School Board - Regular Meeting

It is 7.06, and I call this meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Thank you, everyone. Okay, the board met in closed session and no actions were taken. Dr. Evans, are there any agenda adjustments? No. Ms. Berrios, could you please call the official roll call for tonight's meeting?

Student Board Member Cory Miner. Here. Student Board Member Diego Brannanieria. Present. Board Trustee Lindsay Thomason. Here. Board Trustee Max Roman. Here. Vice President Michael Malione. Here. Board Trustee Susie Struble.

She's not present.

Thank you. Board President Ruchi-Medeker.

Present. Okay. Dr. Marks and Mr. Colburn.

All right, good evening, everybody, and welcome to our two new student board members. Always thrilled to see students up here. So good evening, and I'm glad we're meeting in the evening. So it's only 85 degrees. We're now four and a half weeks into the school year. All the back to school nights have happened successfully and been wonderfully well attended. And students and educators are starting to settle into something like a regular rhythm or as close as you can get when a couple thousand high energy young people are involved. All school sites have conducted the first round of the new STAR Lexile and math assessments, and teachers have begun looking at the data. Elementary will be working on that data collectively during collaboration time next week, and we'll let you know when we see you. I will jump the gun a little here and say that the Lexile results, the reading comprehension test, show that a great number of students in my personal English classes, including students in my college prep sophomore class, are literally off the chart. They're at the outside edge of what this test can measure, which is not to say that even my highest scorers are all perfect readers. I know they still have a great deal to learn. The test is just literally not hard enough to give me a lot of data that I can use to inform my instruction. Early reports suggest that the math assessment may be showing considerably wider ranges. And I don't even know about the Lexile at elementary and middle. That may be different from high school. But math assessments are showing wider ranges among students that could yield more useful information. Some math teachers have already reached out to Sam and I to ask whether they might be able to share STAR data with the board. to help inform discussions of the new math pathways before any final decisions are made. And we're guessing that you will, in fact, be very interested in seeing some of that data.

A couple of weeks ago, Ariel Dolowich presented to middle school and high school math teachers a new math pathways. which will bring several changes to PUSD. According to the presentation, we're about to switch back to algebra, geometry, algebra, and away from integrated math. We're adding honors courses for lower-level math classes that 9th and 10th graders will be taking, and we're We're starting all sixth graders on what we math teachers are referring to as compression, which roughly 70% of families are choosing today, and notably 30% of families are not choosing today. I do want to thank Ariel for asking questions and listening to teachers as some of the decisions are still being finalized. And I want to thank Michael and Ruchi for attending the PMS, PHS, MHS math department meeting. I also know Ariel met with PMS teachers separately for a second time to hear their concerns and their feedback on what we're calling compression for all. I'm certain he's compiled a good deal of teacher feedback. He spent a lot of time with us and is working swiftly on finalizing the pathways that will be presented to this board, I think, two weeks from now. All of this to say, I really hope that this board has the chance to hear the feedback that the teachers have given. We did not play a role in the initial creation of the pathways. They were presented to us, but it seems we have a meaningful role now in modifying as needed those pathways. I hope that our input based on our professional experience in the classroom and our deep knowledge of our students can guide thoughtful reconsideration of some of the aspects of these proposed pathways. I already told Ariel and I already told Michael, but I'll say it again for everyone. I personally like the high school math pathways being presented. And that's just my perspective as a high school teacher, just thinking about what I would be teaching in the future. But that's a narrow perspective. It's a selfish perspective. Middle school teachers have concerns Some high school teachers have concerns, some serious concerns that we really would like to have addressed. Luckily, it sounds like RAL has a lot of feedback for you all to consider.

And on one other note, last time we spoke here, or maybe it was a little further than that, we said we'd be sure to keep updating the board on how things are going at the high schools with all the new classes that started this year. We're certainly hearing some very good things about some of the new offerings, especially AP research and AP business. Definitely hearing positives from students. Both those courses offer something genuinely new. that we didn't offer before. And I'm sure we'll be hearing much more as the year progresses and we'll certainly share that. But tonight we did want to highlight one unfortunate logistical side effect of all the new courses and the effective splitting of the sophomore class into honors and college prep cohorts in both English and modern world history. And that is the impact on our overall master schedule. Because scheduling options for each student narrowed considerably with that cohort split, but also because at all grade levels there are more specialized offerings overall than we've ever had. As each individual student's schedule was built, the counseling staff had fewer options than usual for what periods they could place them into. for most of their courses. As a result, we're seeing unprecedented issues with class size imbalance. We've always had issues with that, but this is definitely the largest that I have seen. For instance, we have one freshman English class with 29 students, while the freshman English class the very next period only has 13. That's a really big gap. A single freshman teacher has 16 in one period and 28 in the next. In both science and social studies, the imbalances are high enough that in each of those departments, there is a part-time teacher who happens to have gotten some of the larger classes who actually has more students overall than a full-time colleague who happened to get tiny classes. Now, small class sizes are generally a good thing. You've heard us say over and over again, we want our classes to stay smaller, but there can be such a thing as too small. It can be hard to organize effective group projects or get vigorous discussion going when you only have a dozen kids in the room. And it's certainly hard to do effective lesson planning when you have twice the number of kids in the same course from one period to the next. You just can't do the same thing. exact things. Our contract does state that the district will make every effort to balance class size with the goal of having an evenly distributed number of students enrolled in like subject courses like PE or freshman English or sixth grade core within a site. Teachers are trying to roll with it this year as we're adapting to so many changes, but we are going to need to address this problem head on before the master schedule is created next year. The class size problem is especially intense for civics and econ. The source of the problem for those classes is actually a separate but even more concerning issue, the recently approved board policy allowing students to take graduation requirements online. While we appreciate the interest in giving students some flexibility in meeting their graduation requirements, the impacts are starting to become rather alarming. So many students took an online civics class over the summer and then dropped the PHS class once they passed the online class and school began. Something like half the senior class is not enrolled in our civics classes at all. At last count, one civics class had only nine students in it. The teacher is struggling to figure out how to do all the amazing mock trials and other interactive group activities she normally does that makes that class so meaningful. And word on the street is that several more seniors drop the class just this week. Some of them because they just feel weird about being in such a tiny class, looking around and like, we're the only ones in here. We're also hearing that multiple sophomores have dropped Spanish too in just the last few days. Quite possibly because the workload of all the new honors and AP and accelerated classes they're taking, it's starting to hit home. Our Spanish teachers have noted in the past that when a student took Spanish 3 online then comes back the next year and wants to take Spanish 4. They are absolutely not ready for the Piedmont class. They simply have not learned enough Spanish. Over and over again, we see it. Online classes are just not an adequate substitute for what students get in the classroom on our campuses. Teachers have more to say on this subject, and we'll be reaching out to the board with a letter about it very soon. Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Marks and Mr. Colburn. Ms. Lee? Is Ms. Lee online by any chance?

I don't see Ms. Lee online either.

Oh, okay. Oh. She's not online.

She's not online. She's not feeling well.

Oh, okay. Okay. I hope she feels better. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you for that. Okay. We have a special agenda item, which is separate, I think, from what you might be here to talk about right now. PEF, Heather? No. No comments. You're going to wait. Okay. Great. Do we have any?

President Medeker, do we want to mention Parents Club?

Yes. Parents Clubs? Yes.

Okay. No one here on Parents Club.

Do we have any comments on items that are not on the agenda?

No, I have not received any.

Okay. We don't have any raised hands. Great. Then I will turn it over to Dr. Evans.

And thank you very much.

And I'm looking at my notes and guess what? I don't know the password.

Okay. You actually have, you don't even have, okay, hold on one second. We're going to help you. It's called Piedmont Guest and there's no password in case anyone else is looking for the Wi-Fi.

You have to.

Yeah, you have to say yes to this thing. You're signing your life away.

It's two networks. It's the city network.

Great. Thank you so much. Just trying to find my notes. Anyway, I'll just wing it. First of all, I just want to say thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to be back here in Piedmont. It's been great. Back to school night, I had the opportunity to talk to quite a few families. Everyone just seems so happy about being here in Piedmont. And so I credit that to our great staff. our teachers and just the families. So I just want to say thank you so much and just kudos to the teachers and administrators that prepared for a successful back to school night. I hope all of you received the pulse. So I am going to continue that, try to make sure I'm communicating on a regular basis. But I did put a couple things in there around CASP. The test scores are embargoed. They'll be released probably sometime in the middle of October. So that is coming. You heard about the start testing. You'll hear more about start testing in the future as we figure out what we're going to do with the data and how much information we're going to give to you. But the whole purpose of this is to get a gauge on where our students are And then what we need to do to help them master these standards or grade level content standards. That's the whole purpose. And so one of the things that I've heard from the board is how do we create this data driven culture? And so what I'm hoping is that we can come with a plan that says basically here's the data and this is how we're going to use it. But it all comes down to how do we provide the best education for your child? So that's where we're going. So thank you. Thank you. So much for my notes.

Okay, great. So my board remarks are similar. Welcome back, Dr. Evans. We're so excited to have you here by our side. This is the first time I'm sitting so close to you. I think I was over there when you were here last time. Welcome also to Corey and to Diego. We can't wait to hear all of your feedback and comments. The role of a student board member is very, very important, and it helps us keep our pulse on what's going on in the schools. I could make a pretty cringeworthy parent joke, but it really does help us have some semblance of the pulse of what's going on. So thank you. We're really excited to have you. And I'm going to keep my remarks short because we have a long meeting, but I wanted to echo what Elisa and Sam shared about back to school night and also Donald. It was a really, really joyful time. The parents were really excited in the halls. The kids were very excited about letting the parents see what they're up to and what they're working on. And it was really just a wonderful set of events. And thank you to Sam and the rest of the math department for letting us crash the department meeting. It was my first time doing that and was really informative. We mostly sat and listened, but it was helpful to hear people's feedback on the things that are going on. So with that, I will turn it over to Michael.

Mine are mostly the same sentiments. I attended both the middle school and the high school back-to-school nights, and it was just really great to see the energy, to have a chance to hear from the teachers and the math department meeting. Thank you for having us. And then we'll pass it on from there.

Welcome, everyone. This is a fun one to start the year. It's crazy that we've been back in school for over a month already. And looking forward to a good year. That's it.

Microphone, please.

Thank you. I'm really excited to have you back, Dr. Evans. You were here our first year as board members, and I am reminded once again how valuable your perspective is on all of the many decisions that we make every day. And I also want to take the opportunity to welcome student board members. This is a really exciting time for you to be here as we have Dr. Evans and go out for an interim superintendent, your perspective is going to be more valuable than ever. I wanted to, I'm going to make this short. I just wanted to highlight that it's been really fun watching our fall athletes and particularly the water polo team, which last week had their first game in seven years at the new pool. It was packed. There was so much enthusiasm. There was so much joy. So that was a particular highlight. And there are a number of events coming up, but I really want to highlight one, which is a PPN and Wellness Center event coming up on September 18th. Piedmont's own Dr. Lauren Hartman will be presenting on recognizing and preventing eating disorders. Dr. Hartman just wrote a book on adolescent eating disorders and is one of a very small handful of experts nationwide who shares this area of focus. This is a really important conversation and is open to the entire community. So please attend if you're interested.

