization of services, our staff resources, and confirm how they coexist with Think Together.

[14151] Nancy Thomas: So do we have any board member? Comments or input? Member Hill.

[14162] Aiden Hill: Yeah, so it would be helpful for me to understand, you know, both what are we trying to accomplish with this relationship and then also who's really the point person that's coordinating this on the district side.

[14180] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Dr. Pierce? Davis? So CEWA is a partnership that was longstanding with Dr. Wendy when she was still the principal at Schilling Elementary. She partnered with community members to get that partnership really started at Schilling and it worked really well. I do want to point out that although it is, and it was pointed out, that it is based on in the Hindu religion that they clearly state on their website that CWAS serves humanity irrespective of race, color, religion, gender, or nationality. So I just want to make that really clear. All of our partners with separation of church and state, we make sure that anybody is able to participate in these programs. Essentially, CWAS is an organization that really brings together volunteers from the community and helps the classroom. So sometimes they might be a volunteer that just helps us like a teacher's assistant in the back of the room. Sometimes they may help bring specific enrichment programs, like a STEM opportunity. If they have, I think in one case we had a retired teacher that came and just wanted to read with kids, and they did so through the CWOW organization. So really it's an organization that brings together and recruits and sort of supports volunteers in getting through the process, whether that's getting fingerprinted and so on. The reason why we're updating the MOU at this time is because they applied to receive 30 AmeriCorps volunteers and was accepted. And so this is a brand new sort of elevation of our MOU with them where we currently have 10 and as you know AmeriCorps volunteers They do so out of the bottom of their heart. Their payment is the reward of being with kids and not necessarily a fiscal payment. So we have 10 AmeriCorps volunteers right now that are ready to go into Schilling, Lincoln, and Coyote Hills Elementary. And we are working with the principals of those sites to develop sort of work around 20 sort of caseload kids. We're going to track how they do academically, whether that is on summative assessments like SBAC, but also on smaller progress monitoring if we're noticing those kids are struggling in fractions, maybe we do a small mini lesson on fractions. Or if we notice they're having a hard time with decoding during the day, then that gets communicated with them and their AmeriCorps volunteer can support them in that work. And we're really going to track to see if the intervention is sort of working with those AmeriCorps volunteers because they're not just community volunteers giving of their own heart. These are folks that are coming to do a service, and we want to see if that service is working. So at the end of this year, we'll have a better idea of whether those AmeriCorps volunteers were effective. But either way, it is free of charge to us, so we are not spending any money. And it is a way that Think Together, one of our partners, can partner with the community. And that is something we ask Think Together to do. It's great that you have your own program, but we also want you to get out there in our community. This is time to really bolster up our enrichment activities. And so, you know, we also asked them, for instance, to work with a Folklorico, Ballet Folklorico group, right, out of Schilling, where we said, please partner with them. We have parents wanting to come in. Something else we're also thinking about doing is after school sports programs, starting in our elementary program, right? So we always encourage our Think Together, although they are an external partner, to partner with our community in the same way that we would. So I hope that helps answer. It's not an addition to Think Together. They're simply providing additional adults that want to support our kids throughout after school programming, but also throughout the day.

[14384] Nancy Thomas: Member Hill.

[14387] Aiden Hill: Thank you. So that provides some additional insight. And then on our side, so who's coordinating this? I mean, because the only concern I have is that, I mean, Like it's a project, and so you need a project manager, right? And so, and you need a plan. So who's coordinating it on our side?

[14411] Nicole Pierce-Davis: So, two folks are primary. One is me. I support, and just again, any sort of volunteer organization that wants to come in. Two would be our site principals. I know specifically at Lincoln, Principal Golliher is really excited. She wants to build this into an intervention program. She needed more adults, so for her this is like, I asked for something, you're giving it to me, thank you, let's run with it. She's using that model to share with the principal at Schilling and Coyote Hills, and they're building similar models as well. So they're really excited. We didn't say, hey, principals, you're doing this thing. Hey, principals, do you want this thing? And this is what it could look like. Also, do you have a better idea of what it could look like? And so that's what we're doing. The other person I do want to mention is Ophelia Molero, and you heard Richard Tran talk about her. She's paid through through additional ELOP funds to sort of help with our extended learning programs. And that's a pretty common position in a lot of districts with the increase of ELOP funding.

[14466] Aiden Hill: So I think it's good that you're pushing it down to the principal level and that it's an opt-in versus an opt-out model, right? So if the principals see value in it, then they can get behind it. And so I think that's great. But the only request that I would have is just, you know, can we Can we ask them that as a part of them opting in, that they need to, you know, provide some site-level plan and some kind of deliverable or what they're going to get out of it, right?

[14501] Nicole Pierce-Davis: And they will. That's a part of the AmeriCorps. So, in order for them to even be granted AmeriCorps volunteers, they have to submit a plan, and then they have to track that plan, and then they have to report back to AmeriCorps as an organization. So, in those cases, we will. In sort of the drop-in support model, not as much because they might be in the back, you know, cutting out activities for a teacher. And that's, the benefit there is the teacher gets support, not necessarily we're going to see, you know, a huge impact on student learning. But for the AmeriCorps volunteer port, we will absolutely be tracking that.

[14533] Carina Plancarte: Okay, thank you. So, I have a question about surrounding, so these volunteers, their background, they've been educators or they are educators in the past? And then also, how would this be different from also trying to source parents who want to help? I mean, is it just because then AmeriCorps would be managing the volunteers and for teachers to manage, I guess, parents, per se. I mean, I'm just trying to get clarity under the logistics of what that looks like, just so that there's more transparency around the program and how the staff, the makeup of the staff, or the volunteers, what it looks like. And also, for the parents who have you know, raised their hand and said they want to volunteer in their kids' classrooms and they've been told, you know, no thank you. How is that different too and how is that managed?

[14600] Nicole Pierce-Davis: I don't know about the no thank you piece, so maybe we should check in after this meeting, because I don't think we should share names over the board meeting. But let's check in afterwards. I'm sure Mr. Burrell can tell you, just managing volunteers can give you a significant amount of time, can take a significant amount of time. And so having an organization that can help recruit, and some are retired teachers, some are just, hey, I worked as an engineer my whole life. I want to come do some fun STEM activities with kids. I like reading. I can read and sit down with kids, or I just know the importance of education and what it did for me. I want to give back to my community. So they do that heavy lifting for us in a way that, quite frankly, we wouldn't be able to do on our own. Or we could, but then again, we're sort of balancing what member Hill already said, how much time now is being taken away from our staff coordinating these volunteers versus allowing an external partner to do so. So they come from all different walks of life to answer that question. The AmeriCorps volunteers won't be managing, no, this is an addition to. So it's kind of like a paid volunteer that now we are getting into our school systems, which again, we're not paying for, right? The government's paying for it. So it's a free service and it's a little bit more because there's funding tied to it, we do want them to track their progress. But again, because we have an external partner doing that work for us, the heavy lifting off of us to say, okay, at the beginning of the year, we're going to review expectations, we're going to review what the reporting requirements will look like. Go, and then we'll come back and check in instead of us managing every single step of the way.

[14701] Nancy Thomas: You know, I would feel a lot more comfortable supporting this knowing that, number one, the AmeriCorps volunteers have been accepted, or CIWA has retained them.

[14715] Nicole Pierce-Davis: We have 10 now. They can, according to their contract, they can have up to 31. We have 10 right now, so that'll be about three per school site.

[14724] Nancy Thomas: Okay, and given that, when are they going to start?

[14729] Nicole Pierce-Davis: They couldn't start until we get this MOU approved. And we're starting a new process. We're bringing all MOUs and contracts before the board. And although this has no funding, we wanted to make sure you all were aware of it. And so as soon as we sign, we're ready to go, where our hope is to get started in October.

[14749] Nancy Thomas: The Think Together presentation tonight was very informative. Is it possible? It is part of approving this program to ask that CIWA and the AmeriCorps volunteers give us a presentation of their progress, say, in February. We can put it on an agenda. Absolutely. Okay, so I would certainly make a motion to that effect with the provision that we have a presentation on the progress in early next year.

[14781] Carina Plancarte: I have one more question. So my question is surrounding the volunteers. Would they be supporting throughout the day, the school day, or is this going to be more support for after school?

