Berkeley Unified School District School Board - Regular Meeting

Now, at um 7:05 p.m., we had gone into um close session previously and um we're now coming back into it. It's December 10th. Um and is anyone here for public comment? Start. Yeah. Oh, we should probably do the report out first, right? Did you call the meeting to order? I did. Yeah. Um, you're right. Okay. Yeah, we'll do this first thing. Did we do a roll call? Roll call. My name roll call first. Yeah, that's right. Thank you so much. That's right. Yeah. Good evening. Should we do roll call? Yeah. President Mike Chang

here. Vice President Jennifer Korn present. Director Anna Vasid presented. And student director Amana Aramadam present. Thank you.

Excellent. Thank you so much. Do we have quorum? Um, is there anyone here for public comment related to the close session agenda? No, that was before. So before um uh so before we begin, I do want to go over some some um basic uh boilerplate uh just to quorum expectations during this and other parts of tonight's meeting. No person shall disturb the order of the meeting. Such behavior includes but is not limited to booing, hissing, create uh creating or participating in a physical disturbance, speaking out of turn in violation of applicable rules, preventing or attempting to prevent others who have the floor from speaking, preventing others from observing the meeting, entering into or remaining in the area of the meeting room that is not open to public or approaching the dis without permission. Um, okay. That's part of our bylaws. Um, we will now approve the agenda for this evening's meeting.

Are you supposed to read some amendment about the basketball? Oh, is there is there an amendment to the basketball field trip? Let's see here. Correct. And I have um a couple things to say about that from jail. Thank you. All right. Associate Superintendent Jill um is not here today, but she has a proxy.

This is a request for a conditional approval of the Berkeley High School varsity basketball boys trip to the Rancho Mirage tournament from December 26th to the 30th, 2025. 11 student athletes along with four certified staff and 10 adult Chevrons will travel to Southern California to compete in a 4-day tournament. This tournament supports teamwork, discipline, leadership, communication, and positive student development. The trip is funded by the Berkeley Athletic Fund for a total of $10,000. Thank you. Thanks. Are we just adding that to the consent agenda? Is that under? Correct. This will be added on the record. field trips that we're already approving.

Yeah. Is that what we're doing? Um, correct. The other ones um are not conditional, but this one was conditional based on previous communication you had with her. Yeah. Thank you so much. So, it'll fall in under 13.6. Correct. Thank you for the specificity um with that particular overnight field trip. So, so do we have to vote on an amendment to the agenda to add that item? Correct. It was not in the um agenda. So, I move that we amend the agenda to include the additional item of the basketball field trip. And um can I make one more change to the agenda at this point? Is that okay? Right. Um the other change I'd like to do is to pull out the calendar agenda item 6.3 for discussion.

And those are the two changes to tonight's agenda. So, I'll move that we approve the agenda with two amendments. One is that we add an additional overnight field trip for the basketball team to go to the Rancho Mirage tournament. And the second is that we pull for discussion the item that is the calendar. What's the number? 6.3. 6.3. Okay. I'll second that motion. Great. Noted. Do we need to do a roll call or we do the eyes? Do we just all say I or do we do a roll call vote? No need for roll call. Let's do a roll call since it's a a calendar agenda issue and small crew. Roll call vote. Yeah.

You want to call? President Mike Chang. Yes. Director um Oh god. Director Anna Vased. Yes. I I won't get offended. You just forgot my name. S I was trying to remember titles too. Uh and vice president Jen Korn. Yes. All right, we've approved the agenda. Motion moved. Okay, great. Uh, sorry about that. Um, so, uh, excellent. Um, let's see here. Um, I'm sorry. Yeah. Do you see you see this is supposed to come next?

Oh, yeah. 6.1. Order. So, I'm doing the Here we go. Your script. Yeah, I think so. Um, okay. Thank you for uh reminding me. Before proceeding with this evening's order of business, um, the board will be meeting its governance obligations. I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, you can introduce decide and I'll make a motion.

Okay. Um, per bylaw 9100. Um, yeah. The board elects one of its members to serve as president, vice president, and clerk, designates board members as representatives to the various boards, district, and oversight committees, and adopts his meeting calendar for the calendar year. Great. I'd like to make a motion on agenda item 6.1. Like to motion that uh director Mike Chang continue to serve in the role as president, that director Jen Korn continues to serve in her role as vice president, and that director Jennifer Shinowski continue to serve as clerk of the board. Can I get a second? I'll second. Roll call vote. Okay.

President Mike. Uh, yes. Yay. Yes. Vice President Jennifer Korn. Yes. And director Anna Vasov. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, and I'll make a motion for 6.2 two that we continue all of our appointments to committees and um and board committees. I'll second. Roll call vote. President Mike Chang. Yay. Yes. Vice President Jennifer Korn. Yes. And director Anna Russell. Yes. Thank you.

Uh motion so moved. Um great. Uh we have the calendar on 6.3.

Yes. And thanks uh President Ching. I just wanted to call to my colleagues attention. Um I know that the draft calendar was shared with the board of education ahead of tonight's meeting that um I had marked uh March 18th as a conflict for me. So I just want to make sure that we noted that it's important that we have a quorum on that day. I didn't receive confirmation from the board secretary, the superintendent or associate superintendent, but wanted to make sure um that if we are keeping the 18th that we have uh verified with the rest of the board directors that we will have quorum in order to maintain that meeting and I don't know if there are any other conflicts in the calendar right now that we might want to call out.

Do other folks have conflicts on the calendar? Um as far as myself, I don't have a conflict on the 18th. So that would be one person and then we're Yeah, I'm fine on March 18th also. Okay, that's two and we need um three of course but we don't have word one way or the other that uh director Shinowski is or isn't available and we'll keep a eye on that on director Vasadev. Are there any other dates? Um, I noticed there are three meetings scheduled in May. The 13th, the 20th, and the 27th, I believe. And I am likely to be absent for one of those meetings, but I'm not entirely sure yet which 13th, the 20th. Either the 20th or the 27th.

Okay. Well, one week after the 13th, the 20th, and the 27th. Lots of stuff to do that that month. How about you, Director Vasadv? I'm here in May, so I should be fine. I believe I should be here as well. Great. Okay. So, just wanted to note that and make sure that we receive quorum for those dates that other potential conflicts and if there are any conflicts with other board members that we have a poll of the board of education to make sure we can reschedule those meetings. Thanks. Noted. And with that, I'm happy to move it for approval with those notifications. Thank you. I'll second the motion. Uh roll call. President Mike Chang. Yes. Vice President Jennifer Korn. Yes.

And director Ano Vasidos. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. So, we're off to item seven. We'll call on the close session.

Great. Um close session was called to order at 5:36 p.m. with um President Chang, Vice President Korn, and Director Vasude Dev in attendance. Um, we considered item 3.1.1. Um, and after receiving an update from legal counsel, um, Vice President Korn made a motion and director Vasuv seconded and the board unanimously accepted legal counsel's recommendation. Um and then there was further discussion of um some terms from from the plaintiff and the again vice president Korn motioned vas director Vasidv seconded and the board unanimously voted um to give guidance to legal counsel on that matter. Um item 3.2.1 2.1. Um, director Vasu Dev motioned, Vice President Korn seconded, and the board unanimously approved the settlement agreement. Um, item 3.2.2 included two settlement agreements, and for the first one, B USD 202526-10. Um, director Vasuvav motioned, Vice President Korn seconded, and the board unanimously approved the agreement. And for item B USD2520526-11, Vice President Korn motioned, Director Vasuv seconded, and the board unanimously approved the settlement agreement. And finally, for item 3.3, um the board received an update from district staff. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Vice President Korn. Um thank you. And so the superintendent is not here today. Um so there will not be superintendent comments. Uh however, we will have public comment at this time. Um just some notations about public comment. I gave some boiler plate at the front end. Uh the board does not respond directly to comments or questions made during public comment. Board members, the superintendent, the staff do take notes during public comment. they may follow up with the speaker after the meeting. Um, this is a hybrid meeting. Uh, we've designated 15 minutes to our in-person speakers to be followed by 15 minutes. Um, each speaker commenter will have up to one minute to speak. Um, depending on the amount of speakers. Um, before we begin, I'd like to remind of our decorum which I spoke about with you previously. Um, and if you wish to participate in public comment, of course, you may raise your hand and also you provided us cards. You can hustle up here to provide us cards if you want to um make public comment. You didn't make provide a card as of yet. Okay. Um, great. Um, we're going to start our public comments in person. Um, so I'm going to call students in preference before non- students because we want to make sure they can get home and study, study, study. And um, so

finals are coming up. Finals are coming up. And I'll name two people. The first one, you should come on up now and the second person you kind of stand to the come up to the side just to be ready. Um, EMTT Davis and then Hannah Slatterie Weissberg. or two. Uh, one minute. No.

