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

Good afternoon and welcome to the August 12, 2020 regularly scheduled board meeting of the West Contra Costa Unified School District. The meeting is called to order at 439. the board is about to go to close session items close session items if you're here in the auditorium already please submit it WCCUSB public comment card will be provided at the entryway table you are participating via zoom

Individuals will need to raise their hand in the Zoom app. If you are accessing the meeting by phone, press star 9.

The time allotted for each speaker is 2 minutes. The total time allotted is 1 hour.

Speaking time should not be 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 of what is offered. Due to the Brown Act, the board members cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. The items listed on the closed session agenda tonight are

public employee appointment to conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, conference with legal counsel, pending litigation, conference with labor negotiators, public employee discipline dismissal, release or complaint. Is there any public comment? Yes, we have public comment.

I'm a deep Rwanda. Please send me yourself.

We've got the translator overriding you. So the translator needs to flip to the other channel before you take public comment. Thank you.

Okay, we are back on. Amandeep Rawanda, please unmute yourself.

Good afternoon. Amandeep Rindawa here. I am the current president of RASA. I'm calling in to read the letter that was sent to the Board of Trustees on behalf of RASA regarding the executive director recruitment process, and for this letter to be part of public record. Dear members of the Board of Trustees, the leadership of ROSA is writing to share concerns that have been raised by our membership regarding the recent executive director recruitment process. The circumstances surrounding this process have generated considerable discussion among employees and have prompted questions about transparency, consistency, and confidence in the district's promotional practices. Our understanding is that after an extensive recruitment and interview process, a finalist was identified and presented to the board for consideration during a closed session on June 24th, 2026. Employees were left with the expectation that the board would either take action or publicly report that no reportable action had been taken. Instead, no public statement regarding the position was made following the closed session and the position was reposted the following day. The absence of communication has led to the uncertainty and speculation among staff. As an organization that represents classified and certificated employees, we recognize that the board has the authority to make hiring decisions and that personal matters often require deliberation. At the same time, employees expect that established recruitment processes will be meaningful and that the decisions will reflect the significant investment of time made by applicants, interview panels, and district leadership. When a recruitment process concludes without explanation and the position is immediately reopened, it can diminish confidence in the process itself. However, our concerns extend well beyond any one individual. While the candidate who was brought forward is highly qualified and respected by our members, the broader issue is the message is the process sends to all employees. Staff want to believe that advancement opportunities within WCCUSD are guided by clear, defined processes, professional qualifications, and equitable consideration. Maintaining that confidence is essential.

That concludes public comment.

Thank you to all who made a public comment. We are now adjourning to closed session at 445, and we'll return to open session at 630. Thank you.

then it's a favor to convert.

Good afternoon and welcome to the open session of the August 12, 2026 regular board meeting for the West Contra Costa Unified School District. I am calling open session to order at 655. Now to access translation and Zoom, please click the 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 on the agenda item. Members of the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of West Contra Costa Unified School District, but it's not on the agenda. Please prepare now for public comment. If you are here in the auditorium and you'd like to make public comment, please fill out and submit a WCCUSD public comment card. You can find them on the table in the entry hallway. If you are participating via Zoom, please raise your hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning of this item on the agenda. If participating by phone, press star nine. After your comment card has been turned in, the cards are placed in the order received and we'll call 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 allowed to each speaker is two minutes. In the meantime, we'll move on to the rest of our opening procedures. B2, the Pledge of Allegiance. If you are willing and able to rise, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. B3, Land, Labor, and Body Acknowledgement. We recognize that we are presently on the lands of the Tochenyo, Mugwekma, Karkin, Ohlone peoples and acknowledge them as the first inhabitants of the land we currently occupy. labor and body acknowledgment 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 the black and brown bodies were born and died working this land against their will for generations i also acknowledge the continued contribution of the 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 item four west contra costa unified school district board anti-racism statement the governing board is committed to the work of anti-racism the conscious and active effort to identify challenge and correct racial inequities in the system and institutions within our schools and community Racism, explicit or implicit, stands in direct conflict to the fundamental principles of district education. To carry the district education into the future, we recognize that we must continually renew and reflect on the roots of racism and develop new ideas to meet the times. Unjust ideas and policies and the racial inequity they produce have shaped us, our schools, and society. The board strives to uncover unconscious biases and practice anti-racism individuals and as board members. We challenge ourselves to persist through the discomfort necessary for growth and learning, to deepen our listening and 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 our 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 valued member of the district community. The governing board is uniquely positioned and it is our responsibility to identify, dismantle racist ideas and inequitable policies in ourselves and across the district. therefore we commit to supporting anti-racist policies programs and practices for our children's education and well-being while building strong and inclusive school communities the board commits to holding each board member accountable towards these goals and moving the work of anti-racism forward we also commit to holding west contra costa unified school district staff students and community to leaving these standards of anti-racism in our schools board approved march 20th 2024 Now moving on to item five, roll call. Superintendent Cardin, will you please call roll?

Yes. Good evening, everyone. Trustee Reckler? Good evening and present. Trustee Smith-Fold?

Good evening, everyone. Present.

Trustee Hernandez?

Buenas noches a todos. Presente.

Clerk Gonzalez-Hoy?

Good evening. Present.

Board President Inanna.

Buenas tardes, President. Now we'll move on to reports of ratification of closed session. Superintendent Cardin, is there anything you need to report out?

Yes. Regarding agenda item A21, the board voted to approve the appointment of Leroy Gaines as Associate Superintendent of Educational Services. The vote was unanimous. The board voted to approve the appointment of LaShante Smith as interim executive director for TK-12. The vote was, no, it was moved by Trustee Gonzalez. I'm sorry. It was moved by Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy, seconded by Trustee Reckler. Trustee Inanna was a yes. Trustee Reckler was yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy was yes. Trustee Smith-Foles was an abstention. Trustee Hernandez was yes. The board voted to approve the appointment of Angelica Lara as Director of Student Recruitment and Retention. The vote was unanimous. The board voted to approve the appointment of Tiara Shelton as district director of community schools. The vote was unanimous. The board voted to approve the appointment of Garrett Logan Martin as interim executive director of business services. The vote was unanimous. Regarding agenda item A22, no report out. Regarding agenda item A23, the board took action to approve the special education settlement agreement and the 2627 case number SED1. The vote was unanimous. The board took action to approve the special education settlement agreement in OAH case number two zero two six zero three one zero seven one and number two zero two six zero six zero eight nine zero. The vote The board voted to approve both settlement agreements. The vote was unanimous. Regarding agenda item A24, no report out. Regarding agenda item A25, no report out.

That concludes my report.

We'll now move on to agenda review and adoption. Does the board have anything that they would like to adjust on the agenda? Seeing none, we will proceed with the agenda as published. Item eight, public comment. Members of the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter within the subject matter. Sorry. Jurisdiction of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, but not on tonight's agenda. Public comment will last approximately one hour. The time allotted for 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 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 nine. Speak attention. I'll be transferred from one person to another. There is no substitution of speakers. Speakers can also make public comment again for each discussion item and action item on the agenda after staff presentation. The public will have 10 minutes per item, one minute per speaker. The protocols recited above apply. The public comment period is a safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed in a civil manner without interruption of intimidation. Please listen attentively to each speaker's comment and respect their time at the podium as if it 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 and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. Is there any public comment?

Yes, we have one in person and one online. Online is Jeffrey Bin. Next public comment is Marie Anayam.

Hello? Thank you to the facilities and safety departments for updating Stege's safety plan. We're feeling safer and we have resources to start out this year. I understand the beautification team will be coming soon. Thank you again to our leadership. It's wonderful that the SPED cars have GPS and we have a transportation handbook. Lydia back here please. There's more work to be done. We need cameras and GPS on the buses. There are also contract violations in the first student contract that we would like to see resolved. My son uses the bus and I also help load students on the bus. Remember, some are nonverbal and have various abilities. According to the contract, every bus is supposed to have a picture ID roster. Look at page eight. Our children are the most precious packages ever transported, and we must make sure that the safety guidelines are implemented because safety comes first. This is my 20th speech. I will continue advocating for STEEGE and for SPED. Now, please listen carefully. Cameron's one full time and one part time clerk were eliminated. We only have a secretary left. Who is supposed to process the 30 minimum 30 intakes per month? We have to remain in compliance or the lawsuits will start. Who will do all the safe and power school input? process records requests, transfers, respond to partner agencies, YMCA, Head Start, RCEB, manage the records room, and also support the 28 SLPs, six sites, 10 OTs, 23 SCC teachers, 62 paras, nine lift members, and one program specialist. This is across 58 different sites district-wide. We need our clerical team back now. This is very important. I have been in the office. It is a lot of work when we are enrolling families, when they come to Cameron, as you know, it's special ed and some of the parents.

Thank you for your comment tonight. Thank you.

Next public speaker is Jeffrey Bean. Please unmute yourself.

Good evening.

I'm Jeffrey Bean. I teach fifth grade at Shannon Elementary in Pinole. Often when I come to board meetings, I talk about things I am unhappy about because that's the type of place that is, I guess, where people can tell things they want to improve. And tonight, I want to do the opposite. I want to thank you for doing something good. I was very happy last May and June to learn that the school board and district staff chose to eliminate the IREADY assessments for elementary schools. This was a very good change. It means that my students in fifth grade this year will spend many fewer hours on assessments and more time doing actual learning. I'm excited about the potential of the new chosen assessments have. I can't really speak to them yet because I haven't tried them, but it looks promising. And I wanted to thank the staff and also the school board for making that decision. I am very excited for the school year. I teach fifth grade this year. I have 27 students in my roster. Last year, I had a fourth, fifth combination class. And although combination classes are not ideal, I do get to keep 20 of my students from last year in my new class as fifth graders. So I'll start the year with 20 known students and seven ones that I do not know yet. So I'm very, very excited for the year, and I'm looking forward to starting and seeing my colleagues tomorrow morning. So anyway, thanks, and I appreciate the hard work that you do for our community. Bye-bye.

That concludes the public comment.

Thank you to everyone who gave public comment tonight. We'll be moving on to standing reports. Do we have any reports for tonight?

Any standard reports, please come to the podium.

Good evening. My name is Christine Gant Hatcher. On behalf of WCCAA, oh, I'm sorry. Good evening to Board President Inyala, Board Trustees, Superintendent Cotton. On behalf of WCCAA, I want to welcome our administrators back and wish everyone a successful start to the school year. Like educators across this district, our administrators return ready to meet the appropriate challenges that a new year inevitably brings. I cannot tell you the collective number of years our members have devoted to public education, but I can speak with certainty about their resilience. They have continued to lead through changing expectations, difficult circumstances, and moments of significant uncertainty while keeping the success and well-being of students at the forefront of their decision-making. Some of our leaders are new to WCCUSD. Others are stepping into new roles. Some have returned after time away, including stints serving and leading in other districts and organizations and bringing new experiences and perspectives to a community they know well. Still others return with decades of service to the district. Whatever path brought them to their current role, they remain grounded in an understanding of whom we serve and to whom we are ultimately accountable, our students, our family, and this community. As I shared with the board on June 24th, our differences do not have to become divisions. We can disagree, challenge one another, and advocate strongly for those we represent without diminishing the humanity, expertise, or contributions of others. In fact, this moment calls for greater collaboration, not less. At the Leadership Institute, Dr. Bettina Love invoked a challenge from Bell Hooks that has stayed with me. Imagine how much easier it would be for us to learn how to love if we began with a shared definition. Perhaps there is a lesson there for us as we begin the school year. What do we mean when we speak of collaboration, of respect, of equity, of putting students first? We may discover that some of our conflict is not because we do not share these values, but because we have not developed a shared understanding of what they require of us in practice. While we are also beginning this year at a time when long-held commitments to public education and increasingly the expertise of educators themselves are being questioned in the broader society, more than 60 years ago in his talk to teachers, James Baldwin challenged educators to recognize their responsibility to examine society, question what they encounter, and work to change what is unjust. That challenge remains remarkably relevant today. The late Congressman John Lewis similarly challenged us to get into good trouble, necessary trouble. For educators, good trouble means having the courage to ask difficult questions, challenge practices that are not serving students and advocate for what they need, even when doing so is uncomfortable. But good trouble must also move us towards something, stronger relationships, better systems, greater opportunity and better outcomes for children. Collaboration does not require agreement on every issue, nor should it require us to avoid conflict. It requires us to determine how we will move through conflict together, to remain at the table, to listen, to challenge and be challenged, and to remember that none of us can accomplish this work alone. Our administrators are ready to do that work. We look forward to doing it collaboratively with this board, our colleagues, our families, and our community. Welcome back. And here's to a productive and successful school year. Thank you. I appreciate your time this evening.

Good evening, Board, President Inanna, and community. I was just asking President Hatcher whether if she had received a Google form for the standing reports. We haven't gotten it yet, but I just filled out the last one from... The last iteration, so I made sure to sign up until December, but my name is Dr Francisco Ortiz. I am honored and privileged to be the president of United teachers of Richmond. And I didn't prepare a report today because I wasn't prepared to. However, I do want to bring up a couple of issues that are pertinent and important for our entire school community. First, I wanted to share that we had the opportunity to welcome 89 new educators into our district, several who are returning educators, some who are brand new. And the excitement in the room was really great because they knew that they were coming to a fantastic union. They were excited to work in West Contra Costa, and they're really excited to get to work with our students. It's great to see that we have some homegrown folks and some folks who realize that West Contra Costa is a better place to work at. I also want to share that I am incredibly excited for the re-election by Trustee González-Oy and Trustee Area 4, and that we also have the brand new elected Trustee for Trustee Area 5, Katelyn Garibaldi, who will assume office in December. So I'm excited to support and continuing that work. And so what that means is that Our duty is to ensure that we pass measure V so that our students continue to receive the 10Million dollars that are allocated for counseling services that are allocated for libraries for recruitment of educators and ensuring that we don't lose that. Also, that we don't lose the 40M dollars that we are standing to lose if we don't pass proposition 3, which is a statewide initiative. Both of these local and the statewide are just renewals. They are not new taxes. And so we are confident that we can deploy all of our organizing power to ensure that we are protecting those dollars to supporting our students. Lastly, I'll be making a visit to. Betty Reed Soskin at Pinole Middle School tomorrow. They just received an email this afternoon informing the staff that they will not be voting on a bell schedule, which we were under the understanding that they were going to be voting on it. And so having some time for healing and reflection, I think, would be a really important show of good faith for district management to show up tomorrow. And we're excited for the work ahead in the 26-27 school year. Excited for baby Liliana's first board meeting here at La Valle de Jean. And we're excited to keep going. So have a great afternoon or have a great evening, everyone. Take care.