[14797] Nicole Pierce-Davis: That depends on each AmeriCorps member and the site principal. And so, again, because we are not prescribing you must do it in this way, it must look like this, we want to give principals the autonomy to say what will work for you and then pair the AmeriCorps that works best for them. So it really is unique and flexible in that way. goal, but this isn't always achievable, is to have that through the day to after school connection. To sort of have an AmeriCorps member who normally is four hours a day, do kind of two hours or one hour during the regular school day, and then carry into after school. So they've seen the lesson, they've seen how the student is doing during the school day, and then they can support with after school homework help, filling in gaps that they've noticed throughout the day, kind of providing that more targeted support. But that doesn't have to be the way it looks like. And I appreciate the time to kind of wait till February to do this because we're developing, this is a brand new program. We're bringing, I had AmeriCorps volunteers in my previous district at my previous school. And so we have to find the way that works for us. And so I appreciate the time to work with principals and give principals the time to kind of test out some things and see what works and what does not work.

[14868] Nancy Thomas: And if you could give them the Think Together presentation as a template.

[14874] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Will they have their own AmeriCorps, just like they have the CDE requirements?

[14878] Nancy Thomas: No, I'm just kind of saying, it's good information. Perfect. Thank you.

[14882] Phuong Nguyen: I second the motion.

[14885] Nancy Thomas: So I made the motion, and member Nguyen seconds the motion that we approve this with the idea that we'll have a presentation of the progress in next year. OK, please vote. Student member Lee.

[14898] Carina Plancarte: Yeah.

[14901] Phuong Nguyen: I like that.

[14919] Nancy Thomas: 6 I thank you motion passes. So we've made good team we have one more.

[14938] Cindy Parks: I just want to say thank you for the clarity that was provided this evening that had never been provided before regarding this and I really appreciate the transparency that was just displayed here this evening. Regarding the dress and grooming policy and administrative regulation that's before you I'd like to read a paragraph off the policy it says the governing board believes that appropriate dress and grooming contribute to productive learning environment. The board expects students to wear clothing that is suitable for school activities in which they participate. Students shall not wear clothing that presents a health or safety hazard or causes of stamp substantial disruption to the educational program. Then as you know your AR is more specific defining what that means. This evening, you have stricken number two from the AR that says appropriate shoes must be worn at all times and have replaced it with no steel toed or shoes with spikes. I appreciate the being more specific, I just wondered if that's specific enough, but the striking of number three completely of hats, caps, and other head coverings shall not be worn indoors. I wonder if you spoke with actual high school teachers. I would wonder if they would feel that that would be a disruption. I mean, it's been there for a reason before. It's suggested from CSBA. I would imagine that they have a reason for putting it in there. And just the fact that a kid come December, well at any time really now, put a beanie on, put some earbuds in and he's off in his own world or she's off in her own world. and not paying attention. The one that's a little bit more disturbing to me is at the number four, where the see-through tops and bare abdomens are prohibited, which was part of the discussion at the last meeting, to replace it with just no see-through clothing or intimate body parts showing. OK, so in other words, as long as you were not wearing steel-toed shoes or spikes, you can come in wearing a hat, and you can be wearing a bathing suit. Because in essence, that's what you said. Because anybody could walk in and you could be wearing a bathing suit. Your parts are covered and you're fine. So I just wanted to kind of bring that to your attention that by deviating from CSBA's recommendation, that's what you've opened the door to technically. So I'll leave it to you. Thank you.

12.17 POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 5132 and Administrative Regulation 5132 - Dress and Grooming

[15084] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Next, we open it up for the board. Member Jones.

[15090] Kat Jones: May I? Yes. So I have done a tremendous amount of thinking about this and asking questions of people from ages 14 to 80. I heard many differing opinions and respect each person's input. I spoke at length with Superintendent DeLeon about her conversations with the ASB at both the high school and Bridgepoint and very much appreciate the students time and comments at those times. After listening to all of these viewpoints and Miss Park just recently, I believe that we need to think about the environment we are trying to create in NUSD. Our goal is to create a world-class educational environment that promotes high achievement for all students. When adopting a board policy regarding dress code, we cannot be unduly subjected to the latest fashion trends, but must create a policy that promotes an academic environment conducive to learning, while honoring personal preferences and the latest fashion trends. The CSBA Administrative Regulation 5132 states optional items number 1 through 4 below may be revised to reflect district practice. The following guidelines shall apply to the regular school activities. I'm going to first read the CSBA recommendation and then read my suggested changes. Number one, Clothing, jewelry, and personal items shall be free of writing, pictures, and or other insignia which is vulgar, lewd, obscene, profound, or sexually suggestive, or which promotes the use of alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and other illegal activities. I propose no change. Number two, appropriate shoes must be worn at all times. I approve the no steel toed or shoes with spikes. I think that's a very reasonable specific. Number three, hats, caps and other head coverings shall not be worn indoors. I would like to see this restated as hats, caps and other head coverings When worn indoors must be worn as intended. For example, baseball caps worn with the bill forward, not backward. Also, double head coverings are prohibited indoors. For example, a beanie or a baseball cap under the hoodie being worn over the top, which double will hide those earbuds they've got in. Number four, clothing shall be significant to conceal undergarments. See-through tops and bare abdomens are prohibited. I would like to see it changed too. To be more specific, clothes shall be sufficient to cover undergarments. See-through clothing is prohibited. No inappropriate body parts can be exposed, specifically, No strapless tops, i.e. tube tops and bustiers. No more than four inches of the midriff may be exposed. I spoke to a ton of people about this one in particular, coming with a very diverse range of opinions. Four inches seemed to be a happy medium, and using the word midriff versus abdomen was also preferred. My last one on that as a specific is pants and shorts must fully cover the buttocks and or not sag inappropriately low. So those are my suggestions for rewriting those four to make them more specific and accommodate personal preference and the latest trends which will change. Thank you.

[15347] Penny DeLeon: Could you send those to me? Because it was detailed and I cannot write that fast. Oh, yay. I think it would be really, that was great. Thank you so much. That was a lot of hard work, I know. And we talked at length about the right way to say things, how to be specific, how not. I know that Joy, I'm sure Joy would probably, if Member Thomas, I don't know if you'd like to call on Member Lee, but I'm sure she would like to.

[15374] Nancy Thomas: Member Lee, what are your thoughts as representative of a great number of students at the high school that would be interested in this topic?

[15385] Joy Lee: I'm sorry, about the new... I think we would be very open to listening. I think some of the revisions you mentioned were really great, and I'm so thankful that they're more specific, which is what we were looking for. I think that's the main problem that we had with the other one was that it was too broad where it could start unreasonable conflicts or people who are in charge giving unreasonable... Enforcements. Enforcements, yeah. Are we going to approve this to date? No, we're pulling it.

[15435] Nancy Thomas: You know, we actually could vote on it tonight, but I really appreciate the work you've done and as an 80 year old who has spoken about this issue. I can fully agree with the changes you're recommending. I would like to propose, this being a second reading, that we bring this back at the next meeting for the third reading and give the ASB and the public a chance to respond to it. That would be my thought. I think you stated that perfectly. I'm in agreement with that. Okay, so if we hold it over as a third reading, we don't have to vote on anything. Yes. Member Hill.

[15477] Aiden Hill: I understand that there's a lot of strong opinions about this topic. But the concern that I have, and I'm going to speak to it when we get to member comments, is where in our four goals, in terms of our priorities, and having a measurable impact where does this particular effort fall? And in my opinion, while it's an important topic, it is not the most important topic that we face right now. And I would really, and I am concerned that we are spending so many cycles on this, and we're not spending cycles on what we said are our priorities. And so I would like to propose that either we just go with CSBA's recommendation, or we go, or we keep our existing one, or we adopt what Member Jones has said tonight, but then we put it to bed, right? So let's put it to bed, and then we can say, if we want to revisit it, because quite frankly, I think that this effort needs to be led by a permanent principal at the high school. Because the challenge we're going to have is, it's just like so many other regulations and laws, it's stuff that gets put in place, but that doesn't get enforced, and then it loses, you know, basically credibility. And so I would say let's decide on something now, And then let's say we can revisit it when we have a permanent principal. But let's not have ad nauseum discussions on it.

[15586] Kat Jones: Member Jones. My purpose in coming tonight and spending as many hours on this as I did is that this is a board policy. And if we're taking it back to ASB again and bringing it back for discussion, whose policy is it? Is it a board policy or is it a student-driven policy, and I don't believe this should be a student-driven policy. I really worked very hard to take my own bias out of, because my feeling is CSBA had it nailed, and that's what we should go with. But I tried to really think about and take my own bias out, I spoke with my daughter who has very strong opinions about these kinds of things, who wears a specific uniform when she goes to school, cuz she has to wear scrubs for nursing school. Granted, that's college and this is high school, but we are really trying to prepare our students for their life, their career, they're going to be asked to where certain things for their jobs. I think asking students to come dressed appropriate for an academic environment is not asking too much. This is our policy, not a student policy. It's our policy. And I really feel very strongly about that.

