West Contra Costa Unified School District Board of Education - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the close session of the regular school board of education meeting for March 25th, 2026 um at 5:05m. um personas. West Country. The board is about to go into close session, but before we do, we are here to listen to any public comment on close session items. Individuals wishing to speak on close session items listed. If you are here in the auditorium and you haven't done so already, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card, which you can find on the entryway table, or if you are participating via Zoom, individuals will need to raise their hand in the Zoom app. If you are accessing the meeting by phone, press star 9. The time allowed to each speaker is two minutes. The total time allowed is one hour. Speaking time should not be transferred from one person to another. There is also no substitution of speakers. We alternate between Zoom comment and in-person comment. The public comment period is a safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed civily without interruptions

or intimidation. Please listen attentively to each speaker's comment and respect their time as if it were your own. be open to another point of view if one is offered. Due to the Brown Act, board members cannot discuss items are not on the agenda and do not usually respond to item presented in public comment. The items listed on the close session agenda for tonight are conference with legal counsel or anticipated litigation, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, government code section 54956.9 D1 um three liability claims for conference for labor negotiators and then we'll adjourn um close session and rec to open session. Is there any public comment? We have no public comment.

Well, thank you. And we will adjourn to close session and we will return to open session at 6:30. Thank you.

Good evening everyone. Welcome to the open session of the March 25th, 2026 regularly scheduled board meeting for the West Contracasta Unified School District. I am calling open session to order at 6:42. To access translation, please click on the icon on the bottom of the screen. If you are here at Dejon and need a headset for translation, you may pick one up in the back corner of the auditorium. In a few minutes, we will begin public comment. Agenda item members to the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the West Coach Costa Unified School District but is not on the agenda, please prepare now for open for public comment. If you are here in the auditorium and you would like to make public comment, please fill out and submit a WCCUSD public comment card. You can find him on the table in the entryway hallway. If you are participating via Zoom, please raise your hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning of this item. The of the agenda. If participating by phone, press star 9. After the comment card has been turned in, the cards are placed in order received and we will call on speakers one at a time, alternating between public comment here at Dejon and one on Zoom. Public comments generally last one hour. The time allowed to each speaker is 2 minutes. In the meantime, we are moving on to the rest of our opening procedures. And now we're moving on to item B2, the Pledge of Allegiance. Wow. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance.

begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We will now move on to item B3, land and labor and body acknowledgement. We recognize that we are presently on the lands of the Chenoyo, Muakma, Carin, Aloney peoples and acknowledge them as the first inhabitants of the land we currently occupy. I acknowledge that the burden of environmental exploitation and systemic injustice falls upon the labor of black and brown bodies in the building of this country and its institutions. I remember that black and brown bodies were born and died working this land against their will for generations. I also acknowledge the continuous contribution of the labor of survivors over the centuries to today of all immigrant labor including voluntary, involuntary, forced and undocumented people with in the building of what we refer to as the United States.

Arthur Dr. Roshelle Rogers Ard. Now, we're moving on to um the West Country Costa Unified School District board anti-racism statement.

The governing board is committed to the work of anti-racism, the conscious and active effort to identify, challenge, and correct racial inequities in the systems and institutions within our schools and community. Racism, explicit or implicit, stands in direct conflict to the fundamental princ principles of district education. To carry district education into the future, we recognize that we must continually renew and reflect on the roots of racism and develop new ideas to meet the times. Unjust ideas and policies and the racial inequity they produce have shaped us, our schools, and society. The board strives to uncover unconscious biases and practice anti-racism as individuals and as board members. We challenge ourselves to persist through the discomfort necessary for growth and learning, to deepen our listening and our examination of racism and oppression, and to develop a strong understanding of how our personal experiences and feelings fit into larger picture of continual oppression. Each member of our governing board individually and collectively is responsible for creating and nurturing an anti-racist learning environment where each student, staff member, and community partner is a respected and valued member of the district community. The governing board is uniquely positioned and it is our responsibility to identify and dismantle racist ideas and inequitable policies in ourselves and across the district. Therefore, we commit to supporting anti-racist policies, programs, and practices for our children's education and well-being while building strong and inclusive school communities. The board commits to holding each board member accountable towards these goals and moving the work of anti-racism forward. We also commit to holding our West Contraosta Unified School District staff, students, and community to live to living these standards of anti-racism in our schools. Board approved March 20th, 2024. Thank you. Um, now we'll now move on to

roll call. Student trustee Hung present. Student trustee Wooden. Present. Trusty Reckler. Good evening. I'm present. Trusty Smith BS. Good evening everyone. Present. Trusty Gonzalez Hoy. Good evening. Present.

Trustee Hernandez. Board Presidente. Do we have Trusty Hernandez on? So, okay. So, Trustee Hernandez will be joining us remotely. She had a family emergency to attend to, but she will be over Zoom and the information will be posted on our agenda for tonight. Um, reports of ratification of close session. Superintendent, is there anything to report out?

Yes. Regarding agenda item A21, the board voted to ratify a tolling agreement in the matter of Lee at all versus West Contraosta Unified. The vote wasn't unanimous. And regarding agenda item A23, the board voted to reject claim number 669749 related to an alleged personal injury injury. The board members voted as follows. Uh, yes. Gonzalez Hoy, yes. Hernandez, yes. Reckler, yes. Smith, recused.

Thank you. We will now move on to our student performance with Grant Elementary School. We welcome Principal Hadari to introduce her students. Good evening. I'd like to introduce our East Bay Center resident artist Shahad Husandi. She draws upon her deep love of Iranian dance, her formal training, and her innate understanding of Iranian aesthetics. Iran is home to 79 indigenous languages and at least 12 ethnic groups. And this joyful performance brings together dances from the diverse regions of the country. Bandetti is inspired by the vibrant dances of southern Iran along the Persian Gulf with lively rhythms and movements influenced by the Arab and a African cultures. Lori comes from Lorestan, a western province celebrated for its rich rugw weaving traditions. Around the world, Iranians also come together through urban dances, styles at parties, and social gatherings. In celebration of the Iranian new year,

nor ruse, which means new day, the spring equinox that symbolizes renewal, joy, and new beginnings. This celebration holds special meaning during women's history month as we recognize the courage and resilience of women in Iran who continue to fight for the basic human rights and freedom. From 1979, protests against mandatory distress laws to the woman life freedom movement sparked by the death of Jeno Max amini. Iranian women have remained at the forefront of a global call for equality. Today, many continue to protest, organize, and raise their voices both within Iran and around the world. Despite facing arrests, surveillance, and violence, their persistence reminds us that this struggle is not just part of history. It is ongoing. In light of the current circumstances in Iran, this celebration is especially meaningful as it brings together joy and reflection while honoring voices calling for change. This bravery and resilience continue to inspire people everywhere to stand up for freedom and justice. And with this I give you our grand frizzlies. moving

Heat. HEAT. I YOU KNOW I She chas. Ch. That's all. Heat. Heat.

Heat. HEAT. HEAT. HEAT. She My man. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

She got more. Hey, that's all I need to me Me too. Should me is all I need. That's all I need. You sure I'm sure

all you do. Heat. Heat. I hate Oh, Chinese. Open it. How's that?

So, thank you to the Grant Grizzlies for that performance. We really, really loved it. Um, now we're moving on to um item eight, student presentations, and that's Hercules High School Women's History M. student Jaden Alonso.

Uh hello. Um so I'm here to talk about Women's History Month. As we know, it's um a way to historically honor a lot of the female figures in our past who have changed society today. We look back at them like people who fought to um like people who silenced them like Susan B. Anthony who fought for the right to vote or Rosa Parks who quietly um defied the racism and all that stuff that she had to go through in the past. And there's even women like Mary Curry who changed signs with her despite being told she didn't even belong. Their courage shaped history. But to be honest, history didn't end with them. And in fact, it still continues today. Today's women are still breaking barriers. But now they're doing it in classrooms, in workrooms, on teams, online, and in everyday moments that often go unnoticed. They are speaking up when it's difficult. They're leading when they're doubted. And they're succeeding in places where they once told they did not belong. We see leaders who continue to fight in education. athletes like Serena Williams who redefined excellence and strength and a young woman everywhere who are stepping up even when it's not easy. And yet even now challenges still remain. There are still voices that aren't taken seriously. Still expectations that try to define who women should be. Still womens where women have to work twice as hard just to be seen as equal. But today, women are continuing to not wait for that permission. They're creating their own paths, rewriting expectations, proving that every single day that strength doesn't look one way and success doesn't follow rule. So, Women's History Month is not just about honoring what was done. It's about recognizing what is happening right now. Because the women of today, they're the history of tomorrow. And the choices we make now, whether we support, respect, and uplift one another, will define what that future looks like. So don't just remember the history but be a part of

it. Thank you.

Thank you for your presentation celebrating Women's History Month. We also had another student that was wasn't able to be here today. Um Leila Ho um but we want to give you a recognition um Jaden. So please come up. I'm not We'll now move on to item nine, student recognition.

So this student recognition is for the academic excellence and re receiving the every student succeeding program ACSA award. Um so keep up the great work and we will welcome principal Hadari back.

Good evening. I am now I have costume changed. Um I am representing Richmond Association of School Administrators. We are the local chapter of AXA which is Association of California School Administrators. Every year the Association of California School Administrators is committed to ensuring that every student has an equal opportunity to succeed. Across California school day, dedicated educators and resilient students work together to overcome significant challenges in pursuit of academic excellence. Each year, AXA recognizes 19 students from PK through adult education representing geographic regions across the state along the two additional adult education students for their perseverance and success in overcoming adversity. Locally, AXA is represented by us, Richmond Association of School Administrators. And as president, I am proud to share that West Kasa Unified School District has four finalists in the Axer EV student conceding award program. The region six committee composed of school administrators from Alama and Contra Costa County selected nine finalists and one regional winner based on established access criteria. All nominees will be honored at the region 6 student awards reception on May 12th. And here are the names of the students selected at region 6 finalists. Could I have? We're good. Prince Hassan Surell.

You got one more coming. Hold on. You got one more time. So at at this conjecture, of course, the board is kind to um provide our students with certificates when they participate, but Richmond Association of School Administrators has a certificate along with a gift card. So the students, guardians, parents, this is their gift card to purchase whatever they please on Amazon. In this case, it may be Legos. So, congratulations. And by the way, he's a grand grizzly. Um, and our next awardee is Kevin Escobar Ayala. and then if I could have principal.

Okay. I want to give the honor to the transition principal. I also have the honor of awarding the certificate of achievement to a transition student, Keithan Win.

Congratulations. Congratulations. Whatever. Do I stay up here or do I go? Let's see.

And unfortunately, Principal Randawa from Oolinda and her student could not be here with us this evening. Our final list is Jeremiah Caro from Alinda Elementary and I love Thank you. real quick.

Oh, that is so nice. Yes. All three.

Thank you. And a big congratulations to all the awardees tonight. We'll now be moving on to item 10, request to address the board, and that's the grant student council. I'm scared. Yeah. Good evening. My name is Junior. I am the president of the student council at Grant Elementary. We are here this evening to share our strengths, opinions, and give feedback. Here with me today are my fellow student council members. Mariam Orbina, Hector Reyes, Bonia, Heri, Kario, Natal Navaro, and Maria Sophia Toledo. Today, I would like to share with you my experience with student council. Being student leaders helped me with my self-confidence. For example, speaking in public today, it has helped me stop being shy, taking on more responsibilities, and learning how to be a better leader. I've learned that leaders must be brave, patient, and be a team player. Today, we'll be sharing experiences as a team. Good evening, board. My name is Mariam Mbina. I'm a fifth grade dual language emer student at Grant Elementary and student council vice president. Today, I would like to speak about our wonderful

faculty and staff at Grant. They are so welcoming and supportive. It is incredibly rare that a student feels unwelcome or unheard. For example, with the help and support of our UEE coach and student council faculty member, Miss Susana, we were able to raise over $1,000 through a hot chocolate sale. Board members, have you come to visit Grant before? Or better said, have you had a drink from one of our water fountains. The water that comes out of there is absolutely disgusting. No one wants to drink from them. In fact, lake water tastes better. I've even heard a student say that he'd rather die than drink from them. Those same water fountains have not been replaced, and they have been there since my mom was in school, and that was back in the 80s. We can't encourage our fellow students to have healthy habits and staying hydrated without your help. So, please consider replacing all of our water faucets for our grant community. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Heli. I'm the media chair for student council and I've been a student at Gr since preschool. The program I want to highlight for you today is a gardening program. Gardening is an important part of our day because it teaches us about plants and how to grow our own food. Gardening also encourage us to create our own gardens like the one I started at home. I have planted watermelon, strawberries, tomatoes, and different types of flowers. Activities like gardening help us as students learn through hands-on experience and projects to make learning fun. On behalf of GR students, I would like to ask all of you if you can please consider creating more shade at our school. We are very happy that we have the new tree area and we can't wait for them to grow. But the trees won't give us shade yet. So, we would like for you all to consider creating more shading and covering. It has been so hot that when it is time to go home, students are crying to try and find shade or cover in the rain. Thank you for your time.

Hi, my name is Natalie Navaro. I have been a grand student since kindergarten. I am a sixth grade representative in the student council. Today I will be highlighting the importance of band class and why all students should have access to music. I started band in fourth grade learning to play the flute and reading music for the first time. It was difficult at first but with time I learned how to play. With time I learned new skills like reading notes. Band is really fun and a great activity that gives students the opportunity to try something new and go out of our comfort zone. Although I will be going to middle school next year, I would like to emphasize the importance of music and helping students learn and grow. Thank you for your time. Hello everyone. My name is Hector and I'm the student council treasure. I'm in sixth grade and I've been at Grant Elementary since preschool and I'm going to talk about our art class today. Art is a fun class where we can learn different skills. In my opinion, Miss Emily, our art teacher, is one of the best. She is funny, intelligent, and a great teacher. Miss Emily has taught us to paint flowers, houses, and make clay pots. Art is an important skill to learn as students because some people will become famous someday for their artwork. Students at Grant deserve to have classes like art because it helps us reset our minds and it helps us stay on track with our work once class ends. Our school is not the newest, the nicest, or the richest, but our community deserves nice things like art so that we don't have to fund raise for things that we should have. Thank you for your time. Hello, my name is Maria Sophia Toedo many students from many different cultures who speak many different languages. Right now 73 of our students are newcomers. I was once a newcomer too. I came from Brazil without speaking any English. Today I could speak and understand English, Spanish and Portuguese thanks to the amazing adults at our school. At Grant we have caring adults like Miss Oglan, Miss Norma, Miss Gada and Miss Vetran. They support

students from many places like Central America, Mexico, Afghanistan, and Yemen. They don't just teach English. They help students adjust to a new life and feel like they're welcome. Because of them, our our school is a place where everyone could share their culture and feel like they belong. So, when you think about budget cuts, remember the students and adults who make this support possible. Thank you for your time. Thank you to our grant uh student council. We'll now move on to item 11, public comment. So members of the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the West Contraosta Unified School District, but not on tonight's agenda. Public comment will last approximately 1 hour. The time allowed to each speaker is 2 minutes. Should additional speakers remain at the conclusion of one hour, public comment may be extended. The time allowed per speaker after the first hour is generally one minute. Individuals wishing to speak, please commit. Please submit a WCCCUSD public comment card or if participating via Zooms, individuals will need to raise their hand on the Zoom app prior to the beginning of this item on the agenda. If you are calling in by phone, press star 9. Speaking should not be transferred from one person to another. There is no substitution of speakers. Speakers can also make public comment again for each discussion and action item on the agenda after the presentation. The public will have 10 minutes per item and one minute per speaker. The same protocols recited above apply. The public comment period is a safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed in a civil matter without interruption of intimidation.

Please listen attentively to each speaker's comment and respect their time at the podium as if we were your own. Be open to a different point of view. if one is offered. Due to the brown neck, board members cannot discuss items not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. Is there any public comment? Yes. Our first public comment is Don Gosny.

Good evening. You know, tonight I have two issues to speak on. The first being what we're all hearing about Caesar Chavez. I wish you were here to explain or defend himself, but he is not. and the evidence seems damning. I emailed the board before tonight's agenda agenda was finalized suggesting that this board, this district get ahead of everyone else and agendaize a discussion so we might hear from the board, but also to the so the people of this community might have an opportunity to vent. While the rest of the country is taking action, how long will the WCCUSD take to tell our young people that what he did was a bad thing? We hate when our heroes get taken down, but there are times when this is the appropriate action. Second item has to do with all these contracts coming out of the district and even the bond program where there are strong suggestions that the rules and policies that have been put in place to ensure that everything is on the up and up and we are getting the biggest bang for our buck. This all may be a fantasy. We're hearing about the contracts being broken into multiple projects or phases where the competitive bid process and even project labor agreements may be sidestepped. Some nobody is suggesting that anything crooked is going on or even even unethical. But the last time we had rumors like this floating about, we had the grand jury, the district attorney, the state attorney general's office, the securities exchange commission, the IRS, and the FBI all coming into our house to listen to the rumor mongers. As someone who had to deal with these people, I can assure you for sure and for certain that these are not the people you want parked on your front porch. The board even authorized what what would have been a $3.2 million investigation that ran out of money before they could even talk to the people that could provide answers. I was one of those people. Nonetheless, you still have members of the public and even board members who believe every word in that this fantasy investigation largely because they had the loudest loudest voice. Many of us have tried to ask questions about these contracts, but no one wants to respond. No board members, no superintendent, no communications people, and no facilities team members. This is not the first time

I've brought this up. Sometimes silence is a bad thing. A very bad thing. Our next public comment is Karen Armstead. Please unmute yourself. Please unmute yourself. Christian Visual, please unmute yourself.