Hello, my name is Emma Davis and I'm a freshman at Berkeley High. I went to Willard last year. I'm a Jewish student and I care deeply about Palestinian liberation and the end of the genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. Over the past two years, I've experienced teachers being frightened or nervous when I bring the subject of Palestine up in class, even though it's always in units that are completely relevant. This is because every time people express support for Palestinian liberation or attend a demonstration or walk out, as I have many times, they are accused of anti-semitism or even support for terrorism. And this is worsened significantly with our new administration. I urge you to protect our teachers and our right as students to learn about atrocities, current and in the past, even if they make some people feel uncomfortable. Thank you. Uh, good night.

Thank you so much, Hannah. Hi, my name is Hannah Slatterie Risberg and I'm a junior at Berkeley High as well as a proud Jewish student. I'm speaking here today because I urge you to not comply with the House Republicans request for information. I am a very visible Jewish student. I wear my high and my Star of David every day to school. I often wear merch for my Jewish youth group with Hebrew on my shirt, hoodie, or pants. Despite all that, I feel very safe as a Jewish student in BUSD. I truly appreciate how hard the district has worked to protect its students, families, and staff in the wake of these trials. I know that you will continue to protect us, but I sincerely hope you do not comply with these requests. Participation in these political partisan games leads to division within BUD schools when what we really need is education on this topic and holding direct perpetrators accountable. By providing information to the House Republicans, we open the gates to doxing and witch hunts, neither of which makes anyone safer. The USD should be a place free of anti-semitism, Islamophobia, and all hate and harassment. This is achieved through complian This is not achieved through compliance with a task force that pushes hate and harassment in the name of Jewish students like me.

Thank you. Next time up, I'm going to call Judah Press and uh Ruven Friedberg.

I am also a Jewish student. I'm a junior at Berkeley High and I urge you not to comply with the House and their ask for documentation. I've been to many rallies and would like to refute what uh our state senator Jesse Aragine said about the rallies perpetrating anti-Jewish um and anti-semitism as the rally that he specifically talked about. I was there and saw no anti-semitism present. I urge you not to comply as it does not make Jewish students safer at Berkeley High. Thank you.

My name is Ruven Friedberg. I'm a Jewish ninth grader at Berkeley High. In the last few months, I can safely say that the most enlightening, inspiring, and and invigorating moment of my education was a lively discussion held in my ethnic studies class. We discussed youth activisms and issues including but not limited to Israel/Palestine. A variety of opinions are shared and my opinions can be summarized as such. As a Jewish person person, I'm horrified by the humanitarian atrocities and occupation in Gaza and the West Bank that has been carried out in my name. Anyone who witnesses devastation on the scale is likely to speak out or want to educate students so they have a better understanding of the situation. That being said, the weaponization of anti-semitism as a tool of censorship is deeply concerning. Not only does it spread misinformation, it is stripping the word anti-semitism of its meaning, and I'm concerned that it'll cause actual anti-semitism, not anti-ionism, to go unnoticed. I hope you take my comments into consideration. Thank you.

Thank you, students. Um, next on up, we have uh Elena Arbach and Jen Rider. Hello. Good evening everyone and thank you so much for your service to our community and to our schools and to our students and our children and our families. Um we know that you are in a difficult situation clearly and uh we are with you. I am part of Berkeley families for collective liberation, Jewish parents for collective liberation and uh we stand behind you and want to support you and we also I urge you to not comply because this is we have to stand up to fascism and if we don't stand up you know we give other people courage when we say no and we we don't comply and we have to of course protect the students. Uh this is not about anti-semitism. This is about um weaponizing anti-semitism. Project Esther, which was created by the um Heritage Foundation, is using the pro Palestine movement as the tip of the spear to undermine our civil liberties. And that is what this is about. So if you don't know about Project Esther, please look it up. Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Hi. Good evening. Um wanted also to thank the board members for your tremendous service and the hard work that you do on our behalf. Um I'm a Jewish parent and my two boys uh graduated from Berkeley High as did I many years ago. Um and I am also here as the students and and parents have shared uh to please urge you to not comply with a request for documentation. We know from our brothers and sisters in higher education that um that compliance simply leads to more and more demands and that that they're voracious and never satisfied. Um Jewish students in in Berkeley schools and at Berkeley High specifically are safe and thriving. Um I know this from my experience in my Jewish congregation and from hearing from young people and families as we did tonight. Um, along with the folks who already spoke, I strongly reject the weaponization of anti-semitism and specifically the single singling out of Jewish students for alleged protection when the administration is targeting trans students and weakening protections for young people of color.

Thank you. Um, next on up we have uh Karina Thomas and then SJR. I think there are the initials. Good evening, board directors, super um and members of the Berkeley community. My name is Karina Thomas and I'm a senior at Berkeley High School and a student representative on the superintendent's African-American Success Advisory Committee. I want to speak tonight about the power of student voice and how our stories help shape this district. When I first entered Berkeley Unified, I came to Longfellow Middle School and found my community at Black Girls United. And in 9th grade, I went back to Black Girls United, filmed a documentary, and showcased to Berkeley the importance of the group and the importance of black unity. I realized that our stories are data. They show you where we're thriving and they show you where we still need support. That's why I joined ASAC, not only to share my own experience, but to uplift to help uplift the voices of students whose stories may not be heard otherwise. Your leadership is so important. To that end, I want to thank the leaders who not only attended our ASAC meeting, but showed up as listeners and as participants. Finally, I want to invite all of you to join us at our next ASAC meeting on January 14th. Thank you.

THANK YOU. UM, HI. I'M A JEWISH NINTH grader at Berkeley High School. I'm right I am here to tell you that I have not witnessed or heard about real anti-semitism in Berkeley schools. My Jewish identity is not tied to the state of Israel in any way, shape, or form. Talking about Palestine does not make me feel threatened or unsafe. It can make me feel uncomfortable, but that's not a bad thing. I feel uncomfortable because it is deeply uncomfortable to me that the state of Israel is committing atrocious crimes against humanity and using Judaism, the religion that I am honored to be a part of, to justify it. To say that talking about Palestine is anti-Semitic directly harms my identity as a Jewish student. If anything, talking about real world issues in class makes me feel safe, curious, and educated. I want to know all sides of the story, not just the side that people want to talk about. It's hard to learn about what's happening right now. But it's it is necessary. High schoolers can do hard things and they want to be educated. Censoring our education leads to misinformation and people not understanding what is really happening. Berkeley is one of the safest places for Jewish people and the community that we have all built is immensely beautiful. I urge you not to comply with requests for documents. Thank you.

Thank you. Next on up we have Molly Samson and then Mimi Maine.

Good evening. Good evening.

I'm a B USD parent. What you are defending here is precious. Our teachers, our students, open education, free speech, the truth. protect it, protect them. The majority of this community is united in the knowledge that our schools are not anti-Semitic. We know in actuality that this investigation is overblown farce that aligns ever so neatly with the aim of not teaching our students about Palestine. Is it anti-Semitic to learn about the history of Palestine? No. If it causes a few Jewish students to feel uncomfortable, then let's discuss the reason for that, which is the insidious yoke of Zionism that has been placed upon them. Those who seek to normalize genocide should not be made to feel comfortable here. The real story in Berkeley is the targeted attack on our academic freedom and the right to free speech. Precious are the students who feel compelled to stand up and protest apartheid and genocide. Precious are the teachers who teach our children to think and to care. Please protect our students. Protect our teachers. Protect free speech.

Thank you.

