San Leandro Unified School District Board of Education - Special Meeting

It is 6:01 p.m. I'm going to go ahead and call our meeting to order. Let me see if Sarah's ready. Are we ready for Oh, I'm gonna give us a second. I know people are settling in. All right. Are we ready for the roll call? Yes, we are.

Trusty Borha. Okay, maybe not. Not yet. Trusty Borha. Trusty Martinez. Trusty Oshinski, present. Trusty Pearl, present. Trusty Perola here. Trusty Roachcha here. Trustee Sheridan here. School board member Steven Tapia.

Sure thing. All right. Before we do the pledge of allegiance, just for safety, if you are standing near one of the doorways, if you could please pick a seat to sit in. We just have to have the aisles and the walkways clear um in case we need to evacuate in the case of an emergency. I'm going to let people settle in. I know there was some rain outside and folks are just trickling in. All right. And the rest of the folks I think are our presenters. Okay. Uh Vice President Oshinski is going to lead us in the pledge of allegiance this evening.

Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. And if I can have a motion this evening to approve our agenda.

So moved. I have a motion from uh I'll give it to Trusty Sheridan and a second from Trusty Martinez. Uh any questions or comments? If we have none, then I will take a vote. Please vote. All right, that motion carries. 70 plus one. Oh, 6 plus one. Correct. Trusty Bora is not here yet. All right, I'm going to go ahead and read our legal statement. Members of the audience who wish to address the board are asked to complete the yellow card available at the entrance and submitted to the board's executive assistant. Speakers who have completed the card will be called on when the item is reached on the agenda or for non-aggenda items during the public testimony. Cards are to be turned in before the item is reached on the agenda. Please note that the meeting is being recorded. State law prohibits the board of education from taking any action on on or discussing items that are not on the posted agenda except to a briefly respond to statements made or questions posed by the public in attendance. B, ask questions for clarification. C, provide a reference to a staff member or other resource for factual information in response to the inquiry. Or D, ask a staff member to report back on the matter at the next meeting and are put it on a future agenda. Government code 54954.2A. Uh, I believe we don't have any public comments this evening.

All right, perfect. Okay, with that, we will move on to our presentations this evening, and we would like to begin by welcoming up John Mir Middle School. 6.

Hit me. I feel this strong. for we really want none. Can't make this girl this you. Come on with me. Come on. Let's go. Baby boy, I lose my breath. Know you lose my breath. How you lose my baby boy? Know you lose my breath. How you lose my breath? Can you keep up? Baby boy. Can you keep up? Baby, why you lose my breath? You lose my breath. Let me lose my breath.

Good evening members of the board. superintendent and cabinet. First, we would like to thank our cheer team for that incredible performance. Let's give them another round of applause. My name is Alia Albertie and I'm proud to represent John Middle School. Today, we are excited to share just a little bit of what makes our school so special. At John, we are a community school. That means we are a safe and a joyful place where every student and family can be themselves. While learning in the classroom is important, we also believe in creating meaningful experiences outside of the classroom that help us grow, connect, and thrive. Tonight, we are excited to show you what that looks like. Now, I would like to welcome Fiona and Nathan to the stage. Thank you, Aia. As a community school, we believe strong partnerships make a big difference. That's why we work with organizations that share our values. One of our most important partners is East Bay Regional Parks. Because of this partnership, all 347 of us 7th grade students were able to visit Tilden Park. During this trip, we hiked, journaled, and spent time bonding with each other. It was an unforgettable experience to learn and connect in nature. We would now like to show a short video highlighting this special day created by our leadership president, Amelia Figerger.

Heat. Heat. We hope you enjoyed the video. Some of our favorite moments included connecting with friends, exploring the outdoors, and taking a break from our normal routines to just enjoy being together. Please welcome Tiffany to the stage.

At John Mir, we are also very proud of our athletics and extracurricular programs. We are lucky to have so many dedicated coaches and amazing PE teachers. Many of our own staff members coach our teams which shows how much they they care about us beyond the classroom. Our teachers, PAR educators, and campus supervisors also create opportunities for us to stay active, build teamwork, and have fun. Then this next performance is dedicated to them. Please welcome our John Mir Middle School line dancers performing a routine from our physical educa education dance unit. Heat. Heat. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm a rain.

Thank you line dancers for your performance. We are from the leadership class and a part of the associated student body team. Even though we host many fun events, we are also TP peer educators. TP stands for tobacco use prevention education. We will now show you two quick demonstrations. This jar is full of fleg and this one is full of tar. Flem is a mucus that decides to settle down in your throat and refuses to leave. Helpers, please pass out the jars. If you receive a jar, please do not open it. I don't understand.

The gooey liquid in this jar is meant to represent the amount of fleg that's coughed up by someone with COPD over a twoe period. Again, just a twoe period. COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It's a disease that makes it harder to breathe over time.