[15683] Penny DeLeon: May I just add something? There are always a lot of feelings around dress code. I was kind of dreading it when it came up as a renewal policy. So was I. Because having been in elementary school and sometimes middle school, when their parents still buy their clothes, it's not as much an issue. High school is where you see it. So having been a high school person for 30 years, I've spent a lot of my life enforcing dress code, right? A lot. And I respect all of the opinions on this. The one thing that I have said over and over and over again, there's two things that I really think are important. Number one, that we are not ever, ever unfairly enforcing it. So there's no gender-based enforcement, no religion-based enforcement, which the headgear, the head covering one can be a problem, and all those things. So those are cultural-based enforcement. So those are things that we obviously want to avoid, and that dress codes can really get hairy in the enforcement with those things in consideration. So I always want to avoid that. But there was another thing that I always talk about, and I'm really honest and upfront about this, just because I walked the walk for 12 years. I try never to make a rule I cannot enforce. And the enforcement can be onerous at best when, and I'm not suggesting, I would never suggest that it's a simple thing to say that we want to leave it up to kids. It's not that. What I can say is that sometimes because, for example, slides, The reason I crossed out the appropriate shoes on here and brought this up with the kids at ASB is because you'll notice probably 90% of the kids are wearing slides right now. And so in the past, there's been a real rule around, well, they can't wear flip-flops, they can't wear slides, blah, blah, blah. Let's say that were the example. Our administrators would have so many kids that they would have to enforce it with. What would happen would be the kids that caught their eye would get enforced and other kids wouldn't because there's no way they could do it all. And who catches their eye? The kid they see more often in the office? The one that irritates them occasionally in the hallway? The kid that looks differently for whatever reason? That's the kid that gets the dress code because they can't enforce it because it's too much. I can tell you Just from my experience, that there was a time when we had real issues with gangs. And for a while, it was like nobody could wear baseball caps because there were certain gangs that wore certain teams. Well, I have to tell you, I spent all day every day and every passing period collecting hats. And 90% of the kids didn't belong to a gang. And I'd have 3,000 hats in my office. And I'd have to give them back out again. to get the 10 that maybe we're wearing them as part of gangs. And so I just say that it's onerous. And it can, when there are so many of a certain violation, it can make it so that it is unfairly enforced, because they can't enforce it with everybody. So that's all I'm saying. So that was my big point, is to try to make it as to try to have a good dress code policy, but also fair. Because it can be way too hard. So to try to say that, OK, obviously you're not going to be showing your body parts. You're not going to be doing this. That's not scholarly. And really think about what is it to be scholarly. I think that's important. Joy will tell you, we had a conversation about that. I was a little aggravated that we weren't talking more about what it is to be scholarly, to tell you the truth. But I also am a practitioner, and I'm practical. And I know what happens in real time. So that was my only point. I agree with everything you're saying. I agree with what Member Hill is saying. I agree. It's all valid. It's all valid. I just always come at it from a practitioner. Oh my gosh, boots on the ground 12 years. It's tough. That's all. That's all I want to say.

[15975] Nancy Thomas: Member Nguyen and then Member Hill.

[15979] Phuong Nguyen: I know and I understand that these policies are board-driven, but at the same time, I really do appreciate the voices of our students. You know, a lot of times we don't give them enough credit for their thoughtfulness, their innovation, and their ability to really, you know, drive home sometimes what we miss. And since we did open it up to them last time and invited them to review this document, I would really appreciate it and I appreciate the effort that President Thomas had suggested. I don't think there's anything wrong with one more reading because they surprised you with this one. And they're going to surprise us again. They're good.

[16027] Penny DeLeon: These guys are good.

[16031] Kat Jones: I mean, I'll just respond with I don't disagree. No, I really don't disagree. And I'm glad that we did go to the ASB and we did talk to the kids at the two school sites. I think that was really important. And listening to what their comments were and coming back with something that honestly I felt wasn't unreasonable when it comes to Managing on site. I'm not saying you can't show your your midriff. You know, I'm not proposing. That's not what I'm proposing I'm trying to propose a middle ground that is not completely trend in fashion.

[16071] Phuong Nguyen: No, I and you know, I appreciate all the stuff that you said because I do agree. I agree. And, and she does too. But my point state, I mean, what I'm trying to state is that, you know, if we open ourselves up to allowing and allowing our students to help us make decisions, that's buy in, they're taking active, you know, approaches to really that we're trying to do things so why not go with it and allow our students to have one last stamp of approval and then we can vote on it at the next

[16124] Nancy Thomas: If the majority of us feels that we agree with the changes that Member Jones has asked for or suggested, we really, I think, owe it to have it come back so we get to see it in writing. Everyone gets to see it in writing. So I think it would be premature then to not have a third reading next meeting. So that would be my suggestion. Member Hill?

[16155] Aiden Hill: So again, I can appreciate all the different sides. And again, I'm not trying to offend anybody. What I'm just concerned about is spending too many cycles. I mean, we only have limited cycles. And I will tell you that there's a societal thing going on. And at this high school where I teach and I go in every day, I see kids in my classroom that are dressed exactly the way that people are describing right now that there's concerns around. And we have a very experienced principal. She's probably got like 15 years plus. And she's concerned about it. And there are some actions that are being taken. But in my opinion, it starts at, so that those conversations need to be happening at the school level, at the site level, with the principal. Because that's where the rubber meets the road. And that's where you're going to have the most productive discussions, and then a recommendation needs to be bubbled up to the board. And the board can decide whatever they want. But like right now, I think that we're kind of violating kind of management 101, right, and we're kind of diving way down deep into, you know, site operations rather than kind of staying up, you know, high, you know, and so getting, you know, so if we're going to look for a compromise, I mean, so I'm okay, okay, let's have Member Jones' thing written up. But let's not have any more forums. We do not have the cycles for this. I mean, we are two months into the school year, and we don't have plans for all of our key goals, right? We do not have the cycles for this.

[16266] Nancy Thomas: So are you saying that having staff go to the ASBs, you know, it is a burden? Yes. Maybe Miss Lee can do her. due diligence and speak on behalf of the students in ASB at the next meeting. And, of course, any student can come forward at the next meeting and speak on it, and any member of the public can. So we're not closing the door to input, and we're not requiring staff to do extra work other than to incorporate the changes that Member Jones has suggested.

[16307] Joy Lee: First of all, I just want to say thank you, Member Jones, for really all the amazing improvements that you made to our dress code. It's a new year, and this dress code, I think, is one of the main things that we can see a change within our school. And we can just let this make a decision here at the board and come back and revise it. But like Member Nguyen said, We've already went to the ASB, and we've already talked with them, and we've already made this connection that we've been wanting to have with the board and our community. And we did that right now with our dress code. We've made a small connection with them. And so what's more to have one more reading and to really just solidify more of that connection that we can have with each other. and put a good ending to this, instead of having the board just decide this here and students being dissatisfied, or feel a little bit like, oh, I wish they would have done this. We would have felt a little bit more represented in this. It's something small, yes, but it can also lead to something bigger.

[16396] Kat Jones: I totally appreciate that. I totally appreciate that and I am fine with it. Thank you.

[16402] Penny DeLeon: Plus I get to hang out with kids.

[16404] Nancy Thomas: So may we have a motion?

[16406] Phuong Nguyen: Member Hill, it's the customer service that you were alluding to earlier. So they're our customer base. We need to provide that good leadership and show good faith in our own ability to you know, have good customer service for them too.

[16422] Joy Lee: And also for like the AS, and also I just want to say this, like the students at our school, at least like besides like the small percentage, we're all very responsible students. You know, we care for our education. We want to go to college. We want to get jobs. And we're not people who would make stupid decisions. A lot of us understand how to dress ourselves and what we want to see, our expectation for ourselves and for each other. And we keep each other accountable. And so there are some high schoolers who don't do that, but like majority of the people at Newark, we have respect for ourselves and we have respect for other people. And if you guys came to our campus, you guys would like to see that. And yeah.

[16476] Aiden Hill: So, so, so can we, can we make a compromise? Right. And so I think we're saying that we bring it back for a third reading, right. But rather than consume staff time and cycles, and board time and cycles. So student member, right, so obviously they can make a copy of Member Jones's, you know, updated version. Can you lead an effort where you go talk with ASB and with the appropriate students to say, here's what it is, okay, can we live with it? All right, if there are issues, you collect them, you bring them back, We talk about it in the next board meeting, and then we take a vote, right? So then we don't have to consume a whole bunch of staff time and other people's time.