Hello everybody. Sorry, right now I'm with my child right now, but uh my name is Christen Behil and I am a teacher at Kennedy High School. Uh the first time I spoke uh in front of the board, uh I was I was uh praising uh the district for its commitment to creating uh ethnic studies classes here in in this district uh especially at Kennedy. Uh that was my first year teaching. Uh and now fast forward to today. Now I'm questioning why is ethnic studies being cut from Kennedy High School? Why are three of my Latina colleagues getting impacted by these um uh FTE cuts? Um so I am asking the board to please look into uh the situation in Kennedy. Not only is ethnic studies being cut but numerous other programs as well that will definitely impact the ability of our students to succeed in high school and beyond. Um it's been uh research has showed that uh ethnic studies classes uh taken by 9th graders uh show improvements in attendance uh improve improvements in grades and graduation rates. Um and furthermore it creates spaces of discussions uh uh regarding race uh ethnicity gender disability etc. So, I asked the board today to please uh look into these cuts uh especially impacting our staff uh staff members of color. Uh these cuts uh affect our students of color and our diverse communities that we serve. Thank you.

Next public comment is Gian Maldonado. Uh hello school board. Hello everybody. My name is Jan Maldonado. I am a proud junior at Kennedy as some of you might know. I would first like to thank uh Trustee Jamila Smith Foss and Trustee Anyana for join and the student trustees for joining us at our uh last community event at Kennedy. It was very awesome to see our community interact with you guys. Um, I would like to bring it back to the CTE cuts, to the ethnic studies cuts, to the Spanish for Spanish speakers cuts. They have really taken a backseat and I hate to see it. Kennedy and our students, we are showing up at every board meeting because we care. We care about our programs. We care about our teachers. We care about our futures. Personally, I'm not just doing this for myself. I'm doing it for my sister. She has she she goes to Grant right now and she has plans to come to Kennedy and I don't want her to go through to just a A through G school. I want her to go to a school that has opportunities that has a chance for her to learn about her background through ethnic studies. A chance for her to embrace language through Spanish for Spanish speakers. A chance for her to go into technology into the STEM field with CTE pathways. These programs need to be emphasized so they can come back for future generations. We have uh more opportunities coming up soon. A spring carnival um April 13th, I'm pretty sure that we would like to extend an invitation. We uh also want to extend invitations for meetings with the student government since I am the junior um class representative for ASB. That that would be an extension of that. I would want to extend an invitation. We will be sending out emails to a lot of uh district members. You guys, we really want to speak to you. President Ariana, we would love to have a meeting and sit

down with you as well as Superintendent Cotton and all other board members. Thank you so much and please emphasize Kennedy. Please protect Kennedy.

Our next public comment is Joanna Gordian. Please unmute yourself.

Good evening board members. I am Joanna Gertian with Healthy Contraosta. I want to start by thanking Superintendent Cotton for meeting with our schools and neighborhoods action team today. We hope this is a start of an ongoing collaborative partnership where parent, student, and community voice are centered as a district redesigns their leadership and organizational structure. We reviewed the assistant superintendent of communications and community engagement position before you tonight and find that it needs to clearly define the team that will support this role. We believe it is important to clearly define the staffing structure that will support the effective programmatic and financial oversight within the three distinct areas of community engagement, communications, and fund development. We provided input that the job description included in include clear direction about how all of these functions will be managed under one role. The job description in front of you is a great start, but something we believe can be further refined to include language that truly captures the totality of the responsibilities currently under the community engagement department like community schools separate from the full service community schools model school-based health center support and coordination and parent advisory bodies. Historically, the community engagement department also had a community-f facing responsibility ensuring that parents and partners are central to district planning. We look forward to continuing to consult with the superintendent on this position and have a few partners participate in the interview process. We are excited that Superintendent Cotton is open to working with the community to work on district policy development and imple implementation like DLCAP and community schools. We look forward to partnering in a deeper way with the superintendent and district staff over the coming months to plan a strategic session this summer. Thank you all so much. Next public comment is Marie Ana.

The stage parents and I have been strongly advocating for some basic resources to be brought to our temp site here at Dejon Middle School. We met over a month ago and are still waiting for the promised shade for the big yard, safety railing outside the TK bathroom, stools for the TK sinks, and some other resources. I hope that these much needed supplies will come soon. Our children, Lydia's peers, are everyday exposed to the sun's hot temperatures. You know, over the last week, couple weeks, it's been extremely hot. There's not an ounce of shade at stage on the backyard. I am asking and hoping that the shade resources will come soon. I have been out there at 10:00, no shade. I even went after school during after school program. The students are out there in that hot sun. I hope the shade comes soon. Please don't forget about us. I hope everyone in here heard the voices of the grant students. They also need help. Please send the resources to them and fix the water fountain. Fix the water fountain. I'm waiting for an email response about the Williams quarterly report from October 2nd. I know you say, "Why does she keep bringing it up?" Well, I'm asking where is the transparency. I think I saw a error or a typo. I don't know what it's called. Um, but I felt like it needs to be corrected and I'm just asking for a response to my email. I encourage all leadership to please respond to emails. I hope one day cameras and GPS will be added to this bed buses. The students need this extra layer of security. I understand there's going to be a shift in Malik's type of transportation. I pray the current security measures will also shift to the buses for all students. This is my 14th

speech. Remember, students and safety come first. Thank you. Next public comment is Nick Cresensi. Please unmute yourself. Good evening board and members of the community staff. I bring a message of importance that I believe that the board should not continue to overlook their board reports. Board reports are important. It gives an indication of what you are doing and how you are serving us as the community. There are a lot of different things that you participate in that the public at large does not get an opportunity to realize if you do not report out what you are participating in. I understand the last couple meetings have been very long and it's it is may be somewhat detrimental for you to give out these reports at the end of multi-hour meetings. I believe the importance of giving these reports outweighs that more that sacrifice. It's important that you are communicating with the public. Your board reports are one of the key ways to do that. It is reporting back on committees that you serve on and oversee. The district needs to hear from you at large. Our Public needs to hear and understand what you are doing. So, I ask that you stop overlooking the board reports and make them a priority. Maybe they need to be moved to the front of the meeting, not the end. Thank you very much and have a good night.

Our next public comment is Lily Torsios.

Hello, my name is Lily. I'm a freshman at John F. Kennedy High School. I don't think any of you fully grasp the severity of the situation we find ourselves in because of your decisions. You've seen our teachers before. You've seen our signs but barely heard our voices. And that is absolutely unacceptable. You've already cut off a student's voice during a meeting. You see a teacher cry for our class to stay funded. And you don't do anything but just yawn and talk to each other. We deserve better. Our school deserves so much better. Spanish for Spanish speakers, ethnic studies, STE pathways, leadership, journalism. These things are so important for our community and students. They serve a purpose. This decision would harm many students education would reflect poorly on the district and would even show that the future promised for their children isn't being fulfilled. For example, ethnic studies. Our teacher, Mr. Daniel teaches us about the history hidden from the youth for centuries about the people who were thrown out of their land and killed. Great presentation of African-Americans, Chicanos, natives, and how they resisted in history overall. And the school board wants to cut funding for that class. Do better because right now all of you are failing the students you're supposed to serve. Thank you. Our next our next public comment is Jeffrey Bean. Please unmute yourself.

Good evening. Jeffrey Bean here. I'm a grades four and five teacher at Shannon Elementary where I've worked for the last uh 11 years, 12 years in the district. Um I'm concerned about the district's plans for Proposition 28 money. Prop 28 was passed a couple years ago by California voters to provide additional funding for art in our schools. The proposition specifically requires that school districts use the money to increase funding for arts rather than using the money to replace programs that already exist. I'm disappointed to hear that the district is apparently planning to uh add art teachers and then cut band programs or vice versa. Our school has had band program which serves a number of students for years. And this year we finally got a credentialed art teacher who teaches a couple days a week for prep periods for uh elementary. And I believe now our school and other schools are being asked to choose between the two. And this seems to be a violation of the law because if you add art and cut band, that's not an increase or it's barely an increase to arts for students. So I know the district is in financial trouble, but this does not relieve the district of the responsibility to follow the law and to use the new money appropriately. So also, I've benefited from art as a kid. I think that I've had students in my school who have had band who have had uh difficulties with academics but who have music as an area where they can shine and do well. I can think of several students off the top of my head for whom this was true. So

please do whatever you can to keep banned at our schools and also follow the rules for Prop 28. Thank you. Next public comment is Elise Bell.

Alice Bell for your time. All right, everybody. So, I was worried about your addition skills and then the last speaker brought it up again. You're struggling struggling with addition. So, something that me as Captain Bell, I wanted to point out if we wanted to save just 11 teachers in the season of Pasqua, we just need to cut four people's positions at the district office. Now, we're talking not the music executive director cuz that would be misusing Prop 28 funds, but like a Deleó position, no offense, but we don't need that many executive directors. We're talking mid to low level. Just two people. We need two Jesus's in both departments. That's a total of four people. two times two to equal out 11 positions at Kennedy. In the month where we celebrate women, we want to make sure we're not screwing over our students by cutting off access to incredible women teachers at Kennedy. Not only is it important for our Latina students to have Latina teachers, it's important for everybody to HAVE TEACHERS THAT DON'T LOOK LIKE ME. OKAY? I am not the best person, not the worst person, but I am going to always be missing things because I come from a boring, dominant, oppressive society. And if you'd like to hear about oppression, I can use this voice. Maybe you'll listen if I use an oppressor's tone. You don't need any white people to continue racism. You don't need one. Luckily, on the board, we do have one. Leslie, it is your opportunity to stand up and let the people know that you will fight INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM BY

FIGHTING FOR THE CLASSES OF MISS HERNANDEZ, Miss Blanco, Miss Aendan. Yo, we have so many other teachers that are being screwed over right now. I have 16 seconds. I'm going to shut up so that Kennedy can stand. Thank you students for being here. We love you guys. I don't know why we are not I don't know why we're not listening to these people. They matter and my time is up.

Our next public speaker is Mitsy Perez Carl. Please unmute yourself.

My name is Mity Perezo. I'm speaking to inform you about the damage that you are causing Kennedy High. I'm a second generation WCC alum, an advocate for student for 15 years, and a ninth year career technical education teacher at Kennedy. When you riff full or partial positions before you know what state funding will be, you are creating inequitable situations for our school sites. How can you expect an experienced teacher to return to a position that will be reduced part-time next year? Why would you reduce positions where you have homegrown teachers that can relate to student experiences? Why would you make a revolving door when you need to fill these positions in the fall when you're currently have staff that want to teach at these school sites? When staff is insulted by the reductions and you only offer them a partial employment, they won't return. And then you're tasked to fill those positions once again. Kennedy High students deserve so much more than that. Stop doing this to Kennedy. I mentioned possible solutions a few meetings ago. Here they are again in case they fell on deaf ears. Cut consultants. Take a pay cut. Fix the truency issue. Work with your staff instead of against us. It is not as hard to make our budget solvent as you are making it out to be. Next public comment is Kim Chamberlain.

Hi, Kimberly Chamberlain. Local 21 SSA chapter president. Stack back. Maybe not. Echo's still going to happen. Cuts are coming. Positions are loose. We've lost them. We've lost people. I've listened to people tonight. One of the things that I have always advocated is making sure people know options. I'm working very hard to make sure that is available for these people that are not going to have a position come July 1. Um, so that's one area. Those of us that are left behind, we need to know how to support ourselves and work towards that and making sure that we have all the tools that we need to continue on serving students and advocating for students and ourselves. October 12th is classified training day. We will have much fewer much much much fewer people to train, but we still have a day. It's a day for us as classified people to learn how to work with each other. Put it on your books. Start now. We need to make sure that that happens. and it is productive. Not August 28th, not August 1st, July 1st, June 1st. We need to start booking a time, date, and people to make sure that we have this program. It is very important to support the staff that we have.

Whether we like it or not, they're sticking around to support our students. Thank you. Next public comment is Alias. Please unmute yourself. Uh hello board. Um can you guys hear me? All right. Hello board. My name is Elas Avalos, also known as the senior class president at John F. Kennedy High School. And I have a couple things to say. Um, first one is how many times do we got to say it? Oh, wait. Am I saying Oh, am I muted? Oh, wait. Okay, wait. Stop. Okay. How many times do we got to say it? How many times do we as students have to show up and ask you to stop the cuts? How many times do we got to speak out in protest, have walkouts to tell you to stop these cuts? You can't just allow us to have these unique and essential programs at our schools and then take them and expect us to be okay with it. You can't just cut these teachers that we love and care for and expect us to be okay with it. It's frankly disrespectful. You expect us to abide by your rules and get good marks. But when you when you show us that you don't care, why does it matter? Why does it matter if we show up to school? Why does it matter if we um if we excel in our school? If the district doesn't show us investment, doesn't show that the care, these programs are the are essential for students at John Kennedy High School because they allow us to thrive. Let us thrive. We are tired of surviving, of asking, of being neglected as not just students, but as teachers, as people, part of a marginalized group community. Right? Invest in us so we can invest in you. Also, I'm also formally inviting you to our annual amazing and wonderful spring carnival on April 17th

at Kanye or no at Kennedy High School. That's I forgot the address. Um and we're also inviting the board to our student government meetings. Also, shout out to Gian and shout out to our um Grant students. I'm a Grant alumni. Love you guys. eloquently spoken today and um yeah that's all I got to say. Next public comment is Blanca Blanco. Blanca Blanco Christina Werta.

Good evening. As promised, we are back. Um, things are still really crappy at Kennedy. We haven't gotten our answers. Uh, Miss Blanco and I were here in early February asking that Spanish for Spanish speakers um remain on the schedule for next year. And there was an email sent out by Superintendent Cotton saying that staff was going to look into it at the direction of the board. And then I think I sent like three emails and then Mr. DeLeon sent an email and then Miss McGee sent an email. And I think we finally will get to meet next Wednesday at 2:45 p.m. So come on down to Kennedy if you want to talk about Spanish for Spanish speakers and the obvious need to keep this wonderful program in our school and in our district. Now, Spanish for Spanish speakers is important, obviously, very close and dear to my heart. But you've heard from many people tonight and other nights that these reductions at our site because we are being forced from an A period schedule that our students continue to want year after year and that our staff continues to approve year after year even though we end up teaching an extra class. because we're being forced to drop that schedule. We are being told that a lot of our wonderful programs need to go. And with those programs, our wonderful teachers who've established wonderful relationships with Kennedy students are considering understandably going to other sites. We need them at Kennedy. They want to be at Kennedy. Mr. Hill mentioned that three Latina teachers are being cut out of the social studies department and one Latina teacher out of the Spanish department is being reduced.

Another Latina teacher from the CTE pathway is also being reduced. That's not okay. Let's look into it. Thank you. Next public comment is Morado. Please unmute yourself. Good evening, Superintendent Cotton, President Inana, and esteemed board members. My name is Jose. I'm a junior at John F. Kennedy High School, as well. I am the junior class president. I'm speaking about concerns that affect my school's community and concerns that I believe deserve your attention. First, I would like to thank First, I would like to sincerely thank trustees Smith, Folds, Hernandez, and student trustees alongside President Inona for attending our fourth annual Fiesta Friday event on March 13th. Your presence meant a lot and a great deal to our students and staff and it showed that our voices do matter. However, I want to highlight an ongoing issue that is happening at Kennedy. Kennedy has a long cared or has been neglected for many years and as well has a bad reputation and is often overlooked. Despite being one of the oldest and most established schools in our district, this image does not reflect and re does not affect and shows what we are as a school. We have dedicated students, hardworking staff, and valuable programs like ethnic studies, journalism, ITA, Spanish for Spanish speakers, ASB leadership, and more. and they make a do and they do make a real difference. I urge the board to recognize the importance and investing and keeping these programs at Kennedy. Support Kennedy. It's not just about choosing or caring about these students, but as well investing in your students as board members. It isn't your obligation to

support and to support and keep these and keep students in our district so they continue to come year after year. Thank you for your time as well. I would like to late or I would like to as well acknowledge some of the students who've spoken and teachers as well. Thank you for your time. Next public comment is Rosten Sun. All right. Hello. I'm a teacher at Kennedy High. I've been there 28 years. Um I'm kind of mad that the district is making a lot of cuts. Some of our best program I've seen over the years. uh Spanish for Spanish speaker. We built it up over the years. It's a very successful program. I don't know why it's got We have CTE programs on the line. You all know CTE is the way to go in public education. It's a trend in the country. I don't know why we're going against it. We have a wish teacher who been there, Mr. Henderson, for years. Now they're reducing his hours. All right. If he's gone, where you going to find another carpenter who is willing to teach carpentry? Um, we have ethnic study program that we've built up. It's a very excellent program. Kids loved it. All right. Uh, what else do we need? There's there's quite a lot lot going on there. Uh, the district budget, I guess, just came out. some report just came out. I saw a tiny little bit of it. It looked like um the actuals came out and

the district gang have more money than what they reported and it looked like our spending on contractors and consultants went up by 14 million additional something like that. All right, it that doesn't look right, guys. It look very out of control. 14 million can probably keep all the teachers we need in the district as is. All right. So, something to look into. I would ask the board to either do an audit or if you guys already done it to publish a list of where's all those consultancy money, contractor money, where are they going? Show it to the public. Next public speaker is Jean Kinster. Please unmute yourself.