Good evening, boy. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. Hey, thank you. I was hoping you guys recognize me. Thank you for that. I don't know. Do you guys hear me? Because it's spinning on my side. Okay, there it is. Yes, thank you. I am still the ASAC chair, not planning to be, but I'm hoping this year that the district can find a way to support us, definitely with our new liaison, Trustee Demetrio Hoyt. Thank you so much for choosing us. We can get our elections done and we can support black and African-American parents with being more involved in our parent advocacy and leadership. I also have some concerns about how outreach is going with our schools. I'm still in. Having families reach out and I'm reaching out to families and they don't know the communication is not there around what's going on, especially when it comes to Kennedy and how things are going to go. So I don't know what else needs to be done because I don't know all that's being done. But I do know that students... that our most neediest students are not getting the information. And maybe if you guys choose to partner with some community organizations to get the information more widely spread or just do some innovative things to make sure. And I also would like to make sure that the principals are aware of how to start their APACs, that APACs are important, that APACs are needed. If they only have one or two black or African-American parents, how can they support those two parents? Just ignoring them and not acknowledging them. What their needs are, concerns are, their engagement may need to be is not acceptable in our district because we are one. So all parents need to feel involved and engaged and supported in our district. And we need to start that with the principals having the support they need if they have challenges with engaging black and African-American families. Also, we were concerned about the use of the N-word and how that is being handled. There are still currently parents that have not got any response back from the district. There are parents who are concerned about going into the school year, about how that's going to look, how the principals will respond. Parents don't have anything in their hands to address if this happens this coming school year. We are encouraging parents here with ASAP not to take things in their own manners, in their own hands. So the district being prepared, we didn't go away. The problem is still there. So the district needs to have something to support parents when these issues arise and not just give it to the principals and whoever the administrators, the parents need something to be able to support their students who are being harmed. by the use of the n-word and the physical assaults that are happening along with that also so we would appreciate as sooner than later if you can meet with asap and the other apex and and let us know what is the district's next steps around supporting us on the stop of the use of the n-word and support around the attacks and the violence that's happening around that also And we also would like to ensure that we are advocated, I mean, excuse me, communicated with throughout the school year. We haven't last year, we didn't get any of the budget that was going to be spent through the Office of OASA, what programs and services were selected. No advisory happened, period, at all last year. We were told things were happening. Absolutely, we were told. But we want to be that advisory. You guys don't have to do what we say, but we should have an advisory checkbox. Something to say that you met with ASAT in our APACs to see what's going to be going on for our students district-wide. And site-based, that would be very helpful in forming our relationship that should already be established, but we'll form it partners with the parents, the student, and the community. We want to be all together with the district. So please make a space. on you all's calendar to make sure parents are advising, especially our African-American and Black parents. We do want to be part of the solution and not always looked at as a problem. And we appreciate you all showing up for another productive and hopefully a school year where we can have our students thriving. Thank you. I'm complete.

Thank you, everyone, for those standing reports. We'll move on to item C now, our consent items. Does any board member wish to pull items from the consent for discussion later on in the evening? Trustee Regler?

Yes, thank you. I'd like to pull C9, the local agency.

Can you repeat that, Trustee Regler? I'm sorry, C9? Can you repeat that? We weren't able to hear. C9.

local agency investment fund, and then C-11 new job description campus safety specialist. Thank you. Any other items?

Seeing other, otherwise we will accept the rest of the consent items with item C-9 and C-11 being pulled. And then we'll now move on to superintendent report. This is your item, superintendent Collins.

Thank you. I'll let it get pulled up. Great. Thank you. Next slide. I'd like to start my superintendent communication with an acknowledgement of Becky Kaufman. It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our colleague, Becky Kaufman. Becky joined the West Contra Costa Unified School District family in 2024 as an accounting technician in business services. During her time in the district, she was a valued member of our team and we're grateful for her service and contributions. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with Becky's family, friends, and all who had the privilege of working with her during this difficult time. Service information will be emailed out at a later date. Thank you. Next slide. I do want to lift up that we had a The district hosted a two-day leadership institute at De Anza High School last week on Monday and Tuesday. It was an opportunity for our administrators, both classified and certificated administrators, to come together to learn together. We had time to do some reflection on our North Star. I don't know if you're aware of that. But the North Star shines so bright because it's actually three stars that are all in connection with each other and lighting the way for many people. Our North Star this year, our focus still is we are one and we are still one. We are working towards that. But our North Star also includes us. having a or creating schools that are welcoming um building and developing and supporting courageous scholars as well as maintaining creating as needed coherent and connected systems and so i don't know if you caught that wcc so we are one wcc west contra costa During that time over last week, we also had an opportunity to hear from Bettina Love, who is a world-renowned scholar and author and professor in the field of education. She was there on hand both to talk to our administrators, share thoughts around what does it mean to Be courageous. What does it mean to love? And looking at love as an action word. It was a very inspirational time, but it also allowed for our administrators to have some time with her. Oftentimes we have presentations, we hear a great speaker, we're inspired, and that's the end. We were able to hear from that amazing, amazing presentation. And then have time as we processed what her words mean for us in our schools, have an opportunity to really process with her. So she spent another almost hour with us and working with different groups of our administrators was a great way to start the year, a great way to really refocus on our vision and our mission. Next slide, please. as many are aware um and we will have there's actually a board item where we'll be discussing kennedy high school but i just want to lift up that on july 31st 2026 the executive team and i were aware of preliminary information about underground soil testing that had been done and i which identified a toxic vapor called pce that had made its way underground to our Kennedy High School and learned that while the city and state have been working to monitor this plume in the Richmond area for several years, we're just finding it on our doorstep. And so We've been working literally around the clock to get through additional environmental testing and working on a plan that cares for the health, well-being, and education of our Kennedy students, as well as the health and well-being of all of our staff. We do want to invite the community to our next cross-agency town hall that will be held on Thursday, August 13th. from 6.30 to 8 p.m. at the Richmond Auditorium. That cross-agency group will include the Department of Toxic Substances Control, as well as the City of Richmond. So please plan to come on out and join us tomorrow evening. Next slide, please. I also want to lift up that we had a session last night. We actually had a student forum during the day with Dr. Dumani, and we had an evening webinar with health professionals to talk about the environmental impact on our student and staff health. I do want to share just a quick clip from last night's video, our webinar.

Just one moment, please.

Almost there. Almost there.

You can send me this request. Okay.

We will keep going. If there's an opportunity, we will show the video at a later time in the meeting. We're present.

Is that fine with you? Great.

We'll keep going. Thank you.

And my training in that route is on chemicals and what the hazards of chemicals are. So this is something that we've worked on for a long time. And when I heard about the Kennedy cases and what the district had decided to do, I thought that's a really wise decision because it's effective. You're getting ahead of the problem

We'll come back to that. Let's keep going with the presentation. Thank you, everyone. I also want to just acknowledge as we come back to school, there's so much to celebrate and so much to just be excited about. We did recently host, Verde hosted a meet and greet for our new principal there, Ms. Karina Ponce. I just wanted to send a shout out to all of our new administrators, our new teachers, our new staff members who are coming, who chose West Contra Costa and are here and will be doing amazing work with our kids. We also recently hosted, we participated in a screening of the documentary, The Right to Read at Easter Hill Methodist Church. We celebrated Richmond Promise Scholars and actually was able to get some feedback from some of our recent graduates who but wanted to lift up and celebrate once students have graduated from West Contra Costa, they are still connected to this community. And then finally, want to lift up and acknowledge our very own Mr. Jose De Leon. Can we get a hand wave, Mr. De Leon? Excellent, excellent, excellent. Who received a Richmond Soul Award for Educational Leadership. So thank you for your leadership, Mr. De Leon. Next slide, please. Want to remind everyone that the first day of school is coming next Tuesday, August 18th is the first day of school. The district is working to open all 56 of our schools and programs on time, on schedule. Middle College High School actually has already started classes. They started, I believe, on August 3rd. Leadership Institute for Site Leaders has happened already. We're pushing towards instructional coherence across our classrooms. We've had guest experts that have talked to staff, Dr. Bettina Love, Dr. Kareem Weaver from Fulcrum Literacy, as well as Jacqueline Olson from UC Berkeley, the CREO program, looking to hopefully build a cohort of nationally board-certified educators here in West Contra Costa. I also want to lift up our STEEGE stars. They have been on their temporary campus since 2024 here at Dijon Middle School, and that they have made 111 point gain in their English language arts scores since 2025. So really proud of the work that is happening, understanding that there are challenges that we may face, but we continue to focus on our learning. Next slide, please. Today, we hosted our new teacher orientation, which was a beautiful moment to meet some of our newest educators here in West Contra Costa. And I have to say, just very proud to have met them this morning. I think they're going to be amazing in our classrooms and look forward to all the work that they will be doing. And just want to lift up and thank Trustee Smith-Foles for being president and joining that conversation. Next slide, please. Oh, I'm following along. Sorry. Want to remind our juniors, now is the time to get started on your college applications. It's time to start researching your colleges and majors, starting working on your personal statement, building your college list, creating your common app, and start searching for scholarships. So a little preparation this summer can make the senior year less stressful. So get started now if you're thinking about college after graduation. Next slide, please. As we think about those folks who are leaving us, we also want to welcome those folks who are coming in. We've got our new pre-K, TK, and kindergarten students. There's so many things that our families can do to support our youngest learners here in West Contra Costa. Reading together every day, practicing writing their name, learning letters and numbers, building independence with routines, and then also Parents, it makes all the community members, it makes all the difference when you talk positively about school, give them something to look forward to and build some excitement around their learning. Next slide, please. Finally, we want to remind folks to stay connected with ParentSquare. That is our way to share information with you. What you put into ParentSquare, what you put into PowerSchool in terms of your contact information is how you'll receive messages from West Contra Costa. Those messages do come to you both in English as well as a number of other languages. So please make sure that you are connected to PowerSchool. With that, next slide. Are there any questions from the board?

Trustee González-Joy?

Thank you so much. Thank you, Superintendent Cotton. I have two questions for you. First one, so exciting to hear about STEEJ and their academic growth. Could you reflect on what do you think led to that gain under very difficult circumstances that students experience and staff, right? Could you maybe share a couple of things with us?

In addition to consistent and cohesive instruction, What's different about Steege right now, and the narrative is changing for Steege and schools like Steege, they have consistent leadership and they also have a consistent staff. They're retaining their staff year after year. That makes a difference. When you have well-prepared educators in classrooms with students consistently every day, that changes the trajectory for our students. When we create welcoming spaces for our students, whether it's on a temporary campus or at a normal school site, welcoming schools, engaging with community and community partners. And again, just making sure that our kids get the support that they need as a community school as well. All of those things, I think, make a huge difference in the learning environment for our students.

Thank you for that. And my second question is, fortunately, I was not able to celebrate Mr. DeLeon getting his award. Now, I heard that he did give a speech. I was wondering if you mentioned anything in his speech that he's really proud of in his experience at WCCUSD that you could remember or share with the rest of us.

I don't remember Mr. DeLeon's speech. I think I was cheering and shouting so loudly. Mr. DeLeon, will you want to come on up to the podium and share a couple of words? We would love that. He's like, really? Thank you.

I didn't want to put him on the spot. I'm glad that you did.

Hello. Thank you again for the recognition to the community. And it's cotton for being there in this. Arellano thank you for being there I think the biggest part of my speech was about team how once you build a team and you have all the right players in place it was a connected to the Richmond soul, soccer and volleyball, things work really well. So that was my theme around it is once the team's in place and you have confidence in what each player can do, you can do a lot of things. So thank you again for the recognition.

Thank you. Congratulations again. Thank you. Thank you, President. That was not special.

Justice, my fault. I have a couple questions. They're comments, but questions. Isn't it true that the first day of school is an early day? That is a true statement. Where could parents find the school calendar, the district calendar?

I'm going to turn that to our assistant superintendent of community engagement and communications.

That is posted on the district website.

Thank you. How do parents join or attend SSC, APACs, ELACs, climate teams?

The information for those school site-based teams is sent out by the school principals through the school in terms of the district-wide advisory committees that will be coming out at the district level from the Office of Community Engagement and Communications. Thank you. Sorry.

Sorry, Fran. Go ahead.

It's all good. As Superintendent Cotton mentioned, Parent Square is what we use to communicate with all families using the information that's entered into PowerSchool. And so making sure that up-to-date contact information is in PowerSchool is very important.

Thank you. And two more. Superintendent Cotton, what tip or tips do you have for parents across the district as we start the new school year?

Because I shared, you know, pre-K, TK, kinders, that applies across the board. Oftentimes we spend a lot of time focused on our littles, our littlest learners. And you think when they get to middle and high school, we're done. You're not. That same amount of excitement, that same amount of interest, that same encouragement. needs to come across all of the grade levels. And so as much as you can speak positively about school, as much as you can make sure that students are prepared or if they need something to let the school district know what they need so that the kids are ready for a fantastic year. Many of our schools are community schools, which means that there's opportunities for lots of different supports and wraparound services for families. And just in the community as well. There's a lot of ways that we support our students, both inside the classroom and outside. We want healthy growth and development for our kids. But again, that starts at home, that starts in the community, that starts in all the places and spaces, churches and everywhere else where our kids may be.

Thank you so very much. My last question is along the same line, except what tips do you have for students across the district are starting the 26-27 school year?

I will say be a courageous scholar. Be courageous. Take advantage of the opportunities that you have. Learn how to advocate for yourself and build a network of kids who share similar values, similar interests as you. Get ready for for college if that's the direction that you're heading or get ready for your future and use this as an opportunity from our youngest learners to our high schoolers, middle schoolers and elementary students. Keep your eye on the prize. Stay focused on where you're going. And we are all here to support you and lift you up.

Thank you. I'm complete.

That concludes my report. Well, thank you, Superintendent Cotton. And I also want to welcome all of our new teachers into the district. I'm so sad that I wasn't able to attend this morning, but welcome on. And we hope that you guys have a fruitful year with us. We'll now move on to action items. One, resolution number 2627-16, classified layoff due to expiration of categorical funded program, and that is Sylvia Greenwood's item.

Good evening, Board. This resolution is regarding resolution 2627-16. We're recommending the layoff of specially funded program for comprehensive coordinated early intervention services, better known as CSES, because of the mandate and the end of the grant. And it will end and expire on September 30th.