Another harmful substance inside cigarettes is tar. Tar is the stuff that is used on roofs and streets. After a while, it hardens. So, imagine this hardening in your arteries and blocking your blood flow. This is meant to show the residue left behind in your lungs by the chemicals in a cigarette. Tar stains your teeth, damages your gums, and ruins your taste buds. The tar in cigarettes is similar to the chemicals found in marijuana. Now that you know what happens when you smoke, here are a few facts. First of all, there are 7,000 chemicals in a cigarette. Also, smoking takes away 11 minutes of your life. Yes, you heard me. 11 minutes of your life. So, now you know what we teach our students about in their classes. Please welcome Matthew. Good evening. Good evening. I have the honor of presenting a very special award, our volunteer of the year. This award goes to a dedicated parent who comes to John Mir almost every day during lunch to organize soccer games for students. Because of him, we have space where we can have fun, practice good sportmanship, and build community. In additional in addition he is our boys assistant soccer coach. He dedicates a lot of his time to John Mir. This means a lot to many students but it means even more to me cuz this award goes to my father. It is my honor to recognize Augustine Garcia as the volunteer of the year.

Thank you so much. Congratulations. All right, the grand finale of our performance tonight is our superintendence award. This one is really special to me because it truly embodies the San Leandro Unified School District graduate profile. A critical thinker, a communicator, a collaborator, a leader, and an athlete. Just once in a while, there's one student who goes beyond even those words. A student who doesn't just meet expectations, but who leaves a lasting mark on the school community. This young woman does exactly that. And she has no idea this is happening. She is someone we rely on every single day. Our right hand in the office. Someone who steps in without being asked, who notices what needs to be done, and who does it with care and

pride. On the field and in the track, she is fierce and determined. in the classroom and around campus. She is kind and thoughtful and deeply respectful. And perhaps most importantly, she has a way of making people feel seen and welcomed. Whether you're a brand new student or a staff member having a hard day, she represents the very best of who we are at John Mir. Students like her are the reason that we do this work. She has made an impact on me and so many of us in ways that are hard to fully put into words. I know I will carry the memory of her time here with me for a very long time. It's been such a privilege to watch her grow, to learn from her, and to be a small part of her journey. It's an absolute honor to present the superintendence award to Alia Alberti. Here we go.

dance. It don't matter if you're young or you're old.

Here we go. We going to show you how it go to the right to the right to the right to the left to the left to the left to the left. Kick kick kick. Now walk it by yourself. Now walk. Let me see you do the jumping. Do you want to right to the right to the right to the right to the left to the left to the left to the left? Kick. Now walk it by yourself. Now walk it by yourself. To the right. To the right. To the right. To the right. To the left. To the left. To the left. To the left. Now kick. Now kick. My kick. Now walk it by yourself. Now walk it by yourself.

Is it on?

Hello. Oh, there we go. Thank you so much, John Mir, for that wonderful presentation. Can we give them one more round of applause? All right, we're going to invite up our next presentation, Monroe Elementary School. Good evening, school board trustees, directors, superintendent, district administrators, school staff, family, students, and all other community members. My name is Janette McNeel and I'm the principal at James Monroe. And this year, thank you. Yes, James Monroe. And this year, our theme is celebrating each child and every family. In a 10-minute presentation, we cannot share all the amazing things that are happening at James Monroe this year. So, we have chosen a few to highlight. It is important to note that we are a community school and our community is thriving. This year we offer both sitebased afterchool enrichment as well as intervention opportunities for students. We collaborate with our afterchool program to bring a large variety of afterschool options to our students based on their needs as well as their interests. We currently have 245 students attending our spring session of afterchool programming. We want to start

our presentation off with our Monroe cheer team taught by Coach Marjgerie. Go Eagles.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go Eagle. Let's go.

Five, six, seven, eight. Say everybody go D everybody go G say everybody go. Ready.

Five, six, seven, eight. E

G. Ready?

Cry. Five, six, seven, eight. Either All right, that was amazing. That's part of our afterchool enrichment program. So, thank you for that. So, celebrating each child and every family means that we are cheerleaders for each student and family at our school. We have in place system and procedures to bring out the best in our community. We work to make a connection with our students and families and we invite families into our shared school spaces often. This year we regularly met with parent groups to plan and implement culturally authentic and relevant programming for our community. We recently met with our Middle Eastern families to plan for a community day of celebration. During the school day, we did schoolwide education around the holiday of Eid. Our parents planned two amazing events, morning sweets and a dinner. And both events were open to the whole community. And both events had fabulous attendance. We are the cheerleaders. And recently, while we were planning for those events, I got this parent square from a mother who reached out in

