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

Good afternoon and welcome to the mic.

July 15, 2026, regularly scheduled board meeting of the West Contra Costa Unified School District. This meeting is called to order at 546 p.m. Para acceder a la traduccion en Zoom, haga clic en el icono del globo en la parte inferior de la pantalla. Si se encuentra en Dijon y necesita audífonos para la traducción, puede recogerlos en la esquina trasera del auditorio. La junta directiva está a punto de entrar en sesión privada, pero antes de hacerlo, estamos aquí para escuchar cualquier comentario del público sobre los temas de sesión privada. Las personas que deseen hablar sobre los temas de sesión privada deben tener en cuenta lo siguiente. Si se encuentran en el auditorio y aún no lo han hecho, por favor, entreguen una tarjeta de comentario del público que está en la mesa de la entrada, o si participan vía Zoom, deberán levantar la mano en la aplicación de Zoom. Si acceden a la reunión por teléfono, presionen el asterisco nuevo. 9. The board is about to go into closed session, but before we do, we are here to listen to any public comment on closed session items. Individuals wishing to speak on closed session items listed, if you are here in the auditorium and you haven't done so already, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card, which you can find 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 a 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 it were your own. Be open to another point of view if one is offered. Due to the Brown Act, board members cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. Items listed on the closed session agenda tonight are public employee appointment, Is there any public comment?

Yes. First public comment is Sue Kahn. Please unmute yourself.

Good evening. Can you all hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

I am reading into record a letter written to the board and to the superintendent on June 29th, 2026. We are writing on behalf of employees in the West Contra Costa Unified School District who have expressed sincere concern over the failure of the Board of Trustees to report on the action or lack thereof. regarding the Executive Director position. We understand that a name was brought forward to the Board of Trustees by the Superintendent and Associate Superintendent of HR during the closed session of June 24, 2026 meeting after a rigorous selection process. Christine Hatcher, a highly qualified candidate with a distinguished career in WCCUSD, was informed that she would be recommended to the Board for that position. No report was given to the public during open session following a lengthy closed session regarding that position as listed on the board agenda. The very next day this position was again posted on EdJoin. We cannot express strongly enough the impact this action is having on many of our WCCUSD employees. While we are not currently alleging a violation of the Education Employment Relations Act or contractual rights, we are concerned that the impact of this decision has damaged employee morale and eroded confidence in fair promotional opportunities. The perception among employees is that integrity of established processes and professional development Merit may be subordinated to considerations that have not been openly discussed or debated. The Board of Trustees has emphasized the importance of transparency, equity, professionalism, and employee engagement. These policies and ethical principles must apply in actions that validate the words. Decisions that disregard established hiring processes risk eroding trust in institutional leadership and discourage talented employees from investing in future employment in the district. We request your immediate attention to this matter and reconsider your decision not to appoint Christine Hatcher to the position of executive director. Thank you for hearing me out.

Next public comment is Stephanie Hearn. Please unmute yourself.

Good evening members of the board and trustees. The leadership of SSA is writing to express concerns raised by our membership regarding the recent executive director recruitment process. The circumstances surrounding this process have generated significant discussion among employees and have raised Questions about transparency, consistency, and confidence in the district's promotional practices. Our understanding is that following an extensive recruitment and interview process, a finalist was presented to the board for consideration during a closed session on June 24th, 2026. Employees reasonably expected that the board would either take action or publicly report that no reportable action has been taken. Instead, no statement regarding the position was made following closed session, and the position was reposted the next day. The absence of any communication has created uncertainty, speculation, and diminished confidence in the integrity of the process. We recognize that the board has the authority to make hiring decisions and that personnel matters require confidential deliberation. Our concern, however, extends beyond any one candidate. While the individual brought forward is highly respected by colleagues and peers and possesses the qualification and experience expected of an executive leader, the larger issue is that the message this process sends to all employees. Staff need to know that opportunities for advancement within WCCUSD are guided by established processes, professional qualification, and equitable considerations. When a recruitment concludes without any public report, and is immediately reopened, it calls those expectations into questions. We respectfully ask the board to consider the impact the situation has on employee morale and organizational trust. To the extent permitted by law, we urge greater transparency regarding recruitment processes and board actions so employees can continue to have confidence. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Our next public speaker is Maisha Harris-Gash. Please unmute yourself.

Good evening, everyone. I'm recovering my voice. I lost my voice. So hopefully you can hear me. I'm speaking because when I heard Ms. Khan speak, I agree with a lot of the things that she said. I had some concerns myself about that whole situation. So You know, granted, I'm a teacher. I'm not on the admin side, but I was kind of curious. So I would appreciate some transparency. And as the last speaker was talking about employee morale, as we know, we had a rough school year last year. And employee morale is very important, be it certificated, credentialed, office staff, everybody that makes this district go, run, and operate. employee morale is very, very important. So hopefully the community will get some clarity on whatever that situation was with the posting, reposting, all of that, because employee morale is very important going into this school year because of all of the things that transpired last school year. So hopefully board, you will, and in part board, you have a responsibility for the healings. of what transpired throughout the year last year. And so this is something that doesn't help with the healing when there's an appearance, I'm going to say, of a transparency. So board, I would implore you and ask you very kindly to help with the healing going into the 26-27 school year. Thank you.

That concludes our public comment.

Thank you to all who made public comment. We are now adjourning to closed session at 5.55 p.m. and we'll return to open session at 6.30 p.m. Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome to the open session of the July 15, 2026 regular board meeting of the West Contra Costa Unified District. I am calling open session to order at 642. Si se encuentra Dijon y necesita audífonos para la traducción, puede recogerlos en la esquina trasera del auditorio. Now 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. In a few minutes, we will begin public comment agenda item. 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 a public comment, please fill out and submit a WCCUSD public comment card. You can find them on the table in the entryway hallway. If you are participating via Zoom, please raise your hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning of the item on the agenda. Once the item has started, the there will be no more public comment cards taken. If participating by phone, press star 9. After your comment card has been turned in and the cards are placed in the order received, we will count on speakers one at a time alternating between public comment here in Dijon and one on Zoom. Public comment generally lasts for one hour. The time allotted to each speaker is two minutes. In the meantime, we are moving on to the rest of our opening procedures. Item B2, Pledge of Allegiance. If you are willing and able to stand, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item B3, Land, Labor, and Body Acknowledgement. land acknowledgement. We recognize that we are presently on the lands of the Chechenya, Muwekma, Kharkin, Ohlone peoples and acknowledge them as the first inhabitants of the land we currently occupy. I acknowledge that the burden of environmental exploitation and systematic injustice falls upon the labor of black and brown bodies in the building of this country and its institutions. I remember that black and brown bodies were born and died working this land against their will for generations. I also acknowledge that the continued contribution of land and labor of survivors over the centuries to today of all immigrant labor, including voluntary, involuntary, forced, and undocumented peoples in the building of what we refer to as the United States, author Dr. Rochelle Rogers Ard, was Contra Costa Unified School District School Board anti-racism statement. The governing board is committed to the work of anti-racism and conscious and active effort to identify challenge and correct racial inequities in the systems and institutions within 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 inequities they produce have shaped us, our schools, and society. The board strives to uncover unconscious biases and practices anti-racism as individuals and as board members. We challenge ourselves to persist through the discomfort necessary for growth and learning, to deepen our listening and our examination of racism and oppression, and to develop a strong understanding of how personal experiences and feelings fit into the larger picture of continual oppression. each member of the governing board individually and collectively is responsible for creating a nurturing and anti-racist learning environment where each student staff member and community partner is respected and evaluated and valued member of the district community the governing board is uniquely positioned and 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 practices and children's education and well-being while building strong and inclusive school communities the board commits to holding each board member accountable towards these goals and moving towards the work of anti-racism forward We also commit to holding the West Contra Costa Unified District staff, students, and community to live in these standards of anti-racism in our schools. Board approved March 20th, 2024. And now we'll move on to roll call. Ms. Sanders, could you please call roll? Yes. President Inanna? Buenas tardes, Presidente.

Trustee Cynthia Hernandez? Yes.

Good evening.

President trustee Demetria got in Gonzales way.

Good evening.

President trustee Jamila Smith folds.

Good evening.

President trustee Leslie record. Good evening. Present.

Thank you for that. Now we'll move on to reports and ratification of closed sessions.

In closed session, the board voted to approve the appointment of Theodore Dyksel as Harding Elementary School Principal. The vote was unanimous. The board voted to approve the appointment of Karina Soriano-Ponce as Verde Elementary School Principal. The vote was unanimous. The board voted to approve the appointment of David Luongo as Kennedy High School Principal. The vote was unanimous.

Okay. Okay, now we'll move on to gender review and adoption. Does the board have anything that they would like to adjust on the agenda? Okay, seeing now we will proceed with that agenda as published. Item eight, WCCUSD 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 allowed 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. Individuals wishing to speak, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card. Or if participating via Zoom, individuals will need to raise their hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning of this item on the agenda. If you are calling in by phone, press star 9. Speaking time should not be transferred from one person to another. There is no substitution of speakers. Speakers can also make public comment again for each discussion. and action item on the agenda after staff presentation. The public will have 10 minutes per item and one minute per speaker. The same protocols are cited above apply. The public comment period is a safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed in a civil matter without interruption of intimidation. Please listen attentively to each speaker's comment and respect their time at the podium if you were your own. Be open to a different point of view if one is offered. Due to the brown neck, board members cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda, do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. Is there any public comment?

Yes, our first public comment is Salon Harrison. Please unmute yourself.

Yes, can you guys hear me? Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Yes, I'm here. I just want to talk to you guys today. Every board meeting we say that anti-racism speech. And I wish the board would put some action to that and quit saying it. We developed that for what reason and it's not being implemented. Is it even working for our own board members? Is it working for our students? Is it working for the people it was meant to be? I don't think so. And I feel if you guys are going to keep saying that, you guys need to put some action to it. You guys need to put action towards plan for parents. for the board members, for staff, for students. It's just right now, it's just something we're saying and not nothing we're practicing. It sounds good, but can we stop saying it and do something? Can we stop saying it and help our kids? Can we stop saying it and make sure that our parents know what to do when their children are experiencing racism on campuses? Can we do something? Besides, say it. If we're going to say it, let's do some action. Let's say this is what we're about and this is what we're doing. Not just say it and that's on to the next agenda item.

