Berkeley Unified School District School Board - Regular Meeting

Great, thank you so much. We're going to call our August 5th, 2026 school board meeting to order. Thank you so much. So Ms. Chavez, we need to do a roll call.

Director Khadijah Brown. Present. Director Jennifer Sanofsky. Here. Vice President Jennifer Corn. Present. President Michael Chang.

Here. Thank you. And do we have a motion to approve the regular meeting agenda for today?

I'll move to approve. I'll second.

Do we have the ayes? Aye.

Aye.

Great, so motion so moved. And so today for our agenda item six, we are shifting our board leadership per our regular calendar schedule. So I'm going to call out for each of the three positions. There's gonna be clerk, vice president, and president, and ask for a motion for each. So I'm gonna start with clerk first. Do we have a motion for the clerk going into the 26-27 school year?

I move that Jennifer Shinoski be the clerk for the remainder of this calendar year.

I apologize. It's actually through.

Through December 31st, 2026, I believe. That's right.

Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, next six months.

I'll second that motion.

Thank you. Do we have the ayes?

Aye.

Aye. So moved. Thank you, Director Shinoski, for volunteering your service. And next up, we have for Vice President going through December of 2026 as well. Do we have a motion?

I move, and I'd like to nominate Jen Corrin for the vice president role of the Board of Education.

And I'll second that. Apologize. Do we have the ayes?

Aye.

Aye. And so just to be sure everyone understands, this is through December. We had a leave for Director Brown, and then I came on for a year, and then she's completing her term, if that so occurs. And so do we have a motion for president?

I move Khadijah Brown for president. And I second.

Do we have the ayes? Aye. So moved. Thanks so much. And thank you both Vice President Korn and President Brown for your service. And we can now shift over to the newly nominated, elected President Brown and Korn and Chinoski. And so we've got, we can move around. We've got a couple of green cards here. I'm going to leave here.

good evening everyone it feels so great to be back in this seat as the president of the board of education um but without further ado i do not want to um take too long this evening so we will continue with our agenda vice president corn can you please report out from closed session i'd be happy to um closed session was called to order at 5 35 p.m with directors brown chang corn and schnawsky all in attendance

Item 3.1.1 was moved by Brown, seconded by Chinoski, and passed unanimously. Item 3.1.2 was moved by Corn, seconded by Brown, and passed unanimously. Item 3.1.3 was moved by Corn, seconded by Brown, and passed unanimously. Item 3.1.4 was moved by Chinoski, seconded by Brown, and passed unanimously. Item 3.1.5 was moved by Chinoski, seconded by Korn, and passed unanimously. Item 3.1.6 was moved by Chinoski, seconded by Korn, and passed unanimously. Item 3.1.7 was moved by Chinoski, seconded by Brown, and passed unanimously. Item 3.1.8 was moved by Chinoski, seconded by Korn, and passed unanimously. Item 3.2.1 was moved by Chinoski, seconded by Korn, and it was approved by Directors Chang, Korn, and Chinoski, and opposed by Director Brown. And item 3.2.2 was an item in which the board received an update and provided guidance to staff.

Thank you so much for the reading of closed session. At this time, I'll turn it over to our superintendent, Superintendent Nikiya-Ford-Morthale, for her superintendent comments.

Thank you and welcome back, Madam President. Good evening, BUSD family. Yeah, I was kind of expecting like a huge crowd, like family reunion kind of feel. It's more like family dinner, but that's okay. So happy to see you all. We are excited because our first day of school is on Wednesday, August 12th. Our educators and all of our staff are now back and getting ready to welcome our students and our families back into our schools. We were also excited that today we were able to welcome 60 new classroom teachers. to BUSD. And as a result of our hiring fair that we had a couple months ago, we've added 15 additional instructional technicians as well. So we're excited to join more folks to our BUSD family. Some of the folks are on the screen. That happens to be five of our new educators who are also five Berkeley alumni as well.

One of them was my student.

And one was Vice President Corn's student.

And one of them was my kids' learning teacher.