Hello. I've worked for the district for over a decade and I'm just baffled. We'll stick with money right now. So, San Diego Unified just decided to lay off a good chunk of their um downtown Sacramento City. Pink slipped all district office staff including superintendent. Oakland Unified cuts plans to cut twothirds of his central office staff in an attempt to stay away from the classrooms. Back to money. I don't understand why I don't have the authority to turn off my heater. It's 78 degrees in my classroom. I get in at 7:30 in the morning. And yes, I I commute from Brentwood. That's a long drive. So, I can open the doors to cool that classroom down. And then the heater kicks on and we're dying by the end of the day. Why can't I turn it off? On the same note, why can't the office turn off the air conditioner? And the in the office office, they have AC. Their fingers are blue and they cannot turn off that air conditioner. So, they're opening doors and stuff in an attempt to get warm. How much money are we wasting in PG&E? This is ridiculous. All you have to do is let us turn stuff off and it would save you guys not not everything for our budget, but a good chunk of money. stability. We went on strike for stability in our classroom. Why are you going to take away speech pathologists, OT um providers that want to stay at our school just to shuffle them around and play the shell game? They want to stay there. They've gotten um you know, invested in our students. They know our students. They know the parents. They know our community. Why would we destabilize our school with some of our service providers and take them away? That's kind of crazy. I have another one. We have an aid, uh, RSP aid. He applied to the district in September. You still haven't hired him. You're paying a whole bunch more money for him

at a third party contractor. He's ready to quit that contractor and work for our district. But you guys haven't hired him. I just I don't understand. I don't know what's going on. Please. Next public speaker is Naelli Hernandez.

Hello everybody. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you all. Um hello board members and West Contraosta Unified School District leadership. Thank you for your time. My name is Na Nandez and I am a teacher at Kennedy High. I've been there for four years, technically five, but you know we're counting four. Um thank you uh first and foremost. Thank you to those who attended Fiesta Friday, our recent community event. As you know, it was organized by our leadership students and reflects what makes Kennedy special, bringing together students, families, staff, and community to celebrate who we are. Now, I am here um to talk about Kennedy, but also hopefully you can listen to me as a parent. Um, I have a 12-year-old daughter who dreams of becoming a construction worker like her dad and grandfather and a nine-year-old son who wants to be a professional baseball player. They attend a charter school in this district for one reason, consistency, stable classrooms, and teacher retention. These are the things every child deserves. Now I they have asked me um to attend Kennedy because I've taken them to my classroom. They've seen the they saw the old school. They took a picture before it was taken down. And I was yes, let's do it. Once you guys get to high school, I would love for you guys to go to Kennedy because Kennedy is a place where students feel seen, supported, and inspired by incredible teachers and staff. and welcome by amazing students. Um, now as of February 13, I was informed that there is no longer a position position for me at Kennedy for next year. Um, and with the current cuts, especially in social studies, I am unsure I will want my children to face

that level of uncertainty on a yearly basis. These cuts don't just affect teachers, they affect family. Next public comment is iPhone. Please unmute yourself. Please unmute yourself. Uh see um see EOS. Existic.

Gracias. Yes.

Next public comment is Jackie Aendano.

Good afternoon again. Again. Uh my name is Jackie Aendaniel. I'm a WCCUSD alumni and a fifth year ethnic studies teacher at Kennedy. To my students who are here, I want to thank you um for continuously sparking a fire in me to fight for to protect ethnic studies. I love you. The district sent out an email today about transfers and I genuinely love that Richmond High has two positions just for ethnic studies open. I don't understand how you could sit there and allow for ethnic studies to be removed at Kennedy completely for the upcoming year. How can you sit there and allow this to happen? It's been taught at Kennedy for six years. I've taught it for five years. Kids love it. Kids want to be in my class. Every single time at the start of the year, kids who are not in my class want to be in ethnic studies because they learn from their peers what they're learning in my class. It is so disheartening to continue to come here for over a month and not see any changes. What are you doing? And this script is not even necessary no more. But what are you doing to come and really make changes? Because we are not hearing anything right now. Nothing has changed for us. I still have a part-time position for the upcoming year as leadership and US history teacher. I did leadership for three years. Those three years I was a full-time teacher. Those three years I did so much overtime unpaid labor to sustain and build leadership which has continued on by Miss Hernandez who is now being cut for the upcoming year. Our social science department has poured so much love into our school and yes, we would do it again, but we need your support to sustain the work that has been done. A lot of it unpaid labor. Protect ethnic studies. If you really care about kids in South Richmond, you would pour not equality, right? You would pour equity

into our school. That's what we need. Thank you. Next public next public speaker is Valerie Jameson. Good evening. My name is Valerie Jameson. I'm also a WCCUSD alumni and current parent of a WCCUSD sixth grader. I'm here before you because I'm enraged by the recent allegations that have come to light regarding the late Cesar Chaveis history of sexual misconduct, uh sexual violence and predatory behavior. They there's long been whispers. Uh but as of last week, um this has been a nationally covered and and it's been ushered into the limelight. I for one cannot ignore what I've learned. The news is all over social media and I've seen uh messages like she was 13 on the overpass as I head home from work. So I guarantee that our students have seen, heard, and are impacted by the news. I applaud the district's actions to offer mental health services and I believe that we have a unique opportunity to be proactive in initiating a name change uh for our Cesar Chavez Elementary School in our backyard. This issue is bigger than a fall from grace of a farm worker movement leader. It's about reframing who we lift up as Chicana Latina role models and who we want reflected in our local communities. Therefore, I'm using this moment as a call to action to request that we initiate a uh community and intentionally uh run process for a name change. I've added my contact information on the public comment card. I invite members of the board and staff. I invite members of the community to come talk to me after so we can figure out how to do this together. Especially as an ethnic studies alum, support everything that's been said so far. Um,

this is a critical moment for WCCUSD to be a part of the wave of change that's happening across the state. Let us meet the moment. And to quote Dolores Werta Cis, thank you. Next public comment is Zachary Porter. Kennedy students have articulated our struggle in recent weeks and their perspective demands your attention. Repeatedly I've heard students emphasize the critical need to preserve programs that establish a lasting legacy for future generations. The truly noteworthy thing is that at this moment students aren't framing the survival of these programs in terms of individual experience. Though any student wanting a quality education for themselves is completely valid. Rather, Kennedy students are saying, and this is a point we need to deeply appreciate, education is best understood as a common good, not an individual socioeconomic investment. For centuries, demographers have helped the ruling class rationalize acts of dispossession. From the struggles of indigenous people against land privatization and the English enclosure movement uh to the digital ages, theft of data and privatization of intellectual property, the ruling class and their demographers have understood the controlling population increases and decreases helps reproduce ruling social conditions. I'm worried that's exactly what we're seeing happen here, a cycle of dispossession where decreases in enrollment serve as a cynical excuse for withholding public resources. As more students transfer to charter schools and public education is further privatized, it becomes increasingly clear that it's the ideological commitments of the board, not purported budget crisises

that are threatening our district. These patterns of dispossession are not mere budget cuts. History records them as thefts. Kennedy students understand this better than you because they are the ones that are being stolen from. They assert their right to the commons and I believe there are no better stewards of what belongs to all of us than them. Allow them to protect their education and pass it on to future generations. Thank you.

And our last public comment is Kumiko Yanagihara. Good evening board. My name is Kumana Gihara. I'm a fifth year uh science teacher at Kennedy. Um and we are back. Um I've got a couple things I want to talk about. Number one, uh I am still awaiting a response to my email from March 10th regarding the uh point4 and CT that uh you all graciously voted to save. Um so let me know when you can get back to me on that. Um also uh like we've all been saying, Kennedy is receiving a disproportionate amount of FTE reductions for this upcoming school year. Um, and we're being told we have to go from an eight period to a sixth period schedule. Um, despite uh our students like overwhelm overwhelmingly wanting to keep the eight period schedule so that they can take more electives um and do credit recovery and all these things. Um, and like everybody said, our amazing programs are being cut. Spanish for Spanish, Spanish for Spanish speakers, ethnic studies or CTE pathways. And I understand it seems that some of the decisions for these cuts may not be directed by the board like some of the course selection. So you're the school board. I believe you can look into it um to see what is going on at our site to disproportionately impact Latina teachers. So please do that. Um and speaking of the 8 period schedule, uh the people have spoken. We have once again voted for an 8 period uhou. So Mr. DeLeon, I have sent that to your inbox uh for your consideration. And lastly, right here, I have the WCCUSD budget and

second interim report. And like Mr. Sun said, uh I see a 14 million uh over projection compared to uh the budget that was set in September. Uh Jeff Carter said that there is nowhere for $30,000 to make our CT teachers whole, but I see 14 million extra in consultant spending here. So you know where the money is. Well, thank you to everyone who gave public comment tonight. We're now moving on to item 12, agenda review and adoption. Does the board have anything that they would like to adjust on the agenda? I want to um pull item off C12 um the job description to the assistant superintendent of communications engagement and to see if we can move it up. Um, as a first item, I have a point of order. C12 is consent item, right? Is that what you said?

Okay. So, you're going to So, right now we're agenda review and adoption. So, that's you want to move that as part of the agenda, correct? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the clarification. Um, Trusty Hernandez. Um, are we I want to pull something from the same item C12, but the job description for the human resource.

Okay. So, we are I think you'll have to hear that whole we'll have to go through that that item. I don't think you can pull that section that item out or you can. All right. So, we'll be Oh, we can pull that section out. Yes, technically you can pull something out of one item or you could pull just a whole item in in total. So, for example, sometimes we pull a singular contract out of all the contracts uh and we approve the rest of the items in that one item. So, whichever way you would prefer, if you want us to pull them all, that's fine. I just wanted to cl

No, we can pull the one item, the one uh job description for discussion.

Okay, so we will sorry President just to clarify um you pulled the community uh engagement job description and then Trusty Hernandez pulled the HR job description. Okay. Um we will proceed with the following adjustments. Um polling item two items off of C12. Um assistant superintendent of communications and engagement and the HR contract. And now we'll move on if we'll move on with the rest of the agenda. We'll just move it forward at superintendent's request. So now we'll move on to item 13, the resolution um number 2526-6 recognizing March 31st as farm workers day and that will be read by Gonzalez Hoy.

Thank you president. First, I would like to acknowledge that I worked on this with Miss Forest uh and Super Cotton. So, uh as well as yourself. So, I want to thank all of you for uh the partnership on this resolution. Um now, therefore, be be it resolved that the West Country Cross Unified School District Board of Education hereby recognizes March 31st of each year as Farm Workers Day in WCUSD. And be it further resolved that on this day, WCUSD honors the contributions, sacrifices, and enduring legacy of farm workers and the broader farmworker movement. and be it further resolved that the do what the that WCCUSD acknowledges the historic leadership of Dolores Werta, Larry Lling, uh, Philip Per Cruz, and the many other organizers and workers whose efforts advance justice for farm workers and open doors for Latino and immigrant communities. MBA further resolved that the WCSD encourages schools and classrooms to engage students in age appropriate learning, reflection, and service connected to the history of farm labor, civil rights, worker organ or organizing, immigrant contributions, and community solidarity. and be it further resolved that WCSD affirms that honoring this day is consistent with the district's commitment to equity, inclusion, cultural and cultural responsiveness, and the uplifting of communities whose labor and leadership have shaped California and be further resolved. The board of board of education calls upon the district, its schools, and the wider community to use March 31st as a day of recognition, education, and gratitude for farm workers, past and present. Thank you, president.

Thank you for that. Um, do we have a moving on this item? President, I'll make a motion that we approve that we approve resolution number 2526-66 recognizing March 31st as farm workers day. And I'll sec I'll second that item. Um, go on a board vote. Uh, Trusty Cal um, Trusty Han. Yes. Trusty Whitten is um absent. Trusty Reckler. Reckler. Yes. Okay, we'll go back to uh Trusty Whitten. Yes.

Trusty Smith Folds is absent. Uh, Trusty Hernandez, yes. Trusty Gonzalez Hoy, yes. Trusty, yes. Do we have comments on this item?

Thank you for um working with me on this resolution. I just wanted to acknowledge Miss Jameson actually said it beautifully, so I don't want to butcher what she already shared, but I just wanted to echo the sentiments that she shared in public comment um and thank us for moving forward as a district. um on what we value the most. Um and I know that a lot of us uh are in a lot of pain right now about what's occurred and happened. Um and I know that the superintendent and staff are moving in a direction accordingly to this resolution and uh the work that we value. Um so we are going to continue to engage in that, but we want to do it from the ground up um not from the board down um as it should in my opinion. So, um, the farm workers movement is more than just about one man. Um, and I just wanted to recognize that. Thank you.

Um, thank you on that. U, now we'll move on to consent items. So, we're up to item C consent items. We have decided as a board to pull items um C12 um, and move them to the beginning of the action before the action items. Um, do we have public comment on any item? Yes, John Gosney.

Good evening. You know, consent calendar items are supposed to be so innocuous that they don't warrant discussion. Things like approving the minutes, paying the PG& bill, or proclamation for March being Blue Sky Month. So, why is this district so fond of throwing items on the consent calendar that are big buck items? Back in 2019, on December 15th, there was a 105 million dollar consent item. That's 105 million authorizing the demolition of 70% of the JFK classroom starting on January 2nd, 3 weeks away. And at 11:48 p.m., the board approved it. I stepped in with a number of articles in the district changed their mind for 5 years. Had that gone through, the JFK students would have been would have spent it 10 full years in portables instead of the six or seven they're stuck in now. Exactly what is the district trying to hide from the public and even the board? If they think that this is an example of transparency, they need to Google search that word because this ain't it? You attach a table with text on this item so small you need to pull out a magnifying glass to read what's there. And then the explanation is so generic that it's difficult to follow and we're not supposed to be allowed to ask questions about it. It's almost $6 million here.

Thank you for the public comment. Um, does anybody else wish to pull any item off consent? Okay. Otherwise, we will accept the rest of the consent items. Uh, moving on to superintendent communication. So, we're going to move to commun to the superintendent communication and then come back to the consent item or no, we could do uh I'm sorry. Um let's do the consent item. So item C12 um that is and do we want to go through each one?

So I can go ahead and are there questions you want me to speak to both items? Um so I think we could start off with any questions around the um assistant superintendent of community engagement on that contract if we have any questions um for that specific item. And I'll start with my questions I guess. Um so my questions are specifically to this item. What are the changes? What is the changes from the current structure that we currently have with this new job description? Um there are are quite a few and there are a number of changes that have happened um within our uh management in terms of um reduction and re-evaluating our positions that we have. Um at this point we have um on the the uh reduction in force list we have eliminated the director of communications position for next year. We've also um uh will be taking away the um director of community engagement position. those two positions will become an assistant superintendent of community engagement and communications. Um the reason for that is I think it is an opportunity for us to look more deeply at really transforming not necessarily our community engagement

but our communications and how we we um how we really engage around engage our community around um information sharing. Um, I think it gives us an opportunity to be more mindful and intentional about creating true opportunities for engagement um within our communities um in terms of specific changes or shifts that would happen. That position will support both our um community schools but also just our our um our packs, our advisory council, our uh SSC's that group will continue to do that work. So it does not go away. The work of this um of community engagement does not change. We still have our community managers, our community schools managers that will continue to do this work as well. And so we're continuing partnership but again across the board things have shifted and changed as well as at the management level.

So elaborating on some of that um what is the defined role for the superintendent and this position? Um the specific role for that position is in our is listed in the job description. It really is merging those two positions into one. Uh it's not a it's not creating something separate, but it's pulling together the best of of the work that we're doing around communications and community engagement. And again, really housing communications in an opportunity for voices to be heard, our student voices to be heard, as well as adult voices to be heard across our district.

Okay. And have you considered the risk of everything being bottlenecked into one office?

I as as we've heard through public comment and through uh over the the last months um there's a lot of challenges that come with um the reductions that we've made in our in our force. I want to look at this as opportunities that we can re-evaluate the work that we're doing, reimagine the work that we're doing, and redesign work that makes sense. And I have put this forward to the board as an option that will make sense for us moving into the immediate future um by combining this work. And again, one thing that's a little bit different um about both of the positions that are being closed is bringing it back as a certificated position and certificated administrative position. And so looking for somebody who has both the experience around communications, but also the experience of working in schools and running schools, really understanding how our schools and our programs work. I think that that is a a piece that sets that position apart and makes it very useful and needed for our community right now.

And can you talk a little bit more about the system structure with the superintendent um kind of the chain of commands structure part of like oversight and um accountability? I think to some of the work that's done by community engagement especially on the ground and how that will now be overseen at the site level. How that position the assistant superintendent uh position would serve on the executive cabinet. That person would oversee again the community schools managers as well as um the communications team. It would probably oversee about I think it's about seven or eight staff members which is on par across the board. We have a number of our um positions that have shifted. I know that um our associate superintendent of business services position is going to be managing over eight managers, eight uh directors. And so this person, which is we've made that distinction, we'll talk about that more with the HR position, but that person would be managing um about seven or eight positions within that um that structure combining both the staff for community schools uh or our community engagement as well as uh communications. Okay, this is um complete with my questions to um Trusty Gonzalez Hoy.

Thank you for for those questions and those answers. Um I think that the only concern I've heard is fear of time and commitment, right? Both current positions seem to be really busy as they are. Could you talk about um how do you envision this position to continue the busy work but you know doing both both things you know uh well sorry for a lack of words late you know what I mean

I do um it's interesting I had this conversation this afternoon with a number of community members um community organizations and leaders within those groups um and they said how is this one person going to do all of this work how is this one person going to do communications and community engagement. And I said, they they don't they are a a part of a team. And this work actually doesn't sit solely within community engagement and communications. This is across um our entire cabinet and across our entire district are supporting this work. This is the heart of our work and pulling it together into one body and to one focused area, but allowing and making sure that those teams are coming together to support that we I am coming together to support the that position and the the intent of that work. It's not one person that's doing this work. It is a team of folks. That person is leading a group of people. It is a shift. It is a change in in our culture and the way that we do business, but I've been saying that all along. We've got to think about the way that we do business. Not in a negative way, but we have to think about how can we best support our students, support our families, support our communities, support our staff, and come together so that everyone is getting great information in a timely manner um that is rooted in the community as well.