appreciation. She wanted to thank us for helping the families organize the day of celebration and learning and to let me know how proud she is of our school. So, we cheerlead for our families and they cheerlead for us. And while we are busy inviting our families into our school spaces, we are also busy getting our students out into the world. Our fifth graders just got back from our yearly trip to Camp Royo for a two night overnight science camp experience outdoor education. Many of our students do not go outside the borders of San Leandro often. Many have never been away from their families for three days and two nights. And many do not experience nature like they do at science camp very often. So I wanted you to hear from them how they experienced camp. Hi my name is Queenie. At outdoor ed I learned about nature's bugs and teamwork. The cabins were really fun because we got to be with our friends. It's like a sleepover. Hi, my name is Jody. Some of my favorite parts of the trip were the food, the cabins, the bats, and the friends. I did not know that we had so many types of snakes in California prior to the trip. In conclusion, you will have fun.

Oh, there you go. Hi, my name is Emma. At outdoor ed, I learned to be more independent. I love spending time with my friends. We had fun looking at the stars, and I like spending time in nature and hiking. We got to do a solo hike, and there were beautiful views. We learned a lot in such a fun way. Hi, my name is Niti. Alter was so fun. I like the solo hike. At first, I was scared, but it was super fun. My favorite parts were sleeping in the cabin and seeing the pets. Thank you for listening and thank you for sponsoring our trip. Outdoor education is an experience from elementary school that our students and chaperones will remember and reflect on for a lifetime. It is a very important educational experience that we are so proud to offer. With the district paying for our outdoor education, it is accessible to all Monroe fifth grade families. And that is important and it makes it very special. And while all of this is very cool and important and I would argue it is highly academic, we have also been working hard at Monroe to build our academic culture of collaboration among our teachers. We are in year three of our action research work. This works makes it makes a difference in the classroom for students and it makes a difference for our teachers. Teachers have workg groupoups called investigation groups or I groups. They meet regularly on Wednesdays to look at data, investigate strategies, and plan instruction. Facilitated by our instructional leadership team, our teachers have met 16 times in I groups this year to participate in this collaborative

structure with colleagues. We have some teachers here that will share the impact of this on their teaching and learning at Monroe. First up, teacher Dan. Hello, I'm teacher Jan. I'm the SDC TK andK teacher at Monroe. And action research has helped me grow as an educator. Being able to sit down with fellow teachers and talk through what we are seeing in the classrooms has been really, really valuable. It's been nice to feel supported and not feel like I have to figure everything out on my own. The student focused approach has assisted me in being more aware and mindful of my own instruction and strategies that I introduce in the classroom. I found myself reflecting more on my teaching and making small changes to make a positive impact on all my students. And I'm happy to have a successful first year. Thank you.

So that was teacher Dan. He's a first year teacher at Monroe. He's rocking it. Next up we have Miss Bllock, fifth grade teacher. Hi, I'm Miss Bllelock. I am also a first year teacher at Monroe, teaching fifth grade. And um being a part of the action research at Monroe gave me a really supportive space to collaborate as a new teacher. I was able to ask questions and learn from other teachers that I wouldn't really um collaborate with. I focused on helping my students build their math black fluency and use data to guide me in my instruction. I tried out many different things. And in the end, it was really rewarding to watch my students grow. not only in their math skills but also their overall confidence. Um, overall I feel like this experience has been helpful in many different ways as a first year teacher and I'm really thankful for it.

And Miss Bab has been on our leadership team. She's been one of the facilitators of the work and she'll share a few words as well.

Hi, I'm Miss Fab. Action research has significantly enhanced my professional growth by demonstrating the impact of setting focused datadriven academic goals for specific vocal students. The collaborative environment of IG of I groups provides a secure settings for teachers to exchange data and instructional methods where colleagues can readily provide support suggestions and relevant personal experiences. I've been on the leadership team for two years. My involvement has greatly bolstered my self assurance both in my classroom practice and as a professional. I feel confident supporting my co colleagues and taking on new challenges both in and outside of the classroom. This being one. Thank you. Thank you so much to our teachers. We are also each other's cheerleaders. So, we would like to end our presentation with a song by our afterchool enrichment club of ukulele students. Come on out ukulele students.

Good evening everybody. My name is Austin. I'm a teaching artist with Generation Music Arts and Academy. Um we're an after school program uh with the Boys and Girls um club of San Leandro. Um and we have a 10-week program with our after school kids here. Um it's a combination of second through fourth grade. Um we've been kind of practicing this for our showcase later this year, but uh or later this uh this semester, but um we're going to show you where we're at right now. Um, and I think we've been uh all trying trying and practicing really hard so we can have a really great show today. So, I hope you guys like it. We'll be doing the lava song if you guys know this. All right. Thank you everybody. Two, three, four, long, long ago, there was a volcano living all alone in the middle of the sea. He sat high above his bed, watching all the wishing he had to. And his love came out.