Hi. Uh everything they said I agree with, but I'm here to talk about a much less pressing matter uh afterare crisis in Berkeley. So I was at the TK kindergarten fair this weekend representing my kids school and I was informing a lot of these parents who are going to do the same thing I did which is find out what school they get into apply for afterare spend the entire summer kind of assuming they're going to get in and then we know they will probably not get in. So August when school started 700 kids were on the wait list. A month later 500 kids were on the wait list. Our group of parents at Bridge the Care Gap are here to collaborate and we are in meetings but there has been no plan brought to us. We want to know how many are on the wait list now and we want that reporting to be available throughout the summer. um like what what communications can the can the district commit to and hiring. So um please thank you.

Thank you. We have one one last green card in person is Dan. Thanks Dan. So in our neighboring district to the north, um both uh staff unions in the West Contraost uh school district went out on strike and uh the UTR actually United Teachers of Richmond got more than what either of our staff uh unions are asking for in negotiations. So just something to keep in mind. Um but second and more importantly if you are complying with the request for documents on alleged anti-semitism in Berkeley school district to avoid a subpoena. That is understandable. But I would plead with you to please, please, please redact as much information from that as you possibly can as the people requesting those documents are not trustworthy and they will dox our staff. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for your comments. And next on up we are moving on to committee comments I believe. Do we have committee comments?

You have two more people online. Oh yeah, I'm sorry. We have two online. I missed that. Thanks for the reminder. Oh, we've got two folks online. Now you've got four. Uh oh, now I have four. Two of them saying, "Why did you try to skip online?" Um, okay. So, uh, who is the first online? Sarah Kersner.

Sarah Kersner, can you please come on onto the microphone and we'll give her a minute as well. Can you hear me? This is Sarah. Can you hear me? Oh, Sarah's Sarah's dropped off. Um, can you hear me? Oh, she's actually there.

Oh, she's trying to come on. Sorry, I'm on now. Oh, okay. We can't hear her for some reason.

Sorry, we have um it coming over. What? Can you hear me now? No. uh move to the next person or will this affect the other?

I don't think it'llffect all of them. Okay, it'll affect others. So, we're going to wait to give them time to address the issue. Thanks for your patience. No problem. This is my child.

Um, Um, thanks for your patience. It'll take about three minutes for this to come back for the sound to come back on. Thanks.

Oh, yeah. While we're waiting, are there any committees in the room? Just to jump a little forward. Any committees? Not seeing any here. Any Yeah. Well, we online is the same thing. I can hear some beeping in the in the IT room back here. So, that means something is maybe working.

Oh. Um, is there are we sure we don't have a committee comment or union comment? Yeah. Yeah. Matt, you want to do that while we're um It could be a few minutes. Do you feel ready or do you want to wait? So, okay. He's going to wait. That's okay. We can hear you online.

Okay. So, uh a few more minutes. Hopefully, the sound come back on. We're just checking a couple of things here. I don't know. for both.

We should be good. Can you can you all hear me now?

Hello. Should I Should I start speaking? We can hear you. Go ahead.

Okay. Okay. Um, I'm a Jewish parent of a fifth grader at Sylvia Mendes and the comments from the Jewish students were so deeply moving and so fortifying and there is nothing that I could say that they haven't said better. But I do want to back their comments about how important it is for you all to know as the school board and for the superintendent to know and our teachers to know and our administrators to know that we are behind them in this right-wing attack that is part of a nationwide attempt to silence the kind of critical thinking and freedom of speech that we heard from students today. It is so deeply meaningful to me to know that my son is growing up in a school district that produces that. And I want to say something more about the content which is as they said the rendering meaningless anti-semitism is one piece but the other piece is turning things on their head. And so it would be like as a white person me saying I feel threatened by learning about slavery or that that is somehow racism against me as a white person.

And this kind of double think is something we can't afford. Thank you very much. Great. Uh and next time up hopefully everyone can hear us out up here at the de now. Um, MW is next up. MW, can you come online, please?

Has MW dropped off? It appears so. Oh, MW is still here. MW, you have to come off mute. Can you guys hear me now? Uh-huh. Yes, we can.

Okay. Hi. So, last year, my daughter and a bunch of other children, there was pictures taken by vice principal, Miss Sinai, at Berkeley High School. I filed a title N complaint regarding this. Um, MW, can you um reserve your comments uh offline um and engage with the appropriate complaint body here at Brookley Unified? Thank you so much. I I have and it's been ignored. I um Thank you so much. um

you should go through the appropriate channels and um we have a policy here for specific complaints about particular administrators or teachers to go through the appropriate complaint process. Um so thank you and um send emails to the board and also through the appropriate complaint channels. Um next on up we have Mariana Vuro. Hello. Can they hear me? Yes, I we can hear you.

Great. Uh my name is Mariana Vuro and I'm a Jewish parent of a fourth grader at Sylvia Mendes Elementary School. Um, I'm also here to support the district board members and uh, superintendent to continue standing strong against uh, right-wing and authoritarian attacks on our school district. I really appreciate your continued commitment uh, to not only protect our students, teachers, and families from these attacks, but to uphold the principles of critical thinking and justice in our public education. As a Jewish parent, I'm especially disturbed about these attacks on our public education on the basis of these false claims of anti-semitism. Anti-semitism is being weaponized by right-wing groups and MAGA to silence any crit criticism of or opposition to the state of Israel and Zionism. This isn't about protecting our students, but about intimidation and fear, to not speak out about genocide or about Palestine. And it is critical for me and as I heard from the other Jewish parents and students for B USD to continue upholding our Jewish values of justice, solidarity, and collective liberation in educating our children like what is taught through liberated ethnic studies and other teachings about social justice and in support of Palestine. So I urge you to not comply with the voluntary request. It would only harm our students, teachers, and families, making them more vulnerable to doxing, firing, physical threats, and other attacks, and instead publicly confront

Yes. Thank you, Miss Pet. Um, send your uh comments by email. Thank you. Um, Katy Brown Johnson, please. Katy Brown Johnson. Can you hear me? Yes, we can.

Great. Thank you so much. Um, I'm Katie Johnson with G-Shack, uh, the Gender Equity and Sexual Harm Action Committee. We are a district subcommittee. We're providing an update and an invitation. We just wanted parents here to be aware that we're looking for new representatives. Parents should reach out to their principles for next steps in connecting to our subcommittee or uh reach out to the committee for anything that you uh would like surfaced. Some quick updates. Abby Greger on our subcommittee attended the first equity family night at Washington. We heard there that parents want to connect with more parents. We would love to help coordinate that. Uh TGI families, let's get together. Um, some resources locally that we're aware of include Rainbow Families Action, the Pacific Center, Gender Spectrum, and P Flag. In the past, we've worked on improving bathroom access for all kids, including trans and gender diverse kids. We're improving um access to for staff to educational materials, and we've improved and maintain the welcoming schools curriculum. Um, our sexual safety subcommittee also works on sexual safety for students. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, next on up I think we have Katy KT C A T Y.

Um, yeah, you can thank my parents for the strange spelling. It's Katie. That's okay. It's cool. Can you guys hear me? Oh, yes.

All right. Um, I am here to thank you guys. Um, I'm Mrs. K. I am a teacher at BTA and um, the board recently approved a drama class for BTA and I wanted to thank you and give you a very quick update. Uh, students started with um, a unit focusing on improv culminating in a mock interview. Uh, they then started looking at monologues, but specifically the Stannislovsky method. Finally, um we focused on scenes uh and blocking and students are actually um going to be performing for our class, not for anyone else because they won't let me bring anyone else a uh student written play. So in addition uh and a BSV volunteer has been doing um a film project with the students and this has allowed students to have their visual and performing arts credit uh and gain confidence in public speaking. So I really want to thank you for approving the class. Uh it's been uh a positive thing for BTA. Thank you.

Thank you so much. That's the end of our comments. You have uh anyone else who has comments, you can certainly email us as well. Um and next on up, we have committee comments. Um are is there anyone here from a committee? Does not appear such. On we next on up we have our union comments. Um do we have union comments? I see BFT's president here and local 21 is online. Uh how about in person first with um BFT president Matt Meyer.