[16523] Joy Lee: Yeah, of course I can do that. We actually have a meeting tomorrow, ASB, and so I can bring this up at tomorrow and ask them for their opinion and see. And if majority votes yes, then I will bring it here and give the okay. Superintendent, if you did want to come on campus and talk with us, you're totally welcome to.

[16545] Penny DeLeon: Well, you don't have to, like, you know, really twist my arm to get me to go to Newark Memorial. It's like one of my favorite places that I hang out at. I probably hide there occasionally, you know? Yeah, I'm always going to get Starbucks over there, so you've got to be nice to me. So, I mean, yeah, I mean, I go there all the time, but. Thank you.

[16570] Joy Lee: So I will get everything, and then I will send it to, who should I send it to? Superintendent? Yeah. Great, thank you.

[16579] Nancy Thomas: Member Plancarfi.

[16581] Carina Plancarte: I just want to say thank you so much, Member Jones, for that in-depth and very thorough board policy, because truly, the last one before, it left so much to misinterpretation. And I just have to say that, you know, In the end of it, Joy, you said it yourself, we're setting up every student for life outside of high school for the next steps. And no matter where you go, you're going to have to maintain a level of professionalism that is conducive to wherever you're at. And so it starts here. And also to your research, we understand that it's important to be able to express your own individual um, you know, culture and your own fashion sense and such. But, um, I, I do think that, you know, what you've put together is, is great. And you going to ASB tomorrow and discussing this and having the presence of Dr. DeLeon, I mean, although Joy, I'm sure you're following is amazing. No, she probably doesn't need you. But I think what it will represent to the students, and it'll also solidify and drive down, is the fact that not only is Joy going to be there as a representative student to her fellow classmates, but also that it's really coming from the top. you know and there's that support there as well and that is just hopefully it'll reinforce it even further and then it will enable that cohesiveness too because you know there has been some investment from the students you know but again we do need the in-depth, we need to leave very little room for misinterpretation so that things are laid out in place. And so, I mean, that's all I have to say on that.

[16701] Penny DeLeon: I actually will be at Newark Memorial for subs with a suit, so I cannot tomorrow.

[16710] Aiden Hill: So, and again, so I'm sorry, I mean, I'm going to speak to this, right? So my concern, okay, is How many different requirements are we putting on Dr. DeLeon's time? Okay? So, she is the CEO. If you look at any company, if you try to put as much on the CEO's shoulders as we're trying to put on Dr. DeLeon's, that company will be crippled, right? And so, we have to get out of that mode. And so, I understand our desire, all of us, to be, you know, having her involved, But I think that we need to carry the weight, right? And so I think that, you know, student member, you're empowered, right? So we're empowering you to go do this, right? And where we want to have Dr. DeLeon with the free time that she gets, it's go get a great permanent principal at Newark Memorial so that that person can drive, right? So we have to start filling out the ranks. Otherwise, we're not going to survive.

[16781] Nancy Thomas: Okay, I think we've pretty much agreed that this will come back at the next meeting, so therefore we can move on to number 13, Board of Education Committee Reports. We have to vote, don't we? No, we don't need to.

[16794] Aiden Hill: Oh, no, just send it to the guy, okay.

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

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

[16796] Nancy Thomas: Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief, and Discussion. We begin with student member Lee.

[16805] Penny DeLeon: that's perfect.

[16812] Phuong Nguyen: Thank you member there are no reports from committee. And I just wanted to give a shout out to class of 1993. This last weekend they had. Saturday night because we had a family wedding in Lodi, but I did get to see a lot of my classmates met up for drinks and laughs after the football game, which we won by the way, blowout, JV and Varsity. So last year they did lose to Mount Eden, but this year they came back and well, they didn't come back. I mean, it was literally a blowout game. And a lot of our kids, our student body was not there because they were at Newark Days. And then also this past weekend on Sunday, we were able to celebrate Newark Days and celebrate the city's 68th birthday. And I just wanted to appreciate all the staff that were out there working the booth and trying to recruit heavily. Yes. And Member Jones was there all weekend, working really, really hard with the Newark Days Committee, managing students. I know my kids volunteered there, too, at the parking lot. So all the kids did a wonderful job. Thank you. And actually, this year, the football team was walking around picking up trash. But I just noticed how immaculate it was this year. And maybe I wasn't paying attention in prior years, but they did a wonderful job. And the organization, Newark Days Parade, all the schools, parents, thank you for coming out. and participating in the parade. It was amazing and so much fun. And then lastly, I just wanted to acknowledge National Hispanic Heritage Month. Each year Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th by celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15th and ending October 15th. It was enacted into law on August 17th, 1988 on the approval of Public Law 102. 100-402. The day of September 15th is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their Independence Day days on September 16th and September 18th, respectively. Also, Columbus Day or Dia de la Raza, which is October 12th, falls within this 30-day period. Let's celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month.

[17021] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[17027] Carina Plancarte: So there was the initial Mission Valley ROP meeting, and I was there present as an alternate for Nancy. And basically, there's not really a lot to report. It was really just, you know, approving their budget. And, you know, a heads up, the conversation that, you know, obviously is going to continue to be had is around, you know, partnering better with them and incorporating more CT pathway courses and such. And so that's going to be coming. And then as far as, you know, just this past weekend, I want to thank you and Dr. DeLeon and And Steven, of course, all the staff. I saw Olivia there. I saw Pat, Ruby. And then, of course, you know, I saw, you know, Kat. And there were so many of the staff. And obviously, our schools participated. But just truly the effort that is going into letting our community know that, you know, we are in dire need of, you know, the workforce. And, you know, just you guys getting to know the community and really just solidifying that relationship. It's so important. And I feel like it's been missing. you're doing a great job of nurturing that and I really appreciate that.

[17116] Kat Jones: I have a I don't have any committee updates but I do have a request. and it's regarding the SEAL sustainability and implementation agreements that we have with the SEAL program. I noticed in going back and looking at both the sustainability and the implementation contracts that they are signed by SEAL representatives, but I have not seen a signed copy of the contract with an NUSD signature under that. I'm sure they're out there, but I would really like to see them. Based on that, the contracts do have an NUSD signature on them. Both of the contracts on page four, one it's in bullet point two, the other it's in bullet point one. both talk about a minimum of a .5 FTE in order to carry out the agreement. I realize that is a minimum amount, but it is a total of one FTE, and we do have two FTEs supporting those two contracts. I think the work that is being done is absolutely fabulous. It's imperative for our students to have highly educated teachers that they're working with. But I am also aware that we have vacancies in classrooms that really need a qualified teacher to be face to face with those students. So my request is that the one One FTE, however that works out, fulfills the requirements of those two agreements, and the other is just temporarily put, reassigned into a classroom where a teacher is needed until the position is full. I'm not saying for the year, but I am requesting that staff look at how that other FTE could be best used in the classroom face-to-face with the students. And I also realized that there is a 0.6 tectosa that could also really benefit our classrooms. And that is, those positions are, they're key to being filled for the students, for the sake of the students. I know those are very important positions that we need in the district, but right now I don't feel that they are as important to support. So I really task staff with looking at how do we help the classrooms that don't have educators in them to the best of our ability. Thank you.

[17302] Aiden Hill: Thank you. So you're requesting that this be brought back as a future agenda item?

[17307] Kat Jones: I'm requesting that staff look at how these 2.6, the 2.6 FTEs can best work with the one that we need for seal for the two agreements that we have, providing those contracts are signed. Those contracts aren't even signed, then we aren't, I mean, do we honor that? if those contracts aren't signed? We want to have them come back with a report. I'd like to have a report come back where we see the signed contracts and with the proposal of how the extra 1.6 FTEs are going to best be utilized in the classrooms.

[17354] Nancy Thomas: I support the report. I'm fine with that. Does staff have any issues with the amount of time that will take?

[17361] Penny DeLeon: No, absolutely not. We can come back with that. I think we've already begun that process, but we'll come back with it.

[17365] Nancy Thomas: Thank you.

