Mountain View Whisman School District Board of Education - Regular Meeting

at 1400 Monaceto Avenue, Mountain View, California. The meeting was noticed at least 24 hours in advance. The meeting is being broadcast live on Zoom, YouTube, Zoom, and on mwsd.org and is being recorded. Um, this is a special meeting in accordance with actually we're only on YouTube, just streaming. Okay, not recording. I wish to inform public this is a special meeting in accordance with the Brown Act. Discussion and action during the session are strictly limited. Specific items described on the posted agenda. No other business will be considered this morning. As a special meeting, public comment will be accepted in person only for items appearing on the agenda. There'll be no general public comment period for non-aggenda non-aggenda items. Now proceed with roll call of the board.

Albert, Devin Conley, Anna Reed, Lisa Henry,

Charles DeFazio. All members are present and quorum is established. Uh next we have the pledge of allegiance. So please rise. To the flag of the United States of America, to the republic, indivisible. Next, we will move on to approval of the agenda. Um, are there any requests for to pull or reorder items?

Yes. I was wondering why is it suggestively I'm wondering if more sense just because we don't know how long I'm wondering if it would make more sense since we don't know how long the conversation will last to with item F first. Sorry, I should have caught that. But um perhaps entertaining that the board self-evaluation. Yeah, I think that's well maybe sorry after after the first read of the board bylaws. So maybe second.

We have a motion for that. I move that we um rearrange the agenda to have item F follow item A. Second, excuse me. 4F follow 4 A.

Yes. So just to be just for clarity uh if self-evaluation of the board 4F up to after after discussion of board bylaws and board policies for uh should take public comment. Anyone in person wishing to speak? Seeing none, I can go ahead with the vote. All those in favor? I. All opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Now we will move on to public comment for items on the closed session agenda. If any members of the public in person wishes to speak, please turn a speaker card. Seeing none, the floor is now closed to public comment on the close session agenda. We'll now recess to close session at 9:07 a.m.

All right, we the board has reconvened open session at 11:09 a.m. and no reportable action was taken. We now move to discussion and action item 5A board bylaws and board policies first reading. This is a discussion item only and no action will be taken today. like to present. Superintendent Bear, I think we can dispense with the usual pres presentation of this.

Yes. So, uh these are um this was a a special update uh packet that came out um in response to the attorney general's um policy language um and has a requirement of implementation by March 1st, 2026. So, that's why it's coming a little bit out of sequence. it will appear. It's the first to read here and then a second read on Thursday so that we can have it in place by the the March one deadline. Uh this is particularly uh um the these are all well the exception of 9310 um board bylaw 9310 um all of board policies are um updates in response to immigration enforcement. Um so they have um number of language changes and as we as we update I think you know uh we're replacing uh BP514513 with BP1445. Uh so there's a there's a replacement there and then the other three policies uh all have a there there are cascading effects because of uh language changes in that initial policy 1445. Do you want to talk a little bit about BB 9310?

Yeah, we can. So yeah, the the board policies bylaw um I think we took the feedback from the board of the committee and tried to clarify the language to make it clear that there are still clear paths for the full board to pass policy and ultimately it's still the authority we the committee makes recommendations ultimately the authority lies with the full board to go review all of these and approve them. I think that is the balance of that. Any any clarifying questions from board?

Can I just add one thing on the 1445? Yes. is that um it's it was it's rescending the part that is it was is currently in the student section of the policies and moving it in to one that applies uh incorporate staff and makes it broader. um not just this a policy that applies to students, but otherwise um a lot of the language is carried over from that. Um what was in the 5000s [clears throat]

uh these are the CSBA recommendations. Yes, these are um with But specifically they're making the changes that the attorney general has yeah there from the attorney general from the attorney general's office on model policy language foration enforcement issues and we have a

as super bear mentioned March 1 deadline to submit our updated policies consistent that the changes weren't significant because we've been keeping our policies relatively up to date but there are still some things that came out December that we need to to polish up. Um, I'm looking at the the board policy one. Um, the board bylaw. Yeah. No, 9310 B. Yep.

Board policies. Um, Oh, yeah. Um, and just making sure because what we went back and forth on was, as you mentioned, can the board propose policy? And so this now is basically saying that we can bypass the policy committee or proposed new policies could be sent to the policy committee. It gives us that flexibility. I think there's the the clause at the bottom I think that we had overlooked last time which is the board may wave any of these requirements at any time. Okay. Right. Thank you.

I'll take public comment on item 5A. Any members of the public in person wish to address the board regarding this item. Please return a speaker card. No members present. We will close the public comment now. Um any discussion from the board further clarifying questions discussion? There you go. Further discussion. Thank you superintendent. And I think just to point out we're going to bring this back um on February 12th. Yeah, bring it back under not under consent as we normally do under uh the discussion action because we have a little bit of a yeah uh different sequence. Yeah, we chose because of the

timing to visit the first reading here, but in the interest of transparency for the public and making sure that we do this fully, the second reading will be not consent. Thank you.

That is appreciated. Now move to previously item 5F board self-evaluation. Yes. So um this is an opportunity for um you as trustees to uh just discuss our operation your operations together um and how we function. Uh this is of course in an um an effort to make us as high functioning and efficient as possible. Um so having open discussion about um how we operate as a as a board um is always uh is always useful. Um so with that uh the board completed a self-evaluation survey. Thank you each for completing that. Um there were 15 questions and um thought it would be useful just to walk through and we don't need to uh some will be quicker than others but um just an opportunity to to discuss um each one. So do you want to

yeah just to jump in right like so reminder this is about that it's awkward situation to be doing it's an open session as required by law we are discussing ourselves and how we're working but this is about the board as a whole not about individuals right so this is how we're functioning together this is a place to identify where we can get better what we're doing and then improve the work that we're doing with the district to make sure that like we achieve the outcomes we want for all of our students um so primary goal I think would be when we're thinking through this and going through the questions, identify the strengths that we that we think a handful of those growth areas that we want to improve on. And then kind of at the end, I would like us to probably come up with maybe two to three improvement goals that we want to have for the coming time so that we can really hold ourselves accountable for making the changes that we expect to see here working together as a board. Um, as we discuss, I might I'll probably prefer like we should do maybe like round robin type comments and then we can anything that jumps out at folks, but that way we'll have this work together. Trusty question.

Yeah, I'm just trying to understand process because you've seen them all. Do you have sort of a summary of what we came up with?

Um, I would say that uh in general you're all fairly closely aligned. um a couple that um stand out um that I think will perhaps warrant some further discussion. Board handles and retains confidential information of a professional manner. Um there was a little variance on that. That's question number three. And then um uh question five, uh superintendent has given direction by board as a whole rather than individual members. There's a little bit of uh variation there. Again, not wild. All of these are it was a 1 to 10 scale. Um, when I say variation, uh, nobody was, everyone was between six and 10 on these, but still, you know, a bit, uh, those were the those were the two that really stood out as as having some variation.

Do you want to start with those or do you want to just go down? Um, sorry, one more. That's right. and 14. The board has established measurable goals to assess student learning efforts to promote equity and school climate. There's a bit of variation. Let's start with those. I'll note this will be the time when I would call for public comment having done this, but there's no public presence. So, we will continue on. All right. Superintendent Bear, do you want to start with the first question and let's let's go in reverse order just for fun. Uh, the board has established a measurable goal. This is 14. The board has established measurable goals to assess student learning efforts and promote equity in school climate.

Trusty Lambridge, you want to review maybe the responses in aggregate semianomized? Uh, do you want just the comments? Yeah,

sure. um have all but one just so you know uh while it's important to maintain continuity for district our goals have not been revisited for some time and we often do not connect the work our programmatic choices and the measurements of these goals was the comment on one um uh LCAP uh and strategic plan updates are needed. There's another comment. Uh standardized test scores should not be the only means to measure student success. As a board, we need to take time to develop agreed upon goals and standards of of measurement to check in on throughout the year. That we have ideas and opinions. We need solidified methods and regular cadence of discussion to track progress beyond the discussion of mandated test results. And then uh the district has goals in goals in this area and the SIPs and then the existing strategic plan. But these need to be re-examined and revised with a plan for continued momentum maybe momentum progress. How about that? Great. So similarities there anything that

Yeah, I just would say that you know in my opinion we haven't as a board established goals. We've I think we're focused on strategies to accomplish something but as a board we haven't you know I really discussed goals and uh any kind of meeting and we've sort of heard uh superintendent bear speak about his goals and the goals of the the staff that uh among ourselves I don't think we've done that yet. Are you thinking are you thinking more like the old version of board goals where we pick a few

I say like a vision of where we want the district to go to go to what what we want uh say in one year two years five years right I would say for me that's the plan yeah and then agreeing on that you know aligning with the staff and superintendent then the rest is implementation and strategy, right? So, I think we know we clearly we need to know where we're going to get if we're going to get somewhere. I think that and we're often quite informal in their so you can call on us. I don't

Well, do at least um so we can collect a round of comments from folks in reaction to this and then we can open it up to more discussion. I think it would be a good way to allow every one of us to kind of say Um, I think for me that that cool setting, it's um what I'm thinking about with this is um this process that we're in now. And so um maybe it's part of the governance calendar discussion too, but what is our cadence for updating strategic plan? Um what do we want to accomplish by the end of this? And this is a shared conversation. It's not just a board decision by itself as Belle was putting up. What do we want to accomplish by the end of the year in terms of our strategic planning and changes to the LCAP for next year? And then what do we anticipate trying to accomplish over the course of next school year as well? I think we have we have a short term and we have longer term. Then we have the big big picture. But um what will be the key for kind of taking next steps on this spring so that we roll into the fall with when we set board goals in the past was very much being mindful of um the summer is when a lot of preparation happens in the district and then staff come back for training in the fall before school starts. So what chunks do we want to go ahead and prioritize for rolling into fall and what are outcomes that this year?