Do we have any board questions? Do we have any public comment on this item?

No public comment.

Okay, seeing none, I will accept a motion and a second.

President, I move that we approve resolution number 2627-16. Rickler will second.

So we have a motion to approve by Gonzales-Hoy, second by Trustee Regler. Do we have any board comments? Seeing none, we'll move on to the vote. Trustee Regler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fold?

Smith-Fold, yes.

Trustee Gonzales-Hoy?

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

And Trustee Ayanna Zayas? We'll now move on to E2 Provisional Internship Permit, PIP, and that is also Ms. Greenwood's item.

We are recommending that the provisional internship permit better known as PIP be recommended for the following individuals that were listed. This helps the school district employ individuals who have not yet met subject matter competency requirement necessary to enter into approved internship programs.

Do we have any board questions? Do we have any public comment on this item?

No public comment.

So now I will accept a motion and a second.

President, I move that we approve the professional internship permits.

Regular will second. Do we have any board comment? See, and then we'll move on to the vote. Trustee Regler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Foz? Smith-Foz, yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy?

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez? Yes. And Trustee Ayanna Zayas? Item three, recommendations, teacher consent authorization. That's also Ms. Greenwood's item.

Teacher consent, or better known as local assignment options, LAOs, are assignments that allow the district flexibility under ed code and to assign appropriately credentialed teachers to specific instructional areas when certain conditions are met.

Do we have any board comments? Do we have any public comment?

No public comment.

Okay, I will now accept the motion.

President, I move that we approve the recommended teacher consent authorizations.

I'll second.

Okay, we have a motion by Gonzalo Hoy, second by Trustee Hernandez. Well, now, do we have any more comments? Seeing none, we'll move on to the vote. Trustee Reckler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Fold? Smith-Fold, yes. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy?

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez? Yes. And Trustee Ayanna Zayas? Move on to item 4, Education Code 4425.3, Variable Term Waivers. And that's also Ms. Greenwood's item.

A variable time waivers provide the district of flexibility and staffing and certificated positions when fully credential candidates are not available.

Do you have any more questions? Do you have public comment?

No public comment.

So we'll now accept the motion.

Present move that we approve the variable time waivers.

Okay, I'll go ahead and second the item. That has been moved by Gonzalez-Hoy, seconded by Añana. And we'll move on to the vote. Trustee Regler?

Yes.

Trustee Smith-Fold?

Smith-Fold, yes.

Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy?

Yes.

And Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

And Trustee Añana is a yes. So now we'll move on to item F, discussion items and report. We have two items. F1, update on environmental situation at Kennedy High School.

Thank you. This will be a joint presentation with many different folks on my executive team and extended executive team. We also do, I just want to acknowledge here in the audience, we have Marika Hughes. here from the Department of Toxic Substances Control. She will be talking to us a little bit as well in this presentation. I also want to acknowledge Councilmember Doria Robinson is here, and we appreciate your presence here at this meeting. We have been working very closely with the City of Richmond, with DTSC, with Kennedy and Kennedy staff, to address this issue. Let's see, once you're ready to. We'll go ahead and get started. Next slide, please. Next slide. So I just want to let the board know that this update will include a recap and timeline of events that have happened so far, understanding this environmental issue, what we know and what we're still learning about this situation. We'll talk a bit about data-informed decision-making, and that is really our focus, as well as sharing out some of our contingency plans. Ideally, students back on campus fully, no changes, that is goal one. But if that doesn't happen based on the data that we're receiving, okay, based on the data that we're receiving, we do wanna talk through some of our contingency plans. I know that folks are really waiting to hear that as well as our next steps. We'll be talking about communications and engagement strategies and events, logistics and mitigation, as well as how we're addressing student wellbeing.

Next slide, please.

Next slide. Missed the recap of timeline of events. I'll start talking it through while they're finding it. West Contra Costa Unified School District was contacted by the Department of Toxic Substance Control about an underground vapor plume that was moving under a portion of the city of Richmond. By July 15th, the board approved soil testing at the recommendation of DTSC. On July 31st, the executive team was made aware that the preliminary results from our soil testing showed positive levels of PCE in the soil underground at Kennedy High School. By August 3rd, that was a Friday, July 31st, by August 3rd, 7 a.m., district was meeting with DTSC in the city of Richmond for consultation regarding additional preliminary results that were needed for more testing at Kennedy High School. And so since that time, We have hosted community forums. We have conducted additional testing and have created contingency plans based on potential testing results. So that's where we are to this date. More to come. We know that tomorrow we will be hosting another community meeting at the Richmond Auditorium from 630 to 8 for cross agencies to talk about what we are finding. Yes, that's where we are now. So going on to understanding this environmental issue.

Thank you very much, Superintendent Cotton. Next slide. Thank you. So understanding the environmental issue that we are working to respond to, there were preliminary results of environmental testing in the area of Kennedy High School that showed elevated levels of a volatile organic compound called tetrachloroethylene, also known as PCE, underground on the east side of the campus. And so the California Department of Toxic Substance Controls was one of the first agencies that we were in conversation with about this, and they informed us that they've been monitoring pce northeast of the kennedy campus and the three sites that dtsc has been working to monitor and when you look at them on a map you can see the indication of this plume that they've been working to monitor which is at the former site of almost cleaners the miraflores senior housing development and also on that north east side of kennedy high school dtsc has put together a mobile web page about these three sites to make sure that our community can easily access the information about them So that short link at the bottom there, it's bit.ly slash m slash DTSC. Our community is able to use that to get information about these three sites. Next slide. PCE uses in history. So what is this chemical? This is something that was used as the main solvent in the dry cleaning industry from the 1940s to the early 2000s. In the 1990s, it was identified as a toxic air contaminant. So this is something that was part of our lives for a long time before we discovered that it was harmful. And then in 2007, California adopted a multi-year phase-out plan of PCE uses in dry cleaning to completely ban that by 2023. So as of 2023, the California Air Resources Board has banned the use of PCE in dry cleaning in California. Next slide. So we'd actually like to invite our colleagues from DTSC to talk about the primary concern here that we're working to understand, which is air intrusion or vapor intrusion. So I'd like to introduce Marika Hughes from DTSC.

Hi, thank you for having me. My name is Marinka Hughes. I am a branch chief in the Site Mitigation and Restoration Program at the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Our local office is in Berkeley, if anybody wants to stop by and do a file review. So regarding vapor intrusion and soil gas, we talk about the contamination was found in soil. It was actually found in soil gas, which is the space between the different soil particles. That is where the PCE has been moving into, and it has been found on the Kennedy property. How vapor intrusion occurs is essentially you have contamination in soil vapor, soil as well, groundwater, and from there it volatilizes, vaporizes, and becomes a gas. And from that, it moves up and into spaces. It obviously moves up and into the atmosphere as well, but an atmosphere like outside is not contained. So it is able to diffuse and it is safe in that regard. In terms of indoor air, which is where we consider or where we think about vapor intrusion, it moves in and accumulates. And it can vary based on the season in terms of what sort of concentrations you see as well. Depending where you are in the bay, because there's so many microclimates, it can change in terms of which season you're going to see the highest concentrations or levels. So where you typically get... Vapor intrusion or the contamination for it. Underground contamination. Sometimes outdoor air. That is less common. But if it is going to happen, it's going to be vehicle exhaust. And then also, unfortunately, indoor products, which are often consumer products that we all have. Often they are cleaning products. They can be paint. They can be glue. They can be degreasers. It's relatively common, unfortunately. However, PCE has been banned, so you shouldn't be seeing that in indoor air anymore. Well, it's been banned for certain uses.

Thank you, Marika. Next slide, and for the next slide, Ellen Mejia-Hooper will talk to this.

Good evening. So PCE, what we know about where we are in this situation and what we are still learning is that PCE was detected underground on the Kitty campus. However, it is underground, and the detection does not automatically mean that there is a health risk. We are also looking at mitigation factors or implementing mitigation features, and one of them would be a carbon-activated air purifier which can work in reducing indoor air quality or reducing the indoor concentrations of this chemical. Richmond Fire Department also completed an investigation and scan and came to the conclusion that there was no risk for this particular emergency that would cause an evacuation. What we're still learning, though, is what happened to that gas after it's come from underground. So has it entered the buildings and at what levels would it be within the buildings? And so that's what we're currently testing on site and coming to be able to come to that conclusion. So that's what we're currently working on and which areas of campus it might be. Next slide.

So as we have been working to address this, we've been working to make sure that we're doing our due diligence in terms of considering all options. And then as we learn, making sure that we are rapidly narrowing those options to the ones that are the most feasible. Our priorities in all possible scenarios have been to keep the Kennedy community together as much as possible. to care for student and staff safety, to care for our students' educational continuity in terms of their graduation and A through G requirements, to provide supports for equity and supports for our English learners, and as well as space to support unique Kennedy programs. We want to make sure that we are preserving the character and culture of our school and its unique offerings. When we first began this work, we were considering a variety of options, including commercial and community spaces, And what we learned through this process is that this would require a waiver of the Field Act requirements, and that this does sometimes occur in cases of an emergency, but that because we do not meet the standard for our state agency partners in terms of what an emergency is, DTSC defines what we're doing as an immediate response, but not as an emergency. And so that was an important learning for us. In terms of a virtual option, we also learned that due to recent changes in Ed Code, students cannot be compelled to go on independent study or learn in a virtual setting. So we can't shift a whole school to virtual. And so that's why we're not considering that option. And so that kind of left us to what we have been focusing on considering and evaluating today. which is use of WCCUSD school buildings. We did a thorough evaluation and did discover that none of our current WCCUSD buildings has enough space for all of Kennedy students together. We did identify sites that each have space for more than 10 classrooms at each of those sites. Jeff, anything that I didn't cover?

No, but those two sites will go over in further detail of what the plan is and how splitting the classes up into those two sites. Next slide. And I'll introduce Marika back up to the microphone.

Hi, so I wanted to also go over how we evaluate the data and how we approach it from a risk-based scenario, because not everything is terrible. Sometimes things are manageable. And so part of the process, or I would say the initial stage of the process, is the collecting of the data. So the district's consultant, SoCoTech, collected samples from indoor air, outdoor air, and the soil gas. These are going to be, or have been used, actually, to be analyzed, which is measured for the different chemical concentrations. SoCoTech and DTSC are going to evaluate the data Technically, we are already evaluating some of the data to identify the highest exposure concentrations detected in indoor air and the soil gas. The district, in consultation with DTSC and SOPA Tech, will be using screening levels, which are the most conservative numbers that we have developed. They are based on toxicity criteria that are used nationwide and sometimes internationally. They have very conservative assumptions embedded in them so that we are certain that people are not going to be exposed with elevated risk. This is where the rapid decision-making that has occurred over the last week and a half has taken place. I said before Sogo Tech is going to use a toxicity data to develop a risk assessment. This will also help us identify what the concentrations we detect actually result in terms of risk or hazard to students, staff, offense. And if the results are not straightforward, there will be an additional evaluation by psychotech and DTSC or an additional investigation might be warranted by psychotech and DTSC and should include the evaluation of essentially what a dose is for the staff and the students. Right now, the screening levels that have been developed are either for residential use or commercial industrial use. What we've been using for the school has been the residential number, which is the most conservative number we use at DTSC. If we discover something that needs to be evaluated a little bit more, we will take into account a reduction in the exposure time. Residential exposure is based off of 24 hours. Obviously, kids are not in a school 24 hours. Hopefully, they aren't. I think that's it. And then here are some numbers. These were things that we wanted to go over with the district earlier this week. And it's essentially to provide you with an understanding of what is immediately dangerous to human health and the screening level that we use. So the screening level for PCE at residential levels is 0.46 micrograms per cubic meter. And I'm going to squint and struggle, but the OSHA permissible exposure limit, PEL, is at 2 million. And that's essentially where it becomes immediately dangerous to human health. And we are far from that at this point.

Thank you. So, as we continue through looking at wanting to get to a place where we are showing how we're making these decisions. And so understanding the process that SoCoTech, our vendor that is doing the soil testing is working closely with DTSC and then understanding what numbers we're actually looking at. How are we screening? From there, we move into then what does that mean for us as a school district? Just want to explain this map, which I think makes great sense, but it also shows what decision we make that would bring us to a full return to Kennedy. Okay. What decisions or information that we would gather that would indicate that we would have a partial return to Kennedy or a temporary relocation? And then finally, what decisions we would need to make to, or the data would tell us that would indicate that we need another week of expeditionary learning, which is a new contingency plan. And so, if the results are inconclusive and more testing is needed. We would have to then extend that out school will start August 18th, but we are developing a plan around expeditionary learning, allowing kids to. I don't like to say this like a week of field trips, but really intentional learning for our students. an opportunity to do community asset mapping and really understand Richmond and understand the surrounding areas, have a chance to visit college campuses, also have a chance to learn more about our trades, learn more about the art, the food, and different industries within the Richmond community. So something that's very worthwhile for our students. It is a common practice across different educational groups. But something that we haven't really tapped into here in West Contra Costa, I'm looking for opportunities for learning for our students. So to provide an opportunity for our kids to really engage, not wasted learning time, but really engaging learning time from that process to be able to build a portfolio. I'll stop. We're going to talk more about contingency plans. if we find that there is no vapor intrusion and that it doesn't appear to be occurring, we would be getting back to school as usual at Kennedy High School. If there are indications of vapor intrusion that may or may not be occurring, we're not quite sure, we would then be looking at either a partial return So in moving into structures on the campus that do not have indication of vapor intrusion or possibly considering a temporary relocation while we put mitigation strategies in place. to address any vapor intrusion or the presence of PCE in our classrooms. And so at certain levels, at acceptable levels. And so that is our decision-making kind of plan. So now we move into our contingency plan. So next slide. I think folks have been really waiting for this. So understanding what plan A, plan B, and plan C would be. And I'm asking our principal, Mr. Luongo, to come on up and let's talk about our plans.