Hello Superintendent Fordell and Berkeley school board directors. I am Matt Meyer, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. As I'm sure you have seen in the news, our neighbors in West Contraosta just signed a tenative agreement after being on the picket line for 4 days. This strike was a last but necessary resort to get their district to respond in a serious way to the very real needs of students and educators in their district. The parents, students, and wider community rallied around these needs because they knew the district could do better. The educators were outside every day just after dawn and picketing until the end of the day because they knew that change was possible. They knew the district could do a better job serving students with IEPs. They could do a better job retaining their educators and they could figure out common sense incentives to keep their employees in their district. We've been patient with the district at each negotiating session when we ask about counters to our proposals. From the district's perspective, there was always some piece of information to wait for or some guidance that needed that they didn't have. None of this really made sense to us. In the past, we got a deal before the June budget was finalized or before unodudited actuals came out in September and always before where we are now, December's first interim. Given this stalemate, we jointly with BUSD declared impass. For the past few years, on multiple occasions, we've asked the district to take a hard look at how our education dollars are spent. It is especially important to see where our spending falls outside the normal range for various items and coming up with a vision and implementing a plan to re in escalating costs. We've asked for reports on legal expenses, settlements, spending on consultants, and contracting out services. We've informed the district that they need to prepare ahead of time for negotiations because many changes take time to actually implement. When looking at the first interim, there are many bright spots. Revenue from increased enrollment is higher than

projected last spring. There's an influx of one-time dollars that is pretty much fully discretionary. The district has hired more BUSD instructional assistance, saving money from private contractors. Next year's budget, at least for education, is looking pretty good. There are also some questions that we definitely have. What is the basis for the 3.2 million in projected additional spending? How much of that 3.2 million is double counted because it is a vacancy on the books but an expense in real time from a contractor? Sorry, I'm moving stuff around. Our student population with individualized education plans has been relatively stable. So, what explains the year-over-year increase by the millions? What explains these increases for the past 10 years? What is the Where's the chart that shows how neighboring districts deal with the same issues? B USD paid thousands of dollars 10 years ago to do an in-depth look at our special education program. What from that study has been implemented. According to the Merit Commission presentation that I think is today, it takes on average 60 days to hire a classified employee. This is onethird of the school year. Can you imagine a math class needing a teacher midyear and it taking 60 days after someone applies to fill it? Addressing hiring timelines and competitive pay for classified employees is part of the solution. This is the kind of work the district should and needs to be engaged in. Our members have been working harder than ever. The district celebrates their work in the A+ news, but it's very hard for them to pull it together and tell us how they're going to figure out how to get our salaries to at least average for compared to neighboring districts and how we're going to avoid a $1,000 pay cut that starts in January. That is what is on our collective mind and our district needs to come prepared with next month with solutions. In the words

of the United Teachers of Richmond, figure it out. Thank you. THANK YOU SO MUCH. UM, we have another board uh union member comment online. I'm sorry. Panelist. Oh, is she a panelist? Um, Paula. Paula. Uh, would you like to Great. See you there. Hi there. Uh, one sec. I just lost my little screen. One moment. Okay, I'm ready.

Good evening. Okay. Good evening, board members and to our listening public. My name is Paula Phillips and I'm honored to stand before you tonight on video as the newly elected president for Local 21. First, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my predecessor, Steve Collins, for his 18 years of service and to our members for placing their trust in me to lead our local. As some of you may know, my union activities started as the president of the Berkeley Council of Classified Employees and as a member of the CFT's executive board. I have seen firsthand the power of union solidarity on a local, state, and national level. Local 21 isn't just an organization. It's our shared voice, our safety net, and the force that ensures fairness and dignity in our workplace. I ran for this office because I believe passionately in negotiating fair wages, securing affordable benefits, and improving working conditions for our members. My pres my predecessor negotiated a 2 and a half% salary increase for our occupational therapists. The 2 and 12% salary increase that was approved in August has been delayed for four months. And I want to put emphasis on that it's been delayed for four months. It should be noted it should be noted that since the signing of ourou both the superintendent and the HR assistant superintendent received new contracts. I suspect that their respective payraises were processed immediately after the board approved them. If so, this contrasts sharply with the

processing of payraises for our OT's following the approval of our after sending an urgent email today. Pauline Finsby called to confirm that the OT's raise and all retroactive pay will finally be processed in the December pay warrants. So while I was hoping to begin my president presidency with a district in a spirit of collaboration, I am profoundly disappointed regarding the lapse in implementing theou and sincerely hope this experience is not reflective of our future collaborative relationship. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Um, thank you. Uh, are there others committee members or union members online? I don't see any. Um, and none in person. So, now we would like to move to board member comments. Um it's our tradition to have students um go first and today we have both Armana Ardam and also Nina Camarino. Would Armana or Nina would you like to make comments? Okay, you would. Yeah, go ahead.

Hi everyone. Good evening. I wanted to mention that with finals week approaching at Berkeley High, there haven't been a lot of events events going on, but the extra special African Diaspora Dance Department's 2025 Winter Showcase will be happening Friday, December 10th at 700 p.m. in the Berkeley High Community Theater. This will be one of the last performances happening in the community theater before it goes under renovation until 2028. So, let's please support our talented dancers and the African-American studies department as a whole by re reaching their goal of filling all 2,000 seats at the event this Friday. Again, that's 700 p.m. the Little Theater and you can buy tickets on their department website which is the uh Berkeley High School African Diaspora Dance Department. So, thank you guys and I hope to see you all there on Friday.

Thank you so much. Um our other Thank you. Are there student uh board director Nina Camarino, would you like to make a board comment? Okay, just passing on comments. That's fine. Um and our board members, the three of us, anyone else would like to make a comment. Vice President Korn,

I have some very quick comments. Um first, I just want to say that they've all left, but I'm very grateful to the students and families who came out tonight to share their experiences in our schools. Um, I really appreciate their voices and their advocacy on behalf of our students and teachers. Um, and just to clarify, we will not be taking any vote tonight related to the recent congressional document request. Um, also tonight as mentioned, what we will be doing um is receiving our first interim budget report. Um, and I'm I know that our fiscal team has been working really hard on this report and there's a lot of very important information. Um, so I'm also very much looking forward to that conversation this evening. Um, and finally, I'd just like to say happy holidays and I hope everyone has a wonderful break. I hope kids have some fun. I hope educators get some rest and that we all come back in January ready to go. Thank you, Vice President Korn. Um, Director Bast.

Yeah, I'll keep mine really short. Um, just want to thank everyone that came to give public comment. Like to thank our labor partners. Um, special shout out to the BTA instructor that called about the drama class. I think it's always great when we hear about what's happening in the classroom. Sometimes we vote on, you know, small things that have a lot like a big impact. And so, um, I know the students did not want to open up that presentation to the public, but when they're ready to share their film or anything, please do share with the board of education. Um, we love to see what's happening in the classroom. And then I just wanted to quickly just report back that last week, um, had the absolute pleasure of going to the California Schoolboard Association conference in Sacramento with Director Chang. And it was great to attend panels on just like a variety of issues that are important to us. Mathematics curriculum and how it's um being overhauled and implemented in other districts when they do um big overhaul of their curriculum. Learning about um sorry I got distracted by the the sound from the tech office. uh learning also just about literacy work for English language learners um and different uh curriculum that's available to to better support improve literacy outcomes for English learners. Uh for me it was also wonderful to be able to go to the appeasema um breakfast that's our schoolboard association for AsianAmerican and Pacific Islander schoolboard members. We received an award received an award for our work in ethnic studies. So, I just want to give a shout out and profound gratitude to, yes, it does deserve a big clap. Thank you for clapping in the back to our teachers, um, Jeremy Itto Gates and also to Hasmosian and all of our, uh, district staff and educators that work, um, to make sure that our students have access to equality ethnic studies. It's part of our ethos as a district. So, it was wonderful to be able to recognize our teachers and to have our district recognized in front of school districts um, throughout the state. and I'm looking forward to the discussion tonight about our budget. So now we're

entering the beginning of um really hard decisions in the spring and so I know we'll get another update from um our governor in January. So these next couple of board meetings from now until the end of the school year are incredibly important for the fiscal outlook of the following school year. So um as we enter, you know, it's feels like you're winding down for the holidays, but for me as a school board member, this is when we're gearing up to make some of those hard decisions. And so, um, I'm ready for it and ready for the, um, comments that that come with those decisions and want to make sure that all of our different committees and diverse stakeholders are, um, really taking taken into account. The other thing I wanted to report on was that yesterday I also went to the transportation forum. So, yesterday, Monday, Monday, uh, at Craigmont. Um, and it was great to see we heard some comments at the beginning of the school year about different transportation issues that we had for families in the hills that were impacted when we had to close some of those bus routes. But it was great to hear some of the creative solutions from the district staff and also from the partnership that we've developed with the city to make sure that we find alternative stops and safe stops for our students and also was really grateful to have our partners at AC Transit there. So, just know that the district continues to work with the city and with our local transportation agency to find the best solutions for our students and that will also impact some of our our budgetary decisions for the upcoming school year. But, I'm confident that we'll get to a good resolution for our students that um did not feel uh served appropriately by our transportation issues up in the hills. So, with that, um thank you, President Chen. I'm looking forward to tonight's meeting.