All right, everybody. Nice and loud. Here we go. here with you. Send me singing. turned his lava into the brink of extinction. But little did he know that living in the sea below another volcano was listening to his song. Every day she heard his tune. Her love grew and grew because she believed song was meant for her. how she was so ready to meet him above the sea as he sang the song of hope for the last time. You guys ready? Here we go. I have a dream I hope will come true.

I wish that they love Rising from the sea below, stood a lonely volcano, looking all around, but she could not see him. He tried to sing to let her know that she was not there all alone. But with no love, his song was all gone. His tears he watched his dreams disappear. I have a dream I hope will come true and you're here with I'm here with you. Someone to love.

Take the bow. All right.

Thank you so much. So now I would like to introduce our superintendence award recipient. And I want her to come up on stage with me. She's already here. Queenie, come on. Queenie Woo is our superintendence award. There she is. Yes. Queeny Woo is a fifth grade student at Monroe. She excels in all academic subjects and is active around school. She's friendly, enthusiastic about learning. Queeniey's friendships cross all borders and her outgoing personality makes her so much fun. We love Queenie and we will miss her when she moves on to middle school. Queenie. Yay. Okay. Take a picture. Get your Congratulations. And finally, our volunteer of the year for 202526 is Miss Bendu Griffin. Miss Griffin has been volunteering at Monroe since her granddaughter Livica joined our school. She attends morning meetings regularly and is a major contributor to our Black

History Month programming every year. Miss Griffin shares wonderful ideas and supports our school in many, many ways. Miss Bendu Griffin, come on up. Congratulations. Thank you everyone. All right, let's give them one more round of applause. Thank you, Monroe Elementary School. All right, next up, we're going to invite up Madison Elementary School. Whoa.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait till it gets done. Wait a minute. So, one can stand here.

Easy. I'm going to introduce you. Take a deep breath.

Well, good evening everyone. How are you? I'm Principal Smith and I am uh so happy to be able to present our Madison's year of the Mustang. Take it away, guys. Well, first of all, I'd like to say good evening board members and superintendent Mr. Mclofflin. Uh it is an honor to be here. We are the Madison Student Council. I am President Ken Dela. I am Vice President Kelsey Ta. I am the treasurer Carson Chu.

And sadly, our secretary, Mia Forest, cannot be here. And I'm the historian, Issa Gonzalez.

We would like to begin by honoring the land we are on. We recognize that this land is the ancestral home of the Aloney people. We we honor their history, their culture, and their continued presence in our community. We are grateful to learn, live, and grow on this land. 3 2 1. Together, we are Madison Mustangs, and we are proud to ride with pride as we rebuild our future. R Easer.

Hi, I'm Juni, a second grade DI teacher at Madison. Our DI program began three years ago with two kindergarten classes and has grown to include seven classes from TK through 2 grade this year. Our students have made impressive progress in both academics and language development. Families are actively involved in our cultural events and together we've built a community we are proud of. England.

At Madison, we explore the world around us. We ask questions, discover new ideas, and learn through hands-on experiences. Our youngest learners began in transitional kindergarten where they learn through play, exploration, and building strong foundations for the future.

We collaborate and innovate by working together, sharing ideas, and solving problems. Madison's choir lifts our voices through songs like Lead with Love and The Glory Train, sharing messages of joy, kindness, and community. We are bound for glor

glor glory. Got to get on the right track, brother. If you're riding the glory train, got to reach out to one another. If you're riding the glory train, singing hallelu, get on board, sister, get on board. Singing hallelu, get on board, sister, get on board. Got to get on the right track, brother. If you're riding the glory train, got to reach out to one another. If you're riding the glory train, this train is bound for glory. This train This train is bound for glory. This train is bound for glory. Get on board and I'll tell you my story. This train is bound for glory. this train. Get on board, sister. Get on board. Get on board, sister. Get on board. Got to get to that glory train. Got to get on board. Got to get on board that glory train. Got to get on. Got to get on board. Got to get on board that

glory train. Got to get on. Got to get on board. Got to get on board that glory train. Glory train. Get on board. Get on board. Get on board. Get on. Get on board. Get on board that train. Are you excited? Under the direction of principal Smith, our teachers are leading learning in steam and environmental engineering.

And as a result on our focus of science and math, our test scores have increased by double digits over the past three years. We are excited to showcase this work at the Together We Rebuild Our Future Expo on Tuesday, April 28th. Madison partners with our community to strengthen learning. We work with organizations like commu community resources for science, stop waste, acco green schools, Lego education, nutrition services, mathnesium, urb uh urban farming, and kids for the bay.

These partnerships help us connect our learning to the real world.