Great. Diego, Corey, do either one of you want to go first for your board report?

Okay, hello everyone. The start of the 26th school year has brought rapid growing numbers to Millennium. It's believed to be an all high of 80 in-person students and 10 independent study students for a total of 90 students at Millennium. I've spoken with teachers and teachers have noticed a difference in classes and their workload. Yet I've noticed they've still doing a great job with supporting every student. While we are still figuring out how to shift and adapt, the rise in students has brought a great buzz, energy, and new personalities to our community. What I've noticed about the new phone policy is there is a rise in students going off campus during lunch. But I have noticed more connections during passing periods and brunch, which is really nice to see. I've also heard from students who enjoy the policy and the break away from their phone. But I've also heard negative feedback about how they can't use their headphones or their phones during work time or at academy. MHS is specifically an English class we are working on taking pride in our school. amplifying our RISE values impact that we have upon our community. We're uncovering issues on our campus that we can address from beautification projects to solving common problems that teachers face with facilities and classroom spaces. I know we've talked about the STARS assessment a little bit, but I've heard from students and teachers that they felt like it was better than the MAP test last year because it took less time and students also do not feel as rushed to complete the assignment. In ASB, we just hosted a new student lunch. We had a game and we had pizza for everyone and I heard feedback about students who learn more about each other. This week and the next two weeks, we are working on homecoming with PHS. We're really excited to collaborate, and we're closer to PHS this year, and we've been working with them on homecoming. This Friday, we're setting up spirit decorations in the 40s building, and over the next couple weeks, we're going to be helping PHS set up for the rally and the dance. Millennium also has Falcon meetings, and we're having one coming up next Monday on the 14th. The purpose of a Falcon meeting is to bring our entire school together to strengthen our community and create bonds across all grade levels. In the past, we would fit our entire school into the English classroom, but since we've grown, we are going to relocate into the dance studio. Also an event coming up for Millennium is the Fall Family Potluck. That's going to be held on the 19th from 1 to 3 in Piedmont Park. This is a time for families and students to connect outside of school. Everyone brings a dish that is special to them, and we just bond and talk. Sports that Millennium students are in is flag football, football, water polo, and volleyball. Flag football, yesterday we had a win against American. Tomorrow we have a home game. Football had a win against St. Mary's last Friday, and they have a home game on Friday. Water polo had, I believe, a home game today, but that might have gone canceled. And I've heard that I'm really excited that we can finally host a home game in our new pool. And then the volleyball girls, they had a home game yesterday in VAR 1, and then they have an away game tomorrow in San Marino. That's all.

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Hi, everyone. Thank you again for allowing us to have this position and for creating this role. So a couple things with PHS. First thing, the musical, the auditions are live. It's The Music Man this year, which Miss Moorhead is calling the last classic musical. Spanish Honor Society is starting up this year. and the induction is taking place soon. We're going to have about 40 members in that first group, which is super exciting. We also recently had Club Day, super popular. We had a bunch of really cool clubs. We have about 11 affinity-oriented clubs, about 15 service-oriented clubs, and about also 15 career or academics-focused clubs on campus. Some of the new ones on campus I thought that were interesting were sports journalism, the Mijente Club, and the Introvert Association. I thought that was fun. PHS and MHS also worked on spirit days, like Corey said. We decided on a theme for homecoming, which is neon paradise. So that'll be a lot of fun. We also decided on spirit days, comfy and classy, anything but a backpack, and of course, purple out. We also recently had ASB kickoff. We had pizza, swag, drinks, but a big highlight were the grapes. So people seem to really be a fan of that. Piedmont seniors so far have also had a senior sunrise and senior fest was last Friday. Miss ML from the college center has offered a bunch of meetings for upperclassmen on regards to college stuff, post high school planning, all sorts of stuff like that. I actually scheduled a meeting the other day with her thinking that the next available one was gonna be like a couple weeks in advance or later. And it ended up being like two days. And I got a meeting with her at a really convenient time. So super grateful for having that opportunity. Almost 120 colleges visit campus every year. And those are super important because you get to learn about them. And they're hosting the Career and College Center. And a lot of them actually end up reading the applications of students at PHS. So super helpful to get that perspective. In terms of the new phone policy, I'm noticing a lot of what Corey's talking about. Kids are going off campus to use their phones. And especially at the beginning of the year, there was a lot of frustration and a little bit of surprise about this policy that they felt was a little bit sudden and a little bit strict. Other than that, we're really going to miss Dr. Han. We enjoyed seeing her at all sorts of events and interacting with her. Thank you.

Thank you, Diego and Corey. I just want to give a shout out to Gianna, who is the student who is the reason why we have student board members. She has probably graduated. She graduated our first year, right?

I think so.

So she like at some point people won't know her anymore, which is kind of crazy. I guess the staff will know her, but she was she was really great. And she is the reason why we have your voice here. And we are very, very appreciative of it. So our next board item, we have two board items under a category that is very special, which is called recognition. Thank you so much for letting us have two of these items. The first one is presentation of Big Check by PEF. So I will ask Heather to come up.

Hi, we're so excited to be here today. I'm Bridget Schreiber, chair of the Piedmont Education Foundation.

Hi, and I'm Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, vice chair of the Piedmont Education Foundation.

Together, through our collective effort, we raised and are able to grant $4,355,000 this year for the Piedmont schools.

This milestone is a result of every donor, volunteer, and event participant, from the giving campaign to the Spring Fling, the Harvest Festival, Dress Best for Less, business sponsors, and endowment support.

We were also deeply moved by the continuation of a $25,000 annual professional development grant bequest from Pamela Wells Raffinelli, now in its third year of a four-year $100,000 commitment honoring the cherished Piedmont teacher who chose to leave a legacy for Piedmont educators.

Because our community stepped up together, $329,396 were raised via Spring Fling and Harvest Festival, and that is funding counselors, field trip transportation, and structured play at Beach, Havens, and Wildwood.

And our core $4,604,000 base grant is going straight to work across all the Piedmont schools, directly serving every student. A total of 94% powers the people who make magic happen daily, our teachers, counselors, librarians, aides, specialists, and student support staff. The remaining 6% fuels crucial curriculum development, wellness initiatives, teacher training, and essential classroom supplies.

It takes every single one of us to make this possible, and we just want to say thank you so much to our generous community.

Huge appreciation to the PEF board, staff, and dedicated volunteers, of which there are many. whose joint efforts turn this vision into a record-breaking event. Thank you all.

So as you know, Katie and I were your last years, oh, that's right, three years, giving campaign chairs, and we had a really amazing time. So we're still on the board, and we're still working really hard. But we really are most impressed with the generosity of this community. It is amazing, and it's intense. I think that to understand that, you really need to step out and check other school districts and ask the question to see how much is actually being raised. And that's including private schools. To understand the critical role of the Giving Campaign, you have to really look at what kind of funding goes to PUSD. 61% comes from the state and federal funding. 29% comes from parcel taxes and local fees. And that leaves a funding gap of about 10 to 9% in order to keep our schools at the excellent place that they are. So this year, the gap is $2,528. That is more than it's been ever. It's a lot for each family. But I say this because I had a child who was in the private school last year. The cost of that private school for one year was still more than if you took all the gap years that we paid for my two children with one who's a senior this year. So you're still getting the best quality for your buck if you stay at PUSD. And that child decided he wanted to come back. So he's back, and I wanna just also let you know that in our assessment of the schools, the private school versus PUSD, without question, PUSD is better. And I'm gonna just take a moment to tell a small story about Spanish that was raised. Over at the private school, he took Spanish one, because he was in eighth grade. Came here, coming back, and wanted to take Spanish two. And do you know what the Spanish one teacher said over at the private school? Oh, we only got through half the book. Of course, I'm gonna say this, and I probably wish it wasn't being recorded, but I'm going to. I wanted to ask for half of the tuition back. But I will tell you what was also so impressive to me was that a Spanish teacher here at PUSD in the high school was willing to tutor our child in Spanish one to finish his Spanish 1 so that he could pass the test in order to go into Spanish 2. And that happened over the summertime. That's the quality of teachers that we have here. So, Katie?

Hello.

So as one of our new giving campaign chairs told us recently, our schools are special because of our teachers, and our teachers are excellent. And I'm reminded of that, and I think we all are at the beginning of the school year when we're all waiting to hear who our kid's teacher is because we know the impact each or every single teacher can have on an individual and their education and on their self-esteem. That personalized care is assumed here and it's definitely not standard everywhere. And we have that because of our community, our volunteers, our donors, everyone comes together to make that happen. And that leads me to our theme this year is it takes all of us. So that means everyone in this room, parents, grandparents, everyone, teachers, staff, we're going to all help to bridge the gap that we need together. I am thrilled to introduce this year's giving campaign chairs, Brooke Meakin, Ellie Summers, and Bindu Lokre. You will be hearing from them very soon. And just before I go, I think I just want to ask you one more time, Kim and I do, to make a donation this year and support PEF. We need you and we need all of you. So thank you.

All right, are we ready?

Yeah.

Hey, smile.

Of course, dear. Smile again.

Gotcha.

Thank you. I said some things.

I'll say them online. It'll be okay.

I just want to thank Katie and Kim for three years running. Every year they kept on raising the bar and surpassing it, and we're so thankful to you and the entire PEF board, including all of you. Thank you. Yes, thank you. And Ellie and Bindu and Brooke, we're so excited to have you guys as our New Giving Campaign chairs. We accept the challenge of being the first board to get to 100%. We take it very seriously. Yes. Thank you. Bye-bye. Okay, our next item is recognizing and thanking our parcel tax committee members, Larry Termitola, Rebecca Pele, and Ted Kinch. Thank you guys for being here. Measure H, for those of you that are keeping track of where all of our money comes from in a pie chart at home, Measure H accounts for about $12 million annually, and it comprises roughly 20 to 25% of our budget. And these folks teamed up and got our community to pass this measure with a passage rate of 82.44%. That is mind-bogglingly high. And it's certainly the highest in recent memory in our town. We got an email from city council congratulating us on how high the passage rate was. And we know how much we have to thank you for it. And I also want to point out that this was against the trend in California, and only 46% of parcel taxes passed during the same election cycle. So it's really, really, really remarkable. I'm sure that other folks have things that they want to say yes.

Thank you today. Max and I were before liaisons, the parcel tax, and kind of proceed to how much work this team did.

Microphone, please. Microphone, please.

