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

Okay, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the May 27, 2026 regularly scheduled board meeting and special meeting of the West Contra Costa Unified School District. The meeting is called to order at 5.13 p.m. The board is about to go into closed session, but before we do, we are here to listen to any public comment on any closed session items. Individuals wishing to speak on closed session items listed, if you are here in the auditorium and haven't done so already, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card which you can find in the entryway table. Or if you are participating via Zoom, individuals will need to raise their hand in the Zoom app. If you are accessing the meeting by phone, press star nine. The time allotted to each speaker is two minutes. The total time allotted is one hour. Speaking time shall not be transferred from one person to another. There is also no substitution of speakers. We alternate between a Zoom comment and an in-person comment. The public comment period is as safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed civilly without interruption or intimidation. Please listen attentively to each speaker's comment and respect their time as if they were your own. Be open to another point of view of what is offered. Due to the Brown Act, board members cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. The item listed On the closed session agenda tonight are one, conference with labor negotiators, two, public employee appointment, three, employee discipline dismissal, release complaint, four, adjournment. Is there any public comment?

No public comment at the time.

Okay, seeing no public comment, we will return to open session at 6.30. Thank you. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the open session of the West Contra Costa Unified School District regular board meeting for May 27, 2026 and special board meeting. We are calling open session to order at 639. To access translation in Zoom, please click on the globe icon at the bottom of the screen. If you are here at Dijon and need a headset for translation, you may pick one up in the back corner of the auditorium. You may... In a few minutes, we will begin public comment item on the agenda. Members of the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, but is not on the agenda. Please prepare now for public comment. If you are here in the auditorium and you'd like to make public comment, please fill out and submit a WCCUSD public comment card. You can find them on the table in the entry hallway. If you are participating via Zoom, please raise your hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning of this item on the agenda. If participating by phone, press star 9. After your comment card has been turned in, the cards are placed in the order received and we'll call the speakers in one at a time, alternating between a public comment here at Dijon and one on Zoom. Public comment generally lasts for one hour. The time allotted for each speaker is two minutes. In the meantime, we are moving on to the rest of our opening procedures. Moving now on to item B2, the Pledge of Allegiance.

If you can or willing or able, can you stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

I see.

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

Now on to item B3, the Land and Labor Body Acknowledgement.

We acknowledge that we are presently on the lands of the Titineo, Muwekma, Clarkian, Ohlone peoples and acknowledge them as the first inhabitants of the land we currently occupy. I acknowledge that the burden of environmental exploitation and systemic injustice falls upon the labor of black and brown bodies in the building of this country and its institutions. I remember that black and brown bodies were born and died working this land against their will for nations. I also acknowledge the continued contribution of the labor of survivors over the centuries to today of all immigrant labor, including voluntary, involuntary force and undocumented peoples in the buildings of what we refer to as the United States.

Item four, the West Contra Costa Unified School District Board anti-racism statement.

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

Okay, now we'll move on to item five, roll call. Superintendent, will you please take roll?

Student Trustee Calvin Hung is absent this evening. Student Trustee Devin Witten.

Good afternoon. Hello. Here.

Trustee Leslie Reckler. Good evening, present. Trustee Jamila Smith-Fold. Good evening, present. Trustee Cynthia Hernandez. Good evening, present. Clerk, Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy.

Good evening, President.

And Board President Guadalupe Añana.

Good evening, everyone. Buenas tardes a todos. Present. We'll now move on to- Excuse me. And Student Trustee Calvin Hunt.

Present. Thank you.

We'll now move on to item six, reports and ratification of closed session. Superintendent Carter, is there anything to report out?

Yes. Regarding agenda item A21, there is no report out. Regarding agenda item A22, the board voted unanimously to approve the appointment of David Croy as principal of Collins Elementary School. The board voted again unanimously. The board voted to approve the appointment of Christy Chin as Director of Certificated Personnel and Human Resources. The vote was as follows. Moved by Smith-Folds, seconded by Reckler. Inyana, yes. Gonzalez-Hoy, abstain. Hernandez, yes. Reckler, yes. Smith-Folds, yes. Regarding agenda item A23, the board took action to immediately dismiss a permanent certificated employee, ID number 152890, from employment with the West Contra Costa Unified School District and directed the superintendent or designee to send out appropriate legal notices. The vote was as follows. Moved by... Smith folds seconded by Gonzalez Hoy and Yana. Yes. Gonzalez Hoy. Yes. Hernandez. Yes. Reckler abstain. Smith folds. Yes. That completes the report out.

Thank you. Uh, when I move on to item eight student presentation, the white plan and point of contact is, um, Catherine Acosta for process.

I think the first item was Lincoln Elementary.

I am sorry. We are doing. My mistake.

No problem.

I am jumping ahead. That's okay. We have our student performance tonight by Lincoln Elementary School.

Yes, thank you. And good evening, President Iniana, Clerk Gonzalez-Hoy, members of the board, Superintendent Cotton, and community. We are incredibly excited to have Lincoln Elementary School in the house, and I would love to invite up Principal Parham to be able to introduce our students.

Good evening, West Contra Costa Unified Community. My name is Taylor Parham, and I'm the very proud principal of Lincoln Elementary School. Good evening, my name.

Good evening, my name is Miranda Booker, and I'm the proud vice principal of Lincoln Elementary.

So this evening we have two acts for you. The first is twins Josiah and Gio Rios, and they're going to be performing a rap that they wrote themselves. And then we have a brand new Black Student Union at Lincoln, and we have seven students from our BSU that are going to be performing as well. So this is Lincoln.

Lincoln.

The board will come down to watch the performance.

You can't do that. You're not good enough.

I'm like, oh. I'm like, oh. I'm like, oh. I'm like, oh.

Dreams stay big, yeah, they never split. Even if I fall, I won't quit. Step by step, yeah, I climb bit by bit.

Every step counts, I'm building my grid.

Storms might come, but I won't sit. Push right through, I'm built for it. Hard work pays, gotta stay legit. When I see a goal, I aim and hit. Doubt creeps in, nah, I won't submit. Confidence strong, I was made for this. Tough like steel, I don't throw a fit. Keep on moving, keep on moving, I don't ever quit. Shine real bright like a candlelit Shine real bright like a candlelit Shine real bright like a candlelit Shine real bright like a I'm like oh I'm like oh I'm like oh I'm like oh No time to stop, I stay real fit. Success is mine, every little bit. Success is mine, I want it. My future's bright. Every day I go out looking for the nice. Love myself, I ain't thinking twice. Doing my best, yeah, I'm living my life. I plan for my success, I don't just roll the dice. I'm like, oh. I'm like, oh. I'm like oh.

I'm like oh.

I'm like oh.

Awesome job. All right, next up are seven students from our brand new BSU, our Black Student Union. back up a little bit so the camera can see you

Hello? Hello?

Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello.

Mic check, mic check, mic check.

We rise, hey, we shine, hey. We give BSU is our time. Stand tall, speak loud. Let them see we are who we're meant to be. We rise, hey, we shine, hey. We give BSU is our time. Stand tall, speak loud. Let them see we are who we're meant to be. I'm proud of me, yeah. I walk with pride. I don't quit. We rise, hey, we shine, hey Make it BSU, it's our time Stand tall, speak loud Let them see we are who we're meant to be We rise, hey, we shine, hey Make it BSU, it's our time Stand tall, speak loud Let them see we are who we're meant to be Who are we? Strong and proud Say it clear Say it loud What we do Lead the way Every night and every day I believe in me, I know I know my worth, I'm making change right here on earth Confident, capable, bold, and free This is exactly who I'm meant to be We rise, hey, we shine, hey Lincoln PSU is our time Stand tall, speak loud Let us see who we are, who we're meant to be We rise, hey, we shine, hey Lincoln PSU is our time Stand tall, speak loud Let us see who we are, who we're meant to be I would like to say thank you.

We are so proud of our babies. Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to showcase our incredible students. Thank you, thank you.

Can we have our students And their teachers, come on up. We're going to do a quick picture with the board.

Once again, thank you to our Lincoln students. It was such a great performance. We'll now move on to student presentation from the Y-Path. And that is Catherine.

Yes, thank you so much, President Inanna. And we're in for a treat today. We do have two student presentations, and we're excited to have the College and Career team here to introduce the presentation of the Y Plan. So I please welcome the Director of College and Career, Jessica Petrelli. Jessica Petrelli

Well, good evening, President Inanna, board members, Superintendent Cotton, members of cabinet, and members of our community. Thank you for the opportunity to share WCCUSD's Y Plan initiative and to celebrate the incredible work for our students, educators, and community partners this year. My name is Jessica Petrilli. I'm the director of the College and Career Department, and I'm joined tonight by Arielle Kirschenbaum, our career technical education coordinator, and online by our community school manager, Tiara Shelton. With me also tonight are two students who are going to share highlights from their experience in Y-Plan, Callie Stewart and Judah Gant. And this initiative has been a collaboration between the departments of college and career and community schools because this work sits at that intersection of college and career readiness, community schools and civic leadership. So I want you just for a moment to imagine being a student and hearing that city leaders, community organizations and industry folk want to work with you as a consultant. They're asking you to do the research, to develop solutions, and then present your recommendations that could help shape the future of your community. That's the kind of authentic, meaningful opportunity that our students experienced through Y-Plan. And just to give you a glimpse of some of the challenges our students were trusted to help solve. How can Richmond adapt sea level rise and make climate vulnerability more visible and actionable? How can we redesign the 23rd Street corridor to improve safety for youth and families? How can Richmond expand recycling and promote responsible e-waste stewardship? How can Richmond improve community crisis response systems while incorporating youth perspectives? And how can students support anti-vaping and tobacco prevention efforts through research and policy analysis? And we have to the side some examples of the Y Plan projects and what they look like in poster form. So through our partnership with UC Berkeley's Center for Cities and Schools, led by Dr. Deb McCoy, we brought the Y Plan framework to the WCCUSD classrooms, giving students these opportunities to engage in authentic, civic problem solving with real impact. And Arielle's just gonna, next slide, is gonna explain a little bit more what Y Plan means.

Good evening, everyone. So why plan essentially is a pun. Why plan? Why do we plan? It also is an acronym. It stands for Youth Plan Act Now. And the word now is important. Our students aren't waiting until adulthood to contribute to their communities. They're already currently active researchers, designers, advocates and problem solvers. What makes the framework different when I summarize it to folks is that the problem is an authentic problem brought by a client. It's not theoretical. It's not fake. It's not, oh, what would we do? It's, hey, this is a real thing we're working on. We genuinely want and need the brains of students as consultants to help us solve this problem. And through that, it's authentic project-based learning. So it has a handful of steps that are highlighted for you on the slides, but essentially it starts with a real problem brought to students from a client saying, hey, We want your help. We are hiring you as consultants to help us with this problem. The students then research the problem, engage the community, and they develop their own solutions based on best practices that they discover, research that they conduct and things they find from other communities. And then at the end, they present their projects back to civic leaders or back to their clients saying, here's what we produced for you. One thing that we noticed in terms of the projects is what really shifts is that when the project is authentic from the client, students are able to understand that adults are truly listening to them and their level of engagement shifts.

Next slide, please. So we know that post-pandemic districts across the country were wrestling with disengagement and we know students become more connected when their learning applies to real issues affecting their families and neighborhoods. But we also know that students are often asked to give feedback and sometimes they don't see meaningful action. So why plan changes that dynamic? because our students are not just actually being consulted, they're really being trusted. So at the same time, our city agencies, our community organizations, they're genuinely in need of this youth insight and the lived experience, so it's a win-win for both. And this initiative allowed us to prepare our students for careers while also strengthening democracy and community connection. Next slide.

Okay, instead of listening to me talk about examples of student projects, we have students with us tonight, Callie and Duda, like we said, who are going to share a little bit about what their project was and their experience in the project. I also want to shout out, we have two board trustees, both Calvin and Devin, who also were student Y plan projects. We figured they had enough on their plate tonight being board trustees, but they as well had this experience. So tonight, Callie and Judah will share a little bit about their experience with Richmond High Engineering Academy.

Ladies first, he says. I'll go. Hi, everyone. It's an honor to be here again today. I love giving presentations like these. I'm Callie Stewart, if you haven't known me yet. And my experience with Y-Plan has been incredible. UC Berkeley overall has been a part of my engineering experience since ninth grade, and I'm honored for it to have been a part of my experience up into 12th grade. And especially going into UC Berkeley in the fall, I am excited, thank you, to have been a part of this. But like Ariel mentioned, one of the most impactful parts of Y Plan for me is the fact that it's a real proposal. A lot of the assignments I do in class tend to end in class. They tend to be an essay about something that might happen or something that did happen, not something that will happen. So overall, I think that's the greatest impact of Y Plan on me. I'll pass it to Judah now.

So as you heard, I'm Judah. I'm going to be going to SF in the fall coming up. Thank you. And not to be a broken record for anyone that's heard me talk before and asked me a question, but any time they ask, it's always the opportunities that I've been given so far. Because I've talked way more in the past month to communities like this than I have in my past 18 years of living. And it's just, it's been amazing, right? It's given me a lot of chances to work on my communication skills, to have my voice heard, things that don't usually come to, you know, the everyday, right? It's just, it's been a blessing for sure. I've enjoyed it a whole lot, being able to do all the research about my community. Just the amount of opportunities is limitless. It's limitless. So that's definitely what I would say has been the biggest thing I've gained from this.

Don't worry, they'll be back. Next slide. Okay, so also photos really tell the story. So I want to explain a little bit what this project is, how it really works, and highlighting our engineering students as an example. So there's three major components to a Y plan project. The first step is the client presents to the students, their problem. They come into the classroom. Hey, here's a real authentic problem we're facing. They know more about their problem than I do, but the city of the department of public works came in and presented to the engineering students like, Hey, We have, well, a lot of problems that they're working on to increase safety for pedestrian, cyclists, and cars in the city, but specifically a project they're working on to redesign 23rd Street. Now, if you're local, you know 23rd Street is also the street that houses Richmond High School. So who better then to provide input than the students themselves? So step one, the client comes, presents their problem. Step two, the students leave the classroom and go on a tour to understand more of the problem. We call that the inspiration tour. It's a study trip for the various projects dependent on where they went. So they might go to see the local problem in action. In this case, they did a tour of various projects. different locations and for a lot of locations, says Callie, that the city was working on. So authentic city planning, like here's what we're asking you to redesign, here's the problems, here's what it looks like, etc. And then step three is the presentations back. So here on the slide is a couple of photos, just to shout out a couple. On the top left is our Kennedy ITA students. They were working on a project to support with the plan to protect Richmond from sea level rise y'all we got to be on lookout for sea level rise as a coastal city. The middle photo there at the top, the city of Richmond has a newly developed crisis response team called rock. And they hired the Richmond High Law Academy students to help give them feedback on how they could get the word out to know that they're a resource in the community so that when somebody here in Richmond dials 911, there's now a fourth resource that the dispatcher can send out instead of just fire, police and medical. They can also send out a crisis response team that's really more responsive to mental health support. Top right is the city of Richmond and Recycle More. We're working with the De Anza ITA students to tackle e-waste. Y'all, apparently when we throw away electronics, it can cause fires and it's poisonous and bad. Don't do it. And so they hired students to come up with ways that they could get the word out about that more. And the De Anza ITA students actually developed video games as their strategy to teach students young kids, why it's important. There's additional photos there at the bottom, just briefly. Bottom left is part of the tour that the Richmond engineering students did in the middle center. The UC Berkeley chancellor's office actually recognized the partnership between the city and West Contra Costa and the school district as the chancellor's award for public service and community partnership, which was very exciting. And bottom right, Richmond High Health students were hired as consultants to support both by Kenny Moore, shout out, the community school director, as well as the city and the community county, the county health department and the American Cancer Society to be like, y'all, what are we going to do about these teens vaping? And the way that the Richmond High students actually tackled it was to go to city council and talk about the retail policy, how many stores should be legally allowed to sell vaping products and tackling it really upstream in that way. And so down on bottom right is a picture where the Richmond High students mapped local retailers. Next slide.

Right before that slide, please. Awesome, thank you. So I wanted to just let you know, how do we operationalize starting to work with UC Berkeley Center for Cities and Schools? We started a Y Plan Educator Fellowship, and we had cohorts from CTE teachers and a different cohort for community school leaders. They received mentoring and coaching, support with the Y plan curriculum, and a lot of support around building that community client, all the partnerships that we just described, making those connections and guidance for their data and impact. But again, who better to tell you about their experience than a teacher? So Profe Perez from Kennedy High School is going to share her experience being in the fellowship.