Good evening, everybody. And a quick shout out to all Kennedy Eagles out there, past and present. Jumping into our contingency plans, as you heard a little bit about, Plan A is, depending on the data and what comes back, we are back on the Kennedy campus. Whether it's all of the campus or certain areas of the campus, we'll wait to see what the data tells us. But Plan A is first day of school. We are on the Kennedy campus. Plan B would be a temporary relocation to two other WCCUSD school campuses. We'll talk more in detail about those campuses in just a moment. And then Plan C, as was mentioned, the expeditionary learning experience. So study trips and opportunities to build community, learn experientially, hands-on. And yeah, next slide, please. So a little bit more detail about plan A. We would be using the pieces and areas of campus that are available and no longer undergoing testing. And then we would anticipate the portables being the space where if we needed to relocate a certain classroom, temporarily they would relocate to the portables and then once cleared, would go back to their original location once mitigation strategies are in place. You can see that some of the mitigation strategies are listed here with the activated carbon air purifiers, which will be in place when school starts on campus. And then commercial event tents will be installed if necessary as well. If we need PE to not be in the gym, we can do that on rainy days in these tents. Or obviously on nice days, we can be out on the fields and the spaces that we have. And then it also serves as a space on rainy days or hot sunny days that kids need some shade for lunchtime so that they can eat underneath the tent structures. Next slide, please. Plan B is a much more complex structure, and this is one we spent a lot of time today talking about. We had our site Kennedy ILT meeting, which was extremely productive, and a shout-out to the ILT out there. Thank you very much for your collaboration today. So, with this plan, we're looking at using two of our sites in West Contra Costa. We've got our HELMS site for our 9th and 10th graders, and then we've got the Serra Adult School site for our 11th and 12th graders. There are similarities and differences between both models, and it'll get into a little bit more detail on the next slide. But in general, we're setting this structure up so our students are able to get the academic components that they need for continuous learning. So they're getting their math, their English, their history, and their social studies. They're also infusing electives into it. And for the upper grades that need their access to credit recovery, that's in there. And our AP programs are infused. with a series of other options and availability for our students. It is constrained based on the number of staff that we have split between the sites and with the number of classrooms we have access to. But this model, we can make work. We're confident that it'll get us through. And we're just looking forward to being in community with our students. And if this is the plan we need to move forward with, we'll make it work. Something to take note of at the bottom there with some of the special ed programs. With this model, we would need to move our ESN and MMSN programs to the Pinole Valley site. The idea is that they would return to us after. But all those details still need to be worked out with our special ed program. And then let's see anything else. Just something to be mindful, too, is that the semester one grades are what go on student transcripts. this whole process is gonna be taking place in quarter one. So we as a site at Kennedy will have the flexibility to take what students learn in this alternative plan B and then use that information in the learning and incorporate it into their final grades for semester one. But this particular chunk of time and this snapshot in time is not gonna be directly reflected on transcripts as a particular grade. Next slide, please. So this goes into a little bit more detail about the courses that you would see in each grade level that would allow us with our staffing and with the space available to provide a comprehensive and highly educational instructional program for our students 9 through 12. So ninth grade, you'll see focuses in on English, Algebra 1, Physics, Ethnic Studies, PE, and then an elective class and or an EL support class or resource special ed class. And then 10th grade, similar structure, English, Geometry, Bio, World History, PE, and then the elective with the flexibility for our English language learners and resource students as well. Things get a little bit more complex at the 11th and 12th grade. I'm not gonna go into detail, but ultimately they're getting the core classes they need and we're building in the flexibility to support the AP programs Some of the CTE exposure, it wouldn't look exactly the same as it does now. And then credit recovery and some of the other electives and our leadership program in class. As you all know, many of you were here yesterday. We have some amazing student leaders at Kennedy who helped lead a student forum and have been highly engaged. And we want to continue to support that through offering the leadership program in this structure. Next slide, please. And then this is Contingency Plan C, which you heard a bit about already. Just an exciting opportunity to build community at the beginning of the year if we need a little bit more time before returning to either the Kennedy site with Plan A or shifting to the Plan B multiple sites that we just talked about. Ultimately, this gives us about a week of time where the students are exploring, going out to Bay Area local spaces and places to get hands-on learning. We're excited about that opportunity as well if that does play out. But in the end, we are optimistic about the data and hopeful that we'll be able to return to the Kennedy site in Plan A as soon as possible. Next slide, please.

Yep. All right. Thank you, David. So here we're going to talk about the considerations that have gone into for transportation for these three plans. Plan A would need no additional transportation. Students would continue with their their normal transportation of driving, getting dropped off or AC transit. as it would be taking place on the Kennedy campus. Plan B would require some staggered morning pickup times and one pickup time after school to bus the students from Kennedy High School to Helms Middle and from Kennedy High School to the Sarah campus. So we would utilize about five buses, three buses for Helms and two buses for Sarah that we would adjust based on the demand and enrollment that we see on that first week of school. And then for Plan C, the transportation for all the expeditionary learning events would be provided as needed, pick up and drop off both at the Kennedy High School site for those day's events. Next slide. Here we're going to look at the considerations for nutrition services. So for plan A, at a portion of the Kennedy campus, we would provide a mobile food truck serving breakfast and lunch in the outdoor spaces, potentially under the tent, depending on which buildings are available to use or not. Plan B for the Helms campus, we would have to-go breakfast in the San Pablo Community Center. We're working with the city to secure that location in the morning. And then lunch would be provided in the cafeteria after the Helms student lunch has concluded. So there would be a continuation of lunch for the Kennedy students on site there. And then for the Sarah campus, we would have a mobile food truck serving to-go breakfast and lunch for that campus. For Plan C, for the expeditionary learning events, we would provide a mobile food truck for serving breakfast in the outdoor spaces prior to leaving for the event. And then boxed lunches would be sent with the study trip or expeditionary learning events for lunch offsite. Next slide.

Thank you Jeff. So, walking through what our communications and strategies have been our overarching communications and engagement strategies have included a consistent daily flow of information to our board and community through a combination of email updates, parent square posts and social media posts and stories. And then also having a unified web page where all of that information is reposted. knowing that our community may want to review something and see it again. And so making sure that we've got one unified place where that lives. That's also currently in a pop out on our web page, our website. So if anyone goes to the district website, they are greeted by a pop out that takes them directly to that one unified web page. Opportunities to engage and ask questions have also been the structure of the gatherings that we've been working to create. We wanted to make sure that those were interactive and inclusive to everybody. So we've had opportunities for folks to engage and ask questions on last Thursday, August 6th. This week, yesterday, last night, August 11th, August 12th, and then August 13th, we'll talk through those more in detail. And at each of those, we've worked to make sure that there are explicit supports for questions to be asked in Spanish and other languages, as well as translation services offered in Spanish. And at last night's webinar, we also offered translation services in Arabic. We are working on making sure that we're doing that more frequently at our events, serving the Kennedy community and also advertising that translation. We're also leveraging our network of community partners and student leaders to help promote engagement opportunities so that folks are hearing about these opportunities, not just through district channels, but also through our valued partners. So thank you to all of our community-based organizations who have been sharing the information about these engagement opportunities. Next slide. So the events that we've had so far have included a staff and faculty forum on Tuesday, August 4th. There were approximately 70 folks in attendance at that. We had our first cross-agency community town hall. Last week at the Richmond Auditorium, 659 folks streamed on YouTube, 67 community members gathered in person, and approximately 30 of our dignitaries or representatives of partner agencies joined us as well, as this is a community issue and is requiring a community effort. 41 questions were submitted online, which was inclusive of questions in English and Spanish. On Tuesday, August 11th, which was just yesterday, as many have mentioned already, we had a student forum that also became really a family forum, not just a student forum. There were 75 students in attendance, and many parents joined us after filling out annual forms at orientation. Also, yesterday, we had a staff meeting, and there are approximately 25 staff in attendance. And last night, we held a public health webinar with Dr. Gina Solomon, Chief of Occupational, Environmental, and Climate Health at UCSF, and Dr. Peter Chin Hong, who's also a professor of medicine at UCSF. We had 50 participants on Zoom, and that is now available on our WCCUSD YouTube channel. So we really encourage folks to go back and rewatch that. A lot of valuable information from our medical partners. Upcoming tomorrow evening, we have another cross-agency town hall. That will be 6.30 to 8 p.m. at the Richmond Auditorium. For those who joined us last week, you can expect a similar format. For those who did not take the opportunity to join us, we really do want to encourage you to join us in person and also live on YouTube. We will be streaming that one again. Next slide.

All right. Thank you, Liz. So for here, we're going to talk about the logistics and mitigation strategies that we've taken and put in place. As mentioned earlier, the activated carbon air purifiers will be placed in all the student and adult primary spaces to mitigate the air, clean it, and purify it with the activated carbon as suggested. The adjustments to support for continuity of athletic events, making sure that those students are able to practice now and in the coming weeks for those sporting events that are coming up. The student, family, and staff listening circles that have gone on, and Liz just mentioned the dates that have just happened over the past week. Yesterday on 8-11, we had a Kennedy High School orientation here at Dijon Middle School. Communication with leaders of the potential temporary locations took place as we viewed those campuses and inspected how many vacant classrooms were available for use for these students. strategies, and then plans to support school safety in all the contingency plans, ensuring that the separation of students at different campuses takes place, scheduling, and keeping those students grouped together at different points of the day for breakfast, lunch, and during school transitions. As well as ongoing construction, the VIMS design or vapor intrusion mitigation system for the new Kennedy High School campus buildings. That includes installing vapor barriers to block the gas migration and then passive sub slab venting systems to install pipes underground, which would reroute the sub slab air to above the roof line. Next slide.

And we'll bring David back up. We wanted to just emphasize as we round out the presentation that there is a huge emphasis on student wellbeing as we come into this school year, as we do every year, but this year is a special year for that. And so taking this opportunity to ensure that we have our wellness and health center components in place, regardless of what plan we're following, that we want to make sure we have structures and services that will support our students to both address the current circumstances, but then also build and strengthen the community at Kennedy High School. And then we are prioritizing clear and responsive communication as we have all along in this process and then continuing moving forward. And so with that, we now open it up to questions. Next slide, please.

I do want to just acknowledge that Lashonda white deputy city manager is here as well, representing the city of Richmond. So, if there are any questions that the board may have, we do have Lashonda is here. Marie is here and then all of the district staff and our principal are here to respond to your questions.

All right, thank you for the presentation. We'll move on to Trustee Gonzales-Hoy.

Thank you. Thank you so much, everyone, for the presentation. Thank you for everyone being here. My first question is actually for Dr. Hughes from DTSC, if you wouldn't mind.

Just to clarify, I'm not a doctor.

Oh, I'm sorry.

It's OK. You could have just taken it. But I am a licensed geologist in the state of California.

Still incredibly impressive. Thank you so much for being here. I wanted to ask. It's my understanding, I've learned a lot last week, first of all, but it's my understanding DTSC has been investigating this issue at the city of Richmond for close to 25 years. Why are we now being notified to test our sites when many of our sites are really close to both the old cleaners and the Miravista project? Why are we not contacted before to possibly test some of our sites, including Kennedy?

I'm going to tell you that it's a complicated answer, and I'm not sure you're going to like it either. It is important to recognize that science evolves. Science changes our understanding of how contamination moves, how groundwater moves, how soil vapor moves, soil gas. It has changed dramatically to the point where we were I believe the investigation at Miraflores started in about 2005 when they were doing the redevelopment and doing the senior housing. At that point, what was discovered was groundwater contamination. and in 2005 soil vapor wasn't or soil gas wasn't as prevalent a concern we didn't know as much as we do now but time has changed our times have changed we've learned more we have a variety of guidance documents out on it now and we've started to understand that vapor intrusion is actually one of our primary risks associated with different contaminant sources, including dry cleaners, to be fair, auto body shops, and other places that use PCE or TCE or any of the other solvents that are similar. That's one component. The other component is that we need to do a stepwise approach in evaluating a site. So we cannot just immediately go broad. We need to know where we're looking and we need to focus on that and understand the contamination. And that's essentially what's been happening. That's what has brought us here. The city, as part of the Miraflores investigation, they collected a sample a block away and that was how we decided we needed to definitely get involved with the school district thank you no problem so obviously because of the testing that happened close to kennedy that's what led to you know notifying us back in april um so

There are other sites that are close to all these sites that are being investigated. Should we be considering testing sites that are close by? Or is that not a recommendation DTSC has at this moment? And can I ask why?

I think it is important to recognize how close a site, a school site is to one of our cleanup sites. And I think it's also important to recognize if you go onto, excuse me, our EnviroStor website, and if you happen to look at the map, on there. It can look pretty dramatic, but a lot of those sites are closed. There are a lot of sites that we don't know enough about yet either. And so it can be presumptuous to immediately go out and sample at your schools if we don't even know that there's an issue. But I am positive that the school district and I will be working together to look at your schools and the locations and see if there are any particular sites that are nearby that also fall in the flow direction for the contamination because that is another component of what we look at. When you look at the plume that we have identified so far in this part of Richmond, it clearly follows a path. And so we need to be able to evaluate a site based off of that path as well.

Thank you for that. Thank you. That was my last question for you, Ms. Humes. Thank you so much. My next question is for, I believe, Mr. Carter. I was wondering, what are the costs behind the mitigation strategies for Kennedy, both the construction side Ellen, this might be your question as well, on what we have to do since we know the soil is affected. And then two, how does that affect the construction timeline long term? So it's both cost of the mitigation strategies and then also effects of the timeline.

So I'll speak to cost for the mitigation strategies on campus, and I'll let Ellen speak to the construction. There are the air purifiers. Well, it depends on the test results and how many and what site plans we end up going with. But there are the costs for the air purifiers. There's the cost for the testing of the subslab indoor and outdoor air samples, as well as... all of these events we're hosting for overtime, live streaming on YouTube, potential tents that we might need to install on the campus, Potential time cards for teachers moving classrooms built into our contract. We've got to move materials, furniture, and technology, depending on which location we're moving to, and then moving those items back to the Kennedy campus once we reopen it. So there are a number of factors, and each plan has a different level of cost associated with it, as well as I don't know if you're looking for specific dollar amounts or in terms of just generality of what we would need to do to mitigate this. But the air purifiers and the air testing are the two largest costs. And then I'll let Ellen speak to the construction.

Actually, before we head over to Ellen, sorry, Ellen. Yes, if you could actually mention the costs of Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C for us, that was going to be my next question, if you could detail it. Plan A, obviously, is just the mitigation strategies for Kennedy, and hopefully everything comes back positive. But yes, I would love to know the costs of everything.