And now a few words from our green team, Mia, Amelia, and Kyle. Hi, my name is Mia. I'm a fifth grader and member of the James Madison green team. During lunchtime, we go to the cafeteria to help younger students sort their trash by showing them which items go into each bin. Hi, my name is Amelia. I'm currently in fifth grade. But enough about me. Let's talk about our reusable metal trays. First, they help us reduce the amount of waste that goes into our landfill. They before this we had cardboard trays that we threw in the landfill every day. But now we can reuse and reduce our waste. Before this challenge, 91% of our landfill could have been recycled or composted. After the challenge, 21% of landfill could have been recycled or composted. That means we've improved by 62%. Hi, my name is Kyle Lee. I'm on the Madison screen team. I want to tell you about the three um STEM

three stream program. We start with the help of stop waste. Our students separate food waste into three bins. the landfill, the recycle, and the compost bin. We also have a food share cart, a purple cart where students can place food if they are full instead of throwing it away. As a part of our role, we wear green aprons and gloves and use grabbers to safely remove any trash that ends up in the wrong bin. At Madison, we are invested in learning about the diverse cultures in our school.

Please welcome Miss Noacowsky's Filipino dance group. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

In December, we hosted an amazing STEM night where students had the opportunity to immerse themselves In science families join us as we explore hands-on activities and learning together.

Our parent facilitator, Miss Alejandra Moran, creates space for our families at our school through classes, a food pantry, and important services. She supports our whole community. We are proud to partner with the Boys and Girls Club of San Leandro. This program helps students build friendships, explore interests, and continue learning after school.

Principal Smith will now recognize Genesis Amarez Yak, recipient of the 2026 Superintendent Award. Since joining Madison in fourth grade, Genesis has shown incredible growth. She is an excellent scholar, a team player, a caring friend, and a budding computer scientist.

Genesis, would you and your family please join us on stage? Madison's parent of the year is Mr. Sophie, father of dear Ramen in Miss Lee's class, who shows the power of family partnership.

He brings deep love, high expectations, and supports students with care and dignity. Inspired by his experience, he created DA sensory to help children feel calm, focused, and safe.

We are grateful for his care, advocacy, and impact on our Madison community. Our future is bright. Thank you for supporting James Madison Elementary. Rise with pride. Thank you very Okay. Thank you very much, Madison Elementary staff and scholars. Let's give them one more round of applause. All right, wonderful. Let's invite up our next school, Hawin Elementary School. Good evening. Good evening, Board of Education, superintendent, cabinet members, staff. We have a couple of Hakee staff there. You guys want to stand? We want to recognize you. Yeah. Thank you for giving us the privilege to showcase some of the talents and uh showcase the talents of our wonderful students here tonight. I also want to bring greetings from the vice principal Mononttoya who is uh taking care of two sick kids at home tonight. That's why she's not here. Um, at Hakeen Elementary School, we are a community school, so we bring the community to us and we partner with our community. Um, for tonight's performance, we're going to be showcasing some of our students creativity. We're so proud to share it with you. And to get the program started, we have two MC's that are going to lead the program tonight.

Everybody give a hand of applause to Thomas J and Brianna Mata. Good evening. My name is Thomas J. I am a member of the Hulking Student Council.

We are happy to represent Hawin, the happiest school on the planet. Students, ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for Benjamin Lang. He will be playing two songs. This young man is a genius. The next Beethoven in the making. Heaven and Sier.

Next to perform is a Hulking choir led by choir director Mr. Karini. Elimin. My love my first one to Oh way so now

I am by We are salute. You want to quiet All around way my you Virginia singing a song in my heart. Wo wo. All you ever know is it lives in me. Wo wo. Lighting the sunshine lighting away to your heart. Wo wo. All you ever have to do is just believe.

Everybody knows that sunshine comes from heaven. So why not grab a little piece for you? Oh, finding the sunshine. Singing a song in my heart. All you ever have to do is just believe my heart with colors. Sunshine in me. Wo wo oh. Finding the sunshine. Singing a song in my heart. Wo wo. All you ever have to do. All you ever have to do. All you ever have to do is just believe. Virginia. We are very proud of our focal group who will perform next. Enjoy the performance.

Heat. Heat. Data D. Wow. Hey. Hey. I love God. and I

love God. I love it. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, daddy.

Hey everybody. There's a pinkle. I did I never done. God. There's a

Good job. Okay, we have a lot of talented students at Hakeim. The next student that receives the superintendence award tonight, even though she's very young, she's a third grader, is LSE Baraga. Everybody give her a round of applause. LSE is a very well-rounded student. Her teacher calls LSE the perfect embodiment of the dolphin wave. She is very well behaved. She's a member of the student council. Uh even her art and music teachers praise her maturity and strong work ethic. LSE is a shining example of a well-rounded Hakim scholar. Give her a round of applause. Where's your dad? Lose dad. Come on. Where's your dad? Okay. Come on.