Hello, everyone. I just want to start by saying this is my ninth year at Kennedy, and we finally brought back the Y Plan. The last time we had it was in 2019, so I'm very excited. The students, 11 groups of students, went to City Hall chambers to present their Y Plan project to students. Some of you, thank you for attending. A lot of people in the city, a lot of people that have stakeholders in Sea Level Rise. And I just want to note that every project in my class is community and work-based, but this one is really, really tied to having them see their proposals in a way that comes to light. And On their own, a lot of the students were able to create projects that partnered with the schools. So hopefully the city of Richmond reaches out to WCC so that we can incorporate learning gardens and mosaics and different things where students can learn about sea level rise and eventually come up with bigger, better solutions for our coastal city.

Next slide, please. All right, so we just wanna wrap up with a couple notes that we did do a Y Plan Summit at UC Berkeley on May 1st, and that's where a couple students from each of the projects came to practice. It was 125, roughly, students who came. It was a poster session. It had structured feedback from the undergraduate and graduate students that work on the project with Dr. Deb McCoy, and we had keynote speakers like our superintendent, Cheryl Cotton, thank you so much for being there, and others listed on this slide, and we thank them all for being a part of this experience. Next slide, please.

A little bit of data, always some data for the board. So I wanted to just share that in our first pilot of bringing this back, we were really proud to be able to expand into multiple schools, as you can see on the slide, some big data points, over 500 students. engaged in this type of civic research, including middle schools, all the way through many of our high schools there on the screen. The way that this project was rolled out was teachers and community school directors opted in. So we presented it as an option, and then teachers and or community school directors could opt in to be part of the fellowship. So that's how that was distributed. I again want to shout out Richmond High School. The principal and community school director really jumped on board and made it a priority that every academy do this type of project. So that's why you see those numbers so high. And we're eager to look at actually some of the senior survey data to see how students answer the questions of their like, do they believe that their voices are heard and matter based on students who participated in the project? So we can return some other time with that. Next slide.

And we just want to acknowledge that the students who participated in these projects are all able to apply for the state seal civic engagement. We're really proud to say that right now we have 19 students who have completed all the requirements and counting. And so two of them up here with me today. So we're actually three, Devin. So I'm really proud of those seniors who did all the requirements. But the civic action research project was like central to getting that seal. So we're so proud of them. Next slide. So there were so many clients and partners. They're listed here. I'm scared to death I forgot someone, but I want you to know we are so grateful for them. And at the very top is Superintendent Cotton because she was one of the people, one of the clients, and I want to invite her to maybe share her experience as a client in the White Plum Project.

Thank you for that. It was an amazing experience and I'm so impressed with our young people. Oftentimes we talk about student voice and it's giving students a space to say something and then we keep on doing our business as adults. And that's not what this Y Plan project is about. Our students... listened, heard what the problem was. And for myself as a client, our problem was how do we operationalize our anti-racism board policy from a student's perspective and really understand how our students are experiencing racism in our schools and what they recommend we can do about it. I didn't anticipate or expect. They kind of looked at me and they were like, you know, you can't tell always. But they heard what I was asking for. They went and gathered 700 survey responses from other students. It kept growing and growing and growing. Hundreds of students wanted to weigh in on that topic. They took that data, they analyzed that data and information, and then came up with recommendations that we're going to talk more about on June 8th, I believe, for our student summit where we are talking. It's not just a summit to talk, but it's a summit for them to talk about what actions need to be happening. And for me and my staff, my cabinet and the rest of the staff here in West Contra Costa, to take those recommendations and put them into action so i appreciate the work of our all student congress and their seriousness they took with this y plan project i'm really excited about this work as well i feel like a moment where i'm coming full circle where i worked with the team to get the seal of civic engagement moving at the state level. And so to be able to walk away from that work at CDE and come here and see it actually in practice and know that the intent was not just for, you know, we didn't have districts like West Contra Costa that students were getting the seal of civic engagement. It was coming through other places, smaller districts or less urban districts, and that comes with a lot of connotations, but it didn't look like us, the districts that were getting the seal of civic engagement. I am so excited and proud and impressed. the students and the caliber of work that they've done to earn that civil civic engagement that was the whole point and so it's just for me as a professional that was a really that's a really powerful moment so i'm very proud of our students proud of all of our students um the experience um with with miss perez caro was amazing and her students today hearing them stand and speak in at city hall stand and speak to industry experts about the work that they're doing and their recommendations, I could see like lights going off of connections that can be made. The garden projects, the shoreline amplification, the sea level awareness, just all those things are just really exciting and really impactful things. and meaningful. So thank you. The 23rd Street recommendations, how do you make our streets safer? You guys, they even created, using a 3D printer, an example of what the challenge was, where the shadows are, where you can't really see what's going on, and it's not a safe environment for students or adults. And then made recommendations of how do you make this better? Powerful. So thank you for that. I'm very proud of you guys. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to talk that long.

No, I'm very grateful. And when I walked away from that presentation, Joseph, our partner from the city of Richmond, was like, I'm so happy those kids did all the work for me. So I took that as the highest praise compliment that that's what was said afterwards. I just want to end thanking two people who are not here, but would be here if they could. And that's Dr. Deb McCoy from the Center for City of Eastern Schools and also our work-based learning coordinator, Daniel Maxwell. Together, they really helped make these partnerships happen. So thank you for having us here tonight.

Thank you all for the presentation. It was a great presentation. So we are happy to have you guys here tonight. Appreciate it. Yes, and we're going to come down for pictures. Okay, thank you everyone. And now I will open up on an item from our special board meeting. Item A1, that student presentation and community through education on drugs, R-O-C-E-D. Can we have you guys up?

Close, close.

Good evening, school board members, President Ayanna and Superintendent Cotton. My name is Raquel Antolin, and I am the DROC coordinator working with students at Greenwood Academy, El Cerrito High School, and De Anza High School. And today we are here because students have identified a gap in our education system and created a solution.

Next slide.

Who are we? Discovering the reality of our community, or DROC, is an alcohol and other drug prevention and awareness youth program out of the East Bay, primarily in Richmond and El Cerrito. We are determined to create community change and substance use, especially among youth. Next slide. Why are we here today? We are asking West Contra Costa Unified School District to support the implementation of Rocket, redirecting our community's education on drug.

Next slide, please.

What is rocking? So redirecting our community's education on drugs is a program. It's a curriculum where in May 2021, El Cerrito DRock students identified a lack of drug education in our schools and a need for a proper dialogue around the dangers and the risks of underage alcohol and drug use. The West Contra Costa Unified District currently has no formal drug education curriculum implemented in schools at the school level. with the exception of those provided outside organizations, some examples that include TUPE or ARS-DROC, which is a barrier community resources program out of discovering the reality of our community. Next slide, please. ROCKET stands for Redirecting Our Community's Education on Drugs. And one, it is a youth-created curriculum. Two, it was designed by students through DRock. Three, built from lived experiences and community realities. Four, focused on prevention, education, and informed decision-making. Five, rooted in honesty, healing, and real conversations. our purpose of this curriculum is to equip our students with practical tools and knowledge to make informed and healthier decisions regarding drugs and alcohol and substance use next slide this is a brief overview of the rocket so the program design is six sessions Each session, three through five, has activity sessions taught through advisory and sessions. Two is design one and two and creating a foundational and understanding of drug and alcohol sessions. And then the three to six is scenarios from group dialogue and discussions. How did it come about? So our students noticed a problem. They noticed substance and impacts on youth and families in our community. Students shared personal experiences seeing addiction affect loved ones. Young people reported feeling unprepared and uninformed. And existing conversations often happened after a crisis rather than before. So students asked, why are we being educated before the harm actually happens? through DRock youth research, organized, collected stories and developed Rocket. This curriculum was created by students for students.

Next slide, please.

Why is Rocket important? Because substance use affects our schools and community every day. Students are facing vaping, alcohol use, marijuana use, fentanyl risks, peer pressure, mental health challenges, and family addiction experiences. Schools play a major role in prevention and creating a supportive environment for our students. Effective drug education helps students build safer decision-making skills and healthier choices. Next slide, please. What students and educators told us in our survey findings. So we were able to conduct some surveys after the pilot was created. And these were some of the findings that we found. Service areas that we measured was the relevance of curriculum content, our student engagement, awareness of substance use consequences, our access to support resources, opioid overdose response knowledge, and cultural relevance and inclusivity, and curriculum effectiveness.

Next slide, please.

That's the correct version, the updated version. So 85% of our students reported increased. Give me one second. 85% reported increased awareness of substance use consequences, 67% reported that they acquired skills related to stopping an opioid overdose, and 82% felt better to identify resources and support systems. From our educators, 100% felt students were engaged, 100% viewed Rocket as an effective for prevention education and reducing harm. Our total participants were 61 students across four classrooms and five educators. And now we have some quotes from our student surveys.

Thank you. I like how they are teaching us about this. They have helped me to know that there are consequences of it. What I liked the best was that it clearly showed long-term effects and how easy it is to get addicted. The effects probably because I did not know it was ever that serious.

Thank you. So this curriculum was not created based on assumptions. It was informed by student experiences, educator feedback and measurable evaluation tools. So our ask today is to one review our curriculum, commit to a pilot program, collaborate with our student leaders and create a pathway to implementation. Students should not have to learn about drugs and alcohol through trauma, social media, or personal loss. Education is prevention. Rocket is more than a curriculum. It is a student-led movement toward healthier communities.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for the speakers, yeah.

We do have some speakers for this item.

Do we just go?

How many speakers do we have from your group?

They're counting then.

Thank you.

We have all our parents speaking to us. Parents.

No, they're discussing. They're discussing.

So we'll hold off and add them to the beginning of public comment. Since you guys signed up for public comment. So they're going to go on public comment. We're getting ready to open up public comment right now.

Okay. Okay. Sounds good. Thank you.

So we'll move on to item nine, public comment. Members of the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, but not on tonight's agenda. Public comment will last approximately one hour. The time allotted to each speaker is two minutes. Should additional speakers remain at the conclusion of one hour, public comment may be extended. The time allotted per speaker after the first hour is generally one minute. Individually, Individuals wishing to speak, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card, or if participating via Zoom, individuals will need to raise their hand on the Zoom app. Prior to the beginning of this item on the agenda, if you are calling by phone, press star 9. Speaking time shall not be transferred from one person to another. There is no substitution of speakers. Speakers can also make public comment again for each discussion item and action item on the agenda. After all staff presentation, the public will have 10 minutes per item and one minute per speaker. The same protocols recited above apply. The public comment period is a safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed in a civil manner without interruption of intimidation. Please listen attentively to each speaker's comment and respect their time at the podium if it were your own. Be open to a different point of view if one is offered. Due to the Brown Act, board members cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. We will close public comment once the item has started. So if anybody has any public comment cards that they wish to turn in, please bring them up to the podium. And for those on Zoom, please raise your hand. Once we tally up the cards no more, public comment will be accepted. So is there any public comment?

Yes. We currently have 18 public comment on the Zoom queue for this item, and we have Heather, Dominique H., Savannah William, Jean Kishner, C. Peters, Mark, Najeli Hernandez, Stacey Macias, Canelo, Eddie Calentine, Ivan, Myisha Ghosh, Ceylon Harrison, Ashley D. Arbord, and Christian Vigil, Francisco Ortiz, Nick Crescenzi.

Thank you for that and we will now start caught a public comment we will start with 3 in person comments and 3 also comments that we will continue to alternate between both.

Our first public comment is. Sky Nelson. From the road.

Thank you. I'm a teacher and parent in El Cerrito High School, and I'm here with DRock, developing awareness of our communities, the reality of our communities. I think about, as a teacher and as a parent myself, and as a human being in my role in the world, how much stress has risen, how much existential challenges there are that are more than when I was a kid. There's climate change in the back of our minds. There's AI growing and jobs becoming different in the back of our minds, in the front of our minds, in the news. There's war in Iran, and there's just all sorts of stuff that is hard to fathom. And my daughter had a little bit of a break last night at the table and just got angry for a second about climate change. It just makes me think about what kids are dealing with, and we need people engaged in the world, not tuning out. And so I really appreciate these students who've created a program to help each other not tune out, These are the kinds of things really easy to want to numb ourselves to, and we need to teach, not teach, allow our students to teach us how to not tune out. So I really appreciate these students, and you're going to hear from them today. Thank you.

Our next public comment is Kimberly Martinez.

Good afternoon. My name is Kimberly Martinez. I attend El Cerrito High School and I am a member of DRock. Today we're here to implement the Rocket curriculum. It is important to educate students now because the best way to prevent something harmful in the future is to gain knowledge today. By understanding the risk and consequences, we can make better choices that protect our health. With this knowledge, students can become more open-minded and aware of the serious effects that drugs and alcohol have both on our emotional and physical health. Based on information that we have gathered, teens who begin drinking before the age of 15 are five times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking at 21. Therefore, we need to not normalize this because it's not good for us. Drug and alcohol education is important because it gives us power to prevent addiction and save lives. By spreading awareness, we're helping our community make better choices and creating a safer, healthier future for everyone. We urge you all to make the change and strengthen drug and alcohol education in schools because change starts with knowledge. Thank you.

Next public comment, Ayla Pagan.

Ayla Pagan.

Okay. Hello, board members. My name is Ayla Pagan. Thank you. My name is Ayla Pagan. I am a student at El Salvador High School. I am a part of the DROC program. And today I'm here because I think it's important to have a drug and alcohol class throughout the education system. This is crucial because drugs and alcohol are too normalized in our communities and it's important for our students to have a choice to make healthy decisions when given access to these substances. For example, I have a friend who's recovering from her addiction. It is upsetting that she has to deal with this as a freshman in high school. So as a student, I am asking you to help us make acknowledgement and recovery possible for our students. With this class, students would be equipped with knowledge of substance use and use when being faced with these substances. We are asking the district to have a drug and alcohol class in all schools. Thank you.

Next speaker is Milagro Cervantes.

Good afternoon board and community members. My name is Milagros Cervantes and today I'm here representing students from helping deregulate drugs in our community and schools. Today I'm here along with other DROC members to speak in favor of creating an education program about risk of drugs. This policy is important to me because I don't want to see a vape or a cigar everywhere I go when I know I can help people within those hard decisions and situations. It has been really normalized to the point that people are told to just throw them in the trash cans instead of going through the time of hiding them. in which certain situations can have some kids be more surrounded with unhealthy drug relationships within the school premises. About a week ago, I had gone to the restroom and seen a big sign on the corner of the restroom mirror. It said, if you're done with your vapes, throw them in the trash can, not the toilet. Even better, just don't use them. It has also come to the point where the administrative staff have come to the realization of how easy and quick it is for students to have access to get drugs within the community and the schools. There may be a rule or policy stating no drugs, et cetera, but it doesn't seem to be extremely enforced within the school premises. It has come to my attention that With this sign, it might give a statement to some students how little by little they are normalizing and accepting the access of drugs in the community. I know they can't force the kids to stop, but they should at least give the kids who want to help and learn about the situation have a chance, which urges me to want to get help to spread awareness and get classes of and about drugs within our communities. Therefore, I urge you board members to implement a drug and alcohol curriculum district-wide this is important and is impacting the lives of students right now therefore we should all act now i hope this board members try their both their best to provide a positive outcome from the meeting today thank you from you for your time mona alkami

Good evening, board members and community members. My name is Mona and I come from Greenwood Academy. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. I am here to speak about the importance of supporting drug, alcohol education, mental health resources, and prevention education for students in our community. As a student, I have seen how stress, peer pressure, vaping, and alcohol can affect young people at school. Many students struggle quietly because they feel like they do not have enough support or safe spaces to talk about what they are going through. Last year, one of my close friends started vaping because they thought it would help them with stress and anxiety from school. At first, they thought it was harmless, but over time, I noticed changes in their focus, motivation, and behavior in class. Seeing someone close to me go through that made me realize how important education and support programs really are. I believe students, I believe schools should continue investing in counseling, at school programs, wellness programs, and prevention education. These programs help students make healthier choices, feel supported, and stay focused in their future goals. Young people deserve safe environments where they can grow, learn, and succeed. I hope our community continues listening to youth voices and taking actions to support students now, not later. And that is why the district needs to implement a drug and alcohol curriculum. Thank you for your time.

Danny Mendoza.

Good evening, esteemed board members. My name is Danny Mendoza, and I am a part of Discovering the Realities of Our Communities, or known as DROG. I am a student at El Cerrito High School, and I am here today to shed light on issues actively affecting our community. Hundreds of teens every day are smoking, drinking, and falling into drugs that can later damage their futures and potentially compromise their lives. It is a serious and important issue that needs to be addressed in all aspects of our community. That includes homes and schools. DRock would like to implement a new curriculum within our school to ensure that all students are aware of the damages and even able to make more informed choices on their safety and healthy lifestyle. This new curriculum is called Rocket and is designed to educate and support students within classrooms, not just, you know, I am asking as a current student, a person who has seen the negative effects of alcohol firsthand and see how it consumes them. And most of all, as a person, a part of the community, we hope that you take into consideration implementing our curriculum for a better and more safe environment. Thank you for your time.