I'm complete.

Our next public comment is Jane Kinchner. Please unmute yourself.

Good evening, board. I'd like to advocate.

Thank you.

Can you give us one minute? I don't think we can hear you.

Can I have the full time, please? Sorry. Okay. I'd like to advocate for my fellow almost soon-to-be teachers, Ms. Lopez and Ms. Mendoza. I'm really saddened that somehow the district starts running the clock on their pips and stips before they actually even start school. So now on the back end, they're stuck. And they were offered jobs and they're being told from HR, nope, can't hire you, you have no credential. That is not their fault. That's the district's fault and how they do the pip, snip, time clock. They should have long-term subbed them until they actually started school and then pip and snipped them. I also think that the district should look at the intern credential, which they can get through their universities to make up for that snafu and encourage them and help them to do that. Both of these teachers have two and a half, three years now in our school between subs and other things. One has more after school. We had ICE take families away. One family lost both of their parents. These teachers were the only two people, they each had one of the boys, that they felt comfortable going to and talking to and letting them know what was going on and let them comfort them. We need these people back. We need our staff back. We also need supplies. Our janitors got four gallons of stripper and they said they usually get 20. So they're not able to strip the floors properly. They have like little to no wax. Please give our janitors all the supplies that they need so they can clean our school. We lost our night janitor because we don't have enough numbers, but now we have a whole different night janitor. That's a permanent person. Our principal randomly just evaporated in the middle of the night. I'm excited we have a new principal. At least we can, you know, start again, but... I don't know what's going on. And our TK numbers are just poof. Please help us stabilize our school. Bring our staff back. Get our supplies. We have a principal now again. Get our TKs. We need your help, please. We're trying to do our best. And I agree with the statement of the equity. We're a lowland schools. Come on, help us, please.

Next public comment is Maisha Harris-Gash. Please unmute yourself.

Good evening. First, I'd like to congratulate our new principal, Mr. Luongo. Definitely looking forward to working along with him. For great things that Kennedy and with this being the 60th graduating class coming up this school year to do some things that celebrate the history, the legacy of Kennedy high school. Also, I saw in the board documents about under the JFK modernization. Not that I understand at all, but it looks like money is looking a little different because of unforeseen conditions, owner-initiated changes, and design deficiencies. So hopefully when school begins that we'll have an updated community meeting so that we can understand some of the changes that are going on and what the money is looking like. I also saw in board documentation that that some of our board members are seeking funding to go to a Latino school board conference in San Jose. So I'm guessing that this year that sites will not be limited or their funds won't be shut down to do professional development. Last year at Kennedy, we faced our money being frozen. So some of us could not attend the California Association of of African-American superintendents and administrators professional development. So hopefully that is a sign that we will have use of our appointed, voted upon professional development funds. And also, Finally, around the anti-racism statement, a speaker before mentioned that, and I do have concerns based on my firsthand experiences during this last school year, like what does this anti-racism statement mean? Are we really putting it in action? Are we having the courageous conversations? So hopefully moving forward, the board will do its due diligence around anti-racism in our district.

That concludes public comment. Thank you to everyone who gave public comment tonight. We'll now move on to standing reports.

Council of elders, please come to the podium.

This is probably going to be the only time while we're up here other than my waving. After this, we'll probably have to really think about what's going to be said. We want to, first of all, thank the governing board and cabinet members for letting us present our standing report. And it seems like the subjects that have come up are pretty much in line with what we want to speak about. So I'm representing, obviously, all of the Council of Elders. They couldn't all be here. But Dottie, Holland, and I are here. It's the filthiest, dirtiest, nastiest word in the English language. That was the view of prosecutor Christopher Darden, Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, and a Richmond native and graduate of Kennedy. when the issue of saying the N word came up in the 1995 murder trial of football star OJ Simpson. There is no question that the words of etymologic lineage to the actual word nigger were bastardized over time to degrade black people. For more than 400 years, every opportunity to degrade, insult, and punish Black people for just being Black was attempted by those who developed and guided the systems having control over the life and outcomes of Black people. And the use of the word nigger was part of the process of control and limitation. It is more devastating than a slur. It is a weapon that damages how Black people see themselves, see one another, how they respond to a world where such a word even exists. Multiple members of the COE are in regular contact with students, teachers, and administrators within several schools ranging from K-12, During these times, a significant percentage of students and teachers reported to members of COE the regular use of the word in throughout the district. As a result of this reporting, members of COE tried to address the issue at the site level with no progress or evidence of change. co-met with the Superintendent Cotton in October of 2025 to discuss our concerns regarding the lack of a clear policy and plan to help eradicate the use of the word nigger in school because of its harmful effects on students and the school environment. Superintendent Cotton stated that the plan and policy would be ready by November, 2025. Code then stated, we would accept January, 2026 to complete the work and roll it out because of the upcoming holidays. She, Superintendent Cotton assured us that it would be ready and she would convene a meeting to review her draft. After not hearing from the superintendent or her office, we sent out a request for a follow-up meeting to discuss the status of the documents. In June, 2026, the meeting was scheduled and we met with superintendent and her cabinet and were advised of a process that the district intends to implement during the coming academic year to address the use of the word within the district. However, given the pervasiveness of this problem, we are here tonight to make an urgent appeal that will not disrupt any process of the districts intends to implement over the course of the next few months. Indeed, our request is an emergency response to number one, acknowledges the previously mentioned pervasive, blatant and daily use of this word in violation of the existing board policy. And two, will assist the efforts of the district's leadership to recondition the atmospheric conditions within the WCUSD schools that have allowed a weaponized slur to become embedded within the district schools. Our demand, By the end of July, the superintendent will establish a written tiered system of consequences to be implemented in all TK to 12 grade schools by the first week of the school year. And it should be presented at a special board meeting or the first board meeting in August, 2026 for action to facilitate the implementation at all schools during the first week of the 2026, 27 school year. Thank you.

Our next sending report, it's Elan Harrison with ASAP. Please unmute yourself.

Thank you. Can you guys hear me? Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Okay. I want to make sure. Thank you, board, for convening during the summer.

We out here still representing and supporting our parents.

We have continuously brought children to the board. brought parents to the board. We've come to the board to address the use of the N-word and to address our children being called names. There's been harm done to our children. Parents have filed uniform complaints. They've made civil rights complaints to the NAACP. Our district at this point, there's not just black parents complaining, there's Asian parents complaining, there's Latino parents complaining regarding these racial slurs, anti-racism throughout our district. The board needs to deal with this as a district issue. This is no longer, you can say it's the black kids and we don't have to do anything. Now everybody's being harmed. Can we do something now? ASAP is really, really working hard. We gave a deal cap recommendation that you guys did not accept. You did say you'll come back to the table, but to me, Checking with the kids, you guys have done that. We have proof that that's been done over three years ago. So we don't need to continue to ask the kids what do they want, and they've told us, and now their response is the adults don't do anything. Let's make this a district issue, and the board needs to organize on how they're going to deal with it. ASAT is also looking forward to ensuring that when we, I don't know, if you guys announce what we're going to do with all this funding, that one-time money that's coming from the state. But we do want to meet with the cabinet level and the board to support us in making sure that our resolution that's been board approved and passed has some allocations out of the district budget to ensure that our children are getting equity in education. And the resolution has it clearly laid out. Thank you for continuously ensuring that we have freedom schools. It's not where we want it, but you guys are consistent with that, and thank you for that. We also need more. We need more in the matters of our children are still not reading. We need more in having access, our parents knowing what's going on, like all other parents do. And we need more when it comes to black educators and making sure we have the type of cultural relevance curriculums and support our children need just because they speak english does not mean they come in knowing standard english our children need to be taught by licensed or credentialed teachers that can support our children or caring adults that can support our children we're open to both so we want to see that this coming school year you guys are making sure that all our most needed students are getting what they need, including the black students. So we will be looking very closely to how you're disseminating support and where you're putting the resources at. Because if black children are not included in that, that's not going to be looked at very fairly on how you're giving equity to all kids and us being as one district. We are looking also to have more communication. I know we're changing over from... the office of OASA and we don't know how that's going to look. So we're looking for more clear communication with the district because in the past that has been a horrible situation with us planning our year events for our children, making sure that the district is investing in our engaging activities for our students and our families that continues to be a barrier. So we're hoping this year that there's clear communication that we're able to make a calendar With the advisory budget that we haven't had last year, we did not get to advise at all on the budget. We didn't even get to find out what the budget was last year. So we're hoping that that's not the case this year and that we can set times and dates of meetings so that parents and our APACs, we can have clear communication and have a great school year with our anti-racism statement in action. I'm complete. Thank you.

If you have a Senate report, can you please raise your hand on zoom? That concludes our standing reports.

Thank you to everyone who gave a report out tonight. We will now move on to approval of minutes for the Special Board of Education 5-13-26 meeting. Special Board of Education for 5-27-26. Regular Board meeting 5-27-26. and Special Board of Education June 3rd, 2026. Regular board meeting for 6-3-26. Regular board meeting for 6-24-26. And Special Board of Education meeting for 6-29-26. Do we have any changes that we wish to make? All right. Do we have a motion to approve?

I'll move adoption of the minutes as they are presented.

I second. Okay, we have a motion to approve by Reckler, seconded by Trustee Hernandez. Trustee Reckler?

Yes.

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

Yes.

Trustee Ayanna is a yes. Minutes have been approved. We will now move on to consent items. Does any board member wish to pull any items for the consent for discussion later in the evening? Okay, seeing none, then otherwise we will accept the consent items as presented. Moving on to item D, superintendent communication.