Thank you. Stepped in when we desperately needed chairs and ran a phenomenal, phenomenal campaign. And Larry, you have been running campaigns for 40 years, more than 40 years, and we rely so heavily on your counsel. And as Rishi mentioned, at a time when parcel tax passage rates have declined significantly, dramatically, particularly in the Bay Area, ours passed by a record margin. It's also important to note that not only was this a renewal campaign of an existing tax, but we evergreen this tax. And that's something that the board and community have been discussing for two decades. This tax is now, it has become foundational to our budget. Losing it would be catastrophic and the community recognized that when they passed this tax and you all took on the challenge. That was a challenge and it wasn't a given that evergreening it was the right move. We as a board felt it was and you were willing to partner with us and get that, get the tax on the ballot and across the finish line and then way past the finish line. So thank you.

I want to echo Lindsay's comments. Thank you all. It's not really that fun of a job. But I think that particularly as Lindsay said, the evergreening is going to be sort of a good legacy and puts us on stable footing going forward, which is really, really important. And Larry, I want to thank you especially for donating your extreme expertise and skill in this particular area, because I honestly think that from way before we were working on this, without you, the unblemished record of school parcel taxes in Piedmont would not exist. And so thank you for donating your time so generously over the years. We really appreciate it.

I really can't add much to that. Committee members or the board who worked with that committee, you all did a great job. And it's just exciting to see that such a record turnout and result for it and evergreen. So thank you.

I also just wanted to shout out to the voters who consistently expressed confidence in the community, in our schools, in the governance team. We do not take that vote of confidence lightly and we recommit to using the tax dollars in our entire budget wisely.

I had the privilege of being part of this campaign. It was super fun going around to houses and putting the The paper is on the doorknobs. And also a part of that campaign, it allowed for PHS students to get the state seal of civic engagement. And these are the kind of opportunities that are super great about the community that we're in and about our program that we can bring people into the community and make an impact. So thank you.

I remember seeing several students picking up their flyers to put around the door hangers. It was really great. Would any of you like to say anything? Or can we take a photo?

You don't win campaigns without the support of everyone that believes in it. And you don't win when you're not telling the truth. And I think that one of the things that that we're able to, in Piedmont, is just tell the story about the Piedmont schools, which you have a great deal to do with, and the teachers have a great deal to do with, and all we have to do is provide voters with that information. But they also get it too, because they live in this community. This is a special place. I mean, I have worked in probably 1,000 school districts across the state, or at least 1,000 campaigns, maybe fewer school districts, because we do them multiple times. But Piedmont is special. is special in so many different ways from grandparents to parents to the kids that come back and participate and so it is an honor actually to work in piedmont because of the support of the schools and recognize what a wonderful community we have so i want to thank you as a board i want to thank the teachers many of them have left and the parents who have made this special it's uh i wish every community was like this you don't get 84 by a smart campaign You get it because people believe in what you are doing. So I want to thank you for the opportunity, and it was a pleasure to work with Max and Lindsay. It was, to take the risk of evergreening was a big step. It is, I think it's important for school districts around the state to think about this. But you, and you are right, Lindsay, it has been two decades, at least 20 years I've been talking to boards about this, and there was always good reasons not to do it. But it had to be done at some point in time. And I'm just glad to be part of it and glad to work with this awesome team that you all put together. So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Can we take a picture with you guys?

Sure. Great. I can't promise that.

One, two, three.

Oh, wait a second. I didn't get that.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. I realized that I've

I keep on doing this. I have my written remarks and they go over multiple pages. I forgot to say one thing in my board remarks. It is under recognition. Can I add it? Okay, great. I just wanted to acknowledge John Philip Morrison, who passed away last month. He is Well, he was beloved in town. He served as the principal of the middle school for 27 years. And the gym is his namesake. And there's a paragraph in his obituary in the Exedra which I wanted to read, which I think there's so many stories about him, but this really was a lovely tribute. It's easy to understand why so many people have their own connection and story about John His life was not defined by one title or one accomplishment. It was defined by the people he gathered around him, the lives he helped, the friendships he made, and the laughter he brought along the way. John leaves behind more than memories. He leaves people who are better off because he had been a part of their lives. There's a celebration of life at his namesake gym on Saturday, the Saturday, September 12th at 2 p.m. in the event that you were able to make it. And he was also really, really influential in bringing middle school sports in our middle school. So I wanted to just say that. Okay, back to our regularly scheduled meeting. The next item on the agenda is the Beach State of School presentation. Donald, I'll turn it over to you.

So thank you. So I have Principal Velva, who's the principal at Beach. She's been there for about, this is year four, right? Or five, it's been five? This is year five. Okay. So anyway, she'll be here presenting on Beach, and we'd like to hear what's wonderful, exciting, and new, and also how Beach has aligned the district priorities to what you're doing at your school, and to hear a little bit more about... how you're improving outcomes for students.

OK. So I was getting really nervous about coming up here. And then I'm like, I'm talking about Beach. Beach is amazing. I've spent over a quarter of my life there professionally. So I see people who have gone to Beach. Family members are here. Your co-president was on my daughter's mock trial team. It just goes on and on of all the connections that I have now. in Piedmont and especially at Beach. So this is a picture of some of our fifth graders. They're little at the beginning of the year. And so this is the things that I'm gonna be talking about, what makes Beach special. The alignment that we're attempting this year with the district priorities, our academic and social emotional data, and our improving assessments and outcomes for students. So again, yeah, great. Beach is special because we work really hard. When we have all these people who are working so hard to fund our programs, we work just as hard for our students. And we have an incredible group of professionals. Everybody on campus is absolutely important, necessary to make it all work. So one of the things that we're doing, So I kind of combined two of the district priorities, using data and some of the new assessments. So we are using data. Actually, the elementary principals have called this the year of calibration. So we are trying to calibrate over the three schools, our programs, our data, how we're using intervention, things like that. So as Elise talked about, on next Wednesday's CCT, common collaboration time for elementary school. We are all looking at our star data together and making plans and being taught by the people from Renaissance kind of how to look at our data in different ways. Yesterday, in our staff meeting, we did another kind of data search, which is we took student samples from math. And all grade levels looked at our math scores or looked at a math assessment that their kids had taken. We went over who's getting it, who's almost there, who needs some help. And then we made a plan for each of those three groups for every classroom, making sure that those kids who are ready for extension are getting that extension. Those kids who need some intervention, we're talking about how to make small groups in the classroom so that these kids can get those essential learning outcomes, those essential standards, so that they can do their best in school. We have all these new data platforms. In the last few years now, we're four years into DIBELS, three years in for the fourth and fifth grade. Now we have STAR for math and reading, and SEL, it's called SABERS. We'll talk about that later. And so we're trying to align all of those different data platforms plus our CAASPP test and our CAASPP tests so we can really make sure that our kids are achieving what we know they can. In a minute, we're going to look at some multi-year data from DIBELS. And yeah, I was just talking about the staff meeting data deep dive. But we're making sure that teachers are leaving meetings with a plan for tomorrow, a plan for next week, and a plan for next month. And again, I owe Suzanne Reed a lot of kudos because she's kind of our data wizard at the elementary level. She's always recommending different data books as if, but I'm actually reading them. And she was helping me with the protocol to look at data in a staff meeting in a short amount of time. So it seems successful yesterday, and we're gonna keep doing that every time. The next one, please. Thank you. So this is kind of an overview of some of the data that we have right now. DIBELS beginning of the year data looks really solid, right? Four years in a row, the beginning of the year, composite score K to five is 81%. We're going to be diving into that a little bit more, because that doesn't give us much information. Right now, all we have is that composite score that we're looking at for STAR reading and math, because the scores just kind of got in mid last week. So those are looking at 87.5%, 89.2%. Are those predictive of CASP scores? We're going to have to see over time. And then because our CASP scores are embargoed, I can remind you of our fabulous data from the last three years. And we're very proud of that. So I think that the STAR testing, I think, will really kind of align us with our focus and make sure that we're hitting the right thing. So let's go down, because I was saying that this is really, so this is DIBELS now, not just that 81%, but this is over first through fifth grade, and the different percentage of students who are at minimal or negligible risk, because remember, this starts off as a dyslexia screener, and we use it to look at progress over time and maybe some areas that we need to delve into for kids. But right now, if you look at second grade data, we have this, I pulled this out not because I'm worried about second grade, but in this one measure, 26% of our students are at risk or some risk of maybe having reading disability or not being able to read. So if you can go to the next slide, please. So what we're going to do is we're looking at that data. They get assessed in six domains in second grade. But I pulled out three, our word reading fluency at 81%, our letter sounds at 74% proficient, and decoding at 74% proficient. What we're doing for those kids is we're gathering all the data from DIBELS, but also STAR, also report cards, student work samples. We are in our RTI or MTSS. system, like today we had our first MTSS school-wide meetings. So from kindergarten through fifth grade, our team went from group to group. We actually talked about 75 different students today that teachers are you know, wanting help and ideas with. It could be for behavior. It could be for their emotional status, their math, their reading, their confidence. It can be for a lot of different things. It could be their handwriting. And we're looking at everybody and we're making plans for them. And then... I know you all know this, but in elementary school we really focus on those tiers of intervention. Tier one is excellent first teaching for everyone.

It's also small group work with the classroom teacher.