Valerie Rodriguez. Valerie Rodriguez.

Good afternoon, school board members. My name is Valerie Rodriguez, and I'm here today with my team members from DRock to advocate for the implementation of our rocket curriculum to be taught throughout the schools in our district. Our curriculum is designed to equip students with knowledge and skills necessary to make informed decisions about drugs and alcohol. It's an evidence-based program that not only educates students, but also the risks, but also ensures that the youth in our community have access to accurate information, prevention, education, and open conversations about substance use. By investing in our curriculum, we can empower students in our district to protect their health, achieve their academic goals, and reach their full potential. We urge the board to implement a district-wide drug and alcohol curriculum, ensuring students have the knowledge to make healthy choices. Thank you for your consideration.

Marco Rodriguez.

Hello, hi, my name is Marco Rodriguez. I'm a father, proud father of two daughters, local business owner, and just someone that's heavily involved with our youth and our community. And today I want to speak not only as a father, but also from my personal experience. So when I was a teenager, drugs, alcohol, it was just very easy to get our hands on. But growing up, we didn't really have programs like DRock where young people could hear about stories someone that can talk to us about situations, to be able to educate and support us through these situations with drugs and alcohol. And personally, I made a lot of bad choices when I was growing up. But what comes to mind is what would have happened if we had a program like DRock growing up? I mean, I look at my life now, I'm 46, and I see some of my friends or so-called friends that we grew up, and some of them strung out on drugs, some of them overdosed, some of them are in jail, and it started with just alcohol. It started with just marijuana. Nothing was gonna happen, but gradually that introduced these other drugs. that now I'm just like, wow, how did you go from being such a good kid and now locked up in jail? How did you go from being this great girl and then now strung out on drugs? But it could have been prevented. We saw on the screen Why do we have to tackle these things when it's in crisis mode? Why not tackle it on in prevention to teach our kids, support our kids, have these conversations and let them know there's a better way. We need to be able to come together as a community, as parents, as school and be able to overcome because the reality is that there's drugs out there. There's vaping going on. We all know what's going on out there. But to try to hide it, it's not going to help. We need to talk about it. We need to have honest conversations, talk about the reality on how can this impact our kids. I know my time is up, but I really would love your support on this topic. Thank you so much for your time.

Don Gosney.

Good evening. You know, it's been nine months since the board authorized Godby & Associates to conduct a feasibility survey to learn of the public's willingness to extend their Measure T parcel tax. Many of us volunteered to offer our extensive experience in bonds and parcel taxes to assist the district staff with this renewal, which would have added many millions of dollars to the coffers of our nearly bankrupt district. We were encouraged by senior staff members, but here it is a full nine months later, and we have not yet heard a report about the survey results. Nothing has been brought back to us, the public, to explain not only what we got for our tax dollars, but also next steps on the pathway to putting this renewal on the November ballot. Getting the measure passed and then making sure the funds were well spent. Excuse me if I'm missing things here, but has the district become so awash in cash that they can afford to throw away these millions of dollars? Has the district become so well trained and educated that they think it can handle this issue on their own and ignore all of the free expert advice from the engaged community members willing to share their 50 plus years of experience in local electoral matters? Quite frankly, we just don't get it. Surely someone on the board or senior staff would reach out to share their thoughts about this matter, but not only have they not reached out, we can't even get ahold of them. No responses to emails, texts, and even letters. Please excuse the frankness here, but what exactly is going on through your minds? Have you given up? Do you think that someone is going to knock on your collective doors and demand you take this $10 million in free money? You got to fight for it. And to be crass about it, think about how many overpriced consultants you can hire with that money. This should have been a full-blown project two years ago, but even if you still proceed, how were you planning to win over the distrusting voting populace in just a few months? Inquiring minds want to know, but we're nothing but crickets. We're hearing nothing but crickets from the people on the far side of the room. I learned tonight that you guys have got this report, but you're keeping it from the public. You're not sharing it with the public. What the heck is going on there?

Rochelle Peretz. Rochelle Peretz. Alondra Hernandez. Heather, please unmute yourself.

Can you hear me?

We have the in-person here.

My name is Heather and I'm writing to strongly urge the board to reconsider the proposed.

I just wanted to introduce myself first. My name is Chris McLean and I teach sixth grade at Dover Elementary. And I brought four of my awesome students here to speak about the change in the Chromebook assignments. And my first student is going to speak is going to be Alondra.

Hi, good evening. My name is Alondra. I'm in sixth grade at Dover. I'm here to persuade you to... I'm here to persuade... you to allow sixth graders to have computers because having my own computer as a resource to take home has helped me so much this school year. For example, if the sixth graders don't have computers, they won't be able to do a lot of things in class or even at home. What I mean is that that when it's time to do the ELPAC or the Ready Test, it will take so long. Even when kids have their own computer, it takes a long time. Imagine one computer for every four students, it will take a month or so. But what I'm trying to say is that you should not take away the computers of sixth graders. But also computers don't just help in class, but they also help at home. The way that computers help at home is by doing the homework. In the computer, it is better to do homework in the computer because in paper, if you have a question, you have to ask the question the next day. But if you're doing your homework in the computer, you can text him in the computer. And it has helped me so much because I was very shy and I didn't talk much. But now, because of the computers, I have done slideshows. And in my student console, which is called Dover Leaders, and it has helped me with my speaking. And I did presentations for the younger kids, and it is better on computers because you... Heather, please unmute yourself.

Good evening, board. My name is Heather, and I'm the parent of two amazing VISTA students, and I'm here to urge the board to reconsider.

Heather, please unmute yourself. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Dominic, please unmute yourself.

Dear school board members, my name is Dominic and I am a third grader at Worcester Virtual Academy. I'm learning because I don't want to lose our teachers and I don't want the first and second graders to lose their school next year because there won't be any more second or third grade classes for them. Teachers help kids learn how to read, write, do math, and believe in themselves. If there are fewer teachers, students won't be able to get the help they need. Some students may fall behind or feel forgotten. Every child deserves a teacher who wants to help them succeed. Teachers show how much they care about us every day. They help us when we are confused and encourage us to always do our best and make learning fun. Cutting our teachers will hurt students and families in our community. Please do not cut our teachers or our second and third grade classes. Please protect our school and our futures. Thank you for listening to the students like me.

Savannah, please unmute yourself. Can you hear me?

Yes. Okay. Dear school board members, my name is Savannah, and I am a seventh grader at Vista Virtual Academy. I'm speaking today because I'm very worried about the decisions to cut our amazing teachers. Teachers are not just employees. They are the people who help us learn, grow, and feel supported every day. They explain things when we are confused, encourage us to be our best self, and make school a safe place where we can thrive. Taking away our teachers will make it harder for students to get the help we need. For students in middle school, having teachers who specialize in subjects like English and math is extremely important. These teachers help students understand difficult lessons and stay on track academically. Without our teachers, many students could fall behind or feel disconnected from school. Cuts like these may save money now, but they could hurt students' education for years. Students deserve support, attention, and quality instruction. We should not have fewer opportunities because of budget decisions. Please listen to students and families before making cuts that will affect our future. We need our teachers. They make a difference every single day, and our education is too important to lose them. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me speak today and consider the impact these cuts will have on students like me. Thank you.

Petronila Fernandez.

Good evening, board members and superintendents, families, and community leaders. Thank you for this opportunity to come here. My name is Petronila Fernandez. I am especially grateful to the brave student who spoke today behind me. And as a mother and member of this community, I stand before you with both deep concern and real hope. Raising children today is difficult, and we parents cannot do it alone. The fight against narcotics is shared responsibility that belongs to all of us, parents, educators, leaders, community members, and all of our neighbors. Our children spend most of their day in schools. It is where they form friendships, make decisions, and shape their future. For too many are exposed to this concerning hardcore early with their lives. The evidence is clear. When prevention education start early and continue constantively, we significantly reduce risk and build stronger, healthier young people. I dream of a community where our school and family work together as true partners, equipping our children with the knowledge and skills they need to make safe Informant decision investing in prevention is not expensive. It is the smartest investment we can make for children's future. That is my respectfully urge you today to approve a district-wide drug and alcohol prevention curriculum. Let us know not just for children today, but for their future. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Have a great evening, everyone. Thank you.

Araceli Gomez Araceli Gomez

Hello, good evening, everyone. My name is Araceli. I'm a prevention program coordinator for a youth cannabis prevention program at both Richmond and Kennedy High School. And I just wanted to start off by saying that the students, teachers and school staff that I've had conversations with can all agree that there is a high prevalence of substance use within the schools, specifically around vaping and alcohol. And that is why education around substance use awareness and prevention is a community responsibility. Prevention and education helps students be healthier and more successful academically. A lot of research shows this. Students learn best when they feel more informed and supported. And prevention is more effective than intervention after a crisis. Students, they need facts and resources, not fear-based messaging, right? Education gives young people tools to make healthier choices early on. And another thing that I wanted to note is they're seeing prevalence in even like as early as elementary school, believe it or not, like the vapes, the prevalence of the vapes. And that is why we urge WCCUSD to implement the RockEd district-wide curriculum. And I just wanted to end off by saying support youth, support education and support RockEd. Thank you.

Leslie Thurston. Leslie.

Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you this evening. First, I want to give it up to DRock. Everybody was really prepared with their statements, and I didn't really prepare anything, so I get to freestyle. So I bring to this discussion the question, like, aren't we asking for science to be taught in school? Knowing what drugs have, the drugs, the impact drugs have on the brain, isn't that something that is a science that should be taught to every student, you know, as part of their graduation? I think that more people that have information is better than not enough people have any information. I spent the last 15 years working with young adults and with grown men. working in drug and alcohol counseling. I represent Contra Costa County as a self-abuse counselor, and I also represent Support for Recovery, an organization that provides services for addicts and their families. I really don't understand why this is something that we need to ask for. Like I said, it's a proven science, and I think it's important for all young adults to learn this moving forward in their life. There's drugs in the bathrooms in schools. There's teachers, you know, that are struggling with kids that come in and smell like marijuana and, you know, truancy, the courts. A lot of these problems can be solved if we just, you know, provide more information and then less information about substance abuse and addiction in our schools. Thank you.

I have a point of order. I have a point of order. I'm getting notifications that there was a young person or there was a someone on Zoom named Heather. We called on Heather, but she got cut off. Thank you.

And I want to make a point of order. We just had a presentation and I want the board to go down and take a picture with our students that presented tonight for Brock. So if the board could go down and take a picture and then we'll continue public comment after. Thank you very much and we will now continue on to our public comment.

Heather, please send me yourself.

Good evening. Can you hear me, board?

Yes.

Thank you for calling me and allowing me to speak. My name is Heather and I'm the proud parent of two VISTA virtual students and I'm Here to urge the board to reconsider the proposed staffing cuts affecting Vista Virtual, particularly the elimination of specialized English and mathematics support positions for students in grades 7 to 12. Vista Virtual students are not less in need of academic support simply because they learn outside of a traditional classroom. In many cases, these students require even greater access to qualified subject area experts to ensure they remain academically engaged, supported, and on track for success. Removing specialized support positions raises serious concerns about educational quality, equity, and compliance with the district's obligation to provide meaningful instruction to all students. I asked the board directly, how will the district ensure that VISTA virtual students in grades 7 through 12 continue receiving meaningful access to subject area expertise in English and mathematics after these positions are eliminated? Generalized support models cannot replace credentialed educators with subject-specific knowledge. English and mathematics are foundational disciplines that require targeted instruction, intervention, and academic guidance. Without dedicated specialists, students may face reduced instructional quality, slower academic progress, and diminished opportunities for individualized support. These cuts also risk widening achievement gaps for students who depend on independent study due to health, mental health, safety, family, or learning needs. Families choose VISTA with the understanding that students would continue to receive access to qualified academic support comparable to what is available in traditional settings. Budget challenges are real, but balancing finances should not come at the expense of educational access and academic integrity. The district must prioritize students first and protect the instructional support that directly impact learning outcomes. I respectfully urge you to pause these cuts, provide transparency to families and staff, and explore alternatives that preserve meaningful academic support for VISTA.

William, please send me yourself.

Is it my turn? William.

C Peters.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Carol Peters and I heard y'all giving jobs back. So I'm here to put my school in that hat. I represent Vista Virtual Academy, a place built for students who were quietly pushed to the margins of traditional education settings. We operate three programs out of our office, serving students who didn't feel safe, didn't feel seen, or simply couldn't survive in a conventional school setting. These students are often invisible at traditional schools. They don't always fit a category that draws attention, but they are vulnerable and they matter. and I heard y'all saving jobs. So today, I'm asking you to save the job of our office clerk. This person supports over 30 staff members, provides translation for families, ensures attendance compliance, and maintains an enormous volume of legally required documentation. Our work cannot function without it. To ask someone to go from full time to three hours a day while expecting the same outcomes is not just unrealistic, it's shameful. Additionally, we are facing the loss of three teachers this year, effectively freezing our ability to grow or serve additional students who desperately need us. Since you're giving jobs back, I'm asking you to restore one to us. Give us FTE back. We need at least one FTE back. You speak often about equity, about protecting vulnerable populations, about caring for every child. I'm here to remind you that our students are those children. They are the ones traditional systems failed. They are the ones who didn't feel safe walking onto a campus. They are the ones who disappear in the noise, the ones not checked on. VISTA Virtual Academy exists so they don't disappear anymore. Since I hear you're giving jobs back, I'm asking you to see us. Save a position, save our staff, save our WCCUSD students. That is my time.

William, please tell me yourself.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, Board. My name is William McNabb, and I'm the proud parent of two VISTA virtual students that you heard from tonight. I strongly urge the district to reconsider the proposed cuts that would eliminate specialized support for VISTA students in grades 7 through 12. These cuts raise serious concerns about educational quality, equity, and student success. VISTA virtual students already face unique challenges that require strong academic support systems, eliminating specialized English and math. Teachers will directly impact students who depend on access to teachers with deep subject area expertise. Middle and high school coursework becomes increasingly rigorous and struggling students need intervention from educators who understand the content at a secondary level. How will the district ensure that students in grades seven through 12 continue receiving meaningful access to subject area expertise in English and mathematics? After the eliminations of these amazing teachers, In addition, how will supervising teachers without specialized secondary content backgrounds be expected to provide intervention support for struggling middle school English and math students? These subjects require more than general supervision. Students need targeted instruction, academic intervention strategies, and teachers who understand grade-level standards, writing development, and complex mathematical concepts. The proposed cuts risk widening learning gaps for vulnerable students who chose Vista Virtual because they need flexibility, individualized learning, or alternatives to the traditional classroom. Reducing specialized academic support sends the message that these students deserve less access to qualified instructions than their peers in traditional settings. I urge the board to prioritize students over budget reductions and preserve the specialized positions that provide essential academic support. Families deserve clear answers about how educational quality will be maintained if these positions are limited. Please reconsider the cuts and protect the academic resource. Our students need to succeed. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. My name is Brianna. I'm in sixth grade at Dover Elementary. I'm here to persuade you to allow sixth graders to have computers. Having my own laptop as a resource to take home has helped not only me, by my teacher. Why? Maybe you're asking. Because like this, my teacher does not have to look for homework that is at our level. And sometimes it can be hard for my teacher to look at a page for everyone to understand. And this has helped me because when we are doing ELPAC, SBAC, Alright, ready? I have my own computer so I can do my exams and I do not have to wait for someone else to let me borrow. to let me borrow their computer but why is it this important why should i listen to this kid because you're trying us to share the computers it is good when you're partnered up with your friends but it changes when it is commonly and it will be so much harder for us to do any homework reading or exam In conclusion, this is an unproductive plan because you're making students' and teachers' lives harder. Before I leave, if this plan actually goes on, probably people will start a boycott until you guys do something. But it's not too late to change your opinion. Well, this was my speech. Thank you for listening and have a good day. Goodbye.

RENATA ELIZALDE HERNANDEZ.

Hi, good evening. My name is Renata. I'm in sixth grade in Dover Elementary, and I'm here to persuade you to let the sixth graders have computers. Having my own laptop has helped me so much. An example of how having my computer has helped me is that when I started sixth grade, it was difficult for me to read books of second grade. But now I can read fifth and sixth grade books because of iReady. And also, my iReady level is higher. Another example of how having my own computer is good is that I do the homework on it. I do it in Classkick. In Classkick, I can record myself and that has improved my fluency. Something else that having my own computer has helped me is that now I can do public speaking. In the computer, we do presentations and we present them. That's why now I can do public speaking. We did presentations of Lunar New Year about ourselves, about how much we have improved in school, and about information or stories. And I also presented to lower grade classrooms, and without my own computer, this would be so hard. I'm having an example of one of the presentations. We did a foot drive presentation to give the food to families that need it. But to do the presentations, we need to do them at home. So if we don't have our own computers and if we can't take him home, that's going to affect things that we can do. And that's it. Thanks for hearing my presentation. I hope you let sixth graders keep their computers.