Thank you. This evening, I will be presenting the superintendent communication on behalf of Superintendent cotton. Thank you, Nancy. Next slide. We'd like to start this evening with a moment of silence in honor of a student who we recently lost. Isabel Hager was a beloved student at Hercules High School who has been with the West Contra Costa Unified School District ever since she began at Cameron Preschool. She graduated from Hercules High School recently in June 2026 and was planning to attend transition in the fall. Our hearts are with her family and the school community at this very difficult time. We would like to take a brief moment of silence. Thank you. Next slide. On Monday, the West Contra Costa Unified Schools District co-hosted a retreat of the Schools and Neighborhoods Action Team alongside Healthy Contra Costa. This brought together many of our community partners, many of our cabinet members, members of our community schools team, our expanded learning team, our curriculum and instruction team, and ed services. our office of positive school climate, to work alongside many of our community partners and neighborhood groups and advocates to really co-design a universal goal for student learning and talk about what coordinated supports across our community partners and our district departments would look like for Steege Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Dijon Middle, and Kennedy High School. So it was a rich conversation. We look forward to continuing that conversation in August and September when we'll be reconvening with the principals of those schools and the team that was at the retreat on Monday. And then we will continue on with the important work of planning those strategies really grounded in the school specific data. Next slide. We also want to recognize the work of the 7-11 Committee, which has reconvened and reconstituted 7-11 Committee. This is the committee that works to develop recommendations that will be brought to the board about what can be done with four previously closed school sites that the district may choose to surplus. These school sites are obviously of particular interest to our school communities. and our neighbors, so we're working to make sure that our school communities and neighbors are fully engaged in that process, and also that new members of the reconstituted committee have the opportunity to review and provide feedback on the draft recommendations. So you see here a picture of a site walk that occurred at the Adams Middle School site. There was also a site walk that occurred at the Portola site, and we will have two additional site walks that will occur at the two other sites. as the committee reviews the draft recommendations and works to put together their final report. So we will continue to share updates on the 7-11 committee activities. All of those are public meetings. We invite members of our community to join us at the future site walks and at future committee meetings and public hearings led by that committee in order to make sure that we have the right of feedback on those really important recommendations for what to do with those sites. Next slide. West Contra Costa does not close in the summer, especially our food services team. So our food services team has been working very hard to provide free summer meals. This includes serving students at 50 meal sites across West Contra Costa through August 7th. And we also have a new traveling barbecue program. So that has expanded access at Davis Park and Richmond High School. And we have two mobile kitchens now serving six neighborhood parks worldwide. between Hercules and Richmond. And so we are continuing to provide that information to the public through our website and through social media. Please, we encourage the community to come out and get a healthy meal from West Contra Costa. And that information is available on our social media as well as the WCCUSD Food Services social media. Next slide. Our summer school programs have had exciting opportunities underway. And you see some great pictures here from the experiences that our students have been having at the variety of programs that are occurring across our school sites. So we do have our summer school programs, our expanded learning summer programs, our OASA summer school program, summer school programs that are led by our STEM teams. You can see here a book giveaway at Montalvin. Students lining up for a fire drill at Helms, even in the summer, we do what we need to do to stay safe. And pictures from our OASIS summer school program as well. Next slide. We're going to share a few more highlights from summer school, summer reading and summer play underway at Montalvin, science time with our second graders at Michelle Obama Elementary, and a lunchtime dance party at Obama as well. Next slide. I think we've got one more slide of our happy summer school pictures. All right, and we've got multiple World Cup watch party days. We know our students want to stay engaged in the World Cup, as we do. And at Michelle Obama, we also have student art programs, student support and individualized tutoring happening there, and Twin Day at Michelle Obama, keeping the spirit days going during the summer. Next slide. Our summer school graduation will mark our final graduation of the 2026 season. That will be on July 23rd, 2026 at 4 p.m. at Pinole Valley High School. Summer school graduation is sometimes called our rainbow graduation because we celebrate all the colors of all of our WCCUSD high schools. We look forward to celebrating with our students' families and our educators there.

Next slide.

Our juniors, we really want to encourage you to spend this summer getting started on some of those college applications. Our college and career centers will be there to support you as you come back to school. This is an exciting time to take some of that reflective time. Think about what you might want to write about in those essays. do a little bit of research. And our WCCSD team continues to be here to support. So those supports will be ready back on school campuses as soon as we reopen schools. And we will continue to share related resources and supports on our social media as well, sharing opportunities from the Ed Fund, from Richmond Promise, and many of our other partners who are continuing those supports throughout the summer. Next slide. All right, and just as our juniors are thinking about getting ready for those college applications, we want to encourage the families of our littles to think about getting ready for pre-K, TK, and kindergarten. Summer is an exciting time to keep foundational learning going as we get ready to start a great school year together. Next slide. And that continues the importance of reading over the summer. Every single summer story counts. We know that many of our Contra Costa libraries are also running programs that reward students and families for that summer reading. We will continue to share those opportunities and encourage families to read every single day, every single evening, every single story counts. And that concludes the superintendent's report.

Thank you for that. Do we have any questions from the board? Or Trustee Smith-Foltz?

Is Wednesday, July 22nd or Thursday, July 23rd?

Thursday, July 23rd. We apologize for that typo.

And then my second question is, I'm a transition student who's 20 years old. But I go to transition. Can I come and get a meal? Or is it just because I've aged out? Or if I'm a student, because our transition students go to 22. the age of 22. So how does that work with the meal, the free meals?

I will confirm that with our nutrition services team. I do believe that our families will continue to have that support for meals. We will confirm that.

Okay. And then I would have the same question for our adult ed students that are still our students, but they may be over the age of 18. Do they still get the opportunity to have access to our meal program or not? So thank you. I'm looking forward to that answer.

I'm complete. Absolutely. We will get that answer. Thank you. Any further questions? Okay, seeing that, thank you for that superintendent report. We will now move on to our action items. Item E and that would be E1 public hearing resolution number 2627 dash 14 resolution of the Board of Education of the West Contra Costa Unified School District calling an election for voter approval to renew the existing education parcel tag, establishing specifications of the election order, and request a consolidation with other elections occurring on November 3rd, 2026. And I think that's Ms. Sanders.

I don't... Across myself... Apologies across myself and Mr. Carter. And we also have a speaker who's joining us this evening, Mr. Godby. And so we're just looking to see he may he may not be on yet. I think we're running a little earlier than we thought we would be. But we can begin with context about the resolution and then Mr. Gottby can jump in with the specific presentation as soon as he's on. So I can start and then I will pass it to Jeff to address some of the fiscal context here. This resolution is bringing forward. I'm sorry, can I just have a point of order? Will you open the public hearing? Thank you.

We all need each other.

Sorry for that. I will now open the public hearing for resolution number 2627-14, resolution of the Board of Education of the West Contra Costa Unified School District calling an election for voter approval to renew existing education parcel tax establishing specifications of the election order and requesting consolidation with other elections occurring on November 3rd, 2026.

Thank you very much. This is a resolution bringing forth a ballot measure for the November election that would be a renewal of the district's existing parcel tax. This is a parcel tax that has been consistently renewed by our community since I believe 2004 when it first came before our community on the ballot. So this is what we would consider a straight renewal. This is a renewal of the tax at the existing rate. There is no increase year over year built into this tax. There's no new tax. All exemptions also remain in this tax. And I will turn it over to my colleague, Jeff, to talk a little bit about the specific dollar figures there and also the impact on our logistic budget.

Yep. Thank you. Good evening, Board. So the parcel tax brings in just about over $10 million per year of revenue toward our school district. And we spend about $8 million on services for our district and about $2 million goes to charter schools as they have some rights to the parcels as well. It's an eight-year term. Currently, it's expiring June 30th, 2027. uh tonight's board resolution would bring it uh so that we can submit it to the county in august for the ballot measure in november uh if this doesn't pass we would need an additional eight million dollars in reductions uh to offset the loss of revenue currently the partial tax funds uh our counseling services our library services and our athletics programs um So there are some contract languages in the union agreements that speak to positions being in effect as long as the parcel tax is in effect. If this does not pass, we would need to take a look at that contract language, those positions, and the services provided through the parcel tax currently in order to right-size our district back to our new reality if this revenue does not continue. That concludes my report.

Thank you Jeff any. It's still we have public comment on this item. Now we do not have public comment okay do we have any more questions on this item.

And has our presenter joined yet Brian copy. I can call him.

That'd be great. Okay, we are going to take a five minute recess.

Ms. Sanders, do you have an update for us? Thank you. Yes, we'd like to introduce Brian Godbey. The district has engaged with Godbey Research for the purposes of doing an informational poll to help us understand the current community appetite for renewal of this parcel tax. So at this time, I'll turn it over to Brian. Thank you very much for your assistance with this poll and for your presentation tonight.