Thank you. Trustee Han. Yeah, I have a couple questions about this too where So what you're essentially doing is comp combining the two previous roles into a new role where so what's the difference between the salary of this new associate superintendent assistant superintendent role compared to the previous two roles that were being cut? I don't have that dollar amount in front of me. Mr. Carter, are you able to support with that?

Uh, I can pull it up. A rough estimate will do. I do want to lift up though that this was part of our fiscal solveny plan and that um we looked at and ensured that we made a lot of changes and a lot of reductions. this position, we made sure that the financial impact of it was not greater than um or was on par with the cuts that we made across the board. And so for um unrepresented management, we did reduce by 10% as well. We have a a group of 37 staff members. So, we reduced four positions um and also some other some other work as well. And so, um we were able to meet our goal of $1.1 million in reductions at the uh district office level. That did happen in addition to being able to ensure that we could afford this position.

Okay. Yeah, that that actually clears up my next question. So, yeah, I'll just wait for those numbers. Yeah. So, uh the two com the two previous positions combined is about 462,000. Uh the singular new assistant superintendent would be 312,000. So, about 20,000. Uh let me pull it up real quick. 460. Yeah. 150 and that's inclusive of both salary and benefits and fixed costs and everything else. Yep. That's the all-in cost.

Thank you. All right. Um Yeah. So just to clarify what you just said earlier with the second statement, you you said that the uh the re instatement of this position in lie of cutting the other two was part was previously planned within the sur fiscal solveny plan or was it found within the leeway of how much we could afford with with with sort of undoing a little bit of the plan? I don't think there was any leeway, but we built this into our fiscal solveny plan.

Oh, so so this was planned. So, so the instatement of this role instead of those previous two was planned into the the Yes, this is not new. It's not new information. Okay. Thank you.

Do we have any further questions? I think I have one more question. So we are the job description here also adds um building philanthropy grants and resource development. So they would also have to have knowledge of fund development when it comes to um funding opportunity, support development of proposals and advanced district initiatives all tied into the shouldn't that be in itself I think a different how can I say it um part of a different department versus um communications and um community engagement when we're talking about you know having experience around funding as well. It's working with both our community um organizations, so not necessarily simply funding, but community or organizations as well as philanthropic groups that are part of our community as well. Chamberlain, um our ed fund, those groups are inclusive of the the community partners. Generally, we say community partners,

right? Okay, that's the end of my questions. Um, we'll move now on to the second contract. Um, the assistant superintendent of human resources. Trustee, do you have any questions around that or? Yes, I do. So, sorry, Trusty Hernandez. President, I just wanted to clarify. Do you want us to vote on them separately or you want us to vote on them as a package? Well, I think we could ask question and then we'll um vote either independently or we could do it on the package. Got it. Thank you. Sorry about that. Yeah.

Trusty Arnandez. Hi. Can you guys hear me? Okay. Um so I have a couple questions. I know that we are reinstating the assistant superintendent of human resources um position. I want to know what's the total cost of this position which including salary benefits and support staff and how does this investment directly improve our structural deficit the I'm I'm sorry how does the position what was the last part trusty Hernandez

how is this going to help us in directly like this investment because is it being we're reinstating this position it was eliminated or removed at one point. And I want to know how is this investment directly going to improve our structural deficit? This position I'm I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, sorry. Continue.

This position was not eliminated. Um it currently is an associate superintendent of human resources. given the staffing and the um number of folks who that person is uh supervising and is responsible for the workload. Uh it was determined that that position would be reduced from associate superintendent to assistant superintendent. So that was a cost savings for the district. the workload and the work is is there's slight differences in the uh job description, but the having an assistant superintendent of human resources I think will help us greatly as we continue to recruit and retain staff and continue with our programs. That's the the work of our um assistant superintendent as well as supporting with benefits, supporting with onboarding, um supporting with disability and and reasonable accommodations. Um there's a whole host of of work that that position carries. It's not a it's not a bringing anything back. it was um reducing that position from an associate superintendent to an assistant superintendent part of our

sorry to interrupt but given the description on the agenda it says the job description for assistant superintendent of human resources is being reinstated so that is I'm not sure if I'm reading incorrectly or understanding incorrectly but it's it's a bit confusing I apologize for that confusion it was previously an assistant superintendent of human resources. It was upgraded a few years ago to an associate superintendent. Again, through our right sizing, we are moving it back to an assistant superintendent.

Can you provide me the total cost of how much this role is going to cost us? Do we know? Do we have I don't know if Mr. Carter can provide those numbers. It can be a rough estimate. If you can share um Mr. Carter, if you can share the amount of u the two I I know it's a salary range. If you can share the salary range for um the associate superintendent and the salary range for the assistant superintendent, that would be helpful. And then also the difference maybe at the at the mid-range at step three.

Yeah. Uh so currently the associate superintendent of HR uh is a range of 211,000 to 254,000 from step one to step 5. The assistant uh superintendent of HR would be a range of 198,000 to 238,000. So it's about a 1920 $20,000 difference at each step level decrease. And then this includes salary benefits in this and everything.

Uh no that's just the straight salary range on the salary schedule. The with benefits it would depend on what type of health benefits this person takes but um all in it's about 312,000 estimate for next year. And then given all the I know we're short staff in HR. We have all these issues hiring. Um I just want to be sure I'm not I was reading through the job description. Um, I know that we've had position control failures historically and I just want to be sure that when we comes to H recruitment, um, that this person in this position will be held accountable and how are we measuring this person success and outcomes um, in this position? I know I just put two questions at once. Sorry, I'm trying to be with child and be present. I don't know if that made sense.

I think that each position um across our district is held accountable. If things are going great, we celebrate that and we acknowledge that. If there are concerns, they are addressed. Um we have a disciplinary process um that's in place. Um, we also have kind of our checks and balances and we we try to follow up and figure out what systems are working and what's not and support folks through um processes as well. And so it's not simply, you know, something goes wrong and it, you know, that person is punished. It's figuring out how do we best support our systems and make sure that as an organization we are healthy and whole and we are doing the things that we need to do to support our staff uh our students and our community. Thank you for that. Um, I I guess I just want to know like what clear measurements and performance metrics for this role specifically tie to the hiring timeline, vacancy reduction, and physical alignment. How are we going to how are you going to hold this person accountable um and that they're bringing accountability and there's outcomes to it? Because we're we've heard it many times, our hiring process at the district level is very slow. I just heard a public comment, right, where someone applied in September and this person hasn't received the call and they want to be brought on. So, it's just I want to be sure that whoever's in this position, they're going to perform and they're going to give us the outcomes that we need. That changes will be made in our HR department and we won't continue to historically be behind that. It takes it can take 1, three, four, six months to hire someone on when we have vacancies. I guess that's where I'm coming from.

I think that that is a a systemwide issue that is a across that department. Um it's not just that person, but it's the person underneath that person and the person underneath that person and it's everyone who is touching that process. Um I know that in our current situation working with Dr. Greenwood. She is working to improve our systems um and working to um support and train and crossrain our staff so that it it will uh begin to change the way that we are um able to process folks in a more timely manner.

Thank you. Those are all my questions. Do we do we have any further question on this item. And do we have a motion for this item? I'll go ahead and move the job descriptions. A second. So, we have um Trusty Regler moved all items on the job description, second by Gonzalez Hoy. I'm moving on to the vote. Trusty Han, yes. Trusty Whitten,

yes. Trusty Regler. Regular. Yes. Trusty Smith FS. Smith Folds. Yes. Trusty Gonzalez Hoy. Yes. Trusty Hernandez.

No. Trustyana is a no. Item passes with 3 to two. board president, I I do want to let you know I have been ill all day. I'm going to go ahead and and step out, but thank you very much. Thank you everyone. So, we'll skip superintendent communication for tonight. Superintendent communication was up next. So, we'll be No. Yeah. And you know how Okay, I apologize for that. I have been trying to make it through the evening. Uh the first page. Thank you. I'm sorry. Next page. So I would like to start off um and let this group know that we are focusing on our middle school redesign in our district specifically for the 20 627 school year. Our goal is to ensure that we have a seamless transition that centers student safety, academic engagement, and fostering a strong

community spirit across all campuses. Sorry. Key updates include the merger of Betty Reed Saskkin and Penol Middle School communities at the panol site. This change affects also our our middle school redesign. Affects our K8 feeder schools with Steuart and Montalvin families joining the Betty joining Betty Reed at the Penol Middle site. Uh Verdies and Perry's families moving to Helms and Mirra Vista families attending Cormatsu. For those who are wishing a different placement, enrollment forms are available on online for 2627. We encourage you to um submit a form if that's something that you're interested in doing as soon as possible. We understand the importance of easing this transition for students and that's why we're organizing a series of activities and peer connection day on March I'm sorry on May 13th. A summer bridge is planned for students on June 16th and orientation days on a in August. These are designed to help students feel more at home in their new environments. The staff will also engage in joint planning sessions to cultivate a unified school culture. The students will have a voice in choosing the school's name, honoring Betty Reed Saskin's leg legacy. Community members interested in contributing to the campa the campus's redesign can reach out to their principles. Next slide, please. I wanted to focus um a significant part of our middle school redesign initiative is our timeline. I wanted to just lift this up as well. We just spoke through a bit of that timeline. Um specifically for the transition for Betty Reed,

Saskin, and Panol Middle. Um, we know that this consolidation is set for 2627 and our goal is to ensure again a seamless transition. As we move forward, we'll continue to engage with students, families, and staff to align our vision and our actions. This input from all interest holders will guide us in creating a unified school culture that honors the legacy of Betty Reed Saskkin. So, thank you for your continued support and engagement as we work towards this exciting new chapter for all of our middle schools. Next slide, please. I also want to take a moment to lift up the California Education and Healthc Care Protection Act of 2026. This proposed renewal of Prop 55 is a crucial topic for us. I just want to tell you why it's important and why we need to be paying attention to this. First, the measure seeks to extend a state income t income tax on high earners. This tax has been a significant funding source for K12 public schools since 2012. Second, the revenue generated is earmarked primarily for education with 89% allocated to 12K K through 12 schools and 11% to community colleges. The local boards will have control over how these funds are spent, ensuring that they're used in a way that best serves our communities. And lastly, it's crucial to understand the financial implications if this measure does not pass. Without renewal, schools across the state will face an annual reduction of $2 to5 billion. This could significantly impact the quality of education and resources available to our students. The board of education is committed to keeping

everyone informed as this measure progresses. Let's ensure that we stay engaged and proactive in supporting our schools and students. Thank you for being part of this conversation. Next slide, please. I don't know if I'm make it all the way through, guys, but I'm gonna do my very best. Um, I do want I wanted to make sure that we lift it up. We went through a heat wave recently in the beginning of March. Crazy, but in California, it's possible. I want to make sure that our community knows that we are proactively addressing uh warm weather events um to ensure the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community members. First, site leaders are actively monitoring outdoor temperatures. They adjust physical activities based on specific temperature thresholds that this ensures that as the heat rises, our students and staff remain safe. Um secondly, we've identified schools that have historically high temperatures and have provided them with fans to help maintain cooler environments and are looking at other opportunities and other ways to support those schools as well. Additionally, our staff is instructed to keep classrooms cool by shading windows and closing doors uh during early morning hours. Even these small steps can make a difference um in reducing heat indoors. Our athletic programs are also following a strict heat index protocol ranging from green to red if uh to decide if and how outdoor activities should proceed. This ensures that our students health is prioritized during sports and outdoor events. Finally, any student exhibiting signs of heat related illness is immediately directed to health offices. our school nurses are

diligent in following up with vulnerable students to ensure they're being um well taken care of. So, looking forward uh while temperatures have they've gotten uh cooler, we are committed to monitoring weather forecast closely and we'll keep families and staff informed of any urgent updates. Next slide, please. We also want to lift up Women's History Month. Um, and lifting up Kennedy High School. Kennedy High School brought Women's History Month to life in the classroom, engaging students during their advisory period with presentations celebrating the women who have made an extraordinary impact on our world. Excellent job, Kennedy High School. Thank you for your contribution. Next slide, please. No, you can keep going. Keep going. Yes, it's no rush. Um, West Contraosta is officially a regional hub for our augmentative and alternative communication or AAC uh implementation and training. So, I just want to lift up and highlight those teachers. excellent job to uh teachers Diana Baya and Tina Peralta. Diane actually was I think I hired her as a teacher many years ago at Valley View Elementary School. So, I'm so glad to see her her trajectory and her growth. She's amazing. I ran into her recently. Um but just very proud of the work that we're doing not only uh with our students but leading across our region. So, excellent job spotlighting our schools. The next slide. First off, I want we can all please give a hand clap for middle college. They are our cal they were named a California

distinguished school. They are celebrated. They are the only secondary school within West Contraosta for this year that has been highlighted with and receiving that distinction. It is a huge honor. They will be honored later in April um in Anaheim and uh the county office has offered to send a staff member to um celebrate and so just very proud of that accomplishment. Um and we are actually only one of 13 schools that were recognized within Contraosta County. There are 18 school districts. There are o few hundred schools to have been chosen from and so excellent job to middle college. Next slide. Also wanted to lift up Valley View's exposition of learning and we had a few board members who were present and cabinet and staff members who were there to see the amazing job that Valley View Elementary School was doing um to lift up and share their projects with the community. Thank you for going out to support them and excellent job to our students and our staff for making learning something that they want to share with others. Excellent job. Next slide. If you can hit play on this one, will that work? Coming back to Kennedy. Yes. Can we hit play on that one or no? Okay, I wanted um just to lift this up. This is a spotlight on our schools. And so we've talked about what are we doing to promote the good work that we're doing in our schools. And so this is one of our examples. I wanted the board, I don't know if you've seen this on social media. I wanted the board and the

community to have a moment to see this video. If we're able to hit playful at Valley View Elementary School, the community I years before leaving to go into administration and when I came back eight years later, I found the same general feeling that I had left. All the people from parents to teachers to students are genuinely happy to be here. Families are involved and work together with teachers and staff to create better student experiences here at Valley View. Teachers are caring and always focused on best outcomes for students. And this year we've undertaken a switch to a new teaching pedagogy um inquiry based learning which we're really really excited about. And we're also including a shift towards more outdoor learning time which has created a lot of excitement here at Valley View. Valley View believes in educating the whole child and really building what we call the Valley View family. Every class, every student from TK through sixth grade has music with or dance with East Bay Center for Performing Arts. Every class, every student has visual arts with a dedicated art teacher in a dedicated art classroom. And every class, every student has time in our outdoor classroom with our science and nutrition teacher. Our teachers take our students on field trips to museums and shows and other real life experiences.

We can pause there. Thank you. The teachers at Valley the community.

So again, we want to continue to do that great work across our district. Uh Kennedy, we could be coming out to you next. You never know. You never know. Yes. Go Kennedy. Um but to also lift up and I'm not My computer stopped working. I can't see that far. Fiesta Fridays happening at Kennedy. I wasn't able to make it, you guys. I'm so sorry. I wasn't able I will be there next time. I promise I'll be there next time. Who went out to Fiesta Fridays? Oh, okay. Excellent. How was it? Was it good? Was it fun? Yes. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Um, so being there to support their spirit week, dreamers day, uh, oh goodness, dress your famous Latinx artist. I know who I would have been, but you know, I won't tell you guys my video. No, I'll stop. Okay, I'll stop. Um, ranch versus city. H, I'm curious about that. And the day in the Caribbean. I'm looking forward to joining next time. You guys had food trucks there, student performances, community vendors. An awesome day. Excellent. Think that'll change it. You can't change it.

Oh, okay. Thank you. I can just see it. Okay. Um, we also had our Warrior improvement basketball clinic at Sylvester Greenwood Academy. That looks so much fun. On March 14th, um, they did wellness and women's empowerment. I thought that was amazing. Next slide, please. We also had um, our students built gliders for the Mesa competition. This was our Shannon uh students placed second and third placed in came in second and third place. Um very proud of their work. Uh Shannon, Coronado, Mira Vista, and Grant were all included in that activity. Next slide. I can still barely see you guys. Let me help myself. Yes, readers on contacts, judge. All right, I'm back. Um, I want to remind the community Friday there is no school. It is one of our reserve days. There are no schools for students. This is a student day. Um, but we look forward to seeing students back at school on Monday, March 30th. That does not mark the start of our uh spring break just yet, but no school on Friday, March 27th. Next slide. Also want to lift up that spring break is April 6th through the 10th. Um we're looking forward to celebrating that break. Um district offices will be closed on Monday, April 6th, and we wish everyone a safe and restful break. We will not see you back at board meeting until April 15th. Next slide. During spring break, um our expanded learning office is hosting three hub sites. This is for a spring break camp

for TK through sixth grade students. Uh Nestrom Elementary School in partner with with the ed fund uh will be hosting a Freedom School. Michelle Obama Elementary School will be working on a uh Spring Hub in partnership with the YMCA of East Bay. And at Riverside Elementary School, they are partnering with Headwater Science Institute for their spring break hub. These are not just school school um students, students who attend those schools who can can attend these spring break hubs. The camps run from April 7th through the 10th from 8:30 to 5:30. Um, breakfast, lunch, and supper will be provided. Priority enrollment is available for students who are in the family and transition, foster youth eligible for free and reduced price meals, or English learners. So, applications will be available next uh next week. Actually, they're available now on our district website. So, please make sure that you sign up for spring break hub. Next slide. Also want to remind you during that spring break. Read. What are you going to do during spring break?