So we're helping teachers figure out how to manage a group of 24 seven-year-olds and pull a group of three or four who need help on maybe reading nonsense words or phonemic awareness or whatever they need. Tiers two and three involve our interventionists who do push into classrooms and have small groups, and they also pull small groups and sometimes individuals out into their programs for extra hands-on interventions. And then we frequently progress monitor our kids besides just these three times a year we're looking at all of our different ways of Seeing how kids are doing if they're not doing well in date and doubles that automatically triggers like four or five more short little bursts of assessment to see where they really are so we can really dial down to exactly what they need and And then we keep revisiting those targeted areas with those grade level teachers. Just because we met today does not, every time we meet as a group, which is about every six weeks, we'll be revisiting those students again. How did they do on our last goal? Did they make that progress we were expecting? What else can we do if they haven't? These are just some of the, so this is our composite score for second through fifth grade for reading by grade level. That blue line is where our average score is and This is pretty close to our usual CASP scores. So maybe it will be predictive. And there is more data that can kind of tell us after the first two, kind of predict where we're going for CASP. And then the next one is just another little snapshot of STAR from the math test. So I don't think anyone's surprised that our wonderful, hardworking Piedmont students are well above average. And most of our kids are doing great. Back on that last slide, I didn't mention it. I don't know if we're allowed to go backwards. Is that against the law? So on our reading, our Lexile scores for OUR AVERAGE LEXILE SCORE IN GRADE 5 WAS 1078. THE GRADE 5 BAND FOR LEXILE IS 700 TO 1,000. SO OUR MID SCORE IS OVER THE FIFTH GRADE LEVEL. SO JUST LIKE ELISE SAID, WE GOT REALLY GOOD READERS HERE. SO HOW DO WE MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THAT GREAT READING WE CAN SEE IN ALL THE WAYS WE ASSESS THEM. OKAY. THANK YOU FOR GOING BACK. Thank you. Social and emotional counseling. We put this picture in, but Arielle was really concerned that you guys wouldn't know what this is. This is from our chalk art festival that we had last week with our pancake breakfast, and the kids are always really proud of it. We had that rainstorm on Monday, or not storm, but we had rain on Monday. It usually lasts for a couple weeks. It did not. So I'm glad we got at least one picture of it. Okay, so last year we had a real push about instructional minutes to make sure that every kid was getting the same amount of math and reading and science all throughout the district. And we're working off of 75 minutes per week of social-emotional learning lessons. At Beach, I think we have an incredible model with our counselor because she goes into every class, TK through five, once a week for a 30-minute lesson on social-emotional learning. And she targets her lessons to what's going on for that grade level at that time. So we could be talking about bullying, we can talk about telling the truth, taking turns if we're in kindergarten, being a leader and being independent as we're getting up to fifth grade. She's an expert. She also happens to be a teacher who's been here for over 30 years. And then because of our amazing Spring Fling, she also gets to be the counselor 67% of the time. So that's awesome. She also does individual group and on-demand counseling. Originally on that slide, I called it crisis counseling, and that's not what we're doing. if kids need something, she's there. She knows every kid on campus. She knows who their friends are, who they have conflicts with, and she has a great relationship with all of them. And I think I told you last year that I overheard a fifth grader getting mad at their friend and say, don't Lasky me, because they were like saying, well, I feel they were giving I messages. And Jamie's like, I can go now. I have done it. So that was pretty awesome. Also, all the adults on campus, we all go by the same rules. Nobody is trying to have their own rules and, oh, I'm the nice teacher. And we teach all of our students that every adult that works on our campus, they know the rules, and you will listen to them. And it really makes a difference because they're not saying to one of our paraprofessionals who's on yard duty, well, Mrs. Valva says it's this way. Nope. Whoever's there is keeping you safe. That's their job. And you will listen to them. And I really think that makes a huge difference. And so all the rules are taught and reinforced by all adults. Some days it doesn't look like that. Some days it gets a little crazy. The office has been freakishly quiet for discipline so far this year. Can't believe I said that out loud. Okay, and then conflict resolution is taught directly in PE. Again, this is year two of having Ben Spencer as our PE teacher, and he does an amazing job at teaching students really good sportsmanship and playing by the rules and at the same time teaches ball skills and running skills and game skills and game rules so that not only do they know how to control their emotions but they also know how to manage their bodies because they all want to play and it's really nice to see kids who who can do it even if they're new to beach next please Okay, student wellness. So we are no longer giving this panorama survey anymore because that was with, the last group of assessments. This year we're giving the SABR, and the data's coming soon for that. In fifth grade, if you look across the last three years for the California Healthy Kids Survey from fifth graders, we're pretty stable at all of the areas of school connectedness, feeling safe at school, that we have caring adults at school, academic motivation, and high expectations. They're all within a very tight range there. which is nice. Obviously, we would love for them to think that they're more caring adults at school, but that's been an area for a while, and I kind of think it's interesting that that is an area that we haven't really dialed down. The questions are a little strange, but I'm really excited to see what the new SABRE questions are. And then if you look at our panoramic survey, this was from winter of last year. So I think it was like January or February that also those scores are pretty stable, going up a little bit in supportive relationships at school. And I think those are both supportive relationships at school and at home. And I love reading on these surveys there's like an open-ended question. What's the biggest thing going on for you right now? It can be really big, like my friends are being mean to me at school, or it could just be my sister, or it can be I don't get to play Minecraft on weekdays. You never know what a third, fourth, or fifth grader is going to say on those things, but for them, that day, it is a real big deal. Next, please. Communication and engagement. Back to other district priorities. Building trust with staff, students, and parents. I think that's what we're really good at at Beach. I'm very proud that we had only two staff members leave last year. One because she's going to get her teaching credential. She was a paraprofessional. and only one classroom teacher. So I did not have the hiring craze that everybody else did this last year, which is really nice to have a stable staff. Again, we have those consistent rules and consequences. They're really clear for the parents too. And I love a couple of years ago that behavior matrix was developed at the district. That is really helpful because I always make sure that the consequences or what are happening fall in line with that. And it's really easy for the parents to see, oh, this is not just Ann Valva doing her thing. It's part of the district. We have clear and transparent communication from parents. the classroom teachers and everyone. If a parent wants a conference, parent gets a conference. The emails are answered within 24 hours all the time. And then we're inclusive and welcoming with our buddy families and community groups are always coming in. We have, with all of our affiliated groups in Piedmont, we're very welcoming to them and we have parents all over the school every day because they're hugely important to what we do. Instructional technology. This is a little picture of our digital citizen. So right now, kind of doing a snapshot at Beach, there is no computer use at TKRK at all. Now, because of the MathStar testing, there's a little bit more. Right now, I know that eventually it's supposed to be less than 30 minutes per area for those tests. But this first time, it took longer than that. I think we're going to get the hang of it and the kids are going to move through a little bit faster. First grade through fifth grade have computer class with the tech teacher weekly. We only use district approved websites and apps. And if a teacher wants to use something else, there is a vetting process that we go through with Stephanie Griffin in the tech department to make sure that it's safe for our students, first off, and also if it supports our curriculum. We use GoGuardian for our web content filtering. If any kid looks up something weird, I know. And as does the counselor and the computer teacher. So we're there to check that out as soon as we see anything. And then we have, I don't know if you've seen the Chrome Clock, but the Chrome Clock is, I can click on that and I can see who's used the computer that week, how many minutes, what were they on, across grade levels. And right now, I mean, I don't use it very much because people don't overuse it. There are certain weeks in fifth grade that kids might be on for more than an hour overall. It's usually when they're typing up a presentation or a final paper. But other than that, we try not to have them on computers very much. And the last slide is our continuing partnerships with our field trips and community involvement at school. Again, so grateful for the buses. We are already booking them. The teachers are excited. The kids, I don't think they know yet, they're going to be excited. I'm excited that we're not going to be calling people frantically for booster seats because, you know, we need them up to like fourth grade in a lot of cases depending on the height and weight of kids. So I'm really grateful for that. The community groups that we always have cultural presentations, different authors, touring groups like dance troupes, musicians of theater. Oakland Ballet will be here. They'll actually be at Wildwood this year and all the third grades from all over the district are all gonna walk over to Wildwood and see a presentation. And parent volunteers support and improve our school programs. We couldn't do lunch without them. They help us with recess supervision, in the library, in the classroom, on these field trips. Yesterday we had three or four people with school picture day. And bringing the classes up and down, keeping them in the right place. We just need people all the time. So it's really nice to have them around. and obviously all of you and all of the programs that we have throughout the district really support the important work that we're doing.

That's it. Thank you. I'm going to start out with student board members. Do you guys have any questions, comments? Okay. Anyone else? Yeah. Comment, questions?

Microphone, please.

I am awful tonight. Thank you. I really appreciated what you said about the consistency that the behavior matrix provides. I think that we knew that it was being used at the elementary level, but there's been more focus at the secondary level. And so hearing how that provides consistency and allows you to communicate with families is really good to hear. And I also appreciate our focus on prompt and thoughtful, transparent communication, because I know that is so important to parents and community members. So that is appreciated. I have a question. We all know that I look at test scores and I've asked about Havens in the past and you, you know, in years past I've been concerned about Havens scores declining and you referenced how Suzanne is the resident data expert and I suspect we'll probably see it in scores when they come out. She has really implemented some practices at Havens that I'm hoping, and I suspect we'll pay dividends. And, you know, we saw from the scores that Beach's scores went down last year. And I'm just kind of curious what the data is telling you about that decline and if there is a plan to address the decline. While recognizing that Beach continues to do well, but, you know, want to ensure that we're looking at any decline that does occur.

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, so already this year I've sat down with our third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers to kind of get their initial thoughts on what they think might have happened. One of the things that we've really pulled out that writing task that's in, so on CAASPP there's kind of an informational one, like more of a multiple choice, and then there's a writing task. We found out, I mean, everything is multilayered, right? But one of the things that we've noticed is that the fourth grade especially, the curriculum this last year didn't have much informational writing. And we found out that kind of fish tank, we're needing to supplement the writing part. A lot of interesting discussions, deep and challenging books, which is awesome. But a lot of it's whole group and a lot of it, the writing is short. And so what we're finding out is that those writing questions on the CAASPP are more, it's five or six things and then they're reading an article or two and then they're responding to the questions. And that part of them sitting there with directions, with nobody repeating to them, checking their work after the first paragraph, well, actually, you're not actually, that's a really different task than what we're asking them to do usually. So instead of, because a lot of times, you know, teachers will give directions orally on the board, maybe on a piece of paper. They're working with a partner. And I think that we use that like we do in the workplace We depend on the people around us to make our work better. But these tests, they're working by themselves. So we have to do a little bit more practice working by themselves and really following all of the directions and providing more experience and reading informational texts and writing informational prompts. And this year, the fourth grade last year, their nonfiction unit, they only had one last year. And the great thing about Fishtank is we can kind of move around and change units and still maintain the curriculum. And that one was like in the fall. So we're making sure that we're doing another informational in the spring right before CASP. And I think that's going to make a difference.

I'm going to jump in. Just as an admission of bias, I am a beach parent. I am also the parent of a beach graduate. And I am just admitting my bias. But I wish I had noticed this before, because then I wouldn't have sent you a note. So this is my fault for not realizing it. But the scores for 2025 and for 2023 have been flipped. And actually, the trend, because the reason I know this is because I remember the board presentation last year in November, and the beach reading CASP score was 87%. Okay. And so I went back and I looked at it, and then I looked at the CASP website also. Okay. I was also paying attention. Sorry. No, no. I think that it's a tough thing because— we don't want to focus on one part of our school experience. And there are so many things that are going really well. But for me, the thing that's concerning is that the scores have dipped and are lower. And so I'm glad to hear your response to Lindsay's question and I think that it is really something it's something that we we've had an emphasis on at different schools particularly at the elementary level at different points in time during my tenure on the board it's been havens for a little while I think right now beach has the lowest scores let's see what comes out of the embargo but like it's great to hear that you have an emphasis on this because I think it's, it's something that the school has as a point of pride. I think we were 14th in the state. Um, and that was in part because of our math number, um, on the test. And so I'm glad to hear that there's something in place and I expect that we'll be following up with more questions about what that looks like.

Yeah. And I'd love to, you know, talk to you about it for a long time because we have a Yeah, we've looked at it from a few different angles, and I'd love to hear anybody else's point of view to help. Yeah.

Michael and Max.