And, okay, BUSD family. So as we prepare for another school year, together we remain focused on two areas that we continue to call out in BUSD, and that is continuous improvement and organizational clarity. You will see that commitment hopefully reflected in several changes that we are making this year to ensure that information is clearer, easier to access, and more useful for families. This year we are launching, as you see on the screen, ParentSquare, which is our new district-wide platform for school and classroom communications. Families, if you've previously used Remind, you will find it familiar. Parent Square will bring direct messaging, announcements, calendars and other important information together in one platform and offer translations as well as a variety of ways for families to access and receive information about their baby and what's going on in schools. A part of this Parent Square transition is also going to be the launch of our new website and that's coming some months down the line. We're also completing an updated student and family handbook. Families will have, you guys have asked actually for more information that is easier to find, easier to understand, and is more accessible. And so we are switching from that long-running Google Doc that you might be familiar with to a more accessible flipbook format. Really cool, because when you turn the pages, it goes swish, swish, if you like swishes. If you don't like a swish, you can put it on silent and still get the same effect. So we're excited to launch that. I want to also acknowledge that we've recently received many questions regarding technology use in BUSD. We know that technology, including devices, is a tool, an important tool that we use to engage with our students, to have them have access to information, let them interact with folks within BUSD and outside of BUSD, and could otherwise enhance and expand learning. We also recognize and understand that we have a significant responsibility that comes with providing that access. And so in that parent-student handbook that I just mentioned to you, you will also find, as soon as it goes live, information about our technology policies in BUSD. and the work that we've been doing to revise and improve our student access to platforms like YouTube and other streaming platforms and just more clarity around how we use technology to support instruction and again what is expected and what is not allowed. Speaking of what is not allowed, you might recall that in November of last year, our Board of Education adopted the mobile communication devices policy, clarifying that phones, cellular phones, the earbuds, the AirPods, the meta glasses, the smart glasses, All those things are not allowed or permitted at our elementary, middle school levels and none are permitted during instructional time across all of our grade spans. These expectations will also be reflected in our student parent handbook and information will be coming out to you all shortly. Tonight's agenda also gets us ready for the beginning of the school year and hopefully provides some clarification and speaks to our focus on continuous improvement as well as our team will be presenting an expanded learning update. Usually this time of the year, this room is filled with families who have questions, concerns and ideas regarding expanded learning and after school. So we thought what better thing to start the school year off with than providing information to the board and to you about where we are and where we are going with that particular program. Finally, our Office of Family Engagement and Equity and Community Partners will host the annual Backpack Giveaway and Resource Fair. Again, we're making sure that everybody is ready for school. That'll be this Saturday, August 8th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at San Pablo Park. There'll be backpacks and school supplies, more than 20 community organizations, free haircuts, come on, get ready for first day, raffles, and Zumba. I don't even know if people still Zumba. People still Zumba. If you don't want to Zumba, you don't have to because you can also just sit there and watch other Zumba while you eat the free popcorn. We'll also have a bouncy house for kids. Last spring, I shared with you all that Berkeley Unified School District was named a district on the rise. And at our next board meeting, when it's more of a family reunion and the pews, not the pews, and the chairs are filled, I will share with you our new hashtag for the year. You might recall that last year, our hashtag was say it loud. We got a new one. Get ready. Tell the friend to come on out. That's the end of my comments, Madam President. Oh, wait, one more. Saturday and Sunday. Pizza. We are asking for folks, if you are willing and if you like pizza, particularly if you like Mountain Mike's, to support Mountain Mike's on the 8th and the 9th. There are actually flyers in your seats. Any proceeds go to BUSD. Sorry, 20% of all proceeds go to BUSD and support some of our back to school efforts. And so if you are doing it online, you can just put in OFI 78. And if you are going to go to Mountain Mike's in person, you can bring that handy to any flyer that's all around the seats in our space here. And you can get make sure that our schools get the funds as well. It's been a while. Those are the end of my comments, Madam President. Thank you all. Do not forget to come back at our next board meeting and bring a friend.

Thank you so much, Superintendent for Morthale. We will now move on to public comment. As always, you are welcome to speak to the Board of Education on any topics or issues that the district is facing that you feel like we as the board need to hear. The only caveat to that is that you will fill out a card that is green prior to the start of the meeting, and this will show that we will give you priority to speak during the meeting. During this evening, I have two cards that are green, and so we will hear from these two speakers, and then we will go on to our online commenters to receive their comments as well. Our first speaker for the evening is Lydon Wallace. If you are here, you are more than welcome to please come to followed by Grace Soukforth. And each speaker in person will have two minutes to speak this evening.

Good evening. My name is Layton Wallace. I recently moved to Berkeley, finally got an address in March. And I'm here about the gap in how our district treats families who go through round two of the school lottery. My son is a rising kindergartener. We live one block away from Sylvia Mendez, our first choice, and a strong fit since he's been learning Spanish since he was two. Instead, we were assigned to our third choice, Emerson, which is disappointing but manageable. What wasn't manageable is the after-school care situation. We didn't learn about our school assignment until June 2. By then, every application deadline for BUSD-transportated after-school programs had passed. So around two families are locked out before we even know where we're going. So I did what the paperwork told me. I emailed Emerson's listed learned specialists the same day we got our assignment. No response, not to that email or any of my follow-ups. I called and emailed every learned's contact listed almost all summer. Evan Adorador, Kelly De Torres, Brazil McIntyre, Yolanda Gibson, you name it, I've called them. I don't know how many voicemails I've left. I emailed admissions, I got a reply, and they told me to contact Kelly in Brazil. Meanwhile, the ASAP connected thing shows that my son is waitlisted for all the schools all summer. I take that as a sign that he's at least in the system correctly. And the district told us to expect an update on the waitlist August 1st. It came and went. I emailed again. And finally, I get real answers. Evan is on leave. He's been on leave the whole summer. His replacement, Jason Neely, is also on parental leave. And he told me that my son wasn't even on the waitlist, which contradicts what I can see in the system itself. Land I learned is now actually run by Joanna dosh a separate person who's not on the list who actually has been trying to help me. And so I finally got an answer to an email about this my son status after three months of trying to figure out what was going on, and then I learned that. there's no like you're not adding any new people and it just feels like people in round two are. just timed out of the system no matter what we do. Thank you.

I'm really sorry to hear that, but thank you for taking the time to speak to the Board of Education regarding that issue. Our next in-person public commenter will be Grace. Whenever you're ready, you can join us at the podium.

Good evening. I'm really glad to hear tonight that a written policies in the words I really, I'm really thankful and grateful for that. And I'll also want to add, we need also stronger policies for our high school students. They matter too. They deserve thoughtful technology policies. And that research shows that putting the phones away is not enough, that just knowing the presence of the phone is right there. They're always itching to touch it or to play around with it or to check their phones. So we definitely need a stronger policy for that. and want to emphasize that in your own values and beliefs that you say that students are our priority. And this is why tonight's board appointment matters. The board needs someone who understands technology policy goes beyond cell phones. It goes to screen time, AI, privacy, social media, and other digital distractions. That person should ask informed questions, demand clear implementation plans, insist on transparency, and holds the district accountable for ensuring technology supports rather than displaces learning. We support Rachel Lee, Scott Hoffmeister, and Devka Bhushan, parents committed to doing exactly that. you have an opportunity to put someone in that seat who will provide meaningful accountability on one of the defining issues of our time how technology is changing the way our children learn think and grow students are the priority let's make sure our actions reflect that thank you

Thank you as well for your comments. We will now move on to our Zoom commenters. Ms. Chavez, do you... Thank you so much for promoting me, and now I'm able to see our participant list. At this time, we have two attendees who are interested in speaking to the Board of Education. We will begin with our first commenter, which will be, we have three attendees, and we won't take any more at this time. We will begin with Rachy Lee, followed by Jesse Espinosa, and we will end our public comment period with Megan Werner. Can you please promote Rachy Lee? Welcome Rachel whenever you're ready may begin you have 2 minutes. Thank you so much, you can hear me OK, we are not yet able to hear you give us just a moment. How about now we're not still not able to hear you give us just another moment.