Sure. We haven't gotten exact quotes yet. or invoices yet from SoCoTech for our indoor-outdoor air testing and sub-slab vapors, but we do know it's just north of about $100,000 for the 26 tests that we did this past week. That does not include about roughly $20,000 for the six soil tests that originally took place in July that identified the PCE originally. So all the plans would include those costs. individually plan a will cost uh roughly about a hundred thousand dollars for the air purifiers moving the materials and furnitures the tents and time carding and signage that would go with plan a on-site campus plan b for the helm sarah plan would involve moving materials, furniture, IT, technology, moving it back, as well as needing to contract out busing transportation. We've got this estimated around $350,000 for Plan B. And then for Plan C, expeditionary learning costs, this will depend on the actual study trips that get planned and what the cost of those facilities are. We're looking somewhere about... ten to fifteen thousand dollars in uh transportation as well as uh any rental of facilities that we do that week uh as well as uh for plan c that's kind of a delay tactic to give us more time to get back to plan a or plan b depending on the test results um so that would be a side cost to getting back to plan a or back to plan b thank you for that yeah and then i'll let ellen speak to the construction costs

good evening so as far as the construction timeline goes for phase one we did experience some delay with this the uh contractors were pulled off site for the initial time period while we were doing the testing which couldn't have a um the the construction activity could affect the tests of the outdoor air so we wanted to make sure that we had the best data possible. So we move forward with that. We also are in the midst of designing the VIMS system that Jeff referred to earlier that needs to be installed under our foundation. So we've moved forward with components of it as far as like the elevator pit and some of the early components that we were able to have before the design was finalized. However, that is causing a few weeks delay in the overall construction schedule to make sure that we align the products and the additional changes that are needed to be able to implement the VIMS system underneath our new buildings. For phase two, we are not able to start the process of creating a mitigation strategy because we don't have the test results back and we don't know if the existing buildings are affected or not. And so as far as how it might affect phase two, mitigation strategies in an existing building are more complex and we will need more consultation with DTSC to make sure that what we are implementing is effective for what our situation and the particular building construction is. So those factors we can't process right now and don't know the answer to. However, that could delay phase two construction, depending on how this works out.

And then if I can add 2 more things in addition to the mitigation strategies in place for the current timeframe, we also will have ongoing air and soil testing in the future. We'll consult with about that, but likely annually we'll need to check that the levels are still at a safe. Environment for campus as well as. An unknown cost of remediation, so mitigation of. mitigating the in the air, but remediation of actually removing and solving the actual problem in the soil of the plume underground and what those costs are currently unknown.

The other cost that is still being developed is the actual cost of the VIMS system itself. So that design is being completed as we speak. And so we have not been able to get a proposal of what the totality of that cost is. However, we've been told that it's approximately $4 to $6 per square foot. We have not been able to validate that number, but that is the industry number that we were able to validate. obtain and we will confirm once the design is complete for our specific building.

Thank you. And my last question, Superintendent, tomorrow if we get the test results and there's enough time for DTSC to review some of the data, will you be able to announce those results at the community meeting?

If we have that information, absolutely. We've been trying to be as transparent and open as possible through this process. And so as soon as information is gathered, we definitely do want to share it out. I do want to just make sure that the board and the community are mindful. We have been working at a record pace at this moment. And what we don't want to happen is to ask our partners in science to look too quickly at this information. Usually it takes weeks to receive a final report. We're asking for information in hours time. And so we will be definitely sharing out tomorrow night what we know at that point.

Thank you so much. If there's a second round, I have additional questions, but I'll stop here. Thank you so much.

Thank you. We'll move on to Trustee Bregler, a senior. Okay. Trustee Smith-Foltz.

A question about if the students remain on campus and you said that there would be tents that would be put up for if you found something in the gym, for example, you would have tents that would be put up for PE. Where would the students change?

If the gym is available, they would change in the locker rooms. If it's not available, we would need to modify PE for the time being until the gym could become available to not change for PE.

Thank you. Can I ask Mr. Luongo for a little bit more detail?

Jeff did a great job. I would have said the same thing that given the circumstances and not having access to an appropriate locker room space, we would adapt and work with the PE department so that people can still get the exercise and meet the requirements, but not have to change.

So it would be something like maybe walking around the track or some type of adaptive PE that would come into play.

Exactly.

Okay.

Yep.

My second question, if you go with the plan for, um, exploratory learning. I forgot the name that you said, but exploratory learning. If you go with that plan, what is the process or what happens if you have parents who opt out? Do they then have to have the opportunity to do independent study do they then go for like when we do field trips if a child does not want to go on a field trip or the parent doesn't want them to go on the field trip they sit in the office right or they go to the library or they go to another class if you have a student or a parent that says i don't want to do expository or exploratory learning expeditionary learning expeditionary learning i don't want to do that what's the next step for an option

So given all the work we've done up to this point to create these different plans, we now know that we have spaces available so we can approach that situation in a way that accommodates the needs of our students. So if in the event that we're not able to follow plan A yet and be on the Kennedy site, and we know we have access to say the Sarah campus and or the Helms campus, if we do the expeditionary learning plan C, In my mind, we're still working out some of those details, but one of those sites, take, for example, Sarah, which we'd have more flexibility with, could be set up as a space where we have an in-person support component in place for the students that don't participate, that can't be on the Kennedy campus.

Thank you. My next question is, do the SPED teachers follow their students when they go to Pinell Valley High School?

I will do my best and I'll defer to our SELPA director if in the event I don't catch it all. So in the event that we need to move to plan B, would the case managers move with their students for the ESN and MMSN programs to Pinole Valley? And my quick response would be that yes, they would. And then I don't know if you'd add anything else.

Yes, yes, they would. But to my understanding, it still needs to be determined by H.R.

Thank you very much. Two more questions. Usually in the beginning of the year when you are in your sciences, especially your biologies and your chemistries, you go through kind of lab prep. This is how you do the face washing station. This is how you use the microscope. This is how you do X, Y, and Z with our students if the students are displaced to different campuses. will they be able to use the labs on that campus? For example, will they be able to use Ham's lab to say this is, how that lab's going to look or will it be something that we modify and say, okay, we're going to, we're going to watch something on through technology. Like this is how you would do it. So when we get back to campus, we'll be hitting the ground running and we'll make sure that we have that covered. Is that a clear question?

Absolutely. And I would say it's a little bit of a both and, but not so much using the Helms equipment, but it might take us a minute to get some of the Kennedy equipment, uh, to the alternative site. So we would have access through the different folks that we're working with to move materials that although they may not have them on day one, we don't typically do science experiments on day one. The introductory, the safety components, all those pieces can still be done without those components. And then however many weeks out that we would need it, we would have the time to be able to shift those elements into those spaces so that students would have access to those experiences.

Thank you so much. My final question is to you, Mr. Carter. I just want to make sure that I got the math right. Across the plans, there's going to be about $120,000 because $20,000 for the soil testing, $100,000 for the other testing, that's across the board. So that's for Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C. But if you look at Plan A, you're going to add $120,000 plus $350,000, so you get $470,000, right? Or is it $350,000 with the $120,000 already added in it?

No, so if we went with plan B, it'd be the $350,000 plus the $120,000.

That's plan B, right? Yep.

Oh, yeah, that's plan B. If we went plan A, it'd be the $100,000 plus the $120,000.

So it's $220,000 for plan A, $470,000 for plan B, and for plan C, it's $120,000 plus the $15,000 plus the $135,000. That equals $135,000, right? Yeah.

Correct. If we move from Plan C to Plan A.

Okay. And I just want to make sure. And then I heard you say that that doesn't include remediation and the annual testing. Correct?

Correct.

Okay. Thank you very much. I am complete.

Trustee Reckler? Yes.

Thank you very much. Okay. So in no specific order, at Sarah, is there still an adult school and classroom and offices there?

Yes, there is currently active adult schools at Sarah.

Will people be okay there? Will they have to move too?

They would have to move off campus first, and then we would move on the Kennedy campus.

Okay. Athletics, where are you thinking those might be held?

Yeah, it's a great, great question. So if the Kennedy campus is deemed safe outdoors, then we would have access to our outdoor facilities and then be limited with the indoor piece. So we'd relocate our Indoor, the only indoor team this season is our volleyball program, girls volleyball. And so we have a lot of flexibility with that. I don't want to put any names out there right now if it hasn't been finalized, but we have multiple gyms we'd be able to access without significantly disrupting school activities for that particular school, but then also accommodate the girls volleyball team. It's anticipated with the outdoor piece that we'd have more flexibility one of the pieces we need to figure out is whether or not the field would be cleared for games, given that we would need access to locker rooms. So the hope is that the gym would be available for changing for football and games. If not, then obviously we'd need to look at an alternative site for our football program, which would require some more collaboration with folks. And then if necessary, games could be, switch to away games with the schools that were lined up to play so that we would not actually have to host at the Kennedy site for this season.

And if athletics, all right, suppose it's plan B, Helms, Sarah, and you have athletics at different sites, bus to get them there and back? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay, for experiential learning, I'd like to know a little more about, I think this is fabulous. So I'm psyched for the experiential learning. I'm curious how it will work though, how you pick sites, how kids would get there, just any ideas about, I mean, we may learn a lot from this. I think this is actually pretty cool.

Yeah, you're not alone in the energy and excitement behind the idea. So it might be something that comes up again in the future for other sites. But in the meantime, there's been a lot of discussion and planning with our college and career team and then a lot of other folks who are helping to support brainstorming locations and then also figuring out how do you bus, say, roughly 500 students to a variety of locations. So the busing piece really is not that complicated. You know, they have the buses come pick up. You could do, depending on how the testing comes out, but we could anticipate potentially doing pickups at the school site or along Burke Ave where you can line up a number of buses. And then from there, you would go to whatever, you know, there's a couple that came up today. There's the Rose of the River Museum is super close. You could, you know, spend a couple hours there. And then there's also other Richmond museums. You could also have it if you're going to local museums that are super close. One group goes to one first, the other goes in, then you just do a flip-flop that day. So it wouldn't be hard to figure out. UC Berkeley, you could do study trips to colleges for our upper class. It doesn't even matter what grade level. Any opportunity you can get students on a college campus is a wonderful opportunity. We're really fortunate to live in an area where we have access to so many amazing educational opportunities. And so it wouldn't be difficult to identify places to bring our students.

And then how would you do permission slips? Would you do one for the full period of time or each day would have a...

Ideally, we'd have this... We're moving fast, obviously, but the reality is we should be able to have that list of field trips squared away. You could consolidate that into one giant permission slip process and then folks sign off for that particular thing. And then if they're opting out for a particular day or whatever, we could just accommodate needs as necessary. But I don't think we need to overcomplicate the field trip forms and to still meet the requirements of that process.

Okay, so obviously none of this is budgeted. So may I ask what funding sources this is coming from?

Yeah, this was not expected. This is not in the budget as a line item currently. There would be a combination of funding sources. We would be looking at some of our bond fund 21 and special reserves fund 40 for some of this on the construction side and for the testing side. And then either fund one or fund 17 for the above and beyond measures that are general funded expenditures. There is some programs that we could look into doing a reimbursement grant that could fund up to 60% reimbursement, depending on what costs are allowable in that reimbursement. But for the most part, this would come from reducing our commitment to Fund 17 at the end of the year that we made in the adopted budget of about $971,000. We would have to reduce the amount that we could send back to Fund 71 in the current budget.

Okay. And then finally, if I can better understand the long-term mitigation strategy, I'm not sure I caught everything. So you're waiting for results before determining a phase two, but Does it not make sense to plan for the worst? I mean, could this plume make a left turn right through campus or a right turn away or up, down? I mean, since there's the possibility that this continues to spread, how do you plan for the future?

I will say that so far the school district has been doing an excellent job of planning for the future. Groundwater plumes, soil vapor plumes do move over time. That is how it got here. We don't necessarily know when the original release started, so we don't know how fast it's moving just yet. So, I mean, in terms of long-term, the installation of a vapor mitigation system is important. And to be fair, once we do identify the source and do start doing mitigation potentially in the neighborhood, that'll probably reduce the amount of contamination that is reaching the school.

Okay. Okay. Let me just check here. Okay, that's it. All right. Thank you, everyone.

Okay, I have a couple questions. Starting on the contract construction side. How is this going to affect our timeline?

So like I said, we are looking at a couple weeks potentially for the phase one. We're hoping that we can absorb that within the schedule. However, we were already close on fall of 2021. eight for the move in for the phase one buildings. So we will have to keep an eye on that. There is a lot of work to be done between those two time periods. So and construction continues to evolve. So we are we will be keeping our eye on it. We are working with the contractor to continue to look at Potential time periods that we could accelerate construction, if possible. We do have deadlines with the steel and how quickly we can get the steel anyways. So there's some things that we can move ahead quickly and some things that we can't. And so we will look to see if there's a way to absorb this into the construction schedule overall. However, it might shift out our move dates, depending on other factors throughout this construction cycle.

Do we perceive having any penalties inquiring with the construction companies since we have pulled them off the site and they're not able to continue with their scope of the work that they're doing?

So general conditions is the cost of the administration of construction. And so when we extend time, we have the obligation to pay for the general conditions of a contractor. At this moment in time, we haven't gotten notice from OVRA that they are going to enact that in this particular situation. It also has to be affecting the critical path and have no concurrence with other potential delays. And like I mentioned, we do have some restrictions with how quickly we were going to be able to obtain our structural steel. So we will continue to evaluate that as we move forward with the construction project and the timeline. I do have to say that OVRA has been extremely cooperative in this process. They've worked hard. to come to a joint resolution with trying to implement the VIMS system while we are under construction, which is a huge lift. And I do want to appreciate their ongoing collaboration in this process.

And then can you talk about their communication with OSHA and their restart timeline?

Right, so they have restarted. We had some trades out on site today that will continue to ramp up since we have moved forward. OSHA did confirm that the levels of the underground vapor did not impose a commercial or industrial hazard so that they were able to continue to work on site.

And then I did want to mention that our construction company has appreciated our communication with them throughout this whole process and are looking for ways to get involved and potentially help with expeditionary learning or other in other avenues as well, if they can.

Okay, so you talked about testing having to be done after. Do we have a schedule? I think I heard you say yearly. And that is yearly for how many years? Or is that just yearly for the rest of until we figure out where this plume is headed or done?

So that will depend on the test results and how severe we're looking at. And that will be in collaboration with DTSC to give us that recommendation.

Okay. So are we... Maybe this goes to, I don't know who, our communication with our labor partners, especially when we're having these conversations about the different options that we're moving towards. So we're not planning or coming up with ideas that might not be fruitful because of contracts or labor stuff. So are you guys meeting with labor when you guys are having these conversations? big ideas on the planning, A, B, or C, and how that looks like from their positioning.

So I've been meeting with all the labor groups regarding this situation up until the point where we had the plan ready and so that I can talk next steps with them and meet the contractual guidelines.