[17371] Aiden Hill: Yes, so first off, I want to apologize from the last meeting and being remiss as we were running out of time that I didn't, in my update, give an acknowledgment to Schilling So, member Thomas and Dr. DeLeon and I had gone to the Schilling open house and it was great and there were a lot of people there and I could really sense the school spirit and so I just want to thank them for inviting us and we look forward to helping them continue on their journey towards excellence. So, that's the first acknowledgement. The request that I have, and it was a theme that I've been hitting on earlier, so in high school now in California, for you to graduate, you have to take one semester of economics. And one of the foundational concepts that you get taught in economics, and literally all of economics is built on this concept, it's called the concept of scarcity. And what that means is it means that we human beings have unlimited needs and wants, but we have limited resources to satisfy those needs and wants. So this is a foundational concept in economics. And it's true, right? We always want everything, but we can't have everything. So what economics says is that you have to do tradeoffs. And so what that means is that you have to prioritize and you have to figure out How can I maximize the things that are going to have the biggest impact? So, we see this happen all over society, but we as a board, right, our process for doing that has been setting goals. So, we've set, we've established, and we've looked at all the different things that are going on in our district, and we spent a number of cycles over the summer saying, here's what we believe are the top four priorities that we really need to pay attention to and are going to move the needle on. But in my experience, it's so easy in life to get distracted and to have the important, right, so this is truly the important, get crowded out by the urgent, right? And so my request to the board is to help remind us and then also to help the community because I think the community sometimes loses sight of this and gets fixated on a particular topic. But we can't have everything, we can't solve everything at once. I think a way that will help us is if we could ask Dr. DeLeon that for every meeting going forward for the rest of the year, in the superintendent's report, that we have a quick status, it doesn't have to be exhaustive, on the four goals for each goal. And even if there's nothing happening, we can say, well, okay, here's where we are and that's it, right? But I think that that will really help us focus. So I'd like to request from the board's perspective, can we put that as a standing agenda item on the agenda?

[17554] Phuong Nguyen: I mean, you're asking for a weekly?

[17557] Aiden Hill: No, no, no. For every board meeting.

[17559] Phuong Nguyen: Oh, okay. Every meeting.

[17560] Aiden Hill: Yeah, every board meeting we just have, under her superintendent's report, a quick discussion of status on goals.

[17565] Penny DeLeon: Okay. Could I also ask just a quick question? And this is something I used to do in my previous districts and I have been remiss so far. And I was just reminded, would it be helpful also to make sure that every item that we have has what goal it addresses next to it?

[17585] Nancy Thomas: That was previously the case in our agenda items.

[17588] Penny DeLeon: Yeah. OK. OK. We'll do that.

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

[17590] Nancy Thomas: Thank you. Well, there's not much I can add, but I want to thank staff and the board for participating in Newark Days. It's always an exciting time. I'd like to thank Dr. Pierce. I want to thank miss Davis and for her help and work with us on with miss Jones and I on the policies I think we're pretty much close to putting those to bed right and thank HR for for bringing forward. Policies this time and I'd like to I'd like to ask and I will. that are required to be updated. They're mandated changes that we can bring forward at the next meeting, and I'll work with you, Dr. DeLeon, and with Ms. Jones to bring those forward.

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

[17651] Aiden Hill: So I just want to thank you, President Thomas, and Member Jones, and staff for doing the yeoman's work in those board policies, because that's a lot of work. So thank you very much.

[17668] Nancy Thomas: Dr. DeLeon.

[17671] Penny DeLeon: It is late so I'm gonna say thank you all for everything all of your support and have a great evening and one more thing if you were there you know Newark rocks.

15. ADJOURNMENT

15.2 Adjournment

[17685] Nancy Thomas: So may I have a motion for adjournment?

[17688] Carina Plancarte: I'll make a motion to adjourn.

[17691] Nancy Thomas: I'll second. Member Nguyen seconds. Please vote. Five ayes, motion passes. This meeting is adjourned.

1.1 Meeting Practices and Information (Not Found)

2. CLOSED SESSION (Closed Session)

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

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

2.3 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL ­ EXISTING LITIGATION (Gov. Code, § 54956.9, subd. (d)(1)): Case #23CV034303 Byrd vs. NUSD (Closed Session)

2.4 RATIFICATION AND APPROVAL OF TK ENROLLMENT: (Ed. Code, §§ 48000 & 35146) (Closed Session)

3. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS (Closed Session)

3.1 Report of Closed Session Actions (Closed Session)

[163] 1. CALL TO ORDER

[173] 1.2 Roll Call

[190] 1.3 Public Comment on Closed Session Items

[190] 1.4 Recess to Closed Session

[5086] 4. RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION

[5086] 4.1 Pledge of Allegiance

[5104] 5. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

[5104] 5.1 Approval of the Agenda

[5208] 8. PUBLIC COMMENT

[5208] 8.1 Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items

[5216] 8.2 Public Comment on Agenda Items

[5268] 6. STUDENT REPORT

[5299] 6.1 Student Board Member Report

[5493] 7. EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATIONS

[5515] 7.1 Employee Organizations

[5651] 9. SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

[5660] 9.1 Superintendent Report

[6711] 10. STAFF REPORT

[6711] 10.1 Information & Technology: JET Report Update

[8670] 10.2 College & Career Readiness Measure (Part I)

[11734] 10.3 After School Programming Staff Report

[13680] 15.1 PLACEHOLDER - Extend Meeting

[13766] 11. CONSENT AGENDA: PERSONNEL ITEMS (Approved on Consent)

[13766] 11.1 PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote (Approved on Consent)

[13766] 11.2 Personnel Report (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12. CONSENT AGENDA: NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.1 PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.2 Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) Clarifying Questions (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.3 Resolution 2023.24.06 - Sufficiency of Instructional Materials (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.4 California Department of Education Consolidated Application and Reporting System 2023-2024 Spring Data Collection (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.5 Agreement with Think Together for After School Programming (ASES) (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.6 Contract with Think Together for After-School Programming (ELO-P) (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.7 Notre Dame de Namur University MOU and Agreement to Place Student Teachers (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.8 Notre Dame de Namur University MOU and Agreement to Provide Education Specialist and Teaching Interns (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.10 Contract with Shalom Staffing for Special Education Teacher (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.11 Change Order #1 - Water Filling Stations (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.12 POLICY UPDATE: Administrative Regulation 4161.8/4261.8/4361.8 - Family Care and Medical Leave (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.13 POLICY UPDATE: Board Policies and Administrative Regulations to Rescind (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.14 POLICY UDPATE: Administrative Regulation 4312.4 Tuberculosis Tests (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.15 POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4161/4262/4361 Leaves (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.16 POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 4312.1 Contracts (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.18 FIELD TRIP : Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Middle School to travel to Santa Clara, CA (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.19 MINUTES: Minutes of the August 15, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

[13893] 12.20 MINUTES: Minutes of the September 5, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (Approved on Consent)

[13954] 12.9 MOU with SEWA

[15084] 12.17 POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 5132 and Administrative Regulation 5132 - Dress and Grooming

[16796] 13. BOARD OF EDUCATION: COMMITTEE REPORTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, REQUESTS, DEBRIEF AND DISCUSSION

[16796] 13.1 Board of Education Committee Reports, Announcements, Requests, Debrief and Discussion

[17590] 14. SUPERINTENDENT'S CONCLUDING COMMENTS, UPDATES FOR THE BOARD AND FUTURE AGENDA REQUESTS

[17651] 14.1 Superintendent's Concluding Comments, Updates, and Future Agenda Items

[17685] 15. ADJOURNMENT

[17685] 15.2 Adjournment

[100003] 1.1 Meeting Practices and Information (Not Found)

[100003] 2. CLOSED SESSION (Closed Session)

[100003] 2.1 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE/DISMISSAL/RELEASE (Gov. Code, § 54957, subd. (b)(1)) (Closed Session)

[100003] 2.2 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS (Gov. Code, § 54957.6, subd. (a): Employee Organizations - NTA and CSEA (Closed Session)

[100003] 2.3 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL ­ EXISTING LITIGATION (Gov. Code, § 54956.9, subd. (d)(1)): Case #23CV034303 Byrd vs. NUSD (Closed Session)

[100003] 2.4 RATIFICATION AND APPROVAL OF TK ENROLLMENT: (Ed. Code, §§ 48000 & 35146) (Closed Session)

[100003] 3. REPORT OF CLOSED SESSION ACTIONS (Closed Session)

[100003] 3.1 Report of Closed Session Actions (Closed Session)

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 Katherine Jones Member Phuong Nguyen Member Carina V. Plancarte

STUDENT BOARD MEMBER: Member Joy Lee

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

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

Type Action, Information, Procedural

PURPOSE:

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

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

Type Action, Information, Procedural PURPOSE:

Information may be provided by the agency negotiator, Interim 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 LEGAL COUNSEL � EXISTING LITIGATION (Gov. Code, � 54956.9, subd. (d)(1)): Case #23CV034303 Byrd vs. NUSD

Type Action, Information, Procedural PURPOSE:

To discuss the following case(s): Case #23CV034303 Byrd vs. NUSD

RATIFICATION AND APPROVAL OF TK ENROLLMENT: (Ed. Code, �� 48000 & 35146)

Type Action (Consent), Discussion, Information

Preferred Date Sep 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended To approve Transitional Kindergarten "expanded" students who shall reach age 5 after April 2, Action 2024 and before June 2. PURPOSE:

The Board will review student information for approval of newly registered Transitional Kindergarten students who shall reach age 5 after April 2, 2024 and before June 2, 2024. These students are considered "expanded" TK students. The board will also consider admittance of "early enrollment" TK students, which includes students who reach age 5 after June 2, 2024. Starting with the 2023-24 academic school year, there are new requirements for both "expanded" and "early enrollment" TK students, which will be considered when determining whether or not NUSD has the capacity to admit students in these categories. This process will continue on a case by case basis for students who register within the extended window.