And trying again?

Yes, we can hear you now. Welcome.

OK, awesome. Thank you. Good evening, everybody. I'm Rachel Lee, a BUSD parent to a 10th and 8th grader. We're about to begin another school year. Here we are. And the district has still taken no meaningful action to implement its own TK to 8th bell to bell device policy or to eliminate recreational YouTube views, cloud gaming and other non educational and passive screen use on school issue devices. Berkeley is officially behind. OUSD and other districts up and down the state have moved from policy to implementation using locked storage systems, check-in systems, and or yonder pouches. Meanwhile, BUSD students are still expected to keep There are phones often away in backpacks and to resist highly engaging in addictive platforms on their devices on their Chromebooks. And that is not a serious technology plan. Children should not be expected to self regulate these devices and platforms. Distraction filled classrooms harms every student, especially those who are already struggling academically. Our children deserve more than. another year of delay. Please implement the bell to bell now with a storage system, a check in system or a yonder pouch system. Please block YouTube now block cloud gaming and eliminate all non instructional non educational uses of devices, whether it's personal or school issued. Give students the distraction free learning environments that they deserve this year. Thank you.

Thank you as well. We will now move on to Jesse Espinosa, followed by our last public commenter this evening, which is Megan Werner.

Hello. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you. Welcome.

Hello, thank you. Well, good evening, members of the board. My name is Jesse Espinoza. I'm a Berkeley resident. I'm one of the 22 applicants for the vacancy. I'll be brief since I know you guys have a long agenda. I've done this work from both sides of the aisle. I spent four years as an elected school board member in Merced, California, where I served on one of the largest school districts in our county. I had a $200 million budget. I led a national superintendent search, and I passed a science of reading resolution, which I authored and which received 5-0 vote from the board and unanimous support from the teachers union and the administration. My proudest accomplishment was proposing and passing an $80 million facilities bond measure, which provided critical facilities funding for our students. And it passed with 66%. I mentioned that as an example of the type of leadership that I would like to bring to our district. And I also spent a year and a half as a budget and legislative analyst for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I know given the budget years ahead of this district, I'd respectfully ask to be included in the August 19th interviews. I really look forward to answering more of your questions then, and officially meeting you all. Thank you for your time.

Thank you as well. We will now move on to our last public commenter. Can you please promote Megan Werner? Hello. Hello. Welcome. Hello. Hi, welcome. Whenever you're ready, you may begin.

I'm here this evening to address the disconnect between the district's claims about instructional technology and the chaotic reality our children are forced to navigate on a daily basis. The district's definition of instructional technology bears no resemblance to the reality on the ground, a flood of recreational content Students are accessing YouTube and gaming platforms, not just during lessons, but during recess, lunch, and even on field trips. When students finish their work early, the default reward is to push them back into an addictive algorithmic feed. This is stripping our children of their attention spans, their social development, and their capacity for deep, independent learning. The district claims this is a shared responsibility, yet it provides the devices, assigns the account, and manages the networks and sets the policies. You cannot offload the liability of these addictive platforms onto parents while simultaneously forcing children into a digital environment you refuse to regulate. We are demanding transparency regarding This negligence, we would like to know who specifically authorizes the use of recreational apps like YouTube and gaming in our students curriculum and social time. And what is the actual approval process? What specific resources and training are provided to the teachers and administrators to safely manage these tools prior to their implementation? And can the district share the reasoning for these apps and how they weigh against established privacy and developmental risks? We are done with the excuses. We want to heartline a district wide ban on recreational content on school management devices. Thank you.

And thank you as well for your comments. this evening and for everyone who took the time to make comments to the Board of Education. We will now move on to committee comments. Is there anyone here that will make committee comments on behalf of our BUSD adopted committees? Okay, seeing none, we will now move on to union comments. Do we have any union comments this evening? Wow, tough crowd. All right, we're gonna move on to our board member comments. Director Chang, if you don't mind, I will begin with you.

Thank you. I don't have much to add other than welcome back to school. And I'm so pleased to work again with this board and glad to have Director Brown back. And as in prior years, of course, you know, there'll be a lot of work, especially with regard to planning out budgets and programs and services, but we really went through a a very active school year last year, and I think we did a great job, and so we're starting off in a good situation. And I'm looking forward to hearing all the members of the public who have applied to the position for the interim person, and we'll have five people back in place soon enough. um so that's about it and thanks again and uh good luck everyone in in their new semester thanks thank you director chang can i go to you vice president corn for your comments

I will also keep my comments brief and say happy new school year 2627. Many thanks to all the staff who I know have been working really hard over the summer to prepare for teachers and kids and for the opening of school next week. And I too am excited for this new semester with President Brown back at the helm of our board. And thanks to everyone who came out this evening and thanks for all the

comments and director Shunoski yeah thank you I want to welcome everyone back as well and also I want to give a special shout out to our facility staff I think many of us take the summer off in many ways and our learns staff our facility staff, some folks work overtime. So I'm really excited that Sylvia Mendez, the Sylvia Mendez project is coming to a completion and our beautiful new building. There is a new wing to the building. And our beautifully revamped building will be opening for the first day of school on Wednesday, right on time. And I'd like to invite the public to join the ribbon cutting on Friday the 21st at 8 a.m. to celebrate that work. I also want to thank facilities for the hustle associated with replacing the turf at the Berkeley High Field. We identified some safety issues late in the spring and they sprang right into action and very quickly tore up the old turf and put a brand new field down. And my understanding is that practice was gonna happen today at 5 p.m. on that new turf. I saw them paint, quickly painting today when I was at Berkeley High. I want to welcome everyone back to school. And I especially, I have a ninth grader, so transitions around my mind. And I want to wish good luck to everyone that's going to embark on a big transition. Yeah, that's it. So welcome back.