Thank you so much, Director Vasadev. Um not much else can be added. It's been said well here already by student directors and my board members. I should say really quickly again as usual, thank you for speaking your hearts and minds. Um uh a number of issues were raised here. They're all very important and I really appreciate you coming out here and um uh speaking here in our uh amazing forum here in Berkeley and reminding us to maintain Berkeley values. Um, of course, happy holidays and new year and hope everyone can refresh and rest. And special shout out to again to the ethnic studies team, Joto Gates, Haz Gassian. Uh, ethnic studies is really important. It's important to me, but it's also important to the school district here. It's been part of our culture. It's important to Berkeley um for decades. And, you know, we're getting some some small recognition at um at the California uh schoolboard association event. And I want to thank also director Vasadev for uh joining with me as well in uh celebrating uh that um uh granting award at the association meeting. Um so without further ado, I do want to move on to the next um item. So let me see this is a little complicated. Oh, first consent calendar. That should be the easy thing. um consent calendar. Um it is now the time to approve the consent calendar. Do we have a motion to approve?

So moved. I'll second. Do you need to do a roll call? No. President Mike Chang. I. Vice President Jennifer Korn. I. And director Anna Vasov. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. So moved. Um, and here I want to make sure I don't mess this up. We have a public two public hearing one, I'm sorry, one public hearing action. Um, it's what uh for Let me make sure I look at the agenda to make sure I'm reading this appropriately. Um, resolution is it 26018? Sorry, it is two. My apologies.

Oh, it is two. Okay. So, we'll start with um 14.1 and thank you. Uh it's um public hearing for and approval of resolution number 26-0618 to enter into energy service contract with CERO Energy Solutions for Calshape ventilation program round five project. Got to do it. Okay. All right. So if I may uh it's for 4217 which is a government code section facilities uses a lot of different delivery methods for projects. 4217 is very specific to energy savings under cow shape and ventilation. So this statute allows us to choose based on best value which is what we've done.

I'm sorry. Oh thanks John. We I remember we had to give some um boiler plate opening the public hearing app. So So 807 um then I think you can hand it back to Yeah, handing it back to you. So I was about to point out that's what it was. That's what you would have to do. So under this go government code section though using this you need to open a public hearing, accept any public comments, close it and then vote to approve. And it will be the same for the next item as well. All righty. Uh, is there a motion to approve this resolution?

So moved. I'll second. Do we Do we have a roll call? President Mike Chang. Oh, yes. Vice President Jennifer Korn. Yes. Director Anna Vasidov. Yes. Thank you. So moved. And with the second um item, public hearing for an approval of resolution number 26-017 approving, adopting, revised school facility fee justification study regarding level one residential and commercial industrial developer fees for school facilities dated November 18th, 2025. Opening the public hearing at 809.

Thank you. So, this is in regards to the uh developer fees that the school district charges related to any new development or modernized developments in the city of Berkeley. It's intended to help with how we offset facility costs. This particular one was really about cleaning up some language in the pre-existing resolution that we had. Uh so, it actually aligns better with the new Senate bills that have come out over the last year. Um, it is important to note that currently Berkeley still charges the lowest fees as far as on the impact scale um to any new developments to encourage continued development, but also to allow for homeowners and business owners to really modernize their homes and facilities.

Great. Thank you. Um, assuming there's no one coming forward, uh, is there a motion to approve this resolution? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Is there a roll call? Thank you. President Mike Chang. I. Vice President Jennifer Korn. I. And director Anna Vasad. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Motion approved. Um, great. We now have our first interim budget report. Assistant Superintendent uh Finsby will present. Thank you. I'm Anyway, good afternoon everyone. Um,

oh, I forgot. Sorry. Thanks. I'll be presenting the first interim budget um for the period through October 31st and this is how we're projecting that we're going to end the year and it's based on information that we have at the time. So um we can start the presentation and we can look at our mission and our 4E. So all our presentations and everything that we do, we're grounded in our mission to enable and inspire our diverse student body to achieve academic excellence and and make positive contributions to the world. So this evening we have an agenda where we're going to be focusing on the district's unrestricted general fund. The district is made up of several funds, restricted and unrestricted. The focus that we have when we're looking at um our operations is the unrestricted general fund. We also are going to look at the funds one through four summary because that's what rolls up to our standardized account um reporting structure. Um, we're going to be looking at the changes since the adopted budgets, our highlights, ADA and enrollment, our multi-year projections, fund 20 funding, our federal funding, and taking a look at other funds and discussing other steps. So tonight I'm asking the board to approve recommendations to address the shortfall that I'll be sharing shortly as well as approve the first interim budget. So it's two parts. So next slide. So when we're looking at the budget highlights um we brought um budget balancing solutions to the board for approval when we're constructing the

2526 budget. we fell short of that projected um the projected target that we identified. So we're starting off 2526 um behind if you were by the $1.7 million. We know we needed this amount to maintain a positive certification and we missed that when we um tried to find budget balancing solutions. I want to also point out that the $6 million that we found in budget balancing solutions allowed the district to um to implement new programs um give raises as well as meet all our obligations at that point. But we are behind by the $1.7 million. And what this means um with the shortfall and the challenges that we're having, we have insufficient funds to meet the LCAP reserve for 2526 and unfortunately we do not have enough funds to have a positive undesated fund balance. So while our fund balance is positive, we have set aside or committed more than we have than we actually have in ending fund balance. So we have what's called a negative undesated fund balance of $6,000 in 2526 and this amount has actually grown um to $200,000 for 2627. Um we also have a significant increase in expenses for $3.2 million to our special education program. Um, and that was an significant increase in our program costs for 2526 that was not in the adopted budget. Next slide. So, when we're talking about

insufficient funds, um, we did not have enough funds to allocate all the promises or commitments that we had made or that we were directed to make um by the board. So, um I mentioned earlier we did not set aside the LCAP supplemental and this is a board approved um resolution in terms of us setting aside a million dollars in unspent LCAP funds. That fund um balance is actually now 800,000 cuz we have used it for um approved um expenses. Um we did not set aside the 800,000. We did not set aside the settlement authority that we um were given for um uh one of our cases and that would have impacted all three years of our multi-year projections. $150,000 for the first two years and 100,000 for the third year. Um so the next steps um we do want to ask the board for recommendations on how would we address our shortfall and any recommendations will be incorporated in the second interim as well as any other um revenue or expense since that came up since October 31st. Um next slide. So let's look at fund fund one through four summary. And why we're taking a look at this is because when we're reporting to the state in our standardized account code structure, we report um the entire fund one which includes our BP, our parallel tax programs. So let's go to the next slide. This is difficult to see um but in the first column that's where we have the fund one unrestricted general fund all the way over to the right we have the

total unrestricted and the total restricted general um general fund and then we have the total that rolls up as well. So while our focus is on the first column, what the county sees and what we're rated on in terms of having a positive certification is the overall general fund. Internally, we know that we have to to make sure we're balanced. Each fund is individually balanced. And while we have a negative $6,000 undesated balance, it does roll up with the other BP programs or or pastel tax programs and it does not impact our ability to have a positive certification. We can go to the next slide. So this is our um our contributions in and out. Um and this is also in our budget book. And it's important that we all remember that when the county and everyone is looking at our form one, they're also including our parcel tax funds. Um, next slide. So then we're going to look at the variance report. And this is an opportunity for us to look at what did we um adopt the 2526 budget with in terms of the numbers and revenue and expenses versus where we are now at um October 31st. What has actually happened? How do we think we're going to actually end the year? So next slide. So on the next slide you can look at our revenues and um this is good news. We did get an an additional $2 million in our local control funding formula or LCFF um base and well um supplemental went down slightly because of our unduplicated pupil count, but we did see a