So now that we have these options available, I think these options are on the table, how soon are we looking to move to be able to then, by the time we have results, be able to implement whatever plan moving ahead? So what is that timeline looking like?

Um, testing happened on Friday and Saturday, additional testing, uh, soil samples on Monday. We are getting results back, um, planning to meet and talk with Sokol tech and DTSC, um, beginning tomorrow. So the goal was by the 13th that we would have some preliminary results and It won't be a full complement of our assessment of the situation, but we are, as I answered Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy, as we get information, we'll be sharing that out.

I think I'm talking more to the plans that we have for Plan A, B, and C. Since those plans are on the table, when will we be approaching our labor partners with the conversation on how we're able to move forward with any of these plans that are currently... Because I know that we're learning things every day, right? We went out and visited a site that we thought, hey, this might be perfect for Kennedy to host. And then we found out about the FIELD Act, right? And we're just like, hey, we're retracting because I think... having everyone at the table when we're having these conversations, because we're looking at it through one lens, and then from somebody else's, it might not be doable. So I think that now since we have these options on the table, I am really wanting to then move into having those conversations with our labor partners to see which of these options are actually viable. before we start then shifting into now we have to take a couple steps back because we're having to negotiate some things, right? So I think if we're working If we're starting the conversations early on, not depending on the results that we get tomorrow, but we have these plans in place for whatever that looks like, I think better. Also, we talked about busing. I think that's one of my biggest concerns, busing. I don't know if we're looking at the stage model of busing, and that's why we're... shifting into, hey, this is a good idea. But I think the difference between busing stage students into the Dijon campus that's only within a mile, maybe a mile, two miles radius, not even two miles, I think it's a mile and something, versus and everyone be local in that area versus Have we taken into consideration that we're now bringing students at Kennedy, students are coming from near and far. So that means that they're having to, you know, maybe take a bus from point A in their home, maybe across, you know, Richmond. And to Kennedy and then having to now get on another bus that's going to transport them to whatever site they are. And have we even taken a look at bus scheduling to see what that looks like and the time that it's going to take to maybe even shift on start times? Because, hey, if my son has to get on a bus at six o'clock in the morning to make the connection that's going to get him to Sierra at 830, that that's a big change. So I think we also need to have those conversations of what that looks like. And have we taken that into consideration?

We have, yes. Thank you for the question. To clarify, Helms Middle is about five miles away. And busing is... We're providing busing for anybody that wants to come to Kennedy to get bused to Helms or Sarah, but it is not a requirement. You can get dropped off by your parents. You can drive there if you're a high schooler with a license. You can take AC Transit. You can take a different route than you normally would that day that you would have taken to Kennedy anyway. We'll provide you what bus routes will get you to Helms or Sarah as well as any other means that you – We've been in communication with the city of San Pablo of looking at kind of mitigating some of that traffic. So providing the busing option gets a big group or a big portion of those students there all at one time. But it's still open at this point. It's not a requirement to take the bus to get down.

I understand it's not a requirement, but I also believe that you used a great example of Helms, which Helms is more centralized than Sierra is. So how many active bus routes do we have that go directly from West Richmond where Kennedy students, right? Or South Richmond that goes straight without a connecting to Sierra? Yeah.

Um, we, we will look into this with our agency transit partners as someone who grew up on that very best line. Um, I can tell you that the number 7 bus will get you very close on both ends. Um, but the fact is, we do need to look at that really carefully and have the same kinds of conversations with our transit partners about this that we do regarding that you read sauce in a panel metal. Um, and and exactly the considerations that you're bringing up in terms of thinking about our students whole journey. from the moment they leave home and get on their first bus all the way until they get school, that's the way we need to be thinking about this.

And I think when we're looking at facilities, that's also how we should be looking at it because being there through the process of Betty Reed Soskin, it has taken all summer to come up with a plan and even continuing to have those conversations because this is not just a, hey, I need this tomorrow. So it's a very lengthy conversation. And I think that we need to make this to transition to whatever we need to do to support it. And like I said, even having that option at Kennedy, what does that look like? Because we don't want to have students show up on a late bus because they've had to catch a bus from home to Kennedy and then miss the connecting bus that's going to get them to Sierra if they're an upper grade student or Helms because there's no direct connection lines that go from that area and they'll have to be connecting because we're looking at either going back to the Richmond Barge Station or the closest barge station, which would be Dale Nordy. And there's no direct lines that get you to where you need to go from those. So just looking at the bus lines that actually are going to support our students.

And then one of the other points that you brought up, I also do want to acknowledge part of our way we're keeping the Helms students separated from the Kennedy students is staggering the start time. And so we would do a later start time for Kennedy. So if Helms starts at 840, we're looking at a nine o'clock start time, potentially with some interaction with our unions of approving a different bell schedule to get students there. in a timely manner, give them a chance to get breakfast separate from the Helms kids, let Helms start and get on campus, and then we can safely bring on the Kennedy kids to the campus.

And I think when I'm talking about, you know, doing this in partnership, I know that we're moving pretty fast, but I think some of these ideas need to now be even transmitted out because you're now, you just now put in something else that might be A block for family, right? Instead of me dropping off my child, when I drop off my other child at 830 now, my child doesn't have to be at home. I mean, at school till nine potentially or, you know, whatever that looks like. So then that means that that's now. A bus issue. If the child catches a bus, what bus are they going to be getting onto? How long are they going to have to wait for those connecting? But so I think ensuring that the community knows that these are some of the ideas that are being thrown out there so they can prepare for all scenarios is really important. Like, I think we're having this conversation now, but even till now. those weren't things that we've had conversations about or I, as a board member, have had a conversation about. So it's really hard to be a parent, I think, in this space and throw, you know, a week away because we're technically one to, you know, six days away from the first day of school and having to reshift what that looks like for my child going to Kennedy.

And I do want to jump in and talk about how we are communicating while we're in this mode. One of the things that we are working to do is to very closely track at what point is any new information emerging in our thinking and our work. And anytime that there is new information, make sure that we're always communicating in what communications wise we call concentric circles. But just to make that very, very plain, that means we're always coming to our board first as policymakers and decision makers. then we go to our agency partners to make sure that we're moving in alignment. Because as you mentioned, if something that we're exploring doesn't work with our collective bargaining agreements with our labor partners, then it doesn't work. If it doesn't work with the facilities and logistical capacity of our transit partners or our municipal partners, then it doesn't work. And then once we're communicating with those agency partners, that's when we loop in our leaders, in this case, especially Mr. Luongo, to make sure that our leaders are prepped to lead before we then tell our staff before we then tell our families so that our staff is able to serve. So we are working every time there's new information to make sure that we're coming to the board first with an update, working in alignment with our agency partners, then looping in our leaders and staff, then our families.

I think that's, I'll leave it right there. Trustee Hernandez, did you have questions?

I do. Looking it up when it comes to the bus route from just Kennedy itself to Sierra, it's about between 41 minutes to an hour and a minute long. So we have to be mindful and plan around that bus schedule if it's kids leaving from Kennedy, either catching the 72, the 76 or the 7 line. I just want to bring that up. I just looked it up. Circling back to our partnership with labor, what's going to happen to our classified staff, our janitors, our custodians, our security guards, everyone that falls under that? Are they also moving with the school in between these plans? Or what are we going to do with our classified staff?

We are considering our classified staff. We'll have to work with labor partners what exact site with the plans where people are going to be placed because we have to follow contractual guidelines and seniority.

And are we starting to have those conversations? Because again, school starts in about six days. So time is of an essence because like you said, we have to go based on our contracts and our seniority list.

I have standing meetings with two of the units tomorrow and then the other two I'm scheduling based on this new plan.

Superintendent Cotton, if it's possible, if you can ask staff to please provide an update to the board after these meetings have been had with our labor partners, because I think it's crucial. I know that we mentioned our teachers will be moving, you know, with the students, but I haven't heard anything in regards to our classified staff.

And we have been in communications already and are planning for and factoring in our classified staff into these plans as well. So yes, and in terms of the concentric circles that Liz was talking about, as we gather information, then it comes to the board first.

Thank you. Those were all my questions.

Director Gonzalez-Hoye.

Thank you. I just have one last question that hasn't been asked. I appreciate everybody for your great questions. Mr. Luongo, I have a question for you. First of all, Mr. Luongo, I just want to thank you because you have stepped into this role in such an amazing way. You're the new principal in a really difficult situation. So I just want to thank you for everything you're doing. Through these contingency plans, I know you met with ILT today. Do you feel like teachers will be ready to implement or to teach within each one of these plans for Tuesday? I come from the elementary world. So, you know, for me, it's like set up of classroom and all that. That's obviously not for the high school. But do you feel like the teachers would be ready to plan A, plan B or plan C if necessary?

Yes, we'll be ready.

Okay, that was an easy answer. All right. Sounds good. Thank you, Mr. Longham. Yep, thank you.

I just want to circle back to the transportation issue. The expectation is that students can have transportation to school on buses that the district is providing. if they opt not to do that and opt to go the route of, you know, AC transit or a parent dropping off, that's a choice that they have as high school students. But we do, we will be providing transportation for our students to whatever, if it's determined that we need to, um, plan for temporary relocation, we're planning to provide that transportation for our students. They have options. These are kids who have driver's licenses, so they have options. But our first priority is to make sure that kids have a pathway to get to school that is safe, that is supportive of them getting to and from school in a safe manner.

I think I want to agree with you on that. But even though we're giving them options, I think we are relocating, like you said, high school students. And this is adding, especially with some of the sites that we are thinking of the proximity to the additional time that they will have to commute to get there, whether it be on public transportation. And you're saying, yes, a lot of our students might have driver's licenses, but we're also talking about 9th and 10th graders and 11th graders that might not. So seniors, yes. Everyone else under that, they might not. So I just really want to highlight that we need to also take that into consideration on how we're going to support, especially because I've been... a big participant of Kennedy and being at Kennedy on a daily basis throughout last year, seeing how students trickle in, I think right after the bell rings and having those issues presented at Kennedy, how are we going to support our students? I don't want to see a big drastic drop of, hey, we're now going from already a low level attendance to even lower because now we're moving somewhere that's not accessible to our students as potentially they could have been going to the direct site. So I'm thinking just on that. And I think like I said, Helms is the exception because it's more centralized. But I am concerned about Sierra and the limited transportation access that there is to get to that site.

And I would just love to add, part of the thinking behind the later 9 o'clock start time is to give students more time to get there. And they would still need to arrive and get to Kennedy Campus at the 8.30 time that they were expected to be there anyway to get on the 8.30 bus. And we would stagger the second bus either 8.50, 9 o'clock for the late bus so that kids that did miss the first one could still get to Helms in a relatively short time frame. But we are looking at... giving students that need to take AC Transit or more time to get there by the nine o'clock start time.

And I'm glad that you clarified that because I think without having these conversations, you know, nobody until before this, I didn't know that that was even an idea out there. So thinking eight o'clock start time and how now students have to take that additional, you know, time earlier on in the morning, especially now that we're getting to those dark, you know, days where time changes and it's darker when they you know leave the house and it's so just configuring that and knowing that that is an option that you guys are thinking through should be something to kind of take the weight off of some of the stress that comes to hey now we have to look for earlier transportation when it comes to our students

I just want to remind everyone who's listening, the goal is to have kids back on that Kennedy campus. And so this would be an episode that would last no more than 60 days. Could be no time at all. Could be a week. could be two weeks, but it's not something that extends beyond the first, at the most, the first quarter of school to be able to put mitigation strategies in place, make sure that there are acceptable levels for kids to be back on that campus. So it's just, it's being mindful of This is, we're talking about a very brief situation for our students and staff.

We'll see no further comments. Do we have any public comment on this item?

We have one public comment. Stallone Harrison, please unmute yourself.

Yes, I just wanted to say thank you, Superintendent and her staff for doing a good job on the best you could in the situation we was in. And I just want to, I hope that this type of service continues because that has been a big problem and a barrier in our district with communication and transparency on things. And it gives parents an opportunity to participate early instead of You know, the lag of learning loss because parents don't know or caregivers don't understand. And these are the little questions and things that need to be discussed in the public so we can get a better understanding of what needs to happen and what can happen and what the district is going to be supportive on with this big transition. A lot of the times in these type of situations, I didn't see... from the district a lot of concern about communication and how the community felt about the change, even if it had to happen. So thank you for putting in a lot of extra effort and definitely including the youth. That was the most excellent part of this transition that I'm seeing happening that Under the newest superintendent's leadership, the youth have been included a lot more and Trustee Foles is starting to speak towards the black youth especially. I definitely am in a line with including our children and our youth in our solutions and our changes. Thank you. I'm complete.

Next public comment is Francisco Ortiz. Please unmute yourself.

Good evening again, everyone. I just wanted to express and clarify that UTR as an organization, we've learned about the three different options today. We have been in communication with our teachers who are incredibly excited to meet their students. But you know, as you can imagine, there are so many different questions. And with the overall goal to be on campus as soon as possible with that being on the first day of school, so very much looking forward to tomorrow's town hall, you know, getting some good news. But however, we While we have met with the district on several occasions and asked about, you know, what possible scenarios there were, you know, those were not articulated when we've asked about them or whether if they had already been communicated to site staff. And so, you know, knowing about Plan A, amazing, and that the, you know, the two other campuses that are put up for consideration, this is the first time that we've heard about it as well as the experience shared. And so we definitely want to continue to be partners in resolving and ensuring that our students have a safe return back with their educators back at Kennedy Campus. And the more that we can be in communication, the better. And so I just wanted to just clarify that if there was any lingering questions around that.

So thank you very much.

That concludes public comment.

Well, thank you to those who gave public comment. Do we have any final board comments, Trustee Riggler?

Thank you. So I'm afraid of leaving somebody out, but Superintendent Cotton, to you, staff, Luongo, DeLeon, City of Richmond, DTSC, anybody else I forgot, thank you very much. We needed this. Like, this is just... I'm so sorry this happened, but here we are. Thank you for everything that's been done. Obviously, if you listen to this conversation, you can see how many decisions need to be made and how interconnected everything is, and one thing leads to another, leads to another. There's a million decisions, and just thank you very much. I am very appreciative of the job everybody has done on this, and again, I'm sorry that happened, and You know, it is what it is. Also, students might get a really good college essay out of this if you're writing for college. And remember, it's not about what that this happened. It's happened and then what did you do about it? And there could be really good stories around flexibility, teamwork, resilience, experiential learning. That's the one I'm most excited about. So, you know, it depends on how you approach it, but it could be something really great. So thank you very much.