Thank you so much. I'm also happy that we are back in school. Well, at least we are. Our students still have a couple more days, which is good for them, as well as our families. But for those of us who have already returned, and for those of us who really only had a week away in the summer, Thank you so much for your commitment to our students. We are excited to start this year off stronger than ever, more united than ever, really thinking about the best ways that we can be in service to all of our students, the families that love them, as well as the community that surrounds them. While we were away, I do have some unfortunate news to share, and that is the passing of one of our beloved members of our community, Mr. Gene Nakamura. Many of you knew Mr. Nakamura as a long-time Berkeley High School girls basketball coach, a long-time BUSD educator, as well as a graduate of Berkeley High School of the class of 1962. After earning his teaching credential, he then came back to Berkeley and offered his services, not just as an administrator, but also as a basketball coach. During his time as a basketball coach, he led the Yellow Jackets to two state championships, multiple Northern California titles, and more than 560 wins. Mr. Nakamura's legacy extends far beyond records and championships. Through his discipline, consistency, humility, and deep commitment to young people, Mr. Nakamura helped shape generations of students and help them understand the value of preparation, teamwork, resilience, and trust. His influence will continue to live on in the many students, athletes, colleagues, and families he touched throughout Berkeley High and the Berkeley Unified community. I also want to share that Mr. Nakamura happened to be my vice principal when I was a student at Longfellow and had a long-lasting impact on my life. He will tremendously be missed by his family, by his friends, his former players, colleagues, and all who were shaped by his teaching and his leadership. Although he may not be here with us in person, his legacy lives on in the students he guided, the programs he helped to build, and the enduring spirit of Berkeley High School. If you are interested in coming to pay your respects to Mr. Nakamura and the legacy, and if you are interested in identifying the legacy that he will continue to leave on on this earth, the Celebration of Life will be held this Saturday, August 8, 2026, at 1pm in the Donahue gym. All are welcome and we look forward to seeing you come and pay your respects for our beloved community member, Mr. Jean Nakamura. At this time, we will now move on with the rest of our agenda and approve our consent calendar. Is there a motion to approve this evening's consent calendar?

I move that we approve the consent calendar. It's been moved by Director Corn.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

Seconded by Director Shenoski. All in favor, please signify with the sign of aye.

Aye.

Opposers? Abstentions? The ayes have it. The motion carries. And this evening's consent calendar is approved. We will now move on to our first and only discussion item of the evening, which is our BUSD expanded learning program update. Many of you know that we have our BEARS after-school program that operates in five of our elementary school sites and our LEARNS after-school program that operates at nine of our elementary school sites as well as all three middle schools. We will receive a presentation tonight that focuses on that and also provides an update for Berkeley Unified School District's vision for expanded learning. also provides an update on our program structure and support, provides an update on enrollment and waitlist implications, provides a summary around our staffing and our outstanding needs, as well as highlights partnerships with the city of Berkeley that helps to expand after school offerings. Please welcome our team who will give our BUSD expanded learning program update. Welcome.

Hello, testing. hello okay good evening director or president brown and vice president corn directors chinoski and ching we are super grateful to be here tonight to speak to you about the expanded learning program and give you an update my name is joya balk i'm the director of categorical programs and special projects and i am fortunate to be here with kelly de torres our manager of expanded learning and brazil mcintyre our supervisor of expanded learning OK, so the Expanded Learning Program is guided by our mission to enable and inspire our diverse student body to achieve academic excellence and make positive contributions to our world. And that work guides all that we do. Tonight, we're going to speak to you about the BUSD vision for expanded learning, share an update on the program structure and support, talk specifically about the enrollment capacity and the waitlist numbers, and highlight our partnership with the City of Berkeley programs. The vision for expanded learning in BUSD is much more than childcare. It's an extension of our instructional day, where students experience academic support, enrichment, physical activity, social-emotional learning, and build relationships. Our work aligns directly with our district's strategic pillars. Our expanded learning program is primarily funded through state and federal resources that are specifically intended to increase access for students with the greatest needs. So as a result, our enrollment and ranking process prioritizes students who qualify as unduplicated people, our unhoused youth, foster youth, English language learners, and students eligible for free and reduced priced meals. so before we fill any remaining spaces with our fee-paying families we prioritize students that qualify as an unduplicated status this isn't simply a funding requirement it is aligned with busd's equity stance and our vision for expanded learning we believe expanded learning should extend the school day by supporting academic growth enrichment, and student well-being. And the ranking process serves as a powerful lever for equity and access, ensuring our students who benefit most from these opportunities have meaningful access to those spaces. A year ago, our superintendent translated that vision into actionable outcomes, and these priorities are interconnected. Expanding access requires strong systems, quality programming, and a stable workforce. As you know, we acknowledge there are areas for us to improve and learn, and we're working strategically through that improvement process. This vision serves as the foundation for every operational decision we have made this summer. We used the vision as a starting point, and we shared with you in great detail this spring that we launched a comprehensive Engage Expanded Learning campaign to bring voices closest to the program to the forefront. The slide summarizes the actions taken and the collaborative process that became the foundation for our improvement efforts. So with this foundation in place, we'd like to share with you how we translated what we heard into concrete improvements around staffing, operations, enrollment, and family engagement. At this point, I'm going to turn it over to Kelly De Torres to talk us through our staffing model. Good evening.