Read. What are you gonna do during spring break? Read. Thank you. Read. Make sure that you're reading. It doesn't matter what you read. Just make sure that you are reading. Next slide, please. I can barely my vision. And my last slide is please remember there are many ways to be involved. We talked about our packs and supporting a different structure but still supporting our advisory councils and all the ways to be involved. So again, get involved. Any questions board? Trusty Gonzalez.

Thank you. I have two questions. Um about the Betty Reed timeline. Thank you for putting that up. Um when is that going to be shared with the Betty Reid and Pano Middle School community? Um, I would like for our principles to get that message out to their communities as soon as possible as well as our K8 families. So, yes, as soon ASAP.

Thank you. Um, and then I did have a question through you. I don't know if maybe staff would like to answer this one, but about heat. Uh, and you're right, things have cooled down thankfully, but during the heat wave, um, and you know, we have many throughout the throughout the year. Um some of our blacktop schools that don't have AC well especially outside really struggle with the heat. We heard that today from you know teach parent. I went to Murphy. The TKNK area is just so hot especially for little kids. I really worry about safety really more than even just you know the heat itself like actual safety. Um, so for those schools that have blacked off only like Grant, Murphy, STE, what is it that we can do with a lack of funds? Because I know that shading cost over $500,000 to put even just shading. Um, so that's very costly, but what what other things could we do um to prevent safety issues with heat?

I appreciate that question. I'm I'm looking over to Ellen right now. I know that she's around at at different sites looking at what sites are doing um facilities wise to support students. Ellen, any suggestions? And we could also come back to you, but any suggestions?

Well, while it's outside of my department's capabilities, uh we continue to talk to school sites about potentially temporary um options such as the umbrellas that were brought up earlier or the popup tents. Um these must be temporary. They cannot stay up uh on a regular basis. Uh otherwise that will cause us issues with uh Williams and other inspections. However, during um extreme events, uh those are appropriate ways to provide additional shade on site.

Thank you. Following up on that, um I like the idea of temporary tents. Uh but how do we when we look ahead it's hard looking ahead at weather sometimes we don't know literally the next day but when we're looking ahead of a heat wave when we're you know told by state there's a heat wave coming how do we then send tents to sites because I I didn't see many tents around so is that something that the site has to request ahead of time or how do we prevent or how how do how do we look ahead of issues like that

I think that sites also have um in working with with facilities, working with the district office, sites can they many have used their funds to purchase umbrellas or to purchase those tents. Um, again, each site has has allocated at least, you know, I wouldn't say hundreds of thousand dollars, but they've they have some funds that they can use that would be specific to their sites. If they have tables that have that would be conducive for umbrellas, they may choose to do that. Um, it's not just bringing out the tents, but also usually we've got a parent group that may have purchased some tents and are able to come out and put them up and take them down. Um, so there's there's there's a lot more involved than just buying some tents. Um, but having some systems in place where they can be put up and put down and monitored closely and and keeping students safe, that would be all part of that process.

Thank you for that. So sites can purchase tents. I was told last year that they couldn't because of the temporary rule that Ellen just talked about. Um, I'm gonna let Ellen then answer these questions. Stop talking. No problem. Because otherwise I do want to tell sites. Yes, you can purchase.

Okay, hold on, Ellen. Go ahead. What are the rules? I just got here. I'm just breaking rules left and right. We have to acknowledge that um our facility funding and our ability to react to immediate needs with facility projects is limited. And so we have to be aware also as I've said previously that these are temporary and removable structures. Uh they cannot stay on site permanently. They should be put up and put down as appropriate for the event. Um we did approach that during COVID. Um as probably some of you are aware that we did have some tents that were that were um placed during that period of time for that emergency situation. As we continue to evaluate heat and it's a is as an emergency situation um we're re-evaluating uh how we can look at providing relief. Um, like I said, these are temporary measures. One of the things that we'll discuss tonight in the facilities master plan is prioritization of needs. Um, this may be one of the items that the board would like to address on a more permanent basis because the like I said before that the tints very much should be considered a temporary uh relief in specific time periods where temperatures reach a certain uh marker. Uh so we are also attempting you know we we created the uh we went after the Calire grant that allowed us to place more trees on our campuses. While again that's a longer term approach and we have to um care for those trees to make sure that they grow to their leafy um

expanse that we're all hoping for. Uh we continue to explore any opportunities that we can to bring additional shade and green greenery to our campuses because the green uh approach is actually more effective um for managing heat island effect uh than the tents are. Uh so we have to continue to to pursue how we can get uh more landscape onto our sites and then also be able to maintain that landscape um through our grants department. So uh it's a it's a more global response. Uh but that is something that we're um like I said uh re-evaluating for temporary uh time periods. Sorry, last question, just a followup. The city of Richmond does have some funds to donate trees. Um, and they were in conversation about donating us trees. So, I wanted to ask you, what is the process for that? So, I can get back to that.

So, it's a little more complicated than donating trees. Uh, the the hard part about tree placement on most of our campuses is that there's not necessarily a place to put the tree. uh removal of black top uh often has to be associated with the the tree placement. Um or we also have to look at our playgrounds serve a variety of purposes, right? And so um sometimes trees within our grass fields can become um difficult for us to maintain uh the type of uh sport play that we're looking for to facilitate on those properties too. Uh we also have to address the irrigation uh because again we don't we're not planting trees for them to not make it. And so we need to make sure that we uh the trees that we do put in have the best chances of surviving and becoming what we're really dreaming and hoping they will be for our students. Um and so we we do need a a a um process to be able to evaluate if we can accept the trees. Um, however, they can contact our department and I can work with grounds to um, see where it could be appropriate for additional trees.

Thank you. Thank you, I really am leaving. Oh, you have another question? I have a follow-up question.

Oh, I'm sorry. No, my follow-up question is more about communication and clarifying some of the comments that you made tonight, especially around temporary structures cuz I know that's been a thing and it's been a thing with multiple conversations that I've had with you and other sites. So, having I think clear communication on what that looks like because you just said a whole lot in a couple minutes that can be taken out of context. I've heard temporary structures um for a small amount of time. I didn't hear a time. I didn't hear from you whether that's something that has to be put up and taken down daily or if it's up to the site to determine what temporary looks like for them at that moment. Um, so just really having more of a one pager saying because we've heard people at different sites say, "Hey, we'll buy, you know, some tents and we'll put them out for the students and we're always saying no, no, no." But then we just heard Ellen say yes and temporary and we but nothing that solidifies a time frame. Nothing that says what temporary is, how we are gonna be able to have some sort of control on what that looks like and what the system or process is to having those out, especially with summertime coming. I'm just questioning some somebody might have heard, hey, we can have that and decide to we're going to have pop-up tents at every site tomorrow morning. Um, so just a little bit more I think communication around that and maybe to sites directly, you know, one pager maybe that's something that we could bring up. Um, back to the superintendent.

I wanted to ask really quickly, Ellen, is that something that currently exists? Can you tell us where we would find it? No, it would it would need to be created. Yeah. So, we can definitely work on that for president. I I'm trying to not to overstep and say, "Does it already exist? Is there already a rule? I follow the rules." Um, but yes, we can definitely work on something like that. I think that would be helpful for for our sites. So, thank you. Yeah. So, thank you very much. That was the end of um my questions. Thank you for your superintendence report and we'll see you at the next meeting. Oh, Trusty Smith,

not holding you. I'm just I just want to put it out there. If we're adding anything to someone's duties, we need to talk to the unions. If we're adding putting up taking down tents or whatever it is, we need to talk to the unions because that's adding to somebody's work duty. I've been at sites where I and a couple of other people put up those tents and it is it's not easy when you put up a pop-up tent, especially in some of the areas cuz you have to put sandbags to make sure that they don't blow away. So, something to secure them. It's just a it's a larger conversation, but I think it is a conversation that needs to be had and it's something that needs to be fleshed out in totality. I'm complete. Thank you for that. And yes, we will definitely work on that. That is a conversation. And I think I when I mentioned parents, a parent group, but it also can be a hazard and there there's a lot that goes into tense, which um Trusty Gonzalez Hoy is probably why you've said don't do it in the past. So, thank you. Lots to think about and definitely something that we can get out for our community once we've settled on some things.

All right. Thank you again for that superintendent report. Um we'll now move on to um our action items. E1 delegate authority to the superintendent at her designate to enter into an amendment to lease lease back contract documents with BHM construction LLC for phase one increment two work on the Richmond High School modernization project. Good evening. Um, thank you board superintendent Cotton and community for having us this evening. Uh we are looking to um ask for delegated authority for our um ability to expand the current lease lease contract or lease lease back contract that we have with BHM construction to be able to move forward with the next phase of um construction at the Richmond campus site. Uh as you know we've been working on the underground work for some time. We are moving forward into the vertical building stage. However, uh we are anticipating the stamp set from DSA at any moment, which is the approved drawings that we need to be able to uh begin this construction. Uh because we're at a critical time and trying to go into summer break um with a strong move forward and trying to open this facility by the following summer. Um we are asking uh the board for the delegated authority so that the moment the uh approved set comes through we will be allowed to um sign the contract to move this forward. The uh the bids for this phase uh did come in below the engineering estimate. Uh we are so it is within the planning

budget uh that we have created for this project. Do we have any board questions on this item? More uh do we have any public comment on this item? No public comment. Okay. So, um, do we have a motion? Want to say

I'll make a motion to delegate authority to the superintendent and her designate to enter into an amendment to the lease lease back contract documents with BHM construction LLC for phase one increment to work on Richmond High School modernization project. A second. U Motion by Trusty Regler, second by Gonzalez Hoy. Um, Trusty Han, yes. Trusty Whitten, yes. Trusty Reckler, yes. Trusty Smith folds. Smith Falls, yes. Trusty Gonzalez Hoy, yes.

Trusty Zenyana is a yes. Um, do we have any final board comments on this? No. Seeing none, um I was made aware that we have some students wishing to speak on an item and I will be moving that item next and that's for um item three, resolution number 252665 adopting the California State of Civic Engagement. Um do we have any public comment the resolution? I'm sorry. Are you going to have the presentation first and then Thank you.

You're welcome. Um, we have the presentation on this item. Oh, wonderful. Um, thank you so much. Um, this has been a labor of love that we are excited to bring to you this evening. Um, and I'm thrilled to be joined by Jessica Petrilli, our director of college and career. Uh, Tiara Shelton, one of our esteemed community school managers. Um, and and why don't you guys go ahead and introduce our teacher and students. Um, and our student board reps actually are part of this as well. We've got quite the crew.

Yes. We're also with Miss Jawad from Richmond High School's Health Academy. Sida, Maryanne, and Anna. And then you guys are gonna also present, right? Okay. Great. And our trustees that you know. All right.

Did we get all the student names? Okay. All right. Wonderful. Um so we have been working to integrate work between family and community engagement and um our college and career department to create meaningful projects for school students that will authorize us as a district to give the state seal of civic engagement. Next slide please. The state seal is an official recognition that's awarded to public high school students who demonstrate excellence in civic education and participation in their communities. Um, we want to note that our approach specifically is about getting kids into the community solving realworld problems. And we've heavily leaned on the community school framework. Uh, specifically creating collaborative voice and shared governance, preparing our kids really to govern. um creating expanded and enriching learning opportunities and ensuring that our classrooms are directly connected to the community. Next slide, please. In doing this, we have used the Y plan framework. Um, and we need to give some kudos to our partners at UC Berkeley, the city for centers and school, and professor Deb McCoy, who's worked closely with all of us. The Y Plan framework is a projectbased framework that utilizes students, of course, community problems, and community leaders. Um and so students work with clients, clients bring them their problems, the students engage in research and they explore the community and they come up with realworld solutions.

These projects that um actually support us in helping our students meet the criteria that allows us to authorize the seal of civic engagement. And so we do ask tonight that at the after you understand the criteria, we will ask you to approve a resolution around those criteria. Um and this spring we will authorize students. Up on the screen you see the five state criteria and with the next slide I will pass it to Miss Petrilli uh and and to Miss Shelton and they will walk you through how we have adapted the criteria to West Contraosta. Thank you, Miss Sigler. So, what we've done as a district is take the state's five criteria and translate them into something that's clear, rigorous, and accessible for our students here in West Contraosta. Miss Shelton's going to start with criteria one. As Jessica stated, we wanted to make sure it's accessible and just want you all to know that the main goal was that we highlight and increase our students growth and engagement for civic and community projects. An academic is the first criteria. Students will maintain at least a 2.5 GPA during grades 10 to 12 or if they were a student who had for whatever reasons um not been able to maintain that. if they can get that 2.5 their senior year, they can then write a reflection just showcasing and sharing and describing what those um hurdles were or barriers were and how they overcame it to now be in that 2.5 GPA.

Criteria two is about constitution knowledge. And for criteria 2, we're really focused on making sure students don't just learn about government, that they're actually engaging with it. So students can meet this in multiple ways. One pathway is through successfully completing their social science coursework, which builds that foundation understanding for how our system works. But we also wanted to go beyond the classroom so students can demonstrate this through real civic participation like serving on a local governance group or even making a public comment at a meeting on an issue they've researched. In criteria three is the civic project itself where students will participate and complete a wideband project which you will hear about two of those projects that have been going on in this pilot. Or they could be someone who present a project that's exhibiting real world problems inside of their community. That could be someone that's um one one example that's simple but also making an impact as students who do a project on the community workers on their school site or in their community and highlighting and uplifting them. students that place emphasis on recycling or anti-b bullying or students who are given oral interviews on different community issues. And for criteria 4, it's about reflection, which is really a critical piece of this work. Students complete a two to three page essay where they're not just describing what they did, but really thinking about what they learned, how they approached the issue, what actions they took, and what impact they had. And they also connect that experience to their future, how they see themselves continuing to engage in their community beyond high school. And this is what turns a project into a lasting learning experience. It's helping our students develop a sense of identity as civic participants, not just students completing an assignment.

And last but not least will be criteria five which covers the civic character which will be represented by a letter of recommendation just one from a teacher, staff member, community member who can contest to the great work that the student has exhibited through their civic engagement. Next slide please. All right. So bringing this seal to West Contraosta. So, first the state gave us the framework, but districts are responsible for designing their own process, which we just went over. So, that's going to allow us to tailor this to our own students and our own community. And in terms of where we are now, we're already done with the foundational work. We've developed the criteria. We've gathered feedback from educators and partners, and we're now building out an application process so students can apply as early as May 2026. So in terms of pathways, students won't just have one way to earn this. We're leveraging our existing structures, especially Y Plan, so that students can engage through coursework, community schools, and student leadership opportunities. And ultimately, tonight's board action is a key step in formalizing this and allowing us to move forward with implementation. Next slide, please. All right. So what do students gain from this experience? So yes, there's the tangible benefits that strengthens college applications and gives students a formal recognition on their high school diploma. But more importantly, this builds real world skills, things like research, public speaking, and problem solving through work that actually matters to their communities. It also connects students to local leaders and organizations, helping them see themselves as part of the community, not separate from it. And I think one of the most powerful outcomes is civic empowerment. Students begin to see that their voice matters and that they can influence real decisions. And over time,

this creates a pipeline of students who not only understand how systems work, but feel confident engaging with them and shaping their communities. Next slide. Going off the benefits, it is imperative that we discuss the impleation timeline. Um, and I just want to bring it to light that this timeline shows how we move from the design and the hard work that has been put in it to our first group of students, our cohorts receiving the recognition. So, this fall, I know we've discussed, but I want to take a pause and just uplift. We had educational partners such as our all student congress. We had CTE teachers, history teachers, and some administrators, and some DLCAP members who helped us really bring those criterias together that we just shared with you earlier. And they were part of helping us decide what was reasonable for our district and the students that are going to be attaining this seal. So now we are here for the finalizing the criteria and processing the board adoption tonight where we will then hopefully have the opportunity to finalize the application and get our communication plan in for all of the school sites to be available to have their students apply for the seal. And then in May we will have the deadline where students will submit and then have the ordering of their insignas to have that seal on their diplomas. And then in June, we will have our first cohort of students getting the syllacific engagement and getting that recognition that they have worked hard for. Next slide, please. All right. So, now an example of civic engagement. I'm going to give it away in just a second to the team behind me from Richmond High. But to make this concrete, I want to share what it looks like in practice. Richmond High School students in the health academy took on the issue of youth vaping, something that directly affects their peers and community. They

didn't just study this issue. They conducted real research. They analyzed the local data. They looked at existing tobacco policies and they even gathered survey data from other students. And from there, they developed actual policy recommendations and pres presented their findings to the Richmond City Council. And what's really powerful is that their work had a real outcome and the council voted six to zero in favor of a tobacco retail license ordinance. So I'm going to ask the students to share a highlight from that experience as well as their teacher.

I promised them I would go first. They're very nervous. Um I want to say how proud I am of my students. I teach public health honors. I am an alumni. Um I grew up and went to West Contraosta schools as did my parents and my family and my children. One of the things that was very important that we all did was give back to our community. And so this is a necessary and it ties into I have children who are now giving back into their community from their experience. And so recognizing this on a diploma is a wonderful thing and I highly uh encourage that. And now I'll let them speak to you.