BACKGROUND:

Education Code sections 48000 and 48010, and District Administrative Regulation (AR) 5111, requires the District to enroll any otherwise eligible student who turns age five or six on or before September 1 of a given school year into kindergarten or first grade, as applicable. In

addition, if a student turns age five between September 2 and April 2 (for the 2023-2024 academic school year) of a school year, then that student shall be offered an opportunity to enroll in TK. The District may additionally admit younger children to TK "on a case by case basis."

Education Code section 48000 specifically provides as follows:

(c)(1) As a condition of receipt of apportionment for pupils in a transitional kindergarten program... a school district shall ensure the following:

(c)(1)(D) In the 2023-24 school year, a child who will have their fifth birthday between September 2 and April 2 shall be admitted to a transitional kindergarten program maintained by the school district.

(c)(2)(A) In a school year, a school district may, at any time during a school year, admit a child to a transitional kindergarten program who will have their fifth birthday after the date specified... with the approval of the parent or guardian, subject to the following conditions:

(c)(2)(A)(i) The governing board of the school district determines that admittance is in the best interest of the child.

(c)(2)(A)(ii) The parent/guardian is given information regarding the advantages and disadvantages and any other explanatory information about the effect of this early admittance.

(c)(2)(B) Notwithstanding any other law, a pupil admitted to a transitional kindergarten program pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall not generate average daily attendance... until the pupil has attained the pupil's fifth birthday, regardless of when the pupil was admitted during the school year.

Consistent with the Education Code, the District's AR 5111 provides:

On a case-by-case basis, a child who will turn five years old in a given school year may be enrolled in kindergarten or TK at any time during that school year with the approval of the child's parent/guardian, provided that: (Education Code 48000)

1. The parent/guardian is given information regarding the advantages and disadvantages and any other explanatory information about the effect of this early admittance.

2. The Governing Board determines that admittance is in the best interest of the child.

For the 2023-2024 school year, the birthday for admittance has been extended to April 2, and will continue being extended by two months each school year, until the 2025-2026 school year, when any student with a birthday after September 1 must be admitted to TK.

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.

6. STUDENT REPORT

Student Board Member Report

Type Information PURPOSE:

The Student Report gives the Board of Education and the public an opportunity to hear the highlights, achievements, and initiatives from the viewpoint of the student board member.

BACKGROUND:

The information will be provided by the student board member, Joy Lee.

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 from each of the recognized employee organizations: NTA, CSEA, and 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 superintendent will provide the Board of Education with district information, updates, news, or anything in the jurisdiction of the board or the superintendent.

BACKGROUND:

The presentation and information will be provided by the Superintendent

10. STAFF REPORT

Information & Technology: JET Report Update

Type Discussion, Information PURPOSE:

To inform the board and public about the California IT in Education (CITE) Joint Ed Tech (JET) review, progress towards CITE recommendations, and updates regarding the district Wifi project.

BACKGROUND:

During the 21-22 school year, CITE evaluated the status of technology in the district as well as department staffing. The JET report findings were presented to the board in February 2022. This staff report is intended to update the board on progress towards recommendations, which includes staffing and a district Wifi project.

File Attachments Staff Report_ JET Report Update (6).pdf (1,231 KB)

College & Career Readiness Measure (Part I)

Type Information PURPOSE:

To provide the Board of Trustees and the public with an update on NUSD's College and Career Readiness measures.

BACKGROUND:

California AB-167 states the A�G Completion Improvement Grant Program is to "provide additional supports to local educational agencies to help increase the number of California high school pupils, particularly unduplicated pupils, who graduate high school meeting the A�G subject matter requirements for admission to the University of California and the California State University."

On April 6th, 2023, Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Nicole Pierce-Davis, and Coordinator of Equity and Access, Heather Decker, presented the mid year updates on the A-G Completion Improvement Grant Program for NUSD.

This presentation serves to inform the board of NUSD College and Career Readiness Indicator (CCRI) data, which includes the A- G completion and CTE completion information presented in the previous presentation. It will expand on the previous A-G focus area to include all relevant CCRI measures: Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, Advanced Placement (AP) Exams,

College Credit Courses, State Seal of Biliteracy, Career Technical Education (CTE), and University of California and California State University A-G requirements.

The presentation will be split into two or more parts, with part I focused on student Advanced Placement (AP) and A-G Completion data.

File Attachments Staff Report_ College and Career Readiness Presentation Pt1 (1).pdf (2,465 KB)

After School Programming Staff Report

Type Information PURPOSE:

To inform the board and public about after school programing in NUSD as provided by our Think Together partners.

BACKGROUND:

Think Together has been a consistent and reliable district partner, providing our After School Education and Safety Program (ASES) services in Newark for multiple years, and now growing with available Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELO-P) funding. During the 2022- 23 academic school year, Think Together's after school programming expanded to all elementary schools and maintained programming at Newark Middle School. With the help of Think Together, NUSD was also able to expand summer school elementary enrollment from approximately 150 students to over 600 students. This staff report will provide an overview of our current Think Together programming, with respect to this expansion, as well as the tools used for continuous improvement and quality assurance.

File Attachments Staff Report_ Afterschool Programing 9.19.23 (2).pdf (6,162 KB)

11. CONSENT AGENDA: PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

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

PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

Personnel Report

Type Action

Absolute Date Sep 19, 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 09-19-2023.pdf (355 KB)

12. CONSENT AGENDA: NON-PERSONNEL ITEMS

PLACEHOLDER - One Consented Vote

Type Action

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

PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

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

Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) Clarifying Questions

Type Action (Consent)

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratify the Newark Unified School District Action Clarifying Questions 2023-24 LCAP document submitted to the Alameda County Office of Education. PURPOSE:

After the annual review by the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE) of our proposed 23-24 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), NUSD received LCAP Clarifying Questions on August 14, 2023, with the expectation to respond to ACOE on or before August 30, 2023, and bring forth to the Board of Education shortly after.

BACKGROUND:

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

Ed Code 52070:

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

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

File Attachments Newark_ 2023-24 LCAP Clarifying Questions.pdf (262 KB) 2023-24 LCAP Revised after clarifying questions.pdf (1,307 KB)

Resolution 2023.24.06 - Sufficiency of Instructional Materials

Type Action (Consent), Procedural

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves Resolution 2023.24.06 - Action Sufficiency of Instructional Materials PURPOSE:

For the Board of Education to approve Resolution 2023.24.06 - Sufficiency of Instructional Materials

BACKGROUND:

To certify compliance with Education Code Section 60119 (as revised by Chapter 704, Statutes of 2006 and California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 5, Section 9531). In order to be eligible to receive instructional materials funds, the governing board of each district and county office of education is required to hold an annual public hearing and adopt a resolution stating whether each pupil in the district has sufficient textbooks or instructional materials in specified subjects that are aligned to the academic content standards and consistent with the content and cycles of the curriculum frameworks adopted by the state board. The public hearing was held on Sept. 5, 2023.

Under EC Section 60119, the governing board of every local educational agency that receives state instructional materials funds must hold an annual public hearing before the end of the eighth week from the first-day pupils attend school for that year. At the public hearing, the governing board must make a determination as to whether each pupil in each school has sufficient textbooks or instructional materials, or

both, that are aligned to the content standards and are consistent with the content and cycles of the curriculum framework adopted by the State Board of Education in reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and history-social science.

Site principals reviewed the site's sufficiency of materials and affirmed.

Governing boards that have met the requirements of Education Code Section 60119 and have also certified compliance with the Instructional Materials Funding Realignment Program (IMFRP) requirements regarding the provision of adopted standards-aligned instructional materials for all students (Education Code Section 60422) may spend 100% of any remaining IMFRP funds from that years allocation for other approved purposes.

File Attachments Resolution No. 2023.24.06 - Sufficiency of Instructional Materials.pdf (421 KB) Sufficiency of Materials Public Hearing 23-24.docx.pdf (529 KB)

California Department of Education Consolidated Application and Reporting System 2023-2024 Spring Data Collection

Type Action

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education ratify the Consolidated Application and Action Reporting System (CARS), 2023-24 Spring Data Collection.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is to provide the California Department of Education with the information needed to fund a wide variety of federal and state programs that bring supplementary funding into the school district.