I think maybe to just to bring it back just a little bit, right? Like I think we'll towards the end we'll have our discussion of what we want to do and how we want to accomplish like our goals, but I think it'd be useful to know elaborate on your perspective for how you feel about this in particular, right? Like how we are establishing them currently. That's kind of the the self-evaluation part of this discussion and then we can go forward looking more for things. But I I'll give you some time to process that and I'll move on to Trusty Reed for

Yeah, I think that the key um terms here in the the prompt were measurable but also um promoting equity in school climate. So to me it's what have we done to and how has it been measured that we are making progress towards um impacting student learning but also promoting equity in school climate. Um, we get regular updates on things like, you know, this is performance data based on this test and this test. But as far as um overall, how are school climates staffwise and studentwise doing? Um, have they increased? Have they is there um besides the healthy kids survey that comes out once a year um how are we tracking that in a measurable way throughout the year and not just that one time because if a child feels a certain type of way in that one day there that's going to reflect in um that piece of data but how are we doing it on a regular cadence so that it accommodates for what could be potential outliers. Um so having more conversations around checking ourselves on hey we set these goals where are we and do we need to shift focus or do we need to increase focus on something else versus a different thing. So I think just the future more in-depth conversations about what our goals are and how we are

working towards them on a regular basis would be helpful. Next person. Um I think there are you know there are written goals um from the existing strategic plan that has had a lot of things added to it um from the site plans um that I know I think at least some of us felt also had a lot of things in them and um so I think for me it's where we are is needing to move to the next step of focusing as a board and as a district on what are really the goals. Uh we want to do everything, but what are really the things that are the the short-term and the long-term true focus areas? Um not just kind of a longer plan that fit anything can fit into, but truly what we want to be doing. and then um having them not just be measurable but actually measured on a regular basis. Yeah, I think for me, yeah, I think when I was thinking about this question, like we have measurable goals that we kind of put down on paper, but I don't think that we collectively as a board and maybe it's perspective of a new person, but feel collective I think ownership of those goals, feeling like they're reflecting our priorities as a group. And I think, you know, we'll talk about how we get there, but I think we're measuring goals that have been put into place, but I'm not entirely confident that that's aligned with our collective vision for where we want to go and making and making sure that we're really feeling ownership of the outcomes that are

associated with those goals, right? Like I think we all we all here care about the students and their achievement, but like the connection between those two things I think is the part that that I feel like we're we're lacking. I we had a lot of things that we urgently were dealing with in our first in our first year and I think in in the year that we've served together here. So I'm not uh I think now is a good time for us to kind of develop that that we we've all developed some of these skills. I think that that was that was my perspective on this. I think I I read the question and we have established the the goals but I I I'm not sure that they are established by us as a collective organization.

Yeah. I want to sort of add part of that too is that you're no board here, new board majority, right? It's taken a year to get on board and this is really the appropriate time right for you to sort of grasp this and you know you'll be here for the next three years right so at least

and with superintendent turnover like there's the get on the ground kind of get the lay of the land start to do some evaluation um I I the only caution that I have like as a new board I remember when I first came on the board long time ago um there was a process of setting board goals that was not driven by the strategic plan. It was driven by the priorities of the board and I think that that made those goals very political and I don't think that's healthy for the organization. I think that the goals should be driven by the strategic plan and the strategic plan is not just about the board. It's about community input. It it goes up and down. In an ideal world, the strategic plan has input at all the different levels um within our organization and that should drive the board. It should not be kind of political specials if that makes sense. And so that's why I keep coming back to we need to update the strategic plan and pull our our measurable first kind of what Trusty Henry was talking about and the we have an LCAP update coming up uh at our next board meeting but um making sure that our measurable goals especially around school climate are meaningful. Um I was really frustrated with the school site plans in the past because I didn't feel like the goals we set there were meaningful. And so I think this is a really great opportunity um strategic plan now priorit priorities for the board or goals and then that tying into the school site plans in the fall but with a great deal of community input and staff um engagement. Um yes, going back to the uh school site plans and the strategic plan, there is

just so much information there. And with school site plans, if there are massive quantities of goals, it's really hard to track anything when there's so much. And I think that's also part of the sure we have things that are measurable, but I don't believe they're being measured in any type of way that is meaningful to create change or impact because there's just so much stuff. Um, and that's what I'd like to see with this goal setting is what are the really top things that we want to focus on for any given time span so we can actually have time to have discussions and make movement within those couple of things versus um and we all attended those school site plans meetings in the fall that were massive amounts of information and Um, I think that's hard. If you go on to any campus and you're asking any staff member, what are your site's goals for this year? And how are you moving towards attaining those goals? I think some people would I don't really know because here's this giant document of things and I do not have time to filter through or figure out how that's going to align with my instruction or um how I'm going to put any of it into action. So I think that figuring out a way for us as a board to kind of prioritize some things to make the goal setting and the measuring more um practical and meaningful is something that I'd like to push forth and uh pursue. And I'm sad. I mean, when I'm talking about these goals, I'm not intending to talk about just the things that these

six people at this table come up with that it's it's part of the a thorough strategic plan process that is grounding every single thing that we do that we can always point to, but isn't this vast array of things, but that is a true like there's strategy to it. There's and programs and hangup. Um because I have seen in the past, you know, as a non-board member over the last decade, how we end up with the Christmas tree is having things that may be a board member's goal that are different than the things that were on in the strategic plan that were really going to move the entire district and our children forward. Um, and so that's I just want to clarify that for me like that strategic plan process has to be the foundation of it and not one where things kind of get shoved in later when it's, oh, that sounds like a good idea. Let's find a place to hang it under the one of the strategies, but no, we're really like this is where like everything we do with budget should we should know where that fits in. everything we do with program, everything we do with staffing, like everything should do that should fit in. And I appreciate that the staff right now when they do a presentation, they always lead with which strategic goal. Um, but I think somewhere along the way it morphed into well, I can always find somewhere that I can pull out something that it fits under. not truly we're going to choose this and not this because we've done this thorough process that involved community and staff. um and that that's ultimately what everything has to hang together on. I think in an ideal world we used to have a cadence of there have been and it's come and gone

right. So sometimes there was a cadence of regular strategic plan updates with the strategic plan. What do we call it? A scorecard. It was um it was basically a report on the progress towards each of the goals within the strategic plan. And then when things got really really challenging that wasn't prioritized by staff and it, you know, in the last school year when you all first came on with turnover and superintendent and two different interims and you know um there was not an update on the strategic plan. Um but that's why I was talking about the governance calendar too is once we've set these goals um based on the strategic plan what is the cadence for update on that and that gets to what you're talking to about as well Trusty Reid is like how are we getting information on this progress and making sure we're focused and that our community understands what it means. I'll give an example. I've heard a lot about the MBWSD way this year, which is kind of a new thing, but I don't even know if I really understand what that means as a trustee, but it's been kind of like the mantra that people can say to me. Um, but what does that actually mean? So, if we're cohesive and we're targeted, um, as Trusty Reed said, everyone should be able to understand at least what some of the priorities are.

Yeah. I think to to to bring it back, right? I think I think this is a natural thing that happens towards the end of a previous strategic plan is that just if you haven't kept them up to date, right, they start to drift from the actual vision of the organization and the actual things that are that are happening, right? Like so I think that's that's a critical thing, right? Because if you review our existing strategic plan, right, we have like five different goal areas. Each of them have like a whole bunch of sub bullet points. I think similar to the school site goals, I think like you end up when you have too many things that you're measuring and too many goals that you're tracking, you end up not really thinking about which ones are important and which ones actually like are the top level things that you want to move the needle on, right? Like pairing some of that back I think helps maintain the focus on the things that are really really important. That doesn't mean that things not on the list aren't things that people care about and aren't things that people uh are worried about at the schools, but it helps us internalize this at a high level like what the progress is and where things are going.

Well, I think what we see in the school site plans um you know principles have pretty healthy site budgets and they have to justify their expenditures. And so part of the complexity of the school site plans is um principles having to document all of that spending and what it's tied to. So while I agree that it needs to be more targeted and focused, it's it's also part of it is always going to be a little complex and unhealthy because they're doing so many that money gets distributed in different ways at each school site if that makes sense and prioritized a little bit differently based on the school community. So there I think there's a a tension there or friction in the complexity of the school. There's a statemandated process for how the school site council has to review the school site plan and approve it if I'm correct superintendent there. Um

so I will check on this. Okay.

But um the need for the site plans the single plans of student achievement site councils that has evolved in recent years. Um, I believe the only school that has to have a site plan right now is Castron by law. Doesn't mean we don't want to have goals for schools, right? Doesn't mean we don't want to outline, but I will check on that and come back. Okay? Because it has to do with it does have to do the need for a plan and accountability for funding is tied um to the source of that funding, right? I I want to make sure um I need to come back with information, but I just want to plant that seed on what's required versus what we do and how that might drive decisions around um goals for schools. Okay. Thank you. Good discussion of that. I don't anymore. Should we go to another?