Marjorie Ramon.

Hi, my name is Marjorie. Oh, well, hi, good afternoon. My name is Marjorie. I'm a sixth grader at Dover, and I'm here to persuade you guys to allow sixth graders to have computers. In my opinion, having my own laptop to take home to work has helped me so much in improving my studying. For example, when I got to Dover, I had a third grade reading level, and now I have sixth grade reading level, and I'm ready. I was able to list because I did iReady reading a lot in my house, and that helped me a lot. I also did ClassCake ReadWords, and I also recorded myself for one minute, and that helped my teacher to see how I'm doing, and also so I can see how I'm doing as well. I feel like without the computers, that would be difficult to get a sixth reading level because I... wouldn't be able to do I ready or reworks and that that wouldn't help me improve my reading. And also having my computer school is doing. And also. Thank you.

Chris McLean. Chris McLean.

Um, So I wanted to thank the board for saving the programs like elementary music, ethnic studies, and also Spanish for native speakers at Kennedy and the theater director program. I'm really inspired by a lot of the youth, the high schoolers with the Y plan and stuff like that. And honestly, my goal is for my sixth graders to be like that in the future. My students already are really inspiring. For example, Three of these four students went to the state capitol and they spoke to legislators about three Senate bills, about ICE, about healthcare, and I forget what the third one was. They've won awards for the city of San Pablo, they've given presentations to lower grade classrooms, and all four of them are part of Dover Leaders, which is the student council at our elementary school. Now, these kids without their computers wouldn't have been able to do all these things. Also, all of my students right here either have a fifth grade or sixth grade reading level, when in the beginning of the school year, they had third grade reading levels. So I'm here to speak to you today to convince you to at least let sixth graders have their computers. It makes sense for kindergartners and Other lower graders, like first, second, and third, not to have computers to take home. But sixth graders are middle schoolers in other school districts. And these sixth graders, they're really responsible, and they can use this technology effectively. Of course, in the classroom, they're not on the computers all day. They're only on the computers to write their essays, to do research projects, and other stuff like that, and to do their presentations. But we use our textbooks. We use... We read books. Of course, we have PE and art. We don't use the computers all day. But it would be really detrimental if the computers were taken away from them. So this is why I'm speaking to you today, so that at least the sixth graders in elementary schools can keep Chromebooks one to one. because it'll be way harder next year for my next group of students to be leaders, to be activists like they were this year. It'll be way harder to get these kids to improve so much. So please reconsider, at least for the sixth graders, to do the one-to-one computers, please.

They see me. Macias, please unmute yourself.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Good evening, I'm Daisy Macias, a student from Vista Virtual Academy. I have been here for five years. I came to this school mainly for the purpose of learning more, but also for a safe learning space. I think it is not wise for you to cut our teachers, not only for the reason of where they would go after, but also for the students. We have built bonds and even friendships. If you cut our teachers from middle and high school, students will mostly end up with elementary teachers, until we find other teachers for our grade. By law, we deserve the same educational rights opportunities as in-person schools. Independent study programs should receive access to the same curriculum as in-person, not an alternative. These are teachers that specialize on the subjects you need to graduate and succeed. Overall, I think it's not right for you to cut out teachers. Think about us. You're the future. Thank you for your time.

Canelo, please unmute yourself.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Good afternoon. I'm Canelo. I've been in VISTA for four and a half years. All my other teachers in different schools didn't pay much attention. They mostly care about, they mostly care about, they don't care about us much. When I came to Vista, I got friends, and when I didn't know something, my teacher helped me understand it. If you cut our teachers, how are we going to learn? An elementary teacher won't be able to teach algebra. What are you trying to accomplish in cutting our teachers? What's the point? Our kids have bonds with their teachers, and if you cut that bond, if you break that bond, we will be heartbroken. If you cut our teachers, who is gonna teach math? Mr. Lewis does that. Who will help us with Zurn? Ms. Link does her best to help us. Not only is she nice, but she's caring, smart, and always helps us. I never met Ms. Cheng, but I've heard from other students that she's nice, she's a nice person, and does a great job teaching us. Those teachers chose to work here at VISTA, and those are the teachers that we want. Thank you for listening.

iPhone, please unmute yourself and state your name for the record.

Hola, buenas tardes.

¿Me escuchan? Sí, podría decir su nombre.

Mi nombre es Elia. Yo soy una madre de varios estudiantes de la Escuela Verde K-8. Hoy quiero que nuestra voz como padres sea escuchada. Los Padres de Verde siempre hemos apoyado a la escuela porque queremos verla crecer y tener éxito. Nuestros estudiantes merecen oportunidades reales, apoyo académico y un ambiente donde puedan desarrollarse plenamente. Sin embargo, sentimos hoy en día que el distrito no está tomando en serio a nuestra comunidad. Este año no hemos visto programas sólidos y liderazgo que apoye verdaderamente el crecimiento académico y emocional de nuestros estudiantes. También nos preocupa que continúen asignando a directores sin la experiencia necesaria para ayudar a nuestra escuela. Aunque hemos tenido directora y subdirectora, no hemos visto mejoras claras ni respuestas reales de ninguna de las dos. Además, es muy preocupante que no se hayan realizado reuniones de ILAC, especialmente cuando cerca del 90% de nuestros estudiantes son aprendices de inglés. Nuestros niños necesitan apoyo constante y programas adecuados para poder salir adelante. y alcanzar el éxito. Por eso le pedimos directamente a la superintendente y a la mesa directiva que presten atención a la escuela verde. Cuando necesitan nuestros votos, prometen cambios. Pero ahora queremos ver acciones concretas. No necesitamos más puestos administrativos, sino eso que beneficia directamente a los estudiantes. Si van a invertir dinero, queremos que sean programas académicos.

Sarah Meninix.

Good evening. I want to start by thanking CBO Jeff Carter for finding a way to reinstate MiraVista's Title I funding and to Director Luongo for committing to look at a more equitable Title I distribution model moving forward. This is exactly the kind of responsiveness that we're here asking for tonight. I'm back to advocate again for two basic funding needs at Fairmont Elementary. The first, site supervision. I want to be specific about why cutting our yard supervision in half is a safety crisis at Fairmont in particular. Fairmont is over capacity. The district's solution over the last decade has been to add portables, which means our yard is fragmented across multiple spaces. We have no single vantage point where one person can see our entire yard. There are buildings, portables, and significant blind spots in every direction. You cannot safely supervise this campus with half the current staffing. Even at current levels, we're seeing an uptick in behavioral incidents, students reporting feeling unsafe, and families leaving for private school, specifically with reports of safety. It's not a matter of stretching our resources. It's physically impossible. And we have some incredible yard supervisors. A student was punching my son a few weeks ago. And when I asked him why he didn't go get an adult for help, he said he couldn't find one nearby. Children shouldn't have to worry about their safety when they go to school. It's imperative that you restore Fairmont's yard supervision to its current level. The second issue is pushing the cost of translation services to parent-teacher conferences and SST meetings onto individual school sites. This is a massive equity concern, essentially taxing high ELL schools with high linguistic diversity. At Fairmont, we have 38 languages spoken by the parents at our school. This is about a $10,000 a year cost. And with the site budget cuts, our SSC has asked the PTA to help cover it. So essentially, this means parents will be paying for their own translation services. We're asking the district to fund translation services centrally so that no school is penalized for that diversity.

Lucas Menonix.

Good evening board and district staff, and Superintendent Cotton. My name's Lucas, I'm also a parent at Fairmont Elementary, also back again talking about the same budget issues. I'm also the chair of our SSC, and so I have a particular insight into kind of where our money goes and how we spend our site budget. So the district's budget decisions are forcing our school to choose between safety and student achievement. When you push the cost of yard supervision and translation services onto our site budget, you're not shifting funds around. You're pulling resources out of the interventions our highest needs students depend on to succeed. Our principal and our SSC, we've spent years working together, building a system of supports for our most at-risk students and it's really working. Fairmont consistently performs in the top tier on student growth metrics across all of our different demographics. Spending our limited site funds on basic safety and legally required family engagement directly cuts into the academic supports that are producing those results. Every year in our surveys, our families tell us they want more counseling, more intervention access. In our SSC, we're really trying to listen to our community. Instead, we're being forced to choose between safety and academics. That should not be the trade-off that we have to be making. Our SPSA is very ambitious. We have really high targets and we're relentlessly focused on student achievement. Let us execute that plan. Cover yard supervision and translation services at the district level where the responsibility belongs. Thank you.

Chan Douglas.

Hello, board. You're going to sense a theme here. I'm a parent of a second grader and also a two-year-old future Fairmont Elementary School member. I have extreme concerns about our difficulty with safety on campus currently, which will be heavily exacerbated by cutting our yard supervision in half. Not only will this cause increased safety issues for our students. It will also close off their ability to access the field throughout the day, which we know causes, exacerbates behavioral problems in the classroom. So there's sort of this perfect storm where we're sort of our hands are tied where we're needing to use pta raised funds in order to manage safety at the school and therefore losing resources for reading remediation counseling etc that our most vulnerable children need and then they're unable to go out be kids make friends blow off steam that allows them to sit and learn effectively in the classroom. We know that achievement goes down when students don't feel safe at their school, and we already have seen some climate issues in our school-wide surveys that we're very concerned about. These will again be exacerbated by not having adequate supervision on campus. I'm reading a statement from another parent who could not be here. When my son just started at Fairmont, another student choked him on the playground. If not for recess supervisors, he would not have bounced back so quickly following the incident, and I would not have felt safe sending him back to school. I was reminded of this last week when I saw a student choke another student during a school assembly. Thankfully, adults stepped in. Safety is essential for a good learning environment, not a budget issue. These are critical cuts that we're making to safety and Speaking to what Sarah and Lucas mentioned, access to translation services, again, for some of our students who are dealing with the most adversity in terms of parents not speaking the dominant language, we need these resources for our kids. Thank you.

So we have reached one hour on our clock. We will now be moving on to one minute.

Maisha Harris-Gash, please unmute yourself.

Good evening, all, and I do want to acknowledge the student advocacy from tonight. I absolutely love it, love it, especially our young people from Dover Elementary. I wanted to share that, you know, I've been looking at the district website like today, last week, week before last, and I noticed that the Latino graduation has been prominent on the district website. Yet I've been looking for the black graduation announcement on the district website. So I don't know. I mean, is it an equity issue and representation or whatnot? Because then that leads me to thinking about belonging. Do our black students belong? Do they feel like they belong? Do our black families feel like they belong? Do your black staff? And I will speak for myself. Do I feel like I belong? Now, one thing I know about me is that any room that I walk into, I belong in that room. However, Everybody's not me. So do our Black students matter? Do they belong? If so, then we need to see that representation equitably spread around the district website and other spaces here in the district. So everybody have a wonderfully blessed evening.

Salon Harrison, please unmute yourself. Ceylon Harrison.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yeah, good evening. I had a lot to talk about, but I wanted to support the youth, and I like tonight. Our youth was out here representing. That's a beautiful thing because y'all need to hear him, but about that vaping, that's true. That's real. I had three kids I put through hounds, and that is real. Y'all really need to do that because there is nothing that supports our youth in knowing the danger. And I had my daughter do a written report on one when I found the vaping pen on her, and she didn't know the dangers of vaping. So the kids just do it under peer pressure. So I need you all, if y'all don't listen to these kids, y'all need to come up for something that's preventive on our campuses to support instead of our principal suspending the kids for having drug paraphernalia on them. This could be a health crisis where these children are substance abusing for mental health, being bullied and all types of things. I'm a mom of eight kids, a grandparent, grandmother of 22. And I feel y'all should, you know, support the youth in that program. I'm complete.

Ashley Abbott, please unmute yourself.

Hello. Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes. Hello, I am calling about the Kennedy High School community. I want to celebrate that you all got out and took pictures with Mitzi Perez-Caro. I want you to understand that the actions that you took this school year and the lack of accountability for the actions of our administration at Kennedy High School has led to the pushing out of somebody as incredible and powerful and connected to our students' lives as Mitzi Perez-Caro. while they are carrying their firstborn. To be able to do that work is sacred. Ms. Gash was speaking about our Black students feeling welcome and comfortable. As you continue to push out Black teachers last school year and Latina teachers this school year, you need to understand the level of stress and desperation that people are feeling as ICE is invading our communities and as kids are seeing genocides happening in Africa and in Gaza. Please consider the kids.

Marie Anayam.

Thank you to the leadership that came out to Cookies with Cameron. Your support was felt and the event was well attended. Shout out to the planning committee for putting on another successful open house. I want to let you know the gardener lady there, she's very great at doing the landscaping. At our site and also all the movers that came to move the numerous boxes, they very efficiently did their job. I want to shout out the IT person that comes to Cameron. He really is a genius. My computer frequently disconnects from the copiers. He comes and fixes it and even talks to my colleagues about their things going on. I want to give special recognition to the SPED teams at Steege and Harding. Malik recently told me that he has a friend at school and I met the friend on the field trip. That meant a lot. Lydia's making a lot of social connections And her team helps her remain focused and on task. This is my 18th speech. Please remember, students and their safety always come first. And don't forget, I'm advocating for adding cameras and GPS on the SPED buses. Thank you.

Latifa Abdullah.

Good evening. I came to support the young people, the DRock group and the Rocket group. I wanted to say that I think we need to consider a well-rounded approach to, so they have the academic learning, and I think, you know, the portion of adding the alcohol prevention, the alcohol education, and, you know, I think it's very real. I think, you know, we can say that Parents are the first teacher, but I think the community has a responsibility. And I know for myself, I've lost a person I grew up with to alcohol and also a relative to alcohol. They were very young. And so if you consider the prevention and start early, I think that coupled with the mental health, the mental health and wellness that they talked about. I think it would go a long way if we start early.

Jackie, I've been Daniel. Jackie, I've been Daniel. Christian, be healed. Please unmute yourself. Christian. Nick Crescenzi, please unmute yourself.

Good evening board, superintendent Cotton, members of the staff and members of the public. I would urge the board to continue to do their board reports and give feedback and insight to their thought process and what they are seeing when they go out into the community, what they are hearing and Give that knowledge to the public. I urge the public to stay involved. You cannot just come out when there's an issue. The district is us, the people. You need to communicate regularly and advocate for what you want. You also need to realize there is not an infinite pot of money. Many programs are great programs, but they need to be funded. The only way you can do that is with money. There will be a parcel tax that is going to be put up for the tax of the voters to vote on. Vote yes, we should increase it.

Cristina Huerta.

Christina Huerta, Kennedy High School. First off, we are here to give thanks to the trustees who came to Kennedy and checked in with us, and most importantly, checked in with our students about what they needed. We appreciate that you heard us and that you are voting in order to make sure that FT is restored for our kids. On top of that, I also want to point out that with the new FTE, there is a chance for us to maintain our eight-period schedule. We've discussed it in ILT. Thank you, Mr. Fleischman. Thank you, Mr. Luongo, for coming and supporting us with that. As reps, as UTR reps, we have submitted the documentation earlier this week, so we ask that it please be considered now that we have additional FTE to cover that. And most importantly, I'm here to talk about Ms. Hernandez, a wonderful educator at Kennedy High School who has been there since she was student teaching and is able to take positions like a WASC coordinator or athletic director.

Zach Porter.

Zach Porter here. I want to reiterate, we appreciate you all awarding the 2.4 FTE. There's still work to be done. We need to make sure that those FT go toward the right programs. I also want to talk about another thing, though, tonight. We have our ELD program here at Kennedy, and we're a little concerned about next year. Basically, you may not know this, but we have over 200 students who have not reclassified at Kennedy. It's a very small high school. We had five this year, I believe. And so we really need a more robust language development program here. We've not had a fully staffed ELD three or four for three years, which really explains why this is happening. And the suggestions for how to offer courses for next year, are concerning. So I'm running out of time, but I would really appreciate your attention in the coming weeks. I want to thank Mr. Fleischman, Mr. Longo for talking to us today, but we're going to really need to discuss this because it's really important.

Patricia Blanco.

Good evening, board. My name is Patricia Blanco, Spanish teacher in Kennedy High School. I'm here to speak on behalf of an intelligent, passionate teacher that is Ms. Nigelian Larness. She has done a great job in Kennedy High School. She wants to continue. We have the FTE to keep her. We need her. She's great for the community and the students. Also, thank you for supporting us, the trustees, when you speak to the students and to us. Thank you. I hope you will continue doing something, like action, not just words, and we will appreciate it. And finally, I invite everyone to our Latino . Next June 4, this is going to be awesome. This is work for students, for students and teachers. We haven't had the last two years. We have done everything by ourselves. So please go. It's going to be fun. It's going to be exciting. And you will be amazed. Thank you.