BACKGROUND:

The Consolidated Application and Reporting System (CARS) -- formerly known as Consolidated Application or "Con App" for short -- is the state's mechanism for both funding of identified state and federal categorical programs and required reporting for many of them. It provides the entitlement amounts of these programs as well as required considerations for expenditures.

Each year, the programs included in the CARS change based on federal/state mandates and different methods of gaining or disseminating information. This is the 2023-24 Spring Data Collection.

CARS brings funds into the school district for a variety of programs including Title, I, Title II, Title III and Title IV.

Each of the identified programs has specified guidelines or requirements for their expenditure. All titled programs are federally funded. Title I, Part A dollars are used to support the increased achievement of at-risk students, primarily in reading and math. (We currently have eight schools receiving these funds.) Title II, Part A (Teacher Quality) monies are used to support teacher evaluation, as well as teacher professional development. Title III English Learner and Immigrant are used to support our English language learners. Title IV is used to fund school improvement programs for student academic success.

File Attachments Con App_July 2021-June 2023.pdf (960 KB)

Agreement with Think Together for After School Programming (ASES)

Type Action (Consent)

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $576,537.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source ELO-P

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the renewal of the agreement Action with THINK Together for ASES (After School Educational and Safety) for the 2023-2024 school year. PURPOSE:

The purpose is to approve the expansion of the agreement with THINK Together for running the ASES (After School Educational and Safety) program for 2023-24 at Schilling Elementary, Coyote Hills Elementary, and Newark Middle School as agreed upon August 5, 2021.

BACKGROUND:

The District is dedicated to carrying out the Board-approved plan for providing an extended day to our TK-6, unduplicated students as outlined in the Expanding Learning Opportunities Program (ELO-P) plan that was presented and approved by the Board on February 3, 2022. These funds will assist in providing additional academic and social-emotional support to students through a 9-hour extended learning day to our student populations that are historically underserved.

NUSD has contracted with Think Together to run the ASES (After School Educational and Safety) program since 2013-14. Students at the three identified schools take part in a daily program that starts after classes end for the day until 6pm and includes academic support and enrichment opportunities.

File Attachments Think Together-Newark MOU for Extra PLs 2023-24.pdf (394 KB)

Contract with Think Together for After-School Programming (ELO-P)

Type Action (Consent)

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $1,415,383.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source ELO-P

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board approve the Think Together contract for after school Action programming. PURPOSE:

We are seeking the approval of the Think Together contract in order to execute the approved ELO-P plan.

BACKGROUND:

The proposed contract includes the expansion of Think Together's after school program to four additional Elementary Schools using supplemental ELO-P funding. Think Together was selected as the primary partner for this work because it supports the district's intention to create a single, comprehensive program. Think Together has been a strong and consistent partner, providing our ASES services in Newark for multiple years.

File Attachments Think Together-Newark MOU for EXLP 2023-24.pdf (392 KB)

Notre Dame de Namur University MOU and Agreement to Place Student Teachers

Type Action

Preferred Date Sep 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Notre Dame de Namur Action University MOU and Agreement to Place Student Teachers. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is for the Board of Education to approve the MOU and agreement between Notre Dame de Namur University and Newark Unified School District to place student teachers..

BACKGROUND:

The District works closely with local institutes of higher education (IHE) and supports student teacher placements. Agreements between Newark Unified School District and a university must be in place before a student teacher can be placed at a school site in the District.

Student teachers in training do fieldwork in our schools and are supervised by the administrators who volunteer to provide supervision and training.

Student teachers are able to learn, practice teaching, and fine-tune their craft under the direct supervision of a master teacher. The opportunity to student teach in the District benefits both the student and the District.

As vacancies become available in the district, it is invaluable to have the opportunity to observe directly student teachers who may be eligible to interview for vacancies and observe how well they fit into the culture of Newark.

File Attachments Notre Dame Student Teacher Agreement 2023-2028.pdf (309 KB)

Notre Dame de Namur University MOU and Agreement to Provide Education Specialist and Teaching Interns

Type Action

Preferred Date Sep 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the Notre Dame de Namur Action University MOU and Agreement to Provide Education Specialist and Teaching Interns. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this item is for the Board of Education to approve the MOU and agreement between Notre Dame de Namur University and Newark Unified School District to provide education specialist and teaching interns.

BACKGROUND:

The District works closely with local institutes of higher education (IHE) and supports education specialist and teaching intern placements. Agreements between Newark Unified School District and a university must be in place before an intern can be placed at a school site in the District.

Interns do fieldwork in our schools and are supervised by the administrators who volunteer to provide supervision and training.

Interns are able to learn, practice teaching, and fine-tune their craft under the direct supervision of a master teacher. The opportunity to intern in the District benefits both the student and the District.

As vacancies become available in the district, it is invaluable to have the opportunity to observe directly interns who may be eligible to interview for vacancies and observe how well they fit into the culture of Newark.

File Attachments Notre Dame Intern Agreement 2023-2028.pdf (281 KB)

MOU with SEWA

Type Action (Consent)

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approves the MOU between SEWA and Action NUSD. PURPOSE:

The purpose is to approve the Sewa Agreement for the 2023-24 school year to supplement current expanded learning opportunities and enrichment activities.

BACKGROUND:

Sewa International is a nonprofit service organization founded in 2003 as part of a larger movement that started in India in 1989. The purpose of the Sewa program in NUSD is to support teaching and learning beyond the classroom, especially for those children who have been historically or systemically underserved. This year, Sewa staff and community volunteers will expand to include up to 31 AmeriCorps members.

Sewa staff will collaborate with NUSD staff and designated sites to supplement instructional and enrichment services for NUSD students during the day and/or after school. Provision of enrichment services will enhance student development in the following areas: Homework help, critical thinking and problem solving, health and wellness, building of new skills and interests, and cultural sensitivity and awareness. This includes, but is not limited to the following learning opportunities: lessons, workshops, conferences, and professional presentations in the areas of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM), disaster preparedness, cultural celebrations, and other college and career interests.

File Attachments Sewa MOU.pdf (1,422 KB)

Contract with Shalom Staffing for Special Education Teacher

Type Action

Preferred Date Sep 19, 2023

Absolute Date Sep 19, 2023

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $115,600.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source Resource 6500 - Special Education

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the contract with Shalom Action Staffing. PURPOSE:

Shalom Staffing to provide 1.0 FTE Resource Specialist Teacher required for an unfilled position for the 2023-2024 school year.

BACKGROUND:

Despite intensive efforts, the District has not been able to hire for the unfilled position. The contracted teacher is intended to fill the RSP position at the MacGregor Campus for the 2023-2024 school year only.

File Attachments Shalom Staffing Contract 23-24.pdf (727 KB)

Change Order #1 - Water Filling Stations

Type Action

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $4,089.23

Budget Source Fund 25 Capital Facilities Fund

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve Change Order #1 for the Water Action Filling Stations Project with Smelly Mel's Plumbing, Inc. PURPOSE:

To approve Change Order #1 in the amount of $4,089.23 for the Water Filling Stations Project with Smelly Mel's Plumbing.

BACKGROUND:

On December 5, 2022, the Board of Trustees reviewed the preliminary budget for the Water Filling Station project in the amount of $169,125.

On May 4, 2023 the Board of Trustees awarded a contract to Smelly Mel's Plumbing, Inc. in the amount of $63,600 to install water bottle filling stations at each school site.

This action item is to approve Change Order #1 in the amount of $4,089.23. This change is due to unforeseen conditions at three (3) locations (please see attached for details). The adjusted contract amount including the change order will be $67,689.23 which is $23,284 below budget.

File Attachments CO 1 Smelly Mel's Water Filling Stations NUSD.pdf (250 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Administrative Regulation 4161.8/4261.8/4361.8 - Family Care and Medical Leave

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Sep 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the updated Administrative Action Regulation 4161.8 - Family Care and Medical Leave and adopt Administrative Regulation 4261.8/4361.8 - Family Care and Medical Leave. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to review the recommended changes, approve updated Administrative Regulation 4161.8 and adopt Administrative Regulations 4261.8/4361.8

BACKGROUND:

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

The 4000 section of the district policy manual is triple coded to divide it into employee classifications: 4100s for certificated employees, 4200s for classified employees, and 4300s for management, supervisory, and confidential employees. The language in AR 4161.8, AR 4261.8 and AR 4361.8 is exactly the same.

Regulation updated to reflect NEW LAW (AB 1041, 2022) which expands the definition of a family member for whom an eligible employee may take leave to care for to include a "designated person," provide that an employee may identify the designated person at the time of the employee's request for leave, and include that the district may limit an employee's use of CFRA leave to care for one designated person per 12-month period.