I have a comment, not exactly a question, but I'm very excited. Your last meeting, we heard about the STAR testing that would be happening, and you're the first we're hearing back from it. So any lessons learned so far? You mentioned the computer taking longer than the short, whatever, 20, 30 minutes that it was supposed to. Any other questions?

Well, right now, with the amount of reports that I can run on these, it's kind of overwhelming. And just the amount of time it's going to take to kind of sit with all of it, dial down, and see what's most useful. But if you go by student, you can click on a student and their recommendations for what they need to be working on. And I think that's going to be the area that our teachers will find useful. And I think all of us want something that, we're not just taking these tests just to get numbers, we're taking them so that we can act on them and make a difference for kids. And so that's what I'm hoping from our CCT next week and everything that I learned for looking at this data is how can I help teachers help students without being overwhelmed by all the new.

That sounds good, that's great, thanks.

I do not have any questions. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation.

You're very welcome. I'm going to take your second question. Just kidding. I only had one question. I am actually curious about the point that you made that was also kind of in service with what Elise was mentioning. Do you think that the test is appropriate for our kiddos if the scores, the Lexile scores are so high? Well, I...

I have heard that we can kind of play around with those scores. So I think that we might be able to push up the upper side of the parameters. And I think that as most assessment, it's going to really help those kids who, like let's say on the CASP, are three, four, five points away from benchmark. or three, four, five points above benchmark. Those are the people that we're really looking for and the people below benchmark. So if we can talk to those people and we can also see that our kids who are at such a high level are still gaining every time, I think that's good information because everybody deserves to learn every day at school. Just because they're good readers doesn't mean, okay, we don't have to worry about them anymore. So I'm hoping that it will keep us pushing those high students to... really achieve what they can and learn more. Yeah, that's great. Thank you.

Okay, I'm going to open it for public comment. We don't have online comments. Okay, I'm going to close public comment. This is a presentation item, so no action is needed, but thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for being the first. I know it's always hard. Sure. Now it's over. Thanks. Bye. Bye. Okay, we have 10 review and action items this evening. First up, a resolution recognizing Latina Heritage Month. Great.

Whereas in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson started the observation as Latin Hispanic Heritage Week. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan expanded the week to a month, enacting it into a law on August 17th, 1988. And whereas the term Latin is used for a person of Latin American origin or descent, serving as a gender neutral alternative to Latino, Latina, or Latinx. Latin is increasingly recognized for its alignment with Spanish linguistic structures and for being more accessible to speakers of the language. The term encompasses the culture and racial identities of Latin Americans, providing an inclusive option that respects the diversity within the community. Whereas the definition of Latin used for a person of Latin American origin and descent, a gender neutral term sometimes used in lieu of Latino or Latina, referencing Latin American's culture and racial identity. And whereas the experiences of the Latin community is an important aspect of the United States, and Piedmont's rich and diverse culture, and whereas Latin Heritage Month offers the opportunity to learn of the profound impact of Hispanics throughout history, including the civil rights activists Cesar Chavez, activists and educational leaders like Dolores Huerta and Silvia Menendez, Sergeant Margario Garcia, engineer and astronaut Elena Ochoa, film director Alfonso Cuaron, composer Lin Manuel Miranda, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Surgeon General Antonia Noveo are among those who lobbied Latin Heritage Month as a national celebration. And whereas Demi Lovato, Jennifer Lopez, Jorge Ramos, Eva Longoria, and others with their Latin roots have made an impact in the Latin community. And whereas Roberto Clemente was the first Latin in professional baseball to reach 3,000 hits, even winning MVP games in 1971, who acted as a politically conscious representative of the Latin community when professional sports contained few Hispanics. And whereas Sophie Cruz, who once said, I have the right to protection, I have the right to live with my parents, I have the right to live without fear. I have the right to be happy in front of 5,000 people in 2016 when she was only six years old. And whereas a group of Spaniards, Afro-Latinos, indigenous people, and mestizos traveled to California and founded the city of Los Angeles, which has the country's largest Latin population. And whereas the formation of the League of United Latin American Citizens in 1929, United Farm Workers of America in 1965, the Menendez versus Westminster in 1945, the East Los Angeles Walkouts in 1968, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund in also 1968, the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project in 1974, and El Congreso del Pueblo de Habla Española in 1938 are all events among many others in U.S. history where Hispanics played a central role. And whereas each American's observation observed National Latin Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th by celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Now therefore, be it resolved that the governing board of the Piedmont Unified School District join other communities and school districts in our nation in celebrating September 15th through October 15th as National Latin Heritage Month.

Thank you. Does anyone on the board want to comment on this? We're going to open it for public comment. We have no online comments. Closing public comment. This is a resolution, so we'll need a roll call vote.

Would you like me to say the roll call? OK. Sorry, student board member Cory Miner. OK. Student board member Diego . Yes. Board Trustee Lindsay Thomason. Aye. Board Trustee Max Roman.

Aye.

Vice President Michael Malione. Aye. And Board President Ruchi Medeker.

Aye. Resolution passes 5-0. Or, sorry, 4-0. Just kidding. Okay, thank you. Okay, next up we have Resolution 09-2026-27, asking the UC system to reinstate standardized assessment requirements for undergraduate admissions. Yes. Are we going to read this as well? We don't normally read these resolutions, I don't think. Yeah, this is quite long. So this is a resolution of the Board of Trustees of PUSD urging the University of California to reinstate standardized assessment requirements for undergraduate admissions. I'm going to ask if the board has any comments on this. Mike, sorry.

Why am I so sad?

Just keep it on.

I just need to keep it on. I know, it's been a while. Okay, so I think that what I want to do is... take a highlight. So we have recently instituted a online comment process where people can submit board comments on agendas, agendized items online before our meetings. And we received quite a few on this topic, including from quite a few professors at Berkeley who feel strongly that reinstating the standardized test requirement is extremely important. And I'm just gonna read one highlight. It says, since UC adopted test-wide admissions, math remediation rates among incoming freshmen have surged. This tells us the current system is failing to identify who is actually prepared to study at university. Students struggle with foundational concepts that are prerequisites to the material I teach. This compromises the quality of instruction for everyone, including the well-prepared students from districts like ours. As a Piedmont parent, I am also troubled that our students who work hard and demanding coursework compete in an admissions process that cannot distinguish genuine preparation from the flighted grades. More than 3,000 UC faculty members, including over 2,300 in STEM fields, have called for the reinstatement of standardized testing. The evidence is clear, SAT scores greatly improved prediction of success in STEM. True equity means ensuring admitted students can genuinely succeed. I strongly support this resolution and urge the board to pass it. I want to add a caveat. Many of these comments talked about SAT scores. The resolution actually calls for SAT or ACT. They're used interchangeably for admissions and calls for the reinstatement of scores, the full profile, not just math scores. Because while the evidence that came out that it is, highly predictive of, that test scores were highly predictive of success in STEM fields, I strongly suspect that they would be in other fields as well. So there are quite a few other comments all in support of this resolution. And one other portion of the resolution that I would like to highlight is that it does call for immediate reinstatement of test mandatory admissions so that you know, this isn't pushed out years, but that it is reinstated for the 2027-28 admissions cycle.

Yeah. I was just reminded of a procedural thing, which is I do have to read some of it. So I'm going to read it. Whereas Piedmont Unified School District is committed to preparing all students for a rigorous, successful post-secondary education and has a direct interest in ensuring that the University of California's admission standards accurately reflect the preparation required for college academic success, Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Trustees of Piedmont Unified School District hereby expresses its strong support for the reinstatement of SAT or ACT score requirements as a component of the University of California's admissions process for undergraduate programs. And be it further resolved that the Board calls upon the UC Board of Regents and the UC Academic Senate to act on the faculty's recommendation before the 2027-28 admission cycle. prioritizing student preparedness and long-term academic success over admissions criteria that have demonstrably failed to identify students prepared for STEM coursework, and be it further resolved that the Board directs the Superintendent to transmit a certified copy of this resolution to the UC Board of Regents, the UC Office of the President, the Academic Senate's Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, and the Governor of California, and be it further resolved that the board encourages all California public school districts to consider adopting similar resolutions in support of evidence-based admission standards that serve the genuine long-term success of all students. Max or Michael, do you have anything that you want to add to this?

Well, I have one point I want to make is that what's being called for is a consideration, not a cutoff. So it's not any kind of a firm cutoff that would be impacting students negatively. It's just having that information there to actually help students who test well without harming the ones who don't.

Got it.

Okay.

Thanks. Yeah, I just want to sort of... One of the things that I've thought a lot about is the argument for getting rid of testing traditionally has been equity. And so I looked into that a lot. And eliminating testing in the UC standards has not increased the diversity of the student population of UC Berkeley at all. And the same goes for all of the schools that have eliminated standardized testing. And it seems to me that what it has done is made an environment where kids are less likely to finish a college degree. And that is a suboptimal outcome, I feel like for everyone. And so I think in the name of equity, it behooves us to allow kids who are likely to succeed in a college environment and to get a degree to go there. And also to find, it is another tool to help find the kids, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are able to do that. And eliminating that makes that simply more of a crapshoot. And I don't think that that's a good outcome for anybody either. And so for those reasons, I think that this, you know, we can't tell UC what to do, but I do think it sends a message that should be sent. And so that's what I have to say about it.

Yeah, thank you. I imagine that you guys might have some thoughts on it, but maybe not. No pressure.

Coming from a student who isn't the best test taker and has an opportunity to go to UCs without submitting a test, I think that is very impactful for students like me. While I do see to the pros where students might not be ready for college-level classes, or it might, yeah, I could see the pros and the cons for this, but I do think it is helpful to have colleges and universities where they can accept both people who take the test and who don't take the test.

Thank you.

Adding on to what Corey is saying, I really do see both sides of the argument. From what I've been seeing about it is there is widespread support within the professors at some of the schools. So I think teachers oftentimes know best in a lot of these situations. But at the same time, I see what Corey is saying. Just to clarify this is so it's we're calling for mandatory tests Test submission or we're saying it's optional.