So, one of the um one of the other the number uh question number five, the superintendent has given direction by the board as a whole rather than individual members. Um that one had a bit of variance uh on it from a six to a 10 um to a nine. So it was a bit there was just some variance. So I think there might be some it might be worth a conversation and um and a seven to just make sure. So from six to 10, right? this way. um at least in so far it was the on higher end up there not um that I I think that I have observed that superintendent bearer has um waited and and to be able to kind of see consensus um before taking it as direction. Um I do think that perhaps one thought particularly based on our last meeting um that there could be um opportunity for it being like in your guidance of the conversation the the being more sure um before something's taken as uh of clarifying what you're what superintendent's taking as as our direction. Um, and clarifying kind of exactly where the the board's position was um, and whether what we're saying is actually meaning the same thing, if that makes sense. of um not just kind of appearing to to sort of have have

consensus but that we actually at a deeper level mean the same thing by what we're um but I I don't see uh I the the question kind of contrasted is the the superintendent getting direction from the board and the whole versus an individual individual trustees and I I don't see things moving forward and seeming to be direction that actually I feel like come from just one or two people and I don't know if that's if other people see it differently.

I echo those same comments and that um in the time that we've been together I don't feel that I see that there are there's evidence that it's you know one or two board members where the direction is going um based on their priority. It seems that there's a lot of um discussion individually but also during meetings and um close session where there's there's time to thoughtfully gather input from everybody's perspective and kind of um have meaningful discussions where I feel that everybody's voice is heard and everybody's um level of participation is taken into account when decisions are and that it's not um strongly pulled in any one person's direction or two people's direction. I feel that a lot of um the recommendations coming from Superintendent Bayer really are this is what I've gathered based on conversations that I've had or that I've witnessed and this is generally what seems like the consensus versus um I feel a certain type of way or somebody feels a certain type of way. seems like trying to gather information and then provide the the general this is the consensus from what it seems like. I think um for me this is a hard thing to actually have insight into because we're not in everybody else's individual meetings with the superintendent. So, we can make the um the score based on what we see in the public meeting, but it's hard to know what happens outside of the public meeting.

Just seems to me that um superintendent ways everybody's uh hears everybody and uh you know basically supports a majority. I think to to trusty Henry's comments, um there is a tension. I think I noted that we, you know, we often function on consensus rather than the explicit direction sometimes and that I think has the risk of potentially falling into someone's brainstorming an idea and then staff takes that as a direction for something that we generally want to do. I don't think I've seen it happen, but I it is something that worries me sometimes where it's like if we're just kicking around ideas and deliberating over something that it might be taken as a more serious direction than we intended to. And I think it's something for us to be mindful of as we as we work towards arriving at that consensus and direction.

I think that's where it's nice to have an experienced superintendent because he will ask for clarification if he needs it on board direction. Um I've seen boards trying to do straples. Um I know I'm thinking the budget discussion in particular. Um there was the consensus portion and we took a vote and then um the conversation seemed to extend a little bit longer than it needed to um after that. And um so you know just being mindful of um when has the board kind of reached an end point in the discussion that but I mean I I do trust from what I've seen with superintendent there so far that if he feels like direction is unclear he's going to ask too.

The flip side of that is I would make like us to make sure that we have that internal muscle and discipline for doing that, right? Because I don't want us to rely on as much as I appreciate all superintendent's work, I don't want us to rely on having necessarily an experienced superintendent who will do that, right? It's a way to slip into those types of situations where so it's useful for us to be mindful in in our operations to make sure that we're we're clear on that.

Yeah. And I think it's a really big help that we're meeting with superintendent twice a month now and every every board member is doing that. That means we all have the same facetime with him. We also more importantly come prepared with the information, you know, that can't necessarily be put here, you know, on the agenda. So we're prepared and know more about what he thinks. Um, but to me that's just been a revelation because uh if I wasn't president I would come to many board meetings just being completely clueless about what was going on having once a month meeting. But I think publicly um at board meetings I think um in those moments asking for or or saying out loud um what staff and I are hearing right I'm hearing direction is just to that's something I can do as well um as opposed to just walk away with it in my head I can say it out loud. I think uh what superintendent or trustee Lambert said about the cadence that we are now doing meetings um I don't know that that's been put out there publicly but I think sometimes that's a concern for the public of who's meeting when and when is this the only time you guys are having this discussion and um so it's good for them to understand that there is twice a month that we're all individually meeting, but then there are also sometimes where um there is a meeting with more than just one trustee. And um I actually have found that that also brings about a different level of um understanding when you have that little extra

somebody when there's somebody else there and their opinions maybe or thoughts slightly differ and it gets you to have that oh okay that wasn't exactly what I was thinking but I see that and now I'm kind of thinking about things in a in a different way prior to being up here. So there's there's lots of conversation that I think is happening prior to what the public sees. Um so I think that's also important to note that um there are more opinions than what is being live streamed.

But always mindful of the Brown Act like it's all you know if there's ever um I will note um I think we've only I've only been in like a a meeting with one other trustee. It hasn't happened very much for me. I think the way we're doing the president and vice president working on the agenda together sets up a structure there. Um but you know I think briefings you can always tackle a couple of us for briefings which we did with the aenda report. Um I I think that's

earlier or at the end of last year I think with budget too, right?

So um I was traveling with you one so I I had to do that one [clears throat] on my own but I think that um that's I agree with Trusty Reed that that's usually very very productive. Um, and you know, it's not I I have never I don't think I've ever met with the superintendent less than two times a month. I've always been a maybe a little too engaged in wanting to question what's going on um behind the scenes. Um, but Superintendent Barrett, I know, gets phone calls from me that aren't part of our schedule, and I'm sure he does from other trustees as well as things come up. I think that's I mean just to be to be clear right it's on a range of topics and it's um all with the with the intent and the want to make sure that I mean you all need to be informed of what's going on in the in the district as you as you interact with constituents as you get questions right we want to make sure that you I want to make sure that you're informed and don't get you know caught off guard with a question about like uh I have no idea That's that's just not that's just not good for him.

It was a good idea to go to having vice president and president work with a superintendent to set the agenda. It's that helps assure since the president otherwise would have so much power in setting what the agenda is. It really helps

sort of distribute the responsibility. I think just that in particular I think is a useful change in that it also just allows us to make sure we're not missing anything because I think you know you and I both had had caught things that the other hadn't caught to go on the agenda somewhere. I think we've had that experience already. So it's really I would also think that would make the transition of roles much smoother. just generally appreciate the more informed we are, you know, it's we have a the similar thing in my day job, right, of like it's always a bad outage if like the user sees it first and I I'm finding out about it later. You need things that you can find out somewhere here. Like if if I'm hearing it from someone at the the hill versus

Yeah, sometimes those are useful data points that we can provide to the superintendent as well. [laughter] Sometimes we do hear about things first and we need to pass it up the chain and make sure people are aware. Fantastic. And then the uh the third one that there was some variation on was the number three. The board handles and retains confidential information in a professional manner. Bill, any reaction to that? Basically think we do a pretty good job of it.

I think we've had some ups and downs. Um and it's it seems to have been more consistently better.

Those are my same thoughts is that I think initially there were some how did that get out there? Um but now um it seems pretty consistently we're worse but where we're supposed to be. I I think my thoughts are the same as um the two of you of that particularly when we first started, there were a couple of things that either came out in community comment or in the newspaper that I that I had questions about how someone knew about that or even just things where um maybe things had been hinted to someone um and they extrapolated things that were not accurate. Um and so um but I have not had that feeling lately. But I I it's just such an important thing that we have to be able to trust that everything in close session is like truly even if it doesn't seem it seems like an ancillary thing. Um just because even a little thing people start to make assumptions um and then you can't correct them.

Got it. My my experience I think is roughly aligned with the rest colleagues here. I think it's you know we deal with a lot of issues in close session. It can't be made public for for various reasons. Um, in talking with constituents, it's often, you know, I think people need to be careful about how they talk about anything that is even listed anywhere is done. I think we've done a better job over that in the future, especially because they're in the recent history. But um additionally because like I think as you're pointing out like slight mentions then get filled in with more information that we can't correct or anything like that and becomes an even bigger challenge to to do. Um not not commenting on the accuracy or or correct any speculation about close session is very difficult. I think you bring up a good point in the uh having discussions with constituents and I hear often well that's a very political answer or um what why are you being so vague and it's I have to be I cannot leak information and um that's that's the nature of the beast is once you get into this portion it's what happens happens in close session informs a lot of the background detail of why decisions are made, but that can't be public knowledge. And so it's it's difficult for a lot of constituents to understand the process and it sucks to have to say, well, you have to trust the process. But I know that there's been lack of trust in the past, but we are now in you for majority and you voted for us in the capacity that you really trusted our

decision-m skills. So there has to be that level of we can't give you all the information so that you to justify decisions that we've made because those are meant to be confidential. I I have a an example that um keeps being brought up sometimes which is kind of fascinating is um this idea that the board president personally negotiates the superintendent's contract and champions it in some way. And um that is not how the board works. And it is very challenging um because we can't speak about things like the superintendent's contract or resignation agreements outside of close session. But it is always a board vote and it is not we'll have a little individual trustee out there doing I don't know what people think they do but um that is a an example of when stuff does get leaked or if somebody who maybe has served on the board in the past or is on the board makes a comment that misleads the public about how those decisions are made. That's also very challenging to correct. Like they know better and yet or maybe things weren't functioning the way they were supposed to in the past. I don't know. But um and then that breaks down trust from others over time. So it's it's makes it even more important that we are very conscientious about what we do and don't share because it can get um

kind of expanded upon in a negative way and we can't correct it.