One of our largest improvements has been redesigning our staffing model this year. We shifted from varying structures across schools to a more consistent model that clearly defines leadership, supervision, and staffing expectations. Consistency helps families know what to expect regardless of the school site, while also allowing us to better support staff and monitoring program quality district-wide. This slide illustrates the structure supporting each school. The program lead role is new and when fully hired will be expected to visit each school site once a week. Each site has a dedicated full-time program specialist responsible for program facilitation and daily operations. Instructional technicians provide direct supervision using required staffing ratios, one adult for every 10 TK and kindergarten students, and one adult for every 20 students in grades one through five. We've also incorporated specialized supports including instructional assistance for accommodations, athletic specialists at the middle school, and numerous community partners who enrich programming through gardening, cooking, youth development, and other enrichment experiences. Preparing for opening day requires coordinating staffing of more than 100 positions. I'm pleased to report that all 12 schools now have a dedicated program specialist in place. Personnel Commission has begun the application and assessment process for the three program lead positions, and we anticipate having those filled by September 1st. As you remember, we posted five new IT positions in June. We have filled three of those new vacancies. Over the summer, we received 11 resignations, four leaves, and I identified and onboarded four staff members to fill those gaps. Instructional assistant positions remain our greatest staffing challenge and continue to be an area of focus with BCC and human resources. Next slide. Thank you. Given our staffing progress, we anticipate 12 emergent staff and six 11O contractors placed on the first day of school to cover the gaps that remain until hiring is complete.

Our second priority was to maximize our onsite capacity. And we did that in three ways. We expedited our process. We prioritized our TK and kinder access. And we reflected on our schedules to find efficiencies to maximize capacity. Okay, so this slide goes through our capacity over time in great detail. We're gonna start by reflecting back to this time last year. So go back to August, 2025. At that time we had 1,976 applications. We were able to make 1,480 offers and we've had a wait list of 496 students reflecting about 75% of our applied students that were accepted. In June of 2026, we made some big decisions. We eliminated the nine coordinator positions with the expectation that that resource would be reinvested in instructional technicians to serve more students at the campus. And this data demonstrates that that hypothesis did come to fruition. We did have approximately the same number of applications, 1,983 in June, but we made 1,635 offers. At that time, we still had a large waitlist of 348 students with an 82% acceptance rate. Over the summer, we did work diligently to again align our expenses with our staffing budget and we found some efficiencies. So we were able to get some students off the waitlist on July 1. We offered 1,808 acceptances at that point, really diminishing our waitlist to only 175 students. But today we are reflecting data that is highly dynamic. We opened our round two enrollment window on August 1st for a lot of families that did transfer in over the summer or that had different family needs. And so just in the last four days, we've seen an increase in applications. We are up to 2,183 applications. serving just a little bit more we were able to get a couple off the waitlist and we have 1836 offers right now but our waitlist did go back up to 347 students and because this enrollment window is open all the way to august 15 we anticipate that this is going to increase So to dive a little bit deeper into the data, this slide shows by grade level and program. Because again, these grade levels have different ratios. In July, we were able to clear the wait list for our TK and kinder students. That was a priority. And so you can see there, there's a circle that I'll just highlight it. Sorry, Liz. Thank you. We were able to meet that goal, and we had zero students on the wait list for that grade level, as well as in our middle school program. But just again, in the last four days, in the August 1st bucket, you'll see that the wait list increased up to 68 students in TK and kindergarten. That is a high need. And with the 1 to 10 ratio, that would be approximately seven more staff members that we would need to hire and onboard to serve this group of students. We anticipate a change in middle school. Right now there are 46 students on the middle school wait list because the processing hasn't happened yet. But because our middle school program can serve all the students that are interested in attending, in the next few days we anticipate that that 46 will go down to zero because our program specialist will actually accept the students before the first day of school. Given the fact that we still have a wait list, it really does underscore the need for our partnership with the City of Berkeley programs.

So one of our strongest examples of collaboration this year is our partnership with the City of Berkeley. On the left you can see the program matrix that was created and published in the spring to bring information and access to more families. Transportation continues to be one of our greatest operational challenges due to increasing fuel costs, bus maintenance expenses, and the limited range of electric buses. To mitigate these impacts, we are working with the City of Berkeley to implement a pilot program, walking school buses to Rosa Parks, Emerson, and Sylvia Mendez. These programs improve student safety while reducing transportation demands. Working together allows both organizations to maximize available resources.

So as my presentation or piece of the presentation, I should say is going to talk about our consistent operational excellence. We are going to talk about our proactive, frequent and clear communication. So with that, Our communication strategy has included multiple district-wide updates, repeated website revisions, over 1,000 individualized responses to family questions, communications that have been sent from each program specialist welcoming enrolled families and sharing their site-specific digital orientation. That has happened. and will continue happening until the school year begins. Our goal with this strategy is to be transparent. And so even when we couldn't immediately offer placement, we did offer families regular updates about timelines and next steps. And we do commit to continue improving our communication with our families. So with this, this is our registration timeline. Our round one began April 21st and ran through May 28th. This round one has actually produced the data that was shared with you earlier from Joya and Kelly. And round two, as was always already mentioned as well, is open from August 1st through August 15th. So we are underway and we do commit to processing those applications that have been submitted by August 15, to notify families by August 26, whether or not they are we're able to offer them a space, or if they will need to continue on the waitlist for that particular school based on their capacity. So opening registration will be ongoing throughout the school year and spaces after this second round will be offered when space becomes available or circumstances permit. So this information here is available on the website and this we wanted to share because we really are very excited with having the dedicated program specialist at each site and we really want the public and everyone to understand that these are the professionals that they should be reaching out to for most of their site-based questions and again this information is available for them for everyone on the website so that they can easily contact those people and again they really are the best ones for any billing questions I mean, everything, honestly. Schedules, last minute changes, everything. So that is there.