All right. Great. Thanks, Liz. Can everybody hear me okay, I assume? All right. Great. All right. So let's just jump right in. The purpose of the poll, as Liz alluded to, was to look at a variety of different things related to the parcel tax. We wanted to look at perceptions of the district. We wanted to look at potential support for a hypothetical parcel tax measure. Obviously, you have a real parcel tax measure in place, but this is moving forward. We wanted to look at projects and programs that might be funded with the proceeds from the parcel tax. We want to test both positive and negative arguments. And then we look at a couple different rates in the survey. We're going to really focus on one tonight. and the fallbacks from that. But we did look at various rates and terms and you'll see some of that in this condensed presentation tonight. And then there's of course a wide variety of demographic and behavioral characteristics that we use to make sure that the sample is representative of the likely November 2026 voters in the district in this particular case. A little more on the methodology. It was a phone and online survey. Phone meaning, yes, there's still a few people out there who answer landline calls. More certainly that answer cell phone calls, but the vast majority of the surveys that we do now everywhere are from text invitations to an online survey. There's a few people that do email as well, but it's really the text invites that get us the majority of the completes. The universe again was the likely November 2026 voters. There was a June subset, which we won't be looking at now since June has passed, obviously, but that's available in the full report. Fielding dates were November 10th through the 14th of last year. The average survey was 23 minutes long. The total sample was 709 interviews, which gives us a margin of error plus or minus 3.67 for the likely November 2024 or 2026 voters, sorry. And there were also ballot question splits. So for the ballot questions that you'll see, that's actually plus or minus 5%. So diving into that first section, it was, as I mentioned earlier, of how the district is doing. And this question asked, do people agree or disagree that the district needs additional funding to do its job of providing quality education to students? And here we had the strongly agree and somewhat agree together. And we're at 67.4%, which is a good indication. This isn't the ballot question. by any stretch of the imagination, but it reaches the two-thirds measure, two-thirds level that people think that you need additional funding. Now, from there, we switch gears and did go into an actual ballot question, and this is the first of three tests of this particular question. You see the wording on the right-hand side of the slide. It meets all the statewide legal requirements for a parcel tax measure. It has a tax rate. It has how much it raises annually, and it has a term, which in this case, case in the survey was until ended by voters then you can also see it has bullets of the things that we might spend the money on and that was our best estimate of what we would spend the money on before we did the survey there's a little bit of modification of that as you probably know from looking at the packet and the actual ballot question that's before you tonight so when we add up the definitely and probably yes after they were read this question on the right hand side you see we're at 63 in round numbers Which is not a bad place to start, but it's certainly five points below where we need to be to be successful in round numbers. So there is work to be done for sure in the context of putting a measure on the ballot. So the next question was a much longer set. You see just the top items here. These are the things that we might spend the money on. And what we did is ask people, are you somewhat much more likely, somewhat more likely, somewhat less likely or much less likely to support the measure, knowing that it would help attract and retain qualified teachers, including science teachers? We then go back and create a numeric ranking, which you see across the bottom of the slide, 2, 1, minus 1, minus 2, which gives us this intensity score, the 1.1a, 1.15, et cetera, which is how we rank it to make sure we've got the top items here. We also look at the much more likely and somewhat more likely percentages just added together, but we're ranking it by that intensity scale because it's just much more accurate. So at the top of this list, you see attract and retain qualified teachers, including science teachers at 74%. when we add those percentages together the next one is attract and retain highly qualified teachers virtually the same but a little bit difference in the wording and you can see there's a little bit difference in the the intensity score but really statistically speaking they're the same then we have maintained science technology engineering math also known as stem and it's important to explain to voters what it is, not just use the acronym because the acronym is sort of education speak and the average voter, particularly the average senior voter, doesn't know what it means. Protect core academics like reading, writing, math, and science at 1.03 and then the final item on the list is maintain health and counseling services to support students that are struggling. So all of these are in the low to mid 70s, which is why they're essentially in the ballot question that, again, you have before you this evening. The next question said, same idea in terms of methodology, but these are a little more positive arguments. And they're still ranked the same way. So you see at the top of the list, every penny from this measure will benefit local elementary, middle, and high school and cannot be taken by the state or federal government. So that's an accountability provision. At 1.37 on our intensity scale, it's also 75%, at least somewhat more likely to support the measure. So that's a pretty strong argument and something that will need to be explained to voters. The measure continues to ensure that large businesses and large commercial property owners will pay their fair shares, though the burden does not fall solely on the average homeowner. And obviously, since it's a per square foot parcel tax, as it's always been, that's certainly true because large businesses, large property owners have more square feet. The federal government is dismantling the Department of Education, which funds state and local programs. This will help offset that. By law, no money can be used for administrator salaries and other accountability provision. Local schools need this measure to maintain existing academic programs and retain teachers. And so all of these, again, low 70s at 73, the low point 75, mid 70s at the high point, these are all important items that the voters need to know to make a choice on this measure. So at this point in the survey, we've introduced the ballot question, we've talked about what we spend the money on, we've talked about the positive arguments, and we come back to that same wording on the ballot question a second time. We would expect it to go up, and in fact it has. We're now at virtually 70%, which is a pretty good jump from that 62.6 where we started, and certainly indicates that, you know, once people know what the measure's about a little more, they are more supportive. We did ask some negatives after that. just to put it in context. And so then we come back to our final test and after hearing the negative side of the coin that we lose support. We're back to 61.6, so pretty much where we started. Another way to think about this is averaging the second and this, the third test, and we're at 65.8%, which is not where we need to be for a two-thirds parcel tax measure. So built into the survey in advance were fallbacks. So the first one was removing the until ended by voters and replacing it with eight years. That didn't really help us a whole lot, although one of the negatives was the measure is a forever tax, and that's what until ended by voters means. Until ended by voters is the legal way we talk about that. So Having a shorter duration probably helps because of that large impact of that negative, even though this doesn't seem to suggest that. And then the next fallback was that we would remove the cost of living adjustment, which was built into the measure that we had read in those three previous trials. And that gives us a big bump because people in this particular economic climate Andrew Sorensen- aren't wild about colas and we've seen that throughout the Bay Area for sure in other school districts and and cities as well, and so we think that removing the cola from the measure will certainly help the likelihood that you could pass the measure. I think at this point, before I go to the last slide, I'll just say this was all done also during the fall of last year. The economy was doing well. Gas prices were much lower than they are today. Grocery prices were lower. Everything that shipped using gas or diesel has gone up. And so I think it is important to be cautious and not try to shoot for the moon. We were trying different rates with the survey. Didn't really work. We think that putting it on the ballot at the same 7.2 cents that it's been without a COLA for nine years is probably the right way to go in this adverse economic climate. And the last slide sort of underscores that because we asked people again last fall where they thought the future of the economy was going to be. And you can see here the big burgundy section of the chart is 62% who think the economy is going to be worse. Now, again, they were asked that in the fall, but here we are now, and it is worse because of the cost of gas and the war, etc. And I also think the gold portion of that, the 19% that says, oh, it's about the same, well, about the same wasn't really great because we were already having problems in the fall. So that's a big chunk of people that are pessimistic on the economy Now, the good news is their pessimism was built into these ballot questions that we've asked. But I think that, you know, it's come home to roost and we just need to be cautious and we just can't be going for what we might want to increase the parcel tax to. I think in this environment, we have to, again, renew it at the existing rate. And that's priority one for the district at this point, because we don't want to lose lose the revenue from that measure when it expires. So that's the presentation I have for this evening. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you for that presentation. Do we have any public comment on this item?

Yes, we have one public comment. One minute. Salon Harrison, please unmute yourself.

Can you guys hear me? Yes. Thank you for the presentation. This is really good information. And just one thing I think that when we're, I know a little bit about this because I go to all the board meetings and I ask a lot of questions, but I think it's good to also educate other parents in the more the community have more opportunity to learn more about Partial taxes and the taxes that go through our district and that voters vote on so that parents and homeowners that parents are homeowners that we can have a better way in an insight or advisory on what the board is deciding and how things are decided when this is these type of decisions are made. And when these presentations are done, that parents can, you know, make sure they're here to see it. Because I know that a lot of parents don't understand, but if they knew they would want to be here and listen. So that's all I'm concerned. Thank you.

That concludes public comment. Thank you for the public comment. Do the board have any questions? Do we have any comments on this item? Trustee Riggler?

Do you want to put a motion on the floor first and then do board comments? Because I'll move it. I'll second. Yeah, okay. Small move 2627.14, resolution of the Board of Education of the West Contra Costa Unified School District calling an election for voter approval to renew the existing educational parcel tax, establishing specifications of the election order and requesting consolidation with other elections occurring on November 3rd, 2026.

A point of order. Do we have to take a decision on a public hearing? Because this is a public hearing. So I don't think it needs a motion. Sorry, say that one more time. I said, do we have to approve on a public hearing?

Well, you can close the public hearing. Yeah, if you took public comment, you can close it.

Okay. Yeah, because you moved it as a motion. So do we move it as a motion? Or we just close out the public hearing?

You just close it. Yeah. At 744.

So we would not be closing the public hearing at 7.45. And now we'll move on to the motion by Trustee Regler.

Thank you. I'll go ahead and move public hearing resolution 2627-14, resolution of the Board of Education of the West Contra Costa Unified School District calling for an election for voter approval to renew the existing education parcel tax, establishing specifications of the election order and requesting consolidation with other elections occurring on November 3rd, 2026.

I'll second, President.

Do we have a motion to approve by Trustee Regler, seconded by Gonzales Hoy? Do we have any comments from the board? Trustee Regler?

I do, thank you. So my comments are, this community has graciously supported this since 2004. We've been able to have this and have these extra funds since 2004. We need your support more than ever right now. And even though you're hearing in the press that there is record funding on education, that is true. But it's supporting the ecosystem around education. It's supporting community schools and it's supporting teacher training and pipelines into education. It's supporting food. It's supporting universal meals. All of that is fantastic. But what it is, these are all restricted funding streams that are not giving us what we need. to run our daily operations. And with what we're getting, the costs are outpacing what we're getting from the state. And that is just the bottom line. So even though there's more money, it's restricted funds and we can't always tap them. I want the public to know, though, that it's been spent well, and we have amazing results. A lot of this has been spent on sports, and you're watching our sports teams absolutely thrive. We've sent many teams. We have many CIF champions. Our football teams have been state champions. So the money is being well spent, and it is supporting kids, and they're doing fantastic with what we're doing with the money. So I have all of that. And then what else? Let me just see. Yeah, I'm begging for the community's support again. So hopefully this November you'll support with us and vote yes when you see it on the ballot. Thank you.

Any further board comments? Seeing none, we'll move on to the vote. Trustee Regler?

Yes.

Trustee Smith-Foldes? Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. We will now move on to item two, board policy and administrative regulation six, one, five, three school sponsored trips. Second reading.

I could do it. This is the second reading on 6153, school-sponsored trips. This is the second reading. The board had the first reading. Does the board have any comment? Anybody? No? Okay. You can take it. We've done our presentation.

Okay. Go ahead, Skisha.

This is the current draft policy for policy 6, 1, 5, 3 school sponsored trips.

Do we have any public comment on this item?

There is no public comment.

Okay. Do we have any questions from the board? Do we have a motion?

I will move board policy administrative regulation 6, 1, 5, 3 school sponsored trips. Second reading. for approval.

I will second that motion. So it's been moved by regular second by Indiana. Um, do we have any comments on this? I see none. Uh, trustee regular.

Yes.

Trustee Smith votes. Smith votes. Yes. Trustee Gonzalez Hoy.

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez? Yes. Trustee Yanyan is a yes. We'll now move on to item E3, approval of board policies. And I also believe that's Ms. Sanders' item.

Correct. Thank you. So this is a set of a significant number of policies that the governance committee has worked to review alongside cabinet. And so we're bringing forth a number of policies that are attached here on our agenda. in our board policy development workshop manual. What the process has been has been to review our existing policies alongside CSBA model policies and to determine when it is most appropriate to keep existing WCCUSD policies, when is most appropriate to use the CSBA adopted, or CSBA model policies, and when we are keeping one or the other with revisions. So I believe it's designated within that attachment. the specific revisions for each of those policies.

Thank you. Do we have any board questions?

We do have some items that do need discussion, so we can talk about those. And then is there anything we want to remove and have people not consider? I did collect a list of things that I wasn't 100% sure of. We might want to tell the board and the public that we're going to remove those if we're going to remove any.