NOTE: Administrative Regulation 4161.8 has not been updated since the Board of Education adopted it in 1996. There have been numerous revisions by CSBA over the past 27 years, thus the content red-lined in the attached CSBA recommended update will not match the content in NUSD's existing regulation.

File Attachments Recommended CSBA AR 4161.8 Family Care and Medical Leave 09-19-2023.pdf (820 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4261.8 Family Care and Medical Leave 09-19-2023.pdf (872 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4361.8 Family Care and Medical Leave 09-19-2023.pdf (890 KB) Existing NUSD AR 4161.8 Family Care and Medical Leave 09-19-2023.pdf (97 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policies and Administrative Regulations to Rescind

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Sep 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education rescind the Board Policies and Action Administrative Regulations listed below as recommended by California School Board Association (CSBA). PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to review and rescind the policies and regulations listed below per CSBA recommendations.

BACKGROUND:

The rescission of these policies and regulations is sanctioned by CSBA:

    BP/AR 4031 Complaints Concerning Discrimination in Employment
           Recommend deletion; incorporated into AR 4030 Nondiscrimination in Employment
    AR 4040 Employee Use of Technology
           Recommend deletion; incorporated language into the policy and replaced regulation with Exhibit - Acceptable Use
           Agreement.
    BP 4119.3 Political Activities of Employees
           Recommend deletion; numbered incorrectly,        duplicate policy already exists - BP 4119.25 (to be brought to Board
           for update at a future Board meeting)
    BP 4138 Mentor Teachers
           Recommend deletion; due to the elimination of the Certificated Staff Mentoring Program pursuant to AB 97 (2013).
           Key concepts incorporated into new BP 4131.1 Teacher Support and Guidance.
    BP 4313.1 Load/Scheduling/Hours of Employment
           Recommend deletion; unnecessary policy

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 4031 ^Complaints Concerning Discrimination In Employment.pdf (179 KB) Existing NUSD AR 4031 ^Complaints Concerning Discrimination In Employment.pdf (66 KB) Existing NUSD AR 4040 Employee Use Of Technology.pdf (50 KB) Existing NUSD BP 4138 ^Mentor Teachers.pdf (47 KB) Existing NUSD BP 4313.1 ^LoadSchedulingHours Of Employment.pdf (40 KB) Existing NUSD BP 4119.3 ^Political Activities Of Employees.pdf (47 KB)

POLICY UDPATE: Administrative Regulation 4312.4 Tuberculosis Tests

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Sep 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the updated title of Action Administrative Regulation 4312.4 from Tuberculosis Tests to Health Examinations. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to approve the updated title of Administrative Regulation 4312.4 from Tuberculosis Tests to Health Examinations.

BACKGROUND:

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

The 4000 section of the district policy manual is triple coded to divide it into employee classifications: 4100s for certificated employees, 4200s for classified employees, and 4300s for management, supervisory, and confidential employees.

Administrative Regulation 4112.4 (certificated employees) and Administrative Regulation 4212.4 (classified employees) both have the correct title, Health Examinations. Administrative Regulation 4312.4 (management) still has the old title, Tuberculosis Tests. The recommendation is to update the title to Health Examinations.

Language and content in all three is exactly the same.

File Attachments Existing NUSD AR 4112.4 Health Examinations.pdf (59 KB) Existing NUSD AR 4212.4 Health Examinations.pdf (65 KB) Existing NUSD AR 4312.4 Tuberculosis Tests.pdf (104 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4161/4262/4361 Leaves

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Sep 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the updated Board Policy 4361 Action Leaves and adopt Board Policy 4161/4261 Leaves and Administrative Regulation 4161/4262/4361 Leaves. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to approve the updated Board Policy 4361 Leaves and adopt Board Policy 4161/4261 Leaves and Administrative Regulation 4161/4262/4361 Leaves.

BACKGROUND:

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

The 4000 section of the district policy manual is triple coded to divide it into employee classifications: 4100s for certificated employees, 4200s for classified employees, and 4300s for management, supervisory, and confidential employees.

The language in Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 4161/4261/4361 is exactly the same.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 4361 Leaves.pdf (45 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 4161 Leaves.pdf (304 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 4261 Leaves.pdf (265 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 4361 Leaves.pdf (265 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4161 Leaves.pdf (214 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4261 Leaves.pdf (214 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 4361 Leaves.pdf (233 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 4312.1 Contracts

Type Action, Procedural

Preferred Date Sep 19, 2023

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the updated Board Policy 4312.1 Action Contracts. PURPOSE:

The purpose is for the Board of Education to approve the updated Board Policy 4312.1 Contracts.

BACKGROUND:

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

The 4000 section of the district policy manual is triple coded to divide it into employee classifications: 4100s for certificated employees, 4200s for classified employees, and 4300s for management, supervisory, and confidential employees.

Policy updated to reflect NEW LAW (SB 1436, 2016) which requires the board, prior to taking final action on the salary or benefits of employees whose position within the district is established through an employment contract, to orally report a summary of the recommended action during open session of a board meeting. Updated policy also clarifies the limited circumstances under which salary and benefits may be discussed in closed session and the prohibition against discussing salary or other compensation during a special meeting of the board.

File Attachments Existing NUSD BP 4312.1 Contracts 09-19-2023.pdf (98 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 4312.1 Contracts 09-19-2023.pdf (336 KB)

POLICY UPDATE: Board Policy 5132 and Administrative Regulation 5132 - Dress and Grooming

Type Action (Consent), Procedural

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education discuss and approve the updated Board Action Policy 5132 and Administrative Regulation 5132 - Dress and Grooming PURPOSE:

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

BACKGROUND:

This is the SECOND reading of the attached policy. The language is sanctioned by the California School Board Association. California School Board Association notations can be seen in the documents for the benefit of the Board. These notations will be removed from the final, Board approved policies. The updated board policy and administrative regulation has been reviewed by the Board Liaison Committee, Superintendent, and presented to the secondary ASB members for recommended updates for accuracy. Revisions reflect these engagements and district practice. If any revisions are recommended by the Board, the policy will be brought back to the Board of Education for a third reading.

Board Policy 5132 - Dress and Grooming The NUSD board policy has not been revised since 2004. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

Administrative Regulation 5132 - Dress and Grooming The NUSD administrative regulation has not been revised since 2004. The language has been replaced to match the sample board policy provided by the California School Board Association.

CSBA Language:

(BP revised) Policy updated to reflect NEW LAW (SB 188) which prohibits discrimination against traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and "protective hairstyles" such as braids, locks, and twists.

File Attachments Exiting NUSD AR 5132 Dress And Grooming.pdf (64 KB) Existing NUSD BP 5132 Dress And Grooming.pdf (49 KB) Recommended CSBA AR 5132 Dress And Grooming.pdf (217 KB) Recommended CSBA BP 5132 Dress And Grooming.pdf (254 KB)

FIELD TRIP : Non-Curricular Trip for Newark Middle School to travel to Santa Clara, CA

Type Action (Consent)

Fiscal Impact Yes

Dollar Amount $21,800.00

Budgeted Yes

Budget Source ASB Funds

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the non-curricular trip for Action Newark Middle School eighth grade class to Santa Clara, CA. PURPOSE:

The Newark Middle School Principal requests permission to take Newark Middle School eighth grade class on a non-curricular trip to Santa Clara, CA. Transportation will be by chartered bus. This trip is an end-of-year trip for eighth-grade students.

    School: Newark Middle School
    Dates: May 17, 2024
    Location: Santa Clara, 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 Middle School Principal requests permission to take Newark Middle School Eighth Grade Class on a non-curricular trip to Santa Clara, CA.

File Attachments Newark Middle School Eighth Grade Field Trip.pdf (570 KB)

MINUTES: Minutes of the August 15, 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 August 15, Action 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. PURPOSE:

For the board to review and approve minutes of the August 15, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education.

BACKGROUND:

The attached minutes are reflective of the August 15, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education. The meeting may be viewed on the NUSD YouTube Channel HERE.

MINUTES: Minutes of the September 5, 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Type Action, Minutes

Fiscal Impact No

Recommended The recommendation is that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the September 5, Action 2023 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education.

PURPOSE:


For the board to review and approve minutes of the September 5, 2023, Regular Meeting of the Board of Education.

BACKGROUND:

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

13. 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. Carina V. Plancarte 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. Carina V. Plancarte

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

Bond/Parcel Tax Committee 1. Phuong Nguyen2. Carina V. Plancarte1. 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.

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

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

                       AGENDA REQUESTS

Type Information

PURPOSE:

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

15. 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.

No minutes available.