And back to you, Joya. Thank you. OK. Like any good teacher, we just want to take a minute and summarize our key points from the presentation tonight. Based on everything we heard from students, families, our staff members, and our community partners, this year has really been about building stronger systems. So the first point is around our investment in staff development and retention. We've codified a staffing model around the staff that are best suited to serve our students in the program that we offer. We've aligned the staffing allocations across our sites. In partnership with our Human Resources Department Personnel Commission, we initiated staffing the process for four distinct roles in a short timeline, and then we're tracking that staffing progress consistently. The middle bucket is around maximizing our onsite capacity. This is key for our families. We need to serve as many students as we possibly can. And so a highlight is that we really did increase 350 seats from this time last year. We did that by adding our capacity for our TK and kinder classes, a priority we heard directly from families for that age range. And then we identified efficiencies in our program schedule to make sure that we're maximizing our resources. And finally, consistent operational excellence. Communication can never be clear enough. It can never be frequent enough. And it can never be personalized enough. But we did commit to ensuring that there was a predictable cadence on a monthly basis over the summers for families to have an email around the status or a notification around their status. The single source of our updated information is our website. We're going to continue to revise and work on that. email volume is really extensive um Brazil mentioned a thousand emails but that was just between the three of us sitting here our program specialists were not working this summer and so it really is an incredible amount of of focus that has to happen as we communicate with all of our families And so a huge shout out to our specialists for this last bullet point. We didn't celebrate them enough. The staff that we have coming back for this year as our program specialists are all 12 specialists that were on staff last year. And they are the ones that have the vision to make the program as dynamic as it is. And so we're really grateful to the fact that they want to collaborate and stay in community together around this consistent messaging. So thank you for your time this evening. And we're going to open it up for discussion questions.

Thank you all so much for your presentation. I just want to first start off by saying thank you to you, thank you to our program specialists, and really thank you to our BUSD community. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, a little bit of arguing, but a lot of coming together and camaraderie. around restructuring this program. There were so many people who engaged with the board, engaged with the superintendent, sometimes not always happy, but definitely committed to seeing the outcome and seeing our way through. And because of it, we were able to open up 350 spots for students. And although, you know, for some of our families who really, really needed after school and even before school services and programming and are on our wait list, we do recognize how difficult that is and how challenging it is for our families. But I want to thank you all for the difference that you have been able to make in the lives of those 350 students and their families. So first, I just want to start off giving my appreciation and gratitude. Second, I know that we talked about the different positions that still need to be filled. And so I wanted to ask, what is the hiring target date for all of the positions that are vacant? I did hear that September 1st was for one position, but I wanted to know what the target date was for all of them.

Thank you. That's a great question. I think there's an easy target date for the program lead because it's a new position. And they're all going through the process at the same time. For the resignations, they've happened periodically throughout the summer. And so the personnel commission will post it as soon as the staff member indicates that they're resigning. And then there's a 10-day window for transfer before we look to fill it with the people on the eligibility list. So it's really a rotating timeline. based on each of these individual notifications. And then by the time our human resources department offers the job to somebody, each candidate can take a different amount of time to follow through on those onboarding tasks. So I don't have a concrete answer for you.

Okay, what anticipated impacts does that have to a program? And how do we plan to recover from those impacts?

I think that's why we have the plan B to ensure that we're starting that first day of school with enough adults on campus using our two contractor services. But as soon as we get notification that we're able to hire our staff, Kelly's worked with a level in particular to reduce the amount of time that they need for notification so we can reduce those services within two weeks.

Thank you for identifying that we do have those, identifying again that we do have those contracted services already set in place, but also for sharing the commitment that this board has for ensuring that the people that we have in front of our young people and in front of our community are a part of our community and not just contracted individuals. So thank you for the ongoing commitment to closing those gaps in our employment. I'll move on to other board members who may have questions. Director Schanowski. Can I add something before Director Schanowski?

So we also do have an eligibility list to pull some of these people off of. So we're, HR is now starting to contact those people to get them onboarded. Also our hiring event that we held on July 23rd We have a few people who are already onboarding from that event that will hopefully be able to start very soon. And we are committed to holding another fall hiring event, even though it doesn't seem to pull as many people as the summer ones do. We still did pull quite a few people last year. We had 52 at our summer one on July 23rd this year. And so even if we got 20 people, it would be beneficial for our positions. And so we definitely would like to continue that process to continue working hand in hand with the Personnel Commission to fill all of these positions.

Most definitely. Thank you so much. Director Schamowski.

Yeah, first, I want to also express my great appreciation. It's been, I think, two really intense years of working on this problem. With, you know, hundreds of people upset and families in crisis and not knowing what what they're gonna do and seeing just, I think it was a really collaborative approach, but you three have done the heavy lifting of the work to make it all happen. And so thank you. I'm really excited about the walking buses and the maximizing onsite care so that we can minimize the need for transportation. I do want to ask a question just about the second round enrollments and how we are addressing issues like that. So we did hear from a public commenter earlier that they were in round two. for enrollment. And so once they got their assignment, everything is already closed. So I don't know, I'm pretty sure you've thought about these things. And so I'm wondering, like, do we have some systems in place to try and address that type of problem? And then my other quick question is around? Oh, I just forgot it. But it'll come back to me by the time you answer the first question.

Yeah.