We appreciated that feedback, and we did take the time to review. I believe there are a few that we are pulling.

Yes. Do you want me just to list the BP numbers that you want us to pull?

The BP numbers and then just for the public's awareness, the name of the policy itself.

Okay, we'll be pulling regulation number 5143 insurance exhibit 6163.4 students use of technology by long 9270 conflict of interest. BP 5502 to student and family privacy rights 5141.4 child abuse prevention and reporting a are 3100 budget. VP51-16.2, involuntary student transfers. Regulation 0450, comprehensive safety plans. Regulation 1220, citizen advisory committees. Exhibit 1312.4, the Williams. VP3290, gift grants and bequest. Policy 3312, contracts. Policy 5030, student wellness. Policy 5131.5, vandalism and graffiti. Bylaw 9250, remuneration, reimbursement, and other benefits. Regulation 0420.4, charter school authorizations. Policy 0420.4, Charter School Authorizations. Policy 0420.41, Charter School Oversight. Exhibit 0420.41, Charter School Oversight. Policy 0420.42, Charter School Renewal. Policy 0420.43, Charter School Revocation. Policy 1114, District Sponsor Social Media. Regulation 3100 on budget. Policy AR 3350, travel expenses. Policy 3471, parcel tax. Policy 3515.3, district police security department. Policy 3515.4, recovery for property loss or damage. Policy 3551, food service operations cafeteria fund. policy 3555 nutrition program compliance. Regulation 4118 dismissal suspension disciplinary action policy 4119.2 one professional standards regulation 4200 classified personnel policy 5113.2 work permits. BP and they are 5140 4.1 suspension expulsions due process and regulation 7160 charge school facilities.

Thank you very much, Rosa. Just for context for the public, would you be able to share the rough number of policies that are remaining there and moving forward? Because I recognize that was a long list and there are a significant number of policies that we are moving forward tonight in addition to the ones you read that we're pulling. Sorry, can you say that again? Would you be able to share a rough estimate, it's okay if it's rough and not exact, of the number of policies that we are moving forward tonight, with the exception of those that you just read that we are pulling? I just want to recognize for the public that was a very long list, and there are many that we are still moving forward with tonight.

There are approximately 630 policies and ARs that are moving forward.

That are moving forward. Thank you very much.

Do we have any board questions?

Yeah, so at this point with the discussion policies,

Do you want to... Regarding... Do you want me to? Is the question regarding what the next steps will be with those that are being pulled this evening?

Yeah, because there are some that are to discuss that the board needs to discuss or a mark to discuss.

Sure. I know that it's a significant number that Rosa just listed that we're pulling for further review. Are there specific ones that you want to make sure that we discuss tonight?

Yeah, so in the packet 3516.5 emergency schedules is marked to discuss. And it's printed page three.

Thank you, I can screen share that. So this policy is regarding authorization for the superintendent or designee to close a school site, change the regular school day schedule, or take any necessary action when a hazardous environmental health or weather conditions or other emergencies warrant that.

And is there something specific that the board has to discuss in this?

Trustee Reckler, I think that what we discussed was that the ones that need further discussion will be agendized at future dates to have a longer discussion. Because I don't think that we are ready or staff is ready to have those longer discussions of why we specifically flagged them. So I think the idea was that we're just going to approve the bulk of the rest and then agendize these like a couple of books at a time so that we... give enough time to them for discussion.

Okay, perfect. I do have a discussion item, though, even though we're pulling it around conflict of interest, I do have something for the board that, you know, we should discuss together. If these are just, is it okay if we do the conflict of interest one with everyone? yeah yeah go ahead okay so conflict of interest the staff has to decide some things and we're going to bring it back but for the board something important that i wanted the board to know and to discuss is that in our governance manual we say that the board will accept no gifts However, in the state law, there are laws around what you can accept. And so what would the board like to do? Would they like to stick with the law and accept according to the law? Or would they like the governance handbook to override and accept no gifts at all? Because we have a discrepancy between those two documents.

Do we have any board comments on this or just for discussion?

I think I have a parliamentary question.

So this is one of the board policies. This policy was pulled as a discussion item for right now. So if it, if it has substantive changes, then that has to be motioned in. Is that correct?

Yes.

Okay. You're asking for a board discussion that will either keep the policy as is or to make a substantive change. Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay. Thank you. I'm complete.

There are two parts of it. One is this part for the board. The other is, just so that you know the reason why, the old policy has a very long list of people that need to fill out the Form 700. And the new policy does not seem to reflect that. So I want to make sure with staff that we're... clear on what we're doing with that piece of it. But the question for the board is we've got this discrepancy between governance handbook and the law. What would we like to do?

What's the definition of gifts that's presented in the law?

It's actually quite extensive. Let me see if this copy has it. I have it. Okay, you will find it on printed page 18. And do you want me to summarize? Okay, so it gives of travel and related lodging Under the government code, there are certain circumstances where you can get reimbursed for travel in connection with a speech. Lodging, same thing. It tells you who needs to provide that travel. There are certain exemptions. There's different gifts for birthdays and stuff like that. There's like dinners. There's like a whole list in the law of things that you could do. So, you know, we don't even need to decide tonight. We can flag it and you guys can think about it. But I thought it was just important to raise it as we're going through this.

Okay. Do we have any further comments from any of the board members on this item? So I don't have to be pulled for further discussion for upcoming board meeting.

Just for a little clarification, if I heard correctly, The ones that we have on the package that was attached to the agenda under discussion, we are not to approve those. We're bringing those back for discussion. Is that correct?

I believe what I heard was that there were two specific policies that we are pulling in addition to the ones that you read out that we're already pulling. That's what I believe I heard is the suggestion. I believe we might need a motion to that effect to pull the two specific policies, the one related to conflict of interest and then the other one related to emergency schedules. Did I follow that correctly?

The one for conflict of interest, I mean, I can certainly speak to that one. The emergency schedules, I'm not entirely sure. But on the conflict of interest, yeah, we're not going to approve it tonight because of those two issues. If we need to re-motion in any way, I'm happy to do that. Emergency schedules, I don't know anything about it.

Okay, so my understanding is like the list that I read that we're pulling, those are not going to go with the adoption of the rest of the policies. That's correct. Okay.

And are we also hearing correctly a desire to add the conflict of interest policy and the emergency schedule policy to that list to be pulled so that it can be discussed further?

Yeah, conflict of interest we got, yeah.

Are we waiving the first reading for the rest of the policies? Or have the rest of the policies come for a first reading? No, we would be waiving. And being asked to accept those policies?

Yes, we were asking to waive the first reading because if you recall, we sent an email to the full board a couple weeks ago asking for that to be the case so that the policy is going to affect before the school starts. Otherwise, the policies won't be in effect. And there's a lot of them that need to be in effect before school begins.

I think it's more of a issue with public comment and the public being able to see the reading or see the policies before we vote on them. So they'll be able to have comment. We can listen to their comment and then make changes if necessary. So I think what we need to kind of balance in that timeline is to, because I believe this is something that you spoke to before, to make sure that there's enough time to get the comment and then make the corrections and then bring it back to the board. So I think moving forward, that's something that needs to be top priority. And I know there's 600 plus policies and you guys are attending the governance meeting. So I see that the work that's being done, but that's something for being a public facing institution, what I think that would be best for us to do. I'm complete.

I think that the next suggestion would be because I also understand that some of these policies that have to be approved is they're time sensitive, right? Due to them having to be printed for the upcoming school year and to our handbooks.

That's correct. Especially for the principal's handbook is what staff shared.

That's correct. And we are currently in the process of updating all of our handbooks, including our parent-student handbook, our leadership guidebook, which includes our principal handbook, and working to have all of those ready for our administrators to come back on August 3rd. What's the deadline to that?

Because the only other option that I see if the board doesn't approve them tonight and waive the first reading would be for us to have a special board meeting within the next, what are we looking at?

President Yanan, can you hear me? Yes. May I suggest, though, that then if that's the case, if there's anyone in the public who has feedback for us, we can bring them back for changes if there's any changes that need to be made. A lot of the changes in majority of these policies are just purely because we're out of compliance with state laws or with current policy for the state. So I think the controversial policies are the ones that we're pulling in which most people in the public would probably want to have discussions. So we can always reschedule them to come back for further discussion and to have additional changes if anyone has any feedback. But I do want to be cognizant of the need to move them as quickly as possible.

Okay, Trustee Regler.

Yeah, and I want to say it is, as you well know, not my preference to do a one read, for sure. I do not like that. That being said, I feel confident that what we've brought is not... it's bringing us up to the law, if you will, on the majority of it. And if this can get cleared, then the board can really start to have discussion because then we'll have the most current in front of us and we'll know where the ground is instead of like, is this current? This is from 2006. This is, you know, it'll give us a platform to go forward. So I'm very sensitive. If there are things that people want to pull, I wouldn't, I would, you know, I have no issue with that, but I also feel that we did a lot of work over the six months just to get caught up. And I think that there's going to be stuff that we don't like and errors because there's so many of them, but we could bring it back.

I mean, Okay. Well then with that being said, do we have a motion on the floor? Public comment on this item?

Our first public comment is Jean Kinsner. Please unmute yourself.

Hey, good evening, board. I'm curious, since we're a multilingual district, why isn't this at least in Spanish? If you want communities to give feedback, they need to be able to like read it. Not only just enough time, but no language barrier. Just a thought.

That concludes public comment.

So I'll turn the motion on this item.

I do have a question.

Okay.

Is there a running tracker of how many there is? Where is that running tracker located for the public?

That is a document that I believe has been available at all of the governance meetings. Is that correct? Which have been publicly noticed meetings, which are also available on our YouTube channel.

Is it also on the website? Is there a page on the website that says governmental policies? This is the number that have been accepted. This is what those policies are. This is a number that we have to go. Is that public facing on our district website or is it just accessible through the governance meetings?

As the meetings themselves are posted on the district website, the short answer to that is yes. I also hear underneath the question, though, a desire for us to be as accessible as possible. So certainly there could be some improvements there to make sure that that tracker and the visibility of the significant amount of work that's going into this is fully accessible to the public. Is it navigable and reachable through the district website? Yes, it is.