Jean Kitchener, please send me yourself.

Hello, my cat ran across my keyboard and turned off my hands and I have one minute so I'm going to talk quickly because I'm going to be asleep by the time we get to computers. For the cows, Mark down at math has told at least our school that when you have a combo class, the kids not in one grade level that you're teaching math need to be on a computer doing computer based math. Well, and then you switch and the other class goes on a computer. That can't happen with a four to one computer assignment. Perhaps combo classes need more than that and they're cows. Number two, we've had kids in our school and other schools that have destroyed three, four, five computers. It's not, I don't feel the kids should suffer because the district chose not to charge them $300 for all these computers and kept giving them more computers. That's ridiculous. um three i remember seeing a picture way before you guys posted it from one of the tech i.t people about walls of computers that need to be fixed maybe start a program through the high school where you teach them how to do basic i.t and they can learn and help you guys fix them francisco ortiz please send me yourself

Good evening.

Good evening, board. Good evening, Superintendent Cotton, community, and cabinet. My name is Dr. Francisco Ortiz, proud district alum, district parent, and president of United Youth of Richmond. And I'm here to, again, thank the board for their efforts to restore the FT at Kennedy High School, the music program in elementary school, and to also reiterate the points. Hold on, Papa. And to reiterate the point that as an organization, as UTR and our statewide affiliate, the California Teachers Association, we have been lobbying over the past several months and have been Successful in the governor's May revise to include 2.4 billion increase for special education, 1.5 billion for community schools, increased funding to grow the teacher pipeline and a 4.31% cost of living adjustment. And we know that we're gonna continue to advocate for the 3.6 billion that is still constitutionally owed to our students. And we hope that the district and staff join us in that.

Mark, please send me yourself.

Good evening, Board and Superintendent Cotton, Mark Mitchell, United Teachers of Richmond. I want to jump on the comments by our president, Dr. Francisco Ortiz. There's more money than ever coming in the 26-27 school year, more money than our district has ever received in the history of our district to teach fewer students than in the history of our district with fewer staff people working in our district. we should be doing very well. In particular, we are receiving $49.7 million more than we knew about in January, and none of that is reflected in the third interim that's going to be presented to you later tonight, and none of that additional income should be missed in the budget that staff will present to you in June. President Ntiyana, please direct the superintendent and her staff to recognize the actual dollars coming to serve our students and stop shortchanging Richmond students and West County families.

Kumi Janaki Hara.

Hello, my name is Kumi Anahihara. I also wanted to echo my colleagues and say thank you to the board for reinstating 2.4 FT at our site. And we are really excited to see the return of programs like Spanish for Spanish speakers, a full-time ethnic studies position, CTE classes. And so we're really excited about that. to pick up where Zach Porter was talking about our concerns with English. As you all know, there are so many diverse needs when it comes to ELA and ELD instruction, and we're just concerned that the current offerings on the table are not going to meet the needs of our students. So we're, you know, looking forward to solutions to ensuring our students' educational needs are met. We also have an opening for a leadership position. We have Ms. Hernandez, who is wonderful, and the community, it just won't be the same without her. So the FTE is already there. We just need to make sure it gets allocated. So once again, thank you. And yeah, thank you.

Chuda? Mitzi Perez.

Hello, y'all. My name is Mitzi Perez-Caro. I'm a second-generation WCC USD alum, an advocate for students for 15 years, and a ninth-year career technical education teacher at Kennedy. I also want to echo my colleagues in saying thank you. Today and yesterday, I shared with students that FTE allocations were fully allocated to ITA specifically, and they were so emotional and clapped, which I've never seen before, which is great. I also want to urge you to make sure that the process for principals is followed up fully looked at. We need principals who care about our site. We need principals who really want to be with our community. We also need to ensure that the cycle of cutting FTE at Kennedy is stopped because, and at large, right, for our whole district, because we need these programs to continue. We need Y plan to continue, right? We need our

Nayeli Hernandez. Nayeli Hernandez. Erin Calentine, please send me yourself.

Good evening, board. I hope that you heard from the VISTA students and families who spoke tonight. And on behalf of the 340-odd students who are doing independent study, I wish to remind the board that our districts just lost a lawsuit when they claimed that they could not provide highly qualified teachers to all of their students. I hope very much that it is not going to become board policy or district policy that independent study students deserve anything less than highly qualified teachers. And to that end, I'd like to quote some of the Ed Code. In 51747, the provision of content aligned to grade level standards that is substantially equivalent to in-person instruction is a necessity at independent study. For high schools, this shall include access to all courses offered by the LEA for graduation and approved by the University of California as A through G admissions criteria. What that means is that we need certificated teachers. We need English experts, math experts, science experts, history experts, as well as PE and art. Please do not deny these 340-odd students their rights. Thank you.

Christian Bidjo, please send me yourself. Christian? Nayeli Hernandez, please unmute yourself. Hi, thank you.

My name is Nayeli Hernandez, and I am currently a social studies and leadership teacher at Kennedy High School. First, I want to sincerely thank you for supporting our school community at the last board meeting and for allocating additional FTEs to our site. With that said, I want to urge management and the board to continue finalizing and allocating any remaining .2 and .4 FTEs to teachers. who are committed at staying at Kennedy, including myself. I usually try to keep my personal needs outside of the conversation because my students always come first. However, I strongly believe that when we have teachers who are passionate, dedicated, and deeply invested in our students and school community, we should do everything in our power to retain them at such sites. Stability matters, relationship matters, consistency matters to or for our students. Lastly, I want to emphasize the important decisions impacting our school need to be made sooner rather than later to ensure a smooth start to the upcoming school year. One of those decisions is finalizing whether Kennedy High School will move forward with an eighth period schedule. Thank you.

Alison Huey, please unmute yourself. Alison Huey.

Hi, everyone. Please pull C11 from the consent agenda for public discussion. You heard students and families tonight begging for you to keep teachers in programs. How can we possibly be considering adding more special advisors? If additional special advisors and executive support positions are continually required to carry out the superintendent's responsibilities, then the public deserves an honest conversation about whether district leadership is appropriately structured and whether taxpayer resources are being used effectively. That conversation belongs in public view, not buried in the consent calendar. Thank you.

That concludes public comment.

Thank you to everyone who gave public comment tonight. We'll now move on to agenda review and adoption. Does the board have anything that they would like to adjust on the agenda? Trustee Whitton?

For April 29th, 2026, it says that the president led the anti-racism statement. I led the anti-racism statement. And then for resolution two, five, two, six dash seven, five, the national poetry believe was weak. It says vote not recorded, but my vote was a yes. And I also seconded the motion board.

All right. Thank you for those, um, purifications that would be added into our minutes. Um, does anyone have any other. Okay, seeing none, we will proceed with the agenda as published. So now we'll move on to approval of minutes for April 29, 2026, Special Board of Education meeting May 4, 2026.

President, I move that we approve both sets of minutes with the changes from Trustee Nguyen.

Do I have a second? Second. Okay. Moved by Trustee Gonzalez-Hoye, seconded by Trustee Rekler. I'm moving on to the vote. Trustee Hahn.

Yes.

Trustee Whitton?

Yes.

Trustee Reckler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fold? Smith-Fold, yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy? Yes. Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

Trustee Ayanna Zayas? And I will move on to item 12, resolution number 2526-90, National Speech-Language Hearing Month and National Speech-Language Pathologist Day 2026.

Thank you, President Yonah. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Education hereby recognizes May 2026 as National Speech-Language Hearing Month and May 18th, 2026 as National Speech-Language Pathologist Day and recognizes their special contributions to students and families. And be it further resolved that the West Contra Costa Unified School District Board of Education recognizes the shortage of such professionals and be it further resolved that the West Contra Costa Unified Board of Education expresses its sincere appreciation and gratitude to all speech language pathologists, speech language pathology assistants, audiologists, and related professionals for their dedication, expertise, advocacy, and commitment to improving communication, educational success, and quality of life for all students and families.

Do we have a motion?

Resolution number 2526-90, National Speech-Language Hearing Month and National Speech-Language Pathology Day, May 18, 2026.

Do we have a second? I'll second. The item to move by Gonzalez-Hoy, seconded by Trustee Reckler. Moving on to the vote, Trustee Tang?

Yes.

Trustee Wooden?

Yes.

Trustee Reckler? Yes.

RECLERATE.

YES. TRUSTEE SMITH-FOLDS. YES. TRUSTEE GONZALES-HOY. YES. TRUSTEE HERNANDEZ. YES. AND TRUSTEE INYANAZA. YES. MOVING NOW ON TO CONSENT ITEMS. WE ARE UP TO CONSENT ITEMS. DOES ANY BOARD MEMBER WISH TO PULL ANY ITEMS FOR THE CONSENT FOR DISCUSSION LATER IN THE EVENING? YES.

I WOULD LIKE TO PULL ITEM C11. the new job description for the confidential coordinator for the superintendent?

Okay. Item C11 has been pulled. Any additional? Seeing none, we will accept the rest of the consent items. Moving on now to superintendent communication. Superintendent Cardin, this is your item.

Thank you board. I'd like to begin our meeting. Is it up yet? She should have shared with you. Are you able to share it with Chirosa's computer, please? Are you able to pull it off of the chat? Liz, are you able to share screen? Well, we do that. Thank you.

One moment. Thank you for your patience.

Point of order. Can we take a five-minute?

Yes, let's take a five-minute break.

Thank you.

I got it, you guys. we'll go ahead and get started i was about to say next slide i don't have to i want to start our superintendent communication with just a moment of silence We recently lost a teacher from Coronado Elementary School, Ms. Sitha McCray. She devoted 32 years of service to the West Contra Costa Unified School District as an educator across multiple schools, including Lavagna Dijon Middle School and Coronado Elementary School. Our hearts are with Coronado Elementary community and Ms. McCray's family at this very challenging time. Please join me in a moment of silence. We started this year with a 100-day plan, and I have not gone back to that plan. I just wanted to do a revisit really quickly. Day 1 through 30 was really interesting, and I would say day 31 through... 100 plus has been even more this year. Our first 30 days, we launched our listening tour. We did a number of, or I did a number of high visibility school visits. We have pushed our attendance advocacy, both with our attendance campaign, as well as our attendance recovery plan. We went out into the community to talk about fiscal transparency and our stabilization plan and worked through union and workforce relations. That ended in an interesting way, but definitely had an opportunity to begin conversation and begin building relationships.

Uh-oh.

For phase two, days 31 through 100, the plan was revised. Once here in this community, once here learning and understanding the work that we were doing, the buckets of work stayed the same, but the actions changed. had to shift as we learned more. Within our community communication plan, I had an opportunity to meet and work with our system support collaborative, our support collaborative, our schools and network action team, and other community partners that serve as a conduit for information sharing and problem solving, for example. Also supporting and working with our parent committees listening to their concerns and the problems that they are solving. Also hosting a multitude of community engagement listening sessions on many different topics, both including really understanding our district, but also helping the community understand our fiscal situation. And then also being able to present information through videos, weekly memos and newsletters, parent square messaging, and social media posts. I won't go through all of these, but those are ways in which the 100-day plan, it was altered to fit the needs of this community at this time. And I appreciate the board being able to work with me and be involved and engaged in all of these conversations as well. So thank you for that. We were able to, getting through that 100-day, and we're almost to the end of the school year, had an opportunity to have an amazing, amazing time with our State of the Schools Breakfast that was held recently. We were able to celebrate our students. We were able to talk about our strengths. talk about some of our challenges and was able to share a plan for the future. It was a wonderful opportunity for community to come together, community partners, city leaders, our administrators, parents, all were able to come together just to enjoy each other for a period of time and really celebrate the amazingness of our students, the brilliance of our students.

Just a few clips.

Of that event, we recognize our community partners for the year, which was an amazing group of folks who care deeply about our community, who care deeply about our kids. So thank you for all who helped to celebrate and helped to organize that event. Thank you to the entire cabinet for tirelessly working to ensure that our State of the Schools breakfast was amazing. And it was, and the food was delicious as well. Those are just some moments of just, again, celebrating our community. I also want to lift up that on May 14th, board members and district staff joined a conversation hosted by the Ed Fund with our community partners to strengthen outcomes for our students. Our very own Taylor Parham, principal at Lincoln Elementary School, served on a panel partnering for impact and told an amazing story about the work that they are doing at Lincoln. Also, Board President Ayanna provided a warm welcome, highlighting the importance of building and maintaining strong relationships with community-based organizations and foundations. to amplify the support our students need. So spotlighting our schools, just an update on Kennedy. I know we have talked a lot about Kennedy recently and just wanted to let the board know that we are continuing with validating our 9th through 11th grade schedules and student choices. We went back and revisited choice sheets for our 8th graders. Kennedy staff came out to Dijon and actually did presentations on elective options to help students really understand what choices they had. It was a great opportunity for our students to start to think about what high school is going to look like in a few months for them. And also, our team is continuing to meet, as you've heard in public comment, continue to meet with our ILT and teaching staff to discuss the master schedule and course needs. We also have hosted an African-American honors ceremony for both our elementary students, which was beautiful, as well as an honor ceremony for our secondary students. Again, a beautiful opportunity to really lift up black excellence in this district. Wow. We were also able to provide parents with conversations around college readiness and what's needed to be prepared for college. And so I thought that was a great teaching moment as well. In addition, we hosted our reclassification ceremony at Helms Middle School, all of our Students came out. It was a wonderful celebration of multilingualism within our district, celebrating our multiculturalism across our district as well. And so thank you to all the Issaul Orozco and his team, Catherine Acosta-Vopraskis, who supports that office, as well as all the parents and staff and students who came out to celebrate our students' reclassification. In addition, El Cerrito High School's Jazz Ensemble, they've received another national recognition.

I just love that.

But they're amazing. They recently were recognized for the second year in a row as the best community for music education by the NAMM Foundation, one of only 87 schools nationwide to receive this honor. So we just want to say congratulations to El Cerrito High School's Jazz Ensemble. They also performed for the State of Our Schools Breakfast and were amazing. We heard earlier tonight and lifted up Kennedy High School. This actually happened today where we were able to hear from Kennedy High School students as they spoke with industry leaders and city leaders both from about. I'm sorry. Shoreline about. Oh, goodness. Oh, I was so eloquent earlier today. Rising sea levels. Thank you very much. And just supporting, recommending to our city leaders, things that we can do as a community, also gardening projects, things that we can do within our city to improve in these areas. Also, our De Anza Law Academy hosted a civic action project capstone presentations. And so every year they go through this process. They research issues and problems and connect them to public policy. and develop and act on civic action plans. Trustee Reckler, more civic learning in action. Really excited to share that information. And then we also have our middle college ceremony. So the first of our graduation ceremonies occurred last Saturday. We were wonderful opportunity to celebrate and honor the students who are graduating from middle college and going on to their college careers. We're really excited about the work that those students have done this year. And so what's coming next? Graduation is not almost here. It's here. And so we've already started with middle college and we've got more to come. Please check out the list and times for our graduations. Make sure you have your tickets, though, coming to our graduation ceremonies. In addition, we are letting the celebrations begin or continue. First, with black graduation happening on May 18th from 6 o'clock to 8 p.m., May 20th. What did I say? 18th. May 28th. Tomorrow night from 6 to 8 at De Anza High School. We're excited to celebrate our African American students and thank you to, again, Catherine Acosta-Papraska, Sanji Bell, and our Darius McDonald and all the work that the team has been doing and Trustee Smith-Foles has been supporting that group on preparing for Black graduation. This is our 10th year of Black graduation. So celebrating a pretty special milestone. This is also our first year for our Latinx graduation. We're very excited to honor and celebrate our Latinx students. That celebration will be held on May 30th at 4 p.m. at the Richmond Auditorium. So we encourage folks, we're a little past the RSVP deadline, but we will take them So go on an RSVP to participate and attend the Latinx graduation. We are excited and thank you to board members Inanna and board member Hernandez, Catherine again, as well as her team, Isabel Orozco and the rest of the folks who have been working very hard along with, and I need to just lift up, Behind the scenes all the time is our safety consultant Michael Booker, who is supporting across our graduations and ceremonies, making sure that we remain safe. and secure as we celebrate our students awesomeness i do want to lift up on may 30th the same day as the latinx graduation earlier in the day here at dejean middle school we will be hosting our wcc usd hiring fair fast track to fall 2026. dr greenwood we're excited to um have as many folks out to be hired for both certificated and classified positions Here in West Contra Costa, that event will be held from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. And then moving on, we are really excited. On June 9th, I said the 8th earlier, it is on June 9th, we will host a district-wide equity and safety convening at Alvarado Adult School. This will bring together students, school leaders, district staff, and community partners for a day of reflection, data review, and action planning. All secondary sites are asked to identify and send at least three to five students to participate in this convening. Those folks will be offering meaningful insight, leadership, or lived experience related to school safety, racism, equity, and belonging. So during this convening, participants will review this year's data. That has been gathered from multiple sources, including student-led surveys that have been conducted across all secondary sites. Together, students and adults will use these findings to identify actionable steps that will strengthen safety, equity, and belonging across our district. Almost there. Don't forget to read. Read every day. It doesn't matter what you read. Just read. And as summer is approaching, get your library cards ready, kids, because it is time to start reading. And again, there are many ways to get involved. Most of our events, our groups, our parent groups are closing up their conversations. We do have one more CBOC meeting that's coming up as well as a 7-11 committee and a date for the parcel tax committee will be coming soon. With that, I'm complete. Thank you, everyone. Any questions?