significant increase of $2 million which definitely helps our bottom line. And this was an increase in enrollment as well as the factors in the enacted budget. Um an increase in projected enrollment for TK as well as at the high school. Um when we look at the next slide um we look at our um expenditures and here we have more of a fluctuation in terms of some items increasing and some items decreasing. So for the items that um increased, we had to we p our certificated salaries increased due to paying um a negotiated um amount for our certificated managers um uh for extra duties and and also a reduction in extra duties and substitutes. So there that was a net impact. um for classified salaries um we added IEA um to our staff and this is the the budgetary impact of adding that staff for our special ed program. Um and then when you're looking at our services and operating expenditures that reduction in expenses is actually due to us receiving our student support and professional development block grant. It's a one-time grant and we were advised by the board to um to use this towards our operations because it's um it's a it's flexible in spending. It's not restricted. So, as a result um we transferred utilities on a one-time basis to take advantage of the grant that came in as a restricted source. This is a one-time accommodation. So you will see in the montier projection the total expense um is back in the

unrestricted general fund and then our direct support and indirect support. At first interim we have an opportunity to load carryover for the programs that allow it. That's usually our restricted programs and other funds. And because we loaded carryover, we get the benefit of the of the direct and indirect costs that are associated with the additional amounts raised. So that explains um the variance. It's overall a positive variance largely caused by the ability for us to move expenses from our unrestricted general fund to a restricted program on a one-time basis. Next slide. Next slide. And we can go to the next one as well. Thank you. Um so then we get to our contributions in there was a slight increase in BP's contribution and that was due to the increase in enrollment requiring additional staffing and this is BP's share of that additional staffing contributions out. This is the um significant um increase that I mentioned and this was due to um additional cost not only for IEAs but for other agents other um staffing um covered by non-public agencies. So this was as a result of the program, the special ed program going through their expenses, working with fiscal and identifying that this amount is needed in addition to the staff that we loaded um for the IE that we brought internally. Some of those weren't filled. So we're still using consultants for some of for those um for that for those duties. Okay, next slide. Next slide. Okay. And we can go to the

next one as well. Um that's where the explanation is. Thanks. So um you can see that um this is the where we're setting aside funds from the the ending fund balance. So, our ending fund balance was a healthy somewhat healthy $2 million, but we have set aside um pretty much all of that funding for our on our reserve for economic uncertainties as well as current labor adjustments, which would be prior um commitments for union um CBES that have not been settled, as well as board authority for um for increases um for for salary increases. Um so uh the after after allocating these amounts um you can see that we're negative 600 the 600 the $6,000 that I mentioned earlier. Um let's go to the next slide. So that um I that that explains the variance from adopted budget to first interrum. Now we're going to look at our average daily attendance which we're funded on um and our enrollment. So let's go to the next slide. So I mentioned earlier that our our funding went up because of an increase in enrollment. That increase in enrollment also impacts our attendance because our um our attendance um our enrollment to attendance um percentage is 94.8 eight and it has been for the past two years. So with that um the increase in enrollment is generating an increase in in enroll an increase in enrollment is generating an increase in attendance. However um when during the pandemic we were able to take advantage

of averaging a three-year averaging and being funded on the prior year that amount has absolutely gone away. Now we're actually funded on the P2 which is our actual enrollment. So while that amount is lower than we had before, it is an increase from our actual ADA. We do not have a decreasing um ADA. We have a slight uptick. So which is good. Um next slide. So this now looks at our multi-year projections. when we're submitting um any interim reports, we're required to submit the current year and the two um projected years um for the subsequent two years. So, we want to to make sure that um that these numbers do not increase include any negotiated increases and it's based on assumptions in the governor's 2526 enacted budget. So, let's go to the next slide. Um the top part of this chart shows the assumptions that um that we use to build the multi-year projections in terms of the cola the ADA funded the unduplicated pupil count as well as the unduplicated pupil count percentage. So um the colo we get that information from the school services dartboard or ADA. I already explained on the previous slides how we came up with that percentage. Our unduplicated pupil count is the actual unduplicated pupil count that we we received um right at um I think it was early November. Um this is not I don't this is not the certified number. This is the number that we had. But and what this shows um is that um we explained 25 26 um um revenue before but

it shows that the cola in the out years are in are um contributing to the increase in our overall revenue for those two years and then we can go to the next um next slide. So in our expenses you can see that the first year um of 109.4 for um in expenses. The out years um we're back up to the normal spending because that one-time relief has been removed from the budget. Everything else remains flat. Um we have a one-time contribution from fund 20. Um but everything else is pretty much um remaining flat. So because this is in millions, it shows up as the undesated fund balance as zero in the first year. And you can see the um the increase to 200,000 um negative in the second year. The third year is positive. But as a reminder, we have no negotiated increases in any of these years. So um what does this mean? Um we will have to implement um possibly midyear budget balancing solutions as well as um significant budget balancing solutions in 26 27 and 2728 to account for any increasing costs the districts may um experience. So next slide and I mentioned um fund 20 that we had transferred in $200,000 from fund 20. This is our other postemployment benefit fund where the district sets sets aside an amount in excess of the pay as you go for our um for our um our benefits our health benefits. So fund 20 is regarded as a as a um as a reserve because we

don't have this money set aside in a trust. So um let's go to the next slide. we can take a look at the historical trends that we've seen um in fund 20 in fund 20 and this fund actually came about because when we sold our hillside property and that was several years ago um we we were able to petition the state for us to use those um those proceeds for one-time expenses for the general fund. That's not the case nowadays, unfortunately. But this just shows um that we have um we started at $400,000 and I think we sold that in I can't remember what year. So um so from our we that that amount was just left and um just set aside um as a reserve if you will but we've used it for um for transfers out. That's the trans the row for the transfers. You can see that we used $2 million in 2021 1.4 4 in 2122 and we used um $6.7 million in 2425. So we need to be careful that we're not depleting this fund. Um and where where is it it has been used to assist the district um when we're um needing additional funds or where we have a shortfall um it should not be depleted. It should be kept as a reserve because it um it helps us when we're doing our bond ratings because our readers like to see that we have this set aside an additional amount set aside for our responsibilities. Next slide. Um I want to mention federal funding

because that's always something that's at the back of our minds. Um how much do we get in federal funding? um there's always threats to eliminate um our federal funding and what would this do to the district. So if we look at the next slide, we can see that our revenues um it's it be this is just a budgeted amount. It's about $8 million um with the general fund um in restricted funds and these are like our title one, our title two and various restricted funds. We get about $4 million in funding for that. So, does our adult school get funded by federal funds, child development, cafeteria, and our bond interest and redemption fund, which is the fund that's used to pay um for our bond bond liability. So, um what's at risk with federal funding is $8 million, um that's in now in restricted funding. So uh next slide. So we should also remember that the district does have other funds and other um and they are restricted for specific purposes. So when we um hear comments from the public, oh the building fund has money in it. Um we should use that for raises. We cannot because those are restricted funds for restricted purposes and we cannot use those funds for um for raises um arbitrarily. Um next slide. So this is a list of all our other funds and the balances that we have in them. Um yes, some of them are significantly healthy. they will like to call out the bond fund which always has a lot more um funding just because um of the way that

program is funded. However, that is specifically for um for construction. It cannot be used for operations. Um and we just wanted to kind of remind everyone else about our other funds that we have. Um let's go to the next slide. So, what's next? Um, I believe in in our um in our board comments um it was mentioned that we're going to um look forward to the Jan the governor's January budget. Um we are going to a workshop I think in the middle of January that's going to let us know what the governor is thinking and proposing for the 26 27 and the outy years. Um we will be reconvening the superintendent's budget advisory committee to implement budget balancing solutions to balance the 26 27 and the outears. Um we are obviously going to be um meeting with our negotiation our our union partners um as we work on negotiations. We're going to be paying very close attention to program costs, trying to contain program costs, and we're also keeping an eye on federal funding because um just, you know, if it goes away, what will the impact be to the district? Um and on the next slide, another threat that we have or another thing that we're looking at um is exploring our one-time um grants or funds. We have several of these programs that are expiring at the end of 2526. So, as we're facing um balancing the budget and coming up with um with um budget balancing solutions, we have to take into account that not only are we faced with um reducing revenues and

increasing costs, but some of our grants that we're relying on were one time and they'll be going away. So we have to take into account um how will those programs be continued? Will they have to be decreased? And then that would also impact layoffs. Um Sam will be working on layoffs as well. So um this is um the and of course the risk to the state budget. If the state budget is is um impacted, it's going to also or or affected, it's going to affect us as well. So um our caveat we need to develop comprehensive plans to maintain fiscal solvency and preserve the integrity of our educational program which is a constant challenge that we face. And um on the next slide it just shows that we have um if you want to stay informed and engaged every um every reporting period we put out a budget book that has um all the funds and the funds and the um and some programs. It has historical data line by line for those of you who are interested in getting more information and that's going to be post that's posted to the website. So this um first intro will be posted after it's approved by the board. So with that um I can take questions and then I'm going to ask the board to do two things to um let us know um what we can what we can do to address the immediate shortfall and then also I'm going to ask the board to approve the first interim.