Okay, thank you for that. And I think one of the reasons why is because if we have exceptions to the first read, then we need to make sure that that's accessible for the community prior to the meeting to make sure that, okay, it's announced at some meeting prior, then it comes up and it's, this is how you can access it. What's going to come up because the first reading is going to be skipped. So then this is how you put your public comment out or your suggestions to the board about those parts of the policy. I think that would be a way to share up the gap in the system.

I'm complete. All right. Thank you for that. President Nguyen.

I'd be happy to make a motion if you're ready. Okay. I move that we accept all the policies with the exception of the policies listed by staff that we pulled and the two table policies that Trustee Reckler pulled as well. And I would like to include Trustee Smith's full suggestion about adding them to the website.

Do we have a second? I'll second. So we have a motion by Gonzales-Hoy, second by Trustee Regler to waive, to accept the policies and waive the first reading. And we'll now move. Do we have any comments? Trustee Regler?

just want to offer profound thanks on this project uh to superintendent who noted how out of compliance we were and to the board for agreeing to the project and to staff for their hard work and to trustee gonzalez hoy i think we make a really good team on this stuff um and that this was incredibly laborious and to rosa my gosh i mean the amount of tracking and today I called it the project from hell because it's project from hell. Um, but thank you. Um, I think once this is done, then as I said before, we can really start to have discussion because we'll know where we are and we'll be somewhat updated. Also there will be errors because there's so much cross, like this one links to this one and this one and this one. So I suspect everything will not be perfect. It is what it is. We'll bring it back. And again, this was way overdue and, and, Really, thank you very much with all of my gratitude.

I also have a comment on this. I think I want to say I've been at the governance meetings and also want to say we appreciate the hard work that's being done to really bring these policies up to date because this has been something that we know we've needed to do for the last couple of years, a lot of years. So hopefully after this, we will have a baseline of how to continue to move forward. And with that, I'll move on to the vote.

Can I make a quick comment? Yes, Trustee González-Joy. Thank you. Sorry about that. I raised my Zoom hand and that's not the same. I wanted to thank all staff as well. Like Trustee Reckler mentioned, I think we're downplaying the amount of work that this took over the last four months, starting with meeting over a series of almost a week for staff that had to drop everything and go back and read hundreds of policies. And the importance for us to be up to date in our policy is so critical. Like Trustee Rickler mentioned, some of our policies that were like 20 years old that, you know, were so out of compliance. We could have easily gotten sued over issues that we were just not doing correctly. So I'm really thankful for this. Trustee Reckler, I want to thank you specifically because you took a lot of the work to kind of prepare us for the meetings. And I agree, it was a process that I really enjoyed doing with you and with all the cabinet and all the cabinet staff, because I know there's a lot of behind the scenes that happened. So thank you, everyone. And I look forward to continuing to keeping up to date with all of our policies moving forward. Thank you, President.

Okay, now with that, we'll move on to the vote. Trustee Regler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fold? Smith-Fold, yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy?

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez? Yes. And Trustee Ayanna Zayas? Motion has been passed. We will now move on to item F, discussion items and reports. And we have two items. So we have community schools presentation. Okay. And we have Ms. Sanders doing the presentation.

Good evening and thank you very much president and members of the board. Um, I'm very pleased to be here today with the co-chairs of the community school support collaborative, um, as well as two of our student leaders from our all student Congress to give our annual update, um, of our community school support collaborative. Um, I do believe that one of our presenters is also online. Um, so just confirming that, um, Shakira Reynolds is online with us.

I'm here.

Fantastic. All right.

All right, my name is Joyce Sinnott, and I'm a community school manager with Bay Area Community Resources. That's a lead agency in 20 district sites. I've been on the support collaborative since its inception, and I am now the co-chair representing the community seats. I also wanted to introduce Kathy Baker, the co-chair representing the UTR seats. She's not able to be here tonight, but as you'll learn from our presentation, she supported the community school teacher leads this year and organized multiple community school site visits to advance our collective learning. Shakira?

I am Shakira Reynolds, and I am the parent co-chair. My son was an eighth grade student at Betty Reed Soskin and is now going to be a freshman at De Anza High School in the fall. The other hat I wear is I am also a staff person at the West Contra Costa Education Fund. And I have been on the support collaborative also since its inception. So happy to be here again this evening, board members and community.

Okay, as for our objectives tonight, we hope you will leave with an understanding of who we are as a support collaborative and what we've been working on this year. We want to share with you some of what we've learned and also some of the highlights worthy of celebration. And then we will invite you to continue the work and learning with us so that in true fidelity to the strategy, we can build this movement together. Next slide, please. Though I realize it's not good practice to read off a slide, I'm going to read this definition of community schools aloud. I think it's really important and often misunderstood. A community school strategy transforms a school into a place where educators, local community members, families and students work together as partners to strengthen the conditions for student learning and healthy development so that young people can thrive. This is a way of doing schools that is collective, responsive, and ultimately transformative. Next slide, please. The Community School Partnership Program provides a framework for building these conditions. First, integrated supports are critical. You most likely see the integrated supports at a care team at our sites. That's where students are connected with such resources as counseling, mentoring, and warm check-ins, to name a few. Second in the framework, collaborative leadership is foundational. We build schools and make decisions together, not top down to the community, but together with the community. This requires many site-based teams with diverse membership and a willingness to share power. Third, the framework depends on family and community engagement that truly welcomes and seek partnerships with all members. This isn't about hosting a lot of events. It's about meaningful engagement so that families believe they belong. And finally, the framework elevates expanded learning time and opportunities inside and outside of the classroom, both during the school day and beyond. I hope that you can see that the framework is about how we organize and do the work, not about funds. This is very important. Community school strategy is not about money. It's about a mindset. I will pass it to Ms. Sanders.

Thank you very much. Next slide. All right, we wanted to take a moment just to honor that West Contra Costa Unified has been a pioneer in the community schools work since long before the California Community Schools Partnership Program. Our community schools informed work started back in 1999 when school-based health services and health clinics first began to emerge in this district. And actually many of what we would consider our OG health centers are at our schools that are not actually CCSVP funded schools. So we want to take a moment to just acknowledge the James Morehouse Project at El Cerrito High School and also the Wellness Center at Hercules High School. Those are health centers that really embody the community school's strategy, even though they are outside the CCSVP-funded work. So we are really proud that, as you can see, in 2012, our board passed a resolution committing to being a community school district. In 2014, the city of San Pablo collaboration was established to support beacon directors that continues. I will not read this whole timeline, but I do think it's just important to acknowledge that we have continued to push the boundaries of what it means to be a community school and also be a model of that work in a way that's really led state level transformation. And I want to acknowledge again, Kathy Baker, our co-chair from UTR, was not able to be here with us tonight. She will be presenting as part of our next monthly standing report. And UTR really has been supportive of this from the beginning of the push for the California Community Schools Partnership Program, one of a small set of programs. of CTA labor partners who pushed for that work across the state. So we just want to acknowledge the role of WCCUSD and UTR in pushing for the statewide transformation. Next slide. Right. What are the community schools collaborative? So when we think about our community school ecosystem here in West Contra Costa Unified, you wanted to take a moment just to lift up public awareness of our action collaboratives, our community school support collaborative, and the community school systems change collaborative. The team that is presenting here tonight are the co-chairs of the community school support collaborative, but at each of our CCSPP funded sites, there is an action collaborative. And that is an action collaborative that's really site-based work, learning from the community school strategies that are happening on the ground so that we're constantly informed by what we're doing. And that's led by our community schools site directors and also by our community schools teacher leaders. making sure again that this is constantly done in partnership across our certificated and classified staff members as well what we learned from our action collaboratives informs the work of our community school support collaborative which is a district level team that you're hearing from tonight really refining our community school strategy as a whole district and then that work is brought forth to the community schools systems change collaborative which is co-chaired by superintendent cotton and contra costa county supervisor john joya and that team is really a cross-sector collaborative, and that it's able to take this work to the next level in terms of policy advocacy. Because as we've mentioned, WCCUSD has always been at the forefront of pushing for community schools, and we plan to continue to be at that forefront by making sure that what happens on the ground in our school sites bubbles up to the community school support collaborative and then feeds into the work of the systems change collaborative that truly changes policy locally and at the state level. Next slide.

So I am going to talk about the bright spots from this academic year for our support collaborative. The pictures that you see are from a visit to Obama. We had site visits at Betty Reed Soskin, at Greenwood, and this is really where community meets the policies and the conversations and what makes our group so powerful is that in that room, there are CSDs, Superintendent Cotton was there, people from cabinet, community members, and the presentation was done by the principal and students and their CSD. And they were having an attendance challenge for March Madness. So we went on a tour of the school. They were doing screening for glasses and hearing testing that day. It was really just an amazing time that we had in order to just seeing community schools in action. Next slide please. So one of our bright spots, as I said, was our site visits, something we really were committed to as a support collaborative, because what often bubbles to the top, unfortunately, are all the things that are maybe not happening in schools and in the district. But it's so much, so many wonderful things happening in WCCUSD and so much to be proud of. We wanted to go and see so that then we could share. And you have all these people from different walks of life in the district and different levels of power all coming together with a common cause. Also our community schools teacher leads and our community school site directors participated in community of practice year round. They came and reported to our support collaborative And during our next board presentation, it will be the teacher leads and UTR that will do the whole report to really get into the meat of their work. Um, we had student voice, which as soon as I complete this slide, we will have two students speakers and the Y plan program. We, this year was our first time having joint meetings of the support collaborative and the systems collaborative. So we could come together from parents all the way to local regional and county politicians to really talk about all in one space, the best ways to support our schools. And then WCCUSD and BACR also did a community schools presentation highlighting health centers and student voice at the National Community School Conference. So the work of WCCUSD really is being shared, not just locally, not just in our schools, but across the nation. And Liz, I'm going to pass it back to you all for the student speakers.

Thank you very much, Shakira. I'm really excited to reintroduce to you at both of these students when they did their all student Congress presentations a little bit earlier this summer, but reintroduce in the context of community schools. Keontae Gix from Betty Reed Soskin now heading to De Anza High School and Jose Valdez from El Cerrito High School. So thank you Keontae and Jose for taking the time to be with us this evening.