Do you think that it's possible if we would have Director Fleischman tell us about the dance that's happening on May 30th? Oh, my goodness.

Dr. Fleischman, we've got something really fun happening on May 30th. Please tell us all about it.

Yes, thank you, Trustee Smith-Folds. We are having our fourth annual district-wide ESN prom on the 30th. Really, really excited to be able to have this event happen again, which is a great example of just organic events. developments within our district. This started actually five years ago, the parents of one of our high schools put together a small event for the ESN students at that particular school. And then it germinated very quickly the following year to a district-wide event. I want to be very, very clear that all of the students are welcome and invited to attend their proms at their high schools, their traditional proms. And this is something that we put on in addition to that, that is able to take into consideration some of the things that are important. We have a sensory room. Big, huge shout out to our OT department. Every year they put on a most incredible sensory room for students to take breaks when they want to. Food services does a great job. And I'm going to forget some folks because I wasn't prepared for anything, but it's a cool event. Stop by if you can, board members and cabinet. If you haven't been to it before, please stop by. It's a lot of fun. It is on the 30th. At Hercules High School. Six to eight. Six to eight. Thank you.

So following the Latinx graduation.

That's right.

Excellent. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you very much, board.

Thank you for your presentation, Supervisor DeConin. We'll now move on to our action items. And first item is the third interim for the 2025-26 school year. And this is This item is for Jeff Carter.

I think it's coming up right now.

All right. Good evening, board. Thank you. Tonight, I'm here to present the third interim financial report for 2526. My name is Jeff Carter, interim associate superintendent of business services. Next slide, please. So the third interim, we're here in May on the financial cycle. This is the third interim financial report as of April 30th, 2026 data. This is to update the district financials and review our latest projections of revenue and expenditures for the year. This is a report that is required from districts that had a qualified or negative second interim report. And so since we were qualified at second interim, we are required to give an update, an official update as third interim for the end of this year. Next slide. So the third interim process, we're comparing revenue expenditures from the second interim, which was January 31st data, to the third interim, which is April 30th data. We're going to review all the financial resources and department budgets to ensure we can meet our financial obligations through the end of this fiscal year. This examines and adjusts revenues and expenditures. And then I just want to... kind of give context. So what the third interim is and what it isn't. So again, it's looking at updating the financials for the estimated ending of this fiscal year and comparing changes from second interim to third interim. What it's not, it's not incorporating changes or outlooks or projections from the governor's May revise. So this is data as of April 30th, which is prior to the May revise coming out. This is an update to 2526 outlooks with data as of April 30. So next week, we'll be presenting the proposed budget, which will have the 2627 projections included. Next slide, please. So the changes since second interim, we've seen some additional revenue for some prior year adjustments, some increased interest earnings projections, and then increased transportation revenue. What is incorporated into this third interim that hadn't happened yet as of January 31st, is the 5% salary retroactively applied back to 7125 from the tentative agreement, and then the docked pays from the work stoppage in December 2025. We have a slight increase in enrollment and ADA projections since January. Those estimations have come up slightly. An increased COLA to 2.87% in 26-27 and 3.3% in 27-28. And then less indirect costs from restricted programs and a decrease in our Fund 17 transfer. Next slide. Here you can see the revenue comparisons from second interim to third interim. You can see our ADA increasing by about 120 and our funded ADA increasing by about 28 for 25-26. Slight adjustments to the unduplicated percentage and then those translate to the revenue changes to our LCFF funding. Next slide. So the unrestricted revenue changes, here you can see comparing second interim to third interim and the increases in LCFF, other state revenue and other local revenue. The LCFF increases are due to a prior ADA revision and EPA adjustment. The other state and local revenue has increased for prior year transportation reimbursements and interest estimations based on our cash levels. Next slide. Restricted revenue changes. This is a time of year where we decrease our expenditures and looking at how much we think we're gonna spend throughout the rest of this year to June 30th. Based on that, a lot of restricted revenues are reimbursements. And so it's based on how much you're going to spend is how much you're going to receive back. And so by decreasing the expenditures at the end of the year, looking at what our outlook looks like for the final two months, that means our revenue is also decreasing to match that. And so those funds will carry over into 2627 to be spent. Next slide. So when you combine the unrestricted and restricted revenue changes, you can see the total revenue is about 158,000 more than it was at second interim. And these are attributed to the prior two slides for unrestricted and restricted changes. Next slide. Here we look at the unrestricted expenditure changes. We won't go line by line on this, but you can see the notes in what shifted and what changed since second interim. The big one being the services and other operating expenditures. increasing by about 1.5 million. That is due to increased legal fees from the strike and reductions over the last couple months. And so that was actually in the consent items tonight. And so you see it here reflected as an increase in expenditures from a change since January. Next slide. Here's the restricted expenditures. And here you can see the decrease in the object codes for salaries and benefits, books and supplies that are all due to either vacancies or plans not executed as intended from what was originally estimated. And so those are the funds that will carry over. Next slide. Here we're going to look at a comparison of the original budget to the third interim budget in the 5000s known as the contracts and other services expenditure changes. And this is just to look at how the 5000s have increased since the adopted budget and why. And so in this top chart, you can see the unrestricted 5000s have decreased by five and a half million. That's due to moving some of those expenditures from unrestricted over to the restricted side on grants that were allowable, specifically SSPD, student support and professional development. And then in the bottom or sorry, and then the restricted 5000 is going up about twenty two point nine million dollars. And we're going to kind of get into what grants and what resources that $22.9 million increased since the adopted budget, where that's occurring. And so in the bottom of this chart, you can see Expanded Learning Opportunities Program. That increased by $3.5 million in the $5,000s. Those are funds we didn't have at the adopted budget. So we increased our revenue from the adopted budget to the 45-day revise by about $10 million for expanded learning. And so that is where you're seeing increases in expenditures as well due to an increase in revenue. Similar for SSPD, teacher residency, and community schools, they're all funds that we didn't have necessarily allocated in the original budget. But then at the 45-day revise, we received additional dollars or carryover dollars that then got allocated by the sites themselves. to be used in their 5000s as a choice. So same with Prop 28, those carryover funds are carried over in the 4000s or for materials and supplies. And then as the sites change their plans, they can shift that down to the 5000s. So a lot of these expenditures either didn't exist or we didn't have the revenue for them. And then throughout the year, we got additional revenue or changes in expenditures. And you can see where those changes came from on the restricted side. Next slide. So considerations for the multi-year projection, these are all things that we take into account when looking at the upcoming out two years. So we have to report on the current year and the next two years for a multi-year projection. And these are all included in that as of April 30th. Next slide. So here's the unrestricted general fund MYP and what we look like overall. at the end of this fiscal year for 2526. So you can see our revenues and expenditures. We are still in an operating deficit this year and projected in the future years if there's no increase in revenue. And so for the transfers from Fund 17, you'll see 17.8 million being transferred in to balance our $18 million deficit. That's a decrease from second interim from $19.3 million down to $17.8 million. So due to the decrease in expenditures and an increase in revenue in this year, 25-26, we are slightly improving our contribution needed from Fund 17, which will extend it out a little bit. So at second interim, we had nothing left in Fund 17 as of the end of 26-27. But here in the multiyear projection, we can we will have two point nine million left at the end of during twenty seven, twenty eight to use to bring that three year deficit, the unassigned, unappropriate amount at the bottom down to two point nine million at the end of three years if there were no changes to our future revenue. Next slide. And so that fund 17 projected projection as of today, Looking like a $17.8 million reduction in 25-26, bringing our total down to 11.4 for next year. Another contribution of $8.5 million would be needed, bringing it down to 2.9. And then in the third year, using the remaining funds of Fund 17 to exhaust it down to a $0 balance. Next slide. And so we don't, for third interim, we don't certify a qualification, either qualified negative or positive. Had we been under these current assumptions, we would be able to meet our 3% required reserve in 25-26 with a contribution from Fund 17 and leaving the expenditures in Fund 71 based on the fiscal solvency plan. Same thing in 26-27. And then in 27-28, we would not be able to meet that 3% required reserve with Fund 17 being exhausted under current parameters. Next slide. And so I do want to talk about the Governor's May Revise because it is something we will be speaking to next week on June 3rd at the proposed budget. And so I would be remiss to not include a topic of what was included and spoken to on the Governor's May Revise. And so I just want to highlight some of the big changes. There is still a $10.1 billion amount going to the state's rainy day fund. 3.9 billion is still being maneuvered into a settle-up account. That is decreased from 5.6 billion from the January governor's budget proposal. You see that COLA being increased from 2.41 to 2.87. And then a discretionary super COLA being added on to that for 1.44%, bringing the total COLA up to 4.31 in his proposed May revise. We are still pending state approval and legislation in June. And then with that super COLA, there is an additional expenditure being placed on districts for a 14 week pregnancy disability leave mandate that would add some expenditures, but also add revenue to pay for that program. Special ed at current year is $917 per ADA funding. At the January proposal, the governor proposed $999 per ADA. And at the May revise, announced a $1,340 per ADA, which would increase the SPED revenue pretty substantially for our district by about $9 to $10 million in revenue for special ed. which would decrease our contribution from the unrestricted general fund. Next, we have the Student Support Services Professional Development Discretionary Block Grant, SSPD. We received $7.2 million this year in 25-26, and that was all used to offset the operating deficit in 25-26. At the May revise, there's a new proposal for potentially up to $21 million of additional one-time funds for this grant. Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant. There's a final one-time payment of $1.8 million coming to us. And then an announcement for community schools funding. They are expanding the funding towards that program, making it ongoing. And based on the new qualifications, we should have about nine more schools qualifying under their new parameters. and then a one-time increase to literacy coaches and reading specialist grants. So those are the big pockets and big changes in the Governor's May revise, and a lot of this will be incorporated next week into the budget proposal, and we'll get to see what that looks like at that presentation. Next slide. Thank you, and that is my third interim presentation for 25-26. Are there any questions?

Do we have any board questions? Trustee Regler. Oh, one more minute. Trustee Regler. I'm looking at the time and it is now 9.42. It looks like we're going to have to extend our meeting. Can we get a motion to extend?

President Yanai make a motion that we extend until 11 p.m. Can I get a second?

I'll second that. Okay, sooner.

We have a motion to extend to 11 by Gonzales Hoy, seconded by Trustee Reckler. We'll move on to the vote. Trustee Hahn?

Yes.

Trustee Whitton?

No.

Trustee Reckler? Yes. Smith-Folds?

Smith-Folds, no.

Trustee Gonzales Hoy?

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

And Trustee Anyanaza, yes. So meeting has been extended to 11 p.m. And now we may continue. Trustee Regler, would you have questions?

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Nice work. I do have one question though for page 10 on restricted expenditures. There has been a large savings, but it comes as programs have not been implemented or positions haven't been hired. Would you be able to speak more to that of what's going on? I mean, my understanding is we carry the funds forward, which is fine, but we need, you know, kids need services now. So if the team could address that, I'd appreciate it.

Yeah. And so, yeah. Part of Title I, so for the classified salaries, a big portion of that is there was a plan to switch over the scows this year from unrestricted to restricted. That didn't happen in time. It's being changed to 26-27 to move those scows over to Title I funding. And so that shift you're seeing decreasing those salaries to carry it over and use it for next year based on the fiscal solvency plan. A large amount of these come from unearned resources where we get a total grant allocation, we budget the total amount, and then... yeah, the plans don't come through or things change throughout the year or sites have vacancies or positions couldn't be filled throughout the year. We had a hiring freeze in the middle of the year. And so accounting for all of those things, we are updating our projections based on the current reality as of April 30th. And so those are kind of those big swings you're seeing at the end of the year that weren't accounted for back in January. They were unknown that we would go five more months without filling or changing those plans.

Okay, thank you. That's all I have.

Do we have any further questions from the board? Our Trustee Smith holds.

I have one, well, I have a couple of questions, but on slide nine, is it supposed to say second and third interim or first and second?

Thank you for pointing that out. It should say second to third interim. Okay.

So slide nine should say second to third. Okay. And then I have a question. So kind of walk me through this. So first interim, we had like 384 point whatever million, right? And then second, it went down to like 370.5. And then third, we're at like 374. So from second to third, Are we including the increased packages of salary and benefit in the third?

Yeah. So at second interim, we could only estimate at the time what the retro and the docked pay would look like from December. And then those actually happened in March of 2026. And so as of April 30th, we know the exact amount. And so at Third Interim, we're giving you updates based on what the actual retros, what the actual benefit increases, what the actual encumbrances are for the remainder of the year with more knowledge as of April 30th than we had at January 31st. We're updating those projections here.

So it only went up $4 million? It was $370,000 second, and now it's $374,000. In which category? Let me see if I can find it, Jeff. Hold on. Where we had you know where we had first interim when it said in the very beginning in first interim we had $384.3 million. Of revenue? I think so, yeah.

And then it went down to $370 in second.

And then now at third it's $374. It is on Let me try to find it. Maybe where it says unrestricted general fund, your unrestricted general fund. We were at 384, and then we went down.

Oh, we're talking about the MYP.

Do you see where I'm looking at?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. So what I guess I'm trying to figure out is how did we go from 370 in second to 374 and third, and did we, how are we not adding more because we now have the multi-year projection of the package and the package that includes our increases in salary and benefits? Does that make, this is my question making sense or no?

So you're saying the expenditures from second interim to third interim on the MYP, let me pull up last. Yeah, so the expenditures increasing in 2627 to 374. That comes from a multi-year projection that incorporates a lot of factors, but increasing health and benefits is one of the major factors, not only increasing based on the tentative agreement from 80% to 90% or 90% to 95%, but also just the Kaiser health rates in general also going up based on current projections. So there are multiple factors that go into additional expenditures. Some of that is expiring grants that are ending in 2021. uh june 30th 2026 that we can no longer utilize let's say for our the arts and music block grant that's expiring and then we're bringing those expenditures back to the unrestricted side because the grant no longer exists so things like educator effectiveness is expiring arts music block grants expiring uh those were expenditures that had been in the fiscal solvency plan to go away, and then some things were coming back. So with those increased expenditures in the out year, you'll see a slight increase in 26, 27 expenditures, as well as revenue.

So over the past couple of board meetings, when we are putting things back, when the board's putting things back, is that reflected in this multi-year projection?

To an extent, yes. It will be incorporated into the 26-27 budget proposal next week. All of those factors have been included for next week.

So we're not seeing it in this? We're seeing it in a third interim, but we will see it in the budget report.

Yeah, so not necessarily in this one. This one is looking at had nothing changed. what the outlook would be. That's what third interim is looking at the rest of this year compared to second interim, what the outlook would be. It's not incorporating any of the new things we know of in the last couple weeks. This was already wrapped up and done. And so with known new factors, such as the last board meeting, the governors may revise, all of that will be incorporated into the multi-year projection at the budget proposal next week.

Okay. And then... So let me just make sure. So we'll get a better picture of where we are next week because not just because we're getting close to the close of books, but because it's incorporating everything of all the unknowns, all the packages, all the stuff. It's going to be seen next week in the budget projection. Is that more accurate? Is that what I mean?

Exactly. So budget development has been happening since February. You know, it's a it's a long process to go through every single account code and make a projection of where we think we will be 18 months from then. And so third interim. doesn't necessarily have that same level of detail and scrutiny of looking at 26-27 specifically, whereas the entire purpose of the proposed budget is to look at every single account code and where we will end up. So the MYP in the out years is an estimation and a projection based on what our expenditures are this year. But when we get to 26-27 being the new year one, that level of detail has been combed through for four months now. And then on top of that, adding in the May revised information, 26, 27 will be a completely different outlook next week.

Okay. And then you'll have 26, 27. Then 27, 28 will be a little bit more vague because you're looking further away. And then 20... 26, 27 will be detailed. 27, 28, a little more vague. 28, 29, because it's third year.