We're asking the UCS to require test as part of the entire process. Yeah, okay Okay That's all Yeah, we're just urging Yeah Thank you mm-hmm Thank you both For me, the UCs are the North Star. An admission to a UC for graduates from PUSD is something that I have come back to again and again, because we can't promise what admission to a private college would look like. but there are certain requirements that the UCs have and there are many different campuses and they have different, generally they have different guidelines and different requirements. I think one thing that was really interesting for me to see this year in the Chronicles data was that the high schools in Piedmont had a disproportionate admission rate to UC Berkeley and to UCLA relative to schools of their size. So we over sent schools. I mean, we over sent kids to those two schools, which I think is really impressive. And for me, again, as the North Star of what we're trying to accomplish in the district, I think that was really good. This is one case where I'm really proud of my alma mater, which came out in 2022 and said, we're going to start to require tests again. And they published what I can only describe as a beautiful letter to the community and to the public. And what it said was basically, It was MIT. But what it said was that testing and the way that you perform on a test is a moment in time. It doesn't reflect your potential. It just reflects this moment in time. And the reason that they decided to bring it back was similar to what has come out in UC San Diego. I don't know if you guys are reading the news with UC San Diego and the math skills that are happening or being found in the undergraduate population there. But I think that it is not fair to send kids out into the world without an objective measure of how they might perform. And I think that is the same reason why we're trying to bring in things like STARS testing into our classrooms. It's not because of what the objective score is, although it is something that you can measure yourself again and understand how you perform. But it is something where we've heard from our teachers how hard it is to be the person who has to say, this is the grade that you're getting. And sometimes in life you can influence things and sometimes in life you can't influence things. And I think that having an objective measure is an important part of the educational process. Okay, so I'm gonna open it up for public comment before I come back to folks. We have no online comments. Okay, do we have any? Oh, sorry, hello. Please come and if you could also fill out a speaker great if you could hand it to Rosalina, that would be awesome So

Let me first start by saying this is my very first school board meeting that I've attended ever. And the experience has been very heartening, actually, and I feel very positive about the future. When I look around me and, you know, we read the news, it's sort of depressing, and you wonder about the future of the world. But seeing the commitment from the students The teachers, the parents, the families, and all of you, it's been really very heartening, so I'm glad I came. Anyways, a little bit about myself. I'm actually in my 40th year as a professor in the UC system. I spent 32 years at UCLA in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and I've been eight years, I'm in my eighth year at UC Berkeley in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department. And most recently, I've been teaching introductory biochemistry to classes ranging from 300 to 500 students. So these are very large service classes. And what I've noticed in the 40 years that I've been teaching, especially in the recent decade, let's say, that we have been offering more and more resources to our students. We offer tutorials, online materials, course capture, transcripts of the class. Last year, I made podcasts and more. While at the same time, we're also writing less complex exams with questions that are emphasizing recall over critical thinking. And despite this, especially I would say in the last two years that I've taught in the spring semester, the number of failing grades has sharply increased. We do not have great inflation. We have stuck with, I guess, a B minus or 2.7 GPA for this class for a long, long time. So we've been giving more failing grades in the last two years. And there are two consequences to this. One is that students who fail, they have to retake the class if it's required for the major or they want to go to medical school.

You have 30 seconds left.

Okay, and they're unable to graduate, so that adds to the financial burden. And on the other hand, for the top students, who, by the way, remain the best in the country, we are doing a disservice by diluting our courses to accommodate the unprepared. On a personal note, I want to say that as a 17-year-old immigrant in 1976, the path to higher education was opened for me by simply walking into a placement test and achieving a great score and getting admission. So it's not necessarily to keep students out, but to also let them in. So thank you. Thank you.

And Dr. Merchant, if you will allow me a moment to fangirl. UCLA was my other alma mater, and I have a PhD in MIMG in Jeff F. Miller's lab.

I know him very well. He and I were hired the same year.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why. I thought you looked familiar, but then I was like, anyway, it's nice to see you. Thank you for coming.

Thank you. I feel as though I'm preaching to the choir here on the board, so I'll be brief in my remarks. My name is Randy Sheckman. I'm a professor in molecular cell biology. I am 10 years senior to my partner here. I've been at Berkeley for 50 years. This is my 50th anniversary. I've had the opportunity to transfer to other private universities on the East Coast. But I have remained faithful to the University of California because I've spent most of my life here. I was an undergraduate at UCLA. I've been on the faculty here for 50 years. I only spent four years of misspent youth as a PhD student at Stanford. And I've learned to regret that ever since. I started at UCLA in 1966, perhaps before Chair Medcar, you were born. And that back then the SAT test existed, but it was only optional. The admission to the UC system in the 1960s was much easier than it is now. THE SYSTEM WAS GROWING TREMENDOUSLY. THE SYSTEM HAD DOUBLED UNDER PAT BROWN JR. PAT BROWN, SENIOR, AS GOVERNOR. SO THE OPTIONS WERE UNLIMITED FOR ME, AND I TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THAT TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY. For many years since then, having raised children here in the East Bay who had the benefits of public and private education, perhaps not as good had they gone to the Piedmont schools, but nonetheless, they had all the resources possible that made their subsequent educational and professional careers possible. And I always felt that that was an unfair advantage, kind of like putting my thumb on the scale to give my own kids a better advantage than kids who came from families uh... who who were uh... never experienced never had never experienced higher education a very large number of our undergraduates at berkeley come from families that uh... where they are the first in the family to go to go to college i felt that the mission thirty seconds left i'll get there the mission of the university of california access and excellence was why i wanted to stay here and yet I have seen in recent years, as my colleague Professor Merchant has seen, a precipitous decline in the performance of my students. I teach introductory biology. I've taught mostly undergraduates in all my years. I teach introductory biology to 800 registered students in the fall semester. My fellow Nobel laureate, Jennifer Doudna, teaches in the spring semester. She too has experienced this decline in recent years. We don't know to what we can attribute this, but the indications are, as you've already enumerated, that it may be attributable to the loss of that requirement for an SAT test. There is no excuse now. There are plenty of resources that are available to kids from families of low income. There's a Khan Academy that they have access to. It's up to the high schools to provide these free resources to kids to prepare for these tests. So there may be other explanations for the poor performance, but I have seen in my class, just in the past few years, a marked decline in the performance on tests that are more or less the same year to year. And I've come to the conclusion, based on data that you've already reviewed, that this is because of the lack of a measurable objective criterion such as the SAT. And therefore, I support the proposal of your board, and I wish other school districts would do the same. We need to bring this test back. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And Dr. Sheckman, if I can also fangirl for you. Thank you so much for coming to both of you. Also go Bears. Yeah. We have many Bear alumni here.

Good evening. My name is . I'm a professor of physics at UC Berkeley. I'm also a Piedmont resident. And as of a few months ago, I'm also a new father. So I'm here wearing all three hats. I'm here also to be candid about what I see in Berkeley's classrooms, where I primarily teach undergrads. During the past several years, I taught physics majors, mostly juniors. And what I see is that a large fraction of my students arrive with serious gaps in their mathematical understanding. And in a course like quantum mechanics, which was the main course that I taught over the past few years, which is at the heart of an undergraduate physics education, that means we have to slow down. So we reteach material that should have been mastered long before, and students who are ready sit idle. In the meantime, students who aren't ready struggle for years, feeling underprepared through no fault of their own, right? So meanwhile, I know brilliant high school students whose mathematical proficiency is way stronger than that of many of the juniors that I have taught. And many of them were not admitted to UC Berkeley. And that is unfair to them, but it is also equally unfair to the students who were admitted without the preparation to succeed. And there is nothing more dull than sitting in a class where you don't understand anything. And I know that from experience. So since UC stopped considering the SAT, admissions has lost the one common objective signal of mathematical readiness that cuts across every high school in California and across the US. And grades and course titles simply do not mean the same thing from one high school to the next, especially when students have access to AI. The tools that it will have access to will become better and better over the coming years, so that's especially concerning. So because of this, I am genuinely afraid of where this leads. If we keep admitting students without the mathematical foundation of coursework demands, the quality of a UC degree will decline, not overnight, but steadily over the coming years. And once it does, all of us lose access to the finest public university system in the world, including the child I just brought home. So I'm asking this board to go on record and pass a resolution urging the UC Regents and Academic Senate to reinstate the SAT or ACT scores immediately as a factor in admissions. Our students deserve a system that measures readiness and rewards it. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Okay, I'm going to close public comment. Did you, you got a note card from everybody? Yeah, no cards and no online comment. Okay, cool. Okay, great. Does anyone on the board want to add any comments?

I just wanted to say thank you for taking time out of your evening to come. And it's really heartening to hear that you've enjoyed our meeting. We do take governance seriously in Piedmont and really appreciate your perspective and you sharing it with us this evening.

Totally. Truly, thank you so much. Okay, I think that we are, this is a resolution, so we need a roll call vote. I think we are ready for it, but I'm just stalling so that Rosalina can come back.

Was that board president? Would you mind doing a roll call? Oh, yes. So board, student board member, Corey Miner. Oh, yes. Student board member, Diego Branirella. Aye. Board Trustee Lindsay Thomason. Aye. Board Trustee Max Roman.

Aye.

Vice President Michael Malione. Aye. And Board President Ruchi Medeker. Aye. Resolution passes 4-0.

Thank you. Okay. Next up, we have Resolution 1026A. Sorry, 10-20-26-27, to commit funds in the district's general fund for specific, oh no. Just kidding. I skipped one. Next up, we have approval of the CSEA MOU on the district's medical contribution for married unit members.

So basically, we have a memorandum of understanding. I'll do it, Ruth. A memorandum of understanding with CSA and the district. And what I'm asking the board is that what we have negotiated is change in the health benefits to our married members. And so I'm just bringing it to the board. And you have more details outlined in the memorandum. But I'm not going to go through that. But it is just a... change in our health benefits That we provide to our married members. Super.

Thank you. I'm gonna open up for a board comment. Does anyone have any comments? I'm gonna open it for public comment No public comment closing public comment. Do any board members have any additional questions comments? Okay If there are no comments, can I have a motion to pass this?

I move we Vote on approval of CSEAMOU district medical contribution for married unit members.

I second the motion.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, the motion carries 4-0. All right. Now, sorry, we have a resolution 10-26-27 to commit funds in the district's general fund for specific future uses.

Great. The resolution, evening board, the resolution before you is to commit a portion of the ending fund balance because we'll be closing the books for last year, upcoming item. But before that, I wanted to ask you to consider to commit portions of the ending fund balance specifically for the salary and benefit commitments that the board made back in June when the board approved the two, the three, employee group contracts. So the commitments were made back in June. We didn't commit the money then, but now as we are closing the books, I'm recommending that we commit a total of $3.9 million in the ending fund balance to be used specifically for the salary and benefits this year and the next two years.

I just want to add that this commitment has already been included in the unaudited actuals.

Yes.

That they will see.

Yes.

In the presentation. So I just wanted to say that, please. Got it.

Okay. Is there any comment or questions? Nope. Okay. I'm going to open it up for public comment. No public comment. Closing public comment. I'm assuming that we still have no questions or comments. Okay, this is a resolution, so we need a roll call vote. Ms. Berrios, would you mind calling the roll?

Student Board Member Cory Miner. Aye. Student Board Member Diego Braneria. Aye. Board Trustee Lindsay Thomason. Aye. Board Trustee Max Roman. Aye. Vice President Michael Malione.

Aye.

Board President Bruchi Medeker.

Aye. Motion carries 4-0. Okay, next up, we have approval of the 2025-26 unaudited actuals.