Oh, I remember already. The second question is about when there are absences. So if somebody's on leave or if somebody's transferred, like I saw on the specialist list, like some people I know used to be at one site or now at a different site, how are we communicating that clearly with families or maybe having an auto response on emails or something? Because I know sometimes it's hard to update our websites on the fly. And so then people don't know who to contact. yeah, so how are we addressing that those are my two questions.

yeah I can start on the enrollment piece, what will happen is this year. well I should start with in previous years we used to create like a buffer and so we wouldn't enroll to full capacity in June we would kind of have that buffer space that would allow us to you know fully incorporate sort of anyone that may have missed that window or the initial window this time we really Had that priority to really feel and try to do the best we could to serve as many students. And so we didn't we. Don't necessarily have the same amount of buffer, but what we're finding and again, the data here shows tonight that. there's a lot of movement and so the the hope is with this round two that and we we're already seeing it again a few days in that um space will be created by students who are potentially you know participating in these other outside programs or have found alternative um situations for after school and so the hope is that we really can uh not only work on getting as many in you know as soon as possible without too far you know uh too much time going into the school year but um you know that it will hopefully all work out it will also kind of let us know where we still may need to increase.

Can I just add to, I think one of the things that has been happening through the course of the cleanup is recognizing the complexities of some of the components that exist in our system that don't make it easy or efficient. There's a lot of manual calculation and review that is happening. So a couple things. The 1,000 emails hides the fact that there were something along the lines of 16-20,000 emails that came through. And there's a lot of manual checks that are happening. Through this process, what we have learned is that there are some issues in our current system And I know that we don't comment on public comment, but I think that our public commenter is still here. But one of the items that he brought up is that our current system doesn't allow for families that have not yet been assigned. So that's a glitch in the system that we weren't aware that was happening until we started doing the significant amount of cleanup. So I do want to acknowledge that there are still improvements to be made, but we are uncovering more improvements with each improvement that is happening. And so I know that the felt experience for our families is not necessarily one of efficiency and immediate response, but I think the team has been super diligent about trying to identify those issues and figuring out what we can fix now and what's gonna require more time and attention to be able to address.

And I also wanna say, I saw, I said Jill over the summer and she's like, it's like an onion. We keep peeling back all these problems and, and really addressing them as they come up. But I think the felt experience for families is very different this year. And so again, I just, I'm really impressed with the work you all have done and there are still issues that we can address and we can keep improving. But I feel like this year compared to even last year is like a whole different experience for families. So thank you again.

think your second question was about communication of staffing transitions and because there is a dedicated program specialist on site now that has already introduced themselves to families right and that is then able to communicate any changes even just daily absences with the staff that they have on site that should be the primary source of any type of staffing changes at the site we do have some leaves right now in the specialist role and if there are any changes that are transferring across sites that would happen through our team and being able to make sure that that's transparent to this school community that it impacts and then updated on the website as needed. So that's our plan right now.

So how would that be communicated? Like if I'm a parent and I'm about to enter into a school and I email whoever's listed on the site, but they're on leave or something, how is that getting, how are we routing that so that I'm not left in this position of like I send an email and nothing comes back? Because we know that your emails over the summer specifically were not you had an auto respond, like we will not be able to respond right now, right? Because you were doing the work of peeling the onion and putting it back together.

Yes. Or whatever. I love that. Yeah. Most specialists have a monthly newsletter. So any type of communication that impacts an IT or an IA at their site should come through that newsletter. We also have parent square now, so that'll come out again if it's an impacted class through the parent square. In terms of right now a specialist on leave, they should be using the learns at berkeley.net web email address, and we have a process where we're identifying Emerson families in particular, because that is the specialist that's on leave, and those get prioritized response at the moment. So yes, I do think that's a nuanced question, and it's really relevant.

Director Coyne I want to echo all the gratitude for serving 350 more students that's incredible and also the walking school bus is something I'm really I've been advocating for in two by twos and I'm really excited about that opportunity to be able to serve more kids in partnership with the city on this topic of late enrolling families. I was struck when you showed that slide by the, feels like a long time between May 28th and August 1st, between round one and round two. And I'm wondering why and is there a possibility to add another round in June or is that beyond our capacity?

It's a great question. This year we were running summer school concurrently with our fall enrollment process. So we can look at this experience and do an after action review and we can come forward with maybe another draft timeline for next year that might be a little bit more effective. The second piece, though, is our data system. The ASAP platform that we use is not connected to Infinite Campus or any data system that we have here. And so you can't crosswalk the students that apply to the after school program with the students in the day school program. And it's not automatic. Once a parent enrolls, they don't get a confirmation. It's a manual process, as Jill had mentioned. And so there's multiple steps in this process. And it takes a long time to then apply it to the ranking sheet and the criteria that we're using to ensure we're prioritizing those limited spaces for the students who meet the criteria in the specific order so we'll also be looking at different options this year to see if there are systems that are better suited for our needs and that might be a way that we can expedite the process in the future

Great, thanks. I had just one other question, which was about the was it about 200 additional applicants that we got this just recently. And it's about 200 more than we got a year ago. So I'm wondering if you have a hypothesis about where those applications are coming from.

Yes, I have a hypothesis about this, and I think it's proven as well. So with the waitlist numbers that come up, they are going to be skewed because we found that families apply to multiple schools at different times or all at the same time because they might not know which school their transfer gets approved or things like that. So you are seeing multiple duplicates, and that happens actually quite often. Is there another reason I missed?

you're welcome thank you uh yeah i just want to reiterate thanks for all your hard work i know there's a big pool and you know i'm looking forward to um this continuity going into next year and we can support you with the digital aspect as well to make sure you get all the data that you need thanks again

Thank you all so much for your presentation. Have a good rest of your evening. We will now move on to our action items for the evening. Our first action item is for the waiver of the second reading and adoption of Board Policy 6147, which focuses on education for English learners. So the board policy subcommittee met on July 30th, 2026, and reviewed proposed revision to the board policy and administrative regulation number 6174, which focuses on English for education for English learners. So the recommended updates are as follows. Number one, requiring the California Department of Education to develop a statewide implementation plan for the English Learner Roadmap Policy. Number two, adding long-term English learners as a numerically significant student subgroup. Number three, defining a long-term English learner as a student who has not attained English language proficiency within seven years of initial classification as an English learner. Next, exempting transitional kindergarten students from the English listening and speaking assessment used for the initial English learner identification. And then finally, clarifying that the term newcomer student has the same meaning as immigrant children and youth as defined in state law. So at this time, I will entertain a motion to approve this board policy.