Okay. Our next award tonight is for our star volunteer of the year. We have a lot of volunteers, parenting volunteers that help us out at Hakee and they if they could all come up here tonight, they all deserve an award. But Laura Valencia stands out. She's a mom that enjoys working with children. She's not uh she just wants to make sure that kids have alternative uh avenues to play. So during recess, there are kids that don't want to be on the monkey bars or play basketball. And what Laura Valencia does is she offers them another avenue by running our lunch bunch program. Even this morning, rain or shine, Miss Laura is at her keen. She called me. She's like, "Lunch bunch?" I said, "Oh, it's kind of rainy." She's like, "Okay." Uh even when her car broke down, she found a way to come to her keen to make sure that the kids had lunch bunch for the for the day. So, Miss Laura Valencia and Bella, her daughter, could you come up here, please?

And today is also Bella's happy birthday. Everybody say happy birthday to Bella. All right, let's give it up one more time for Hawking Elementary School. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, last but certainly not least, we are going to invite up Garfield Elementary School.

All right. All right. I think we're ready. Um,

good evening, Superintendent Mclofflin, SLUSD representatives, our board of education, and the greater SLUSD community. My name is Charles Glover and I am the principal at Garfield Elementary. This is this is my first year and it has been a privilege to serve such an engaging group of students, a passionate group of families and to work besides such a dedicated group of educators. I want to share with you all right now a few things that I have appreciated about the Garfield community. It has been my experience this past year that Garfield Elementary is an extremely welcoming community that is warm and inviting. Students enter our gates in the morning happy to be at the school and eager to learn with their friends. We have a diverse community and one of our biggest strengths is that our students and families bring with them their diverse experiences, cultures, traditions, stories, and their many interests and ideas. One thing that has stood out to me is that our Garfield scholars are eager to be change makers in their community and want to use their voice and what they've learned to advocate for what they believe is important. It has also been a pleasure to work with the Garfield staff this year, a staff who are committed to supporting our students in both academic achievement as well as emotional intelligence. Our educators have a wealth of experience to draw from and many have had their own children in our program. There is a true community feel at Garfield and I feel very lucky to be a part of this community. Tonight is about celebrating our students and uplifting their hard work. The performances tonight represent both traditions and new aspects of Garfield that are meaningful to our students. I would like to introduce our student leadership team who have worked very hard to bring you the first act of our presentation. Bella and Ka, can you stand up?

Good evening, members of the board of education. My name is Ka and my and my name is Bella. We are leadership students at Garfield Elementary. At our school, leadership students help plan fun activities like spirit week, school events, and candygrams. We do this to make students feel happy, included, and excited to come to school every day. We also we also work on projects like making posters and sharing ideas with the PTO to help improve our school. As leadership students, our goal is to make Garfield a fun, positive place for everyone. Thank you for joining us

at Garfield Elementary. We learn together, we support each other, and we grow together. Welcome to Garfield Elementary. Good morning. Welcome back. Good morning. Welcome back.

Hi. What's your name? Gabriella. What's your favorite part of coming early to school? Eating breakfast and hanging out with my friends. Recess is where the fun begins. My favorite part of recess is playing soccer and my friends.

What's your favorite part of recess? My favorite part is where we could play basketball with everybody. What's your name? My name is Maria. That's nice. What do you like about coming to the school? What I like coming to your school is being able to mentor you and help you navigate on how to do things basically and hanging out with you. Mhm.

What's your name? My name is Leilani. What do you like about this program? I like um when you come cuz you're like kind of like the only oldest friend that I have here. Yeah.

In class. We ask questions, work with partners, solve problems, and discover new ideas. Learning at Garfield is fun, and every day we learn something new. But when we want a great book, there's one special place to go. The library. The library. Amber and Payton, what's happening there?

The library is full of amazing books. You can learn new things, learn new facts, and find books you'll love. Reading helps our minds grow. And one of the best parts of the week is when our whole school comes together. You're here in Aiden. Tell us about Friday morning circle. Thanks Amber and Pton. Every Friday we gather for morning circle. Families are invited to join us. We celebrate students achievements, share announcements, and cheer each other on.

Let's go check out morning circle. Good morning. Go face. leadership team follow

ready. I am somebody. I am somebody. I am somebody. I am somebody. I may be young. I may be young, but I am somebody. But I am somebody. I may be off track. I may be off track, but I am somebody. But I am somebody. I may be small. I may be small, but I am somebody. But I am somebody. My hair is different. My face is different. My clothes are different. My hair is different. My face is different. My clothes are different. My skin may be black, brown, or white. My skin may be black, brown, or white. I may speak a different language. I may speak a different language,

but I must be respected. But I must be respected. Protected. Protected. Never rejected. Never rejected. I am a Garfield Gator.