Good evening, everybody. My name is Jose, heading into the 10th grade, also an ASC member. I have been in ASC for two years, heading into the third year. And my experience in ASC has been hearing student voices, what they have been through, The committee I'm in is anti-racism. And anti-racism, the last time we presented, we were asking for a mandatory teacher training so teachers could be trained, right? But also during my ASC year, we collected surveys. We, well, I went into classrooms and asked teachers if they could share those surveys to their students, just so we all know what they're going through, right? And throughout ASC this year too, um i learned more about how can these schools work right and i also learned more stuff about how the system works with our district right and um i think that's like mostly what i you know that was good this year right the thing about asc is that Each student has different opinions, right? And I think it's all about, like I said, hearing student voices, right? It was just a good year, right? Since first year, we did not have a good ASC year. It was kind of ups and downs, right? But with our coordinator, the amazing Miss T, who came to fix our ASC, right? Huge shout-out to her, Miss T. And huge shout-out to Mr. Nese. Thank you. And a huge shout out to trustee Smith holes for being there at our meetings. Thank you so much. I think that's all I got to say. Right. But my experience, you know, it's been good. And we continue to do more stuff for our next year. Right. But I, please, please, you know, I beg you guys to look into our recommendations. It is really important. I think by now you guys know what happened at a high school. That is huge, huge evidence why we need that, right? We needed mandatory teacher trainings. That gave us huge evidence and a huge, you know, POV of why we need those teacher-mandatory trainings, right? So just please, you know, just pass something. But huge shout-out to Ms. T, Ms. Denise, and you. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Keontae Gicks. I'm an incoming freshman. And my experience in ASC also, we did this event in Berkeley where some high schools in our school district came and we came and I was one of the only eighth graders there. So that's something I liked. And then Adding on to what Jose said about last year, we came a long way since last year. It was just for fun. But this year, we did a lot of hard work on researching. We made the survey where me and Jose, we... We talked to all our teachers and our principal and staff members at our school to get everybody to do the survey. And that's the reason why it really success. We really had success on getting data from that. And so also I wanted to add what Jose didn't add is that we went to somewhat monthly meetings to the San Pablo Community Center to learn about what community schools are, how to get data and how to work with our schools. And yeah, that's all I have.

Thank you. And we just want to let the community know that ASS is all student Congress. Liz, were you going to say something before I did the recommendation slide? Just going to thank our student speakers and hand it back to you. Go for it. Thank you. And yes, also thank everyone in the family and community engagement department. This work does not just happen with our group or any one department. It truly does take community in order to make this successful. And we are in good hands when our young people are empowered to participate in the system that serves them and to lead. So our 2526 learnings and recommendations are, it really would be helpful to clarify roles to help us work together in service of students and families, both within the different collaboratives and throughout our community school ecosystem. And continue to lift and replicate best practices, there is a shared desire to move from just monitoring compliance compliance is the floor, but we want to get to the ceiling and strategizing in our implementation of. the California Community Schools Partnership program and grant, and then that we have shared language and norms that support our work and really are able to ensure that the community school strategy is across all school sites, not just the sites who receive the additional funding, because our commitment is to be a community school district. And so again, it's not about the money, it's about the mindset. Back to you, Liz and Joyce.

Next slide, please. All right, finally, we would love to continue this learning and collaborative, for you to continue this learning and collaborative leadership with us. As a support collaborative, we look forward to sharing our work with you through standing monthly reports at these meetings. We acknowledge this is a growth opportunity for us, and we are firmly committed to coming to you each month with students, parents, staff, and community partners to keep you informed so that you can be effective leaders and join us in moving this work forward. And Liz will bring it home.

Thank you, Joyce. And we just want to end this with an invitation for feedback in terms of what the board may like that additional deeper engagement with our community schools work to look like. Some of the things that we've already heard and are committed to doing moving forward are making sure that there is clear progress monitoring of the impact of our community schools work shared with the board throughout the year as you heard at the beginning of this report that we do look forward to taking advantage of the monthly standing report opportunity from the community school support collaborative and we also look forward to making sure that we're collecting street level data from our action collaboratives connecting that to map level data satellite level data at our district office and really building on some of the state level research in terms of the impact of community schools and really bringing forward what the impact looks like here in West Contra Costa.

And that concludes our report. Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation. I want to move on to board questions. Does the board have any questions on this presentation? Trustee Regler?

Thank you, thank you for the presentation i'm wondering if someone can comment about what's coming up, I mean the state, they just announced some really fantastic stuff so if we can get an update on what we're expecting.

Sure, I think both Jeff and I can cover that kind of in combination. There is some exciting news ahead in terms of anticipated community schools funding that we may be able to apply for for additional school sites. I'll let Jeff take that and then I'll talk a little bit about what we also anticipate in terms of a campaign this fall regarding our educational benefits forms based on what we're seeing.

Yes, thank you. So the state did approve and pass $1 billion ongoing statewide for community schools. We would anticipate that qualifying about nine more of our schools. The CDE has announced that we need to submit an application by November 1st to get those schools qualified. They haven't yet released the application form, but we're keeping our eye on it to make sure we apply and get those schools qualified based on their unduplicated percentage.

And just to build on that, we know we've had multiple conversations about a strong campaign for completion of our educational benefits forms in the fall upon reviewing the data about which of our schools will be eligible for us to apply for community schools funds and make new West Contra Costa Unified Schools eligible as CCSP community schools there are at least two schools that missed that cut off by simply one percent so when we return to our community and we do a real push for educational benefits forms in the fall we do that with this in mind that's all I have for questions I have some comments after any further questions for the board

Okay, seeing that, do we have public comment on this item?

Yes, we have one public comment. Salon Harrison, please unmute yourself.

Yes, can you guys hear me? Okay. Thank you guys for the presentation. And I must say this year has been a lot better than past years. Being a long time parent in this district, I think the past two years have been really good to learn about community schools. And I didn't even know my child attended a community school. And I really just hope the district continues to really take this feedback in that you guys have been given so we can do better with our community schools. And one thing I want to uplift that I didn't hear that there is money coming from the state also for our unhoused youth. I really want to see our community schools use resources to support our unhoused youth so we can ensure that there's equity in education and that there's resources at our community schools for our unhoused youth. Our districts should be receiving money for that also. So I hope that we do more than we have done in the past because in the past it hasn't been well.

I'm complaining. That concludes public comment. Thank you. Do we have any additional board comments on this item? Trustee Regler?

Yeah, so I do have some comments. The first is thank you for saying that we were among the first because out of many of our firsts, we are a first in community schools. So the district should be very proud of that. So thank you for bringing that up. I want to thank our students for their presentation and thank you for coming in in the summer. That's fantastic. I appreciate your time. I wanted to tell all the community school people that I went back through all of the presentations and I can really see the growth. Like I saw, like, we got this money. We don't know what we're doing. Oh, we're surveying. Wow. We're setting up these support. You're like, I could see the growth in the arc over the years. So I want to thank you for that. And that I think that you're right. this is now the time to move from compliance to real strategy. And I sent in some ideas of what I'd be looking for, and it's for all of the support collaboratives, it's for the entire system, but to really start looking at like what's working, common programs that are really driving student success, academically and socially, because all of this is supposed to be relating back to student outcomes and student achievement. And how are you measuring success? What are you looking at for that? Also, I know money isn't everything, but money is important. So even though it's a mindset, Where are you on budget? Where are you spending a lot? Where do you think you're getting a return on investment for what you're spending? Carry over the costs of certain programs. I mean, even though it's a mindset, you can't do it without money and the money has to be well spent because there isn't a lot of it. So I think that's important. um also staffing i think is really important just the nuts and bolts we've got this we're struggling with this if we're going to bring nine schools online i actually think you should be working on that now to figure out staffing needs um and then what full implant implementation looks like like who's like hitting it on all cylinders, maybe schools that need support, like, you know, like how does that whole thing come together? And then a clear set of goals. We're working towards this for this year, this for year two, this for year three to have, some north stars in some directions but it's been great and i've been really um i've been really pleased and happy to see the growth and i can really see it through the presentation so thank you it's great work and i'm i'm excited to see where it goes Oh, I'm sorry, I have one other thing. On these new schools that are coming online, I think I heard that they need to be like in the 60s free and reduced lunch. It's not like a 70, 80%. It's like pretty low. So that's awesome.

65% is my understanding. Thank you. Trustee Smith votes.

Thank you so much. I think that one of the best organizations that we have is All Student Congress. I think All Student Congress is one of the organizations that really let us hear if what we think is the vision of the board is actually being implemented at the site level. So I would like to ask that All Student Congress be a part of the standing report so they have the option to come to the district, just like other organizations. other agencies have. We have code that's able to come. We have uh, asset that's able to come ELAC, MDAC, et cetera. I think that we should have not only our community school be able to come to standing reports, but all student Congress as a separate report to come to us. We do have our amazing student trustees that give us some insight, but I think that having all student Congress come as an organization would be helpful. The other thing is, I think that we have heard from all student Congress that they are asking for us to create policy at the board level about around teacher, um, So I think that that's something that we need to talk about as a board and ask for direction with our staff. How does that happen? What needs to happen for that to occur? I think also, um, having all student Congress come to us with the, um, the foresight of this is what policies and resolutions need to come to the board. So their experience will be the best version of itself. I think that that's something that we, as a board, when we set the vision for the district need to have centered, I am complete.

Thank you for that.

I'm sorry. I did. I think, thank you for the presentation. If I didn't thank you for the presentation, I'm complete.

Well, I want to echo what my colleague said. I also want to thank for the presentation for everyone who came on and presented on this item. Being part of the collaborative, I think, early on before I became a trustee, trying to figure it out, and now being part of the systems collaborative, I do see the evolution of the work and the progress that we're making, but I also think that we need to, how do we support our sites? If this is something that we were planning on expanding, like how do we support our sites to be able to understand what community schools is and how do they form their budgets around community schools and have it be a shared educational thing that hey, we all know where we're at. And looking at the numbers and looking at the budgets around community schools, I think we see an uneven pattern about spending. So I think that to me is a concern. So how do we now use those resources, especially when schools have them, to be able to support students? outcomes so I think to me it's like a really big focus on education especially right now that we're getting ready to expand or hopefully get more of our schools on also like I said the commonality of what is the community schools I think you know having that common vision and the common lingo when you ask me what my community school is versus anyone else that we're all we're all on the same language, that we're all on the same path of what community schools is. So that's just my comments on that item. And seeing no further comments, I will close out the item and move on to our next item, F2. Quarterly update on Kennedy High School Modernization, Richmond High School Modernization, and Steege Campus Rebuild Projects. And that is Ellen's item.