Yeah. I think um right to to the first point right like any we do we do we don't often have reportable action out of close session but when we do take actions there is a vote of the board similar to any other vote that we take and we do a roll call for these things right like this is a important piece of clarity here um I think that the other thing that just kind of your comment I think brought to mind was also I think one of the challenges which I think something we need to be mindful of also is Um, people may try to intimate that they know something about session to get you to comment on things that have happened in there. And it's [clears throat] a very a fine line you have to walk, right? You can't comment one way or the other. It's really important for just because of the types of topics that we deal with in session. Like we don't ever communicate any information affirmative or negative or anything like that. I think that it does. Do you we have the last section too? Do we want to cover maybe just any sort of

Yeah. Read through some of those quickly go reactions or things. Yes. object that should we talk about how we're how we're going to use our time and how long we're willing to go because I think we originally have a 9 to 12 and and and I'm okay with going longer but I just thought we should probably like talk about

how how much longer for this I would say probably allocate 10 minutes at most for like some specific goal you want to have going forward just that we can check or do for some things you identified if folks brought some things to mind and then maybe five minutes here to discuss the the free form comments. But I'm hoping to that's just that's a stake in the grass on these negotiable because our work retreats in the past have been from like 8:30 to 2 and I just put that on my calendar is what this meeting was without realizing that there was a stop at 12. It's a little bit longer. I prefer not to spend all afternoon here, but uh

yes, I I'd like to finish this conversation. um on the same boat. I would yes not like to spend the afternoon here but so 15 more minutes here on this on this item and then we'll continue with the rest of the business. That sound plausible to folks or Okay. Um which so there were two questions maybe you want to hear them both. I'll read the questions to you just as a reminder. What do you think are the three biggest problems board must deal with in the next two years? That was one question. And second question was, are there any other functions, roles, or behaviors that you think the board needs to improve on? What would your suggestions be for improvement?

Start with B.

Yep. Uh, so this is improvement, right? enhancing the board's work in effective oversight while not overburdening staff with the necessary burdens and requirements. An effective division of labor across different board roles and functions to make sure we're effectively using our limited meeting time and staff resources. Then making better use of our existing committees and potentially building new board level committees. A study session where more information is presented, more questions can be asked live versus a written document. That would be interesting questions would be beneficial before larger action items such as budget cuts to allow for more community engagement, but also for more time to process information and come up with additional questions before discussion and ultimately action. The board needs more time creating tracking board superintendent system programmatic goals to see how things are progressing and shift if necessary at more timely intervals to keep things moving forward efficiently while keeping the main thing the main thing increasing student achievement. Uh relationship building with marginalized families also possibly uh staff town hall. So those worthy as a reminder uh other functions, roles or behaviors you think the board needs to improve on suggestions for improvement and maybe that rolls into I mean that probably informs the next task you were talking about which was uh what are our takeles here?

We have this way of good things in there. Um [laughter] um but I mean a variety I mean I guess a theme of more information and time and processing um and of connection and opportunity for um different types of outreach. Yes, that's what um stood out to me is uh study sessions, town halls, more time for engagement and processing and receiving information um before ultimately decisions are made. Yeah. And um I I think everything there was great. Um I think this is a very processoriented board. Um, we might want to do one of those what is your kind of how you receive and process information style um activities at some point, but superintendent bear is probably figuring it out. [laughter]

So, I do think we have we are presented with lots of information. Um however I find it difficult to interpret the information in a way that I can act on it or helps inform decisions. So um I guess what I would I think would help all of us is to not only have the information presented in sort of a different way but also with a uh with a purpose, okay? To inform us. Not just here's all the scores of all the schools, but here are the scores that you need to know to help inform, you know, some kind of decision making. Um, I like you say, does that make sense? Right. I'd be glad to elaborate, but I I just I feel I'm I'm too often overwhelmed with information or I'm wanting more information. Um, from what I understand to that point, I think one of the things that I that I've taken away from like we get lots of information sent to us in presentations and it goes through and staff does an excellent job of communicating to us. Um, I'm often left at the end filling in my why of like what I think is the important place where staff needs direction or something from us, which I think all of us probably individually do. And it'd be helpful. I think maybe reframing what what you're talking about is like getting an explicit or close to explicit ask staff of like this is all the information we have. this is kind of the area that we're unsure of that more direction would be useful for us to to

achieve the goals that you've all set for us, right? And pulling that together helps I think line up the the process.

Something that I noticed um is there was a general type of or I guess like the level of detail I was looking for at some points. I think I was asking very similar trustee questions um several meetings in a row and then I started finding that now the information is just in there. So then when I go to look at the document to ask the question, oh that attachment is there or oh that that's already part of it. So that that's a nice uh transition into like once they realize what types of questions we're asking, they're preemptively proactively putting that information in there so that I no longer have to type that out as a question because it's it's there. But the more we engage with them, I feel like they're trying to adapt to our needs, which is which is good for us for us to be able to say, "Oh, that's how I process information." been great. Um, but that's not out there for the general public. So sometimes when they view th those slide decks, it's I don't have all the information that I want based on that slide deck. But it's also the understanding of yes, but based on what we need or how we process information, staff is trying to shift to get us what we need to make the decisions which may not which is not going to be what the general public views as how I want the information. prepared for me.

I I do agree it's getting better, but I think I think your point is important, right? that the information we're providing is to inform the board to have the information that you need to make a decision or be informed on a particular topic which may be different than what a member of the public wants to see and how they want to see it. But that's not who we're responsive to. We are responsive to you as elected trustees. Right. I think that's what you were saying, right?

Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And there there has been a shift in little details of I would really prefer to see the information presented in this manner and then either the next meeting or a few meetings after. Oh, there it is. It's presented in the way that makes sense for me to process it to be able to make that decision. And I think publicly that's not that's not discussed. And so it's this doesn't make sense for me. It can't make sense for everybody and it has to make sense to the people who are ultimately in charge of making the action. I think this speaks to one of the ongoing challenges for any school district is there's the decision-making piece for the board and then there's the communication piece about how decisions are being made for the public because if we if we lose our public and they don't understand why decisions are being made and it doesn't feel like the right decisions are being made like that's a real problem too. And so there's there's a tension there. Um, and I think, you know, part of what Trusty Lambert was getting at is I find it extremely helpful when at the end of the presentation there's a discreet ask of trustees like here are the three questions we want you to answer. Um, that's very helpful in directing me as I'm reading through the information provided, but then getting I think you've got some people who love a lot of data and information. And those can always be links in a cover sheet and not necessarily part of the presentation. Um they can it doesn't always have to be in the slide deck. It could be somewhere else but in the publicly available materials too. Okay. with that. I think maybe we can come up with I don't know two to three goals for functioning better or is there more folks would like to

discuss?

I'm not sure. So what type of what type of goals are you trying to get at? Um, so I think we have a lot of especially in the last section, right? I think there were a handful of areas that were common themed it sounded like of to me, right? Like we wanted more study sessions, right? Like that is something that we could say over the coming six months or quarter or something like that, we should have some number of study sessions, we can kind of guess on specific topics that we want to address, right? And that's I think something we can say yeah we came here we talked about this this is something we desired to help us do our jobs better and to to function better. I think we can check in and say did we actually do that right is that's kind of my my goal here is have some actionable things that we can take away from not that it's a bad idea but I think another question is maybe a little um you know assessing what has happened in the past. We've always said we wanted more studies that are we never do it though right? So why is that right? What's what's stopping us from doing that or town halls? I mean town we just we talk about it but we don't do it. So so but there's I'm not I'm not criticizing it. Just like there's some

resistance somewhere. First step is just writing them down collectively as a group and saying we should do this.

I think so I I don't think like an arbitrary number of study sessions is helpful. I has I think it has to be guided by like what are the things that we want a study session on. We did do study sessions last year. We did a lot on housing, right? We had also a lot of extra meetings last year. And so even if they weren't called study sessions, some of the extra meetings fill that gap too for us. Um, so I this is where I want to look at the governance calendar and see what's already being covered and what do we see lacking and if we want a study session, let's talk about what we want and when. But I don't want to set an I think a arbitrary number doesn't make sense. But what we do a lot of these anyway is as part of [clears throat] the strategic plan update, right?

Yeah. I mean, part of that is I assume staff will come back to us with a suggestion for strategic plan study sessions. I think it's useful for us to develop commitments together things that we want to do and then being able to judge ourselves on how we're doing them, right? Like this is I think if we we're this is not our last board self-evaluation. I would like to have some outcomes from this that we'll look at next time and say did we actually do those? I'm just questioning is your outcome we want a study session on these three different topics or is your outcome we want three study sessions one makes sense to me and one doesn't.