I am a Guardfield Gator. I'm Mrs. Pier. I am the Garfield choir teacher. I need to get my books in place. My friends are in the classroom. At Garfield, we shine so bright. We work together. Get ready for an awesome day. I'm ready for my lunch break. We are critical thinkers here

with healthy minds and hearts each year. We are kind and all we do in all we do. So by the time you're feeling tired, I'll lift you right up today. We are Garfield. We can learn together every day. We can shine brighter than the sun. Today we are Garfield. We can learn together every day. We can shine brighter than the sun. Working side with your thoughts and voices. We are ethical. We celebrating cultures, mine and yours. Today we are Garfield. We can learn together every day. We can shine brighter than the sun. Today we are dark field. We can learn together every day. We

shine brighter than the sun. Our friends are back today. We found each other all year. We got courage and heart to make our world a place that's mine. I can't help us grow. So good night. Please go to lunch. The time to go is now here to learn. Please go to lunch today. We are Bartfield. We can learn together every day. We can shine brighter than the sun today. We are Garfield. We can learn together every day. We shine brighter than the sun. So you're feeling tired now. I'll lift you right up.

Hi, good evening. My name is Miss Lee and I brought with me some third grade ukulele players. in our lives. We all have pain. We all have sorrow. If we are wise, we know that there always when you're not strong, I'll be your friend. I'll help you on it. all your borrow. Now you know special

I'll be your I hope you carry on. It won't be long. I'm going to need somebody to lean on. We all need somebody to lean on. I just like that. We all need to carry right up the road. Call me a friend. Call me call me call me three. Can we give all of the presenting Garfield Gators another round of applause? Um so now I'm going to present two awards. Uh first award is going to be our superintendent award. Um

this is a scholar who is an outstanding student who truly deserves to win this award. He consistently performs above grade level, demonstrates not only strong academic abilities but also a deep commitment to learning. His hard work and determination are evident in everything he does. As he takes accountability for his responsibilities and always strives to do his best, he is eager to learn and approaches new challenges with a positive attitude and curiosity. He makes thoughtful responsibility uh responsible choices both inside and outside the classroom setting a great e example for his peers. In addition to this, his academic strengths, he is kind and respectful. This year, the superintendence award for Garfield Elementary goes to Yah Garcia Amaya. Congratulations.

Um, the next award for this evening goes to our volunteer of uh of the year And uh it goes to uh Kevin Watt.

Kevin is our school site council chair and shows up ready to brainstorm, analyze data, discuss sips goals, and share ideas. He is also an LCAP representative. He consistently joins family meetings and his feedback, solutionoriented suggestions, and thought partnership has been invaluable this school year. He is a parent that is always asking, "How can I help?" We also appreciate his jokes. Thank you, Kevin.

To the center. All right. Thanks everyone.

Let's give it up one more time for Hawking Elementary School. Woohoo. Yes.

Oh my gosh. Let's give it up one more time for Garfield Elementary School. Sorry, I was still on the front side of my notes. Okay, we would love to make some comments tonight. We haven't We've been holding our comments to let everyone go, but I'm going to start on this side if that's okay. Do we want to start off with our student board member, Steven Tabia? Is this on? Oh, okay. Uh oh. Okay. I really enjoyed all the presentations, especially the singing and the dancing. Um, that that's my favorite parts of any of like these kind of events with like elementary school students cuz they all have such joy in their eyes and in the way that they talk, speak, dance, and perform. So that's my that's my comment. Thank you everyone for for presenting. I this is only my second celebrating schools event. Um big big difference big change from last time. Um one thing that I really appreciated was the uh the principles handing off the presentation of their school to to student presenters to MC's. Um, I'm I'm a big proponent of um as early as possible getting students into public speaking, presenting, uh, rehearsing, and coming stepping forward in front of their peers and in front of a bunch of grown-ups, right? That's a hard thing to do. And everyone did it so well tonight. All the schools did that. So, thank you principles for recognizing

how important that is in bringing that leadership out of your students. That was wonderful. I appreciate it and I hope that you continue along that spirit because we are we are uh supporting and creating our new leaders, right? And we need new leaders in our society, in our world. We need fresh blood and fresh ideas. And those leadership skills start at this level. So, thank you parents. You're awesome. You're bringing up your students awesome and you're really helping partner with us and the teachers and the faculty. So, thank you.