Good evening. My name is Marian and I'm part of the white plan and in my public health class where we work with members of our community to regulate the use of tobacco products in our school and promote a healthier and safer environment. This experience has helped me understand real world issues and shown me how students can take action to make meaningful changes. Being engaged in activities like this has helped me has helped me grow personally. It has stopped my responsibility, built my confidence, and shown me the value of contributing to something larger than my school work. Thank you. Next slide, please. So, I actually have the pleasure of leading this work with our all student congress. Um it has been a pleasure to work also with UC Berkeley just seeing them be pushed and challenged because you know all student congress are already the leaders of tomorrow. Um this year with one of their subcommittees they chose to have an anti-racism committee and their goal was to identify ways to push that policy. So with Y plan, their question is how can WCC actually move from policy to action on how best to implement the 2024 anti-racism policy? I would like to uplift that our client with this project is actually our superintendent, Mrs. Cheryl Cotton, and she has been a client that has been there since day one. hearing and seeing the passion, their why, and just identifying early on as a client what what are my stakeholders seeing and supporting them. And now they're upcoming surveying, interviewing, they're interviewing their admin, their teachers, and then they're also hosting summits called impact circles um at their high school and middle school sites. But I feel like the best advocates for this to show how the

process has been going will be our lovely trustees who's also serving for Elserto and Hercules High School Congress represent us. Good evening. Um being a part of this Y plan process has been very important and useful throughout my day-to-day leadership journey. Learning how to ask questions with intent and limited follow-up have been great. Building this community in this district as well as knowledge has been extremely impactful. I have used all information given to me at my school site in hopes of doing the same thing we do at ASC, finding and maintaining a positive community climate. As of today, actually of this morning, we have entered step four of our wand process. We have finished our survey and have began going public. The most exciting part is getting the data and working towards improving. Using this data, having hard conversations will help us as a board figure out what we need to do in order to make our school's children feel safe and feel comfortable. Our goal is to build community that is open, honest, transparent, and knows how to individually do the work to uphold these core principles. Thank you. Yeah. So I am part of not not the anti-racism group but the group for authentic engagement. So our so our subcommittee has uh also been working on our survey and as of yesterday we have uh finalized our survey and we will be pushing out um questions to sort of get get a feel on the the climate surrounding student engagement. So that our goal is that we can have environments where students are willing to learn. They feel confident about their school sites and they and they have every leverage to focus in their school work.

Thank you so much for sharing about your projects. As you all can see, these projects turn our youth into our best problem-solving force. Um and so we hope that you will vote to pass the resolution. Now therefore be it resolved that the West Contraosta Board of Education formally adopts the California State Seal of Civic Engagement. The seal we will be awarded based on students successful completion of the five criteria and we'll take any questions that you've got. Thank you for the presentation. Uh, Trusty Smith folds, do we need to call for public comment first or can I ask questions?

Uh, we'll go to questions and then we'll do public comment after. Okay. So, I'll do questions. All right. Um, I have a couple of questions. Um, Miss Sigler, we are we are clear that some of the schools graduate before June like middle college and um, Vista Virtual I think may graduate before June. So in the timeline, do we have the insignia ready to be on their diplomas before the June deadline, which the timeline indicated?

Yeah, thank you for that question. Um, and I think actually as we go through this process, I'll take that as feedback that we need to process middle college applications first. Students don't actually get their diplomas uh until after the gradu after. So we will. Yes. So that buffer time will make sure we have enough time to get them. Okay. And then I think I heard that this starts this year, correct? It students can earn it this year. And then

we on your slide it said it's good. One of the positives is um kids can earn and it goes on their diploma and they can use it for their application in college. But we know that this year it's more kind of skills because some of them already turned in their applications in November, December and already got the colleges have already given them their answer by now. But what we're focusing on is the fact that next year it'll be able to be put on their their applications as if there's some they are going to earn the seal of Yeah. So next year you would declare it the way they do like AP classes that you haven't taken yet, right? like, oh, I'm

when you fill out the application. So, it's like when they're filling out their college application about they are taking AP classes. They may not have passed the class yet, but that's in their thing. So, this would be they are on the road to have the CI civic engagement seal. It's just they haven't received it yet. So, that's how they would indicate that. Okay. And then, um, to the current seniors, how is it being rolled out to them now that they have the ability to apply for this? And when is the deadline to have the essay in, to have the other criteria met, and who do they turn that into? Does this go through their counselor? Does this go to their go through their government and economics teacher? How does this get processed?

Yeah, that's a great question. So, the deadline is May 8th. Um, and part of why we, so when they do the Y plan project, the essay that is the reflection is part of that project. So any student who's committed a a project really has off the bat pretty much met three of the criteria. So it'll be a lower lift for those students. Um but we did discuss as a team going through the government classes so that every single student hears about the opportunity for example the middle college students who presented a few months ago they qualify right. um Y plan is an avenue for us to build out and include many kids, but there are students who will qualify otherwise. Um and so we've talked about the government uh going through government classes, going through counselors and also the applications are in school links so they can push alerts to the students that way.

Okay. And then so why the Y plan is a framework and sometimes it works in teams, right? We saw tonight that there's groups of teams and you said that there is a plan to where students can do something that's inside the Y plan framework curriculum but do it individually. Right. Absolutely. And that's that's going to be explained to students and they will be able to reach out to their counselor, teacher, what have you for kind of like guidance. Is that accurate? Yes.

Okay. And then um the I have two more uh friend one who approves or disapproves the projects like who's going to say yes this is a good project no this is not a good project um who's going to hold the accountability if they do choose to work in a team if we're allowing that like a group of kids or a whole government class works on it whatever we're doing if we allow that who's the monitor so right now um Miss Shelton is our point person. Um, so what she really is doing, the college and career team has helped build the the applications in schools. Um, Miss Shelton on May 8th is going to look at the applications and basically ring the bell to convene a team. It shouldn't be on her alone. So, she will gather, you know, a team of people between family engagement and college and career to review the applications. One of the things that we anticipate is that as we go through these applications, we will find things we didn't think of. Um, and it's gonna make us refine for next year. Um, and I think our goal this year is to really say, did they do quality work? Did they reflect on the work? And are they within the spirit of what we're asking them to do? Um, and then the more we debated in a team as we were norming, we realized the issue very often isn't going to be the criteria as much as our explanation of our expectations. And so that will get tighter and tighter yeartoear and I have two more I believe. Uh, one, can we describe or define civics? Because it changes I'm a history teacher. It changes throughout, right? So what would be considered a good citizen during the American American Revolution was hanging out with England, right? Everybody was everybody else was a revolutionary, right? But that changes throughout time.

Now we're saying, "Oh, you're a good citizen to be civic engagement." I think that we have defined civic engagement as engaging in community um and engaging in problem solving. And I think there's this um state expectation that there's there's really a an alignment to democratic processes as we move through this. Um, but I hear a push in your comment that I think is productive and I think it's something we can continue as a team to refine. And my very last question, and this is super important to me, this one, how does this show up in our special ed classes? So, our special ed students who are on diploma track, one of their criteria is making a public comment or making a comment at a civic engagement organization, right? like a board meeting or a city council meeting. Are there safe um are there safety nets in place that says you don't have to get up and make a comment. You can do a written comment. You can do a video comment. You can do something at a Rotary Club. You can do something at like what is the to what degree have we kind of flushed this out to where we are including all of our students who are on that diploma track? All of our seniors, right? all of our seniors and how do we ensure that we're not creating if they have to do all five of these criter criteria or three or two whatever it is how are we making sure that we're creating space for all of our students to be included for example instead of writing a two to three page essay can they do a video entry right so is there a way for

uh students in our special ed classrooms again to be paired up our seniors right to be paired up or is there a project that that helps class can take on together and then let it roll over, right? So, if we have some juniors and seniors in one of our special ed classrooms, can the juniors participate and it rolls over to the next year seniors so they don't have to do it again? Have we flushed kind of all of those ins and outs? Have we flushed all of those in and out?

Yeah, I really you're really in line with the community feedback that we received as we did our road show. Um, they really said, "How is this accessible for students with IEPs?" and um the project itself, students should receive the accommodations per their IEP. When I look at criteria 2, making a public comment is an option, but they don't have to do that. There's two, they have to complete two of the three. Um but I think making a public comment or submitting a written comment, I mean, we do have community members who submit written public comments to this board, right? And so we definitely can consider that. Um, and we had a hearty discussion about video self-reflections, particularly in a time of AI, that we may get a more authentic reflection via video than writing. Um, and we did determine that that was acceptable.

Okay. Thank you. And all of these things are going to show up in more of the it doesn't show up here, but it's going to show up. The flushing of all of that out shows up in what you submit to the the teachers, what the students are going to see. Yes. What the parents are going to have access to, what the counselors have, all of that shows up in that area. Absolutely. In the application, that would be step by step. Okay. Uh I believe I'm complete for now. Thank you.

Thank you, Trusty Wler. Thank you. So to the gentlemen, thank you very much for your presentation. To the students, thank you very much for your presentation. I'm just thrilled to see this. I'm my heart is full as I said in uh agenda review. So in agenda review, I made a couple of comments um and we expanded um the resolution to include school-based government uh SSC actually for students with IEPs. I think the CAC participation on the CAC is right there are students. Um, and then the other thing that I thought of after the meeting was do are you including appropriate volunteer internship uh re relevant paid employment in this um and I'm thinking about students can be poll workers and um the Supreme Court is going to hear a hearing and I bet that they slash mail-in voting and so polls may come back. Um so that is open to students. We also um in the resolution that we passed in the fall, we made a commitment to work with Contraostasa County Office of Elections for Constitution Week. So there are ways to um work with them about voting and the importance of voting. I'm also wondering if you can include as a criteria pre-registering or registering to vote. I know it won't apply to everyone, but I think that should be an option on your list of, you know, things that that students can do. I actually that's what motivated me the most out of all of this. I was like, we got California has a horrible, even though we have pre-reg, you know, pre voting, pre-registration, California has a horrible um track record. So, I was thinking that we could work on that. So

would we need to add something to the resolution to capture that like uh appropriate volunteer internship or relevant play paid employment opportunities or could could the resolution go as it is and include all the things that I just said?

We could do either way. the way we wrote in the resolution was really just an example and we kept it broad um for the so that we wouldn't be exclusionary. Um so if you end up making a motion to have us amend and include those things, I'm happy to do so. If not, I do think it could go as it is and we could add those to the application with a longer list of examples.

Okay. So when we make the motion, I'll just say something and we'll see if people like it. Um, and yeah, that's all I had. Thank you very much. Before we move on to the next question, I think we're going to have to extend. We are at 9:48 and we still have a couple items left. I move that we extend to 11:00 to be able to finish the entire agenda, including all the way until item G, comments from the board of education and future agenda items.

I'll second that. Okay. Oh, just want to catch my breath. Um, yeah. So we have a motion to extend to 11 by Smith folds, second by regular. Um, Trusty Han, no. Trusty Whitten, yes. Trusty Reckler, yes. Trusty Smith folds.

And just thank you. And just for the record, is to extend to 11 and finish out the entire agenda to G. Comments from the board of education. Smith Foss is a yes. and Trusty Anyana is a yes. Motion passes to extend to 11 p.m. Um, and now we're continuing with questions. Um, Trusty Wen, I'm going to try to keep this as short as possible, guys. Okay, so my first question is when we're rolling out the application for civic engagement, the seedless civic engagement, it's going to be rolled out on school links. Is that correct?

Yeah, students will submit the application in school links.

Okay. Um, is there a way that we can get more training for school links? We've got like I wouldn't say basic training. I would say a little like if there was a word under basic for training for school links, that's what I will say. Minimal. Thank you. Minimal training for school links. I don't really know how to use it. Also, because for at least for my school, Hercules, we have like a new college and career counselor every 2 to 3 weeks. So, it's kind of hard to develop that connection and have them help us with something like this if if they're constantly rotating. Is there another way that we can roll out the application? I mean, we can still use school links. I'm assuming it's going to be here for a while, but also um another way that's easily accessible to students.

You have the team right here hearing your feedback and they will make sure that there is support. Okay, I'll follow up later. Okay, the next question, um when does the application open up? I know when it closes, which is May 8th, but when exactly does it open up? mic check. Okay. If approved, we're guessing next week or hoping for next week for the applications to open to give a little bit over a month

and then Okay. So, since it's next week, is there a application already like in the works of being draft already with like a backup plan like just in case it is approved tonight? like you can roll it out as soon as possible. Yes, we have a rough draft in school length right now. With some of the feedback I just heard, I can already think of things to change, but we also have like mobile uploads for students to make it easy to upload things. Like we've been thinking of things that could work for you guys. So, yeah,

great. I love prepared people. Um, and then this is also open for students who are not in AP classes, right? I heard the mention of AP. I just wanted to make sure that wasn't necessarily a criteria for the SEAL. That was just an example. Um, no, this is open to all students. Great. That's it for all my questions. Thanks, guys. No further questions from the board. If not, we'll go on to do we have public comment on this item?

Yes, we have to. Marian Cors and Eene Bos they left. Okay. So, okay. So, do we have a motion on this item?

Yes. I'll move resolution 2526-65 adopting the California State Seal of Civic Engagement approval with the following amendment and help me with this if it doesn't fit. Um, we'll put um I was thinking point six could be appropriate volunteer internship or relevant paid employment opportunities such as working polls. And then we could put 47 pre-registering or registering to vote. And so that that would be the motion. If you guys have any suggestions on that,

can I ask a clarifying question through the president? What's my clarifying question would be when you're saying volunteerism, civic volunteerism, you're including things like working the polls? So, okay. Do we know if students are able to be excused to work through the polls? They are day. Okay. Thank you for that. And then the second part would be an example of being registered to registering to vote or being registered to vote. Is that accurate? Yes. And was there a third part for that miss?

Uh no, that's it. So volunteering in some kind of civic engagement process like polling or would walking would walking for a uh candidate work dropping off literature campaign literature would being part of a uh candidates's campaign work would things like that would also be included. I I would think yes. Yeah. Um all right. Thank you for the clarification. Thank you for allowing me to ask the question for clarification. I'm complete.

Oh, another example. I'm sorry. Um, we did commit to working with the Contracasta County Office of Ed uh education to do Constitution Week on high school campuses. And it could be possible that students uh assist and volunteer with the Contraosta County Office of Education on campus.

Quick question, clarifying question. So the motion is to add this into the resolution. Um by adding this into the resolution would that narrow the cuz you said we left it kind of open so it could be broad. So adding examples into the resolution would then narrow the I think that this is okay and broad broadening. we had focused around governance committees and I think this broadens it to include governance structures um more broadly right so if you're a pole worker or you're registering to vote or you're politically active I see this as a category that opens more avenues and very likely when people see that then they'll find another related thing that may qualify them and it could actually get wider in a positive way.

All right. Thank you for that. Could I ask one more question? Yes.

Civic organizations, for example, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, that's part of their whole mission statement, right? We're a civic organization. We do D. Does that count? The only thing there is is we've it's civic, but we've strayed from governance. And criteria 2 specifically is around democracy and governance. Um, that's part of why if a student passed every single history class, that's part of the criteria because you're learning government and democracy in those classes. Okay? So, governance under the definition is a place where policy is made and elected people are in those positions to make the policy practices and procedures. That's what we would consider to be governance.

That's how I'm thinking of it. Yes. And then the act of democracy, right? So voting has to be a voting position. So if I was on my high school student council leadership team, whatever that's called, right? Like if it's called um student government, if it's called Kennedy, I think they have government for students that are a part of and they're in if that's an elected position governance, that would count. Okay. All right. I'm complete. Okay. So we have a actually a motion on the floor. Um, do we have a second to that? I'll second the motion.

Um, so we have a motion on the floor with amendments added to that um by Trusty Regular, second by Smith Folds. Moving on to the vote. Um, Trusty Han. Yes. Comments. Comments. Oh, sorry. Board comments. Smith votes.

As a history teacher, I absolutely adore the idea of talking more about civics and civic engagement and what it looks like. As an elected official, I absolutely adore the idea of having our students involved in civics and civic engagement. The thing that is giving me a little bit of pause is the implementation. as a teacher, who is holding all this work and how are they looking at what do we 1300 seniors that may graduate every year combined with all of our classes? How does this look in virtual school, right? How does this look at middle college when they're already involved in other levels? How does it look this year when we're rolling it out and it's March almost April and we are giving them kind of like month to May 8th? How are we making sure that we're making pathways to their success and not building in boundaries? I know that I talked about the special ed aspect of it. That's a high concern for me and where I would want us to make sure that we are looking at it through that lens. We are talking to our CAC members. We're talking to our special ed department. Uh Dr. Fleshman has a eye on it as being a teacher and principal and all of those things and understanding how curriculum could be and should be rolled out to our special ed students to ensure that we are not adding to it. I think as a senior parent this completely stresses me out. I want it I want her to have the seal when she graduates. I think it's great. My other daughter was supposed to get the seal of biiteracy. I don't know where that is. Hadn't seen it on no diploma. But I really want this to be successful. And I think that because it's because it's new and it's being molded that we have to be flexible and be able to come back to the board when there are things that you found that okay we got to clean this part up or wait we need to make sure that this is working. So at the end of this June right in the summer

I would love for you to come back and say okay this is where we found some holes. This is how we clean those holes up. This is where we're going to move differently next year. This is how we are presenting this professional development to our teachers, to our counselors, to anybody who's going to touch this. This is how they've been um they've been saturated with the information because you know even our schools sometimes they do government first semester and then economics second semester. So some people are in economics right now and not government, right? So it's all of those things and more. And I would love to continue to be a think partner around this because I love to see holes in things and then bring them to light. I'm complete.

Thank you. Um any further comments? I think well my comment is I just want to applaud the work done around this item and bringing it to WCCUSD. um civic engagement adds layers to current student leadership and I think their future. So, thank you and I applaud the work and I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more coming from this. Um so, now we'll move on to the vote. Um Trusty Han, yes. Trusty Whitten, yes. Trusty Reckler, yes. And thank you, Trusty. Really excited. Trusty Smith folds.

Smith folds. Yes. Trusty Zenyana is a yes. Item is approved. Um, we'll now move we'll now move on to item E2, bond 2010 measure D, 2012 measure E and 2020 measure R, performance of financial audit for a year ending June 30th, 2025.