This is this is for us to decide right like these are our goals but I want them to be actually specific enough that we can determine whether we did them or not if we think they're important. I would like to set a goal that we have at least one community town hall um around I've not quite decided on what the topic would be frankly um maybe around the well around the strategic plan um like a listening the challenge in town halls in the past is you could only have two trustees or Could we have No, we could have it be a broader public run the town hall, right? Staff is a board,

right? Staff. So, I'd like at least one strategic planning town hall. Yeah, I would request

I'm happy to leave topic that as and as needed and then like if we decide that like there's an important thing for a time of town hall for like let's say immigration enforcement is coming up as a topic or something like that where we really want to engage the community on it. I don't want to feel like oh you said we were going to do one on site prop why on a strategic plan like why like yeah but that's where the number is arbitrary like right for both study session or town hall you're having a discussion about the same thing let's have one town hall on what each have three study sessions on what I mean the the topic should drive it not the fact that you want

I think so what I'm keying off of though is that we have multiple times or touchpoint on this saying retroactively we should have had these things and I think if we let it too much up to like we should do this and leave that blank I don't see us driving towards doing it

that's my concern too is we can say let's try to plan something and be mindful of using that tool of the town hall But if if we don't have a set to just continue to push whereas I feel like um for example the the budget um that was we can anticipate the more um the larger items that are going to bring a lot of community engagement and that would be one where we know this is going to have a lot of community comment. Let's try to get ahead of it and do a town hall or a study session prior to so that on the meeting day the amount of public comment is much less because we gave them that opportunity to be heard. And so then the meeting then becomes more about actual board discussion and or the the action as needed and less about community engagement because I feel like because there's that lack of town halls and lack of study sessions that our meetings are becoming more about community engagement when that really should happening prior to a board is board meeting is meeting of the board discussing things that we plan on making decisions for. So, community engagement and time for them to give their feedback on things that we will discuss and we will have um a decision to make about in the future that should be done ahead of time.

I think I think just reiterating what I hear you saying is that giving input at the 11th hour right before the decision is going to be made isn't the best time to inform your decision. it's actually perhaps several weeks prior when you're still formulating, right?

Um, and I think it it feels like I would kind of have like two buckets of things um that uh one is kind of from a governance perspective and that's to me where the the study sessions are different than ch are not about the the input. I mean they can give input but are more about making sure that we understand whatever that topic is in depth and ask even in this kind of more informal conversational style understanding um in depth. That's where I think a specific thing I would like to do is um in looking at the governance calendar are there topics that probably every year we should do a study session on maybe you know the budget or um something like that where like that can just be a part of like every year in April we talk budget whatever that timing is but like that would be the action I would like to take is to identify are there and I don't want to add eight million study sessions but are there one or few things where every year we know we really need to have that more in-depth conversation and it should just be on the governance calendar and they just happen. Um, and then I think we had a theme in some of our comments about community engagement and improving access to community engagement. So, I think I I think it's a next step conversation of what we think, whether that's town halls or whether that's office hours or whether that's different types of things that can be um whether it's a meeting, you know, our board meeting goes to a different site or whatever it is that I think that should an action item. I think the next step would be a specific conversation on community engagement and how do we

improve both the like people's access to providing it in advance and the um broader connections in all parts of the community. Um I think that will be a very important specific thing with strategic planning but also just what are what are our mechanisms in place um for making sure that and so I think that's I guess to me the action item is to have that next step conversation

but for to the I think in your discussion of the study sessions I think it also just John's thing in my um mind which was we we spent a good amount of time here discussing how we have these kind of meetings and get gather information outside and it's hard for folks to kind of see that. I think study sessions are a very very good tool for us to have that discussion in public and have people see all of the stuff we do ahead of time to to come to our understanding of issues and work through that. So I do think that that definitely supportive of scheduling at least some some study such things.

So I can think of a few topics already for locations. So, I know we talked about having a board meeting or some sort of pastor specific. So I was kind of concreteful of the next school year or I don't know if you want to do in the year or next year students and work It does a lot. So that's one that I would love to set a concrete.

Yeah, that that would feel town hall like in a right because it's not going to necessarily be like the standard agenda for a meeting, right? That would feel town hall like where we're overviewing a pro program there and getting some input getting input in the normal structured way and making it accessible community.

So so that to me I don't know about that. sort of two-way conversation and um we don't seem to have those right to where we have these meetings. It's more of a formal board and speakers have their three minutes to speak. I do think it would be useful to have a have a conversation with the public and and set it up that way. I think for those you would have to be in twos, right? Like if we're doing a full meeting, it has to be in the standard agenda format.

I know there's issues with that, but that's that's yeah, I think that would be very valuable and much more. There's something very constraining around this three minute and it think it always seems to come to some antagonistic kind of you know presentation. So can I just toss out there that we're are we [clears throat]

We're going to the format, right? I think understanding the why, what we want to accomplish, and then figuring out the format that best fits makes that makes the most sense, right? If it's a conversation just to listen around a couple of key questions or whatever it might be, then we can decide what the format is, which might be a town hall, which is more free flowing. Um, but I I worry about setting up the or identifying the goal as the format because then we're going to potentially shorn something in that's artificial,

right? I that's kind of why the next step [clears throat] as not to punt it but to like have a more in-depth conversation about what format is and what the goal is because I think and there could be multiple things. I know other other school districts do things like, you know, two trustees, two office hours, kinds of things. [clears throat] Um, or, you know, town halls, which can be, you know, I think of probably the last, I mean, maybe I've missed one. The last one I can think of was 2018 after Parkland and it was about safety. Um, and that was a lot more kind, I don't know, like a potion and some information out, but also just that kind of open mic chance to sign up and say what you want to say. And those can all have different functions and I think I don't know that right this minute unless everybody was thinking about this a lot more that we're ready to say exactly like three study sessions or this thing but I think that's right to me that the next step is kind of identifying

because even when I think about a cast right like because I do think that's really important do we want to talk to them about what's currently in place do we want to get input on vision for the future do we want to toss pass out. That sounds very casual. Do we want to outline some ideas and take feedback on those what we want to do to improve the outcomes for the kids at that school? Right. Um so I I think again understanding though the what and then we can figure out the how.

Yeah. I think on this on the study sessions side I think we're relatively clear right the what and the benefit of it. I think that's a degree of consensus that I don't have a particular number but I think we can probably

if you review previous board meetings from things like budget where you're seeing a massive amount of people showing up because they want more information or they're asking lots of questions and their comments. I think it would be safe to say yeah that would be a definite we should have a study session prior to that meeting. Then maybe to to anchor on Trusty Henry's like maybe we have a community engagement plan or recommendations that we think are not for not to be generated here but that would be I think a nice next step to commit to. Right.

I like that. Um and I think so when when we did the reimagining Castro plan um in that first year there were multiple on-site meetings. They weren't board directed meetings. They were about the reimagining cap plan itself and presenting what was going on and getting community input but all the board members were free to attend and listen. And um and I remember people being rightfully concerned last spring when we were talking about what does that mean for the coming year with the reimagining Castro plan and there hadn't been another session to gather community input. Um, so I think what you're hearing are some topics. Budget, probably study session, maybe town hall, depending on what's needed. But like budget,

when you say when you say, can I get clarity when we say budget? Are we talking about budget development, understanding the budget? Are we talking about a year minus a few months from now? uh about other reductions we need to look at going into the the following school year.

I'm I'm thinking like December or early Junior budget. What is what is what if because we already have this big budget decision this year when we're getting ready to make decisions about the budget even if there's not cuts. We're getting ready to make decisions about the budget which usually does have to January weaving in an extra session of some sort. This year it was the report but I think that might be where I think when um Trusty Reed talked about town hall and community input and I think that's where I'm thinking of it differently. Um it maybe it's both but it's that that I'm thinking about that on a governance calendar perspective or like before we that a more of a study session making sure all of the board members understand in depth the budget development process and the pieces of the budget um before we get to that May meeting where it's a public hearing we're hearing seeing it um that's where I think maybe as a just every year like opportunity for in-depth financial conversation so that because everybody comes in with different levels of finance finance background. people come in with different like making sure that whoever's on the board has a very deep understanding of how that what that budget means and how it's developed. And then in our current situation and you know in where there's going to be a lot of input making sure that there is that opportunity for whether it's town hall or however it looks opportunity for getting as much you know input uh in whatever additional settings kind of piece is what I think maybe what I'm realizing is

right so what when I Think back to this school year. I think in I think about in October and November during those three meetings, we talked to the board about [clears throat] revenue and expense, right? So I think about that perhaps being pulled out, not looking exactly the same, right? But that would be perhaps study session, right? We have that because if you remember we think we did it over the course of three different meetings right whereas it could be a single meeting just or a single study session special meeting just for clarity study session is a special meeting um having a a having a special meeting just on that topic and that's really about kind of what the where our money comes from where our money goes to what the forecast on each of those is right what we're forecasting on the revenue side we're forecasting on the on the expense side

so that there's that level set understanding

the so what I would be looking for on something like that with finance is that you know during the last previous year this year we're we're addressing financial crisis one of our word so what what and when and you know how we should have been informed basically to get ahead of these and not have them come to this where we were in the end in November of 2025 like oh my god right or even this year it's sort of sort of jumped at us and we weren't even prepared to sort of anticipate or it's something that so that's what I'm that's that would have helped me right and I think it would help the district right so we're we're being proactive rather than you know react

well one I thought about that too just a quick side on that, right? Is is when I look when I've looked back historically at presentations that have happened to the board, it's clear just deficit spending, right? Like when I looked back, that wasn't surprising to me, right? What was surprising was that the severity of the the AV growth decline in a single year. So when I look back, of course it's easy to do revisionist history, right? when I look back and say, "Oh, we've been deficit spending for quite some time on ongoing expenses." Yeah.