Um thank you so much. uh assistant superintendent Paulsby. Um I I do have a question. So um you know we're in the a pretty uh challenging uh fiscal solveny issue and we want to maintain solveny and as you've said preserve the integrity of our educational programs. Um we do know that um the district has been you know kind of putting aside some funds so to speak in fund 20 um and we've used fund 20 in the past and this is an important fund um in circumstances such as this um would given the amount of um risk we are currently in. I'm thinking for maintaining solveny would 300,000 be appropriate to shift forward at this moment in time from fund 20.

I think that would go a long way um to meeting our obligations that we listed and um if if we there is an additional need um we can bring it back to the board as well. Okay. Um, so I'm raising this for board members, noting how close to the edge we are here and the purpose of fund 20. Um, and uh, this would probably have to be, I'm assuming, a motion in addition to the resolution to pass, I believe. So, it would be Yeah.

Yeah. Um, and then just for the public's uh, refresher, can you really fast? I know you've said this before, but um uh just quickly tell us again on what fund 20 is.

Fund 20 is it's um a reserve or money that we set aside for other postemployment benefits. So it's for retirees or the um the share of um the eventual costs or the actuarial cost of our retirement for other than um other than um pers and stirs. This is for like our health costs. So, we set aside an amount um that's actuarily determined and that tends to be the pay as you go, the actual cost. And we're setting aside an amount that's in excess of that um which doesn't count towards our liability because it's not in our trust, but this is an amount that we have been setting aside um to meet our obligation for postmployment benefits. So it is set inside as an excess of what what we assume we need and we continue to put funds into it as well.

Right. Whenever we run payroll, there's an amount that's attached to every dollar of payroll. Thank you so much. Are there questions from the board members? Yeah. Um Oh, who went first? The vice. Yeah, you can go ahead and vice president. I I just have a I have just a couple of questions. Sure.

Um my first question is about the increasing special education costs, right? Um, we've heard from some of our stakeholders this idea that we may be double counting costs. I think the reference there is when we have a vacancy that is also filled by a contractor that we're counting the vacancy as an encumbered cost and we're counting the cost of the actual contractor who's filling the vacant position. Is that right? Is that what's happening? that is that a double cost?

Um it's not that's not what's happening. What what we do is we take vacancies and to the extent that we need to um replace those those positions that we cannot fill with contractors. Um we will move money from the salary and benefits because um you know the salary attaches a benefit cost as well. So it's not just a person's salary that will be moved to like the non-public agency line. Um the issue is that these contractors tend to be more expensive than our salary. So it's not a onetoone um issue and then where we do have an overlap is um we've added I think 47 IE. So even with 47 IE we're filling we're um back filling at a higher rate. So we still have to look at needs and um do we have to bring additional staffing into the district um because um our you know our obligation is to make sure that these needs are met. Um and we have filled um all but 14 of the positions that we've had vacant so far um

with district employees. Not new district employees. Yes. Great. Um and so we only have 14 vacancies right now for special ed assistant twos. Um but we are looking at whether or not we need to create more FTE um because there is increasing need still um this school year. So, we're doing another audit to determine that and we'll bring back more information in January to the board um regarding that um if we do need to create more FTE, but um there is not a um a a double dipping in the same way that is was described. Um there is some overlap but not um the double counting.

So, just just to make sure I I'm clear. So, you're saying there are only 14 special education IIA positions that are currently being filled by contractors? We only have 14 vacancies at the moment. We have more contractors than that, which is what we're trying to figure out at the difference and do the audit so that we can come back to if we need to create more FTE. Okay. And can I Pauline just I'm sorry. No, go ahead. Assistant Superintendent Hollandsby, pardon me. Um, so I just want to repeat back what I think I heard you say. You said when there is a vacancy and we have to bring in a contractor to fill that vacancy in order to serve a student

that the the encumbered funds for that vacant position are transferred into a different line item that funds contracts, right? And then there's additional money that has the contractors are more expensive than than district employees. So additional money also gets um allocated. Yeah. And that that's where our contribution to the program comes in.

Great. I just have one other very quick question which is about ADA. Um I I know we've I know we've been receiving those updates, but can you do you know what our current ADA this year is? Um it's it was on that slide if you want to go back to it. Um we have we haven't I think we're showing a projection of 94.8. I thought that was based on Yeah, we have the October numbers I don't have them um at hand. Okay. Um but we're we're funed we're we're higher than what was projected. Correct.

We are. And um we when P2 comes in um we tend to be funded at the P2 level. um and that will be later on in the year. So, what we're doing right now, we're using our enrollment to drive the projected um attendance because we're we're looking at the enrollment to ADA ratio and kind of going along with that ratio. Great. So, thank you very much. Okay. Director Based, did you have questions? Yeah, I had a question. Um, just when you talked about potentially bringing budget balancing solutions earlier than normal for the board of education, what would that look like in terms of the committee engagement process? Have you and the superintendent discussed?

Well, we're going to re re-engage the the um superintendent bud budget advisory committee and actually last year I think we re-engaged them earlier.

This year we're waiting for the January budget. Um but we have uh we do have a lot of data. We have accumulated a lot of data that we'll be sharing with the superintendent's budget advisory. And of course we have to identify a target that we think um with board um involvement, come up with a target and then we're going to be working with the advisory to come up with recommendations um to meet. But given the fiscal outlook, do you expect the timeline to be the normal timeline or do you think that that's going to come earlier in the spring?

The timeline is going to be the same. I mean just in terms of um you know when our reports are due we may have more meetings and um more involvement but I know we have um I think we have three meetings in May we have three in June and um we will be prepared to bring more um updates to the board at the board meetings. Great. Thank you. Sure. Thank you so much. Um add a quick follow-up question with regard to the the the additional 3.2 2 million of course is going to be a topic of conversation. Um that is and it sounds like a large number. It is. Yeah. Mhm.

And um you know on the board uh we have had conversations um with regard to the compliance aspect of how much of that 3.2 is locked in with say individualized education plans um that require certain numbers of minutes etc. but also what is not actually falling into specifically quote unquote compliance or statutory requirements.

Um and and this is not directly in your purview in that sense but when they come to you and ask for 3.2 2 million. Um what type of um suggestions do you have for the board as a governance body uh for us to consider? How do you analyze that? Um how do we do an assessment of whether or not that's appropriate or not? Well, in the past, um, when we worked with the special ed program, when they brought proposals, we would go through it in a lot more detail and we thought, um, that some of that in some cases it was um, it was higher than needed. But recently, what they've been asking for, they've come in, the actuals have come in sometimes higher than they've asked for. So, we're relying more on the program and the program team for their asks in terms of what they think they need um in terms of staffing to meet all special ed um students needs. So we are relying um at one point we did have the ability to to peel away at the onion if you will but now even after working with our fiscal team we're relying more on the special ed program.