Good evening board. Uh, thank you for having me again. My name is Ellen Mahia Hooper. Tonight we have uh two different um auditors joining us for this review. I have Hugo Luna from Christy White that completed the financial audit as well as Nathan Eldman from ID Bailey that performed the performance audit. They will each have a presentation. And it looks like we we're starting with ID Bailey, but that's is that I don't believe that's correct presentation. Okay. Um Okay. Can I my my turn? I'll let you pull up um excuse me. I'll let you pull up my slides, please. Um while while you do that, my name is Nathan Edelman with ID Bailey. I am the independent external auditor and I'm going to talk with you briefly. We'll talk about accounting. Um, I I don't know if you if you if you don't have my slides, I guess it's okay. But we uh I met a couple weeks ago with the uh the bond oversight committee to talk about the scope and the results of the bond performance audit. And you know, really the highlevel conclusion of the bond performance audit was that there are no audit findings. It was what we call a clean or unmodified opinion. What we actually do, you know, the the the scope

of the performance audits, it is fiscal year June 30, 2025 and it is primarily to answer the question, were bond funds used for things consistent with what is allowable? Those bond funds have restrictions based on the specific balance as well as proposition 39 which yeah there there we go there's there's my slides. Um just skip like three slides ahead please. Yeah right right here was good. So what we audited is is you the bond funds have restrictions. We take the accounting records. We then request invoices and contracts and purchase orders. We talk to to folks within the the facilities department. But the question that we're seeking to answer is, you know, are these things used for for allowable activities. And as I said on the on the previous slide which kind of a highle overview of um the results of the audit there were no audit findings which really means that you in other words you for the year ended June 30 2025 the bond funds were all used for things that are allowable. Um if you skip to the next next slide please. Yeah, I won't I I won't go into this in a lot of detail. Just as I said, I met with the oversight committee a couple weeks ago and I think we had a a nice much more in-depth discussion about the the methodology and um and what goes into actually conducting the audit. Ne next slide, please. And and again on just a a super high level, you know, our job as auditors is to ask questions. We look at the documents. We designed the audit and at the end of the day the auditor is reporting back to the board, reporting

back to the oversight committee in this case the results of the audit and and actually next slide please just to segue actually one one slide past there. All right. May maybe it's it's not in here, but I just the auditor um is reporting back the the results of the audit, but we do rely on and work closely with management of the bond program. They need to support the audit. They have to prepare the accounting records. They have to give us the invoices. They have to answer questions, send out confirmations. Everyone who we did work with very cooperative. There are a number of communications required by the audit standards if there were you know exceptions with respect to the audit if management was less than forthcoming if there were delays and I am very pleased to present that there are no other communications that that were required. This slide here just the the last one is just a uh quick visual on the scope of the testing. The actual report goes into a lot more details about what we did and there are some appendices at the back of the report that provide the specific contracts the specific invoices that we were looking at and those were things that I think over the years have been helpful for the oversight committee and so very high level what measure D measure E measure R and we're at you know 90% 77 and and 90% of the actual expenditures that that were tested So, um I I can talk much more about the audit and I can go on for an hour um to talk about the audit if you'd like, but as I said, I had a a much more detailed discussion with the seabbug uh about a couple weeks ago. I I'll turn it over to the to the trustees.

If there are any any questions or anything that you like me to talk about in more detail, I'd be I'd be happy to do so. And we also have Hugo Loa, Hugo Luna on the line. Uh, so he's over Zoom who will present the, uh, financial audit.

Hello everyone. Um, thank you for having me here. It's a pleasure to be here. Um, I will share my screen. Um, so I'm here to I'm with Christy White and um, uh, my name is Hugo Luna and I'm here to present the financial audit results for the measure 10 for the the 2010 measure D, 2012 measure E and 2020 measure R for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2025. Um, our responsibility as the as the third party auditor is to issue an opinion over the financial statement and ensure that they're u materially stated and that they're in compliance. Uh, we did issue an unmodified opinion which is the best opinion possible. Um, and I will read that opinion to you. It's located on page three in the second paragraph of the audit report. In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly in all material respects. the respective financial position of the 2010 measure D, 2012 measure E and 2020 measure R bond building fund of the West Contraosta Unified School District as of June 30th, 2025 and the respective changes in financial position thereof for the year and ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. And in order to issue this opinion, uh there are a series of uh substantive procedures that we perform. Um some of the main ones being um cash testing, ensuring that what's recorded in the district district accounting software matches what's uh what the support the county treasury shows. Um those transactions that happen right at the end of the fiscal year, so July, August, September, uh we make sure that they if they were for expenditures that should have been for the year ended June, June 30, 2025, that they were acred and

included in the correct fiscal year. Um, and when it comes to revenue, we typically only see interest revenue. Um, so just I'm just going to go over the ending balances real quick. Um, measure D had beginning balance of 23.3 million with revenue of 1 million and expenditures of 11.7 million. Um, making an ending balance of 12.6 million. Measure E had a beginning balance of 29.9 million with revenues of 1.3 expenditures of 16.9 and with an ending balance of 14.3. Um, measure R had a beginning balance of 68.4 million um with revenues of 9.2 million, expenditures of 4.4 four um and uh proceeds from sales of bonds of 250 million and that made an ending balance of 323.2 million and the total ending fund balance for all three measures combined 350.2 million um when it came to construction commitments. So that's um uh unfinished capital projects. Uh, measure D had unfinished capital projects of 12.5 million. Measure E had unfinished capital projects of 16.4 million. Measure R had unfinished capital projects of 22.7 million. And we do we do have a reconciliation. We reconcile the building fund because there are um it is used for other purposes other than just D and R um the measure DENR. So we reconcile it as a whole and the other building fund um had 53.2 million and the fund the building fund as a whole with uh bond projects

and non-prom projects uh had 403.5 million. Um and just to go over the results real quick uh we we issued an unmodified opinion. No material weaknesses were identified. no significant deficiencies identified and the financial statements were in compliance. Um there were no financial statement findings for the year ended June 30th, 2025 and part of our audit procedures uh require us to follow up on prior year audit findings if there were any and there were no prior year audit findings to follow up on. And um that concludes my presentation.

Thank you Mr. Luna. So just in summary, both audits um came back with no findings. Tonight we are asking the board to accept these audits uh in um in compliance with uh the requirement for them to be accepted by the end of March. Do we have any board comments? Trusty regular questions. We have one question for both auditors. Hello Mr. Edelman. I think this is the first time I haven't seen you in a Zoom box. So, hello.

And then to Mr. Luna to both very briefly, what were your discussions with the CBOC and did they raise relevant uh concerns about what was presented? Yeah, I didn't quite hear everything with the the echo, but so the the discussion with the CBOC, if I heard that correct, what was the discussion with the CBOC? Was anything relevant raised by them or Yeah. with with the uh with with the seabbug concern

something that they didn't like had questions about, you know, something that was material maybe would be a good accounting word to use.

I I can go first if you'd like. Um yeah, so we the discussion um for for my part of the audit was pretty brief, but they raised some good questions. They asked about um the bond building fund reconciliation. They they wanted to know um what that activity was that was not related to measure deenr and why it needed a reconciliation. Um and then they also asked how we handle audit findings uh related to the financial portion. Um and I just you know I stated that it would uh it would just be in the form if we ever found anything with the financial portion it would come in the form of an audit adjustment.

Yeah they yeah they were very interested in kind of the methodology the the scope how we go about picking picking samples and what do we do with the samples. I think they're uh particularly interested in the performance audit just because the performance audit is what's more more useful to those SEOs. is really not so much the debits and credits, but how is the district using those those restricted restricted bond funds and and they were very interested really in just you know kind of the interaction from the audit team from the auditors and and management and ensuring that the audit met all the standards as well as what was asked for versus what was delivered and I think we had a a good a productive discussion. Okay, thank you. That's all I have.

Do we have any public comment on this item? Yes, Mr. Don Gosny.

Good evening. You know, the district has 2.4 billion in school bonds to repair or replace all 53 of our schools. We still have about 17 schools left. We're short maybe three to four billion dollars. We have yearly financial and performance audits. These audits must meet specific standards, which they do. But with a performance audit, the bond the board was bamboozled into accepting that if we go with only the barebone standards, the district will meet the legal requirements and save a bunch of bucks. From the beginning of the bond program until that fateful day, the board accepted that the performance audit needed to go further and actually look at the health of the bond program. We no longer go that far with these audits. The only information the auditors receive is what's provided by the very people who are being audited. They used to talk to key stakeholders on the bond oversight committee, which was me for a lot of years. So, we could point them to the places the district might not send them. Without those interviews, these performance audits are incomplete. The bottom line is that the bond program has problems, fixable problems, but nothing will be done because they are never allowed to hear from us. The same goes with the board and senior staff. You ignore the very people. That concludes public comment. Okay. Thank you for public comment. Um we'll move now on to a motion. Yeah, I'll go ahead and move. Let me see here. Bond 20 bond performance and financial audit for the year ending June 30th 2025.

Smith fold second. So we have a motion by regular second by Smith Folds. Um do we have any further comment? Seeing none, uh Trusty Whitten, yes. Trusty Regler, yes. Trusty Smith FS. Smith FS. Yes. Trusty say yes. Item moves. Um, moving now on to item G. I mean, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I am skipping ahead.

May I have a point of order? Um, when we go to the facility master plan overview, because it's a discussion item, I think that it should be tabled until the entire board is here because if not, we're going to have to go back and redisuss this because it is such a big item. Would you agree or staff, do you agree in that or no? We do have the master plan architects here tonight. So, um, we can ask them to come back. However, it would be nice for them to be able to give the presentation. Trusty Redmond, going to order. Is Trusty Hernandez still here? No, she's up.

Yeah, she stepped off at my Okay, thank you. Um, okay. May I comment on this? I I think that there's plenty of time to This is just an overview. I think there's plenty of time where they're going to get into the nuts and bolts. Um, so I would be okay with hearing it. It's just my opinion. Is there a time that this is coming back in the discussion phase? Absolutely. We will be back. So this is just a first overview over the new or the facility master plan that we've had since 2016. This is the same one 2016ish.

Yes, this is a new facilities master plan that will replace the 2016 master plan. Okay. But it is a similar process.

Okay. I'm okay hearing it. I just want to make sure that we're not leaving other board trustees out because this is pivotal to the the decisions that we make in the district because these master plans and I hate the name, but because these primary plans are the ones that we use when we're looking at how we're going to revamp our schools and what order and why and all of the things behind it. So, it's such a super important discussion, but I'm willing to listen to it now as long as it can come back. It may have to be on repeat. I'm complete Okay. So, we'll keep the items as presented. So, we'll move on to item F1, facilities master plan overview. And I'm to believe that is Ellen's item. Good evening. Uh once again, thank you for having us tonight. Uh I would like to bring forward Josh Jackson and Dennis Jahedi to present. uh they are from PBK architects and they are our master plan architects for this process. As was stated um in the preamble here uh the facilities master plan is an essential part of creating a roadmap to how we address our facilities and also how we use our facilities over time. Um, and really looking at both of those components together to come up with the most efficient and effective way uh to move forward in prioritizing our facility needs is uh really what this master plan is all about. Uh tonight you'll see an introduction to what the process will look like will take place over the coming months uh with completion anticipated for the fall. With that, take it away.

Hello. Good evening, president, board, uh, and staff. Um, my name is Josh Jackson. I'm the director of facilities at PBK Architects. And I'm Dennis Aed. I'm the urban designer and project manager for the project PBK Architects.

And we are delighted to be here this evening to give an introductory overview of the facilities master planning process and what you can expect in the coming months. Next slide, please. Uh so this evening we will be giving a a brief overview as I mentioned of just what a facility's master plan is and what uh this district can hope to achieve with it. We're going to talk a little bit about the planning process and how we'll be applying that here in West Contraosta County and then we'll give excuse me West Contraosta Office of Education uh and it's late uh district unified school district um and then we'll be going a little uh overview of what you can expect to see in your plan and open it up for discussion and any questions that you may have at the end. Next slide, please. Okay. So, I just want to go over a little bit about what you can expect to get from your master plan and what you would want to what what we'd expect you to be able to do with it. Um, primarily we're at the basic level of master plan is generally just it's a road map for for developments roadmap that allows the the district to invest in facilities and have a plan for that looking into looking out 10 years or more. Um, and it includes a list of projects that would be provided that be implemented and proposed over that period of time. And within the the what you can see on the the slide or the sheets that you can see in front of you, there's three more or less key components that we're thinking about or what we would expect to provide for you with the with the report. And that would be the ability to adapt and change your facilities going off of the enrollment and demographics that are that are also changing. Um, more or less there what we're trying to say is that wherever the students are, we want to understand where that is and figure out how it is that the facilities can adjust and and improve or or um be enhanced to meet those to meet the students where they are at, whether that's literally

physically or in terms of their development. And then in regards to modernizing and improving aging facilities, that's fairly standard, but the idea that obviously as buildings get older, they become a little bit more challenging to maintain and the standard of of quality of those buildings is is degrading over time. So, as we're assessing whether or not they need to be improved, that's part of the the report and we'd be able to tell you how um the state of those older facilities and how much they need to be improved. And then finally, understanding the the ed educational adequacy. So, really our goal there is really making sure that the programs that are in the schools, the facilities, that those facilities themselves support those programs well enough and what it actually means for them to be for those spaces to be adequate in supporting those um those those programs. So that's kind of your general idea of what the three elements we would expect you to be able to get from the report and then I'll have Josh talk about what the actual processes would be.

So in terms of how we go about this work, uh this chart sort of moves from left to right and really we're anchoring the work in data. Um so we are taking information on enrollment projections and and capacity uh factoring that in. We will also be doing a detailed facility condition assessment of every site in the district. Uh and then as Dennis mentioned, we will also be looking at these sites not just from a bricks and mortar standpoint, but understanding how they are supporting or not supporting teaching and learning and what kinds of updates need to be made there. All of this information gets integrated into an overall database which we will share key results from with the community to get information on priorities and values. And I really want to highlight that that's a major part of this work is establishing priority needs in the district based on both our assessment and the the input of the community. So that's really essential. Um ultimately uh when the district is equipped with that master plan, this will open a number of significant next steps including the generation of a deferred maintenance plan identifying opportunities for operational efficiencies as well as potential funding opportunities in the future such as general obligation bonds or state matching grants. Um I just want to take a moment to also talk about the timeline. Um we are in the midst of data collection and establishing some of the the groups we'll be working with uh and uh in the spring and uh into the early summer we'll be sending the teams out to conduct facility condition assessments uh and into the late summer and fall we expect to be returning to you with recommendations to include in the plan. Next slide please. Um, as I mentioned, one of the most important inputs to this work is enrollment projections. Uh, these graphics up here are from a report that

the district has already conducted and has provided to us. Um, and it really helps us look into uh utilization rates across the district. Where do we have schools that are perhaps crowded? Where might we have schools that have underutilized facilities? uh and ultimately try and establish a target for the capacity that the district would like to host in coming years. Next slide, please. And going over a little bit with that facility conditions assessments. Really, our goal there is to understand the literally the current condition of the facilities and the sites themselves. That's going building by building. We would have our three assessors within the three disciplines. Engineering, MEP, or excuse me, mechanical engineering, plumbing, and um technology. In this case, we're not looking at technology, but then we would have our architects, us in this case, looking at the interior of the buildings. That'd be classrooms, um, you know, cafeterias, whatever may be that would be occupying the interior spaces, looking at the finishes, the floors, walls, all those things. And then the third category of inspection would be our um, envelope and specialist. So, they'd be looking at your roofs and the the building walls, looking at the the shell for the the program, of course. Um the goal here really is within those three teams having that expertise looking at those facilities and those assessments as well as listening to your your school staff and your district princ your principles and actual faculty who can tell us what their experience is and what they actually um what they know about the sites because our goal is really to see and talk to every single school or principal at one of the sites so that we can get that kind of uh inerson and very personal information that we wouldn't be able to have ourselves and we'd also be able to then visit those sites uh individually as well one by one. So then the goal would be to have our each site have their own school profile that has a list of identified needs and the proposed projects to meet those needs. Next slide.

Oh the education is next. Okay. So and then this last part is me as well. to be again going back to that topic of educational adequacy really understanding what it is that we are trying to to share with the children and what these spaces need in order to to be able to do that well. So in this case, looking at specialized programs like TK or special ed, if the the facility and spaces that they're housed in aren't adequate to to to meet the needs of the program that we're saying that is the bare minimum, we want to make sure that we're suggesting the proper improvements and the proper projects that bring that that standard up to allow that adequacy to be met.

Next slide, please. In terms of engaging the school communities in West Contraosta County, I keep saying that. West Contra Unified School District, apologies. Um, we're really trying to take a multifaceted approach to engaging with different stakeholders. Um, we have launched a website. It is wccusdfmp.net. Uh, there's also a QR code there. Right now, this is uh sharing information. In the future, we will be providing uh opportunities for uh members of the public to also provide input through this website. Uh but we're not relying entirely on digital tools. We are going to be setting up a series of in-person community engagements where we will show up in person and conduct exercises to solicit input from school communities. Um we will also be engaging with uh principles and staff at each schools directly. Uh and additionally we'll be conducting some leaders leadership focus groups with uh members of the central administration to understand any sort of goals or challenges that may not emerge from looking at an individual site. Next slide please. Ultimately uh the master plan will culminate in a series of what we call implementation recommendations. Um it's important to note that at this time uh the district's bond funds have been allocated to projects and so um there's going to be a lot of strategies here to um get the most bang for the buck out of some projects. Uh we heard before we've been listening very carefully and and heard some of the concerns around heat and so those are the kinds of uh uh input that we're going to be looking for uh and including in recommendations for the future. Um the implementation section will uh really embrace those priorities that that we hear from our engagement, recommend uh different

strategies and incorporate data on available funding uh so that as much as possible we can stretch the district's dollars with matching grants to achieve maximal outcomes. Next slide. And that was a uh very high level overview, but uh again we are in the early stages of this process and just wanted to be transparent with all of you uh with all of you uh how this is going to work and our goals for the project and we'd love to uh answer any questions or hear any direction that you may have for us at this time. Thank you so much.