Correct. It's a little further out. However, this time, that new third year, which is, as of today, currently year four, we know things like Fund 71 have to come back. We know partial tax is expiring. We know... Certain grants are expiring. So there are still things we can estimate and project for three years out that will change those revenues and expenditures. And that's all looked at with a heavier tooth comb than the current third interim is looking at year four as of today.

So next week, everything kind of pushes up.

Everything pushes up next week.

Okay. I am complete for now. Oh, I'm sorry. Last question. How healthy is our treasury now?

Well, the cash flow as of the end of next year is looking to be about $125 million. That's incorporating all new revenues, all expenditures, and all of our funds. So relatively healthy now that the fiscal solvency plan is still built into the outlook.

And it costs how much to run the district a year? 500 million?

Yeah, 530 million unrestricted and restricted combined.

Give or take, that's not adding anything that like goes crazy or skyrockets or anything.

Yeah, it's not including like bond funds or anything like that.

Okay, thank you. I'm complete.

Do we have any further board questions? Seeing that, do we have any public comment on this item?

No public comment.

Okay, do we have a motion?

I'll go ahead and move that the board accepts the third interim for the 2025-2026 school year.

Second. We have a motion by regular seconded by Trustee Gonzales-Hoy. Do we have any board comments? Okay, see, now we'll move to the vote. Trustee Hahn?

Yes.

Trustee Whitton? Yes.

Yes.

Just a regular. Yes. Just a Smith folks. Yes. Just to go out of the toy. Yes. And trustee or nonetheless. Yes. Interesting. Yeah. Yes. So now we'll move on to public hearing for special education, local plants, section B, special education, animal service plan, and special education, annual budget plan. And that is Dr. Guthrie freshman.

Thank you, President and Jana. Thank you, board members and superintendent for the opportunity to present tonight. I will be presenting on our local plan for special education. Next slide, please. So every SELPA or special education local planning area is required to submit a local plan for approval to the Department of Education. The purpose is to ensure access to special education and related services for students with disabilities and to assure compliance with federal and state mandates. Next slide, please. So I'll talk a little bit about the process for developing and amending the plan. Next slide. So this is, like many things in public education, it's a living document that can be amended at any time, but it has to be updated on a regular cadence with committee representatives of special and general education teachers, administrators selected by the groups they represent, as well as our community advisory committee and other members of our special education community. It can be, like I said, amended at any time. If that change is deemed necessary or if there are any findings of noncompliance or change in our membership governance or any element of the plan. We are a single district SELPA, so changing and SELPA membership is rare. This is more for multi-district SELPAs. The other time, and I'll talk about services, but the other time when there could be an amendment is if we have to change the service provision based on new students arriving or being identified with services that are needed. Next slide, please. The trailer bill language is here. The superintendent has to consult with the SELPA administrator, myself, to confirm the local plan. and LCAP are aligned. There's a template for the local plan that is used statewide. The county superintendent has to review and approve the local plan, which we have already secured her signature. We review it every three years. So this is the third year. So this is the larger review. And we need to post on ours and the county office website. Next slide, please. So the approval process, you are the governing board. So you are who we seek approval from for our local plan. We've also, like I said, we've secured a signature already from the county superintendent and the CAC chairperson. Once approved by the board, it is sent to the CDE for final approval. Next slide, please. Here's just a basic timeline of the process that we've gone through this school year in developing this local plan starting in the fall, reviewing the previous local plan and reviewing the new template, determining who will serve on the local plan committee. As I mentioned earlier, it's a wide variety of membership. There's been three meetings thus far to initially look at the plan, to collect feedback, to review that feedback, and then to showed the committee the final version of the plan before it went to the CAC for review. And now here we are on May 27th, seeking approval from the Board of Education. Next slide. These are the required elements. Next slide, please. So there are sections A, B, C, D, and E. Section C will come to the board next year. Section A is just contacts and some certifications around the plan. B is the largest part of the plan. It is the governance and administration. This is the piece that comes back every three years. D and E is the annual budget and services plan. As I mentioned, the services is dependent on the specific students and the needs that we have in our district. Next slide, please. Section A, like I said, it is the contacts and certifications, the administrative unit, contact information, the dates of review, the dates of public hearing, the certification by the sub-administrator, budget plan, et cetera, and the certifications by the county superintendent and the CAC chairperson. Again, these are the contacts and the certifications. Next slide, please. Section B is the governance and administration. This is the review of the role of the County Office of Education, the policies, the representation of the CAC, and the identification of the administrative unit. Again, we are a single district SELPA, so the governing board and the policies are our board policies. In a multi-district SELPA, this would look a little bit different. Next slide, please. We also have the respective role of the SELPA administrator related to hiring, supervision, evaluation of staff, the method that we are using to distribute funds, the operation of our programs, the monitoring of appropriate use of federal, state, and local funds, and how equipment and services are distributed within the SELPA. Next slide, please. Again, policy identification and location. There are 23 SELPA assurances, the administration and operation of those services, and listing of those SELPA services. Next slide, please. Section D is the annual budget plan. Section E is the annual services plan. Again, those are submitted annually and were brought forward last year, brought forward again, along with the rest of the plan this year. They do have to be adopted in a public hearing, which we are holding right now. Next slide, please. The budget plan includes our revenue by service, the total budget and object codes, our federal and state revenue, basic premise of self allocation plan, our operating expenditures, our projected expenditures for aids and services and the low incidence disabilities as well. Next slide, please. Again, our service plan has a list of all of the services that we provide within our district. Again, this is dictated by the specific needs of our students. Next slide. The required elements, it is kept locally and we can... Next slide, please. We do have interagency agreements, including our MTU medical therapy unit, Head Start, and regional center. Next slide, please. Each entity providing special education has to adopt the policies and procedures. Next slide. All CELPAs in the state are using the same template. Again, that was mentioned earlier, so the template that you'll see is statewide adopted. Next slide, please. Purpose of the Local Planning Committee and the CAC is to review and develop Section B and review for clarity, transparency, and input. Next slide. That is the conclusion of the presentation. Are there any questions?

We have any questions from the board. Trustee Reckler.

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. We talked about this in agenda review, but I think it's important to bring up. I want to talk about the special ed expenditures and revenues. So, um, In 2526 Sorry, this is so small and 2526 the total projected expenditures was 121 million in change. 26 to 27 next year, the expenditures are expected to be $135,334,393, which is quite an increase. And then I understand that most of it is in salaries and benefits because raises were given and stipends and things of that sort. But what I would like further clarification on is on services and operations, which I it actually increases from the year before from 31.2 to 31.9. And I was wondering if you could explain why services and operations look to increase over the previous year, provided that the salary increases were given to take some pressure off spending in the 5,000s.

Thank you for the question. Would you mind telling me which page of the document you are looking at? Sorry, it's about 150 pages. I just want to make sure I'm looking at the correct thing.

So I am looking at... Hang on one second. I made my own spreadsheet from that because... That's what I had to do. Okay. I am on page D-3 of 6, and it looks like it's 117 out of 147. It's one of the appendices, it looks like.

Thank you.

But you're not going to find 2526. I pulled that from last year's plan.

I see it.

So you're correct. The ones, twos, and threes for salaries and benefits are going up based on the 5% increase to special ed teachers, the two range increases for paraprofessionals, and then health benefits going up percentage-wise and cost-wise. And then when you're comparing this plan in 25-26, that hadn't contemplated yet the increase that happened in 24-25's first interim, where we had to add about 14 million in expenditures from expiring grants that needed to come back into the special ed budget. That was a shift in 24-25 that happened at first interim, and it wasn't in the Y plan originally either. And so the massive increase at first interim of 24-25 isn't reflected when you're comparing 2526 plan to 2627 plan here and so the fives are necessary are going down but in comparison to 2526 plan uh that wouldn't have been reflected in in the in the estimation at the time a year ago today okay

That is all I have. I guess there's one other thing. So it says here that the expected spend was for 25-26 this year is about $121 million and change. Do you expect that's the way the year is going to end on June 30th? Are you close to that?

I will pull it up right now. Yeah, we're at about 120.0, about 120 million at the end of 25, 26 with current projections.

Thank you. That's great. Great. That's all I have.

Thank you. Trustee Hernandez. Hello.

Hello.

I have two questions. The first question, I know that in the report, we mentioned multiple times that we refer to like being in compliance with the state and the federal requirements. I just want to know if you can just provide me a number, if you can identify any current or pending findings of noncompliance that we currently have. that might affect us in the longterm and create an additional financial exposure for us as a district.

So we, in any given time, could have two or three open cases for pending litigation or for OAH complaints. To my knowledge, I believe there are about three or four that I am tracking and paying attention to. None that I have seen that are any potential major cases. opportunities for litigation or anything like that. There are, as has been discussed at Nauseam, so I'm not exposing anything, there have been some gaps in service delivery this year has been our biggest issue. And so we have been addressing those and working to get those services rendered to students as written into their IEPs. So I could... go back and find exactly how many, but I think there's a small handful right now of things that we are working through with families to try to make sure that everyone is made whole.

Okay. Thank you for that. And then my next question is, I know that in the report we confirmed that we had CAC participation when it came to, you know, shaping the policy decisions. Did they have an input in these policies or were they just reviewing like the finalized document and then providing feedback?

So we have CAC members who are on the committee and then it's brought to the full CAC for review to give feedback prior to being brought to the board.

Are you able to provide me like a specific example of a recommendation from like parents or CAC parents or members that we directly change in our like your final local plan?

I don't have that at the moment, but I could look into that for you and get you.

Please. Thank you. That's all my questions.

Do we have any further questions? Yes. Do we have any public comment on this item?

Sky Nelson. Oh, I'm sorry. Point of order. This is a public hearing, so you have to open, you have to bang your gavel and open the hearing.

Please bang the gavel. Thank you. Hi, board. This is Sky Nelson.

Sky, can we hold on a minute? So I am opening the public hearing for the Special Education Local Plan, Section B, Special Education Annual Service Plan and Special Education Annual Budget Plan. And I have now opened the public hearing. You may continue with your comments.

You have in front of you a paper I passed out called Rising Influence of Private Equity on WCCUSD in Oakland. I just want to walk through this with you. It's calculations we've done based on CDE, Department of Education data. The graph on the left on top is our district. Notice the first 10 years are quite flat. and draw a budget line, best fit line, and extend that to the present. And you see that above that is the area that we've actually spent since 2021. It's dramatically larger than anything else, 45.7 million. We're not alone. Oakland has a number of 94.2 million, but we can quantify this for every district in the state, and we are not alone. This is much bigger than us. Private equity is, in the second chart, flip it over, on the left-hand side, you see numbers for FY22 through FY25. The left column is all the vendors that are private equity-based, and on the right column is all the vendors that are not private equity, and on the far right is the percentage of vendors that are private equity. So 43% starting four years ago, 70% last year, and 55% this year.

Angela Silver, please send me yourself.

Good evening, this is Angela Silver Lima. I'm the chairperson of the CAC. I just wanted to thank Dr. Fleischman and Steve Collins for their excellent work and collaboration on the local plan. CAC had meaningful participation where we provided lots of feedback, which was receptive and heard. We also had an opportunity to provide more feedback at our local plan or yeah, local plan review discussion at the April CAC meeting. So thank you, board.

Jane Kitchener, push the mute yourself.

Hey, good evening, board. 10 seconds. Oh, good evening again. I'm hoping that the board will direct HR to go to EdJoin. And I know at least one person at our site wants to be a district employee and stop working for these third-party companies, but they've yet to try to interview or hire him. And he'll cost a whole lot less that way. Please tell them, force them, make them look for these people before they get tired of waiting and they go to other districts because they're obviously hard to find.

That concludes public comment.

Thank you for the public comment. So do we have any further questions from the board? So seeing that, the public hearing is now hereby closed. We'll move now on to resolution number 2526-89.

Sorry, President. Just a quick point of order. We have to approve the plan, though. That's correct. Dr. Fleischman?

I'll go ahead and move it.

I'll second. Thank you.

So do we have... Okay, we have a motion on the table to approve the plan by Trustee Gonzalez-Hoyt and... Trustee Reckler, seconded by Gonzales-Moy. Do we have any comments on this item? Trustee Reckler?

I do have a comment. Thank you. So I feel like I say this every year. It's no reflection on the district, but this report for the California Department of Education to me is just really strange. It's all governance and compliance structures, but they never ask you how your kids are doing. How are your kids doing? How are your programs performing? I mean, it's just like, it's like the craziest report. So I feel like I ask this every year, but as an add-on to this report, we should get a special ed report. How are these programs working? student outcomes, goals, academic achievement, graduation, um, rates, uh, priority areas, timelines for implementation would make this a better report. So we could give the CD what they want, but we could also, you know, like do our duty, which is like, how, how's it all working? And that's my comment. Thank you.

Okay. So the ball with a more board comments, what we'll want to the vote, a trustee regular. Yes. Trustee Smith-Fold? Smith-Fold, yes. Trustee Gonzales-Hoy?

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

And Trustee Ayanna say yes. We will now move on to resolution number 2526-89, reduction or discontinuance of classified service for lack of work or lack of funds. And that is Ms. Sylvia Greenwood's item.

Good evening, board. So for, uh, resolution two, five, two, six, eight, nine, this is the last reduction and continuation of classified services and lack of work or lack of funds for a hearing that was held on May 14th. So this will conclude our round of layoffs and final notices have been sent. So we're asking for approval for this resolution.

Do we have a motion?

I'm a resolution number 2, 5, 2, 6, dash a non-reduction or discontinuance of classified services for lack of work or lack of funds.

Point of order. I am sorry. I'm losing my mind here today. It's late. Do we have public comment on this item? No public comment. Okay. So now we have a motion by trustee Smith folds. Do we have a second?

A second.

Okay, we have a second by Trustee Regler. Do we have any board comments? Seeing that, we'll move on to the vote. Trustee Regler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fox? Smith-Fox, yes. Trustee Gonzales-Hoy?

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

And Trustee Ayanna Zayas? Yes. We'll now move on to approval of resolution number 2526-91, determining that Betty, oh, hold on, I'm sorry. Resolution number 2526-88, approving the engineer's report, confirming diagram and ordering the continuation of the Levi assessments for fiscal year 2026 and 2027. And that is Ellen Mejia Hooper's item.

Good evening, Board. Thank you for having me this evening. We are looking for an approval of the Maintenance and Recreation Assessment District, or MRAD, for the upcoming fiscal year. This does require a public hearing. This resolution has been brought forward for many years and brings forward funding for facility projects related to our our schoolyards.

Okay. Do we have any public comment on this item? No public comment. Do we have any questions from the board? Okay. Can I get a motion?

I'll go ahead and move Resolution 2526-88, approving the engineer's report Continuing of the levy of assessment for 26, 27.

Second.

Okay. And you have to have a public hearing on this one.

Yeah.

So, so just do public comment, bang your gavel and do public comment for the, it says it down here. Right? Yeah. Okay.

So just bang your gavel, do public comments again. So I am now opening the public hearing for the 2526-88 Approved Engineer's Report Confirming Diagram and Ordering the Continuation of Levi's Sentence for Fiscal Year 2026-2027. Okay. Let's see the public comments. So, and we have a motion on, do we get a motion?

Call for public comments again.

No public comment.

Sorry, that's the part of the public hearing.

That's the most important. Okay. So no public comment. Now do we have a motion to, okay, do I close public here? Yeah.

I'll go ahead and move it to, I'll move resolution 2526-88, approving the engineer's report, confirming diagram and ordering the continuation of the levy of assessment for fiscal year 26-27.

Second. Okay. So we are, it has been moved by Trustee Regler, second by Gonzalez-Hoy. Do we have any comments on this item? Seeing no comments on this item, we'll move on to the vote. Trustee Riggler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Ford? Smith-Ford, yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy?

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez?

We look alike, but...

Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

Trustee Ayanna said yes. It is really late tonight. And I close the public hearing at this moment. So we will now move on. We'll now move on to item five, approval of resolution number 2526-91, determining that Betty Reed Soskin Middle School site improvements in Mandarin Consolidated Project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, deciding to carry out the project and redirecting the filing of a notice of exemption. And this is also Ms. Ella Mejia Hooper's item.

Good evening again, board and community. I'm bringing forward tonight an exemption notice for the Betty Reed Soskin Middle School site improvements, which we are doing additional exterior improvements to be able to accommodate the Mandarin program. As the Mandarin program is a different grade level than the original school site, which is a middle school, we are bringing forward this resolution so that we can post to the county our exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act because the school site is not changing its overall capacity of the original design.

Okay, do we have any public comment on this item?

No public comment.

Okay, CNO public item, do we have a motion?

President, I move resolution number 2526-91. I'll second.