Like that's something we need to be conscious of. So I think going forward, that's something we have to explicitly point out, right? Lord, in approving this budget, we're approving a deficit spend this year of this much money.

Yeah. And I I think that some of the forum and the having the budget presentered during the board would enable it to the the discussion to be less confrontational rather than putting the CFO and the staff on the spot asking a really really tough question is right or what if and what and that's sort of not appropriate and in an other kind of forum it could be um easier to talk about honestly. In summary, do do you have direction you need? Um, right. Something agreed on space. I think potentially coming around in like what the it would be like the August September time frame for revenue what you were just discussing, right? September. Okay. I don't need to commit to a particular date. I'm just trying to make sure we're concrete about what we're discussing.

Well, it it it should I do think it should follow. We've got our actuals from the previous year, right? Do do we want a midpoint of like second interim compared? Maybe not this time since we've been talking about it a bunch, but just in a regular like midway point discussion or is there value there? I think I think if we have something that's more regular I do think it should probably be like in January. So just a similar paired version of that which would be say around like second interim would that would there be value there right like or have budget

yeah yeah the kind of do we want to do it kind of in an annual sense or would be a regular I don't again I don't have to go over the details here I'm just wondering what's the the amount of information that we we think would be useful for the board in developing that skill asking the questions and having the space to to have that discussion,

right? Um I think having a I think having this September October cadence we I [clears throat] think what we'd have to think about there is what type of um direction we're looking for from the board at that point, right? Because during that time we we at least get our unodited actuals in. first interro comes in November. Um, I I'll talk to um to Rebecca about this about that fall idea and what what would make sense there because we want to present it for anformational um point of view, right, to the board to make sure that we're level set on what the understanding for for the current year is, but then also what we can um pull from that and where we are currently that might inform us for our planning as the winter and spring come, right? Yeah.

I was going to say I think second interim is too late. Yeah. Yeah. Because we have to make decisions before March. We need to be we need that information. I know the I know the school year's just started right at that point, but there are some things we're already looking ahead on and and understanding. And yes, we have a lot of assumptions in there. But um but I just again think about the what we will we will have by that time a much clearer understanding of AV growth from the the prior school year right and that that's obviously a big driver in what we do going forward so and then and then we can figure out what we need in the

because it isn't second you're right it's not second interum it's it's January Great. Great. With that community engagement plan, we'll have some recommendations for how to forward on after this. And I didn't mean to anchor entirely on study sessions and town halls. I think there are other things that we can propose, but I think we identified a a point where folks were interested and excited. So,

I think that's a productive good first start. Thank you. Thank you everyone for participating. I think with that is there anything further. All right. We will now move on to check the agenda 5D. So we didn't we didn't know how much time we needed to spend on each of these but we wanted to bring them forward. right for you maybe the first month's action uh just um the trustes meeting calendar for 2627 um finalizing the governance handbook having a chance to look at the governance calendar and then you would ask that the committee list be so start with the meeting calendar I think and clarify questions from folks

the one thing I would ask is because I pulled up a district calendar for next year and I don't think it lists the open houses yet and back to school nights. If you could just make sure that there aren't board meetings on that conflict with either back to school nights or open houses that we run into every year, just to flag this is the swearing in not every year, every time there's an election, um the I believe there's a deadline by which the new trustees need to be sworn in and it's usually December 10th and yet the election results might not be certified um for the November 19th board meeting um and so that late date there are a number of times when we've had to add some sort of special meeting in December um because the 17th does not meet that committee deadline. So, just for clarity there, if you want me to investigate this, um the the 17th can be a ceremonial swearing in and the swearing in can actually happen prior to that. It can just happen in my office where the the uh the elected trustees take the oath, right? So, they are actually um enacted, right? They have they have assumed responsibility through that swearing in.

So it doesn't have I feel like we've done special meetings in the past. You can, right? That is possible. If you want to hold another meeting or do we just want to have our board meeting on the 10th because that would meet the deadline and then we don't have to do all those things.

That just conflicts with board prep because of CSBA, right? The packet prep is the conflict there. I recall correctly. I think there are which have the lawyers look at it, but there are like state law things around because it takes often time for election results to be finalized now that like it's not a hard and fast like swearing in deadline, right? Um, but we have to schedule the organization organizational meeting at a regular, right? But it doesn't have to itself be a regular date. So, we can do all that stuff in a special meeting.

Yeah, he's just trying to simplify. I I do think the tent still holds as a deadline. The school district deadline might be different than what you've had for city council, for example. Um because we bumped into it multiple times. Um questions complete. No members of public wish to speak.

All those in favor? Motion by trustee member second trust to approve the calendar as presented passes unan item governance calendar let's see this is discussion only there's some things I mean I think we we know that we want a preschool update to be on our government's calendar that was that came up that if it's not on here and it doesn't happen then that's a little bit problematic. Are there other things that they want to see on?

Yeah, I have a similar question. It's more of a question than a request because I don't know the answer to it. Um, so there's a number of call them initiatives or projects or things that you know we we we launch and we don't necessarily do any assessment and you know one of them is what you're talking about too is but you know is that something that we should have an update on every couple of years or after it starts or and try to keep us okay [laughter] everybody's shaking their head I mean what what scares me is that there's so many there's so many of these kind of things that it can get overwhelming to the staff it does so I yeah I'd like to see things and I think all of us could enable you know half dozen right off the top of our head but you're shaking your head. I mean you have suggestions how do we triage them I guess is the question right

the strategic process I mean I think once we have a new strategic plan it absolutely has to be built into it I think there's this in between of like what do we do with the things now and what are the things right becomes the question yes that are

that are there's a want to have feedback on now, right? Some of them may want feedback on in order to make a decision on whether it stays or goes in the future, right? So, we realize that. Um, but I think that would I what I can do is generate a a list of the many many things. Um, and then we can talk about whether there's a need for a yeah,

a report on it. And what I'd be looking for is a little bit more than typical updates that okay, here's a presentation of where we are with it. Okay? And they just go through and list all of the actions that were taken. I'd like something a little bit more in depth. Okay? You know, who are we serving? Is it accomplishing our objectives? How much are we spending, you know, spent to bring it up? How much are we spending on an ongoing basis? and you know and to make it in a way that we're we're not trying to put a program at risk necessarily but to understand how is helping the education of our kids and our money is aligned I mean boundless

I think the the example that jumps to mind for me is the early literacy intervention we're doing we were getting kind of updates on that annually on like what was the what were the student outcome impacts directly from I don't know if we kept discussing the budget for it as clearly, but I do like the idea of um when we're discussing programs, not in a I think it would become less controversial if regularly when we discuss programs, we discuss like the costs associated with them. Not in a let's cut this or trim this or it's not a good expenditure way, but in a

this is where we're putting here's how much we're putting here, right? Here's how it's doing so far, right? And some of this is going to come naturally because I will say that the I know that there was plenty of members of the public who talked about the number of people working in the district office, etc. The number of people working in the district office was commensurate with a number of programs needed support. Right? So, there are certain things we are natural. I'm gonna come to you and say we can no longer do that because we don't have the personnel to do it, right? Because we're reducing the district office staff by is it nine? Yeah. FTE, right? That's a lot.

And so there's going to be a lot of program we can no longer support. Um you know, we're looking at that rule. We're trying to figure out right now Prop 28, ELO, uh BTB, all of these after school programs. We've cut a lot of people, right? And how are we going to positively support um everything that we're doing? Because each of those takes a great deal of time and effort to sustain RTI.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh so we might be playing catchup for a while but yeah but going forward whatever that cadence is you know every two years or whatever and it's it's more like a presentation that's an assessment or whatever it is however you say it um and then that would appear on the calendars too you know every program doesn't have to be assessed I I see sort of stagger right just to make it manageable Yeah, definely. In my my off time, I've been reading about aligning your budgets with like construction programs. I know that the finance officers association has a framework for smarter school spending and has a lot of good activities that could be useful for staff to go through both like discussing how to when starting new programs, make sure you're sunsetting them or at least evaluating whether they're working well and how to measure This is all I'm doing person here, so this is all um but also how to measure like impacts and like line up those things with making sure you are getting like the ROI for those.

Yes. Would you send a link to the trustee? Yes. Yes. And the most important thing to do in that is at the inception of the program establish those metrics by which you're going to evaluate it. Right. because backing into it

things is challenging. And it's a good it's a good discipline for us and for staff to recommend like you know staff comes up with ideas for things that they want to do and having saying where they expect it to succeed and where they expect the challenges to be is a good way to get early commitment to that and back. I think a key term that you just mentioned suns setting which sometimes doesn't happen with initiatives and so sometimes at the site level you have teachers feeling like things are being stacked on top of each other and they're doing something that was in effect many many years ago and hasn't been and just feeling overwhelmed with things and it's like wait you're still doing that that we stopped doing that a while ago [laughter]

you yes you what I something I've heard You have to explicitly state to stop because people will they want to do what they're supposed to be doing, right? If you start something and just assume everyone understands that this is replacing this. No, that that is not the common understanding. So the the other thing that I don't see on here right now which I believe is something that we have consistently done and so it should be on the governance calendar is um a construction update. Um, usually those were to say they were closer to the the interim reports.