Do we have any questions from the board? Uh, trustes Trusty Whitten. Um, understanding that you can't have multiple big open projects at school sites, what is your criteria slashorder for need-based um, improvement for building?

That's a great question. Um, in some cases, a particular project will be prioritized because it uh, will lay the foundation for other work. Um, a good example of that would be roofing projects. Uh, we would not recommend interior improvements on a building which has a leaky roof, for example, because almost immediately your improvements will be damaged. So, we're looking at sequencing projects in ways that have a logical order to it. Um, in some cases where those kinds of sequences aren't obvious, we will uh leverage the the input of the community on on what kinds of improvements are mo most critical as a particular site to help inform the recommended priorities in the plan.

So, if I'm hearing correctly, pretty much the community would suggest what project needs to come first. I I would say suggest is the right word. uh we the community input is absolutely critical but uh for example we we would not recommend doing technology improvements on a building that is uh has inadequate infrastructure or some of those roofing issues or utility concerns. So absolutely the community priorities are an important input, but we're also looking at the data from our technical in uh experts that are going out on site to make sure we're not doing a project which would then uh not yield the outcomes that are desired over the long term.

Okay. And then for the data that you're receiving, I heard you mention that you guys were going to be going out to schools and doing different types of engagements. What would those engagements look like? because I know you said principles and then community, but what how how would those sessions be held? Like what what would that look like?

That's a great question. So, um two separate ones that you brought up the the principal engagements. Uh we ask each principal to uh complete a detailed questionnaire about the lived experience in different systems on site and then we can offer a follow-up interview u one-on-one or often we include uh lead custodians uh who have a great deal of information about sites in those focused conversations with principles. When it comes to the broader school communities, uh we're looking to set up, I think about a halfozen, uh uh evening or uh other times of day engagement. Um we can set these up as standalone events or we're more than happy to join pre-existing events that we can uh meet people where they are. Uh and those workshops generally take 45 minutes to an hour. We give a brief presentation not so dissimilar from the one we did this evening to help bring people up to speed on what a master plan is. Uh but then we have a a range of tools uh interactive uh uh types of digital tools. We can also do sort of old school post-it note exercises on walls uh and really try and get people uh excited and speaking about uh what they feel their needs are at at each specific site. So, a mix of two different uh engagement strategies for site leadership and broader school communities.

And then would students be able to participate in these sessions? We would love students to participate in these sessions. Uh student voices are so important to this process. Quite frankly, you guys know the schools better than everybody else. So, we would love student participation. And quite frankly, we're open to any suggestions you might have that would help us drive student participation to the highest levels we can achieve. Thank you. I have no further questions. Trusty Smith vaults, your ser or your survey that you showed us the theformational that you showed us, how many languages is that in?

Uh, we can put it in as many languages as needed. I believe right now we already have it translated into Spanish and I think we were also now I'm getting a little sleepy. I think we might have thought was it um Mandarin was the other language. I we've talked about a number of different languages and we uh build multiple translation into the tool. Okay. And then I would also suggest that those community meetings some of them are held on Zoom so you could get the most um participation and information.

The other thing you mentioned students and you mentioned the custodial uh staff that's going to be talking to you. I would also make sure that you're talking to office managers, our safety staff, our CSS's and our secretaries at the school because they all have real time lived experience information about how the school works, how the school doesn't work, what the building actually does. They can tell you that the third floor is really hot, the ground floor is really cold. So having all of these type of casting a wide net for information is always better than um just soliciting from a couple of pockets. The other thing is um I would encourage you or your staff or someone you don't know the rhythm of a school unless you're there for pickup and drop off. So pickup, drop off, parking lot, traffic. In the city that I live in, Hercules, there's one way in and one way out when we're trying to get to the high school and the middle school because they're on the same they're on the same campus. So, there are lots of little details that again that the community can give you, but there's some broader things like making sure you're there for drop off and pickup, making sure you're asking where do you go in an evacuation when it goes to a fire, what's the safety, like there's all of these type of things that go in and out. Um we have a fantastic uh safety team led by uh director Booker. Um the other thing that I would ask two more questions. Have you integrated or how will you integrate our financial reality into this plan?

So uh uh first off thank you so much for the the insight and recommendations for the outreach and teams to include. We'll we'll definitely take that to heart. Um in terms of uh as you said financial realities uh that's essentially what the implementation section is tailored to. Um so we understand every district's financial situation is different. We conduct a fairly standard rigorous assessment uh when we send teams out into the field. But the recommendations on uh how to tackle those projects will absolutely be informed by your funding capacity. Um so we'll we'll try not to recommend things that can't be achieved. Uh we intend this to be a very uh practical realistic master plan for the team to put into effect. So we we will endeavor to to factor that. Absolutely.

So recommending things that cannot be achieved is something that you're cautious of. You don't want to recommend something that can't happen because of our financial situation. You're also, I'm assuming, cautious of the fact that our enrollment trends are projecting down. So when you're going to look at it, does this school have the capacity to, you know, house our students? Well, what does that look like when our enrollment is going down? What does that look like if you have combination classes? What does that look like if you this school is at its max for TK? What does it look like when you're looking at the birth rates, right? How many people are are having kids at a great rate anymore? and you know are we is that trending down as well as our per particular enrollment at WCCUSD. So I'm assuming by your head nod that all of this is being taken into consideration. Is that accurate?

It is accurate. Thank you very much. I'm complete. Trusty regular.

I'm sorry I didn't have a qu I did not have a question but something that the trustee said sparked me. So, do we not get a list? I mean, don't you just don't you just give us a list? I mean, we've got, you know, like zero dollars, but there is the chance that we go out for another bond in I think the year is 20 34 or something like that. I mean, do we do you do you give us like a runway of like, okay, you've got this, but this is other work that you need to get done if you if you've got the dollars for it.

Absolutely. There will be a description of the total estimated need in the district for the next 10 years. That I will warn you now, it's going to be a large number that can be intimidating. Um, from that full inventory of every potential project that could be done, we will have strategies to recommend from that full I often call it a menu from that menu of available projects which we recommend to pursue for the the maximum outcome. That's the only question I have. I do have a couple of comments when you're ready for that.

President, I have one more question. Does that mean that when you give us this whole menu list of stuff that has to be done, then it's on us to rank it or you rank it? We will provide recommendations and strategies. Ultimately, at the end of the day, it'll be the the board's decisions what projects to pursue. Thank you. I'm complete.

Okay. See no more um question. Do we have public comment on this item? Yes, we have one public comment. Jean Kid snner, please unmute yourself. Hello. I'm I'm a teacher. I'm in my classroom. I basically live in that classroom. Honestly, a principal, the amount of time in the decade plus I've been in my room are in and out in a flash, a blink. They're not in there very long. Uh, you know, the office, they don't really come in. The janitor's in there a little longer because I have to clean up, but we're still in there longest. I hope you're not going to forget to ask the teachers. Sounds like you're asking everyone but the teachers when you um do your research and your questionnaire. Just wondering that concludes public comment.

So, do we have any final board comments? Justice regular I do I just have a couple of things. So of course talk to teachers if you don't have that written down and then just for me shade structures you'll have to look at sun those types of things heating and cooling and then critical needs but also critical needs that have now been created because of code updates. Mhm. Um so you know they were compliant at one point but the code changed and now they're not. So um those are the things that come to my mind as uh important. Thank you.

And if I could there wasn't a question but I just want to highlight that absolutely educator voices are critical to this process. So if I failed to call that out that was just an accident. Absolutely including teacher voices is a part of this. Justice Miss Folds,

I think that we would be remiss if we didn't go into everything knowing that the world can change on a dime. How are we including the flexibility of our sites when we are talking about their longevity of um creating spaces where students are able to learn, staff is able to work, all of those things, right? We had to scramble when it was like six feet. We don't have the room for 20 kids in six feet because it's just the space is not there, right? So, what are we doing when we're looking ahead of we want to have outdoor learning spaces? We saw that at Valley View there. You're implementing outdoor outdoor learning spaces. We again I think shade structure was mentioned before, but it's these little things that make schools work that can be overlooked without it being intentional. So, I think that the more that we have input on the way that schools work and to your point, students are there every day, teachers are there, there are staff that are there every single day and can give you that insight, but I also think that we at some point have to be able to look in a future that we may not know exists, right? So, how do we say, okay, if the world shuts down again, how are we able to make sure that our facilities are in compliance, right? are able to shift very quickly. I think that this is a hard job. Again, I think that's why it has to come to the board several several times and we have to have study sessions and we have to go visit sites and we I mean there's 50 plus sites and I don't know if we've all been to all of them, right? So there are things that I think would a add to this making an informed decision, but I think that the board has to be able to make informed decisions and we have to be able to when it comes down to ranking looking past our areas and looking at

the district as a whole, right? Because that's where the debate comes in. So um I look forward to the guidance and the navigation on this, but I don't see it as an easy road unless we built in the infrastructure in the very beginning. Here's our data points. Here's our um surveys that all the principal had. Here's information that you need to look through board. Here's pictures of the sites. Here's what it looks like when there's drop off and pickup. This is what we think is the best um on the menu when we're talking about safety. This is it's a big deal. Like this school is an open campus. That makes a difference. This school is a uh is prime primarily located on a main street. That makes a difference, right? So all of those things that come into it, I think that we need to go slow to go fast, but to be able to make really good decisions that will outlive this board, I'm complete.

Um, thank you for those comments. Um I think my last comment is also echoing what some of my colleagues said you know ensuring that this is a transparent process um that we do have community input and that timelines are clear. So having those specific timelines so that everyone knows when things are happening is a must um with sufficient time to be able to put things on so that we can have some of these discussions I think within the communities. Um also the surveys I think having it accessible at you know through our web pages and a mechanism of sharing out through our socials also you know using every possible outlet to get the community involved. I think it's a must you know we want to have this process move but we also need to make sure that everyone's um feeling like they know what's going on. knowing what to expect and knowing what the timelines are for this process. So, thank you for all that. Um, and I appreciate the presentation. So, now we'll move on to item F2. Um, quarterly update on Kennedy High School modernization, Richmond High School modernization, and STE um campus rebuilt project.

Good evening. one more time and the last time um tonight I'm bringing forward the quarterly update for the stage rebuild Kennedy modernization enrichment modernization projects. Um we are moving along and we're in a stage of transition on um all three projects and so we'll highlight that throughout this presentation. Next slide please. We'll start with STE. Next slide please. STE has the three main phases. Uh we are transitioning um out of phase one and into phase two. So we are moving uh out of the undergrounds and and we're hoping to get to the buildings. Next slide please. Uh so as far as where we've been on the site, uh they're busy putting in our underground utilities as we speak. uh they have already mobilized to put in um protections around the edges of the uh campus and we will go into grading uh after this activity. Next slide. April 16th, we do have a community meeting planned at Booker T. Anderson Community Center. It'll be at 6 from 6:30 to 7:30. We invite everyone to join us uh which we will be giving updates on the um the input we received last time about the design review of the exterior colors as well as a timeline on our construction. Uh we do have a um we we started this project with a very aggressive schedule and uh we have submitted to the the division of state architect to approve our building drawings for the actual structure. However, um we are in a a year of code cycle change and every time the code changes, uh the um there is an influx of

projects that are submitted to be reviewed to try to make um the previous code before the new one is implemented. Uh we received a special notice from uh the division of state architect to uh to tell us about the load that was created during uh November and December. We got our project in slightly before that. However, we still have not received our initial comments. Um, this is starting to impact the construction schedule and the move in date. Uh, we don't have a final update of what that means yet because we haven't received the comments. Uh, as soon as we know when we will get out of the division of state architect, uh, we will have more information to come. But we've felt a responsibility to bring that forward that we will have to um we will have to be adjusting. Uh next slide please. On the Richmond High project, next slide. We have a variety of phases here as well. Uh we are completing 1.1 right now and moving into 1.2. Thank you for the delegated authority. that will move us forward into uh that phase as soon as uh we do have DSA approval. Um the broad the project has been built um or has been bid sorry uh and we in we are hoping to start the construction of 1.2 on April 1st if that that will be when the building pads are ready and phase one is complete. Phase two and three uh deal with more of our modernization as well as the new construction of an admin building. They are still in design and coming along. Um but that those phases have not been impacted for timeline. Next slide please. So we've been uh finding a lot of things at at Richmond. There are many utilities

uh that we are working around as we are putting in the new utilities. Uh you can see both wet and dry um utilities in this in these photos. Um but we are putting in all of the main lines. We will connect to a new domestic water service this Friday which is a major milestone to complete uh in this phase. Next next slide please. Uh as far as upcoming activities go uh we will be moving into 1.2 that will be adjusting how we affect 23rd Street. So, we will be moving out into the sidewalk and closing the sidewalk in front of the school. We will have traffic plans in place. Um, we don't anticipate that happening um this school year, but we will be preparing for it next school year. Um, so continue to see adjustments uh as we we go vertical. Um, the design for phase 2 is advancing to the submission to the DSA and to the division of state architect. Moving forward, Kennedy High School. Last one. Next slide. Uh so at Kennedy High School, we also have a variety of phases, but they're very similar to the Richmond ones. Uh we are wrapping up phase 1.1. Uh we are about to bid phase 1.2. Uh and phase one or I'm sorry, we finished 1.1 uh and we're on 1.2, we'll be moving on to 1.3. uh which is about to be bid. Uh and so uh phase two and three are still under design and those are the modernization of the remaining campus. Next slide please. Uh so here you see um the fire and domestic water lines. Those are the blue pipes. Um you'll also see that there's a um kind of a a gap between the 300 and 400 building. Uh right there is what we

call the utility corridor which we're trying to fit a whole bunch of utilities in between that and where the new building is going. Uh so those are the activities that have really been happening on site. Uh we are preparing for the building PLA pad. Uh at this campus we will be doing lime treatment over spring break. Uh so that will be an activity that will be taking place that we have specifically designed for spring break. Uh next slide please. Uh we will also be transferring to a new electrical system um which is a huge component to being able to implement the next phases of uh construction. Uh we will be doing a planned conversion to a generator for a couple weeks while that occurs. uh we have to be able to disconnect the current feeds and move them to the new service and that has to be done uh while the uh main power is off. Uh the good news is we've um now experienced generator power at a couple high schools. Uh so we we know how to run that and um we don't in anticipate um affecting operation during this time period, but that is planned for April. Next slide. Don't forget we you can always join the CVOC. We still have space available. Um and they have a lot of tours coming up this year. So um if you want to come see site tours especially and attend meetings uh on Monday evenings, this is the committee for you. Um so please please check out the application. Final slide is the thank you slide that also has our QR code to sign up for our construction newsletters. We are happy to have um we are happy to distribute those once a month to everybody. So if you would like to know more about the projects, please sign up.

Thank you. Do we have any board comments? Questions. I'm sorry. Questions? Point of order. What time did we say we were ending the meeting? 11. 11. So if I may, can we table the policies? I don't think we have a choice. So, first you have one question that you want to do. We have multiple questions. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's okay with that? Yeah. Okay. All right. Let's finish up with this item. Do we have any questions on this?

I don't have anything on on this. I I have one question on the Kennedy High School U phase 1.3 that we're moving into. I see that on the bottom it says under DSA review and architect has responded to comments. So is has there been a conversation around issues that architect is responding to comments from DSA? Is that is that what it means? Yes, we are responding to comments from DSA. Actually, we've um we've submitted our back check set that happened on Monday. Uh so, we've responded to all their comments. Now, they just have to agree to what we responded to and then we will have DSA approval.

Okay, that was my question. Um okay, do we have any last board comments on this item or Smith votes? Not on this item. I just have board comments. Okay. So, we are now move. So, we are We have one public comment.

Okay. I'm sorry. Public comment on this item. Miss Michelle Jackson then we don't we will close out that item and we will be moving item F postponing item F3 to our next board meeting. Um do we have any comments from the board? We have 2 minutes, so please make it really quickly. Um, Trusty Smith folds.

I'm going to say this uh quick, fast, and in a hurry. We are still headed for a financial cliff that cannot be ignored. The district will and is shifting. Programs will be different or not at all. School sites will change because staff will not be there or roles are changing. As a district, we need to be prepared, get prepared, and stay ready. Substantive changes are on the way. So, I just want to make sure that we're always lifting that. I am complete. Thank you. Uh Tristy Reckler,

thank you. I just have a couple of things for board report. I met with Jesse Era Green's uh office to talk about money releasing the 5.6 billion for uh Prop 98. Um, so there was a lot of conversation about how what districts stresses that they're under. Um, everybody please go out and find a person who's Prop 55, sign your signature on Prop 55 so it can get on the November ballot for upcoming presentations. I'd love a presentation on the Y plan. I'll send it in, but I think that would be good. And also school links. And then I think we need to start the process of renaming Chavez Elementary School. Um, but I'll send all of that in and I know Trusty Smith Foltz and Trusty Gonzalez Hoy have served on that committee before and I think they can help us with the process because I don't know what the processes and that's all I have. Thank you.

All right. Well, I want to say thank you to everyone. Thank you staff for holding in there. Um, it is 10:59 and the next scheduled board of education meeting will be April 15, 2026, Alamana Dean Middle School. Everyone have a great spring break. Uh, we appreciate your work and your commitment. So, good night and I am adjourning at exactly 11