Brown? I need to have a vote to waive the second reading.

Sorry, we do need to have two votes. Thank you so much. The first vote that we're going to have is to waive the second reading. Typically, it will come back to the board as a second reading. But as there are time implications associated with this, we do need to waive the second reading. After we entertain the vote to waive the second reading, we can then vote for the adoption of board policy 6174. Thank you so much. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to waive the second reading.

I move to waive the second meeting.

Moved by Director Shinoski. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by Vice President Coronado. All in favor please signify with a sign of aye. Aye. Opposers? Abstentions? The ayes have it. And the motion passes. Now we will move on to the adoption of Board Policy 6174. Is there a motion? I move that we adopt Board Policy 6174. It has been moved by Vice President Corn. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by Director Shenoski. All those in favor please signify with the sign of aye. Aye. Opposers? Abstentions? The ayes have it and the motion passes and we have adopted Board Policy 6174. All right, the moment we've all been waiting for, the approval of applicants to advance to interviews for the board vacancy. On June 10, 2026, the board approved an appointment process to fill the board vacancy and appointed myself as well as Vice President Corn To an ad hoc committee and we were charged with developing the application materials Recommending an appointment timeline as well as ensuring the process with the statutory requirements for fulfilling the board vacancy The application period began very shortly after and closed on July 29, 2026 at 4 p.m. with a total of 22 applications received from a list of individuals that was made public on today. following the close of the deadline we did receive a couple of a couple of applications after the deadline but unfortunately those applications were not included in the packet for board members to consider because obviously they were received after the deadline on yesterday The Board of Education took the time to review the candidates and identify a number of candidates that we were interested in moving to the next part of the process, which is the interview phase. So any applicant who received two or more nominations from the Board of Education were placed on the preliminary interview list and this evening the Board of Education will review that list. We will discuss anything else that's associated with the list as well as approve the final list of applicants who will then advance to the interview process which will be held on August 19th. I am going to ask my ad hoc committee member, Vice President Corn, if she would please read the list of applicants who received at least two board nominations and will be able to move on to the interview. that will take place on August 19. Vice President Korn?

I would be happy to. We have six nominees who received two or more nominations who we would like to invite to an interview in two weeks at our next board meeting. And one of them is here tonight, Scott Hofmeister. The others are Kevin Gilmore, Beatrice Leyva Cutler, Diamond Nehmer, Nina Sun, and Rachy Lee.

Thank you so much. For the record, Ms. Chavez, if you could please help us out just a little bit. One of the applicants has two names, one name that is found in the application materials and then one name that was provided to the Board of Education. And that applicant is Damon. And if you could please identify the correct last name for that applicant. Damon Wilson. Wilson. Wilson is the correct name so Diamond Wilson will proceed to the interviews that we will have on August 19th thank you so much for the correction and thank you Vice President Korn for breeding that list of interviewees are there any questions from the Board of Education regarding the list regarding the process or regarding anything else that will happen on August 19th I would like to

propose a process. I would like to propose that each of these six nominees make a two-minute presentation to the board about their candidacy and then we take about five minutes per nominee to ask them follow-up questions.

Are there any questions? Is anyone in agreeance or disagreeance with that process? Please identify. where you are at this time?

I think that makes sense. Two minutes. So there's self-introduction up at the podium, I guess, and then five minutes of Q&A. And we have the materials from them already ourselves. I guess I have one question to make sure I understand the process. Would some of their materials be publicly available or no? Some of their application materials?

No. At this time, none of the application materials will be publicly available. What will be available to the public is to be able to see the see the applicants in person and to be able to be a part of the interview process as we will do that process in public during our during our board meeting but that is the only thing that will be available to the public wonderful question any other questions so essentially what that means is we're going to ask them to condense everything they put in their application materials into a quick two-minute statement to the board about the highlights Okay. Thank you, Director Chang, for your question and for also identifying that you are in agree in agreeance with the process. Director Czernowski, are you also in agreeance with the process? Wonderful. Thank you so much. Seeing as though we all agree with the process right now, can we please just take a formal vote on the applicant list that Director Corn read, ensuring that these are the individuals who we will interview on August 19th, agreeing with our process and preparing ourselves for that interview, those interviews that will happen on the 19th. I'll entertain a motion at this time.

I move to approve.

It's been moved by Director Shinosuke. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Seconded by Director Chang, all those in favor, please signify with the sign of aye. Aye. Opposers? Abstentions? The ayes have it. The motion carries. And our list of applicants have been advanced to the interview round. Congratulations. And thank you so much to all of you all who took the time to complete the application and showed interest in joining us in the Board of Education. We appreciate the time that you took, the effort that you took, and your commitment to serving Berkeley Unified School District. There are a number of items that are available for information please board members take the time to govern yourselves to this information as well as our community members we are reaching the end of our meeting which means we will entertain a second opportunity for public comments if you are interested in speaking to the board of education you may use the second opportunity for public comments both in person and online are there any in-person commenters Seeing none, we will now move to our online commenters. Are there any online commenters? Seeing none, we will now move on to the second opportunity for board member comments. Board members, do you have any additional comments before we conclude this evening's agenda? Seeing none, we will now adjourn our meeting at 8.20 PM. Have a great evening, everyone.