Trustee Gonzalez-Hoye.

Thank you, President. I want to start by thanking parents and students for their flexibility, their urgency, their patience as we are figuring this out and working with our partners to learn about these issues. I think some some of our staff members might start applying for DTSC after this of everything that they have learned. I hope not. But, you know, it's incredible to now hear our staff talk about all these issues that they just learned about a week ago. So I just want to start by thanking them, thanking the Kennedy staff. And I already thank you, Mr. Leongo, but thanking them for also their patience. Many of them, some of them have been on that campus for many years. So they're dealing with the urgency of finding out about, like, how does this affect my health since being there, right? Teachers spend sometimes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on this campus, right? And then also worrying about their students and worrying about the school year. So I want to thank, you know, the teachers and the classified staff at Kennedy because I know there's so many layers to that they have to navigate the last couple weeks as we learn about this. I also want to thank staff for your quick response after the test came back. I think that all the community meetings have been really educational. Last night was really eye-opening to me to hear from the doctors about health issues concerning PCE. So I appreciate that. And I encourage anyone who's interested to watch that recording. One thing that, you know, I asked Ms. Hughes about, which is additional testing. I keep going back to, if I look back 30 years from now and have regrets that we didn't test the site, Right. Like, would I be able to sleep at night knowing that potentially we expose someone if there was some type of contamination at a site with the soil or vapor that we just weren't proactive about? So my ask after we have gone through the next few days and we have started the school is that we do engage with DTS, our partners in DTSC about. where should we be proactive about since we have so many school sites that are close by, right? Or not, right? Like I also don't want us to just test the test, right? Or waste funding because it's incredibly expensive and we're already, we're in swimming and money, right? So this obviously a hardship for us to have to pay for all this, but at the same time, unfortunately it's landed on us to not have to do something about it, which is what we're doing with Kennedy. But my question is, should we be expanding that, right? And I do think that we should listen to experts. I absolutely agree with that. And I also know DTSC is dealing with a lot. I know you guys are incredibly busy. So I would ask if we could partner on those conversations. And then we come up with plans, right, like we're doing now to think long term about our elementary schools that are close by because, like I mentioned, we have a lot. But again, I just want to end with a thank you. And I agree with the board president. Staff, if we could just get in a room with labor now that we have ideas. I know we're kind of waiting for this testing, but I also wouldn't want the first day of school to have to be postponed because we didn't have a deeper conversation on one of our ideas with them about how that would affect working conditions or how it would affect teaching or whatever. So I would ask that we spend quite a bit of time with them tomorrow to get their perspective, get their input, and also collaborate together. Thank you so much. Thank you, President. That's it.

Trustee Smith-Foltz. I don't know all the operational ins and outs to like the expository Expeditionary expedition learning. But one of the things that I would like to put out there is if we have a group of our seniors and even our juniors, if we can take them to Martinez to get registered to vote. since we're taking them somewhere. So I would like to put that out there. I don't know if you already have it on the list, but it's something that I would like to put out there. I don't know if it costs to get a real ID or not. I don't know if it costs money, but maybe it does. But just having some, if we have some people come in as well as go out to have these conversations, maybe if we do the option where we have two campuses together, Some of the things that we can bring in, like if we're looking at our high school level, are including things like they can come in and do the registering to vote. Somebody can come in and have a conversation about a real ID or some of those things, financial literacy. Some of the things that we know that we have... space to where we can really fill in that real life education for our students. So if we are thinking out of the box and we're being hyper creative, which it seems like we are, I just want to throw some of those things out there. Hopefully they stick to the wall as well. I'm complete. Thank you. Oh, I'm not complete. I'm a liar. Mr. Carter, Fund 71, the title of it is, that is our retiree fund, correct?

Yeah, other post-retirement employee benefits, OPEB.

Thank you. I just wanted the name instead of the number. I appreciate it. I'm complete.

All right, well, I just want to also thank everyone in this space. I know we've all been working really hard and I think it's important that we have these constructive conversations because I don't think there's many spaces where we as a board can actually sit and kind of hear the feedback from each other or the concerns that we have in regards to there's always the independent conversations happening. So I really appreciate that. We were able to put this on the agenda to be able to have this conversation really with full transparency and that people see, because I think that's what it's going to take, see that we are working through this, see that we are trying our best because we're not experts, but we are trying to put the pieces together to what tomorrow may look like. I know that this is a temporary measure, but I also believe that the more we collaborate on things, we'll really start off the track for all the greater things that we're going to be able to achieve on better days. And I think having the also idea that whatever happens tomorrow, whenever we get the testing done, if we do have to shift, We're going to have to figure things out because it's not going to be back to regular how it would be if we weren't going through this. We're going to have to figure some things out and maybe tweak some things a little bit different and the time that it's going to take us to get things rolling. So also having, I think, that opportunity to really, you know, trial and error. I think this is what it's going to be, trial and error, but we are trying to be fully transparent. I think one of the things that I don't want to come up here saying, and show is that, hey, we have all the answers to everything because we don't. We're going to drop the ball somewhere. Things are moving so fast that we're going to forget someone along the line, but we're trying our very best. We are all here for the same reason, and that's to do what's best for our students, for our Kennedy students. So I am truly grateful for the work that's being done. you know, and getting through this rough patch, because I truly believe that there is going to be the rainbow on the other end. So thank you first to staff. Thank you, superintendent. Thank you to my colleagues that have had this conversation with full transparency. And it is just a coming of the mind. So I don't want anyone to think that we're pushing things or saying things because we We're coming at it ill-intended, but because we're really trying to work through these things together. And I think that's what brings us all here. So thank you, everyone. Thank you for this presentation. And we'll see. We'll be at the other side of the rainbow soon with the big pot of gold, Jeff. So I'm going to close out this item, and then I'll now be moving on to F2 Elementary Playground Supervisor Update.

All right. Thank you. Good evening, board. So we've got an elementary playground supervisor update here. I'm going to go through kind of some of the history and some of the staffing matrix for playground supervisors and where we're at as a district. This was a motion brought forward through the adoption of our LCAP and budget to bring a elementary playground supervisor update for the first meeting of August. So here we are. Next slide, please. So I was able to find staffing formulas back to the mid-2000s, I think 2005, 2006 school year. Prior to COVID, our staffing matrix formula for yard supervision was one hour of yard supervision per 100 enrollment. Since COVID, that was modified slightly to one and a half hours of yard supervision per 100 enrollment at each school site. And then in 25-26, that was increased to two hours of yard supervision per 100 enrollment. Through the fiscal solvency plan, that decreased the staffing formula matrix for 26-27 in order to reach our goals, our target goals of being solvent in 26-27 and 27-28. We brought it back to the historical levels of one hour of yard supervision per 100 enrollment. One of those things to consider is basing a staffing matrix on a level of enrollment while we're in a declining enrollment history. Next slide, please. You can see from 2013-14 through projected numbers through 28-29 where our enrollment level was and is at as well as taking in mind that the TK enrollment is added in here that boosted and supported some of this enrollment decline or mitigated some of it as well. While we're staffing yard supervision per enrollment and we're decreasing the staffing ratio per hours per 100, we are also looking at less enrollment overall. And so that would staff some of these school sites at a lower number of hours than historically they've become accustomed to. Next slide. Here we have the 2627 playground supervisor allocations per school. Remember, these positions are just for elementary schools. Secondary has campus safety. So for elementary schools, you can see a comparison here of 2526 to 2627. And if you recall, we're going from two hours per 100 to one hour per 100. So there is about half the FTE allocated per site in the 2627 model. as well as at the same time we kind of right-sized some of these uh staffing positions so uh not only is it based on a staffing matrix formula but we also capped the maximum number of hours that a single yard supervisor could provide for a school in a given day based on the number of minutes that there is yard supervision for so instead of having uh a wide variety from one hour to six hours that some of these yard supervisors were hired for. We capped it at two hours per day. And so there's a right sizing that occurred in the fiscal solvency plan and a decrease in the staffing formula of one hour per 100, as well as a declining of enrollment. Adjusting all of those figures gives you the 2627 FTE for playground supervisors. Next slide. Here I've got some example costs and hours. The average 1.0 FTE playground supervisor would earn about $42,000 per year. The hourly rate is $19.44. Again, that's capped at two hours per day or .2667 FTE per employee. And on average, each site is allocated on average about half an FTE of yard supervision, which would provide approximately two yard supervisors for that timeframe. The site funds can and are commonly used to pay for additional hours above and beyond what the district provides in a staffing matrix. So they've been using their site LCAP or their title dollars to pay for additional hours for these yard supervisors above and beyond what the district provides. And then in 26-27, we are estimating an 18.5 FTE total of about $780,000 for the FTE that's been allocated in the current model. Last year, 25, 26, it was about double that. So somewhere around 1.5, 1.8 million prior to the reductions. And then next slide. That concludes our update for the elementary playground supervisors district-wide as a whole. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Do we have any questions, Trustee Regler?

Thank you for the presentation. Is there an industry standard for yard duty supervision?

I don't believe there's an industry standard accepted across the board. Each district would handle that differently. We could look into what the most common use is across the districts. This has just been our historical past practice as a district for the last 20 plus years that I could find formulas for.

And so since 2005, you said it was one to 100?

Correct. One hour per 100 enrollment is what we used in 2005, 2006, throughout the 10s, and then prior to COVID, we switched to one and a half.

Okay. Can you look or did you look or is it possible to look at number of incidents that happened during that period of time, whether it be suspensions? I don't know. You know, let's just say, let's just call it all incidents.

Thank you for that question board trustee. So When you look at number of incidents, it is considered a safety concern. And so that's how we look at it as a safety concern. And then we do an evaluation of the campus and we use what we consider SEPTA principles and that's crime prevention through environmental design. And these principles, They talk about natural surveillance sight lines. They talk about natural access control, how you get on and off a campus. Territorial reinforcement, so that's the fencing around the property. The maintenance of the property and then the activity, which means personnel. And so those are considerations. But in terms of does that mean that somebody necessarily gets an additional body? It is a consideration, but it doesn't necessarily mean that somebody would get a person because of a certain amount of incidents.

So did any elementary school get more due to incident suspensions, fighting, kicking, the layout of the campus? Fairmont has nooks and crannies. You could stand at the top of Madeira and see a lot. I mean, so did everybody end up with the same?

Everybody gets the same base ratio. Due to some grievances, due to some other things, there have been additional FTE allocated based on the number of hours somebody's provided if they've time carded too many days in a row. So there are some slight instances where that would be different. But the base formula has always been applied for the last 20 years. And then the sites can site fund additional ones on top of that. So they've consistently been using their site funds to pay for additional site supervisor hours.

Okay. All right. Those are all the questions that I have. Thank you.

Trustee González-Hoy.

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Were you able to look at pre-COVID times? How much were sites buying on FTE for playground supervisors?

That number varies widely site to site. There's not a standard. I could pull a report on average. But no, I do not have that dollar figure handy right now.

Yeah, the reason I ask is kind of similar to Trustee Reckler. There are some sites that are bigger than others, some sites that have yards very different than others, right? So supervision becomes widely different. Like at Bayview, I remember as a teacher, it was hard to watch all the yards because they're so large and so far from each other. So the principal had to buy FTEs in order to do that, right? So should that be part of our consideration in future years? Or do we think the most equitable thing is to...

purely look at a matrix that just gives a specific fd depending on numbers uh yeah historically it's just been based on equity um and and site to site is different and who gets involved i mean some sites have teachers you know supervising on during playground supervisor you know during during recess times or uh some people have volunteered parents that come and do it as well so it it it varies site by site of how much they're paying for and how much they're getting provided but

equitably we we provide a straight formula but it could be reconsidered as a as an idea okay thank you i'm done president thank you do we have any further questions i have a question i did want a clarification when you talked about the cap and what that means when you're like oh two hour cap per yeah what is that

Yeah, so the number of recessed minutes and lunch minutes, so time outside on the playground, is about two hours per day as an elementary school. So if we're staffing more than two hours, they aren't doing their job description. They're in the office or they're doing something else that's not yard supervision if they're on site for more than two hours because there's only about two hours of yard supervision time in a given day for an individual person.

Okay, I'm just trying to grasp that about two hours pay because I know like some sites have staggering recess, right? Like they have 30 minutes of recess for one grade level, 30 minutes of recess for another. Then here comes lunch and, you know, everybody's. So what does that look like?

Yeah, exactly. So every site would have a different bell schedule. But on average, across the schools, the minutes for yard supervision is about two hours per day. And so we're we were looking to maximize the number of people that a site could use. Right. If we cap you at two hours. You can use and you get four hours, let's say you can use two bodies to use for the same two hours of yard supervision versus if one person was hired for four hours as your full allocation. You only get one body watching the whole yard for four hours. So we were trying to maximize the number of people, a number of bodies that could be utilized for that FTE to to cover the vision of the yard supervision.

I get that. And is that have you seen that be more of a positive impact than having some one person on their focus? And I'm also thinking of like. how do we keep people at jobs, right? Like, how do we keep them as staff? Like, is someone going to take a job to come in for two hours and go home and that's it? Like, are we able to staff these positions with that small allocation versus, hey, ensuring that we're bringing them on and saying, hey, we're going to give you four hours and we're just going to have you on the yard all day and keeping that consistency versus, How hard? I mean, any feedback on that from sites?

Yeah, feedback has definitely been more bodies are better than one body for longer. Right. So you have more bodies on campus watching multiple areas of the yard versus one person there for four hours. But there's only two hours of yard supervision that can occur. So they've got additional hours that are not on the yard. So the feedback has been more bodies better. to better utilize that FTE and keep a standard across all districts for a hiring purpose of how many hours we can hire for a position. And a lot of these employees are parents of kids at that school. And so they're coming in for the two hours or they live nearby and they're just coming for the two hours of yard supervision and they're not needed there for the entire eight hours because there's not kids on a yard for eight hours a day.

Well, if that's something positive that you have received as feedback, wouldn't that have been obtainable just by site leadership saying, hey, we'd rather have one person versus, or no, we want to extend to two hours versus us as the district capping it and saying, this is what you guys need to do versus having it site based on the needs at an individual site.

There is a level of the amount of work that HR can do. Once it's standardized across the district, it's a lot easier to manage than it is to let 54 school sites make an individual decision and choice. So some of that is just time management for HR to even consider.

All right. Thank you. That was my last question. Do we have any public comment on this item?

Yes, we have public comment. Jane Kitchener, please unmute yourself.