All right, and... All right, this is the... This is my opportunity to show you the results, basically. It's not exactly data, but it's the results of our financial condition after last year of school. So even though we're at the beginning of the 26-27 school year, I'm going to ask you for a minute to just think about the last school year, 25-26, and I'll just share a few slides on where we're ending that year and then At the end, I'll talk about where we'll go into for next year. So what is an, I'm sorry, I'll show where that leads us as we head into this year. So what is an unaudited actual? Well, once the school year ends, when everybody else is off on summer vacation, school fiscal team just is at work closing the books. That means we're making sure all of the revenues have come in, all of the expenditures have been paid, and then whatever reports are required to do just to make sure everything is tied up. And we can present to you our actual financial revenues expenditures status for the fiscal year. These have not been audited yet. That's what our auditor will do. So we call them the unaudited actuals. But as far as we go as a district to prepare our financials. And on the next slide, just the big picture. So I'm going to go just big picture, headlines, revenues, expenditures, and imbalance. I didn't put it in an agenda. I realized that would have been helpful. So the big picture is we, as a district, will end the year with $17.7 million in the bank. Of that, $9.6 million is Fund 1, the general fund, and that's where most of our fund activities, and that's, from the 9.6 million, that's the 3.9 that you just committed, that will come out of that number. I'm gonna focus on the general fund, the other funds are all, there's little details in the back of the presentation, which is all part of the board package, so. And I would just make a plug now for the Budget Advisory Committee, which meets next Thursday afternoon and go much more into detail at that point for anybody that's interested. Okay, next page, headlines. Last year, this was 25-26, all employees received a 4.5% salary increase. In addition, the district was able to provide health benefits with no premium costs through our new health partner, SIBO. So that was my opinion perspective. It was a pretty nice headline of what we're able to offer employees last year. There are some new classes and actually new curriculum at the elementary. We offered a retirement incentive. 17 employees took the offer. Many facilities projects were completed, and these were highlighted at the last board meeting when Pete Palmer talked about summer projects. And our 3% minimum reserve requirement was met, and there's enough funds that we're able to set aside the commitment for the salaries and benefits for the next two years. I wanted to just, on that 3% minimum reserve, it's very Minimal amount in our district. It's 1.7 million In other districts We're not are having trouble meeting even that For the back when we did our second interim back in March Pleasanton our neighbor just down the street. They have a negative Certification ours was positive Livermore Dublin and Oakland all had qualified certifications West Contra Costa also did, and San Francisco Unified. So these are districts that many of them we hear consistently struggle, but many of them have been sort of identified as districts that we're supposed to compare to, and yet they're having trouble. They're not able to meet their 3% reserve. So just wanted to point that out, pat ourselves on the back. Not at their, sorry, not at their cost, but it's nice to be able to compare and come out ahead. The next slide just gives a big picture. Don't worry about these numbers because it's also in the package, but the idea is to show that over the course of the year, we come in and show the board where we are because the budget is a moving... Target it's it's always changing and it's not until now the end of the year when we close the book So we could say this is how much we got this is how much we spent in the meantime All these other points in time were estimates based on you know, best information available I'm gonna go to the next slide which provides a little bit more about revenues just kind of focusing on The budget when it originally started first level first set of estimates in June of 2025 versus where we're ending now, September 2026. The too big in the revenue, perspective, we went from $56 million to $60 million. And where the big changes came in were the local revenues, $1.7 million. This happens every year. We don't budget for money that we don't know for sure how much is going to come in. And then the money will come in and we get to record it as a revenue. We also, all of that, most of the local revenue also comes in with a specific local expense that they want. So parents will be contributing towards the Mac Lab, and then we have to set up an expense for the Mac Lab, for instance. No huge items there. I did want to point out one of the things we did last year was remove the accounts for our athletic teams from the ASB held accounts to now the district holds the accounts. It's the same team accounts, so girls volleyball, boys basketball, they each have their own accounts. but rather than having all of that sit with ASB, it now sits at the district. A lot of that's funded by gate fees, and then the expenses are for the student clubs, but that was about 230,000, or 226,000 that moved from ASB held to us last year. Another nice thing, The last thing I wanted to point out is we made $222,000 in interest earnings. So shout out to Hank Levy, who's the county treasurer. Not that he's the one that, he and his team manage the funds that are held in the county treasury, and that's where we make our interest. We can't go and invest elsewhere, it has to sit there. And so there are basically over close to 3.5% interest over the course of the year, and this is for liquid money. It's not like I was putting money aside. It was stuff that I had to be able to use. And the last thing I wanted to point out about local was through facilities rentals, during the course of the year, we made $320,000. We had only budgeted $200,000, so it's a nice bump up, and that's from organizations that use our facilities, the Piedmont Baseball Soccer Association and others. So those are all the local revenues to give you flavor. And then on the state revenue side, the big push there was we received the one-time discretionary block grant. This is for 2526, $781 million. That's half of that state revenue increase. And we also received a shout out to Jatara Spinks, our school service, our food service director, she got us a grant for 126,000 for infrastructure and other state revenues. So more detail obviously in the board background, but those were kind of big numbers I wanted to share. The next slide is just a five year look at revenues and The, again, the things that will stand out under local revenues which have grown is Measure P, Measure H that just passed is not really included, but Measure P was a nice jump. Of course, PEF and parent support have also increased in 25-26. There is also, and then the state was a one-time block grant. I wanted to say during this time, LCFF money, the blue, which is most of the state money that we get, the unrestricted state money, those COLAs over the course of this five-year window grew by almost 30%. But it's still, as you can see, less than half of our revenue. All right, next page is expenditures. And here, all sorts of moving pieces. a lot of the movement was because we got revenue for a specific purpose, and so we put it into the budget and spent it. I wanted to point out that's most of the changes in the books, supplies, and services, but we did have $677,000 more in capital expenditures, and that was that one-time state grant, $780,000. Most of that has been spent on capital projects. So that's what that number is. All right. And the next slide is the historic of expenditures. The thing that stands out to me is in 2022, we had some post COVID dollars and we had some high needs that were that we sort of coming out of COVID. Some of our students had higher needs. That was what was spent then. And then on the next slide. We're looking at the sort of the summary of the general fund. So total revenues, we go from five years ago, 48 point, basically 49 million up to 60 million now. And then expenditures as well, obviously is growing with just that blip in 22, 23, where it kind of grows a little bit faster. And that was again, spending some of the COVID money. And just do wanna point out the past three years we have not been deficit spending. You can see where it says net surplus, and that's allowed us to have that fund balance that we're able to commit to future salaries. And that brings us to our ending fund balance on the next page. the 9.6 million ending from balance is actually made up of These different parts, my different colors, red, restricted, those are dollars that we can't, that have specific purposes tied to them. And so they're restricted. We have to hold onto them and can only use them for those specific purposes. And that restriction comes from whoever gave us the money. So if it's federal money or, for instance, that state, the kitchen infrastructure grant, I can only use it for kitchen infrastructure. So that's under the restricted bucket. Then there's the green that's listed here as semi-restricted and committed. So that includes the $3.9 million that the board just approved to commit to future year salaries and benefits. It also includes $700,000 that's technically not restricted. It's the PF dollars. It's the parent club dollars that come to the district, that are restricted. They're given to us for a specific purpose, but we've been in the, it's kind of traditionally kept it unrestricted, but we like to, we need to carry that over into wherever it came from. So if it was sitting at Wildwood, now we need to give it back to them. We close the books and then we turn around and give it to them next year. So those are the semi-restricted dollars. And then finally the reserve 1.7 million. And then if you take into consideration what's left between the 3% reserve and the 1.9 million that's unreserved, basically that's 6%. It's not even enough to cover one month of payroll. So it's a very, in my opinion, a low level of reserve. However, in our county, in our neighborhood, most school districts don't have big reserves because the pressures to make sure that your employees can live and continue to work here kind of outweigh some of the pressures of being able to hold on to money as a reserve. On the next page, just a quick summary of those highlights, the investments for this past year, investments in employees. with the salary increase in the healthcare options, investments in students, and I would highlight there that fish tank reading was something that we purchased last year, and other curriculum, and then there was a new play structure at Havens that came through the Parents Club, and actually the year before it was at Beach, I believe. Those came through the Parents Club, and then on the facilities front, we repaved PE Hill, elevator modernization, which was a cost as well as a safety issue. We've rekeyed all classrooms throughout the district. Big effort from facilities for safety and maintenance. And then we put in a new core switch, which connects all of our internet through one core, one switch. And so that also hit its useful life. and we're able to replace that. So big investments, happy to say. And I think that my last slide here is really about what does that mean for next year and so, or for this year, sorry, the year ended, what does that mean for the year that we're in now? And if you could just follow me for a second, because I know there's a lot of numbers and it gets confusing. So the board adopted the 26-27 budget in June. And So that's the first column. The second column includes the 45-day update, which we provided in August. So the revenues increased based on what the state adopted. The expenditures increased because of those salary and benefit increases. And so that's kind of, you know, play that down. But then you look at the beginning balance line, and that's the one that the beginning balance for 26-27 We estimated back in June it would only be 5.9 million, but we're up to 9.6. So we're now able to show that 3.7 growth or improvement in the beginning balance, and that's why now I'm asking that that get committed for those salary and benefit. And that's it. Thank you for bearing with me. I know Dr. Evans is looking at the clock. And the other, could you just go all the way to the end, Rosalina? I just wanted to acknowledge the staff.

Just appreciate, no, yeah. Oh, these are all the other funds.

Nothing to note, but please take a look if you are interested. And then the end. I just want to acknowledge the team. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.

But you will be going in a little bit more detail with these funds at a different meeting.

Yes. The Budget Advisory Committee next Thursday afternoon.

Thank you so much, Ruth. I'm going to ask the student board members if they have any questions. Otherwise, I just want to give you full permission, because sometimes we might get caught up in something. You both are welcome to leave any time after 9 o'clock, because we know that you have homework and school tomorrow morning. So thank you so much. In the future, if I don't pause at 9 o'clock, please feel free to look at the clock and deco. Oh, yeah, please.

You might discuss this at a future meeting, but one thing I am curious about is you started talking briefly about next year. I'm just wondering if your team has any strategy or plan toward differing the consistency of federal funding given federal government right now. I'm just curious what your thoughts are on that.

I can tell you that it's a small portion of our revenues, and most of it, almost all of it, comes through special education. So whatever this federal government's fund, they have not really touched special education, fortunately. So we've been getting those funds. The other funds that are tied... A very little, I mean, I would say it's like under 70,000 and we don't count on it. That's the other thing. We don't count on those funds until we get them. So that's our.

Federal money is like 1% or less of our period, is that correct?

Yes, it barely, it does, yeah. It's about like 500, 600,000 of 60 million, yeah.

Thank you for putting this together. Anyone have any questions? Open for public comment. Okay. Closing public comment. Can I have a motion?

I motion that we approve the 2025-26 unaudited actuals.

And I'll second that.

Great. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries 4-0. Okay. Awesome. The next one is resolution 03-2026-27, our GAN limit.