Good evening, board and community. Thank you for having me again. We're here tonight for the quarterly update on our three major bond projects, Steege, Richmond and Kendi. Next slide. Steege Elementary School rebuild. Next slide. Phase zero is complete. We are still under construction for phase one, which is the underground site preparation. And phase two is currently under review with DSA. Next slide. So we've continued to install underground utilities. Next slide. We have had environmental site remediation of two fuel tanks. These have been removed, and we are currently working on the next steps for the refill process. Next slide. So we were planning a community meeting on July 22nd. Unfortunately, the venue is not available, so we will be back to the board and the community about our next meeting. We look forward to... keeping our commitment of having quarterly meetings. However, during the summer, it did not work out the way we'd hoped. So more stay tuned. We did have a naturally occurring asbestos discovery on the site around the tanks. We are currently working with all the agencies under jurisdiction, with authority under jurisdiction, and we will continue to move through that process. And again, we will have additional updates as we know more about what kind of impacts this may have on the project. Once this has been remediated, we will continue with the phase one work. In the meantime, phase two is under DSA approval. In the last quarterly report, we did announce that we were waiting for comments back. We received those comments and we do anticipate the completion of DSA's review in mid-July. Next slide. Richmond High School, next slide. So we have an exciting news on Richmond High School. We have started phase 1.2. This is the actual building phase. So you will see something vertical shortly. We have completed phase 1.1. Phase 2 is in final design and will be submitted to DSA, Division of State Architects, shortly, as well as phase 3. Next slide. So we do have over 250 piers installed underground. I know they're not impressive when you can't see them, but the cages you see in the front of this picture show the length of them. We had 20-, 30-, and 40-foot piers installed. Next slide. Oh, the video did work. Okay. So that's the process of the pier being drilled. Like I said, they were 20, 30, and 40 feet deep, depending on which locations they were in. Next slide. So this is more of an aerial shot to show the progression of the first slide shows the piers. The second slide shows the progress of the pier caps. And the third slide shows the totality of the pier caps on the western side of the site. Next slide. We have additional underground work going in. We had to complete the last of the fire water that is associated with this new build, as well as some electrical. Next slide. And so upcoming activities is that we're ongoing with the foundation construction. We expect a pour by the end of the week. Complete all underground utilities. Steel erection is coming, so that is the vertical element. So I'll be happy to come back next quarter and talk about that. Phase two is advancing to the Division of State Architect. Next slide. Kennedy High School, next slide. All right, so we have another celebration. Phase 1.3 is also beginning. So phase 1.1 is complete. Phase 1.2, we have just a few remaining items, but we are moving forward with the building phase of the new two-story classroom building, as well as the combination dining and performing arts center. Phase two and three are still in design, but are shortly going into DSA. Next slide. Here's the elevator pit. So the first thing we've dug is the elevator pit, but more is going in. It has a different foundation system than Richmond, so we won't be doing piers here, but we're moving through to create the forms. Next slide. We also hit a major milestone, which was a new electrical service that has been installed. That is a major stopping point for a lot of projects. So the fact that we've had that in early is really a great sign. a great thing for the project's advancement. Things that are coming up next are getting the ordering done of the long lead items, as well as finishing the foundation work. And phase two is getting closer to being submitted to the Division of SA Architect. Next slide. Join the CBOC. The CBOC's next meeting is next Monday, the 20th, at 6.30 at the FOC. We're always happy to have folks. If you follow any of these links or QR code, you could fill out an application. This was a site tour to Kennedy. We're still looking for applicants. And that completes the quarterly update. I'm here for any questions.

Thank you for that presentation as well. Do we have any board questions on this item? Seeing none, do we have any public comment?

There is no public comment.

Do we have any board comments on this item? Okay, seeing none, then we'll close out the item for tonight. Thank you for that presentation and for the updates. See you next quarter. We will now move on to item G, comments from the Board of Education. Does anyone have any comments this evening?

Before we do comments, President, can I please ask for a moment of silence and reflection?

Yes, you may.

I would like to ask for a moment of silence and reflection for the loss of life and the freedom for Cyrus Carmack Belton, a black child who was murdered and shot in the back at 14. 18-year-old Daniel Irving, who went swimming with so-called friends in Texas and was found dead. Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old black child who went out with a group of friends and never came back. Colin Wiley, a one-year-old black baby murdered by the police carmelo anthony a black child who at 19 years old had his freedom taken from him for defending himself against attackers this is just a few names black children deserve to grow up and as a school board we need to recognize this is the reality inside and outside of the school for black students if i could have a moment of silence Thank you so much. I'm complete.

Thank you. Do we have any additional board comments tonight? Okay. Seeing no additional board comments. I want to say thank you to everyone. Thank you. Oh, trustee. Go ahead. But it's trustee Smith folds.

I want to make a forward comment tonight. And again, I want to be sure that we all understand that facts aren't attacks. But I do want to talk about the issues that we have at the board level. The problem with the majority of the board, and frankly, education as a whole, is that we have the ability to change, the information to change, and the leadership from change agents. But we need to trust them. And therefore, if we don't trust them, then we do not change. We have to not be comfortable with making missteps and then instead of course correcting and self-reflecting, turning the district into a cleanup crew. They are not a cleanup crew. The majority of the board refuses to admit that the people we hire for their expertise may know more than the collective of this board. The majority of the board refuses to lay down their ego in the face of repeated facts, refuse to have hard discussions in a timely manner that wouldn't disrupt students, and refuse to have hard conversations that require a plan before the yes. The majority of the board, we cannot continue to hide behind performative motions, hopes and dreams, spinning narratives with the prayer that no one in the community has the appetite to look past the crumbs that are being offered. But some of the community sees through that, and I want to say thank you to them. I would like the community to understand that the majority of this board is feeding you, but it's not sustaining you. It is setting the conditions for food to be your energy. It is not setting conditions for food to be your energy, meaning this education system to be your students or your neighbor's students' launching pad. As a board, we're not talking about the years out. what the state of the farm currently looks like when we only harvest, we only plant and we don't, I'm sorry, when we only harvest and not plant. We don't talk about this racialized zip code farm that is WCCUSD where many can't eat from because of the barriers that this board allows to exist. Now that I've sat here and listed out all the problems, let me speak to the solution. We as the board need to do the job we were elected to do. We hold the solution. We can create the Eden conditions of WCCUSD farm. Eden conditions that create belonging and self-sufficiency and sustainability. How do we as a board do that? We do our jobs. My job is to ensure that education stays public, that all students have access. My job is to vote against charter schools when they are underperforming and costing the public school teachers their jobs and the public school district its money. My job is to know and act from the space that I know that my intentions don't insulate me from the consequences of my choices. I don't play in the face of the community, and I don't devalue people by making them promises that we as a public-facing organization can't fulfill. My job is to be physically responsible, which means I look around the corner and years down the road. I don't make decisions that destroy student programs and limit student opportunities. My job is to center students in all of my decisions. That means having the right people in the right positions, which means trusting the superintendent we hired and staying out of operations, defending staff that was unjustly fired because of emotion and not reality, and promoting from within when we can and not abusing our power because somebody may not like the candidate. My job is to ensure there is constant, continual, and relentless focus on race, calling out racism and anti-blackness and zip-coded policies and procedures wherever it's found and by whomever is delivering it. My job is to be steadfast and unshakable, attend every meeting, answer every question, navigate every concern, take every opportunity to volunteer, and keep my feet firmly placed on the ground. My job is when my no is my no and my yes is my yes, I create the systems of sustainability and trust. That's because that's the job that I'm required to do as a trustee. Now, since this is recorded and so the narrative can't be switched, I need to address my fellow board members. To my colleagues, especially those who ask for guidance from those of us who have been here longer, we have the same job. This does not mean that you have to like me. But all this worrying about what I do, who I talk to, what meetings I attend, and everything else is distracting you from your job and distracting you from our job. You don't have to support me. On June 24th, one of you after the board meeting even verbally attacked me and physically threatened me, called a black young man a boy, and continued to question my work as a school board trustee. Mad, I presume, because I said that we need to hold each other accountable. While I was being attacked, the other three board members you watched. You don't have to be friends with me, but as a trustee, you need to be friends with the community. It can be done. I've been serving this community long before this title. In this role, I need room to make solid policy and decisions that elevate. That's done by a count of three. But if I don't have that, I still get my boots on the ground and volunteer. But no matter what, you have to support the students. To do that, you have to stop. telling the community things that we cannot fulfill. And when you do that, then we are doing the job. So to recap and to be very clear, liking me, supporting me, or being friends with me, none of that is a requirement for me to do my job, nor for you to do yours. What is required in the job is to be honest with the community, knowledgeable about your decisions and their impacts, and focus on the students and their experience, needs, and desires. So stop looking at me and concentrate on the students. That's the job. And remember, these are facts, not attacks. So now that we are all on the same page, let us govern ourselves accordingly. And I am complete. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have any further comments from the board? Seeing none, I want to. I want to thank everyone for tonight's meeting. I also want to acknowledge that we have many sides to many stories, and some of us are more outspoken than others. I think we are here to do jobs that we all take to heart. I think that's why we are in the positions that we're in. I also want to acknowledge that we have to agree to disagree and be a team player and walk the walk that we talk. We cannot keep... putting division out there when we're trying to build on unification. So if we want to see ourselves as a unified board, we have to participate and carry ourselves with that understanding of how we're going to move forward to be able to achieve that. I think we all come to the board with different expertise. And we are here to support and collaborate with each other. And that is the goal. That is the goal for the board. You know, our students are always at the center and we see things sometimes differently, but we are here to do our job. So I thank everyone for tonight. I also want to make sure that we understand that the next regular board schedule meeting is August 5th, 2026 at the John middle school. And I want to say, Also acknowledge that I appreciate the work that we're doing collaboratively with every trustee on this dais, that we will continue to work hard for a purpose, that we all have our individual visions, but we also have to continue to work collaboratively. And that means that, you know, really bringing ourselves to the table every time that it's needed. With that being said, I adjourn this meeting at 9.04 p.m. Good night.