Good morning, board. I want to address how TK is propping up the enrollment numbers, but we're not thinking about TK as needing an extra body. Legally, TK cannot go on the big playground equipment because it's six year old and up. We have our own playground, our own equipment. We need more than one, but we need let's say we have one adult on a TK playground. Then we need one adult on the other playground watching the third No, I'm sorry, watching the fourth through fifth graders, sixth graders, while one's in the cafeteria watching the first through third graders eat lunch. So we and it's not even safe to have one person on the big yard or on the TK yard. And but we need literally we need three bodies to cover those three minimum areas. So it's I don't know. I'm just worried that our kids are going to get hurt. And that, like I said, we don't even really legally have the option if we wanted to take the TKs and the kindergartners out to the big yard when the four through six graders are there on the play equipment and stuff, because they're not even legally allowed to be out there. It just makes it real difficult for us, and no teachers cannot be watching them during lunchtime because we have a duty-free lunch. I'm wondering maybe there are suggestions for the site, or I don't know. It's just I'm worried about kids getting hurt.

That concludes public comment. Okay. Do we have any additional board comments on this item? Trustee Regler?

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Because the ratio was set from 1 to 100 since 2005, it doesn't make it the right ratio. I mean, it might be historically not enough. So I want to encourage a more data-based approach. looking literally at the yard, like the color we just had, three bodies, that's what she needs to look. Not every campus is the same. I think some yards need more, some yards need less. And looking at the number of incidents, suspensions, hitting, kicking referrals to the principal's office, you know, like whatever that is, because it is a safety issue, but also if there isn't staff, then the person who's going to do it is the principal. And I'm sure we don't want that person doing that all the time. We want that person concentrating on, you know, leadership positions and you can be on the yard, but the principal shouldn't have to do yard duty every day. So, I do think there's a deeper look into this. I understand that there are costs related to it, but I don't know, just the feedback I've gotten. I don't think people are too happy about this. So that's my two cents.

Well, thank you for that board comment and seeing Smith votes.

I used to do yard supervision at the elementary school. And one of the things that was the hardest is when it started raining. Because then it would be rainy day recess. And so when it's rainy day recess, then you put the kids back in the classroom and they do games or they do whatever, but you have to roam. Right. Because and that was that was probably the most dangerous and scariest time because they were not all in one spot where we could see them. So when it whenever we thought it was going to rain, it was a mad dash to call as many parent volunteers as possible. So you would have people in the hallway and then people on the upstairs and then people in the classrooms. That's something that you guys already know. You know that to be true, but I was just I wanted to verbalize it and then see how we can add suggestions, resources, supports to our sites about what do you do when it's rainy day recess, right? And maybe have principals share that information with each other. This is how we do it. This is how we do it over here. This is what works for us. Every campus is different except when it rains, then everybody's inside. And so what does it look like when it rains? I am complete. Trustee Gonzalez-Joy.

Thank you. I mean, so I know that a lot of these decisions are being made because we're in a difficult financial situation. That's just the reality, right? We're having to decrease allocations throughout positions, right? Not just playground supervisors. And that's not going to change anytime soon, unfortunately. But I do think that I keep going back to We also cut site budgets. So my concern is that we're asking sites to figure out how to do more with less. And I keep going back to the conversation. Every time I've talked to a principal lately, they're like, we don't know how we're going to do it without our typist because we don't know how we're going to do without two-year supervisors. We don't know how we're going to do without a vice principal. There's a lot of concerns right now, obviously, with all the cuts that we have made, which is why I think this year is so important too. understand how our system can function with what we're giving them. Um, and I think as part of the data I do, I would like to learn more of what the sites choose to prioritize with their funds, just that then we can also plan for what we should be giving them. Right. If we get additional funding at any point in the future, hopefully, um, I know this is one of the priorities, right. That a lot of sites are having to figure out, um, But I also think we need to take a moment of pause to learn about the biggest priorities for sites as they're having to unfortunately deal with declining funds. But I also don't want to minimize the hard decisions they're having to make right now. Because even having to fund an extra yard supervisor could mean not funding that extra curriculum they wanted, right? Or even that extra prep or teacher, whatever it is, right? So it is difficult in lean times. And I do want to acknowledge the difficulty sides that we're having to deal with. And we should be nimble in cases where if safety is an issue we should have to figure out side by side right if if we need to step in and give them an extra point one or point two like even if we don't stick to the matrix in my opinion just because safety should trump i hate using it should trump right the the the budgetary decision right in my opinion so i would just ask you all to look at that as that as time progresses on the need from specific sites yes please just a comment i

It is a, as every conversation that we have, it's a tricky situation. In addition, I just wanted to lift up, in addition to sites having to make harder decisions, it's balanced with a number of sites who didn't use their funds. And so just wanting to Wanting to make sure that, you know, and we want people to use their funds. We want people to be as creative as they can to support their unique schools and their situations. And so it's a balance. It's a balance. There's some folks who spend every penny. And if it all mapped out and it's it's much harder to try to manage, there's some schools who, for a variety of reasons, may not have have tapped into the bulk of their site funds. And so just we want to encourage folks to have the resources to be able to spend their funds on what they have prioritized. And so it again, balance.

So we'll be moving to trustee regular.

I'd like to put a motion on the floor to extend we're at 9.57 maybe to 10.15 for two consent items.

Just for the consent items. I'm sorry. Did you say just for the consent items?

I think that's.

That's the last thing yeah. I'll second just for the consent items yes.

OK, we have a motion to extend for 15 minutes for the consent items. By trustee Reckler, seconded by Gonzales Hoy. We'll move to the vote, trustee Reckler.

I'm sorry, point of order. May I put another motion on the floor? Can we extend to 1030 and include board comments and future agenda items, the consent items to finish the agenda? With the consent items and comments from the board of education and future agenda items so extend to 1030 that's my motion.

We have no 2nd on that I don't sort of go back to the 1st motion 1015 trustee record. Yes. Trustee Smith-Fold? No. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy?

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

And Trustee Yaneza, yes. So we'll now move on to item C9, resolution number 2627-14, authorizing investments in the local agency investment fund, LAIF.

Thank you. So just so you know, I had, I could not make agenda setting. I sent in questions. I didn't get answers. So I just want to quickly go over this. So I'm just not really sure what this local agency investment fund is. So I have a couple of questions. So the resolution authorizes the board clerk or president and their successors only to deposit and withdraw funds. The rest of the board doesn't have a say in withdrawals or deposits as this resolution is written. I'm surprised to see this because normally the power is vested in the whole board and not just the clerk and the president. So I'm curious if you have an answer to that.

Not specifically. This is the historical resolution we've brought every year. We can work with legal to look into that phrasing, but we bring this every single year. So it's just the language we've been using for a decade.

Okay. I can never remember seeing this before. Is it imminent that you sign it right now?

Uh, yeah. So we work with the County treasurer's office, uh, this, so I'll just give it a brief overview of what this is. Uh, we get apportionments and allocations of dollars and we get restricted dollars. We're sitting on a 3% required reserve and we've got dollars in fund 17 sitting there. So we have cash, right? So our cashflow is not our issue. It's, it's dollars that are sitting there that are otherwise going unused. We're earning interest on it. This is a statewide agency that invests funds from school districts that are sitting on cash, a portion of it, not all of it, for short-term investments and gains that are still liquid. And we earn higher interest levels by having this state treasury manage that fund and get us the best interest per day, right? They're looking at interest levels per day rather than just letting it sit and see. And so they're actively managing... hundreds of millions of dollars from districts across the board on just cash that they have from their 3% required reserve or anything like that to earn slightly better interest levels than just keeping it in our local banks, right? So it's a state-managed entity that does this local agency investment fund. So it's all local agencies that the state treasurer is controlling our dollars. It's giving them access to invest a portion of them to earn a little bit higher interest while it's not being used throughout the year if we're just sitting on a 3% required reserve.

Okay, why don't we do this? Since this is a normal process, which never caught my eye before, I sent in a list of questions, which I do want answered, because I just have some questions about how this works. I'll move it, and we could just circle back. There may be some things you need to change in future resolutions. So I'll move it.

I'll second it.

Okay, I don't has been moved by record by Gonzales boy. To go to the trustee regular. Yes, trustee Smith votes. Yes, trustee Gonzales. Yes, trustee Hernandez. Yes, trustee. Yes. So we'll now move on to item C 11 new job description for campus safety specialist one after hours.

Thank you. Okay, I have a couple of questions about this job description. So the first is, this job is for nights, evenings, weekends, and holidays, correct? And so that doesn't seem to be, I'm sorry, I saw his head nodding yes, so I'm assuming that's yes, and I'm rushing to save time. Why is that not in the job description? Why doesn't it say must be available nights, evenings, weekends, holidays?

I think we tried to capture it with saying after hours.

But after hours could be like four to six.

We're still in to get the job description pass. We're still working on scheduling with the Teamsters on that process.

But it is going to be nights weekend. This person is going to work. Correct. The graveyard shift.

Yeah, and we're still closely working with the Teamsters on this. We do want to formalize an MOU that describes the exact schedule and process that goes with the expectations of this job description so that it is memorialized.

Is a guard card a one-time test or does it need renewal?

They have to renew it every two years. And so the training that we provide provides the hours that they need to renew their guard card.

So should the job description say ability to obtain obtain and keep current guard card.

Yes.

Can that change be made.

Yes.

Does the employee need to drive to perform this job?

Yes.

Should driver's license be on the job description?

Recent legislation I believe last year changed that we do not have to require a driver's license even though this position does require driver's license being on the job descriptions.

So Okay, I'll save it for the end. My final comment is that the major duties and responsibilities is a 20-line single paragraph. Everything is jammed into one 20-line paragraph. It's really hard to read. I submitted a breakout where everything was kind of captioned and easier to read. Can that format be adopted for the job description?

Which format? I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Yes, we can change it.

That can happen? Okay. So those are all my questions on the job description. And then I have a comment.

Dr. Greenwood, I just wanted to clarify, you said that it can be changed. I thought that this is negotiated and complete with the Teamsters.

Yeah, this has been approved by the Teamsters. So I would have to take it back to.

So we have to reopen negotiations for this item. Yes. And that's, that is a concern. Ideally, that opens the door back up to additional changes and additional negotiations. the item was negotiated and it was complete. And so any changes that are made to the job description, I think that's what I was explaining. Um, trustee Reckler would have to go back to and reopen negotiations, which means that, that again, leaves us open to, um, new wants, new requests, additional changes to the process.

I wonder, could we maybe approve this job description so that we can move forward with the hiring and it doesn't push our timeline back because I know our consultants are only, we only approve the security guards until a certain time frame. And could we ask staff to review Trustee Reckler's changes and bring them to TeamSTRS for further negotiations, but it wouldn't stop the process from starting on the training and hiring of people. Trustee Reckler, Superintendent, do you guys think that that would be an okay way to move forward, continuing the work and also bringing these concerns to the negotiating table with TeamSTRS so that, and if we need to re-vote on this later, that's fine, but at least it doesn't stop us from the process starting.

I think I have a question, but I think I have a question for Trustee Regler. When you're talking about the changes to the job description, are you looking more for the formatting of the actual? Because I think that's where I had my issue, just on the way it was written out that, just like Trustee Regler said, it seems like everything was jumbled up in one and just thrown in there like an alphabet soup type of thing. Were you talking about more like the formatting so it's easier to read and easier to kind of digest without changing any of the things that were negotiated? Or were you just trying to go back and just?

thank you it's both so for that major job duties and functions that i think should be broken out for readability because you can't you cannot you look at your life you cannot read that but there are other things that the position requires which i believe should be in the job description because otherwise what i'm afraid of is that you know that job description is what you use to recruit candidates and if it's nights evenings and weekends and it doesn't say that it just says after hours And somebody shows up and they're like, oh, I got to work Christmas. I got to work, you know, the graveyard shift. You're just not going to be clear in what you're asking for. So you may waste time, you know, without those things being included. So. You need to drive. You can't take an Uber to an emergency. You need to keep your guard card current. You need to, you know, nights, evenings and weekends. So that's those are my what I found in the description.

So do we want to put a motion out there?

Could we, could we find out like us maybe pushing it and going back to the table, maybe could come back to the 26th. How would that push our timeline for our contract with security services and also the, the hiring of people? Uh, I guess my question, I don't disagree with you both. I just, uh, I'm worried about paying another $200,000 for, for the security guards. Right. So how, how would that, um, how would that affect?

I think that it would, if it's not coming, that's if it was able to be renegotiated prior to the posting date for the next board meeting, which would be in about a week and a half, a week. Okay. I don't know if that's realistic, Dr. Greenwood, and then being able to post after, what, August 25th is their next meeting? 26th, 25th? Getting that posted immediately after that, posted for two weeks, I think it definitely puts us out of our September 30th timeline, which is when that contract ends. So we would be extending that contract. I mean, what you proposed in terms of accepting, if the board were able to do that, accept what has been presented tonight. And then taking it back to reopen to discuss, but at least we've got something to get started with. Um, and to begin, you know, posting and to begin hiring for that position, it is a tight timeline right now. And we're at about six weeks before the AGS contract is complete.

Do we want to? I mean, I totally agree with you. I think my biggest concern is that we are looking like we're really unprepared. And I think we need to start setting that standard of like, hey, when things come, they need to have everything included. And I think we talked about that on other occasions. Job descriptions about how if we're hiring people to do a job, then it needs to align with the job description that they're doing. It needs to have everything written out so that people really know what they're getting themselves into and not have to constantly, I think, go back to the drawing board. I think we're put between a rock and a hard place when it comes to this decision making, because on one side we have the budget and that it's going to impact with the decisions that we make. But on another, are we going to continue to move on this road of, hey, now we're just accepting it because we're put between a rock and a hard place when our standards should be a little bit higher. So if anybody wants to put a motion out there, we only have two minutes.

Well, I'll put a motion, which is that we accept the job description and we direct staff to go back and renegotiate the job description with Teamsters with the feedback from Trustee Reckler and Trustee and President Yana and bring back a revised job description in the future, leaving it open-ended.

Okay, I'm feeling nice tonight. I'll second it. Okay, so we're going to now move on to the vote because we have less than a minute. Trustee Rickler? Yes. Trustee Smith-Ford? Abstain. Trustee Gonzalez-Hoy?

Yes.

Trustee Hernandez?

Yes.

And Trustee Ayanna say yes, so... Motion passed. Thank you, everyone, for tonight's meeting. Our next regularly scheduled board meeting will be August 26, 2026 at LaVanya DeJohn Middle School. Thank you, everyone, and have a good night.