Maybe if that cadence, but but I but we and part of it was because we had um our bond a lot of the expenditure has already been done on it, but we haven't had an update this year on on kind of where we are in construction updates as a whole as a board. Yeah, it might might be might be or maybe a little bit differently is a facilities update. Yeah. Facilities an update on the master facilities master improvement plan maybe. Yeah. Or Yeah. Because that and then you could throw in demographics, you know, forward looking and what Yeah. But where we've been, what we've what we've done, and then where where we might be going.

That facilities master plan is sort of like strategic plan for facilities. 10 year plan and it would automatically come with the construction update. I would I agree with that one. Um make sure we have that before the summer.

Yeah. Um and then just a couple things that I hadn't noticed before in the um just in the governance section. I think it'd be worth noting when the policy packets come out just um as a so that we know like everybody knows that packet comes out in February expect like two months worth of policies that came out and in that one um there is always a webinar um and um just so that's kind of in that and awareness um and then I think I think one thing Um the two two pieces on the every other year election year. The we did not get this for various reasons. There has been a board candidate orientation in like September after filing just kind of that information like in a September and then the new elected people. So I think it got here as board candidate orientation December but it's two separate things. It's the new elected people get an orientation in December, but the candidates getting some background information which was potentially scheduled and then wasn't scheduled and that was complicated.

How was that done? Remind me. How was that? What was the I mean, it hasn't probably been done since in a long time. You got one. I had a candidate one. I got a candidate one in 2018 and it was like a full long session kind of like this. Every department head came in and presented about what their departments did and I was given a huge notebook by every department head to be able to as a candidate. Yeah. So that the candidates a sample calendar. It's not like to the election season informed about what was happening in the district.

After you were elected, I did not I was the only new So you all came in as three new trustees. I was the only new trustee on the board at that point and so I just had weekly meetings. But it was never done after that, right? No, there was no orientation after that. It was just so many years, you know. Uh oh, I don't know. Was it done in 20 I think it was done in 2020 on the you have to I wasn't online virtual

but I think they did it but I think it was obviously zoom because there were multiple candidates that year we didn't get the candidate part you were part of our newly elected I think you and I were buddies and then um so we didn't we did it as in pairs but um committees. I think if it's a district committee that there should be some uh cadence of reporting out

other than I attended this meeting during this time that there's an actual report for what those committees are doing if they are board committees. I mean there there is for like the parcel tax and the bond but I I agree with you that it would be like a health and wellness committee update. I would um I think we should be getting a DAC update frankly because that's such a important part of our community that we're not hearing about as much on the the calendar specifically the parcel tax ones that you're mentioning. try to

the parcel tax and bond oversight both do a report out um where there's discussion around what's going to be reported out and who's going to do the reporting and in what um format that report is going to come out but I feel that if it was standardized like either everyone's going to have a letter to report out or everyone's going to have a slide deck to report out that way all committees understand that that's a an expectation at some point in the year to prepare and um have that budget advisory committee. I'd love to hear from

some some Yeah. Some like you said the uh oversight committees they I think they're required to actually do it right. So that's done on a regular basis. Other ones, yeah, they sort of don't necessarily do it, but it's a good idea. get an update from the residences corporation board

on the the calendar. We scheduled our update. We haven't the chair that committee that board um but yeah we will make sure at least when the expectation is for the for their update it's helpful. All right in public for comment on this item. Any more discussion? Okay. Now, government's handbook item 5D.

Yeah. So, this one has undergone number of revisions. You most recently saw this in December um with and the all of the changes that were suggested at that meeting have been incorporated. So, uh, we're looking for either further adjustments or approval of this going forward. This would be a an important piece as we enter elections.

So, something that um came up and I was discussing this with Charles um is unless you have prior board presidents telling you about the cadence for superintendent evaluations, we don't have it. We have that cadence documented anywhere like the media evaluation should have at least two sessions scheduled to discuss X and Y or you know like um and maybe the handbook isn't the place for it

but but it needs to exist that because these take multiple meetings and it has just been kind of like a different presidents have done it different ways. Um and so to develop president's handbook president's handbook but it but it should be for the board like it's not it's a collective it's a collective document of all of us but it is the guide for a super president make sure you you know ask for I think that's an important document to be passed out like we all have input to put into it but ultimately the president is running off of that

they have to know when to to ask people to return documents they have to know the cadence and timing. So, let's just write it down somewhere. Appreciate the guidance I've received from our senior senior members of the board in helping manage this. Uh, but yeah, I think it's useful also just we're learning from this and helps talking to going forward all of those process bits that we need

and I think that could be a page in a handbook, you know, and collect things or link or whatever, but like I think maybe in the board bylaw. Yeah, that that Yeah, I would also like Yeah, you have you have the superintendent evaluation, but it's also tied in I think some specifics are tied into your contract, but also that um board self evaluation would probably belong in there as well, right? Like Yes, absolutely. the structure and how we want to do that. Just

and I apologize. Did we put like order treats or usually scheduled here and here in maybe in there? Yeah, there's an August and a and a January.

Yeah, in the board member commitment page number five. Thank you. This might be part of the governance calendar, but it's not a we maybe it's a future agenda items thing, but um we do have to talk if we want to do anything with trustee stipens, which we might not want to. There is there is a a deadline on that law. Oh, okay. Thank you. Yeah, to clarify, we can there's no deadline. We can take action if we need to. So, um, but I think generally,

but there is a a little bit of a deadline for I'm sorry to be circling back a little bit. um the professional development budget for the upcoming school year because AEC registration opens in June. We need to make sure that we talk that we that we have on our governance calendar the the PD or the board general board special for the upcoming year. We should we should do that probably in May. changes

all the work that's being done on it. It's it's really come a long way. It's exciting. Yeah, this is an action. We'll wait for no members of the public wishing to speak. And then we'll a motion to approve the governance handbook. I was saying that the evaluation stuff doesn't go in the handbook. It'll be separate. Okay. So I make a motion to approve the handbook as presented. Second. All those in favor?

I motion passes unanimously. Trusty Conley, seconded by Trusty Lambert. Now we're reaching the close, I think. Next item is for committee representative list item 5 as a discussion item. Um, I want to add this primarily just to kind of clean this up and review what we how we structure this. I think our discussions about like different committees and appointments and I think it's a useful um moment to take a look at that which we don't usually actually like look at the list of committees and things that we and and roles that we have. Yeah. Any questions? suggesting adding more

I have suggestions okay which we've talked additions here but for the discussion of this so one thing I think we've discussed in the past

often right so so to step back I think um we have committee roles and then I view kind of the the non- voting members of committees that we have as effectively liaison roles with those committees which I think is a fair category ization if you're not voting. Um the secondary thing I think that we've discussed that is really something that in general discussions feel like we have a desire for our school site leaison where we have every year. So maybe a rotation of you have ex schools that you are going to be expected to not do everything at but be at PTA meetings occasionally be at school events. um do that I think like so that we develop some stuff we were talking about earlier about being available on sites in the community and being a known face for those. So I think that would be a nice addition here. I'm trying to manage board member burnout and roles. So we have a lot of lot of schools but I think like if we have three to five assignments total across like committees and liaison it's probably enough for people to juggle but I

was going to say the board has discussed this almost every single retreat that I've been here and the board has never agreed to do it. So to make it concrete, but I think people agree to do it, but it's just the the fact to to pull it off

is what actually doing. That's where having that I'd say we'll say that I I one thing I see other boards doing on an annual basis when they're doing other comm committee appointments is that is just the part of the list that's made looking at different boards sometimes we've done it we've done our committee things in the organizational meeting I've seen feel like sometimes it's a discussion of the committees in the organizational meetings and I guess it's kind of what happened this that came back on consent.

But the the two things that I see, again, I know this is adding things, but the things that I see that stand out to me when I look at other districts are those identified liaison positions. Doesn't mean you have to go to everything. Doesn't mean you're the only person anybody from that school can talk to, but that you have that intention. And then I see other boards that have an intentional um depending on the size of the board um but anyway an intentional connection with their city and with their um if they're a KA district with their high school district um on a doesn't have to be just that I see those things as um and it looks like Lasalttos does it as a yeah hills the um I think Certino maybe as the city and the high school district and K to8 all together but different configurations of making sure that those relationships um are just there. Um

yes, there's a the additions that are being discussed. Um part of the school site liaison isn't necessarily from our standpoint of um we have these school sites to keep track of and those are the ones we're going to. but also from the reverse perspective of there's one clear person to reach out to from those sites because sometimes trying to figure out who you want to talk to or emailing everybody in blanket doesn't seem um productive from their standpoint. Not that they can't reach out to anybody in particular, but at least there's a name to okay, if I go to this person, they're going to know, right? There's a better starting point for that. um the city and the high school district I think is um is a good connection to have. If we are feeding students into the high schools, we should have regular communications with them as far as you know what what are your needs from us to help prepare our students to be at your level. those types of discussions um where there's a little bit more um uniformity in in how we're we're doing things so it's not a stark contrast of like oh entering a brand new district and now I I don't know how to navigate this. I I think that would be good for our students but also our community to have a little bit more um thoughtfulness in that transition. I think um timing matters. Well, so for example, so next year I'm gonna be the only trustee with a child at Graham. You two are the one be in the high school district. So to a certain extent, I think it makes sense for one of you two to be the high school liaison for sure because you're

going to be going through all of that anyways and you're going to have some unique insights. I'm quite happy to be the grant person because I'm going to be going to those meetings anyways for the next year. But I I also wonder when we will we reset these in December. This would be an annual rotation. I know. But when is the annual organizational meeting? It'll be the organizational meeting.