Thank you. So you've had prior engagement with them and that the numbers have generally come in um to be uh under what they possibly needed. Usually usually what we would do, we would look at the first interim and we'd say, well, probably we have enough to last us for another time. But because they've come in and they have looked at their program for what they needed for the year, that $3.2 million, I'm relying on it. Um, to the extent that that amount either goes up or is reduced, I would propose that we look at that as a second interim adjustment. Okay? And these are based upon expenditures and then

projected expenses. So they look at how many students they have, what do those students need and what is the cost for and when they bring um contracts to the board, they let you know um for this cost they're serving x amount of students. So while we're not increasing the number of students, the services that we're providing are increasing for these students. Okay. So I do um suggest to ourselves as board members to consider some manner of engaging with with the um the special ed department in particular to uh uh educate ourselves about um those expenditures and how they are aligned with

um uh education special ed education and free and appropriate public education right uh for the students and to ensure that we're spending our funds efficiently um in compliance with the law and also with Berkeley values uh as well. Thank you. Can I just add one? Absolutely. Vice President Corn, I'd like us to um I I am curious. I know that special education costs are rising in every district,

right? Um, I'd be interested in looking at our our graph compared to other um neighboring districts and whether our costs are rising at a disproportionately high rate, right? And and they are um because we met with um ACOE. So all all districts costs are going up but our costs are going up higher and that's because of the service that we provide um with the full inclusion. I always call it all inclusive but it's full inclusion model that's definitely a more um expensive model. So

thank you so much. So there have been conversations here in public uh board meetings regarding um full inclusion and how to ensure um full inclusion with diversification of individualized services. Um so that's an ongoing conversation at the board for sped as well. Thank you. Are there any other questions for

not not a question but just like a comment for us as a board. I know that we had talked about adding additional um workshops around the budget. So something for us to consider and I know that I had mentioned at our previous workshop the importance of waiting for information in January about the budgetary outlook but I think that that's something that we want to make sure that we're planning for in this in the spring. Um so just wanted to make sure President Chang and if you and Vice President Korn could pull the board or you know find out a way to fit those in in the existing calendar but just the importance of us taking a deep dive because of the situation that we're in.

Yes. Thanks for that reminder. Um, director Vasetv, we we have had those conversations with the superintendent team and that is um in the planning stages. We do want to make sure to put that in place. I know it's a it's a a lift for the um the team, but it was as we found the first time around for members of the public. We had one uh budget review with the board retreat previously and we had planned to have one more, possibly two more. So, we're trying to plan them out. It does mean a a pool from your this team, but also means that I think we can kind of engage on issues in the manner that makes it more efficient when budget decisions are made.

And then I just want to add one more thing as we're engaging to be clear about prioritization early from the board of education because I think what happens many times is that we get feedback from the committees and then we decide and then sometimes there's a little bit of swaying of the board based on what we hear from our committees. But I think in this situation and based on our last workshop, really forcing us to call out those priorities early on and being in lock step with our committees so that we're part part of that efficiency that you're talking about, President Chang, um that we're transparent and clear about what the priorities are. And I know that I've been uh very vocal about strategic planning, but I think now more than ever, flagging those priorities early on in the spring and not vacasillating later on I think would be really important for us as a as a governance team.

Yeah, absolutely. The priorities is very important and amongst ourselves working with the committees but also from from the leadership team too. Correct. Okay. Does Vice President K have a comment? I agree wholeheartedly. Okay. We're going to be working towards that um agendaizing that uh and ensuring uh that kind of strategy. So we are at Oh, I'm sorry. We need to vote on two things. Two things.

Okay. on. So, um firstly, um uh I would like to raise a a motion to shift is a term. Mhm. $300,000. Yeah. Transfer $300,000 from fund 20 to what? To the unrestricted general fund. To the unrestricted general fund. I want to make sure you get the language correct to the to my bank account. Let's let's correct that. Our bank account

300,000 from fund 20 to the unrestricted general fund. Um uh so do we I think we should probably do a vote on that first. Yes. Yeah. Um is there a motion? Second. My motion seconded. Um can we do roll call on this? President President Mike King. Uh, yay. Yes. Vice President Jennifer Korn. Yes. And director Anna Rasidolf. Yes. Thank you. So moved. And I'm just trying to make sure. The second motion is to approve the resolution. Okay. Approve the first interim. I'm sorry. Approve the first interim. Uh, do we have a motion? I move that we approve the first interim. Great. VP Korn did have a second.

I'll second. Do we have roll call? President Mike Chang. Uh I Yes. Yes. Vice President Jennifer Korn. Yes. And director Anna Vasidov. Yes. Thank you. So moved. Thank you. Great. Thank you so much. Thanks for the uh um interim review. Super helpful. Thanks. Um so now we have a a special meeting to call to order. I'm sorry. There's a couple of items we wanted to address that we're now going to address through a special meeting. So, first we're going to recess to the special meeting. Um, but I think folks are going to stay on the deis.

President Chang, sorry for the interruption. I think you have to adjourn the current meeting before you open up the next meeting. Sorry, it's just a procedural. He just said he was going to recess this. Recess. Do we recess or adjourn it? And then come back for public comment. Is that what you're going to do? Okay. Oh, what do you think? Um,

whatever's in the scrim. I think we should recess and then come back to recess. Okay, that's right. We're going to recess it and then we're going to now we've recessed our prior board meeting. Okay, this is a little little strange. We sometimes have to do this when we add stuff on. Um, we're now going to call the new special meeting into order. And well, first I'll have to ask whether or not there is um a motion to approve the agenda for this evening's special meeting, which has been noticed. If folks check it online, it's under the same day, but it says special meeting that starts at 8:30. Is technically it's now it's um 8:55. Um so moved.

Second. Seconded. Um moved by director Videv second by Vice President Korn. Um, do we have the roll call? President Mike Chang, I. Vice President Jennifer Korn I. And director Anna Vasidov, yes. Thank you. So moved. Um, two action items. Uh, 4.1, approve the proposal for new special day prek class. Is there a motion and a second to approve new special day prek class? I'll move it. I'll second. Is a roll call. President Mike Chang. Yes. Vice President Jennifer Korn. Yes.

And director Anna Vasidov. Yes. Thank you. So moved. And the number uh the second item 4.2 approval of theou between Berkeley Unified and Alama County Red Cross. Is there a motion and a second? So moved. Seconded. President Mike Chang. I. Vice President Jenna. I. and director Anna Vesado. I thank you. So moved. So I'm thinking um special meeting at 856. Thank you so much. Special meeting was adjourned at 8:56. Okay. So we resume the regular

resume the regular. So that's why we recessed before. So now we're coming back into the regular meeting at 8:57. So we we that was so smooth. Such a quick special meeting. Yeah, we did a good job. Um, here we are again. Um, so it's now 8:57 extended comment. Yeah, extended uh comment. Um, well, first, do board members have any comment? No.

No, we don't. Um, are there members here? I don't think so. We don't have any cards. Do have any folks online? Paula. Paula's raising her hand. Paula, would you like to come on? Where's Paula? I apologize. Have to mute when you're ready. Unmute. Sorry.

Okay. Um, I just want to say, and I'm speaking as a former president of the Brooklyn Council of Classified Employees, the information that um, Commissioner Goldstein list in her bio is is a halftruth about how she was appointed. So, and I say it's a halftruth because the union appointed her as a union appointee because BCCE was is the largest classified union. The union and I was the president at the time. I appointed Heidi. So, there was a debate over um her appointment and the district fought the union on her appointment. So, and the union went to the state superintendent to um I wrote a letter requesting that that Torlicken appoint or confirm her appointment by the union. So I just wanted to be known that that's a halftruth about how she was appointed and that the union was very instrumental in her appointment as the joint appointee for the district.

Thank you. Um no other comments that I can see. Um therefore I think that we are adjourned. Thanks so much. That is what I learned. Did you know

100 million $100 million versus what we have? Sam,

you're not upsetting me. I don't care what something nice back.

I'm not going to bring the rest of students. Are you okay? Are you sure? Yeah. Let us know if you need a

You're getting a My house is literally like two and a half.

You have a ride. Yeah. Okay. We have security here. So good night. Good night. Good night. Tonight we have our student board member inside. Are you going to ride? Yeah, my brother's coming to pick me up. What do you think about all of this? You regretting taking this? No, I mean I was like watching it um last year because um I was like a backup backup. So I would always come to like the meetings and my friend would do them anyway. So but yeah,

this is the um seriously if you ever want to watch really amazing student board members board members incredible because the adult

and it's it's pretty it's pretty lit. Have a good break.

You enjoy. I'll see you in January. Yes.