I just want to say quickly thank you for all you've done and it's was really a special night for me because I used to teach at Garfield. Thank you. I want to thank all of the families who came out to help us celebrate each and every one of the schools that were represented this evening. Um, some of the themes that I saw was definitely a show of um, how school is about more than just what's happening in the classroom. Um that was definitely shown and seen through our afterchool programming and through um you know just music and uh the various uh activities that schools are doing um not only to celebrate the schools but bring our communities together. Um I really loved how we are weaving both language and music. Um, again, additional subjects, right? School is more than just your math and your English and your, you know, basic reading and writing. Um, I did also want to second what, uh, Trusty Roach said, and that is, um, the showing, uh, and bringing up of student voices, and this is where it really starts, you know, all the way down at the elementary level into middle school. And then um one of these days we might see any one of them um such as Stephen here as a student uh board member maybe in the future. So um all of those were really excellent to see. Um very uh unique lyrics and creativity. Um and I think I did see some of the cheerleaders we had the pleasure of seeing this evening at the roots game on Saturday as well. Um so that was really enjoyable to see them again here. So, thank you everyone for celebrating all our schools, not just one school, but all of our schools.

Well, I'd like to thank all of the students, all the teachers, the staff, all the support, all the volunteers that were recognized tonight. Um, in all of my years of celebration celebrating schools, I'd have to say that when this this event started uh earlier, this was probably one of the most packed houses I've seen for this particular event. So, kudos to all the families that attended. Um, I'd like to just point out a couple of things in the middle schools. you know, proud to see the offering of sports, especially in this day and age when you hear about local community colleges having to cut their entire sports program, but we still have it for our schools and it's growing in our middle school. Um, another thing I'd like to touch on is Monroe, if I have it correct, they said 245 students who participate in afterchool enrichment. And as far as I know, I'd have to say that is nearly half, if not more, of the students at that school. So kudos to Monroe for that. and Hawin Elementary. I mean, how could you not mention I don't know another word for for it for Benjamin Leang, but Prodigy. I mean, the way that kid plays that piano is simply amazing. Um, simply amazing. It was a treat to to hear. And let's go Gators. I love the I love the Lincoln uh mentors and the uh the choir. I mean, way to go guys. You rocked it. I want to thank all of our presenters this evening. The especially our student presenters. It was absolutely fun to

watch. U so one thing is abundantly clear to me. I sure missed a lot of by going to parochial school rather than public school. There's a lot of fun going on in our schools. Some of the things that I um pointed out is school is so much more than learning as Trusty Martinez says from a textbook. We're celebrating culture, community, families, and fun. We're exploring the world around us together. One um affirmation I liked, celebrating every child and every family. Um and the Friday circle affirmation was amazing. So, thank you one and all.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you everyone who prepared. I know it's at the end of a long night. Um yeah, I just wanted to celebrate. I think one thing that stood out for me across the board was just um our schools really leaning into our students cultures and backgrounds and identities and really lifting that up so that our students are learning about each other. Um and Garfield sort of doubled down with that in their affirmation morning cheer. I really appreciated this the aspects of like being seen and being accepted. It's so important in our world. So I appreciate our kids having an opportunity to really center that. Uh Hakeen love having uh our bilingual MC's, they're putting their skills to work um to make sure that folks have access to our evening's content. Uh Madison, I always love the state-of-the-art work that you guys are doing from, you know, the environmental climate literacy work. Love to see kids putting their reading and writing skills to work their interviewing skills in their in their newspaper. Such a wonderful way to apply our skills. Uh Monroe will always love hearing about teacher inquiry work, especially hearing how our staff work together to support one another. We know that first year is really tough. So, appreciate that you're making uh time and space for folks to receive that support. Yeah. And John Mir, love seeing our toupe scholars. I hear all about tupe. We were on I was on date committee before it sunseted, but seeing uh how visceral the jars of flem and tar are. I hope that that's working for you. It definitely worked over here. It was really gross in a great way. Um but appreciate everyone tonight. It was so wonderful to have you all with us and it's great to see our school shining. Thank you for all attending. Uh guess this is another great example of why we have these events is to not stop and sit there and reflect and uh observe all the great things we do in our schools. Not just the reading, writing, math, but all the other things that make a child whole. And I'm very proud to be a superintendent of a school district that values all those things. What I I I could read all the things I got, but what what I recognized all night was a

lot of smiles. and what my kids are happy. Uh they're up here doing things they like and that makes me really really happy. So I really appreciate you kids putting all the hard work in and getting ready for these performance. Parents, thank you for working with your children and bringing them out to these events u picking them up at the afterchool programs, things like this. Teachers, keep doing what you're doing. You always do a great job and I appreciate you as well. and of course my principles. This is a lot of extra work for you and I know it, but hopefully you see the pride that we see from our seats on your faces as the leader of these schools and the things you're doing there. So again, uh it's a little rainy out there. Be careful. I'll let uh President uh Pearl finish this. But again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the joy you bring us. Thank you.

All right. Okay, with that, can we get a motion to adjourn our meeting? Okay, I have a motion here from Vice President Oshinski, seconded by Trusty Roachcha. Can I can we have a vote, please? Okay, that motion carries 6 plus one. Have a wonderful evening, everyone. Most beating.