And this is every year we ask you to do this. As we close the books, we have to report up to the state what our revenues were and our expenditures. And then they have a, let's see if I can do this right. There's a GAN. There's a limit that's been set into law of how much the state can spend. And so they need our numbers to figure out if they're at their limit. And we always are. But it's just a form. What's it called? Just something we have to do every year. Formality.

Yeah. Any board questions or comments? Nope. Opening public comment. Closing public comment. This is a resolution, so we need a roll call vote.

Do we need to read it?

We don't.

We don't need to read it.

Board Trustee Lindsay Thomason. Aye. Board Trustee Max Roman.

Aye.

Vice President Michael Malione.

Aye.

Board President Richie Medeker. Aye. Motion carries 4-0.

Okay. The next one is Resolution 05-2026-27, declaring surplus property instructional technology.

So every year we are supposed to report any surplus that we have in any of our departments. And here we have technology. We have some equipment that we're supposed to report and how we're going to dispose of it. So I'm asking the board to approve the declaration of surplus property.

If anyone had any questions about where the core switch was going, the old one, it's here.

Well, that is a relief.

It's going here to the city? It's getting recycled. Oh, thank you. It's in this. So at this point in the evening. Okay, opening for board comment. Opening for public comment? No public comment. Closing public comment. This is a resolution, so we need a roll call vote.

Board Trustee Lindsay Thomason. Aye. Board Trustee Max Roman.

Aye.

Vice President Michael Malione.

Aye.

Board President Richie Medeker.

Aye. Motion carries 4-0.

Somebody should have moved and seconded.

You can't. It's a resolution.

Oh, never mind. Sorry.

It's okay. Okay.

Robert's rules of orders are musty.

It's like 9-18. Things are getting crazy. Okay. Resolution 08-2026-27, authorizing assignment out of credentialed area.

So, actually, we'll do that one. So every year we have to report all of our teachers that are working outside of their credential, and so we're supposed to report it to the state on who those teachers are and what classes that they're teaching.

Okay, great. Does anyone have any comments? Sure don't. Okay. Opening public comment. No public comments. closing public comment. This is a resolution, so we need to do a roll call vote.

Board Trustee Lindsay Thomason. Aye. Board Trustee Max Roman.

Aye.

Vice President Michael Malione.

Aye.

President Richie Medeker.

Aye. Motion carries 4-0. Does tonight set a record for how many resolutions we've had on a single agenda? It might.

You usually don't put that many on, but...

It's honestly so strange because it's only been three weeks since our last meeting, but it feels like the agenda is jam-packed. I think it's been four weeks. Has it been four? Is that why? Because it was the first. Oh, yeah. That's true. That's why.

I didn't know what we were doing. It was still summertime in our mind.

Nothing happened. Okay. Next item is to approve the bank account official signatures.

So that's basically you have an interim superintendent and old one's gone. So now we have to approve the fact that I can sign signatures. off on lots of important documents that come through the district.

Anyone have any questions or comments? Closing public comment. This is an approval item.

I move to approve the bank account official signatures.

I second it.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries 4-0. Okay. And finally, we have the item to approve the selection of the search firm for the superintendent search. I'm going to be presenting this item, which I understand is a little bit unusual, but here we are. So we, I want to thank my fellow board members and also Susie and share a little bit about the process. So Lindsay did a great job of looking at our RFP that we had a handful of years ago and revamping it for this new selection process. You can find it on our website and also as an attachment to this item. We had the time period open for two weeks. We allowed for questions to be sent to us. We received no questions. We received four submissions. And the board met in closed session yesterday to discuss the different proposals that came to us. We have made a selection and just wanted to share a little bit of information about what our criteria were for the selection of the search firm. So the first thing that we were looking at was the network that the firm had and the experience specifically in California. A lot of search firms have Nationwide searches and we also include like our RFP says like we want to include nationwide candidates But a reason why California experience specifically was important was because the rules in California are very nuanced and different the way that we do our budgeting is nuanced and We wanted to make sure that we had someone who had that type of experience and we also were looking for someone who Like looking for a firm that had had successful placement of superintendents in districts that looked like ours And finally, we also did reference checks with recent firms that used our winter. The firm that we picked is Leadership Associates. Leadership Associates is the same firm that we used last time. One thing which is an interesting twist, and we believe a really big boon to us, is that the two folks that are going to be leading the search are Donald and Sarah. I don't know actually Sarah's last name. Collegian. Collegian, thank you. Oh yes, she's online. Sorry, Sarah. I can't wait to meet you. And the reason why we are excited about working with Donald and Sarah specifically on this is, first of all, Donald has a ton of experience in our district. He's seen what it was like five years ago, four years ago, he's seen how much it's evolved. He's seen what the board has put forward in the vision and the mission and the values and our overall objectives that the previous board started and that we've continued and added to. This group feels really cohesive, including Susie, who's not here, and very, very aligned in what we're hoping to accomplish. The additional benefit of having Donald essentially being on the inside while looking at how the district is working was something that we thought was really an added competitive advantage for us to be able to really get access to people who can fit the profile of what we're looking for. And so we're really excited for him and Sarah. And I'm going to open it up to other folks on the board and then up for public comment before we vote on it.

I have a couple things to say. Just that as a reminder, when we did this the last time around, there was a whole phase with community input, surveying, meetings. That's all going to happen again. There's a timeline for that. That's really the main thing I wanted to say right now. I could say more about the rest of the timeline, but we'll get there. Yeah.

Yeah, I just going through these RFPs was interesting and illuminating. I also want to just point out that this was also the fiscally responsible choice in terms of the bids, which made me feel good. And I'm confident that. with his local network and the help of Sarah that Donald and Sarah are the right people to help us find our next superintendent. I also spoke with the managing partner of Leadership Associates, which I think had a very frank conversation about our district and how it works. and what we need and I think that also enhanced my feeling of confidence with this selection and I really look forward to hearing from all of our stakeholders, teachers, parents, students about what they feel is important in this role and taking that into consideration as we evaluate candidates.

I'm just going to say it was really interesting as I was updating the RFP to go out and look at what other districts had included in their RFP, not included in their RFP, and then to modify ours to fit our district and then see the proposals that came in. And I wholeheartedly agree with what's already been said and just want to specifically highlight Donald's knowledge both of our district and I think Max you said his strong network and within California and the Bay Area. I've said this multiple times, but when we went to the CSBA conference with Donald, we couldn't walk more than about five feet before somebody was like, Donald! And so, not only well-loved, but very well-known. And we are excited for you to tap into that network and help us find our next superintendent. We'll do. And Sarah, really looking forward to meeting you as well.

And he's not going to hire himself.

Okay, I'm gonna open up for public comment. No public comment. Okay, closing public comment. We're really excited. Okay, so this is a, this is just an approval. Actually, I guess I should ask you if you want to say anything.

I do. First of all, I want to say thank you. And I have a great person. who is absolutely wonderful, and that's Sarah, and I don't know if she can hear me, but she is so, she reminds me a lot like your past superintendent in terms of being so detail-oriented, and she really listens and hears what people have to say, and she's such a great partner, and I think you'll be thrilled when you meet her and just what she can provide to the district, but again and i think we make a great team because things that i miss she catches right away and so i think you'll be definitely pleased with with her as well and i think i've already started thinking about who and um could be in this position because this is a great position and i just want to thank the board from what i've seen four years ago to what i've seen now it's different I mean, I'm just keeping up.

Different is a neutral adjective.

It's different, and it's great. We're moving so fast, and it's just finding the right person for this position because this is a special and it's a unique district, and so that's what we want to find. It's almost like a unicorn, you know.

Show us your unicorn. Yeah, exactly.

So thank you.

Awesome. Thank you. We're very excited. And in terms of next steps, as Michael pointed out, there is a robust plan for stakeholder engagement. And I think all of the things that we have come to expect from big processes in a community like ours so we are going to probably get together as a board hopefully next week um i haven't told the board that but we're gonna have to get together hopefully next week um wait for susie to get back and then kickstart the process um you will be hearing if you're a parent club president and you're listening we will be reaching out to you um and we're very excited about this process and um having donald and sarah at the helm of it so thank you both

If you're an APT president and you're here, we'll be reaching out to you as well.

Okay, so with that, I am going to ask if there is a motion to approve this.

I motion that we approve the selection of the search firm.

I second.

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries 4-0. Awesome. Okay, next up we have correspondence. Michael.

Okay, so in the four intervening weeks we had basically 12 matters that came through email correspondence, one which was a school student matter, two city community event infos, two related to the superintendent search, questions and suggestions, two that were the Piedmont Highlander media related, and then four promotional bordering on junk mail, not quite, and then one CPRA request that we've had a repeated request Yeah, that has been coming in. I think we've seen it, and I think we're figuring out how to respond to it.

Yeah, these CPRA requests are becoming, I think, increasingly burdensome, particularly in the period of time where it feels like there's a lot of scraping that might be happening in order to get access to contract information. So more on that to come.

And then one thing I'll add actually, and then there were also 10 public comments that were sent in through the form related to the meeting tonight, particularly to the SAT resolution.

Yeah, it's a very exciting thing to see something that you put in place come to fruition. And so those correspondences will be attached to the agenda when it gets published. Okay, next up.

Can I add a point of clarification? Yes. Because this was just something that I learned this evening. The ones that are attached are emails that are sent through the form. Correct. Other correspondence is not attached. Correct. That is emailed to us directly.

Yes. Yeah. And I think it has to be, it can't be anonymous. There's like some rules around it. Yeah. Okay, now we have the consent calendar where we can't comment on anything, but we can have public comment on it. I'm going to read our donations report. So first item is from PEF. The purpose is the PEF tri-school elementary supplementary grant. in the amount of $329,396. Second item is from the Haven School Parents Club. The purpose is the Haven's play structure, partial payment of $164,337.55. The next thing is Fidelity Charitable Will and Catherine Campbell for a Peter Pan donation in the amount of $1,000. The next item is from Tom Joseph for the Athletic Scoreboard donation in the amount of $1,000. Next item is the Wildwood Schools Parent Club All Brain Speech Therapy in the amount of $525. Next item is the Wildwood Water Bottle Filler in the amount of $512.50. The next item is the Wildwood Dad's Club for the WW Water Bottle Filler in the amount of $512.50. Next item is Fidelity Charitable. Mr. Jacob R. Sorensen for the Binks scoreboard donation in the amount of $500. Next item is from Sanjay M. Bakshi for PHS instrumental music in the amount of $500 for a total of $498,283.55. There's no board discussion, but I'm going to open public comment. No public comment. Closing public comment. Can I have a motion?

I'll move that we approve the consent calendar.

Thank you, Michael. Second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries 4-0. At our next board meeting on September 23rd, we have the Haven State of School presentation and then Wildwood State of School presentation. We'll round out our tri-school presentations on October 14th. It is 9.34 p.m. and tonight's meeting is adjourned.