I I Yeah, I wouldn't want to do more meetings to try to ren this. So just an organizational meeting and do set that up. I yeah but I know other people go to the grand meetings too because you still have kids so or like you're a natural citenden fit because you have a child of kittendon. Um, I already hear about Mistrol and Castro a lot, but I also don't have to be the person for them. It, you know, so do we, how much how much is this shake it up and go see a school that you don't know as well or how much, you know, how do we want to distribute this?

I think there's value in trying to do a rotation through different schools, right? like it helps all of us develop a better sense of everything going on in the district over time. Um, but I'm

Yeah, I think it if if we're willing to dive into this, it might make sense for 2026 to in the sense of not adding more things to people's plates of maybe it being some of the ones that you naturally feel like you hear from, but then if it changes every year, we have overlap. you know that it could over time be something that eventually people that maybe you you start with Graham because it'll be easy but then it becomes something else in 2027 was just kind of what comes to mind for me that that but I I do recognize because it would be something new that maybe having the easiest options first might be the way to to transition into it. Um and there's obviously Yeah, that's just my thought. So I can do monoloma and the most of your kids are in Landals and

Vargas and Kittendon depending on how these go. I'm also also citen a lot but you're warmly there. You mentioned that you're there a lot.

Yes. But that's something in the like I know I've my 10th grader spent three years at Graham. I now have an eighth grader who spent almost three years there. So I've been making it a point to kind of reach out more to Kinden staff and spend more time there which has been a different experience and I think there's value to that rotation of oh this is different different people different demographic uh different structure different needs to understand how different the needs are at each site um I think is an important thing as part of the rotation goes through to make sure that we're doing that rotation so that we can see how different

and well and that's kind of why I wonder is it would it be better for a trustee who's not as familiar with Mr. Alan Caster to be the lead? Do you know what I'm saying? Like um Yeah. Yeah. Well, I I I I would say also that um drawing the distinction from your parent role and your trustee role is an important piece of that too. Those are all good points.

I will say the public doesn't well when I go to a principal coffee um it doesn't matter that I'm a parent. other parents always view me as like anywhere you go as a parent who is a trustee people view you as a trustee regardless. I can draw the distinction in my head but I don't think that that's a public distinction for many people. I guess I'm talk I'm thinking more of staff in this particular oh I see um situation right whether you're a showing up as a parent I think it's always trustee you show up always as trustee as

I know that's what you I know that's what you know I'm talking about perception right and maybe to your point right like if there is a schoolside leaison that's at the principal's coffee and you are there too right like you're there it becomes clear who's there in which capacity even though you're both still trustees and are doing this right like you are there as parent whereas the person who's identified as such would be the I think that's going to be a big cultural shift that um isn't going to happen overnight of course um it's a very it's a very point these are things to consider as we decide where to assign

I think it's also you know I think Also, part of it too is that we've had whenever we have new leadership at school sites, uh even if you're showing up as a parent, um there's just information that you might have as a trustee that the I I can think of many times at Graham where I've been able to step in and say, "Principal is doing a great job answering your question about this. I can give you some context for the last however many years. or from the board meeting.

So agree school site leaison I'll bubble up in my like controversial [laughter] recommendations we haven't assigned them yet. Yeah we'll sign them but I think I don't I don't plan this is just a discussion item anyway. Um so yeah but I would as part of this I would encourage the uh uh the school sides to put up liaison on their website. Yeah. Right. So it's parents whatever it is parents will say it as as we develop this rule right that would be a nice nice communications. I mean I I think part of me wants there to be a board policy or something that mandates the rotation in the future because otherwise I don't think it will happen.

I agree with that. That's it needs to be written down that there is an an expectation of rotation that you're not just with the same schools for your entire term.

Develop the role the board policy committee can take up. Um so next um and then when I was going through kind of what our the remainder of our committee assignments were um and people can correct me on this somewhat but like I I mentioned earlier I kind of think of the non- voting members as effectively leaison to those committees right because you're me sorry uh because you're there right in observation and communication but you're not actually like contributing to the actual actions that the committee takes. Um, and so with that in mind, I kind of bucketed the remaining committees that we have around a couple themes. So community engagement would be say L MPTA council, MBEF, and PTA presidents. Student services is like DAC health and wellness district advisory committee. Financial oversight is kind of obvious, but budget advisory, partial tax and bond oversight committees, and then external relations, which trustee Reed got ahead of me on. And uh so we have Santa Clair County School Boards Association, but also potentially MVL High School District and City of Mountain View. And those kind of buckets, I think, are useful to think of. I don't know if we want to assign the same person to those buckets as we organize this to develop one capacity in a specific area for trustee expertise and also to minimize staff support for that person in that role. But I'm open to that as well. But I think that's a nice theming of sets of liaison roles that we effectively have.

I don't mind the theming of the liaison roles. I think it would be a mistake to assign one person to each of those buckets. Um, also because there's just traditionally roles that the board president has filled in part because they are meeting in theory more frequently with the superintendent and working on the agenda with the superintendent. So in the past DAC L PTA council, PTA presidents that has all been the board president. um doesn't mean it has to be that way, but that um that representational role was kind of a key piece for this.

Um and I think the the [clears throat] identifying those as themes is a good thing as like you know even just thinking about each year organizational meetings. Um but I agree um that I don't think that they should be assigned in that way um for a couple reasons. one I think that I think it would be a mistake to have everything for example in finance be one person

um I think it and and I think in general it's good to have and even you know sharing kind of those public facing things so that's not just one person um so that uh I mean there going to be some things where some people never want to do a particular thing and that's okay there might be a couple um people but other things you a couple people have interest and it it rotates more. Um, so I think yeah, thinking of them in different types of buckets. Yeah, because also those different buckets may have different levels of workload that it may be a helpful thing even just as people going into the future of oh well I've just chosen three things that are all actually meet every single month and so it's probably important to identify that but I I wouldn't want to have that be packages of roles.

I think you got ahead of my most controversial, which is uh not just having one person on finance. I think it might be nice to have a uh perhaps a committee of two board members that are specifically focusing on Can we have a committee a board finance committee just like we have a board policy committee? That's what I'm suggesting. I ask what the role of that committee is. We need to discuss how that interacts with the budget advisory committee, right? But I think you're creating a lot of work.

Yeah, the thing with fewer people I I sorted this on controversy. So just if anybody's interested as reference I looked at for example like Napa Valley has a finance committee and I'm not proposing we need all of these but they do have a little paragraph on their website of what each they have a finance committee and these are all they have a student member board so they have three board members on each a curriculum and student support committee a facilities and technology committee and then a policy committee and they each meet four times a year um those are but I appreciate that if anybody wants to when you go home look at their website, they have like a little paragraph that does describe kind of what the purpose of each of those committees are. And I'm not saying we need all of those. That would be a big jump in what we do right now.

But um I thought that was helpful to have those descriptions. It might be that this also comes out of like strategic planning process if that makes sense. My latter two here are meant or the last one is meant to more seed this discussion and try to start thinking about it. I know especially in staff time is not probably the best time. My other my other committee for potentially even after finance would be facilities and long-term planning, right? Like a set of board members that are focused on that and kind of how all that stuff goes on. But that is even further off. I don't think we need to talk about that now.

Yeah, I was going to say usually that becomes like a huge board focus. You do your master facilities plan update when you have the bond capacity to that's something you spin up. And so that is a little bit you know otherwise the bond and personality tax oversight committees are the ones overseen.

I guess I'd be sort of careful about these extra committees. um something like finance or facilities. So the idea is in my opinion that that's something all of us should know about and we should know know in detail and if we delegate sort of to a a subset they have that group just like with the policy committee has an inepth or greater in-depth understanding of those issues that don't necessarily get communicated to the board. So I I think that's uh I think that's risky. Yeah, there's trade-offs, right? Like division of labor taking the act the board meeting time that we focus on things but

there is staff preparation for each of those but like the flip side is all the all these are no matter what we cannot delegate our decision-m authority to these bodies. It's always advisory. So you're just entrusting folks to actually dive into the issue together and it's a Brown Act. These would all be Brown act committees. So it's all public and there's no no hiding there. But you are we are increasing our capacity as a board and so it's not true that the expensive

and to be honest with you I mean and with the policy committee I'm confident that you guys are going to handle it. So I don't spend a whole lot of detailed time thinking about it. I would hate to do that. You know if there was a fi having a finance committee and and think not My first reaction would be they handle it, right? I don't need to deal with this, right? That's wrong. SC these things if we decide to do them as to what they are charged with and what they're explicitly not charged with board needs to

and that be unified. I believe it's a bigger district and then us and it's a K12 and I think they have a seven person board. So, you know, well, it was just useful because they had the descriptions of the Yeah. So, I I so I think scale matters and I want to be responsive to staff on this one too. All right, I think we got the easy one done because we'll say we'll we'll plan that out how we actually allocate that and come back at some when the you're supposed to start with the hard ones first and then the the less hard ones are an easy win.

I'm not attempting to steamroll. I'm trying to build consensus. I want everyone to build my confidence as I [laughter]

So uh with that any public no public here for comment on that item that leaves us with future board meeting dates I believe February next regular meeting February 12th then March March 19. With no further business, there are journ