Okay, we have a motion on the table by Gonzales-Hoyst, seconded by Trustee Regler. Do we have any board comments? CNO board comments, I'll move on to the vote. Trustee Regler? Yes, trustee Smith-Folts. Smith-Folts, yes. Trustee González-Joy.

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez. Yes. And Trustee Anyanaza, yes. So now we'll move on to discussion items and reports. We have one item, and that's strategic Chromebook realignment. Good evening, Board.

I'm bringing to you tonight a discussion item about our Chromebooks, and this is specifically about elementary Chromebooks, but I'm going to kind of explain what is going on, and I don't, I guess I should share my screen? No, Nancy, you got it? Great, thanks. I want to talk a little bit about sustainability through intentional use of technology. Next slide, please. So I want to take a moment to talk about the current time as it relates to the use of technology in the classroom. Our IT department sits at a strategic intersection. We know the many concerns. One cannot open any educational news source without seeing these in the forms of books, articles, and board resolutions on screens, student well-being, and the effects of teaching and learning. We also know that access to technology during the school day provides students the opportunity to prepare for a quickly changing world. For teachers, technology is a tool that helps them reach all their students through engaging content and differentiated materials. By providing technology access to all students during the school day, our school district bridges the digital access gap. All of this has provided an opportunity for our district to reframe the current one-to-one distribution of Chromebooks in elementary to focus on interests held by our elementary Chromebook work group. Next slide, please. So I want to share the total cost of ownership and the breakage tax. When we purchase a Chromebook, it's never one and done. We have been maintaining so many older models that the cost of maintenance and repairs outweighs the original cost. So it's very much like a car. When you drive it off the lot, it starts decreasing in price. And it's the same with a Chromebook. Many of our Chromebooks have come back to us several times to be fixed. And the ones that are aging out, we have many that are aging out right now. They may work, and I'm doing little air quotes with work. They are not really something that you want our students to be using. They will somewhat work, but not really. And at that point, they cost more than they did to begin with. Next slide, please. Here's the photo that everyone talks about. These are the broken Chromebooks that we have. And we just can't keep up with them right now. But the situation has left us with a fleet of Chromebooks that is aging quickly with many that are end of life and many others that are approaching that point. Much like a new car, like I said, a new Chromebooks value starts to devalue as soon as it is delivered to our district. As it gets older, the repair costs exceed the value and the chance of having to e-waste the unit grows. Retiring our oldest models is a must in order to maintain a healthy, cost-effective fleet. Next slide, please. I'm going to talk for a moment about our work group process. So earlier this year, we brought together a group of teachers, mostly technology teacher leaders, and we also had IT staff involved in that as well. Next slide, please. We had teachers from TK to 6, but we also had some middle school teachers join as well. We had SPED educators, school principals, and IT staff. And we had a couple of our teachers or IT staff who are also parents of students in our district. What we used was IBDM, which is interest-based decision-making. And so we started with very specific interests that we all chose together. Equity across school sites, student mental wellness and screen balance, and instructional fidelity and classroom ease. Next slide, please. We had four meetings total. During those meetings, we went over our non-negotiables. We talked about the fleet management report. We debated whether or not we should go three to one or four to one with ratios. And I want to explain that although we could probably go three to one, one thing that the teachers kept saying to us was, we want this to be consistent. We don't want to go two to one next year and then three to one next year, the year after that, and then four to one the year after that. They wanted it to be consistent. So after crunching the numbers, we went back and decided that four to one was the best way to do that. So at the fourth meeting, that's when we decided to go four to one. Next slide, please. So the whole idea is to have a strategic four-to-one model. So we would have purposeful stations. So we have these charging carts. We still have them. We called them cows. I don't know if you remember that. Computers on wheels. And I just want to share that many of our technology teacher leaders remember back when we used to do this. We did this before COVID. We did it before we went one-to-one. And they were just nonplussed, honestly, about it. They felt like, okay, we've done it before. We can do it again. And so devices would stay in the classrooms and these charging carts would And that would end the take-home tax and focus on intent over ownership. And then it would be standardized four to one. What we did was we took the enrollment numbers and we added in also any of the special education classes. and basically divided that by four and decided that was the number we were going to have. We also pad that number a little bit so that there are always extras within each cal. Now, what the site does with these, it's up to them. So for instance, if the entire kindergarten grade level decides that they do not want to use Chromebooks, that is up to the school. That is up to them. So it's really the timing, the schedules, it is all up to the school. We are just providing them the same, everyone gets the same number, four to one, with a four to one ratio.

Next slide, please.

So again, we are still going to have a one to one ratio in secondary, grades seven through 12, because most of the board adopted curriculum has digital components. And this is essential for college and career readiness. But for elementary, so TK through six, four to one shared access, so this prioritizes developmental wellness. Also, technology serves as a supplemental intervention tool. Next slide, please. I don't know if I was as quick as I wanted to be. Sorry, Superintendent Cotton, but are there any questions?

We have board questions. Trustee Gonzales-Hoye.

Thank you. Thank you for the work on this. So is the four to one going to be, you said the cows stay in the classroom, but it's also up to the site. So does that mean that a grade level could choose to, I'm going to keep six for small group, everybody keep six for small group? That is up to them. So the configuration of the four to one is going to be up to the site?

Yes. Got it. I mean, we are providing at the ratio of four to one.

And how is the site going to determine that and when?

How is the site going to determine that? And when? Some sites have already discussed it. Some sites have already figured it out, what they're going to be doing next year. We've had classrooms that have said or teachers who have said they don't want to use them at all. And that will help with the ratio at that particular site. We've also provided some possible models for them. depending on how many students they have, how many classrooms they have.

And my last question is because it's late. How is testing going to look like?

It's going to be just like we did before. It would be creating a schedule and making sure everyone gets their time.

Got it.

Thank you.

Trustee Smith-Foltz? What about virtual school? Virtual school? Do they still, do we, well, do we supply tablets for kids in virtual school? Yes. Are we still going to, and it's one-to-one? Yes. Are we still going to supply tablets for kids in virtual school one-to-one? Yes. Okay. I'm complete. Thank you.

Trustee Reckler?

Thank you. I heard a couple of things I just wanted to bring to your attention. So the sixth grade and sixth grade having computers, people that came and spoke tonight, what was the comments from the committee?

We did have a couple of upper grade teachers who were in our group, in our elementary Chromebook work group. And they, they were supportive of the four-to-one. They felt that it was doable for them. You know, it really depends on the teacher. Different teachers use the Chromebooks in different ways. And in this way, we're hoping that this pushes for a real sustainable use and intentional use.

And then... there are a couple of DLI programs that have the curriculum online and how will they be accommodated?

Right.

So are you talking about, I think, I think it's, I've heard from West County. I don't know if it's West County Mandarin.

Yes. And we're working with them. We'll be working with them on that.

Okay, thank you. And then does the ratio jive with the class size? Like there wouldn't be something weird like four computers for 33 kids or like some odd number where you wouldn't be able to pair up in some way or anything? I mean, I'm just trying to think of like, is that the right amount for...

The way that we're packaging them in the cows, there are over 30 in every single cow. Okay. So it's, again, that's going to depend on how the site wants to use them.

Okay. Okay, thank you.

Do we have any further comments? All right, questions. Seeing that, do we have public comment?

We have public comment. Jane Kushner, please unmute yourself.

Hey, good evening. Chocolate-covered coffee beans have kept me awake. Let's stop calling these cows and start calling them calves because they're so small now. If they're going to be 30 in a cart, how is that going to go in a classroom? How are classrooms going to charge these? Are they going back and forth every day? What about our combo classes? You're right. FTE sizing is creating a lot of combo classes. Mark tells us, put them on the computers while you're teaching one half and then flip it around. How are we going to do that with four to one? and legally technically by ed code sixth graders are middle schoolers i heard these kids and it makes sense that they have the option just like the rest of middle school to have a one-to-one and take them home lots of questions with this but anyhow chris please unmute yourself

Can you hear me?

Yes.

So, yeah, I'm Chris. I'm the teacher from Dover that spoke today. I wanted to thank President Yana for speaking to my student after she gave her speech and was crying. It meant a lot, really. Thank you. But I wanted to address some points that were brought up about the equity. I know Hercules Middle School, I believe, starts at sixth grade. So those sixth graders will be able to have one-to-one computers. And also the ELPAC test is the same exact test from sixth grade to eighth grade. So it makes sense for sixth graders to have one-to-one if it's the same exact test the middle schoolers will have to be taking. And also the TTL for my school is a sixth grade teacher, and she didn't agree with the decision for sixth graders to have to do it as well. I agree with the previous teacher that... Sixth grade should be treated differently. We're treated differently on standardized tests. We're treated differently in other school districts. Our curriculum is even treated as middle school. So I think sixth grade should be considered different than K through five, in my opinion. Thank you.

Nick Krasinski, please tell me yourself.

My comment is that while this might be an unpopular position, the district should allow schools that have the resources and the means if they choose to support having one-to-one by purchasing their own equipment for their school to have that resource that the district would support that effort.

Cristina Huerta, please unmute yourself.

Hi, good evening. My name is Cristina Huerta from Kennedy High School. I just wanted to echo what the students from Dover mentioned during public comment today. It's so important for our sixth graders to start feeling already that they are moving on to these great projects that are going to help them give back to the community. Listening to the sixth graders at Dover talk about presenting to the lower grades and using the computers to create the slideshows that they then presented to their peers shows that they are ready to give back to the community, shows that they are ready to focus on their education. And if what they need is a computer, then they definitely should get that.

Thank you.

That concludes public comment. Okay, do we have any additional board comments? Trustee Bregman?

I do. I think it's going to be an adjustment, but I'm in favor of this. And I think we do have to figure out what's going to go on with any kind of assessments. I mean, right now we don't have an assessment system. But I do think that does need to get worked out. I also want to tell you that I've heard from high school parents as well that they're concerned about the amount of time their kids are on computers. And I went back to the tech plan that was done in, like, I can't remember, 24 or something. And in that, the kids, the student responses, I don't know what grades they were and I don't know how many kids were surveyed. I'm sure it's in here somewhere because Tracy was very thorough, but 50 to 75% of kids said they spent 50% of their time on computers and 75 to 100% on computers was 36%. So 86% of our kids self-reported that they were spending time 50 or more of their class time whatever on computers and if you've read and if you saw the reports this week um screens are major they think is a major factor in uh health mental health academic success so i'm all for rolling it back thank you for doing this

Okay, so we'll now, do we have any additional board comments? Seeing none, we'll close out this item. And then now we're moving back up to item C11, new job description for confidential coordinator to the superintendent.

Dr. Greenwood was going to present on the second.

We were bringing forth for approval a revised confidential coordinator to the superintendent. This position helps support management executive support program coordination to align with the district priorities and serves as a key liaison with cabinet, department, schools, and the community.

Do we have any board questions?

I do.

Trustee Hernandez? Yes.

Okay, so the reason I pulled this item is due to the fact that I was under the impression that we were just bringing it back as an executive assistant to the superintendent. Given like the current physical state of our district and how we cut clerks at the site level, why are we bringing this up in a high level coordinator position instead of reestablishing that second executive assistant that was eliminated by our interim superintendent at that time saying it was unnecessary?

The position that's being presented to the board today is at the same salary range and same salary schedule as the senior admin position. The function of that position provides a different level of support for the superintendent, for the board, and for the district. But it's the same pay.

Okay, but is there specific duties that this person is going to do that can't? I guess my biggest concern is we could continue to cut at the site level, but we're continuing to bring up high level positions in the cabinet or in whatever areas. How are we being equitable with our schools who are losing their attendance clerks who are losing, you know, who are who clerks are having their hours reduced and then being brought up as a coordinator position. It's just. Just demonstrates that we're investing more in a coordinator than clerks. I would have been more surprised. I guess if you're saying it's at the same salary level, it's just the job title that's throwing me off. I'm not sure about anybody else, but it's throwing me off. That makes me think that what are we doing as a district? That's how I feel.

We're looking for somebody who's able to do more project management, who can support and assist with district initiatives, making sure that things are getting captured, not necessarily clerical work, but more project management work is what we're looking for. But again, the position, it's not any more elevated than the admin position. It's just doing a different type of work. Again, we've had a lot of conversations about communications, about ensuring that we are being very clear, follow through with the community and with staff. And I think that this position will help us. in that way. There's been one person who has been managing both the board activities as well as the superintendent activities. I don't, I don't not looking for another clerical position, looking for somebody who can really help, um, help again project manage the work that we're doing our initiatives that we have going um ensuring that folks are responded to in a timely way and being able to um to coordinate some of some of those activities okay um I'm gonna

Yeah, I don't agree with this. I'm not going to agree with it. I just think we're not thinking. I feel like we're not being proactive when it comes to the positions that we are presenting and then putting them in the consent item. So that's just me. I don't know about anybody else, but those are my questions.

Trustee Rosales-Hoye.

Thank you. Can you speak about where the funding for this position is coming from?

We have included it in our upcoming budget. This is an item that has been discussed with the board and so it was included in our budget.

And how much is it for this position specific?

Jeff, can you respond to that?

Yeah, the salary is about $84,000 plus benefits.

And could you just discuss real quick about what is the coordination going to happen between this position and the current executive assistant in your office?

I see them working hand in hand together. It would allow the current admin position, the current admin to be able to continue to support the board and also continue to provide support for the scheduling for superintendent and that sort of work. It would be taking off Some of the items that, again, the coordination of and reaching out to stakeholders, interest holders, coordinating events and activities would be going to this position versus having the admin, again, manage the board work as well as the superintendent's office around administrative support, scheduling, and the like.

And last question. You know, in the past, we've had one position in the office and two positions in one position. It's going back and forth depending on the superintendent and the, I think, you know, fiscal stability of the district. Could you talk about why you think this is important for us to have in your office?

I think that we've seen this year, there have been moments where it has become a challenge to maintain very clear communications and also kind of coordinating activities and events. I think that there are ways for us to do better work for our community with an additional position. I think that we can continue to serve and serve our community well.

Thank you.

Do we have any more board questions? Okay, seeing none, do we have any public comment on this item?

No public comment.

Okay, seeing no public comment, do we have a motion?

I'll go ahead and move it, but I do have a comment.

Smith, follow seconds. So we have a motion moved by Trustee Regler, seconded by Smith-Fold. Any board comments?

Yeah, if I may, I absolutely support this. No question that I support this. When the position was eliminated, I did say, are you sure? It was like, yeah, yeah. And I was like, okay, there is no doubt that two people are needed in that office. I mean, just as a board president, I could easily suck up six hours a week. I tried not to, but between agenda setting, board whatever, between your retreats, between... all the events between these meetings between i i don't know how one person does it it's not it's not even possible and it's not even it's not even fair um so um i i absolutely do support this there's no question and that's my comment do we have any additional comments okay trustee gonzalez hoy thank you um yeah i mean i think that's difficult i definitely understand

where Trustee Hernandez is coming from of, you know, we're making cuts in sites, so asking for an additional position in the central office is a hard ask, right, in the middle of cutting budgets for sites and cutting positions. And I definitely understand, you know, what Trustee Reckler and you, Superintendent, have brought up about the need for the work to happen, right? And I know that we have had many conversations about things that have fallen through the cracks because of the lack of support in your office. So it's definitely, I think, a hard ask, right? And I definitely understand where you're coming from. of asking for this position. And I think where, you know, the pressure that we're also getting as a board of not adding positions to the central office, right? Because I think everybody needs positions centrally and at the sites. So I just wanted to express that this is difficult, I think, for everyone. I'm sure it's also difficult for you to ask for it, right? So I understand where everyone's coming from. Thank you.

Okay, seeing no additional board comments, I'll move on now to the vote. Trustee Regler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fols?

Smith-Fols, yes.

Trustee Gonzales-Hoy?

Please come back for me.

Trustee Hernandez? No. Trustee Gonzales-Hoy?

Sorry, that was not much time. Sorry. To clarify, we had already approved adding a position, I think in February. So this is purely for the, just to clarify, purely for the job description. It's not really for the job per se, correct? Sorry, I know we're already voting, but because we already approved the position, it's really just around, this vote is around approving a confidential coordinator instead of an executive assistant, correct? Then yes.

Okay, interesting. Yeah, that's a yes. And now we will move on. Time isn't temperature too. Oh, we have this enough time. So we'll move on to a couple comments for the board. If there are any, if we can limit them to one minute each, if we have any additional comments from the board, trustee and nonetheless,

I just want to remind folks again about our graduations coming up and making sure that you attend and sign up. We have the Black graduation tomorrow. We also have our first annual Latinx graduation. I'm super excited. Students, if you haven't signed up, there's still time. Thank you.

Okay, so... Thank you for that. The next scheduled board meeting will be June 3rd, 2026 at Lavonia Dijon Middle School. And I am adjourning this meeting at 1053 p.m. Have a good night, everyone.